iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 7h

I like a nice glass of Merlot as much as the next man, but being able to ripen it in North Yorkshire is an extremely worrying state of affairs www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Yorkshire vineyards experiment with merlot as climate changes

Northern wineries can now support grapes more often found in southern Europe and California.

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Mark Wallace @wallaceme.bsky.social · 14h

Most striking of all is that this is explicitly a very *pro-politics* speech, a direct rebuttal to the anti-politics that is so widespread. And rightly so: politics can change things, it is an admirable thing to choose to engage in and a duty for us all to step forward and pursue.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 14h

'Parity between academic and technical', has the same vibes as 'parity between apples and cheese'. I fear that's going to be all he says about HE - maybe there'll be some bonus material in the director's cut?

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 15h

Burham is confirming an iron rule of employment - always try and replace someone who's been fired for incompetance as you'll look great in contrast.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 15h

Having a crack at Margaret Thatcher when you're in Liverpool is a very Mick Foley move.

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Jack Tindale @jacktindale.bsky.social · 19h

Crying at how the new intern at work was born in 2005 and knows about the Blair government because "we studied it in sociology".

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

My most authoritarian opinion is that the police should kick in Steve Bray's speakers.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18h

RPN Playbook on the mark. The implication, I think, is that many (most?) leaders in HE have lost the moral - and practical - authority to effectively make these arguments. Everyone is boxed in, many are seeking to protect the status quo, the sector continues to wither - death by a thousand cuts.

"Amid the well-informed wonkish discussion of “second order” higher education issues across the day’s sessions, there was a big picture argument trying to break out. To argue for investment in universities, culture, research and innovation and the acceptance of international students is to argue for a different kind of Britain from the one that fills the imagination of the popular right and their newspaper outriders."

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The unwillingness or inability of ministers to see the importance of HE to both national and local prosperity in a knowledge and skills based economy, is on a par with their neglect of local government while talking about the importance of devolution. You don’t build a sense of community this way.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

There's no longer any public shaming or penalty for talking absolute bollocks. It's all just content.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Notable that universities like to see themselves as the victims, when they're also very much responsible for the status quo.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is right up there with my desire to launch DisleyLand, right next to Lyme Park

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The first rule of being from Yorkshire is that you must always talk about being from Yorkshire at every possible opportunity. And then create other opportunities to talk about Yorkshire

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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The shock I got when radio 4 announced "Paul Gilroy" was coming on to talk about man city [it was a different one]

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Just need to start writing pieces about why woke is responsible for high taxes and the people opposing Danny Thomas are the real extremists.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Thank God Reform is standing up for masked, knife-wielding, ex-cons. Society's most marginalised group.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Shoutout to the person who has just randomly liked my 18 month stretch of niche Sean Cudmore references.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Feeling really happy with my column on how Ed Davey is not the Liberal Democrats' problem. Now to take a big sip of coffee and read the news:

theguardian.com

Ed Davey promises £17bn income tax cut if Lib Dems are elected

Growth created by rejoining EU single market and customs union would fund change, Davey tells the party’s conference

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

'My hair has to be perfect, it's a process' my 7 year old tells me, as I stare blankly into the abyss of an autumnal Tuesday.

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Rick Burin @rickburin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Elvis was a hero to most But he never meant shit to me To you To me To you

Paul Chuckle from the Chuckle Brothers with Chuck D and Flavor Flav from Public Enemy

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Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This is the same BBC that bends over backwards to be fair to Reform and Farage. But yes, let’s cut a sketch which involves people living as a tribe in a garden centre. What a mess it is.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 21/09/2026

did they hire darth vader as their contract lawyer or something

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It is both really obvious and seemingly often forgotten that an awful load of pressing economic problems would be an order of magnitude easier if the Strait of Hormuz was open.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Turns out I was getting Mr Beast mixed up with Mr Bean. I'm informed that they're very different.

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Jack Tindale @jacktindale.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My most statist view is that I would nationalise, without compensation, each and every one of the Britannia estate, and do them up into four-star hotels to preserve the dignity and majesty of the State.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I miss the halcyon days of peak Twitter, which perfectly(ish) balanced 'state of the nation' commentary with nerdy professional discussions, and rampant absurdism. The vibe on here is 'punching up, all the time', which is often admirable, but also energy sapping.

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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

How much tax people pay during their lives is the result of economic cycles and political decisions over tax rates. They're not some law of nature that determines an individual's worth and contribution at the pearly gates

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Remarkable, really, that Jim Ratcliffe has lost confidence in the UK but retains confidence in Man United

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

'Research your ceilings, you know it to be true!'

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I still contend that Cabin Pressure the greatest radio sitcom ever made.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Should we have an institution's embedding of the fundamental precepts of REF as an indicator measured within the REF?

static.klipy.com

Charlie Day's Pepe Silvia Conspiracy

ALT: Charlie Day's Pepe Silvia Conspiracy

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

to a certain extent you have to admire the harmony of form and content inherent in Tom Watson going to work for a company when nobody really understands what they do, everyone hates them, but for some reason we are stuck with them forever because of their important friends

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

In today's episode of 'Are we focusing on the right things folks?'...

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Ariadne Griffin @ariadnereviews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

the best thing they could do is give a bunch of recently graduated film students a budget of like £50,000 and access to a single abandoned quarry for a month and they'd have a perfect series of Doctor Who.

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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 18/09/2026

woman currently using the cafe's toilet as a cubicle to take a work call from (??) is an exciting new frontier in the "have people forgotten how to behave in the world" discourse we've been having here lately

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It’s very clear that the combination of various changes in HE policy over the past few years (perhaps most notably the lifting of caps) and an increasingly challenged global context are going to erode our research capacity in the long term.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Shocked that this historically very weird and disingenuous man should take on this very sinister role.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

That this doesn't apply to open access operators does rather throw a spanner in the works, and will potentially lead to heated arguments with train guards, given the way the change has been reported.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I was born 'abroad' to two British parents and have only just recovered from Matt Goodwin's call to deport me (or something?). What fresh hell is this?

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Have universities tried saying this?

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The Passport to Pimlico, except the Nazis won WWII bbc.com/news/articles/ckz7zyn1lwypo?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D

bbc.com

Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans

Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.

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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Also possibly the only contributor to the Late Review who hasn't turned out to be a complete lunatic. RIP Bonnie.

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