Alex J-W
@alexjw.bsky.social
Maths educator. Often confused by the world. Follow me if you are interested in maths and stats education or professional development in general.
Time for the gov to flex its muscles with bbc news - I used to accept that the bbc would not want to criticise gov too strongly during the Tory years but it’s reporting is now completely hostile to the current gvt. Not sure a national broadcaster can sustain this….
November 30, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Time for the gov to flex its muscles with bbc news - I used to accept that the bbc would not want to criticise gov too strongly during the Tory years but it’s reporting is now completely hostile to the current gvt. Not sure a national broadcaster can sustain this….
BBC live news feed has this on the Sunday paper headlines. I know you are scrolling for the none right wing nut job papers but this was it. Broken bbc news continues. No doubt the other papers will be packaged in an other post but why do these always seem to lead. Why is print
Leading bbc news?
Leading bbc news?
November 30, 2025 at 11:38 AM
BBC live news feed has this on the Sunday paper headlines. I know you are scrolling for the none right wing nut job papers but this was it. Broken bbc news continues. No doubt the other papers will be packaged in an other post but why do these always seem to lead. Why is print
Leading bbc news?
Leading bbc news?
Reposted by Alex J-W
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
November 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
Reposted by Alex J-W
This is grim: ‘Professor Deborah Prentice revealed that counterparts at Russell Group universities had been "meeting with key people from Reform" and that "we've had people" doing the same, according to leaked comments made last week.’ VCs are already trying to please the far-right.
Then they came for the universities - Farage takes his lead from Trump. It’s all so utterly depressing isn’t it?
November 30, 2025 at 9:10 AM
This is grim: ‘Professor Deborah Prentice revealed that counterparts at Russell Group universities had been "meeting with key people from Reform" and that "we've had people" doing the same, according to leaked comments made last week.’ VCs are already trying to please the far-right.
Trump preparing the way for collapse of USA when the next pandemic hits….
Trump: "The MMR I think should be taken separately. This is based on what I feel."
November 30, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Trump preparing the way for collapse of USA when the next pandemic hits….
Here we go again BBC’s favourite word ‘row’ but what is it describing in this context? No idea - anyone? Does AI write bbc headlines these days???
November 30, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Here we go again BBC’s favourite word ‘row’ but what is it describing in this context? No idea - anyone? Does AI write bbc headlines these days???
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... the comments in this article (and its sentiment) seem to me a bit about vibes. The issue isn’t that chipped have gone up - anymore than other things it just that they have pushed over a barrier £10 and because everything else has gone up there is less in our pockets.
Are the days of traditional British fish and chip shops numbered?
One Hull fish and chip shop owner says he is now selling chilli and curry
www.bbc.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 7:37 AM
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... the comments in this article (and its sentiment) seem to me a bit about vibes. The issue isn’t that chipped have gone up - anymore than other things it just that they have pushed over a barrier £10 and because everything else has gone up there is less in our pockets.
Reposted by Alex J-W
The UK spent thirty years making policy on the assumption that complexity had no risks or costs: PFI, tax credits, SFO, probation, immigration charges, utilities, NHS, and in my mind most representative, rail. They’re still coping with the garbage systems built on that assumption. This is exemplary.
Soon-to-be-axed 7am Manchester-London train will still run – but without passengers
Soon-to-be-axed 7am Manchester-London train will still run – but without passengers
Exclusive: Rail regulator pulls Avanti service from timetable from mid-December but it is needed for staff travel
The good news for rail travel between Manchester and London is that a morning train will continue to link England’s biggest cities in under two hours. The bad news: passengers will no longer be able to get onboard.
The rail regulator has axed one of Britain’s fastest and most lucrative intercity services, the 7am Avanti West Coast from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, as part of a timetable shake-up that will take effect in mid-December. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 6:24 AM
The UK spent thirty years making policy on the assumption that complexity had no risks or costs: PFI, tax credits, SFO, probation, immigration charges, utilities, NHS, and in my mind most representative, rail. They’re still coping with the garbage systems built on that assumption. This is exemplary.
Reposted by Alex J-W
The problem is always awful, immoral rich people who don‘t, in any meaningful sense of the word, *need* the money:
'Our £3.6m bill for flats too dangerous to live in'
'Our £3.6m bill for flats too dangerous to live in'
Two unsafe tower blocks in Kirkby, Merseyside, were closed down by the fire service in July.
www.bbc.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:25 AM
The problem is always awful, immoral rich people who don‘t, in any meaningful sense of the word, *need* the money:
Reposted by Alex J-W
The super-rich own the media, who spend all their time drip-feeding the idea that going after the super-rich is bad for all of us, because they’ll take their money away. Plus you might be rich one day. Plus there’s all these minorities you should be annoyed about.
November 27, 2025 at 6:44 AM
The super-rich own the media, who spend all their time drip-feeding the idea that going after the super-rich is bad for all of us, because they’ll take their money away. Plus you might be rich one day. Plus there’s all these minorities you should be annoyed about.
Reposted by Alex J-W
"Imagine you stole all of the intellectual property in the world. And you're using it to help people write middling emails and make revenge porn about women, and also children. And you're powering this plagiarism and non-consensual porn machine by eating up what's left of humanity's carbon budget."
How to explain AI to your family this holiday season | CNN Business
Politics, football and movies are among the many topics that tend to come up around Thanksgiving. In 2025, a new question may arise at the table: Why the heck is everyone talking about AI, and what sh...
www.cnn.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:04 AM
"Imagine you stole all of the intellectual property in the world. And you're using it to help people write middling emails and make revenge porn about women, and also children. And you're powering this plagiarism and non-consensual porn machine by eating up what's left of humanity's carbon budget."
If the budget’s income tax threshold freeze tells us anything it’s that we probably need more bands as the doubling from 20-40% and 0-20% hammers people at these cliff edges who are not in either case especially high earners. - a 10% and 30% buffer band could be paid for with a lowering of the
November 27, 2025 at 5:38 AM
If the budget’s income tax threshold freeze tells us anything it’s that we probably need more bands as the doubling from 20-40% and 0-20% hammers people at these cliff edges who are not in either case especially high earners. - a 10% and 30% buffer band could be paid for with a lowering of the
Reposted by Alex J-W
Sorry, everyone. I think we've gone and done a thoughtful, balanced episode on #Budget2026, that is more about the economics and the politics, rather than the gossippy nonsense that gets hacks excited. #NotSorry
🆕 SPOILER ALERT - Unpicking the Budget 📈
The good stuff
The less good stuff
The economic rationale
The political consequences
Balance, humour, @pimlicat.bsky.social , @sturdyalex.bsky.social & top economist Vicky Pryce.
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/05mP...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
The good stuff
The less good stuff
The economic rationale
The political consequences
Balance, humour, @pimlicat.bsky.social , @sturdyalex.bsky.social & top economist Vicky Pryce.
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/05mP...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Unpicking the most-leaked Budget in history, with Vicky Pryce
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 26/11/2025 · 1h 18m
podcasts.apple.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Sorry, everyone. I think we've gone and done a thoughtful, balanced episode on #Budget2026, that is more about the economics and the politics, rather than the gossippy nonsense that gets hacks excited. #NotSorry
Reposted by Alex J-W
I think it's time to post this again (since the thresholds have been frozen).
www.geogebra.org/m/p97htgc3
[please note this for INCOME TAX only]
www.geogebra.org/m/p97htgc3
[please note this for INCOME TAX only]
It's almost a new tax year. Here's my visualisation of how income tax works (or did in 2023-24).
Explainer vid: youtu.be/zXJCyffu8Og
Interactive version: www.geogebra.org/m/p97htgc3
Explainer vid: youtu.be/zXJCyffu8Og
Interactive version: www.geogebra.org/m/p97htgc3
November 26, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I think it's time to post this again (since the thresholds have been frozen).
www.geogebra.org/m/p97htgc3
[please note this for INCOME TAX only]
www.geogebra.org/m/p97htgc3
[please note this for INCOME TAX only]
Reposted by Alex J-W
much of the work on AI-generated misinformation focuses on regular users/communities, while ignoring how political and economic elites can seal themselves into a hermetic slop box -- a repeat of the same mistake we made with radicalization and conspiracism in the previous decade
oh this is absolutely what i think. i think they feed him fake polls and outright AI slop
At this point, I wonder if he isn't lying when he says he has "my highest Poll Numbers, ever" since it's entirely possible that's what his aides are telling him. It's quite likely that there's an entire Potemkin village built around Trump right now.
November 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
much of the work on AI-generated misinformation focuses on regular users/communities, while ignoring how political and economic elites can seal themselves into a hermetic slop box -- a repeat of the same mistake we made with radicalization and conspiracism in the previous decade
Reposted by Alex J-W
Okay, but why *do* I feel so angry about this whole AI thing?
The Bullshit Maximiser
This week, a very quick take on what the Budget says about the state we are in; but mostly, a not-at-all quick list of all the reasons I despise AI.
jonn.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Okay, but why *do* I feel so angry about this whole AI thing?
And the evidence base for this judgement….
November 26, 2025 at 9:41 PM
And the evidence base for this judgement….
The state of our politics is always made plain come budget day when commentators try and stir up outrage about changes that amount to a few quid a week either way for most people rather than asking questions about the overall direction of travel of the gvt. What is the bigger picture?
November 26, 2025 at 7:02 PM
The state of our politics is always made plain come budget day when commentators try and stir up outrage about changes that amount to a few quid a week either way for most people rather than asking questions about the overall direction of travel of the gvt. What is the bigger picture?
We could take stats produced my SLT more seriously if they could use something other than excel to analyse it!!
November 26, 2025 at 6:56 AM
We could take stats produced my SLT more seriously if they could use something other than excel to analyse it!!
The passive aggressive ‘reminders’ from Duolingo when you miss a day are quite off putting!
November 26, 2025 at 6:51 AM
The passive aggressive ‘reminders’ from Duolingo when you miss a day are quite off putting!
Reposted by Alex J-W
The inanity of the answers rewarded by this inane markscheme is NOT a mistake.
This exam was always intended to test items (3) of language, not the ability to use the language to communicate, create meaning, say something worthwhile.
whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/11/is-t...
This exam was always intended to test items (3) of language, not the ability to use the language to communicate, create meaning, say something worthwhile.
whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/11/is-t...
Is there Salvation for the GCSE Conversation?
In a previous post , we looked at how this definition of "good development" is a joke. AQA exemplification of "amount of information" in th...
whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:46 PM
The inanity of the answers rewarded by this inane markscheme is NOT a mistake.
This exam was always intended to test items (3) of language, not the ability to use the language to communicate, create meaning, say something worthwhile.
whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/11/is-t...
This exam was always intended to test items (3) of language, not the ability to use the language to communicate, create meaning, say something worthwhile.
whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/11/is-t...
Sliding doors: Man Utd decide to build a team around McTominay and not Bruno Fernandez?
November 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Sliding doors: Man Utd decide to build a team around McTominay and not Bruno Fernandez?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... here we go again. Kremlin rejects amendments. So there can be no ceasefire whilst their position is that Ukraine has to become a vassal state in all but name….
Volodymyr Zelensky warns against giving away territory to Russia, as latest Ukraine talks end
There was optimism following the talks in Geneva, but no details emerged on how to bridge the huge divide between Moscow and Kyiv over territory and security guarantees.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 10:13 PM
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... here we go again. Kremlin rejects amendments. So there can be no ceasefire whilst their position is that Ukraine has to become a vassal state in all but name….
Reposted by Alex J-W
The White House quietly shut down the Department of Government Efficiency today.
November 23, 2025 at 11:43 PM
The White House quietly shut down the Department of Government Efficiency today.
A bit less corrupt and a bit less inept than the last gvt is not really the outcome most of us were hoping for after the election
November 23, 2025 at 11:43 PM
A bit less corrupt and a bit less inept than the last gvt is not really the outcome most of us were hoping for after the election