Photo from the early 1970s of a man on horseback negotiating the Birmingham inner ring road at Holloway Head
I’m searching for the original and/or rights owner of this fabulous picture of Birmingham in the early 1970s. It popped up on my Instagram feed, but I’ve been unable to track it down.
Any leads? I’m really hoping to use it in a book.
(And would much appreciate a RT please)
And Australia right up there too! Suspect they didn’t include NZ because Kiwis would be even higher trust than Canadians 🥰
No surprises in the Senate report on the ATEC bill. The Coalition don’t support it - and both the Greens & Senator David Pocock want a number of changes to the legislation incl. urgent changes to the Job-ready Graduates funding scheme
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...
This week on the 'What now? What next?' podcast - Dr Margot McNeill from Canberra Institute of Technology joins me to reflect on everything happening in VET.
Out now in your podcast app or listen online: whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com
It seems to me that the foundational 'wrong turn' in education was the increasing rhetoric from universities themselves and their supporters that the primary value of a university education was increased earning power.
That leads pretty directly to this place we're in now.
If you missed Friday’s free international education webinar with Dirk Mulder and Tracy Harris - you can watch the replay here: clairefield.com.au/internationa...
What's wrong with the needs based student funding program for Australian universities. andrewnorton.id.au/2026/02/19/n...
"Was the Adelaide University merger really worth $185 million in consultants?" @alicektg.bsky.social
The merger cost a total of $500m & Deloitte won the contract worth $185m to manage the merger.
thepoint.com.au/news/260219-...
Summary The Australian Human Rights Commission has released findings from the Racism@Uni Study. More than 76,000 students and staff from 42 universities across the country participated in the Study. The Study findings reveal particularly high rates of racism are experienced by students and staff from First Nations, African, Asian, Jewish, Māori, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Palestinian and Pasifika backgrounds. The findings also show high rates of racism experienced by international students. The report titled Respect at Uni: Study into Antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and the experience of First Nations people makes 47 recommendations to Government and universities.
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Racism@Uni study has been released and its findings are incredibly confronting… “racism is deeply embedded across Australian universities and has profound impacts on students and staff.”
humanrights.gov.au/about-us/med...
Such a pleasure to be joined on the podcast by one of Australia's leaders in higher education - Melbourne Uni's Prof. Michael Wesley on what's happening in domestic and international higher education.
Out now in your favourite podcast app or listen online: whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com
Yes, we should preserve western culture but not like this . . . ft.trib.al/DSEX6S4 | opinion
Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!
"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."
Well done Federation University Australia - a very simple initiative but so important 👏👏👏 (and how sad that the cost of living means students are graduating and don’t have the funds to buy suitable clothing for job interviews)
berwicknews.starcommunity.com.au/news/2026-02...
www.gov.uk/government/s...
Another fall in visa applications in January. Skilled worker and health and care visa main applicants down to 2,600 probably because of tougher English language rules.
Student visa applications have seen a shocking fall from 28,700 in January 25 to 19,800 in January 26.
Ironically enough there seems to be somewhat of a slight correlation between student satisfaction and poorer PSC scores! (Comparison to THE rank included also but not as interesting)
Yes so awful - and elsewhere in the report there are comparisons with results from 2 broader Australian workforce surveys and a survey of the Vic public service - and the university results are so much worse
The fact that 82% (of almost 11,500 respondents) ranked high or very high on emotional exhaustion is just awful. And that even after all the focus on wage payment issues in the sector: 71% still report working more than their contracted hours is deeply worrying
Survey results for individual universities ranked from best (ie lowest levels of psychosocial risk) to worst. Percentage of respondents reporting low psychosocial risk: Charles Darwin Uni 36% UQ 30% UNSW 28% Federation Uni 28% University of Sydney 24% Deakin 24% UniSA 23% Curtin 23% RMIT 22% Monash 21% Canberra 21% UWA 19% Murdoch 19% Melbourne 18% VU 17% UNE 17% ACU 16% UTas 16% Swinburne 16% CSU 16% Griffith 16% Uni of Adelaide 15% ECU 15% WSU 14% Uni Sunshine Coast 14% La Trobe 13% James Cook 13% QUT 13% Macquarie 13% Flinders 12% Wollongong 9% ANU 8% UTS 8% Notre Dame Australia 7% USQ 5% Newcastle 5%
Really concerning data in the latest survey of the psychological health/safety of Australian university staff: 82% of 11,477 respondents ranked high or very high on levels of emotional exhaustion & 71% report working more than their contracted/paid hours.
Full details at: stresscafe.net/census/
Split-image: On the left, a black-and-white historical portrait of Mary Winston Jackson (1921–2005), the pioneering Black aerospace engineer and mathematician at NASA who became the agency's first Black female engineer in 1958. She is shown in her later years wearing large round glasses, short curly hair styled in soft waves, large hoop earrings, a polka-dot blouse pr scarf with a brooch, and a warm, confident smile. On the right, a color scene from the 2016 film Hidden Figures, depicting actress Janelle Monáe portraying Mary Winston Jackson as a young mathematician and engineer at NASA. She sits at a desk in a classroom-like setting, wearing a bright yellow cardigan over a cream blouse, bold pink lipstick, gold earrings, with her hair in a sleek 1960s bob, gazing thoughtfully ahead amid colleagues in the background.#MaryWinstonJackson #HiddenFigures #NASA #BlackHistoryMonth #WomenInSTEM #JanelleMonáe #HumanComputers
Aerospace engineer & "human computer" Mary Winston Jackson became NASA's first Black female engineer in 1958.
Her story features in 𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 (book/film). She died #OTD in 2005. www.nasa.gov/people/mary-...
#WomenInSTEM #BHM #WomenInScienceDay #IDWGS
Image promoting the upcoming international education webinar
There’s been such a lot happening in Australian international education - I’m really looking forward to this upcoming webinar with Tracy Harris and Dirk Mulder to work through it all - Friday 20 February 12.30pm AEDT. Register for free at:
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
“The combined tuition fees of the entire Question Time panel would not cover my cost for 1 year of uni. Is that fair?”
Oli Dugmore
It’s absolutely NOT fair. This outrageous scandal must end
📢In my #NeededNowLT series w @jasonmlodge.bsky.social
@csu.edu.au @kellinden.bsky.social @sarahteakel.bsky.social
❓What would #PartTime students like for a Happy New Year? A letter to ATEC & TEQSA
🤯35% Aust domestic students r PT
15 New Year wishes for their success
open.substack.com/pub/neededno...
The power of an image (from the NYT) - the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine opens - and all you can see are all the ambulances queuing up to get through…
Was ready to dislike the song for being pretentious or just dull. But it hits.
@mrjamesob.bsky.social - enjoyed your discussion on China on Friday’s show. It’s a very different discussion in Australia where we debate & engage on the issues much more frequently. You might enjoy @nickbryantoz.bsky.social interview today with an Australian expert: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
In 2025, as Bluesky grew from 25M to 42M users, we took actions to keep it welcoming, using proactive design to reduce toxic content by 79%. Our 2025 Transparency Report shares how we're building a safer platform while keeping a transparent and human-centered approach: bsky.social/about/blog/0...
The podcast has been on an extended summer break (sorry!) but it’s back - with details on what the sector thinks of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission legislation - mostly supportive but lots of changes recommended
Listen online or in your fav podcast app: whatnowwhatnext.buzzsprout.com
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
