Preparations for next week’s 24-hour strike by members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers are well under way at Maynooth University. Hi-vis jackets, armbands and megaphones arranged, legal briefings delivered, and a picket roster being organized. The one thing not under control is the weather, and my memories of past experiences on picket duty are strongly linked with cold and rainy weather. I’ll be leading the morning shift on Wednesday so will just have to see how it goes.
Meanwhile, staff at Nottingham University are on strike until December 11th. Despite protests, the Management there has decided to carry on with a programme of course closures and redundancies that will cost over 500 people their jobs and lead to the closure of, for example, courses in Modern Languages and Music.
All this is because incompetent managers bankrupted the University with the hare-brained purchase of an unusable new campus.
I’m not sure the Management has thought its plan to deal with the situation through. They may save money in the short term, but in the medium to longer term they will not so much tarnish the University’s reputation but destroy it. Does the Management think that recruitment to other courses will remain buoyant after these cuts? Why should any student now study any course at Nottingham University given the risk it might be closed on a Management whim? I fear that a death spiral is now inevitable. And I don’t think Nottingham will be the last UK University we’re going to have to watch going down the drain…
As it was foretold, members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) held a one-hour stoppage on Maynooth University campus today to mark World Teachers’ Day. The turnout was very good, helped by the reasonably nice weather. As well as speeches from members of IFUT, there were also contributions from the other Unions, Unite and Siptu as well as the Postgraduate Workers’ Organisation; the latter is not an officially-recognised trade union, but supports the dispute.
The next action will be a 24-hour stoppage on Wednesday 14th October. It was good to have the chance to discuss plans for picketing, etc, during today’s walkout.
The IFUT ballot has now closed, with the result an overwhelming majority (92.5%) in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action. For more details see here. The planned strikes have already generated some press reaction:
Unless the Government changes its position and starts negotiating very soon, the next steps will be as follows:
Monday, 5 October: one-hour work stoppage from 12 noon – 1pm
Wednesday, 14 October: 24-hour strike action and full withdrawal of labour;
Wednesday, 21 October: 24-hour strike action and full withdrawal of labour.
The first of these dates, 5th October, is World Teachers’ Day. I will be on strike on the following two days. That means the lectures I would have had on these days will not happen. I am sorry for the disruption this will cause to students’ education, but current situation is intolerable. The ball is in the Government’s court.
Other campus unions (Unite, SIPTU and TEEU) will be striking too, and over the next couple of weeks or so plans will be made as to how to coordinate picket lines, etc, with them. This dispute involves all the public services in Ireland, including schools and hospitals.
I couldn’t resist posting these two hilarious pictures of Donald Turnip’s visit to the Áras an Uachtaráin in Phoenix Park yesterday to meet the President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly. Her expression in the first picture is priceless, and the second one looks like she sent him away with a flea in his ear.
It seems that Trump said that he “would love to see” a united Ireland, which is quite a surprising statement to come from an Orange Man…
Today is 11th September 2026 which means it is exactly 25 years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon which led to the loss of almost three thousand civilian lives (and many more in the longer term). At the risk of contributing to the deluge of (mainly mawkish) reminiscences about the happenings on this day all that time ago, let me just give a brief account of my recollection. The events of 9/11 are, I suspect, etched on many a memory in much the same way as people remember what they were doing when President Kennedy was assassinated.
For what it’s worth, I was actually at a conference on that day. It was called A New Era in Cosmology, and was hosted in the fine city of Durham; in fact one of the organizers was a certain Tom Shanks, an occasional commenter on this blog. Above you will see part of the conference poster which I took from a recent Facebook post by him where I also found the text below. I was also reminded that 9/11 was the first day of that meeting and that I gave a talk on the first morning, the last before lunch. Such was the effect of the events that unfolded that day that I had completely forgotten about that.
What I do remember is sitting near the back of the lecture theatre after we returned from lunch, listening to one of the afternoon talks – I can’t remember who it was by – when a dear friend of mine, Manuela, came into the auditorium and walked down the aisle, stopped by me. She tugged my arm, mumbled something about the “Twin Towers” and then ran back up the stairs and out of the lecture theatre. Thinking it was something to do with Wembley Stadium, I followed her out and she explained what had happened. We found a TV set, around which a crowd had already formed. The coverage was, not surprisingly, shambolic and it was not until late afternoon that the scale of what had happened became clearer.
There were rumours of more planes likely to be involved in attacks and discussions about whether the military might have to shoot down civilian aircraft. Fortunately that wasn’t the case. I had a friend visiting New York at the time and was unable to contact her by mobile, so was worried, but I don’t think anyone was able to contact anyone in New York by mobile phone in those hours and it turns out she was fine.
Meanwhile the other participants were informed about the events on the other side of the Atlantic. It was an international conference with many US-based attendees who were understandably worried. The preface to the conference proceedings reveals that discussions were held about whether to cancel the meeting:
I think it was the correct decision to proceed with the conference, including the conference dinner and all that. As it happened all passengers flights were grounded for several days anyway, so nobody could get home who didn’t live in the UK.
The rest of the conference was pretty much business as usual as far as possible, although as the text above explains we did stand in silence in memory of the victims on the Tuesday morning. When the meeting ended on the Friday quite a few people had to stay on in Durham or elsewhere before being able to fly home. It was this event that led to the heightened security measures at airports that we have been living with since.
The loss of human life, though awful, turned out to be much less than had been feared and was subsequently dwarfed by the hundreds of thousands killed in the “War on Terror” set in motion by the events of that day and which seems will never end.
Anyway, my point is not the politics but to invite a bit of audience participation. Would anyone else like to contribute their memories from that fateful day? If so, the comment box awaits your entry…
The above picture shows fascist thug and career criminal Daniel Thomas (a.k.a. Danny Tommo) leading a “protest” of uniformed knuckleheads (those on the right of the picture, in short trousers) outside the Daily Mail offices in London.
Fans of P.G. Wodehouse will recall Roderick Spode, the 7th Earl of Sidcup, who leads a fascist group called the “Saviours of Britain” also known as the Black Shorts. He is of course a parody of Oswald Mosley and his group a parody of Mosley’s Black Shirts (aka the British Union of Fascists).
The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you’re someone. You hear them shouting “Heil, Spode!” and you imagine it is the Voice of the People.
How prescient was that?
Incidentally, fans of historical trivia might be interested to know that the grandson of Oswald Mosley (founder of the British Union of Fascists) and Diane Mitford (a friend of Adolf Hitler, who married Oswald Mosley at the home of Joseph Goebbels) is Louis Mosley, CEO of Palantir UK.
Coincidentally, Nigel Farage went to the same school as P.G. Wodehouse, Dulwich College.
I see that the fascist mob that is nowadays given free rein by the UK police to roam the streets, block traffic, close ports, and generally do whatever they like, has now, at the behest of wannabe Führer Nigel Farage, turned its attention to the brave men and women of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Volunteers of the RNLI have had their photographs and other personal information circulated in the cesspool that is X/Twitter in an attempt to intimidate them. The reason? For rescuing people in danger of drowning in the English Channel.
Only the lowest of the low would attack these brave and selfless volunteers who risk their own lives saving lives at sea. As a regular donor to the RNLI I have today increased my contribution and will be wearing my RNLI pin badge in support of the brave men and women who regularly risk their lives to save those in distress at sea.
Incidentally, in case you were wondering, the RNLI also serves Ireland: there are 59 lifeboats based in 45 stations in the Republic as well as Northern Ireland. It also over two hundred years old. Here’s a short video celebrating the bicentenary in 2024:
If you wish to donate to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution then you can do so here.
The last time STFC had a financial crisis was in 2009 and e-Merlin might well have been cut then but survived thanks to political intervention at the highest level. I suppose that could happen again, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
It looks like it has indeed happened again. The exact quote from Andy Burnham is:
There must be a way to save Jodrell Bank, and I give a commitment today, at this despatch box, we will find it.
That sounds like an unequivocal commitment, but it raises quite a few questions. One of these is that STFC was actually planning to cut funding to the e-MERLIN project and it is by no means clear that the £2.8 million needed for e-MERLIN will actually be reinstated in the STFC budget. It may transpire that Jodrell Bank Observatory emerges as more of a heritage site than a world-class research facility, which is what it will be if e-MERLIN disappears.
And if £2.8M is found to keep e-MERLIN going without changing the overall STFC budget, then the axe will just fall elsewhere in STFC. Jodrell Bank is a special site with special arguments for keeping it open, but other targets can no doubt be found that are equally excellent from a scientific point of view, but can’t mobilize political forces to mount such a strong defence. This is no way to perform a scientific prioritization exercise. In any case it is important to remember that there are cuts and cancellations elsewhere too; see here for a full list.
I think that there needs to be a complete review of funding across all the UKRI agencies. It is deeply unfair that physics and astronomy have to bear the brunt of cost overruns at facilities which are largely used by researchers in other scientific areas. Surely their funding councils should contribute. I can accept that belts might need to be tightened, but that shouldn’t just apply to STFC.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), of which I am a member, was planning a ballot on industrial action. The reason for the ballot is that the Public Service Agreement, covering pay and working conditions for all public service workers in Ireland, lapsed at the end of June this year (2026) and there is currently no pay settlement for the second half of this year or next year. Salaries have fallen behind inflation under the existing Agreement and some important commitment have not yet been implemented. The Government does not give the impression of being serious about negotiations on these matters.
The ballot opened today, September 1st 2026, and as soon as the link for the electronic vote arrived in my inbox I clicked it and voted ‘YES’, i.e. in favour of industrial action.
Similar ballots are taking place across all the public service unions. Yesterday, it was revealed that Ireland’s largest public sector union, SIPTU, has voted 98% in favour of industrial action. Today it was announced that 96 per cent of the union Fórsa had voted similarly. I hope the IFUT result – and results from the other relevant unions – is as strong.
If it comes to industrial action – which I hope it does not – then such action will be coordinated across the public sector.
P.S. Solidarity to former colleagues at Nottingham University as they take industrial action over job losses resulting from its proposed “restructuring”.
I don’t often post anything about matters pertaining to the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), of which I am a member, but there is something very important going on so I thought I would make an exception. In what follows, I of course speak for myself as an IFUT member and not for IFUT as a whole.
Yesterday I attended an information session in advance of a forthcoming ballot for industrial action. The reason for the action is that the Public Service Agreement, covering pay and working conditions for all public service workers in Ireland, lapsed at the end of June this year (2026) and there is currently no pay settlement for the second half of this year or next year. Salaries have fallen behind inflation under the existing Agreement and some important commitment have not yet been implemented. The Government does not give the impression of being serious about negotiations on these matters.
The members’ ballot will comprise a single YES/NO question on whether or not to support industrial action, including strike action. I think this is an important step towards serious negotiations. I will be supporting industrial action.
The IFUT ballot will open on September 1st, but only IFUT members (working in public institutions) will be able to vote. If you are eligible for IFUT membership, you should join now so that you can have your say and strengthen the collective position of higher education staff. Eligible colleagues who join IFUT by 5pm on 31 August 2026 will be eligible to vote in the ballot. You can join IFUT here. If you’re eligible, please join!
Similar ballots are taking place across all the public service unions. If it comes to industrial action – which I hope it does not – then such action will be coordinated across the public sector.
The views presented here are personal and not necessarily those of my employer (or anyone else for that matter).
Feel free to comment on any of the posts on this blog but comments may be moderated; anonymous comments and any considered by me to be vexatious and/or abusive and/or defamatory will not be accepted. I do not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with the opinions or statements of any information or other content in the comments on this site and do not in any way guarantee their accuracy or reliability.
