Tony Parkin
@tonyparkin
Disruptive Nostalgist & Educational Technologist. Freelance speaker, writer and mentor. Left leaning & right learning Yorkshireman, so posts involve politics and education.
Clacton Residents: Vote Count Binface to save taxpayers over a quarter of a million £££! That's what this bye-election is costing, and what the next one will also cost when Farage is found to have transgressed parliamentary rules. SAVE YOUR CASH - VOTE BINFACE
Cracking night at the Eel Pie Club with the Forty Fours. A young band who really get what the 60's Mersey Sound was all about. If you get a chance to see them - don't miss it.
Goodbye Radio 4 on Long Wave - the pre-internet way of keeping up via the car radio while on holidays in France. The shipping forecast will never sound the same again.
Trump's insistence that the algal bloom in the Reflecting Poll is due to vandalism seems to be true. Apparently some idiot ripped out the new filtration system installed during Obama's refurbishment of the area, and sprayed blue paint everywhere!
A reminder, we're celebrating 20 years of #TeachMeet with a cross-border UK/Irish online Teachmeet 3rd July, 8 to 9.30pm. Sign up for the Zoom here: us06web.zoom.us/meet... Sign up to give a talk here: docs.google.com/form... PLEASE SHARE! #teachmeetukie #teachmeet20 #tmbett
New service launched to help schools with cyber attacks | Schools Week https://buff.ly/JBluo7X < "Education has 'weak defences'." The DfE’s Cyber Security Hub is an online service which aims to provide schools with clear, practical guidance to help improve their IT security.
Barbarians inside the gates | MediaTaylor https://buff.ly/2UrQvJf < "Hackers will keep targeting education until the sector takes security seriously as a structural commitment, not a compliance checkbox." Timely and disturbing warning on cybersecurity to all involved with ed tech
A brilliant session on AI, superbly chaired by Dr Nic Ponsford, alone made the cross London trip to the SAS Show worthwhile. If only all such panels were as well-balanced, well-informed, and articulate.
DfE invites bids from AI tutoring pilot partners | Schools Week buff.ly/2LUdapK < an NEU survey found only 14% of its members in English state schools supported AI tutoring, while 49% disagreed with the policy (25% strongly disagreed), and 36% had no opinion either way.
AI agents using Anthropic MCP could be a vector for supply chain attacks, claim researchers | IT Pro buff.ly/TORiHmK < Surprise, surprise. "By shifting the blame rather than hardening the protocol, the industry leaves user data & organizational infrastructure exposed.”
How the Donald sees himself, compared to how the rest of us see him? Maybe his next move will be to walk across the Strait of Hormuz? After his posting of this image, and his attack on the Pope, I'm wondering how the American US Christian Right are now viewing his presidency?
Do we really want to see the King being sent to visit a foul-mouthed war criminal? That's not diplomacy, it's complicity. Time the grey suits at the palace thought again...
Trump names Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Jensen Huang to be on AI Tech Regulation Panel | Wall St Journal buff.ly/PnZyxKI < what was that old line about "the lunatics have taken over the asylum"?
Great night with Los Pacaminos at the Hampton Hub. Thirty-four years playing the music you love really helps! Excellent band, wonderful venue, superb beers, and a friendly audience that loves its music. What's not to like! Highly recommend both band and venue.
In dire Straits.... or why it is always good to think things through first.
Replicating 2000s improvement is an out-of-London challenge | Schools Week buff.ly/nIItS1L < "Despite strong efforts, however, we have not been able to repeat the London Challenge consistently at scale elsewhere." The ongoing problem of addressing coastal deprivation.
'Nothing left to cut’: Schools count the cost of inclusion buff.ly/O8eVOHH < Schools Week investigates how the current system punishes inclusive schools financially, with leaders facing making cutbacks to maintain current levels of support
‘Incoherent’: Hegseth’s Anthropic ultimatum confounds AI policymakers | Politico buff.ly/LsizddL < Dept of War demands right to use AI with ethical guidelines removed, enabling mass surveillance of US residents and autonomous AI weapons. Nothing scary at all!