August 2016

  • The blog's having some downtime ...

    ... for recuperation and rejuvenation.

  • Post EERA-ECER 2014 reflections

    The latest EER contains papers from a symposium in Network 30 at the EERA-ECER conference in Porto in 2014. The symposium had an international and inter-disciplinary focus on environmental, sustainability, global and development education research looking at ethical and political issues within these areas....

  • Has Earth anything to show more fair in Dublin

    I'm not going to EERA-ECER in Dublin which starts next week.  It would have been good to see so many familiar faces, but I no longer appreciate sitting around all day (for several days) listening to people read their papers....

  • Is it time for green infrastructure QE?

    Although the answer's probably "no!", it's a question that's out there, posed by Richard Murphy, who writes the Tax Research UK blog. Although the blog post raising this question is from 2015, interest is probably being stimulated again by the...

  • Boycott or Sabotage – could you tell the difference?

    There was the usual excitement at this year’s NUS National Conference.  It passed an amendment to Motion 201 in the Education Zone debate calling on NUS to determine the most effective strategy to either boycott or sabotage the 2017 National Student...

  • Even more natural connections: satire or just a timely comment?

    I thought that I'd written my last word (for all time) on Natural Connections, the project, but I'd missed the interview that the head of the project team gave to the BBC about the final report.  It's here – and...

  • Sustainable food – or is it?

    The latest edition of NERC's Planet Earth magazine contained a breathless feature on a partnership between M&S and NERC to create "a more sustainable global food system".  You can read all about this here. Carmel McQuaid, who sounds as if she...

  • Last word on natural connections

    Finally, it's the end of Natural Connections.  Huzzah!  The conclusions of the project's final report are that: 1. The project provides strong evidence that a distributed model of independent brokerage can unlock latent demand and support schools to overcome local barriers...

  • WEEC at the knees at the mere thought

    Rumour has it that WEEC is looking for an outfit in the UK to host a forthcoming conference – only organisations with the requisite quotient of gullibility and desperation need apply. I'm reminded of what Richard Ingrams said when Mrs Thatcher...

  • FEN 5 – The legacy of Henry Wilt

    I started off the week noting that I was in thrall to the astonishing John Lilburne.  Another hero, albeit of a very different kind, is Henry Wilt.  Now, it's difficult being in the Fens and not to think of Wilt, that...