First day back with the students. This year’s opener: “What do I, and Olivia Rodrigo, have in common?” Clicks button to reveal school values and classroom rules “We both have expectations.” Perfect groan to smile ratio, would use again.
Why some people mow a lawn better than others - great bit of data visualisation, and about travelling salesman.
Watched: The Odyssey 🍿
Watched: The Last Viking 🍿 Very funny and a lot more gruesome than I expected.
Finished reading: The Art of Uncertainty How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck by David Spiegelhalter 📚 I really rate this book - great subject knowledge for probability. It also reminds me of how interlinked Maths and Philosophy are.
Watched: Blue Heron 🍿
Prediction: Burnham will call an early election.
Starmer’s downfall really started before he won the election. The ‘Ming vase’ strategy of saying as little as possible, along with the “no new taxes on working working people” promise, guaranteed a visionless, impotent government – even with a large majority. But in a way, it’s impressive it only took two years for the party to dump him.
Burnham clearly has a vision for where he wants to take the country – and it’s not without costs. He has four options:
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Honour the previous Labour manifesto promises, and basically be Starmer with a Northern accent. He will not do this.
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Spend more but stick to the promise of no raising taxes on NI and income tax, so borrow more or tinker with some other taxes. At one extreme, this means he needs to water down his plans; at the other, he has a Truss-style exit.
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Break with the last manifesto and go ahead without a mandate. I think this is a non-starter from a party management point of view. We’ve seen the Starmer government struggle to pass welfare reform; how is Burnham going to do anything unpopular without any mandate?
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Spend a few months preparing a 10-year plan, and go to the country with a new manifesto.
Burnham’s wanted the job for so long, will he really settle for doing it half-baked for 3 years?
Watched: The Invite 🍿 Funniest thing I’ve seen in ages - I’d recommend watching at the cinema because the audience reactions are priceless.
I’m playing about with manipulatives in slides. Useful? I’m trying to make things have the least amount of faff. Hence the zero pair button.
Edinburgh Fringe Recommendations ⭐
- Friz Frizzle’s Funny Turn - 4pm WhistleBinkies - Free (Donations at end) - All days except Mondays Easily the best musical comedy you’ll see at the Fringe. And I’ll stick my neck out and say this show contains the best joke of the Fringe.
- Obie - The F*ck It List - 2.20pm Banshee Labyrinth - Free (Donations) - All days Obie just makes stand-up look effortless. Funny from start to finish and you’ll wonder where the hour went.
- The Burton Bros Present: 1925 - 4.20pm Assembly at George Square - Ticketed - All Days Top quality sketch show set in 1925. The performances are brilliant and the comedy is really tight.
assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/…
- A Haunted House- 7.10pm Assembly Roxy - Ticketed - All Days Hear me out, because I know “Horror” and “Mime” aren’t necessarily the genres you’re clambering for at the festival. It’s funny, brilliantly done, and will be very memorable - for all the right reasons!
assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/…
- Sketch thieves - 12:30pm The Three Sisters - (pay what you can) - Not Mondays If you’ve not heard of Sketch Thieves or Joke Thieves, you need to get along to this. 4 acts perform their own material- then they switch things up and perform each other’s. It always hilarious.
🏫 Maths teacher trying out micro.blog. I teach in Scotland, and everything I make I share on www.applyingmaths.com/.
I’ve really fallen out of love with Teacher Twitter and don’t really see it as a useful place to be any more. Let’s hope folk give this place a go- the price is right!