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(Causing) Serious Injury by Dangerous Driving (SIbyDD). This is the offence we're discussing. Apologies, I was trying not to spill over into another post.

Lots of reasons why drunk driving is not 'normal' like it used to be, but I don't think very long driving bans for collisions involving serious injury are part of it. Short but statutory driving ban (rather than just points), advertising, and enforcement campaigns, I reckon.

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I'd much rather we paid more attention to the people driving dangerously before they injure someone. I'm struggling to imagine that if SIbyDD had been prison plus ~14 year ban rather than prison plus ~4 year ban, he'd have been driving at 70 mph that night.

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Yes, that's a point I am more in agreement with but if we're going to move from ~4 years to something like 14 years, then that's, quite rightly, going to have to come from government, not judges. My question would be whether it will make any difference to road safety.

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Lots of people think lots of our sentencing is too lenient, but we lock up people more readily, and for longer, than almost anywhere else in western Europe. The behaviour makes me angry too, but this is generally not judges being soft, which is what I'm pushing back on.

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eric gonzalez juenke @egojunk.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

This is a very understandable reaction to sentencing for all sorts of crimes. If you look at the sentencing guidelines for ABH, or GBH without intent, they're similar. A 2-year custodial sentence is a heavy sentence in our justice system.

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Reposted by Matt Perks

AI effects on students all in one set of figures. Makes homework super easy and fast. Make brane not think gud.

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On the ban, guidelines are much more vague, but individual judge can't unilaterally give much longer bans than is typical for any kind of offence. I'd support longer bans but suspect they would have minimal impact.

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Not a lawyer and haven't read sentencing remarks, which will give a detailed justification. But he pleaded guilty, so that's a one-third reduction. Means the starting sentence was 3 yrs 6 mths. Starting point is 4 years. Lower end of Harm 1. Most aggravating factors don't apply.

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It is, but nothing that's done as punishment in extreme cases will make any substantial difference to road safety. The only thing that will shift the dial is much more consistent enforcement of minor offences.

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... bear in mind that for most crimes, the public would impose harsher sentences than the sentencing guidelines, despite successive governments ramping them up.

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Causing serious injury by dangerous driving

No they don't. Judges don't picture themselves driving at 140 mph. Jusges follow the sentencing guidelines. You can disagree with the guidelines sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/c... + guilty plea reduction, but...

sentencingcouncil.org.uk

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

🤣👍 At the risk of sounding like a Dissenting Disrupter, I think we have got into a bit of a habit of issuing dire warnings about things that are mostly a bit, meh! A quick squint at a partial eclipse isn't like spending 5 minutes looking at it through binoculars.

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Reposted by Matt Perks

Bill Wilkinson @drwilkinsonsci.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

If you used TGT last year you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve set up a mailing list so you can now have the free, daily, tutor resource delivered to your email every evening. Ready to go, or edit as you see fit. Sign up below. Please share!

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Yes, definitely, but I've lived down here for about 20 years and mostly thought the same thing.

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Summer is my least favourite season here in the S. of England. Hot and humid. Light starts to go in the evening. Stinky bins. Trees have lost their mojo. Birds cba singing. Flies. Garden goes over after being lovely in the Spring. Roll on mists and mellow fruitfulness.

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Yes, unusual for workers to benefit rather than lose out from restructuring of work schedules.

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And whenever that's mooted, it seems to be unpopular.

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The problem is that we've set up schools so teachers have to work relatively long hours in order to manage relatively a relatively short school day. That leaves tweaking holidays so they're spread more evenly as your only viable improvement.

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At least in the UK, they're surprisingly effective when first installed but this drops off quickly. Therefore, they need to be switched round locations so they're only in the same place for a week or two, then go elsewhere for several weeks before coming back round.

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👍🙏 Although, it just popped up in English for me, anyway.

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I think, essentially, we don't really know what the impact of universal MH programmes in schools is. The evidence of harms is sporadic. There's some evidence of benefits but this declines as evaluation study quality improves. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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This is available in English 👇 It's a commentary on a recent scoping review of studies on universal MH interventions in schools, looking at potential harms rather than benefits. References/links to systematic reviews looking at benefits are also available if you go to the published paper, though.

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... as "the teachers don't understand that this is bad, but we do". I accept the framing is much more subtle than that, but it's what I'm hearing as I read it.

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... the authors' preferred ideas, but in the absence of more direct evidence (which could be qualitative) of a detrimental effect on these particular disadvantaged children, or a theory supported by such broad and unquivocal evidence that it must apply here too, I think it should not be presented...

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Teachers in this study clearly liked the scripted curriculum and thought it improved teaching and learning. Unless you have high quality, quantitative data that refutes this perception, that has to be accepted. No problem with arguing the teachers' articulation of equity issues differs from...

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Papers like this always bother me. Qualitative research in education is essential but too often its limitations aren't fully internalised (by the authors), just as the limitations of quantitative work are also substantial and frequently overlooked.

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Yes, but it could feel like that, despite not being objectively correct. And is it selfishness (e.g. if litter is worse that might just be because councils are spending less on clearing it up, not because more people are dropping it)?

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I struggle to know if this is real or perception. For example, well over half the UK population think crime overall is worse than it used to be, but (apart from online) it's way lower. I wonder if this mis-perception extends to ASB and general selfishness. But idk.

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Presumably this requires an admin permission setting that can toggle it on and off for a school or college. Not sure it makes much difference to actual user access, since it's so easy to access outside Classroom, but having it there on a school/college platform would be sending a message.

mechanically separated woman @euphory.gay · 12/08/2026

Reposted by Matt Perks

here's something: Chirikov et al. (2026): doi.org/10.1126/scie... survey of "95,513 students in a representative sample of 20 major public researchintensive universities in the United States"

chart of ai usage among students by academic field in the linked study

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There's a very high risk of... ...heart attacks and RTCs triggered by government emergency alert.

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How could anyone not be? 🙏

Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Looking at other "college only" subjects, the pattern seems a bit random - not sure. Variation by region is, to me, surprisingly large. Economics looks to be particularly big variation, again most popular in London. SW seems to be keen on furthest-from-STEM subjects.

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Accounting is a bit of a different picture.

Map showing highest proportion of Accounting A-Levels are in the NW.

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Is this just demographics and/or GCSE grades, though?

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Reposted by Matt Perks

Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I worry about students who will start endlessly uploading prose to check it, which is of course already happening. Hard problem to solve but when "trying to score as human" overtakes "having something to say" we are not winning.

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Also, wondering how the number of punched plastic pockets in the world compares to the number of A4 sheets of paper (given paper decomposes and there must be a lot of plastic pockets still biding their time in landfill).

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Yes, the molecule separation clearly changes as you pass 273K.

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Lots of ancient material here but lots that was good at the time. A reminder that when the NC or an exam spec. changes it creates millions of person hours of additional teacher workload. Should be done suitably carefully!

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Just clearing out my office. Found MEG (Midland Examining Group - precursor to OCR) at Central and Further Tiers, from the year I got QTS, 1996.

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Southampton Weather - Rain Detail

Last day we had more than 1.0 mm of rain here was 11th June. Measureable rain on three days since then (0.6, 0.7, 0.9 mm) We've had none at all since the end of June. It is very, very dry! www.southamptonweather.co.uk/wxraindetail...

southamptonweather.co.uk

Officially the most up-to-date weather reporting live from Southampton. With the very latest forecasts, charts, weather tv, marine info, astronomy and much more.

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I don't understand what this means.

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Looks like a grumpy but still cute koala, don't you think?

And the World Cup (men's football).

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But then oral defence depends on understanding any nuance in the question, and being able to marshall your thoughts quickly in English, which has an extra layer of difficulty if you're not totally fluent.

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