Martin Robinson

Strictly Scum Dancing's latest same sex couple

Good morning:

The single biggest thing (in cost terms) I’ve changed my mind about is UK tuition fees. Dreadful system, need to scrap it.

Wait until she starts needing cash

Hamnet - the film Good or manipulative?

Is the film Hamnet manipulative? open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

Hamnet - the film Good or manipulative?

My take on the Golden Globe winning film Hamnet: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

Hamnet - the film Good or manipulative?

A short film review: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

You mean watch it again or remember watching it? I’ve seen it a few times now..

Hamnet - the film Good or manipulative?

A short film review: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

Martin Chivers RiP

Happy new year!

Decline in use of social media worldwide, except in North America, Canada and USA there is an increased use. UK is one of the countries in the west where usage is lower than others. The extreme American colonisation of these spaces is clearly off putting…

Happy Christmas

wmg.qi-cms.com/media/w1500/...

How much is God per month?

Thrillers should be on UK school curriculum to boost reading, says Lee Child Bestselling author says focus on ‘masterpieces’ puts children off as he promotes prison literacy scheme

“Too much of the literature taught in UK schools is putting children off reading” www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Em dashes? He was clearly using ChatGPT

Humanist Heritage: Beacon Hill School Telegraph House stood on the West Sussex Downs, very near to the highest point called Beacon Hill… It stood out […]

If you were going to open a school based on evidence and logic what would it be like? The philosopher Bertrand Russel had a go:
heritage.humanists.uk/beacon-hill-...:

Supposedly distinct psychiatric conditions may have same root causes People are often diagnosed with multiple neurodivergencies and mental health conditions, but the biggest genetic analysis so far suggests many have shared biological causes

Is this evidence that the diagnostic criteria, such as ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, and other diagnoses used by psychiatrists are wrong? www.newscientist.com/article/2507...

How Descartes’ Mind-Body Dualism Still Haunts Cognitive Science Today | TheCollector René Descartes’ mind-body dualism, the view that the mind and body are different kinds of things, haunts cognitive science to this day.

conscious experience, bedevils cognitive science

www.thecollector.com/rene-descart...

There’s a fight in the offing against Lowestoft First

The transgressions of Tom Stoppard

“The British don’t much care for ideas…” unherd.com/2025/12/the-...

It’s Your Time You’re Wasting: Belonging in Schools: How Do We Do It? Belonging is Ofsted’s latest preoccupation.In the 2025 framework it sits inside inclusion, now judged in its own right.Schools feel pressure to demonstrate how they notice and support pupils whom...

Also available here: pod.fo/e/35d19d

Belonging in Schools: How Do We Do It? YouTube video by It’s Your Time You’re Wasting!

Our latest podcast (@didau.bsky.social and me) is here! It’s about belonging and not belonging and how far will schools go to satisfy Ofsted? www.youtube.com/live/Df5OPOy...

RCT The first secondary school I attended all the teachers wore gowns. It was quite a sight to see on a windswept corridor. Mind you, it was the seventies so the impact on behaviour -which was tense was negligible though the next secondary school I attended they didn’t wear gowns and it was chaotic…

Hope you’re ok

1. Stormy Weather. Lena Horne
2. Call It Stormy Monday. BB King
3. Smokestack Lightning. Howlin’ Wolf
4. Raining in my Heart. Buddy Holly
5. Thunder Road. Bruce Springsteen

Bonus - anything by Stormzy

#FridayFive

Drama and the Curriculum Review Is the Crisis Over?

My views on the proposed role for drama in the curriculum review: open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

The BBC needs to be impartial, ensure diversity of opinion but, mainly ensure it agrees with me

She didn’t have a ciggy you could cadge?