Alex Nurse
@alexnurse.bsky.social
Reader in Urban Planning at the University of Liverpool. Researching: Cycling, Urban Governance, Cities and City-Regions.
Likes are usually bookmarks (or it might mean I like it!)
DMs not open. I'll reply to an email if you need me.
Likes are usually bookmarks (or it might mean I like it!)
DMs not open. I'll reply to an email if you need me.
We've got a new piece of equipment appear in the gym.
There are no instructions though, so I'm not sure what I should be doing...
There are no instructions though, so I'm not sure what I should be doing...
December 1, 2025 at 3:41 PM
We've got a new piece of equipment appear in the gym.
There are no instructions though, so I'm not sure what I should be doing...
There are no instructions though, so I'm not sure what I should be doing...
It's time to add a new face to my revision quiz picture round.
December 1, 2025 at 12:29 PM
It's time to add a new face to my revision quiz picture round.
A little bit louder for those in the back...
Bicycles. Are. Transport.
Bicycles. Are. Transport.
December 1, 2025 at 8:56 AM
A little bit louder for those in the back...
Bicycles. Are. Transport.
Bicycles. Are. Transport.
The Lollipop lady from below started in early summer last year. I just said to Mrs N that I haven't seen her in a few weeks now. There is now no formal crossing mechanism on the road outside my kid's school.
The culture on Liverpool's roads is insipid and ruins *everything*
The culture on Liverpool's roads is insipid and ruins *everything*
From today.
Who beeps a lollipop lady?!
Who beeps a lollipop lady?!
December 1, 2025 at 7:10 AM
The Lollipop lady from below started in early summer last year. I just said to Mrs N that I haven't seen her in a few weeks now. There is now no formal crossing mechanism on the road outside my kid's school.
The culture on Liverpool's roads is insipid and ruins *everything*
The culture on Liverpool's roads is insipid and ruins *everything*
Reposted by Alex Nurse
The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.
November 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.
Reposted by Alex Nurse
I notice the "We were never consulted" crowd are silent on the lack of consultation that happened for this takeover of pavements
November 30, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I notice the "We were never consulted" crowd are silent on the lack of consultation that happened for this takeover of pavements
I've been growing veg for 10 years. I've tried all kinds of methods and these are, genuinely, the best carrots I've ever managed.
November 30, 2025 at 8:51 AM
I've been growing veg for 10 years. I've tried all kinds of methods and these are, genuinely, the best carrots I've ever managed.
Reposted by Alex Nurse
The eyes tell a story
November 29, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The eyes tell a story
Ford Fiesta
Ford Focus
That's it.
Technically I don't own a car now, but we have a family car that Mrs N technically owns, and which I drive a bit.
A lot of cyclists can (and do) drive. I just choose not to whenever I can because it's rubbish and I hate it.
Ford Focus
That's it.
Technically I don't own a car now, but we have a family car that Mrs N technically owns, and which I drive a bit.
A lot of cyclists can (and do) drive. I just choose not to whenever I can because it's rubbish and I hate it.
Introduce yourself with 5 cars you've owned
Car-free
Vauxhall Zafira
Ford Focus
Ford Escort
Ford Escort
I haven't owned 5 cars!
Car-free
Vauxhall Zafira
Ford Focus
Ford Escort
Ford Escort
I haven't owned 5 cars!
Introduce yourself with 5 cars you've owned
*cracks knuckles*
Renault 4
Austin Allegro Equipe
Fiat Strada
Nissan Micra
Mini Cooper Estate
Currently: Škoda Scala, the first time I’ve bought new.
*cracks knuckles*
Renault 4
Austin Allegro Equipe
Fiat Strada
Nissan Micra
Mini Cooper Estate
Currently: Škoda Scala, the first time I’ve bought new.
November 29, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Ford Fiesta
Ford Focus
That's it.
Technically I don't own a car now, but we have a family car that Mrs N technically owns, and which I drive a bit.
A lot of cyclists can (and do) drive. I just choose not to whenever I can because it's rubbish and I hate it.
Ford Focus
That's it.
Technically I don't own a car now, but we have a family car that Mrs N technically owns, and which I drive a bit.
A lot of cyclists can (and do) drive. I just choose not to whenever I can because it's rubbish and I hate it.
Upon further investigation, this was another two week turnaround. Can't even be bothered to sign their emails from any of the editors. Can't even be bothered to put anything in the title beyond the journal title.
All the hallmarks of thinking they're the ones doing me the favour...
Decline.
All the hallmarks of thinking they're the ones doing me the favour...
Decline.
When you get so much predatory journal spam that you miss that legitimate review request...
One of these is not like the others.
One of these is not like the others.
November 29, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Upon further investigation, this was another two week turnaround. Can't even be bothered to sign their emails from any of the editors. Can't even be bothered to put anything in the title beyond the journal title.
All the hallmarks of thinking they're the ones doing me the favour...
Decline.
All the hallmarks of thinking they're the ones doing me the favour...
Decline.
Fully concur with this. I've taught a 1st year undergrad "intro to" for the last decade. It fluctuates a bit from year to year, but generally this year's first years are much of a muchness to the first years 10 years ago.
Anyone who says otherwise, n my view, is full of their own wind.
Anyone who says otherwise, n my view, is full of their own wind.
(have deleted my quote tweet of the catastrophising university lecturer as, happily, tons of other academics said they didn't recognise their experience at all)
November 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Fully concur with this. I've taught a 1st year undergrad "intro to" for the last decade. It fluctuates a bit from year to year, but generally this year's first years are much of a muchness to the first years 10 years ago.
Anyone who says otherwise, n my view, is full of their own wind.
Anyone who says otherwise, n my view, is full of their own wind.
I now own three of these. The impending 2026 hosepipe ban will not affect me one jot (and if they run out then, lads, we really will have stacked it).
November 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I now own three of these. The impending 2026 hosepipe ban will not affect me one jot (and if they run out then, lads, we really will have stacked it).
Today's bike playlist is 90s summer blockbuster bangers. I'm absolutely showing my age now, but they don't make 'em like they used to.
November 29, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Today's bike playlist is 90s summer blockbuster bangers. I'm absolutely showing my age now, but they don't make 'em like they used to.
When you get so much predatory journal spam that you miss that legitimate review request...
One of these is not like the others.
One of these is not like the others.
November 29, 2025 at 10:15 AM
When you get so much predatory journal spam that you miss that legitimate review request...
One of these is not like the others.
One of these is not like the others.
Reposted by Alex Nurse
One of the benefits of a default urban/village 20mph limit is that it unlocks initiatives which would not be possible in higher speed 30mph streets. Wales is planning that local authorities can install simple and cheaper pedestrian crossings at side roads to align with Highway Code.
Welsh Government to introduce new 20mph roads law in 2026
Transport Secretary Ken Skates has announced the planned change
www.dailypost.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 2:02 PM
One of the benefits of a default urban/village 20mph limit is that it unlocks initiatives which would not be possible in higher speed 30mph streets. Wales is planning that local authorities can install simple and cheaper pedestrian crossings at side roads to align with Highway Code.
There really is something to this. We lionise Victorian engineers like Brunel, make heritage assets of places like Ironbridge, and yet reject our modern attempts to do this.
The people who complain bitterly the country is going to the dogs are often the very same people who are sending it there.
The people who complain bitterly the country is going to the dogs are often the very same people who are sending it there.
Meanwhile a 130MW wind farm planned for FIVE MILES outside Port Talbot has been knocked back because of impact on the landscape.
So if you want a job in manufacturing, where Port Talbot has more jobs than most, you can go hang.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
So if you want a job in manufacturing, where Port Talbot has more jobs than most, you can go hang.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Precious landscape saved near Welsh village after huge windfarm rejected
The proposal for the windfarm, which would have had turbines as big as they get in the UK currently, led to a massive public backlash from residents
www.walesonline.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
There really is something to this. We lionise Victorian engineers like Brunel, make heritage assets of places like Ironbridge, and yet reject our modern attempts to do this.
The people who complain bitterly the country is going to the dogs are often the very same people who are sending it there.
The people who complain bitterly the country is going to the dogs are often the very same people who are sending it there.
Earlier in the week I was walking to school with the child. We were playing I spy. Something beginning with F...
The clue was: it's attached to you and goes everywhere you go.
I gave up and she said: thoughts.
I was in the middle of saying how amazing that was and...
"No, dad. Foot"
The clue was: it's attached to you and goes everywhere you go.
I gave up and she said: thoughts.
I was in the middle of saying how amazing that was and...
"No, dad. Foot"
November 29, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Earlier in the week I was walking to school with the child. We were playing I spy. Something beginning with F...
The clue was: it's attached to you and goes everywhere you go.
I gave up and she said: thoughts.
I was in the middle of saying how amazing that was and...
"No, dad. Foot"
The clue was: it's attached to you and goes everywhere you go.
I gave up and she said: thoughts.
I was in the middle of saying how amazing that was and...
"No, dad. Foot"
Reposted by Alex Nurse
Meanwhile a 130MW wind farm planned for FIVE MILES outside Port Talbot has been knocked back because of impact on the landscape.
So if you want a job in manufacturing, where Port Talbot has more jobs than most, you can go hang.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
So if you want a job in manufacturing, where Port Talbot has more jobs than most, you can go hang.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Precious landscape saved near Welsh village after huge windfarm rejected
The proposal for the windfarm, which would have had turbines as big as they get in the UK currently, led to a massive public backlash from residents
www.walesonline.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Meanwhile a 130MW wind farm planned for FIVE MILES outside Port Talbot has been knocked back because of impact on the landscape.
So if you want a job in manufacturing, where Port Talbot has more jobs than most, you can go hang.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
So if you want a job in manufacturing, where Port Talbot has more jobs than most, you can go hang.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Reposted by Alex Nurse
Heard yesterday that it's basically impossible to get an offtake grid connection for anything, e.g. big factory anywhere in south Wales because of all the data centre applications in the queue.
We've built no renewable generation in south Wales since 2017.
We've built no renewable generation in south Wales since 2017.
November 29, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Heard yesterday that it's basically impossible to get an offtake grid connection for anything, e.g. big factory anywhere in south Wales because of all the data centre applications in the queue.
We've built no renewable generation in south Wales since 2017.
We've built no renewable generation in south Wales since 2017.
The beatings will continue until morale improves...
'David Maguire and Alex Bols, vice-chancellor and chief of staff respectively at the University of East Anglia, updated their prediction made last autumn that 10,000 jobs could be lost in 2024-25, claiming this same amount could in fact be lost every year going forward.' 1/3
UK universities ‘could cut 10,000 jobs every year’
Academics claim changes made to higher education system a decade ago have divided sector into ‘winners and losers’, with government-imposed limits on income exacerbating financial challenges
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 AM
The beatings will continue until morale improves...
For the first time in at least 6 weeks, I've actually got the time and headspace to sit down with a book.
November 27, 2025 at 10:45 PM
For the first time in at least 6 weeks, I've actually got the time and headspace to sit down with a book.
The more I think about it the more I love this framing. It's even better than the gym analogy.
I'll be pinching that for next year (even if the AI landscape will have moved on, again).
I'll be pinching that for next year (even if the AI landscape will have moved on, again).
Letting students use chatbots is also an issue when we're supposed to be assessing their ability. In that context, isn't "ChatGPT helped me with this essay" not entirely dissimilar from "My mum helped me with this essay". How much did they write? Which bits? What are you capable of without them?
One reason I don't like the trend of letting students use chatbots is that it fucks the process of giving useful feedback. If something's not clear, I can't tell if this is a specific gap in understanding that I need to help with, or whether my feedback would more usefully be: FFS don't use copilot
November 26, 2025 at 8:29 AM
The more I think about it the more I love this framing. It's even better than the gym analogy.
I'll be pinching that for next year (even if the AI landscape will have moved on, again).
I'll be pinching that for next year (even if the AI landscape will have moved on, again).
150 reports, 300,000 words and there are 9 left.
...and so it begins. 4 weeks of wall-to-wall marking.
For those of you who don't know me - it's an annual feast.
For those of you who don't know me - it's an annual feast.
three men in armor are standing next to each other with the words so it begins
ALT: three men in armor are standing next to each other with the words so it begins
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
150 reports, 300,000 words and there are 9 left.
Reposted by Alex Nurse
Letting students use chatbots is also an issue when we're supposed to be assessing their ability. In that context, isn't "ChatGPT helped me with this essay" not entirely dissimilar from "My mum helped me with this essay". How much did they write? Which bits? What are you capable of without them?
One reason I don't like the trend of letting students use chatbots is that it fucks the process of giving useful feedback. If something's not clear, I can't tell if this is a specific gap in understanding that I need to help with, or whether my feedback would more usefully be: FFS don't use copilot
November 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Letting students use chatbots is also an issue when we're supposed to be assessing their ability. In that context, isn't "ChatGPT helped me with this essay" not entirely dissimilar from "My mum helped me with this essay". How much did they write? Which bits? What are you capable of without them?