Posts by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
(DIR) Post #B2eWdgWXTPwnhUrv04 by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-25T10:15:49Z
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@h4890 they already do, but this has led a to a range of problems, not least dissatisfaction among the hired staff about two tier employment (seeing their working conditions as significantly worse than 'established' academics) but all drawn from the same pool of people who have completed a PhD (or in the case of some first year teaching, those who are undertaking a PhD)
(DIR) Post #B2eXDxcfNUAJ9m24I4 by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-25T10:19:57Z
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@h4890 Again, this is already sort of the case with the 'consulting pool' often presented with the model that the hourly paid work is a right of passage to the preferred group - the issue is that 'pipeline' has broken down leaving the hourly paid not just envious but angry about career related deception
(DIR) Post #B2erhbmh8P2rCI8aie by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-25T10:00:04Z
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Perhaps the most important Q. for those reflecting on what is happening in the USA (both *in* the USA & abroad) right now is this:Does the rule of President Trump represent an aberration which can be 'corrected' via democratic means, or is this just normal US politics with the mask wilfully removed & as such notable only because its now less hidden in the shadows?#USPol #politics #Trump #USA
(DIR) Post #B2guSM0SCeim65uXJI by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-26T18:22:00Z
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The Gorton & Denton by-election will be in a month's time as Labour has moved on the writ for it quickly....possibly to try to shut-down debates about Andy Burham's (now blocked) candidacy.While, Reform seem to be the party Labour are focussing on, this may be the perfect chance for the Greens to capitalise on Zack Polanski's raised profile & recent pronouncements. By looking to the Right, Labour may find they are missing the real challenge? We will find out in 4 weeks!#Politics #greens
(DIR) Post #B2joo9p6ADjEQqUbtA by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-27T18:35:46Z
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There's no such thing as a free lunch... and so the Q. will of course be: what is Meta getting for the £1m in support to fund AI specialists helping the Govt. integrate AI into defence & other functions?There's been a lot of discussion here about the dependence of Europe (including the UK) on US Big Tech firms... and here we have just one more example of the sort of trojan horse thinking that patterns that dependence...#BigTech #politics https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/27/uk-ministers-accept-1m-from-meta-amid-social-media-ban-consultation
(DIR) Post #B2jpUwKgCIlL2lfHIu by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-27T12:12:56Z
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One of the problems about to confront ReformUK Ltd is the five senior Tories who have defected to Nigel Farage's corporation masquerading as a political party, is while they may claim they can do a better job for voters than the Tories, actually all five, as the Bear points out were not rebels in the party but part of various Tory cabinets that, if you are making that claim, 'broke Britain'!Whether the UK's press will remind voters of that is another issue.#politics https://www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/britain-is-broken-no-one-knows-how
(DIR) Post #B2jprPehr7TiMGkRPs by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-28T06:22:09Z
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How would Europe cope with a departure of the US from NATO?As Carlo Masala (BundeswehrU, Munich) argues, fully substituting for the US capabilities in NATO may be the wrong immediate objective; 'It’s not about being as good as the US, which will take us 15 years or even longer. It is just being better than the Russians'!Framed like this, while the US leaving NATO would be undoubtedly difficult, the immediate problem(s) may be a little less daunting?#NATO #security #EU h/t FT
(DIR) Post #B2jq65H5uhITUYhQx6 by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-27T21:13:54Z
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For those of you worried about the exposure of the UK state to the activities & money of Palantir, here's a diagram from The Nerve that is going to do nothing to reassure you at all....For more details see the investigation published today by The Nerve.#politics #Palantir https://www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-technologies-uk-government-contracts-size-nuclear-deterrent-atomic-peter-thiel-louis-mosley
(DIR) Post #B2jv1zJKe2Ltbjc1a4 by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-28T09:38:11Z
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@h4890 Ha ha, well you're more optimistic than I am about their capabilities, but we'll end out soon enough
(DIR) Post #B2jvGOi10nhYQt1qXA by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-28T09:40:23Z
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@h4890 Yes, this issue of population (scale) has come up a couple of time this morning, so I think you're right its not so much a resource availability issue as a question of political will & that may well be hardening quite quickly in light of the change in the global security environment
(DIR) Post #B2m1ZBI86t66MWBGxE by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-29T06:18:35Z
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I like this graphic from Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa NZ which concisely sets out the difference between the Economic Man of economic theory (who economists spend a lot of time try to figure out how to make us all into) & the more subtle, socially engaged people most of us actually are (who economics has considerable difficulty understanding & modelling)....Its a simple lesson in why economics is less a science & more a set of (albeit) complex opinions!#economics #politics
(DIR) Post #B2mI8bTeLHjmyhTvge by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-29T13:03:15Z
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@Saorsa err... not sure I was doing that?
(DIR) Post #B2mIWobLCOl2dDclZA by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-29T13:09:30Z
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@Saorsa Aha, apologies; my wrong inference...
(DIR) Post #B2mXDP6vFNBfNsb9qi by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-29T09:29:42Z
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For those of you looking across the Atlantic & thinking at least what's happening with ICE in Minnesota couldn't happen here.... think again.This is exactly what Reform UK Ltd (Nigel Farage's company masquerading as a political party) *is* planning - and as so often the Fascists are quite open about what they intend.Moreover, lacking the sort of constitutional restraints (unevenly) available in the US, the danger of ICE-like action(s) here is worse!#politics https://www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/reader-contribution-uk-deportation
(DIR) Post #B2ntXtl3P33MNOVUvI by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-30T06:52:33Z
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Ageism compounds sexism in the retention of TV presenters over 60 at the BBC... and one can safely assume such trends are broadly similar elsewhere in broadcasting.Older (white) men are seen as gaining authority & wisdom, while older women are judged on how 'youthful' they remain.Its a sad state of affairs that this remains the case well in to C21st!#TV #sexism #ageism #politics https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/30/older-women-disappear-from-bbc-presenting-roles-internal-review-finds
(DIR) Post #B2ntqlwWgPQJdmsBF2 by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-30T06:32:59Z
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There's a growing suspicion that even where managers & employers have not formally adopted a four day week, the incidence of slack Fridays is growing across the workforce... measured by footfall in retail & use of leisure facilities, there are a growing number who do not seem to be at work *all* Friday.The flexibility of working from home has enhanced the self-management of the working week for many.As so often rubbish managers are confronted with organic resistance - good!#workers h/t FT
(DIR) Post #B2ntzuhZUHMXPbEk9Q by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-30T06:16:19Z
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Is academia a family business?John Dorsch concludes that:• Over 50% of tenure-track faculty have at least one parent with a graduate degree (master's or PhD).• About 22% have a parent with a PhD.• Faculty are up to 25× more likely than the general population to have a PhD-holding parent, • At elite institutions, that figure rises to roughly 50 times higher.While this is based on US survey data my guess is the rough magnitudes would hold for the UK too#universities #inequality
(DIR) Post #B2nxhkGfwOwtekFTcm by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-30T08:27:03Z
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@h4890 ha ha, yes I like the last point; on the first point, I think the difficulty is different standards being applied to me & women as they age
(DIR) Post #B2nxr0tVUh4TpOpaqG by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-30T08:28:44Z
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@h4890 Its an interesting issue; as you suggest nowadays it does look odd to be trying to mandate a four day working week when actually organically its happening... but historically, left to its own devices capitalism has a tendency to abuse workers, in the C19th countered by the collective organisation of labour (now in decline, perhaps for some seen as less needed)
(DIR) Post #B2ocxo0Tu7L80QS0a8 by ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
2026-01-30T16:09:21Z
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@h4890 Its a good Q.; the happy medium is unlikely t be the same for everyone, but I think it likely that an absence of meaningful work is not what people necessarily want - they want work the balances with the rest of their life well *and* is 'meaningful' for the most part