The Research Excellence Framework (REF) has become a major part of the higher education research landscape, informing the allocation of around £2billion of research funding each year. It’s a major undertaking for all participating universities, impacting on almost...
One of the regular excuses politicians trot out after their party has taken a by-election kicking is that ‘there were some local issues in play’. It’s a way of avoiding having to acknowledge that it is the party that has lost as much as the candidate, and therefore...
Events, panels, talks, networking…Pre-pandemic there seemed to be a constant whirlwind of ‘things to do’, then suddenly there was nothing, followed by two years of exclusively online events. I’m sure I’m not the only one who succumbed to digital event fatigue. As...
With three Prime Ministers and even more Chancellors since spring, the UK’s political landscape has proved a tricky terrain in recent months. Multiple changes in policy direction, a host of new ministerial appointments, and a rocky economic outlook, have undoubtedly...
One of the lessons we can take from the febrile politics of 2022 is the limitation of ministerial engagement as a route to policy influence. To give just a taste of the comings and goings across Whitehall, between the start of July and end of October the UK had four...
My go-to comfy pair of work shoes had gone mouldy under the stairs during the pandemic. And so it was that I had painful blisters from my new shoes by the time I made it into St Peter’s square, where the armed police officers, bright young thinktank bods touting...
