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Ross Gibson

@rossgibson.bsky.social

Social work and trade union stuff. Personal account which certainly does not reflect the views of my employer.

406 Posts255 Follower162 Folgt
Secret UCU@secretucu.bsky.social · 17h ago

Another example of UCU management hypocrisy: complaining about an employer using strike breakers when this is what they did when their own staff walked out. It's a fact that the amount spent on temps tripled over the course of the year significant strike action took place.

UCU’s annual returns showing the use of temps tripled from September 2024 to August 2025, the year during which Unite took major strike action
hannah@hannahkateboast.bsky.social · 3d ago

Second week on strike with UCU Edinburgh. We will be on strike for five weeks - taking out the entire first half of term, up to the first assessments - but we could be back in the classroom tomorrow if management withdrew the threat of compulsory redundancies.

UCU Edinburgh@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 2w ago

Day 1 of the strike by the workers of UCU Edinburgh against the manufactured deficit (which is not really a deficit), and against a senior management earning millions while staff disappear and education suffers. Solidarity against this parasitical form of management of our higher education.

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Inequality News@inequalitynews.bsky.social · 2w ago

🙄 When is the world going to wake up and kill off this malign technology? What will it take? A small nuclear war? We didn't ask for it. We don't need it. And most sensible people don't want it. #RejectAI #PitchforksAgainstDatacentres🧑‍🌾🧑‍🌾🧑‍🌾 www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Albanese says OpenAI agent hacked Australia’s Medicare and took months to disclose breach

Prime minister says he told Sam Altman he was disappointed it had taken OpenAI ‘way too long’ to disclose breach

theguardian.com

Dr Vanessa@hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 2w ago

Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling*

John Stott@jpsastro.bsky.social · 2w ago

Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky

I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful. Review process As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review. Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it. Feedback on your application Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage. To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social · last mo.

Wages of unionized workers are 13% higher than their nonunion counterparts. But unions also set a higher pay standard that all workers enjoy. In high-union-density states, median household income is $12,000 higher than in low-union-density states. This is why unions are vital.

Adam Rutherford@adamrutherford.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I had not some across this before, but if you want an example Nathan Cofnas’ scholarship, this is a doozy. Again I say, being sacked is not the problem; being recruited in the first place is what deserves scrutiny.

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Charlotte Lydia Riley@lottelydia.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Heartened to see that my university is ending its contract with Turnitin before the next academic year, because Turnitin is going to use student submissions to train AI models. Institutions can and should resist this stuff!

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2mo ago

This is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.

Ä14 Jason Arday found dead 2 hours ago — Mr Arday was found •unresponsive• at an address in Battersea. south London. on Froy afternoon. He was uter pronounced dead at the scene. A Read rnore Jason Arday says he was an illiterate, mute child. His . 6 hours ago — Jason Arday says he was an i&erate. mute child. Cambridge's youngest-ever black professor in 2023. Arday attended from the age of four to 11 r— mm-WI 3 A PhD is no longer a sign of brilliance — take it from Dr Arday 1 day aeo — Juon Arday resigns from the Unwersity of Cambrdge after The Telegraph reports he had falseb• claimed to have pubåshed a book We are all Jason Arday now S days ago — Jason Arday resons from the University of Cambridge after The Telegraph reports he had falsew cGimed to have published a book Aug 7.2028. Read more Cambridge professor claimed he was on Seven Up.. 2 Aug 2026 — He was not bom until 1985. Prof Arday is at the centre of a row about academk plagiarism after The Tekgragh that he had been accused The Jason Arday 'memoir' that now appears to be more . 7 days ago — Instead of tales of triumph over adversity. the now-fomer Cambridge professors autob"qraphy is a case study in self-rnythobgising, Arday failed to mention 'months-long coma' in autobiography 8 days ago — Jason Arday toz publishers he was k•ft a three-month coma fohwhg a car gash. but never wrote about the ordeal his memoirs_ Jason Arday is living proof that you reap what you sow 6 Aug 2028 — The Cambridge professor feed plagiarism alegations and made fantastical clä'ns about his life. so what did he expect woUz happen? Read rmre ÄIO Arday 'accused student of Miite privilege' after she 4 days ago — Forrner Cambrdge professor alleged* htplied that Roehamptm student was racist after cornplaint about essay SOOre. Jason Arday is rnerely a symptom of the Leffs corruption Aug 2026 — Lab-curs on school standards is on the same toxic assumptions that created his academic career. Cambridge hired Arday after 'listening to black stu…
The Howard League@thehowardleague.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"More than 3/4 of us believe that sentencing...has become shorter in length, whereas the opposite is true. In other words, we’re not soft on offenders, but the public thinks we are." https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/law-and-order/74224/uk-prisons-overcrowded-james-timpson

We’re addicted to locking people up—but it doesn’t make us safer

Does Andy Burnham have the attention span, the will and the courage to tackle a collapsing justice system?

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Dundee UCU@ducuuo.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The Scottish Funding Council waved through the University of Dundee's Strategy to Recovery, even though it broke their funding conditions. The Scottish Gov need to ACT NOW and ask the SFC to reverse their decision, and stop the redundancy process TODAY. www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

EXCLUSIVE: Funding council waved through Dundee University £20m cuts plan despite own concerns

The strategy is crucial to the university unlocking another £20 million in rescue funds.

thecourier.co.uk

Secret UCU@secretucu.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Sorry to rob my UCU troll of his victory dance, but I’ve gone nowhere. *Someone* got me a short timeout because they don't like me exposing how UCU is being run, including sharing “private chats” where the general secretary tells staff to prioritise her re-election. Why might she want to hide that?

Ross Gibson@rossgibson.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Another day, another example of why the right of the union should be ashamed of their jettisoning of a national ballot. Now that they have control of NEC/HEC they can fix it now though, yeah?