10 days till a summer break in Suffolk and I am dragging myself to that finish line. Year-end to sort before then along with some more Autumn conference prep, a couple of London trips, a couple of Manchester trips, an exec planning meeting and board member shortlisting.

As the panic for a for and strong midfielder grows for ITFC I’m increasingly pissed off we didn’t take Cajuste. He knows the club, has prem experience, would have cost far less than alternatives we are now looking at. Let’s go back now and snap him up.

Booked a New Year trip to Vienna for me and my daughter. Her first time in Austria since we got her citizenship sorted.

I hear there is a vacancy for King of The North so here I am Manchester…

Tomorrows 10.30 meeting with DSIT should be interesting…..

The moment captured as the King of the North appoints Charles the King of the South.

I wonder if we might need a couple of outfield player to accompany our team bus full of keepers next season? #ITFC

I got arrested for playing Engelbert Humperdinck records at full blast all night. Police released me…let me go.

Very good first half from England and we are holding our discipline and calm far better than Argentina so far. I’ve spent all day saying that I think the team that wins will be the ones who keep their head and do rise to the bait from the opposition.

This country spends far too much time debating rules for toilets and whether we have to let racist hate peddler’s come and lecture us. We should spend more time thinking about health, poverty and homelessness.

Hi FIFA, can you confirm who we need to know or pay in order to get Quansah’s red card written off please. Thanks.

Jeepers I did the right thing staying up for this. It’s a cracker of a game.

I’m not a big Gordon fan but he’s had a good start to this game. Pace is fast and both teams look physical but Gordon not phased. And how, 1 -0 up!

I’m pretty sure that, as someone who works in Manchester at least once a week, calls the last meal of the day ‘tea’, lives closer to Newcastle than London and rarely wears a coat I’m a top candidate for the next Cabinet.

I’m not suggesting I take ALL the credit but I missed the first 70 minutes of the England game because I was at a round table with @wonkhe.bsky.social It was 5 mins after I turned on the TV England started to take the game to DR Congo.

As I (& everyone in UK HE) thinks about the Burnham devolution agenda + how his ambitions for education might sit within that I’m increasingly reflecting on my Canadian trip last month and the effect of the provinces on education. I may well be paging @alexusherhesa.bsky.social in the coming weeks….

Big fan of @michaelsalmon0.bsky.social @wonkhe.bsky.social daily briefing heading ‘Pro devolution soccer’.

I really like the white Japan kit with the coloured pinstripes.

An awful lot of the idiots who insist on filming people with phones being their right also, in a somewhat contradictory quirk, also insist on wearing face masks themselves while sticking their camera in other people’s face.

I’m at a university in Canada and have found the campus dentist. If a UK institution could establish a campus dentists it would be a huge hit.

New ITFC signing is apparently a strong Northern Number 10 with good leadership skills and better on his left.

Have Belgium ever met (never mind exceeded) expectations? The quality of players they have should secure them some good scalps in major tournaments but they seem to continually fail to deliver.

Newfoundland has been an absolute dream. What a discovery. Beautiful coast line, lovely people, whales, walks, sour beers, quirky place names, good coffee, fantastic wildlife. I’m very determined to come back with more time in future. Now Guelph.

Really good to catch up With @alexusherhesa.bsky.social for a drink and to compare notes on the world around us. Hope we can get you over to the UK soon.

We didn’t deserve two chances but we will take them!

I’m at the fab CAUBO conference and the brilliant @alexusherhesa.bsky.social session resonated lots with me and my UK perspective. My key take aways: 1) the rationale for transformation goes way beyond efficiency and has to respond to higher opportunities and challenges AND

The people who angrily claim they ‘want Britain back to how it used to be when they were a kid’ are exactly the same people who are spitting venom at the idea there might be some controls and restrictions applied to unvetted expansion of social media into children’s lives by the tech bro’s.

Imagine working for a think tank with a group of people who benefitted significantly from university & writing a policy paper on the value of a university degree that concludes university is not worth attending & future generations should have less opportunity to enjoy benefits the authors enjoyed.

I came all this way trying to find a total landscaping service…..

I’m in Toronto. a very pleasant lady in a FIFA tracksuit was helping footy fans navigate from the airport to the City. I’m not here for the footy but thought I’d strike up conversation. ‘Are there any tickets left for Canada’s opening game on Friday?’ I asked. ‘Wheres it being played?’ She asked.