1. A piece by Gal Beckerman for The Atlantic, The Theory That Explains Trump’s UFC Fight https://tinyurl.com/3ar6zjz3

Bo Nickal, his face shiny with Vaseline, had just finished pounding the nose and eyes and ears of his opponent, Kyle Daukaus, who lay on his back like an overturned, squashed bug. Immediately, Nickal jumped over the edge of the Octagon and landed just in front of Donald Trump, who stood up and grabbed the fighter’s hand. Still panting, Nickal thanked the president: “This wouldn’t be possible without you.” So ended the second bout of last night’s UFC 250, the extravaganza of squirting blood and patriotic kitsch that took place—to the stupefaction of all, including a giddy Joe Rogan—on the South Lawn of the White House.

Not an easy read, references to Roland Barthes included, but a good one!

2. UKCISA, the UK Council for International Student Affairs, have just published a new report on International students’ experiences of English language requirements https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/our-work/international-students-experiences-of-english-language-requirements/ PDFs below of the executive summary and of the full report.

Across the UK higher education sector, there is increasing scrutiny and discussion about English tests and requirements for international students, as well as their English language proficiency and preparedness for study. However, the experiences of international students themselves have been underrepresented. UKCISA’s new research report, ‘International students’ experiences of meeting English language requirements for UK higher education’, brings student voice into a debate that can too often focus only on systems, standards, risk, compliance and immigration rhetoric.

3. The Observer got the big guns out quickly in support of Andy Burnham, Andy Burnham’s credo of business-friendly socialism is winning backers from Will Hutton https://observer.co.uk/news/columnists/article/andy-burnhams-credo-of-business-friendly-socialism-is-winning-backersScrew

One of the tragedies of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership has been his avowed disinterest in ideas; witness his much-quoted, off-the-cuff line in opposition that there will be no such thing as “Starmerism”. In his world, progress is to be achieved by a diligent process of case-by-case reasonable compromises, and, as one insider once told me, so achieving socialism by stealth. Except it has worked neither as a political project nor as a compass for driving forward the fissiparous British state – let alone leaning into the intellectual zeitgeist to offer any kind of vision. Starmerism has become synonymous with indeterminacy.

4. Here’s a recent episode of the How Not to Screw up your Kids podcast from Maryhan Baker, Why Your Child Can’t Concentrate: Focus, Distraction and ADHD https://tinyurl.com/3kx4vpyz

If you’ve ever wondered why your child can spend 40 minutes talking about Minecraft but can’t concentrate for four minutes on homework, this episode explains everything. I’m joined again by Professor Sam Wass (who) breaks down what concentration actually is from a neuroscience perspective, why young children are wired to be easily distracted, and why some children struggle far more than others in noisy classrooms, during revision, or when faced with a blank page. We dig into the two types of concentration every child needs, why the frontal cortex develops painfully slowly, how screens hijack attention, and why understanding something is the single biggest predictor of whether a child can focus on it.

5. And, finally, from Hyperallergic, the story of May Morris and her father William, How a Father-Daughter Duo Changed the Course of Textile Art https://hyperallergic.com/how-father-daughter-duo-william-may-morris-changed-the-course-of-textile-art/