Matilda Fitzmaurice

This is the discussion paper I presented at #UCU Higher Education Committee yesterday on teaching-only and teaching-focused T&Cs. Great feedback from HEC members, and the accompanying HESC motion passed unanimously! Pls use link below to share with anyone who may be interested.

not being funny but how isn't charging for on-street parking a thing in NYC already

I thought this was Gerry Adams for a minute!

TL;DR 'I'm a terf'

anything is possible in Scotland!

fair play by Chris Whitty!

Wow, yes please

I think this is a Scottish thing? Where has it been all my life?!

first time trying a macaroni and cheese pie. Total masterpiece

In the 1997 dystopian scifi film Gattaca, rapid DNA testing is used to determine social class and job eligibility. In 2026 UK, women wanting to participate in athletics must pay a £185 gender tax to take part in a genetic lottery where some will be ineligble due to previously unknown chromosones.

welcome to my life

UCU UK elections 2025-26 UCU has a national executive committee, elected by the union's members. Elections take place annually.

UCU election results are out - turnout dreadful. Some welcome new faces and VPs (congrats to @markpendleton.bsky.social and @suzitoole.bsky.social), and interesting absences, including absence of option to vote for Wales HE rep. The latter needs to be rectified asap.

www.ucu.org.uk/article/1419...

Female athletes must pay £185 to prove their sex Matt Lawton - Chief Sports Correspondent British female track and field athletes are being asked to pay £185 for a sex test if they want to compete internationally. World Athletics requires all athletes to take an SRY gene test before competing in the female category at major championships and Diamond League events to guarantee fair competition by excluding trans and DSD (differences of sex development) competitors. Before the World Championships in Tokyo last September, World Athletics gave $100 per test for the thousand or so female athletes needing one. More money will be provided by the international federation for this year’s World Junior Championships. But British women have been advised by UK Athletics (UKA) to pay for the test themselves, urging them to have the cheek swab, which indicates the presence of a Y chromosome, “as soon as possible to avoid delays around selection”. However, some women have complained it is unfair when the test is not required for men. UKA has a hardship fund to pay for the test and will assess requests on a case-by-case basis. But the situation is symptomatic of a national federation already facing financial challenges, made worse by UK Sport cutting its funding for this Olympic cycle. While almost £32 million was given to the relatively niche sports that won five medals at last month’s Winter Olympics, athletics has had its funding cut from £22.18 million to £20.45 million despite winning ten medals in 2024. It was only last year UKA returned to some form of financial stability, posting a profit of £107,588. But it is now facing a big fine after admitting corporate manslaughter over the death of Abdullah Hayayei, who died in 2017 after a metal cage fell on him while he was training for the World Para Athletics Championships in London.

"Feminism" [Times]

Fair Funding for Hospices Hospice UK's campaign for fair hospice funding

Until this year I didn't really know quite what hospices did. I know, I've been lucky - many of you no doubt know already what amazing work they do for people going through the absolute worst things. So obviously they're severely underfunded. www.hospiceuk.org/fair-funding...

Excited and honoured to have been elected to the #UCU NEC. Many thanks to everyone who voted for me (and indeed, everyone who voted at all).

I'm looking forward to representing our members to the best of my ability.

Centenary | Norfolk Wildlife Trust During 2026, we're hanging the bunting out as we celebrate our 100th birthday! To mark this memorable year, we invite you to celebrate with us as we continue to support Norfolk’s nature to thrive.

Happy 100th Birthday Norfolk Wildlife Trust!!! On March 6th 1926, Norwich doctor Sydney Long saved Cley marshland "as a bird breeding sanctuary for all time". So began the county Wildlife Trusts: 2,600 reserves, 945k members; local nature & people together.
www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/Centenary

Just fully mask off at this point

We have to better engage with our members, taking the activists seriously, given the energy they put into the union, but also by giving the silent majority the opportunity to speak.

this is so encouraging. & I agree.

and also: life is not about perfection, it is constant rupture-and-repair. it's that rupture/repair cycle that makes things stronger.

"don't break the chain" is IMO not great advice. better advice is: "practice & get good at returning to things after a break".

This is huge for our union. Mark is such a fantastic all-rounder with an ability to reach out and work across differences. Let’s do this 👌 #UCU

This appalling fat cat wants to shut the door on all my mature students, many of whom left school after GCSE and give up a lot to go to university. I can tell him that they’re the hungriest for education and far from being unable to graduate, they regularly get the highest grades. Hateful man.

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

Mark being elected VP is a huge win for UCU and for members nationally. Huge.

So well deserved Mark. Your record of working across political disagreements and positions is an inspiration. We need more of that spirit in UCU.
With a sector in crisis, I find it incomprehensible that some UCU members prioritize fighting other union members.

Text reads: I am humbled and excited to be elected the next UCU Vice-President for Higher Education. Now is a devastatingly difficult and challenging time for our sectors and so many workers in post-16 education, but as a union we cannot succumb to despair. We have the skills, knowledge and capacity to help chart a way out of this mess and restore higher and further education. That you have put your trust in me to help do that is a huge honour and responsibility. I do not take this lightly. Thank you to the many thousands of members who voted for me and also to those who did not – we need to build better engagement in our union and part of that is voting, no matter who you voted for. I promised in my election materials to work hard to bring our union together and that is what I will do.

Text reads: Thank you to the other HE candidates Sean and Steve, both committed trade unionists. I know they will continue to fight for members and the future of Higher Education and I look forward to doing that alongside them. Congratulations to those elected to the National Executive Committee and commiserations to those who missed out this time. Your willingness to put yourself forward for election is hugely valued and I know you all will continue to contribute in other ways. So what next? Until the end of May, I’ll be tying up some loose ends and taking some time off to visit family and friends back in Australia. I will take up my role after UCU’s annual Congress at the end of May, this year in Harrogate.

Text reads: For the following three years, I will be lead negotiator for pay and conditions and for USS pensions across UK Higher Education, working with our team of elected negotiators and officials. I will also chair UCU’s Higher Education Committee and HE sector conferences, serve on other national committees and represent you in various forums. In 2029-30 I will become UCU’s President after the excellent Suzi Toole, who has also been elected as Vice-President for Further Education and will spend two years leading on further education matters before becoming President. She will take over from Dyfrig Jones, who succeeds early to the Presidential role for a two-year term this May, due to the casual vacancy that arose last year, replacing Maria Chondrogianni. Maria stays on as immediate past president, rounding out the presidential team. I want to again acknowledge David Hunter who stepped down as President-Elect last year for health reasons and continue to wish him and his family all the best.

A picture of two smiling people (Suzi Toole and Mark Pendleton) wearing UCU beanies. Text reads: That’s a lot of work, and a lot of moving parts, but at the heart of it will be my commitment to build a better union, alongside members and branches, and through that transform our sectors. I am ready and I know from the responses to this election that many of you are too. I’m looking forward to getting to work, together with you all.

UCU’s elections concluded this week and I am honoured to have been elected as the next Vice-President for Higher Education, to become President in 2029-30.

Thank you for all the support.

A short statement about the election and what’s to come after I take up the role in May.

Honoured to be elected to #UCU NEC. Thanks for all your votes!

Disappointing turnout of 8.5%. I was elected by around 1% of total members.

I won in the first round (of STV system), which is a pretty emphatic endorsement of my ‘manifesto’, but sorry to report that our Union is in a parlous state.

South Dakota's "Meth. We're on it" campaign

I'll always remember Kristi Noem for the "Meth. We're on it." campaign.

Thanks so much to everyone who voted for our candidates! #ucu

Absolutely BEAMING at this. So proud of all our candidates and those we supported #UCU

Bishop Odo carrying what looks like a massive baseball bat