Wednesday, 22nd October (Cambridge)

Posted on October 22, 2025 by roycross

A little early, this post, as I’m on grandpa duty tomorrow.

1. Tax the rich — and save the planet is the title of a TED talk back in the summer by Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo https://www.ted.com/talks/esther_duflo_tax_the_rich_and_save_the_planet

Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo brings her data-driven precision to the climate crisis — and the numbers are damning. While world leaders haggle over finances at endless summits, rising temperatures will kill millions in the poorest countries by the end of this century. She calculates the staggering cost of wealthy nations pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, proving that getting billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes is the best way to cover these damages.

One can only hope …

2. Fear And Laughing in Riyadh is the title of a long and thoughtful piece by Helen Lewis on her recent visit to Saudi Arabia https://helenlewis.substack.com/p/fear-and-laughing-in-riyadh

There are quite clearly three cultures (and, effectively, legal regimes) running alongside each other in modern Saudi Arabia. One for citizens; one for tourists and expats; and one for migrant workers, who make up 40 percent of the population.

3. Here’s a National Archives feature, Olga Gray and the Woolwich Arsenal Spy Ring https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/olga-gray-and-the-woolwich-arsenal-spy-ring/

On a cold January evening in 1938, a man hurried across London towards Charing Cross Station. Weaving through the commuters, he was here to pick up a package of British defence secrets from a rogue employee at the Woolwich Arsenal. The plan was simple. Take the records to the safe house, photograph them, and pass the copies on to the Soviets. But unknown to him, thanks to a remarkable female MI5 agent, Special Branch officers had been alerted about his rendezvous. He would not complete his task.

4. Charlotte Faucher has just published a report, UK Cultural Diplomacy in Europe 1989-2025: Lessons and Implications for Future UK Soft Power. Here’s the press release https://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/soft-power-uk/ and here’s the full report (PDF below as well) https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/policybristol/briefings-and-reports-pdfs/2025/Soft%20Power%20policy%20report.pdf

The report opens in 1989 with the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Eastern bloc at the end of the Cold War. It was a time of intense and varied activity for UK cultural diplomacy in Eastern and Central Europe which witnessed an explosion of demand for English language teaching, support for developing management and business skills, and an appetite for the arts. The UK was able to cater for this extraordinary need thanks to the FCO’s programme of technical assistance (the Know  How Fund), the creation of scholarships and additional funding bestowed by the government to organisations in charge of cultural relations such as the British Council. British cultural diplomacy was sustained in Eastern and Central Europe throughout the early 2000s as it supported many nations’ accessions to the European Union.

Soft Power policy reportDownload

[file x 1]

5. And, finally, a ninety-year-old Cuban master drummer, Candido Camero, performs Conga Jam with a band of musicians a quarter his age https://youtu.be/H3_aygrb5-g

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Tuesday, 21st October (Richmond)

Posted on October 21, 2025 by roycross

1. First up today, the latest version of Ethan Mollick’s (Opinionated) Guide to Using AI https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/an-opinionated-guide-to-using-ai Click on the images to enlarge them.

Every few months I write an opinionated guide to how to use AI, but now I write it in a world where about 10% of humanity uses AI weekly. The vast majority of that use involves free AI tools, which is often fine… except when it isn’t. OpenAI recently released a breakdown of what people actually use ChatGPT for (way less casual chat than you’d think, way more information-seeking than you expected). This means I can finally give you advice based on real usage patterns instead of hunches. I annotated OpenAI’s chart with some suggestions about when to use free versus advanced models.

2. Here’s the new Cambridge University Assessment Good Practice Guide https://www.cctl.cam.ac.uk/files/assessment-good-practice-guidance.pdf

Plus, a very useful Assessment Glossary https://www.cctl.cam.ac.uk/enhancing-education/assessment/glossary

and the Ordinance for Assessment Formats (more fun than it sounds) https://www.educationalpolicy.admin.cam.ac.uk/ordinance-assessment-formats

PDF of the Good Practice Guide below.

assessment-good-practice-guidanceDownload

The Assessment Good Practice Guide complements the University’s new Ordinance for Assessment Formats. Written in consultation with colleagues across the collegiate University, and including case studies from a diverse range of disciplines, the guidance provides an overview of key considerations for designing assessments.

3. Should you need it, here’s guidance from The New York Times on how to rob The Louvre, How the Louvre Jewelry Heist Unfolded https://tinyurl.com/hyyw6raj

4. Two pieces from the Engelsberg Ideas archive that President Trump has probably not read:

The true sources of Soviet conduct by Rodric Braithwaite https://engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-true-sources-of-soviet-conduct/

Russian history rhymes — from Soviet collapse to Putin’s folly by Vladislav Zubok https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/russian-history-rhymes-from-soviet-collapse-to-putins-folly/

5. And, finally, the results of this year’s Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery

The overall winner was Wim van den Heever for his picture of a brown hyena in the abandoned town of Kolmanskop, Namibia https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2025/october/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2025-winning-images.html

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Thursday, 16th October (Cambridge)

Posted on October 16, 2025 by roycross

1. I am largely persuaded by More in Common’s social segmentation of Britain into seven https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/seven-segments/

After a global pandemic, a decade of political chaos and rising public anxiety about the cost of living and national security, Britons are increasingly fragmented, and public opinion can no longer be mapped along outdated left-right lines. The British Seven segments provide a new map to help understand the divides and common ground that defines the British public.

2. Not something I was aware of until recently, tomorrow, 17th October is World Vanilla Day https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/premium-pods-the-real-vanilla-rainforests-and-how-to-save-them/

Vanilla is an orchid – the only one to produce an edible seed pod – that grows as a climbing vine on other supporting trees. Out of 118 species of vanilla, just two of them, plus one hybrid, are cultivated throughout the tropics. Seedlings grow for more than three years before they start flowering. Incredibly, each yellow vanilla flower blooms for just a few hours between October and January, and farmers hand pollinate the flowers to ensure a high pollination success rate. It takes another nine months for vanilla pods to mature, then pods are dried and conditioned once harvested the following summer. Vanilla farming is slow, labour-intensive and sometimes dangerous. It’s the second most expensive spice in the world after saffron, so theft is a huge issue – many farms have armed guards and specific plantation locations remain undisclosed.

3. Alexandra Mihai’s latest blog post, What do you choose? https://educationalist.substack.com/p/what-do-you-choose

As the initial buzz of the new Academic Year is slowly subsiding, we start looking at our agendas and all too often a sense of gloom replaces the initial enthusiasm. Despite looking forward to meeting the new students and working on new projects, it feels like soon enough we will be buried in so many tasks we’ll hardly have time to leisurely meet a colleague over coffee (this happened to me, as we realised our next joint availability was in December!) or fully enjoy a weekend without teaching preparation or catching up on writing.

If anything, I would like you to read this and have a moment of reflection, zooming out of a busy work day/week/month and regaining sight of the bigger picture. Why are you doing this? What do you love about your work? And how can you keep doing that in a sustainable way?

4. Maybe more for a UK readership (or for those with fond memories of their UK alma mater), the Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index https://www.pwc.co.uk/government-public-sector/good-growth/assets/pdf/good-growth-2025.pdf PDF below.

A thriving high street, better housing and transport, and access to skills are increasingly seen as crucial to economic success. This shift is reflected in the Good Growth Index – the top performers, York, Edinburgh and Bristol score highly across many of these fundamental areas. But for most cities and regions, meeting the public’s expectations will be a significant challenge. Economic growth has slowed, demand for key services continues to outpace capacity and global economic and political affairs continue to create a significant amount of uncertainty. That’s why good growth must start with clear, deliberate choices. Incremental budget cuts won’t restore trust or deliver the outcomes that matter. Services must be redesigned to meet future needs, not simply scaled back.

good-growth-2025Download

5. And, finally, Mark Stephens posts a rich blend of the provocative and amusing on LinkedIn. Here’s one he labelled Oh no you can’t

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Tuesday, 14th October (Richmond)

Posted on October 14, 2025 by roycross

1. Coral reefs are struggling to survive global warming. The video on this page shows them in their colourful glory and in their bleached fallen state https://global-tipping-points.org/case-studies/#coral I’d not come across Global Tipping Points before: here’s their home page https://global-tipping-points.org/

2. Staying on the environmental theme, here’s an NYT gift about solar power in Tibet: Why China Built 162 Square Miles of Solar Panels on the World’s Highest Plateau https://tinyurl.com/mr2dvcpy Good illustrations!

3. I’m not sure what to make of – how seriously to take – this Gallup report on the State of the World’s Emotional Health 2025 https://www.gallup.com/analytics/349280/state-of-worlds-emotional-health.aspx

The world is on an emotional edge. Gallup World Poll data show that in 2024, 39% of adults worldwide reported worrying for much of the previous day, and more than a third said they felt stressed. Compared with a decade ago, hundreds of millions more people now experience these emotions.

Country data here https://news.gallup.com/interactives/248240/global-emotions.aspx, showing, for example, that Vietnam is the least angry country and Chad the angriest, Kosovo the least sad and Chad the saddest, Kyrgyzstan the least stressed and Rwanda the most stressed. Scroll down the page for an interactive map of the world for your own country’s results.

4. The magazine Monocle annoys me and delights me in equal measure: annoyance because of its focus on £300 T-shirts and £200 pairs of socks; delight because of the often unusual focus of its news items, like this piece on air cargo, Cathay Pacific’s cargo hub at Hong Kong International Airport is a telling insight into the state of the global economy https://monocle.com/business/aviation/cathay-pacifics-cargo-hub-at-hong-kong-international-airport/

5. And, finally, I’m a bit of a Thomas Pynchon freak. He’s just published his latest novel, Shadow Ticket, at the age of 88. Here’s the NYT review https://tinyurl.com/4haj48z7 and here’s a selection of other fun Pynchon sites and pages:

A Literary Hub piece by Devin Thomas O’Shea, Thomas Pynchon Has Been Warning Us About American Fascism the Whole Time https://lithub.com/thomas-pynchon-has-been-warning-us-about-american-fascism-the-whole-time/

The NYT’s Essential Thomas Pynchon https://tinyurl.com/y5mtjw3t

A video of Amy Hungerford lecturing at Yale on The Crying of Lot 49 https://youtu.be/3dtqt0bXb4Y?si=cGlyaA3-m-o39lf-

The Guardian ranking of all Pynchon’s books https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/18/from-v-to-vineland-and-inherent-vice-thomas-pynchons-books-ranked

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Wednesday, 8th October (Cambridge)

Posted on October 8, 2025 by roycross

1. If you answer yes to any of these questions:

  • Are you committed to the inclusion and integration of ALL your learners in schools and classrooms, regardless of their background?
  • Are you experiencing increasing numbers of children coming to school with languages other than the main language used in the school?
  • Do teachers, teacher trainers, policymakers and other colleagues involved in the education of 0–19-year-olds need to learn about new and effective, research-informed approaches to learning and teaching in increasingly multilingual classrooms in your context?

then the ECML are pretty confident that their webinar at 15:00 UK time on Thursday 16th October, Supporting multilingual classrooms,will be of interest to you! More info here https://www.ecml.at/en/Resources/Webinars and registration here https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p3zGypndQmGwRkJwz21MYA#/registration

More info on this joint EU-ECML initiative, which aims to help member states ensure access to quality education for migrant learners which will help bridge the attainment gap between these learners and non-migrant, here https://multilingualclassrooms.ecml.at/en/

2. An open-access piece from the forthcoming issue of ELTJ, ‘Did a robot write that?’: AI-generated digital storybooks by Sara Ratner, Cindy Ong, Sandra Mathers & Victoria A Murphy https://academic.oup.com/eltj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/elt/ccaf034/8266579

‘Did a robot write that?’ asked one young participant in this study. A deceptively simple question that captures the challenges raised by artificial intelligence (AI) in children’s literacy experiences. This article explores how young children and their caregivers engage with AI-generated storybooks through Let’s Story, a feature of the Applaydu app. Developed by Gameloft and Ferrero International in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Learning in Families through Technology project, Let’s Story enables families to co-create storybooks using Microsoft’s generative AI tools.

Each issue of ELTJ always has two or three open-access articles https://academic.oup.com/eltj/issue

3. The new issue of HLT (Humanising Language Teaching) is just out https://www.hltmag.co.uk/oct25/ There’s a great piece by Adrian Underhill, Meeting Mario https://www.hltmag.co.uk/oct25/meeting-mario and a review by Chang Liou of a great book (which I wish was a little more affordable, so more people could benefit from it), “Using Wisdom Stories in Language Teacher Education” by Alan Maley https://www.hltmag.co.uk/oct25/review-of-using-wisdom-stories

4. Here’s an accessible three-part series on Why are human networks important? by Valdis Krebs from the (R)E-TIES project at Rīga Stradiņš University

https://www.rsu.lv/en/news/why-are-human-networks-important-part-one

https://www.rsu.lv/en/news/why-are-human-networks-important-part-two

https://www.rsu.lv/en/news/why-are-human-networks-important-part-three

5. And, finally and linguistically, from the Institute for Arts and Ideas (IAI) website via Maja Mandekic, Language conceals reality: how words guide our choices by Nick Enfield https://iai.tv/articles/language-conceals-reality-auid-2756

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Monday, 6th October (Richmond)

Posted on October 6, 2025 by roycross

Both this week’s posts will be one day early, as I’ll be busy on Thursday with a) grandpa duties – he’s on the cusp of walking, with all the potential for mischief that brings with it – and b) a Rosa Luxemburg event!

1. UKFIET have made available recordings of the opening and closing plenaries at this year’s conference last month in Oxford, the theme of which was Mobilising knowledge, partnerships, and innovations for sustainable development through education and training:

The opening plenary was A field in crisis: reimagining education policy for challenging times, with Ahmed Kamal Junina from Al-Aqsa University, Gaza – scarcely credibly joining by Zoom from Gaza in the midst of Israeli bombardment – and Yusuf Sayed from Cambridge University https://youtu.be/dWhnN2FrN3w?si=T8VSX5yG2_6W21CN

The closing plenary was a panel discussion, introduced by Francesca Salvi and moderated by Khadijah Fancy, on Turning disruption  into direction, and responsibility into opportunity with Laura Savage, Hussien Mohammed Omar, Folake Olatunji-David & Judith Herbertson, as panellists. https://youtu.be/9Cd-Rrd2Fv4?si=8kr_9hD7MsivSRBj

2. Another nice idea from UKFIET, especially if you weren’t able to attend, and new this year (I think) is a series of ‘conference-follow-up’ webinars, one on each conference theme. More info and registration here https://www.ukfiet.org/2025/ukfiet-conference-webinar-series-in-october-2025/ The first two webinars are this Wednesday at 13:00 (Learner safety and wellbeing) and 15:00 (Climate and environmental justice) UK time.

3. Persuasion describes itself as a publication and community for everyone who shares three basic convictions:

  • We seek to build a free society in which all individuals get to pursue a meaningful life irrespective of who they are.
  • We believe in the importance of the social practice of persuasion, and are determined to defend free speech and free inquiry against all its enemies.
  • We seek to persuade, rather than to mock or troll, those who disagree with us.

In the past years, the political and intellectual energy has been with illiberal movements. Too often, the advocates of free speech and free institutions have been passive, even fatalistic. It is high time for those of us who believe in these enduring ideals to stand up for our convictions.

Here’s a recent piece for Persuasion by Anastasia Lebedenko, When the Russians Cut Off Mom’s Water Supply: in Ukraine, monsters are still under the bed  https://www.persuasion.community/p/ukraines-unending-agony

4. Here in the UK, the Labour government’s difficulties seem never-ending. According to Ipsos, Reform UK leads by 12 pts over Labour and both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have hit historic low satisfaction ratings, with Keir Starmer’s rating the lowest recorded by Ipsos since they started in 1977 https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/reform-uk-leads-12-pts-over-labour-both-pm-and-chancellor-hit-historic-low-satisfaction-ratings

5. And, finally and poetically, all you need to know about this year’s T S Eliot Poetry Prize and the poets shortlisted https://tseliot.com/prize/prize-year/the-t-s-eliot-prize-2025/ They’ll be adding lots of learning resources (a.k.a. interesting stuff) over the coming weeks.

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Thursday, 2nd October (Cambridge)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by roycross

1. It was National Poetry Day here in the UK today. There’s a good website with a wide range of classroom activities (and much more besides) https://forwardartsfoundation.org/national-poetry-day/poems-and-resources/

2. High Quality Research Rarely Informs Classroom Practice. Why? is a piece for Education Week by Thomas S. Dee from Stanford Universityhttps://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-high-quality-research-rarely-informs-classroom-practice-why/2025/09 He’s talking about education in the USA but the scenario he describes, the disjunct between research and practice, is pretty much global.

When a firm and practice-relevant research consensus actually does exist, it frequently fails to influence education policy and practice. The ongoing contentiousness around how to teach reading provides a key illustration of this dysfunctional dynamic. In 2000, the National Reading Panel articulated an evidence-based consensus on reading instruction that, among other things, underscored the importance of promoting phonemic awareness and phonics among early readers as they learn to identify unfamiliar words. However, an EdWeek Research Center survey conducted nearly 20 years later found that a large majority of K-2 teachers—75 percent—instead encourage early readers to identify unfamiliar words using various contextual clues.

3. Here’s an open-access piece from Taylor & Francis on the use of AI in higher education, How does artificial intelligence compare to human feedback? A meta-analysis of performance, feedback perception, and learning dispositions by Rogers Kaliisa, Kamila Misiejuk, Sonsoles López-Pernas & Mohammed Saqr https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01443410.2025.2553639

Feedback as a tool to support learning has received significant attention in education. Hattie and Timperley (2007) define feedback as information an agent (e.g. teacher, peer, book, parent) provides regarding one’s performance or understanding. This information aims to bridge the gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood, guiding students towards achieving specific learning goals. Studies have shown that delivering feedback appropriately and promptly can improve students’ learning experiences and outcomes (Hattie & Timperley, ibid). However, with increasing enrolments in online and face-to-face learning environments, providing timely and appropriate feedback to large cohorts of students becomes difficult, if not impossible, for teachers or peers. Where teachers and students use educational technologies, automated and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted feedback systems powered by advanced techniques offer the potential to provide timely, personalised, and data-driven feedback to students, allowing for timely interventions and corrections. Such real-time responsiveness can enhance the learning experience, as students are provided with actionable assessments that can be immediately incorporated into their study strategies (González-Calatayud et al., 2021). PDF below.

How does artificial intelligence compare to human feedback A meta-analysis of performance feedback perception and learning dispositionsDownload

4. Two recent posts by Ethan Mollick on his blog, One Useful Thing

1. Real AI Agents and Real Work https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/real-ai-agents-and-real-work

AIs have quietly crossed a threshold: they can now perform real, economically relevant work. Last week, OpenAI released a new test of AI ability, but this one differs from the usual benchmarks built around math or trivia. For this test, OpenAI gathered experts with an average of 14 years of experience in industries ranging from finance to law to retail and had them design realistic tasks that would take human experts an average of four to seven hours to complete (you can see all the tasks here). OpenAI then had both AI and other experts do the tasks themselves. A third group of experts graded the results, not knowing which answers came from the AI and which from the human, a process which took about an hour per question.

2. On Working with Wizards: verifying magic on the jagged frontier https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/on-working-with-wizards

In my book, ‘Co-Intelligence’, I outlined a way that people could work with AI, which was, rather unsurprisingly, as a co-intelligence. Teamed with a chatbot, humans could use AI as a sort of intern or co-worker, correcting its errors, checking its work, co-developing ideas, and guiding it in the right direction. Over the past few weeks, I have come to believe that co-intelligence is still important but that the nature of AI is starting to point in a different direction. We’re moving from partners to audience, from collaboration to conjuring.

5. And, finally and in the interests of longevity, more yogurt is what we all need! https://theconversation.com/what-the-gut-microbiome-of-the-worlds-oldest-person-can-tell-us-about-ageing-266161

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Tuesday, 30th September (Richmond)

Posted on September 30, 2025 by roycross

Blog version: https://roycross.blog/

1. Richard Watson Todd writes an enjoyable and enjoyably opinionated blog called The Grumpy Old Academic https://grumpy.hcommons.org/ He’s only that grumpy in real life with people who submit the articles they’ve promised him very late, though.

The Grumpy Old Academic is a personal opinion blog focusing on issues in research dissemination, especially in applied linguistics, the field in which I do most of my research. As I approach the end of my career and look back on the changes in the last 30 years, it’s a mixed bag. But as a grumpy old academic, I feel obliged to engage in nostalgia and highlight what we’ve lost and what used to be better in the glory days of my early research career, always hoping that my reminiscences provoke debate.

2. The Polish NILE 30@30 event took place in Lublin last Saturday, organised by Malgosia Tetiurka. Excellent ‘sketch summaries’ were made of four of the sessions – those given by Luda Kotarska, Magdalena Sowa (in Polish), Jamie Keddie & Russell Stannard – by Agnieszka Jachymek from eduNOTATKI which I reckon make sense even if you weren’t there (maybe not the Polish one). JPGs below. Ludka’s includes a useful guide to generation nomenclature!

Ludka KotarskaDownload
Magdalena SowaDownload
Jamie KeddieDownload
Russell StannardDownload

3. An interesting recent piece on The limits of AI in social change by Gautam John on the India Development Review (IDR) website exploring the trade-off between AI efficiency and the human alternative https://idronline.org/article/technology/the-limits-of-ai-in-social-change/

More actors—from grant making to service delivery—are exploring the use of AI. However, the excitement around scale and efficiency often overshadows a critical question: What does it mean to bring machine-generated abstraction into systems built on trust, context, and relationship?

In systems of social change, we grapple with an enduring tension: connection versus abstraction. Connection is slow, human, and relational. It thrives on trust, listening, and collaboration. Abstraction, on the other hand, simplifies complexity into patterns, insights, and models. It is fast, scalable, and efficient. Both serve a purpose, but they pull in opposite directions.

4. Here’s the slides from Nik Peachey’s recent webinar, AI for Critical Thinking https://view.genially.com/68a59e52b7ec5c7d0c447f08

One of the most common criticisms of generative AI concerns its potential negative impact on students’ critical thinking skills. However, this perspective is not shared by everyone. Some educators have found that, when used thoughtfully, AI can actually enhance opportunities for critical thinking rather than diminish them. Like any tool, its impact depends on how it is applied — it can either foster meaningful learning experiences or undermine them. This webinar will present a range of practical approaches to using generative AI in ways that support the development of critical thinking and reflection skills — both for educators and for their students. Participants are encouraged to attend with an open mind and a willingness to engage critically.

5. And, finally and not at all breathlessly, Dizzy Gillespie’s cheeks. Watch out for them in this video of his biggest hit, Manteca, composed in collaboration with Cuban percussionist and composer Chano Pozo https://youtu.be/A5tRGMHfKrE

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Thursday, 25th September (Cambridge)

Posted on September 25, 2025 by roycross

1. First up today, Familiar Strangers, an ambitious post by Jamie Keddie on his LessonStream blog, “in which (says Jamie), with the help of three videos, I want to explore how media shapes the way we see each other and challenge the lazy idea that the political right are simply stupid”. https://www.lessonstream.com/newsletters/lessonstream-blog/posts/familar-strangers

2. Here’s a typically useful video from Russell Stannard, CHATGPT for Language Teachers & Students: Practical Ideas. “In this video (says Russell) I develop some more advanced ways of practising speaking with ChatGPT to practise language learning.”https://youtu.be/ItF96l_64dw

3. It’s a long time since I was a teenager, but I don’t remember needing extra sleep  – which might have been a function of boarding school life where each minute of your day each day was accounted for, I guess. Here’s a piece from BOLD, How schools can adapt to teens’ sleep rhythms  https://boldscience.org/how-schools-can-adapt-to-teens-sleep-rhythms/

During adolescence, a lot is going on: hormonally, emotionally, socially. It’s a phase filled with challenges and changes, which is why sleep is absolutely crucial. The teenage brain needs to rest and process what’s going on. Despite needing more sleep at this stage of life, many teenagers don’t get enough. They have to wake up early for school, which often prevents them from getting the recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.

4. Provoke with Describe image is the slightly cryptic title of the next Pearson webinar, with Kamil Petryk, at 16:00 UK time next Tuesday, 30th September https://pearson.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nEwY9Pv2TumKYPkrFwIUMg#/registration

This session encourages teachers to think creatively, discover innovative techniques, and embrace non-traditional study methods. Through analyzing images, you will learn how to enable students to create vivid descriptions and communicate complex ideas effectively. Our experts will lead engaging activities and thought-provoking exercises that push the limits of traditional learning.

5. And, finally, a piece for Engelsberg Ideas by Muriel Zagha, The pen that became a symbol of France https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-pen-that-became-a-symbol-of-france/ Do you know which pen that is? We all had one in our pencil case at school, as I remember.

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Tuesday, 23rd September (Richmond)

Posted on September 23, 2025 by roycross

Later back at my desk than promised, as re-entry into UK atmosphere took longer than anticipated!

1. A trenchant piece from University World News by Katy Sian, Decolonisation means no longer being silent on Palestine https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20250903102212352

(…) in adopting the language of decolonisation while refusing to confront its political demands, universities turn critique into a form of institutional self-validation. The very discourse meant to challenge power is reworked into evidence of the university’s progressive credentials. The sharp limits of this dynamic are revealed when universities are confronted with Palestine. If decolonisation is to mean the dismantling of colonial structures in both their historical and contemporary forms, then the ongoing dispossession of Palestinians represents one of the most urgent contemporary sites of struggle.

2. Donald Trump gave a typically trenchant speech to the UN earlier today, having made a statement on paracetamol and the MMR vaccine yesterday with which few doctors agree. Americans have 400 days to save their democracy said Timothy Garton Ash in The Guardian last Tuesday https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/16/us-americans-republic-midterm-elections-democrats

I return to Europe from the US with a clear conclusion: American democrats (lowercase d) have 400 days to start saving US democracy. If next autumn’s midterm elections produce a Congress that begins to constrain Donald Trump there will then be a further 700 days to prepare the peaceful transfer of executive power that alone will secure the future of this republic. Operation Save US Democracy, stages 1 and 2.

Hysterical hyperbole? I would love to think so. But during seven weeks in the US this summer, I was shaken every day by the speed and executive brutality of President Trump’s assault on what had seemed settled norms of US democracy and by the desperate weakness of resistance to that assault. There’s a growing body of international evidence to suggest that once a liberal democracy has been eroded, it’s very difficult to restore it. Destruction is so much easier than construction.

3. Are we losing our civil liberties? is the title of a recent Prospect podcast with Conor Gearty, the Professor of Human Rights Law at the LSE who died surprisingly early last week, dealing with among other subjects the UK government’s recent banning of Palestine Action https://open.spotify.com/episode/27xXOihobhafuNpfFNhoL8

Here’s his obituary in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/sep/18/conor-gearty-obituary – no obituary in The Daily Telegraph, less sympathetic to Gearty’s views, as yet – and here’s his entertaining (and serious in intent) 2014 Sir David Williams lecture at Cambridge University, ‘Not in the Public Interest’  https://youtu.be/erVF82f9vMM

4. Two pieces from The Guardian on the changing landscape in Higher Education:

The first, on a film, The Shadow Scholars, about the essay-writing industry in Kenya and the talented young people that work in it, Inside the world of Kenya’s ‘shadow scholars’ paid to write essays for UK students https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/sep/14/kenya-shadow-scholars-paid-to-write-essays-for-uk-students

There is a secret industry that generates billions of dollars a year. Its workers are bright, industrious and completely anonymous. Their job is writing essays to order for students – in the UK and elsewhere – to help them get good degrees. These are “shadow scholars”, highly educated Kenyans who earn a living by working for essay mills. They are contracted to ghostwrite essays, PhD dissertations and other academic papers for students across the world, who pay a fee then pass off the work as their own.

Here’s a SKY News item on the film https://youtu.be/x3ZTkPT69ng

The second, a letter by two professors from York University, Leo McCann & Simon Sweeney How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/16/how-ai-is-undermining-learning-and-teaching-in-universities

In many degree programmes, Large Language Models have little to no practical value. Their use sabotages and degrades students’ learning and undermines critical analysis and creativity. If we are to make better sense of the impact of AI on work, education and everyday life, we need to be more sceptical and less celebratory.

5. And finally, with acknowledgement to OLDaily, a piece from Open Culture, A 107-Year-Old Irish Farmer Reflects on the Changes He’s Seen During His Life (1965) https://www.openculture.com/2025/09/a-107-year-old-irish-farmer-reflects-on-the-changes-hes-seen-during-his-life-1965.html

Born in Ireland in 1858, Michael Fitzpatrick was interviewed on television 107 years later in 1965. That device (the television) was well on its way to saturating Western society at the time, as the automobile already had, while mankind was taking to the skies in jetliners and even to the stars in rocket ships. The contrast between the world into which Fitzpatrick was born and the one in which he eventually found himself is made starker by his being a son of the land. A lifelong farmer, he can honestly reply, when asked to name the biggest change he’s seen, “Machinery.”

There’s subtitles on the interview just in case you need them!

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