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James Handscombe

@jameshandscombe.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.4K following 4.3K posts

Executive Principal, Mathematician, Teacher, Wordsmith not necessarily in that order.

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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 5h
The light this morning is incredible, a rosy glow that would make you think you were walking into fairyland if you weren’t, in fact, pacing the endless suburban sprawl of southeast London. (The horse chestnut tree, pictured, is an old friend and fellow-traveler dreaming of the feywild)
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 19h
Completely agree with that review. Everything is better once Casaubon dies.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Understand the internet? Child, we watched it be born, we shaped it into what it is today. Long before potty training was trending in your life we were creating meaningless disputes with strangers and laughing at funny cats. The things we’ve seen
static.klipy.com
Simpsons Old Man Yells at Cloud
ALT: Simpsons Old Man Yells at Cloud
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You’re kind of equivocal about it then?
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
… and attendance, and home support, and whatever proxy you’re using for clever. These are not independent variables.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I’m not sure this is true - you’re right as far as qualifications are concerned, but learning is much more than just the pieces of paper. I agree about the parallel competitions and think there are such things - they just correlate hugely with academics because they line up with effort:
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My speech from the conference debate on 'Zionism is Racism’ motion
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
And I don’t think you’re wrong about curricular space either - subjects like PE, Drama, Art, Design, Music, even, offer ways of doing well that aren’t to do with academics. I also think that the difference between the 20th centile and the 80th has more to do with application than native wit.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I think you create belonging, teach in a way that offers success for everyone and offer more opportunities to do more than can possibly be taken up by a single student.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Then let’s make them like school.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yes - I think we don’t message hard enough the importance of doing the things you don’t have to do.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Pay for longer days instead - let’s not erode what we have.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yes - the problem with judgments on academic outcomes is that those sre comparative - it’s like in the Apprentice where they say “Team A made £110 selling tat and get a trip to Iceland and Team B got £100 for their jewelers heist and have to mud wrestle for their lives”
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Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
2/n. I have spent most of my career in cat 3 and 4 schools in areas of enormous challenge. It is very very hard. We need greater recognition of how hard it is and less fire and brimstone scorched earth responses to negative judgements. I've seen the hugely damaging effects of this first hand..
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
1. Picture to Burn. Taylor 2. Before He Cheats. Carrie Underwood 3. Feel it. The Tamperer 4. Everything About You. Ugly Kid Joe 5. Death on Two Legs. Queen #FridayFive
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Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#FridayFive is vengeful. 1. Karma Police. Radiohead. 2. Thank you Aimee. Taylor Swift. 3. You're So Vain. Carly Simon. 4. Yes. McAlmont and Butler. 5. The Mariner's Revenge Song. The Decemberists.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I’d add to this that all of these require a bit of slack and squeezing budgets squeezes them out - the drive for ”efficiency” in education is a drive towards transactional education and focuses attention on the straightforwardly measurable rather than what’s useful:
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I agree - but think you underestimate the natural tendency of schools, to put on plays, to do fundraising, to have student leadership, all of which are effort-coded rather than intelligence-coded.
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Anand Menon @anandmenon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Th 'join' numbers are soft. They will change. The tradeoffs are quite stark and the accession process will be really tough. None of which is to say it's not something we should do. But we really shouldn't underestimate how hard it will be to do, and how much public opinion might shift.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Hi Thirsty, I'm Friday" "Hi Hungry, I'm Romania" Oh dear...
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"private schools probably have minimal impact on social mobility, because they are one of the lowest value-add things you can do with that amount of money" - we're at least partly talking about bursaries.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is why she does PMQs blindfolded and standing on one leg - after all, nobody ever says it's an 18,358-1 chance but it might just work.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is an explanation of why private schools are an attractive luxury to some of those who can afford it - it doesn't engage with the key point that if you want to support social mobility then a private school bursary is one of the least effective uses of money.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yeah - we had a good deal before we smashed it.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
That’s because of the cover-up (Big Kraken almost certainly behind it)
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Really interesting article about the Bronze Age collapse (and a suggestion that it wasn’t merfolk what done it) www.worksinprogress.news/p/why-really...
worksinprogress.news
Why the Bronze Age collapsed
Historians like to blame drought, famine and invaders. But this can’t explain why the empires never came back.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They have to ride broomsticks as though they were playing muggle Quidditch (except for the goalkeeper who wears the full kit for an ice-hockey goalie)
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Alex J-W @alexjw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Really sick of all the online maths homework tools - all trying to ´teach’ kids how to do specific questions but all doing it in the same way - telling kids to follow their specific procedure. Most of these procedures are divorced from underlying meaning really undermines teaching for meaning
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
But if all it means is one has a larger estate than the other then it’s not unfair - once you’re dead, the money is irrelevant.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
No - and the point is that spending their money on looking after themselves in old age is sensible - feeling it’s unfair if you have less when you do die is not. Our safety net should be to ensure that all receive the care they need not that they die with a house.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There's nobody that can afford to pay more tax like dead dudes can.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Once you're dead, any idea of fairness is irrelevant.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Inheritance is a lottery - it’s a lottery of whether your ancestors have money to pass on. If we want to make it fair we should have 100% inheritance tax and reduce other taxes accordingly.
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Robin Campbell @robincognito.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
But are they ruined? My mother has recently moved into residential care. She has sold her house and it is v likely the full value will pay for care costs. She is not ruined. She will have a stable situation for the rest of her life. Her father always said " there's nae pockets in a shroud".
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The money you save during your working life is primarily there to see you through your old age - you can’t spend it once you’re dead.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
He has told everyone to imagine he’s on the ballot - which in the event of a blue wave will provide some material to mock him with. There are also some long shot scenarios where the Congress Reps are clever and principled enough to recognize that going down with a rapidly sinking ship is a bad move.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
But he only has a handful of rolls and the dice is big.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ceci n’est pas un dinosaur
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s really compelling and thought provoking.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Now if it were the Bradypus I’d understand it.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
One of our school houses is named for Naoroji - they won the university challenge yesterday.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
How did that particular Flanders and Swann track become your obsession?
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
He’s got such a job to pull them up he calls them Daisy roots.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Adam Ant could easily have made my list - playground hero.
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
1. Brown Girl in the Ring: Boney M 2. Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart: Marc Almond and Gene Pitney 3. Take it Easy: The Eagles 4: Mr Brightside: The Killers 5: Blinded by Your Grace Pt 2: Stormzy
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My eyes! My ears! My very sensibilities!
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Embarrassing lack of forward planning
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Any particular low points?
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James Handscombe @jameshandscombe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Did resign, over an amount of money much less than we’re looking at here. Are we expecting to see a Farage resignation?
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They warned us Mamdani would impose Sharia law. Instead, he unleashed the real threat: line dancing in Bryant Park.
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