Jude Seal's Notebook

I have written a new blog post for the Wellcome Collection on the use of guide dogs by blind people in the Middle Ages.  You can find it here . 

This entry is intended as a summary of points I’ve been thinking about regarding the university system and the problems we are currently facing.   The Covid-19 (SARS Cov-2) Pandemic of 2019-20 has revealed the fault lines of academia in the UK.  Talk of mass severance of academic jobs, pay cuts, mergers, and other measures has been rife.  Is there a way to fix this system?  I’ve been thinking about this for over a year now and I have a few thoughts which might help build a better system. 1) For the government to increase the research budget and education funding generally to where it should be.  This would remove the need for tuition fees and remove the ‘business’ model which universities have been forced to follow.   University Education in all subject areas is after all a public good which benefits both society and the economy as a whole. 2) Change university admissions.  Cap student numbers – to reduce the pressure on academics to...