SpacedX

In the case of some institutions yes. Thirty years on from the abolition of the "binary divide" through the Higher Education Act, did polytechnics become universities, or did universities become polytechnics? Some things got better. Universities have been enabled to cite metrics that are intended to reflect the quality of learning and teaching and significant pedigree of many practically applicable courses were carried over in addition to more kinesthetic learning and pedagogic practice as opposed to the traditional autodidactic assumptions of university teaching.These metrics have become an important, albeit slightly flawed means for students to make informed choices about where to study. Of course it's right to be suspicious of metrics, in particular when they result in league tables, as they always will. But it’s a good thing that students have access to various forms of empirical evidence about the likelihood of them getting a good deal when they sign up for a course. The alternative to the use of these actual metrics is to return to the old-fashioned, implicit metric of “reputation”. That’s basically how students used to have to decide things. And it wasn’t good enough. Some Modern Universities prior to being awarded their charter such as Trent, Coventry and DMU never did very well in that regard, and that was never fully justified. And this is where the story of metrics becomes increasingly perplexing. There was and remains a culture of valuing research revenue higher than teaching in the higher education sector as a whole. One reason for that is that research activities produce metrics that are easier to interpret on an individual level. Grant-capture and peer-reviewed publication are a currency that are much more easily spent on individual career advancement, than the more diffuse, collective achievements of teaching teams. Inevitably things that are measurable have a tendency to take priority over things that are less measurable and soft targets. Much easier to envisage, and thereafter forge a career from research publication than to do the same from teaching excellence, perhaps in part why many Russell Group universities have been outperformed by the Moderns in the TEF framework. As a Polytechnic an institution was unambiguously in the business of teaching and vocational skills. Some within remain proud of their Polytechnic heritage, and have mixed feelings about the consequences of the 1992 act in which those less academically inclined students find themselves increasingly out of sorts at university. To the VCs, a charter conferred land, estates and status often lacking in its previous life as a polytechnic.

Thank you for clarifying. Unfortunately, DMU finds itself in appreciable deficit along with approximately 40% of the sector. It had pedigree in some subject areas and has significantly contributed to the economy of the city. Its reputation has deteriorated as has the calibre of student. The entire Higher Education sector is in crisis largely due to inherited costs whilst government is largely indifferent. It's as though they believe a cull is necessary and that natural selection will ensure the survival of the fittest, meaning the elite, which was precisely what New Labour committed to challenging all those years ago. The former dichotomous model between University/Polytechnic should never have been have been removed.

My worry about the Artemis 2 mission is Orion's heat shield. Although this is derived from the same material as the Apollo CM, (Avcoat composed of silica fibres in an epoxy novolac resin), it is applied via tiles as opposed to the honeycomb system used by Apollo. The damage to these during Artemis 1 has meant that Artemis 2 will use a different re-entry ( I assume a steeper trajectory), which exerts more stress and G-force but involves less time, hence it isn't exposed to the high temperature plasma for so long. Artemis 3 sees a complete re-design of Orion's heat shield whilst NASA management decided against it for Artemis 2, after analysis showed the Avcoat ablative material damage from Artemis I was unexpected but manageable, and replacing it would have caused significant, costly delays. "Significant costly delays"? Have they learnt nothing from the Challenger tragedy 40 years ago practically to the date?

Most Modern Universities do exactly the same in order to survive. In fact red brick and even elite Russell Group institutions have been forced to lower their entry standards to adapt to falling applications. In the case of the latter, this has even resulted in the appropriation of the upper echelons of the Modern/Teaching based institutions to get bums on seats. Following the 2006 Leitch Review and 2012's Browne Report, universities found themselves operating in an increasingly competitive demand lead market in which they made hay. A series of inherited costs, Brexit and the clampdown on international visas have resulted in plummeting revenue and a flooded market. Some have offset through endowments and reserves, whilst others are facing the impending prospect of collapse and closure. Diversification of income streams, (the pivot to degree apprenticeships and MATS for example), overhauling the recruitment model from semesters to blocks and outsourcing services overseas are now being pursued by the most agile and adaptive institutions. The research lead elite institutions meanwhile have substantial research revenue. Teaching based universities will accept virtually anyone through clearing in order to survive. The entire situation reminds me of the sub prime collapse of 2009 and was similarly unsustainable. However, unlike the banks, there is no government or tax payer bail out for English universities. Unlike their Scottish counterparts, they are no longer in the public purse. The entire sector has been left to crash and burn. Also not sure what the calibre of DMU has to do with this dreadful tragedy in which a student appears to have been the victim of rampant knife crime in our cities.

Let's hope so. The core stage is leakier than our defence though. Mind you, it was built by Boeing.

This was an event to look forward to at the weekend for a change. Oh well... https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/hydrogen-leak-derails-artemis-ii-wet-rehearsal-pushing-launch-date-back-by-weeks

Almost called it. Really thought Josh Allen would pull out the stops. New Highmark to look forward to next year, but can't help feeling that Allen will never get a better chance that this. Seattle brushing aside the 49ers was a no brainer. It was always going to be a formality given the rested players and SF's injury list. Kudos to the Texans who have acquitted themselves so well this season. Went to the Gillette on the back of 10 straight wins. I felt that like Allen, Stroud fluffed his lines somewhat on the night. Big fan of Caleb Williams - who can perform under pressure and make big plays outside of the pocket. Dreadful misunderstanding between himself and Moore though for the interception. Despite needing to make some changes to their offensive line due to Trapillo's injury, they played well enough to win in this game. Williams had to evade some pressure at times, but they found ways to protect him when things mattered most. They will be formidable next season, with some extra depth. They will exit this game feeling optimistic about the way that the defence kept points off the board, but they still let the Rams drive down the field too many times. Their bend-don't-break mentality must be upgraded to a little bit more dominance if they want a future crack at the Super Bowl. Highlight of the weekend? That one handed TD catch by Kayshon Boutte!

The flaw and outright danger of such cherry picking was explained to you, what, seven or eight years ago now? And as mentioned, do you think that climatologists/climate scientists are ignorant of this data or unaware of the causes? "Context"? "Perspective"? Let's add some shall we? The cause of today’s climate change differs from the planetary forces responsible for the breaks between ice ages. Past cycles, (chiefly Milankovitch cycles - eccentricity, obliquity/axial tilt and precession) - caused warming by increasing the sunlight reaching icy parts of the Earth. As ice melted, the Earth became less reflective, and retained more of the sun’s heat. That warming led carbon dioxide to move from the ocean into the atmosphere, accelerating that change. But today, the cause is reversed: by burning fossil fuels, anthropogenic climate change is driven by the large amounts of CO2 that have been put into the atmosphere very quickly, and that has spurred warming. As explained, the speed of climatic change today is unprecedented. The amount of CO2 that humans have added over just the last hundred years is comparable to the amount that was added over 100 centuries after the last ice age. To put it another way, in the industrial era, atmospheric carbon has risen about 100 times faster than when humans emerged from the last ice age. That difference is part of why current climate change is so alarming. At the end of the last ice age, ecosystems, gradually over many millennia adapted to the warming as it occurred. Currently they have much less time because of the rapidity and rate of warming. To reiterate, mankind has established entire societies around the current climate. Where we cultivate food, build cities, and set up infrastructure are all inextricably geographically linked with the environment as it looked over recent history. Now that environment is changing exponentially. If this isn't arrested, civilisation is facing catastrophic destabilisation.

I think it was Lenin, and yes, meaning that society can quickly descend into chaos or anarchy if basic needs like food, the foundational Maslovian needs aren't fulfilled. He was highlighting how fragile civilisation actually is and how quickly order breaks down when people are desperate, with some variations suggesting "24 hours" away from barbarism. It was popularly coined during the farmer's protests over the inheritance taxation when they threatened to disrupt supply chains and starve supermarket shelves.

They certainly didn't live up to the pundits pre-season expectations.

Predictions for this weekend's play off games. Bills to beat the Broncos - although the home advantage and crowd may favour the latter. Seahawks to comfortably despatch the 49ers, similarly a tricky place for San Francisco to go...plus the fabled '12th man' and all that. Seattle to go all the way this year in my opinion. Patriots to beat the Texans. Rams at Soldier Field is the one I'm most looking forward to. The weather is punishing right now, with a biting chill factor of -15. There is after all a reason why they call it the 'Windy City'. Garoppolo is looking doubtful as back up so in spite of his long and successful College career, Stetson Bennett will step in as Stafford's replacement although he is is expected to be fully fit and starting in spite of the recent sprain in the index finger of his throwing hand. And he will once again be wearing his scuba undersuit to ward off the frigid cold. The Bears can't afford to leave it so late this time because I don't expect that the Rams will capitulate and fold like the Packers did last weekend, but I can foresee another slow start for Williams and his offence as the Rams open an early lead. Let's see how Puka and Adams handle the slippery rock solid football and surface. EDIT: Forgot to pick a winner. I think the Rams offensive plays will be too much for the Bears defence.

Well there's always Fousseni Diabaté.

The unintentional irony of this comment is as staggering as it is hilarious.

Significantly, although the edges of the universe are moving away from us faster than the speed of light, this doesn't contravene Einstein's cosmic speed limit because it's space itself expanding, not objects traveling through space faster than light which applies to objects moving locally within spacetime. The expansion of the universe is the stretching of spacetime itself, an intrinsic property, not motion through space. Indeed. there is growing controversy over recent evidence suggesting that dark energy might be changing in a way that challenges our current understanding of time and space. This returns to the prospect that rather than the Universe continuing to expand, galaxies could be pulled back together by gravity, and there is growing support for the 'Big Crunch' theory. The antithesis being that our ever‑accelerating Universe could first spread the stars so far apart that almost nothing would be visible in the night sky and might eventually tear even atoms themselves apart in what is known as the "Big Rip".

Roll out of the SLS/Artemis 2 could be as early as next Saturday with the first potential launch date as early as Feb. 6 with subsequent opportunities falling on Feb. 7, 8, 10 and 11. The next launch window would give options on March 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11. The last of the planned launch windows announced so far has options to fly on April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Hopefully they will have plugged the inevitable hydrogen leaks on the core stage by then.

McManus costing them 7 points didn't help, nor did Jordan Love's fumble at the end, whilst Caleb Williams was superb for the Bears. They've been orchestrating these fourth quarter comebacks all season and did the same to the Packers in Week 16. I do enjoy the playoffs in which the plays are so bold. the pass from Williams on 4th and 8 was stunning athleticism from the QB. Loved the play action/pump fake which meant the Packers' secondaries were anticipated the screen pass, allowing DJ Moore (who was also brilliant), to ghost in behind for a simple catch and TD. The Tight End, Colston Loveland was impressive too, securing eight of 15 targets for 137 yards and catching the two point conversion at the end. So the Bears face the Rams in the divisional play off. Puka is on fire, whilst Stafford has been exceptional this season with that innate ability to pull out the stops in critical situations as he did yesterday. Not sure how significant the passing hand injury will be though.

Reckess 'Bazball' doesn't help in view of this. That would be nice. The calibre of Underwood or Swann is a long distant memory. Agree entirely. We knew ahead of this Ashes that the top order was frail and questionable at best. The long-term potential is undeniable, they just didn't produce...again.

Happier days:

Mate, your posts tend to be bizarre at best, but this is just weird. Moreover, the only thing that Traore 'bossed' was a tub of vaseline and 300mg of undetected Nandrolone per week

But this simply isn't true. Preston, Hull, Millwall all acquitted themselves well and the rapidly improving Southampton were a credit to themselves. Portsmouth also deserved a win rather than a draw for their pressing in the second half.

True. He has shown too much faith in players that should be delivering and he regards as adding technical merit/value. Why? I'm recalling when Winks for example was introduced away at Oxford and the immediate impact he made or came back into the side after an insipid mf of Soumaré and Skipp. As others have pointed out, now that his head is on the block, he isn't about to rest his future prospects at the club upon disruptive, uncommitted individuals irrespective of their ability.

Definitely. Not sure why so many are unable to comprehend this. The very fact that he was appointed owes in part to this. However, his problems are below him as well in the sense that a proportion of the team that he presides over don't give the remotest **** about the club they are supposed to be playing for. May his purges continue.

Where I am inclined to agree with you about Ayew, he perhaps unfairly gets a hard time due to his limitations up front. He lacks that out and out striker mentality and killer instinct which has been so absent since the departure of JV. An illustration of this yesterday was when he failed to hurl himself at that perfect cross JJ placed into the box across the face of goal and behind the defence, The linesman should given benefit of the doubt earlier and if then JA had flung himself at the cross, he would have had a brace. He's very much a creator and will hunt and will remorselessly chase down opportunities from deep, many of them lost causes. I admire his work rate, grit and tenacity, something that has been sorely lacking in this side. He's often reminded me of Nathan Redmond who was always awkward to play against. Like Bobby, he arrived with little in the way of adulation or fanfare, more a facepalm - and yet these are the senior players we need to rely on in our current situation as opposed to deluded overpaid, narcissistic prima donnas that think they're too good for the club.

Ivan Aivazovsky's 'The Ninth Wave' and the inspiration for the second side of 'The Hounds of Love'.

I don't disagree that they were highly talented and that Mani and Reni gelled together beautifully - and yes, this is a superbly articulated article. However what I do challenge is the contention that they were "arguably the best rhythm section in British rock history".