Some notes by little me on recent, hugely damaging, shamefully shameless events at Cambridge University. rorywaterman.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-cambridge-debacle If you read only one article about what has happened, try the new piece by Lanre Bakare in the Guardian, linked in my blog post.

Notes on a Cambridge Debacle

I’ve written this very hastily, but there are a few things I’d like to get off my chest and the situation seems to be evolving quickly. Pleze ekscus eny leters getin in the rong plaices etc.

rorywaterman.substack.com

This is a very good, balanced - and extraordinary - piece; worth reading in full.

Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor

Jason Arday was regarded as an academic superstar, but then questions about his work prompted scrutiny of his backstory and counterclaims of racism

theguardian.com

'Primrose Hill' by John Duffin johnduffin.co.uk

Innovation ys not just tech. For a bettir future we need poetrye, creativitye, historical studye, love of languages, dreames, dialogues, new storyes, & intellectual curiositye. We must fund & expand higher educacioun yn HEART: H umanityes E thiques A rtes R hetorique & the crafte of T eaching

"It hurts to lose a job you love" Says the person who presided over the loss of 20000+ jobs in Higher Education & did nothing www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotion

Exclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities

theguardian.com

Righte now the greatest danger to the future of universityes ys universityes. Remembir the missioun, remembir the studentes, remembir those who have come bifor and will arryve aftir, remembir teachinge and learninge and dialogue. A universitye ys much more than a corporation wearinge a mortarboard.

There’s only one real way to avoid AI-generated problems in your research and writing. Don’t use AI. Even then you’re not completely secure, as people whose work you cite might have used it but the way you cite them should be accurate enough to cover that. It really is best to avoid AI completely.

aahhhhhhhhhhh can't we have anything, can't we do anything right www.theguardian.com/environment/...

👇

Chris Grey@chrisgrey.bsky.social · last wk.

It's depressing that when humans created AI they did so in the form of a sycophantic, over-confident, know-all who is prone to lying, fakes sincerity, presumes a friendship that doesn't exist, and never willingly stops talking.

😉😂

Chaucer Doth Tweet@levostregc.bsky.social · last wk.

Thinkinge of askinge Chat GPT a questioun about your plannes, thoughtes, ideas? Trye a tarot deck ynstead. Cheaper, bettir for the environment, bettir resultes, not evil.

Yes, this is right. It will also need nurses, carers, business managers, customer relationship managers, teachers, public service administrators. In fact, the relational economy is where the big growth *and* volume of work will be. We need to be more comfortable in the skin of a service economy.

Countries with PR tend to have much higher voter turnout. In Germany in 2025 it hit 82.5%. UK in 2024 was 59.7%

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Peace and Plenty binding up the arrows of war. Optimistic allegory from 1614 (a time of great optimism in Antwerp!) by my colleague Abraham Janssens. It's his day today.

give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous;

I dust my house. My AI Robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."

Ideologically, generative AI is a 19th century technology: the flawed dream that once you have assembled a supposedly total archive of culture via technical media, you can use it to statistically derive new meaning from patterns of the past

If you hoard those cables for long enough …

Top tip for Students: if you are accused of using AI, do not use ChatGPT to write the explanation as to why you didn't.

Telegraph and Times used to make a HUGE deal about Blair possibly converting to Catholicism. Shows how times have changed when Burnham becomes the UK'S first Catholic PM and nobody bats an eyelid. Some belated progress.

The Ed Miliband early 2010s producers vs predators framing probably did more harm than good. But I 100% think the government should not be neutral on business models. There are business models you want to encourage and those you want to lean against.

Ich hadde an Odyssey joke but it got turned arounde

It could have come home but we didn’t build enough houses.

“Brian got some hair gel and now he thinks he’s a f***ing unicorn.”

we do not neede no Gen A.I. tooles we do not neede no thoughte control

The Mail on Burnham becoming PM without a general election vs. when Tories do it: 🤯

I told someone last week that I disapproved of electric fans and was laughed at. It really isn't funny.

Britons to buy 8m mini fans this year – but almost half will end up in landfill

Shoppers urged to seek quality products or alternatives as data shows demand surpassing least year’s total

theguardian.com