Andy Smart
@andysmart.bsky.social
Getting educated about education, some publishing about publishing, a lot of reading about reading, co-founder of NISSEM.org, vice-president of IARTEM.org ... https://nissem.org/blog/adjusting-the-flag-and-baring-the-soul/2841/
NDAs can silence victims of abuse & harassment. Let's change this! Sign the petition to ensure the Employment Rights Bill bans NDAs in cases of misconduct. #StopAbusiveNDAs #EmploymentRightsBill you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...
Stop employers covering up abuse
Hey! Do you remember the Harvey Weinstein case? Non Disclosure Agreements silenced victims of abuse - and it's not just happening in Hollywood. They're used in the UK to cover up all kinds of miscondu...
you.38degrees.org.uk
How could a slavery scandal involving the President of the United States be worse than we thought? This extremely long, extremely detailed, and fully sourced PROOF report explains. This—not the tariff war—is the most important story in America right now. I hope you will consider checking it out.
The Trump-El Salvador Scandal Deepens
As President Trump prepares to fête brutal far-right El Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele in DC on April 14, the scandal involving a vile new international slave trade between the two men is growing.
sethabramson.substack.com
"Building an automated tool to profile people as violent criminals is deeply wrong, and using such sensitive data on mental health, addiction and disability is highly intrusive and alarming.” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill
Exclusive: Algorithms allegedly being used to study data of thousands of people, in project critics say is ‘chilling and dystopian’
theguardian.com
Private companies are polluting our rivers, hiking up bills, and failing to deliver. 82% of us want public ownership – let’s make it happen. If you're in the UK please sign the open letter... 👉 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pu...
Put Public Ownership of Water Back on the Table
Privatisation of water isn’t failing - it is the failure. The Government is mid-way through a major review of the water sector. But so far, it has refused to consider a potential solution that’s backe...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Private companies are polluting our rivers, hiking up bills, and failing to deliver. 82% of us want public ownership – let’s make it happen! Please sign the open letter! 👉 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pu...
Put Public Ownership of Water Back on the Table
Privatisation of water isn’t failing - it is the failure. The Government is mid-way through a major review of the water sector. But so far, it has refused to consider a potential solution that’s backe...
you.38degrees.org.uk
This is outrageous. 'Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said: “No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.' I am sickened to read this.
Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House
Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.
quaker.org.uk
Don't listen before bed to this @newyorker.com interview with Gil Duran on "right-wing Silicon Valley technologists who want to use A.I. and cryptocurrency to unmake the federal government". But listen. www.newyorker.com/podcast/poli...
Hello new followers, so sorry I nearly caught up& now I’m losing it again. I’m busy getting my final draft of the sequel to On Time finished alongside other projects; really proud of this one with @aaronearlyyears.bsky.social & @ruthswailes.bsky.social. It’ll be free to access online from 18 March
Disinformation/information operations? Definitely --- [DECODED] How online supporters made a victim of Duterte after ICC arrest www.rappler.com/technology/d... via @rapplerdotcom
[DECODED] How online supporters made a victim of Duterte after ICC arrest
Through boosted content and entertainment networks, supporters of the former president try to manipulate opinion about his detention at The Hague
rappler.com
NEW 🧵 Is human intelligence starting to decline? Recent results from major international tests show that the average person’s capacity to process information, use reasoning and solve novel problems has been falling since around the mid 2010s What should we make of this? www.ft.com/content/a801...
‘When we bask in the comfort and camaraderie of old friends, we’re feeling the product of 6 million years of evolution.’ Personal autonomy is abundant in the modern world. As a result, many of us get what we want but not what we need.
For a happier life, we must balance two old psychological needs | Psyche Ideas
Personal autonomy is abundant in the modern world. As a result, many of us get what we want but not what we need
buff.ly
"And yet. And yet. Behaviorism and behavioral engineering are still everywhere, particularly in computing – and even, for all the talk about its modeling of "the mind," in artificial intelligence." @audreywatters.bsky.social 2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/agents-versu...
Agents versus Agency
There's an argument I make in Teaching Machines that I'd like to repeat here – a setup to this first of many essays in which I work through some ideas about AI, agents, and agency: In 1971 the psycho...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com
"Literacy and numeracy are essential, but so too is the ability to process trauma, build relationships, and develop resilience." world-education-blog.org/2025/03/03/e...
Education as a lifeline: How foundational learning and SEL empower children in crisis - World Education Blog
When nine-year-old Nahom and his family finally arrived in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, they were physically and emotionally exhausted. They had fled their home amid violent confl...
world-education-blog.org
Williams says she wants all pupils to be able to make choices, to ask questions and have an opinion, and the oracy project empowers them to do that. “The statistics about the literacy levels of young offenders are real.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Inside the London reception class where kids are taught to talk to help them stay out of gangs
A new initiative aims to improve communication, as as pupils lacking speech and language skills more likely to be excluded and caught up in violence
theguardian.com
Please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...
Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts
Sir Keir Starmer is pushing plans we defeated under the Conservative Government - to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of dealing with welfare fraud and error. It will force banks to fla...
you.38degrees.org.uk
"The problem we seem to be facing is not a whole generation of autocratic young people but a complex question answered quickly in online polls and hugely overinterpreted in subsequent reporting." theconversation.com/only-6-of-ge...
Only 6% of gen Z actually favour dictatorship – not half, as some reports would have you believe
Gen Z don’t hate democracy, they have a problem with the way it is being delivered.
theconversation.com
What a wonderful conversation about curriculum, compassion, curiosity and creativity. soundcloud.com/rethinking-e...
Debra Kidd, Tina Farr and Clare Whyles on how to cultivate hope, joy and belonging
In this episode - our first rodeo as co-hosts - we are joined by Dr Debra Kidd, the author of A Curriculum of Hope, and by Tina Farr and Clare Whyles, the headteacher and deputy head of St. Ebbe’s Pri
soundcloud.com
The measles outbreak in Texas is reminding me of the public letter Roald Dahl wrote about losing his daughter to measles in 1962, just before the vaccine was publicly available.
"this is a government of the radicalised online right, for the radicalised online right, by the radicalised online right"
Lewis Goodall@lewisgoodall.com · 2y agoHave written about JD Vance’s Munich speech. In what may prove to be the biggest week for European security since 1991, it’s time Europe listened to what Trump and his Vice President are telling us. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
"I haven’t encountered a single application that hasn’t requested psychometric testing”
Greg Barradale@gregbarradale.bsky.social · 2y agoEXC: How UK's biggest companies lock autistic people out of jobs with personality tests ➡️Morrison's, John Lewis, McDonald's, Co-op +more using tests ➡️"I just don't stand a chance" say autistic jobseekers, as charities tell @bigissue.com tests may be discriminatory www.bigissue.com/news/employm...
I am not a legal specialist at all but this seems a powerfully argued article with concrete suggestions for systemic improvements theconversation.com/lucy-letby-c...
Lucy Letby case: the problems with expert evidence
As an expert in both criminal and medical law, I am concerned with how prosecution teams gather expert evidence in these cases.
theconversation.com
As a children's writer this is a v interesting read. I'd love more longform discussion of children's books - this piece feels like it needs a follow up about contemp children's books now if anyone wants to commission one! #KidLitUK
London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 2y ago‘Those who write for children have the chance to point them towards beauty that they do not yet know exists: towards versions of joy that they have not yet imagined possible.’ Katherine Rundell on the challenges and opportunities of children’s literature: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Great piece: "It seems like common sense that mental health has gone down as tech use has gone up. But it just isn’t scientific."
Ali Messer@freereed59.net · 2y agowww.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle... spoiler, probably not. Interesting article despite headline. (What is it with Guardian headlines?)
"Children might sometimes do very bad and stupid things, but they are not so stupid that they can’t see they live in a country where the gulf in opportunities is quite staggering." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
No, the kids are really not all right. Honestly, can you blame them? | Marina Hyde
From gen Z yearning for a ‘strong leader’ to children being swept up in riots, the portents aren’t great, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
theguardian.com
Critical messages need to offer hope. "Many decision makers might not be open to hearing about bad news."
Neil Selwyn@neilselwyn.bsky.social · 2y agoWhat do policymakers & decision makers want from academic ed-tech research? I had a great chat with Cristóbal Cobo about the types of evidence that get most attention in policy circles, and some approaches that can help critical researchers get the message through! www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/epis...
