Condescension
Janet Taylor’s (1804-1870) was not a name I was familiar with until rather recently. She was quite the pioneer, however, despite the hurdles she had to face as a woman committed to delivering...
View ArticleAlexander Borodin and the Education of Women
For those of a certain age who remember Chris Tarrant’s Who wants to be a millionaire?’, there was a moment when the contestant had reached the million dollar question which was: What was the composer...
View ArticleMentors in Passing
Recently I was approached by a young woman after a talk, requesting we met so I could give her some advice. In fact, I suspect she didn’t actually want advice, so much as reassurance that what she had...
View ArticleIn which generative AI interferes with scientific training – potentially
I have recently written about the perils of scientists relying on generative AI for writing. But the topic isn’t going away, and every day, more alarm bells seem to go off. Two opposing opinion pieces...
View ArticleSteamboat Ladies
The University of Cambridge has not had a very good week or two in the media. I’m not going to enter that fray given how much has already been written and I’m a long way away from the details of …...
View ArticleThe Dissing of Summer Lawns
Prolonged drought has turned everyone’s lawns to stubble. I wonder how many people have wondered why they bother to have lawns at all, and, what with climate change, whether lawns will be sustainable?...
View ArticleWhat I Read In June and July
I apologise once again for the reduced frequency of my book blog. Frankly, I blame myself. However, I am enjoying a brief respite from my current project (working title: The Only Way Is Ethics) so I...
View ArticleAcross The Sea
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire is now available in paperback in a land run by criminal gangs with no respect for democracy, human rights or the rule of law universally applied, where disease...
View ArticleThe White Heat of Creation
I wrote somewhere that there is no surer sign of an unwillingness to write than an untended blog. I should perhaps qualify that statement, because blogs might remain untended for all sorts of reasons,...
View ArticleIn which human scientists are losing the battle
This is the year that AI in science first began to scare me. (Disclaimer: I’m not talking about machine learning, which is a useful and powerful scientific tool. I’m using the term AI here as shorthand...
View ArticleHow did we manage before the Internet?
If you’ve read George Eliot’s Middlemarch (the Guardian’s recent choice as the best novel in the English language), you will recognize the problem Mr Casaubon faced in trying to write his magnum opus,...
View ArticleTeam Working and Loneliness
Some years ago, the Science Council created a list of ten different kinds of scientists, to showcase the fact that not every scientist does the same kind of work. Ranging from technician scientist to...
View ArticleTackling the NEET Crisis
We hear a lot about NEET’s (those not in Education, Employment or Training); they are a major source of concern and form the focus of the recent Milburn Review. His recent, if interim report, has dug...
View ArticleIn which my list becomes achievable
It never seems as if the academic stress will end, until suddenly, sometime in late June, it just does. The students disperse for the academic year like fluffy tree pollen on the wind. The final marks...
View ArticleA Man of the People?
In the run-up to the recent Makerfield by-election, I saw comments to the effect that Andy Burnham couldn’t be the ‘man of the people’ he claimed to be, because he had been educated at Fitzwilliam...
View ArticleAlex
Alex McCulloch, 1995-2025. Music and words worth your attention. Continue reading → Continue reading →
View ArticleVictims and Perpetrators
Some readers may have noticed in the media, recent (separate) reports that two Fellows of Kings College, Cambridge, have resigned/been stripped of their fellowship due to allegations of harassment and...
View ArticleIn which we struggle: mental health in higher education
It is no secret to anyone who works in a UK university that our students are struggling: statistics from 2010-2011 suggest nearly 6% have reported a mental health condition. Confidential surveys reveal...
View ArticleAnd so, 2025
Once more, ten favourite photographs, this time from 2025. Continue reading → Continue reading →
View ArticleIn which we keep below decks – for now
Everyone I know in academia is hanging by a thread. The profession has always been fraught, but in the past few years I’ve sensed an edge of desperation in many of my colleagues, especially those who...
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