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James Murphy

@jamespmurphy.bsky.social
1.3K followers 818 following 1K posts

Teaching, learning and behaviour. Director at Thinking Reading. Working with secondary schools to eradicate illiteracy. Web: thinkingreading.com

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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 6h
The gap isn’t a gap of ability, motivation or even disability. It’s a gap in skills within the teaching profession. And therefore readily remediated - if we want.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Yes, and it helped to keep the viewers moving at a steady rate.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Absolutely straightforward, normal thing to do with a museum exhibition. Are they afraid the English will revolt when they find out they were invaded on the basis of a technicality?
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
So true - a fundamental inequity in the system. There has to be some way of recognising and rewarding schools for accepting the greatest challenges.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
It’s a distraction from the fact that they wound him up with misinformation in the first place.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
All of this. ⬇️ So much of recent policy from this EdSec looks and sounds like it cares, but it’s the fruit of a mindset that we tried - and failed - twenty years ago. The answer, as Ben articulates so clearly, is not to have different standards but to give greater support where it’s needed.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It really is quite obvious - and alarming
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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 30/09/2026
BREAKING NEWS: “Do geese see God” is a palindrome
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Thinking Reading @thinkreadhq.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In our podcast "Inside the Reading Gap" we hear from teachers like @vicgoddard who know reading problems in secondary schools can be solved - rather than accommodated.  You can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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Redwall Feasts Bot @redwallfeasts.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
At the end of the table sat an appetizing loaf of wheat bread stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, carrots, and onions, alongside bowls of bilberries grown at the Abbey.
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A clarification: 👬People on Universal Credit 👬Workers 👬Taxpayers Are not distinct groups. c4/10 of those on UC work, many will pay NICs, some also income tax. Everyone pays VAT. Most people pay council tax. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
So seminal for a whole genre
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026
Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all
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Thinking Reading @thinkreadhq.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Teaching struggling adolescent readers requires a complex repertoire of skills - simply doing ‘phonics’ or ‘vocabulary’ won’t cut it.  Read more in our blog ‘Can’t Read, Won’t Read: Matthew Effects’ wp.me/p4hKgx-1u (4 min read)
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Not saying the BBC News has lost focus but they currently have a live stream of the UK's biggest vegtable competition on their front page.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I’d have put Slow Horses a lot higher than 62.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Has it occured to him that someone saying "school wasn't for me" went to a crap school? Or wasn't taught to read properly at primary?
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Kristian Shanks @historykss.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It’s just terrible unevidenced uninformed nonsense from Burnham. Wrong on every level.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Exactly this. The idea that working class kids need something ‘different’. The utter snobbery and patrician condescension. I’m mostly centre left but this drivel from Labour is so tired, lazy and inadequate.
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Casket Based @cineblah.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm making a documentary about the RLNI situation and I am contacting various organisations. However I thought I'd turn to bluesky as well, I'm looking to interview people either connected to the RNLI, to refugees/those working with refugees and also with counter-protestors. Please share.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Happy equinox everyone
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Thinking Reading @thinkreadhq.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Looking for a new podcast to listen to on your commute tomorrow? Our podcast series "Inside the Reading Gap" is a succinct 4 part series. A key theme is that there is hope and reading problems are solvable. We explain what it takes & we show that teaching can change lives.
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Olena Halushka @halushka.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Worth reminding over and over again: if russia stops fighting, there will be no war; if Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
They are so good!
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Sean Jones KC @seanjones.org · 21/09/2026
Of course reparations for the slave trade is an utterly fanciful idea just so long as you ignore the fact that we paid reparations … to those who *invested* in the trade and not its victims.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thousands of university jobs lost too, and barely a peep either.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It’ll be the Establishment sending in the secret services.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Like kids in the playground shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Must be the heavy metal music
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Thinking Reading @thinkreadhq.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Why can't some children read after 11 yrs of education? Some will say deprivation, lack of intelligence, poor motivation, presumed disabilities or parents. We show how those beliefs don’t hold water & that teaching is the solution: @daisychristo shares her expertise on "Inside the Reading Gap"
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
If you care about public health, prisons, public spending, mental health services or education, this podcast will be helpful.
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Adam Lechmere @adamlechmere.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The toxic potency of Farage, that he can inspire people to attack lifeboat volunteers, the man dragging his slimy belly over England leaving a trail of hate and fear. This is the way evil appears, not with hooves but a blazer
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Honestly. He loves everyone. Me I”m well disposed to people but . . . I like solitude too 😂
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Nice to know we make somebody happy . . .
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Sigh. Why is every Reform headline them saying ‘I’ve done nothing wrong’?
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Olena Halushka @halushka.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Speak about Sumy. Speak about Kherson. Speak about Zaporizhzhia. Speak about Kharkiv. Speak about Dnipro. Speak about Kyiv. Speak about all towns and villages that russians are terrorizing daily, killing people, destroying businesses, wiping out homes and infrastructure.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Middle-class kids already do genuinely good vocational courses like degree apprenticeships. I just don't know what problem they're trying to solve. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...
thetimes.com
Lucy Powell: Middle-class children should take vocational subjects
The education secretary says that curriculums tailored to the needs of the local economy should not be rejected because of snobbery
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
They didn’t seem to have these hesitations when they were jailing frail elderly women . . .
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It’s all over Europe too.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Oh wait, someone has thought of this before!
18 U.S. Code § 597 Expenditures to influence voting U.S. Code

Notes

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Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote- Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It’s a qualified success. The lower levels aren’t shifting and that suggests (along with many things) that we are neglecting solutions for those children. But it’s certainly a vindication of a lot of dedicated work by a lot of people!
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
First Sunday of September, the Feast of St Ignoranus, which we celebrate by the traditional reposting of researchED slides with no context, by people who weren’t there, and don’t know what was said about the slide.
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Caroline Keep @ka83k.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Finding it really telling right now we CAN arrest people holding signs peacefully about their political views. But we CAN'T arrest men beating women with literal sticks at Reform UK for expressing their views. So freedom of speech includes violence now for certain groups?
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
My first cartoon for adults for a while, on the Dover business
A one panel cartoon showing three male-looking figures in all black wearing balaclavas, so you can only see their eyes. Below it says: 'Spontaneous' protest. The figure on the right is saying: 'OMG, SO EMBARRASSING, WE ALL WORE THE SAME OUTFIT!
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
When protests like these are tolerated, it can be because there is sympathy within the police higher ranks. Eg see the prolonged protests at Parliament in NZ
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Your endurance is astounding, your sorrow unimaginable. Praying you will all sleep safely.
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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It rained all day yesterday so we went to Barnstaple - never again. We also got our T.V. working. Someone has to sit with the aerial on their head.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
He has also openly shared his strategy for ‘destroying’ fellow academics, which is not free speech, but is a breach of his employment contract. Ridiculous what people will claim ‘free speech’.
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James Murphy @jamespmurphy.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It’s as if he’s trying to put The Onion out of business
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