James Mittra
@jmittra.bsky.social
Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation studies, University of Edinburgh: research interests in health-related aspects of the bioeconomy; posts reflect personal views not those of my employer. https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/james-mittra
Excellent thread, with important point for me being ‘Britain has failed to base its economic strategy on what it’s good at - tradeable services, science and tech, universities, niches in advanced manufacturing’.
New essay out today by me and @acjsissons.bsky.social - ‘Getting Britain out of the hole: a plan for the economy’. You can read the whole thing here getting-out-of-the-hole.uk
A chart mega-thread follows 🧵
A chart mega-thread follows 🧵
Getting Britain out of the hole
A plan for the UK economy
getting-out-of-the-hole.uk
November 17, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Excellent thread, with important point for me being ‘Britain has failed to base its economic strategy on what it’s good at - tradeable services, science and tech, universities, niches in advanced manufacturing’.
Reposted by James Mittra
Reposted by James Mittra
Why! Sorry, but why? Labour's anti-asylum, anti-immigration, policies are the antithesis of anything anyone who genuinely supports human rights should be defending. They're absolutely inhumane and condemnable. Anyone supporting them can't claim to be "progressive"
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
No 10 tells Labour MPs it expects support for tough new asylum policies
Some backbenchers already opposing planned immigration crackdown seen as ‘economically and culturally illiterate’
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Why! Sorry, but why? Labour's anti-asylum, anti-immigration, policies are the antithesis of anything anyone who genuinely supports human rights should be defending. They're absolutely inhumane and condemnable. Anyone supporting them can't claim to be "progressive"
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
doing this by taxing international fees is as stupid as Trump’s tariff policies. It will actually reduce access to subjects that support industrial strategy, as many of those subjects will no longer be offered. Hope the Scottish Government has more sense and decides not to destroy its HE sector.
Maintenance grants to return for some students
The support will be available to those on
www.bbc.co.uk
September 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
doing this by taxing international fees is as stupid as Trump’s tariff policies. It will actually reduce access to subjects that support industrial strategy, as many of those subjects will no longer be offered. Hope the Scottish Government has more sense and decides not to destroy its HE sector.
Reposted by James Mittra
netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/26/t... great overview of the history and evidence on ID cards by Wendy
The absurdity card
Fifteen years ago, a new incoming government swept away a policy its immediate predecessors had been pushing since shortly after the 2001 9/11 attacks: identity
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
September 26, 2025 at 1:29 PM
netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/26/t... great overview of the history and evidence on ID cards by Wendy
Reposted by James Mittra
NEW: An Oxford report warns that misleading media coverage is shaping public debate on immigration and human rights.
The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system.
🧵 [1/8]
The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system.
🧵 [1/8]
September 4, 2025 at 10:59 AM
NEW: An Oxford report warns that misleading media coverage is shaping public debate on immigration and human rights.
The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system.
🧵 [1/8]
The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system.
🧵 [1/8]
Reposted by James Mittra
If you have 'views' on the 32% consultative ballot and what UCU should be doing over the next few months then you could do worse than spend a few minutes providing some thoughts via this UCU Commons survey.
NEW on our Substack: Help your HEC reps decide what we should do next for our pay dispute!
Please see the linked form, fill it in, & pass to your contacts. The form is open until 5pm Friday 27th Aug in advance of HEC on Monday 1st Sep.
Please repost #ucu
ucucommons.substack.com/p/help-your-...
Please see the linked form, fill it in, & pass to your contacts. The form is open until 5pm Friday 27th Aug in advance of HEC on Monday 1st Sep.
Please repost #ucu
ucucommons.substack.com/p/help-your-...
Help your UCU Higher Education reps decide what we should do next for our pay dispute
Please read, fill in, and share with your contacts
ucucommons.substack.com
August 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
If you have 'views' on the 32% consultative ballot and what UCU should be doing over the next few months then you could do worse than spend a few minutes providing some thoughts via this UCU Commons survey.
Reposted by James Mittra
The deadline to make your submission to Ofgem is this Friday.
Don't let the man who switched off Starlink in Ukraine, helping Putin, have the keys to switch off your electricity here in the UK.
Don't let the man who switched off Starlink in Ukraine, helping Putin, have the keys to switch off your electricity here in the UK.
Great to be on @lbc.co.uk with @lewisgoodall.com discussing whether Musk is fit and proper to supply energy in the UK.
Nearly 14000 have written to Ofgem now. You can too: www.bestforbritain.org/ElonMusk
Nearly 14000 have written to Ofgem now. You can too: www.bestforbritain.org/ElonMusk
August 20, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The deadline to make your submission to Ofgem is this Friday.
Don't let the man who switched off Starlink in Ukraine, helping Putin, have the keys to switch off your electricity here in the UK.
Don't let the man who switched off Starlink in Ukraine, helping Putin, have the keys to switch off your electricity here in the UK.
Reposted by James Mittra
This is a really important point with government data - you can't just publish statistics that don't actually answer the question people are likely to want to ask ("Are immigrants more likely to commit crime?" in this instance) - you need to work that out *correctly* and publish it alongside.
Today’s newsletter: on that, why the government is right to want transparency on data about who is in the criminal justice system, but is failing in its own duty to actually *explain* what that data means:
Why won’t politicians reject the alarming rewriting of Britishness?
Government has a duty to publish consistent crime data and to explain what it means
www.ft.com
August 5, 2025 at 11:31 AM
This is a really important point with government data - you can't just publish statistics that don't actually answer the question people are likely to want to ask ("Are immigrants more likely to commit crime?" in this instance) - you need to work that out *correctly* and publish it alongside.
Reposted by James Mittra
The Department of Science and Technology Studies at the @univie.ac.at is now recruiting for a full professor in Science and Technology Studies!
📅 Deadline for Application 17 September 2025.
Please share widely with your colleagues and those who may be interested! #STS
Apply now: ⤵️
📅 Deadline for Application 17 September 2025.
Please share widely with your colleagues and those who may be interested! #STS
Apply now: ⤵️
berufungsservice.univie.ac.at
July 3, 2025 at 7:59 AM
The Department of Science and Technology Studies at the @univie.ac.at is now recruiting for a full professor in Science and Technology Studies!
📅 Deadline for Application 17 September 2025.
Please share widely with your colleagues and those who may be interested! #STS
Apply now: ⤵️
📅 Deadline for Application 17 September 2025.
Please share widely with your colleagues and those who may be interested! #STS
Apply now: ⤵️
Reposted by James Mittra
Writing is a technology that restructures thought — and in an AI age, universities need to teach it more
theconversation.com/writing-is-a...
theconversation.com/writing-is-a...
Writing is a technology that restructures thought — and in an AI age, universities need to teach it more
Undergraduate writing courses are about learning to think, synthesize and judge the credibility of sources — and interact with an audience.
theconversation.com
April 12, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Writing is a technology that restructures thought — and in an AI age, universities need to teach it more
theconversation.com/writing-is-a...
theconversation.com/writing-is-a...
Labour ministers donning hard hats and visiting car plants promising to 'back them to the hilt' to protect jobs. But for the HE sector on the brink of collapse, no engagement and they even propose tightening rules on graduate visas to push them further into the abyss. These are not serious people.
April 8, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Labour ministers donning hard hats and visiting car plants promising to 'back them to the hilt' to protect jobs. But for the HE sector on the brink of collapse, no engagement and they even propose tightening rules on graduate visas to push them further into the abyss. These are not serious people.
Nice to see this special issue of Science, Technology and Human Values @sthv.bsky.social on 'The Hidden Labor of Translation' now out, which includes an afterward by me. Some really nice papers in this issue journals.sagepub.com/toc/STH/curr...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
April 1, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Nice to see this special issue of Science, Technology and Human Values @sthv.bsky.social on 'The Hidden Labor of Translation' now out, which includes an afterward by me. Some really nice papers in this issue journals.sagepub.com/toc/STH/curr...
Reposted by James Mittra
This story is major. Here's why it matters: 1) It creates an interesting precedent. Interactions with chatbots are FOIable. 2) It shows how our public officials are relying on these technologies, and that's a public debate that is healthy to engage in. But even more importantly 1/
🚨 @newscientist.com SCOOP: I've exclusively obtained Peter Kyle's interactions with ChatGPT using FOI laws - in what I believe may be a world-first transparency release. The chatbot said "Lack of Government or Institutional Support" slowed UK AI adoption www.newscientist.com/article/2472...
Revealed: How the UK tech secretary uses ChatGPT for policy advice
New Scientist has used freedom of information laws to obtain the ChatGPT records of Peter Kyle, the UK's technology secretary, in what is believed to be a world-first use of such legislation
www.newscientist.com
March 13, 2025 at 12:52 PM
This story is major. Here's why it matters: 1) It creates an interesting precedent. Interactions with chatbots are FOIable. 2) It shows how our public officials are relying on these technologies, and that's a public debate that is healthy to engage in. But even more importantly 1/
Reposted by James Mittra
Superb post from @alisongopnik.bsky.social. Although I grew up (in the UK) with the story being about Nail Soup. simons.berkeley.edu/news/stone-s...
Stone Soup AI
For some time, I’ve argued that a common conception of AI is misguided. This is the idea that AI systems like large language and vision models are individual intelligent agents, analogous to human age...
simons.berkeley.edu
February 21, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Superb post from @alisongopnik.bsky.social. Although I grew up (in the UK) with the story being about Nail Soup. simons.berkeley.edu/news/stone-s...
Really informative analysis from UCU Edinburgh on the University’s finances. www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/3fzpaa5...
No Compulsory Redundancies at The University Of Edinburgh! — UCU Edinburgh
Financial mismanagement at the University of Edinburgh continues. On 11 February 2025, Peter Mathieson wrote to all staff threatening “restructuring, possible closures of programmes or even Schools, m...
www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk
February 14, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Really informative analysis from UCU Edinburgh on the University’s finances. www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/3fzpaa5...
too early to know for sure, but potential reversal of international student decline just at the time universities are going all in on cutbacks because they assume a gloomy future.
Home Office data show second monthly increase in student visa applications. Corner being turned?
Meanwhile, Ucas figures show a record number of young ppl applying to HE, with a big increase in applications for the most selective institutions.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Meanwhile, Ucas figures show a record number of young ppl applying to HE, with a big increase in applications for the most selective institutions.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
February 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
too early to know for sure, but potential reversal of international student decline just at the time universities are going all in on cutbacks because they assume a gloomy future.
Reposted by James Mittra
Taylor and Francis/Routledge is stealing our works to train GenAI so we are distributing knowledge the old school way (seriously, not even the proverbial 50 pdf copies anymore or free printed copy of the volume one has contributed to!)
Oh yes, new publication out.
Oh yes, new publication out.
February 11, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Taylor and Francis/Routledge is stealing our works to train GenAI so we are distributing knowledge the old school way (seriously, not even the proverbial 50 pdf copies anymore or free printed copy of the volume one has contributed to!)
Oh yes, new publication out.
Oh yes, new publication out.
Reposted by James Mittra
Last week, federal employees were sent an email titled “Fork in the Road”, inviting their resignations. Their deadline to respond is today. I wrote an op-ed for Scientific American explaining Musk’s preoccupation with the “fork in the road”, its connections to SETI, & why it’s a misguided idea.
Here's Why Elon Musk's 'Fork in the Road' Is Really a Dead End
Elon Musk’s Fork in the Road isn’t just a sculpture—it’s a monument to the tech world’s obsession with civilizational survival, which has its roots in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
www.scientificamerican.com
February 6, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Last week, federal employees were sent an email titled “Fork in the Road”, inviting their resignations. Their deadline to respond is today. I wrote an op-ed for Scientific American explaining Musk’s preoccupation with the “fork in the road”, its connections to SETI, & why it’s a misguided idea.
Reposted by James Mittra
If I told you that the Bank of England upgraded its growth forecasts yesterday, would you believe me?
It did....
i HAvE nOt gOne CRazY - honest
This is a hill I am prepared to die on - the BoE and others (all central banks, IMF, OECD etc etc) report their "forecasts" in a terrible way
🧵
It did....
i HAvE nOt gOne CRazY - honest
This is a hill I am prepared to die on - the BoE and others (all central banks, IMF, OECD etc etc) report their "forecasts" in a terrible way
🧵
February 7, 2025 at 1:32 PM
If I told you that the Bank of England upgraded its growth forecasts yesterday, would you believe me?
It did....
i HAvE nOt gOne CRazY - honest
This is a hill I am prepared to die on - the BoE and others (all central banks, IMF, OECD etc etc) report their "forecasts" in a terrible way
🧵
It did....
i HAvE nOt gOne CRazY - honest
This is a hill I am prepared to die on - the BoE and others (all central banks, IMF, OECD etc etc) report their "forecasts" in a terrible way
🧵
Just completed the University of Edinburgh staff survey and it felt very cathartic!
February 3, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Just completed the University of Edinburgh staff survey and it felt very cathartic!
Reposted by James Mittra
Please read this excellent thread and then in two weeks time tune in to Rethink on Radio 4 where we look at the fight between AI firms and copyright holders with Ben Zhao, @jackstilgoe.bsky.social, Justine Roberts and more.
A week ago, I had dinner with a key author of the AI consultation. Not just dinner: I berated them for about 7 hours. In return, they gave me a horrid cough. Which is a fair revenge. Anyway, here's a thread about what I took away from the conversation. These are my inferences, not quotes.
January 14, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Please read this excellent thread and then in two weeks time tune in to Rethink on Radio 4 where we look at the fight between AI firms and copyright holders with Ben Zhao, @jackstilgoe.bsky.social, Justine Roberts and more.
Reposted by James Mittra
Most people outside of research are still unaware of how much the cyberattack on @britishlibrary.bsky.social is still affecting the research community one year on. Good piece covering that + need to invest in libraries
www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/how-br... @timeshighered.bsky.social
www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/how-br... @timeshighered.bsky.social
How the British Library cyberattack disrupted research
Academics who rely on the British Library’s unmatched collection are still feeling the impact of a devastating cyberattack a year ago. Jack Grove hears from those affected and considers how another ca...
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 21, 2024 at 10:59 AM
Most people outside of research are still unaware of how much the cyberattack on @britishlibrary.bsky.social is still affecting the research community one year on. Good piece covering that + need to invest in libraries
www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/how-br... @timeshighered.bsky.social
www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/how-br... @timeshighered.bsky.social
Reposted by James Mittra
Good to see innovation featuring at COP29. The Breakthrough Agenda - established at COP26 to accelerate global adoption of clean technologies - focuses on coordinating international action across high-emitting sectors—transport, energy, steel, buildings, and hydrogen. www.edie.net/breakthrough...
Breakthrough Agenda: Global Climate Collaboration Rises at COP29
80% of global emissions tackled: 60+ countries back Breakthrough Agenda for clean energy progress ahead of COP30. More on hydrogen and zero-emission efforts!
www.edie.net
November 18, 2024 at 5:18 PM
Good to see innovation featuring at COP29. The Breakthrough Agenda - established at COP26 to accelerate global adoption of clean technologies - focuses on coordinating international action across high-emitting sectors—transport, energy, steel, buildings, and hydrogen. www.edie.net/breakthrough...
Because there isn't enough stuff going on in the world to induce stress and anger. Happy Monday everyone!
Edinburgh University warns staff to expect job cuts
The institution blamed
www.bbc.co.uk
November 18, 2024 at 4:22 PM
Because there isn't enough stuff going on in the world to induce stress and anger. Happy Monday everyone!