Category Archives: Education, training and exams

A year on from my breakdown

Posted on May 5, 2013 by

Summary Why recovery seems further away than ever. It’s been just over a year since I crashed and burned mentally. I’d like to say things have improved healthwise, but…have they? The thing with mental health is that it’s not like … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Education, training and exams, Employment and job hunting, Mental health | 1 Comment

#ScienceDay at the Department for Communities and Local Government

Posted on April 24, 2013 by

Summary What happens when Eric Pickles pays for the train fare of a dragon fairy. I thought for transparency’s sake I’d get that out up front first. Richard Harries, who I briefly worked with during my time in Whitehall, invited … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Data, science and statistics, Education, training and exams, Public administration & policy, Social media | Leave a comment

What happens when youth advisers who are teenagers get caught in a media firestorm?

Posted on April 7, 2013 by

Summary On the various responses to offensive tweets by Kent’s Youth Police and Crime Commissioner Paris Brown The story is here, and thus far, Paris Brown has been backed by Kent’s Police Commissioner that appointed her. Of course it goes … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, training and exams, Law and legal issues, Party politics, Public administration & policy, Social media | 4 Comments

“Hey! Those are MY Cambridge posh people! You leave them A-LONE!”

Posted on March 31, 2013 by

Summary Breaking oxbridge stereotypes  I sort of re-interpreted this sketch by Imran Yusuf on the back of a polarised Twitterfeed all around The Oxford vs Cambridge Boatrace. It’s at this time of year when one side tears into oxbridge over elitism … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Data, science and statistics, Education, training and exams | 2 Comments

Puffles crashes CRASSH – then gets to play with a 3D printer

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

Summary Have wings, will fly – as Cambridge University slowly but surely opens its events up to the wider public, and to local dragon fairies too. It either takes a lot of courage, or a completely zero sense of self-image … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Education, training and exams, Events I have been to, Puffles | 1 Comment

Loyalty to institutions

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

Summary Why are people loyal to some institutions but not others? This post stems from a comment by Hilary Barnard in response to my last blogpost. Why was I so angry at the fund raiser who phoned me up out … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Charities and Big Society, Education, training and exams, Public administration & policy | Leave a comment

Lifelong learning

Posted on February 24, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts stemming from the Coalition’s call to get the over 60s retrained Slowly but surely mindsets are changing around the concept of lifelong learning. But are the policies matching the words? We’ve heard ministers call for older people … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Education, training and exams, Employment and job hunting, Party politics | 1 Comment

Patriarchy messes things up for us men too

Posted on February 19, 2013 by

Summary #Triggerwarning Trying to get my head around, and being influenced by a whole series of things my feminist Twitterfriends have enlightened me with It’s difficult to know where to start this post. I don’t want to get too caught … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Education, training and exams, Mental health | 1 Comment

The hidden costs of flexible labour markets

Posted on February 13, 2013 by

Summary What might be good for a firm might not be good for society. Now where have I heard that before? This post has been brewing for quite some time too, but Frances Coppola’s post on bifurcation in the labour … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Education, training and exams, Employment and job hunting, Law and legal issues, Party politics | Leave a comment

How we made the digital video social media guides…

Posted on January 14, 2013 by

…by Dana Bubulj Dana has very kindly written up her experiences of working on my second digital video project. Please read them here. The new digital video guides can be found here – feel free to share them. Fingers crossed … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, training and exams, Public administration & policy, Puffles, Social media | 1 Comment