Establishing new habits is such hard work. Those nasty old habits are always lurking in the shadows ready to pounce when you are the least bit vulnerable. Deep respect for those out there who have won that battle.

This article advocating for changes to pay university students for undertaking placements is important. I have been hearing directly from students who have been withdrawing from courses or moving into different fields because they are unable to afford long unpaid placements in social work. Students also tell me they are working long extra shifts in order to build a ‘buffer’ for when they are on placements. This impacts on their studies, it is impacting on their families, and it is impacting on their mental health. We need to do better.

Week 11 of the trimester today and going into the biggest period of marking. Always difficult to get through this part of the year, but looking forward to getting to the end of trimester.

“Competition and domination, exploitation and exclusion, minority rule and class hate: These aren’t problems capitalist technology will solve. That’s what it’s for. In the proper language, they are features, not bugs.” www.thenation.com/article/c…

About to start my online teaching for the week. This is my screen set up before I launch Teams. OBS is on the laptop for scene transitions. I feed Teams from the OBS virtual camera.

Two computer screens with multiple applications in seperate windows.

Finished reading: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn 📚A must read for any Beatles fan. This history of the early, pre-fame years of the Fab Four is incredibly well researched. What strikes me most is how different The Beatles were even at this stage and the combination of personality and ambition that drew people to them.

Currently reading: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn 📚Reading the chapter on ‘the Boy’s’ first trip to Hamburg. Love this quote from Klaus Vormann about the effect Ringo had on the band “every time Ringo came near the Beatles it was happiness “.

Better Things: Finale

Watching: Better Things. Finished the final season last night. It’s always fun to see how a long running show ends. No more ratings to worry about, plot lines, or characters to develop. This wasn’t the greatest ending ever, but it was a nice celebration none the less.

Overall, I really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2, 3-5 was more patchy. Gonna miss Sam’s house and her cooking though. 📺