https://technologieregion-karlsruhe.de/startseite The new German government has large immediate challenges, from Covid to Ukraine. As the new coalition involves three parties with very different underlying philosophies who have never previously governed together at federal level, nothing is likely to be easy. They share, however, a sense of Germany as a country in pressing need of a necessary modernisation, a word that permeates the government’s discourse and is emphasised as early as the preamble to the Coalition Agreement and symbolised in its subtitle: Dare More Progress. Unsurprisingly, th ..read more

We’ve all become used to digital innovation influencing the ways we learn, fuelled by increasing possibilities of human-device interaction. Now comes the news that a Japanese professor has developed a ‘lickable screen’ which can mimic food flavours. Or, to be more precise, the screen is linked to a group of canisters which spray a mix of flavourings onto a rolling film. The developer, Professor Homei Miyashita of Meiji University, suggests that it could be used for remote training in the food and hospitality industry. This story emerged just before Christmas, and I missed it at the time. I’m ..read more

Gin Lane by William Hogarth (1750-51) Adult learning in Britain has recently been the focus of much public policy, but publicly-funded adult learning has seen better days. This paradox continues to frustrate and annoy me, but at the same time I am fascinated by some of the quirky learning activities that are springing up on a commercial basis. This morning’s Yorkshire Post reported on a plan to launch a mobile gin school. It turns out that gin schools are fairly numerous and have been going for some time. Who knew? The Nairns’ won’t be the UK’s first mobile gin school – that honour belongs to ..read more

The party leaders announce their coalition agreement (hint: the Greens aren’t wearing ties) Germans are used to coalition governments, but this one is different. It’s not uncommon to have three parties sharing power at state level, but at federal level it is new. And the three parties have quite divergent underlying ideologies, with the Free Democrats (FDP, often known colloquially as Die Liberalen) believing fundamentally in strong individual freedom and a limited role for the state while the Social Democrats favour greater intervention and regulation and the Greens have their roots in civic ..read more

In 2022, UNESCO will publish its fifth global report on adult learning and education. Based on responses from UNESCO member states, the report will monitor the development of adult learning and education (ALE) across the world; it will also include a focus on the role of ALE in supporting active and global citizenship. But will the UK take part? Sadly, the signs aren’t encouraging. The UK went unrepresented at the European regional consultation that is responsible for preparing the next monitoring conference, and the UK failed to respond to UNESCO’s fourth global monitoring report on ALE, GRA ..read more

Camping & Socialism Those who follow Michael Rosen’s twitter account (@michaelrosenyes) for more than his thoughts on Arsenal may have seen this week… Camping & Socialism ..read more

Brenda Blethyn as Vera Stanhope In a rare sortie into the outside world this summer, we spent half a day in August visiting the Farne Islands. A group of 15-20 rocky islands in the North Sea (the precise number depends on the tide), they are managed by the National Trust, and are rightly famous for their wildlife and for their association with Grace Darling. They also featured in Series 7, Episode 1 of Vera. The Vera novels, written by Ann Cleeves, are fine British police procedural novels. Cleeves’ central character is Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is a dishevelled, badly dressed, i ..read more

Reading Helen Jackson’s political memoir has been both a joy and an inspiration. It is essentially the story of her political life before becoming an MP, when she rose from activist to senior councillor at a time when local government was an exciting space for experiment and innovation as well as an important source of much-needed public services. Until, that is, the Thatcher government decided that local government needed its wings clipped. Sheffield, where Helen taught, worked, and raised a family, stood at the centre of several significant developments. Before the mass unemployent of the e ..read more

Aerial photo of Haldon Instructional Centre (from Haldon’s Hidden Heritage) Haldon Instructional Centre was the only government work camp to open in south-west England. Opened in December 1936 with a capacity of 200 places, and located on the Haldon Hills half way between Exeter and Dawlish, the camp was built to take unemployed men from Wales and the south west and north west of England. As with the other 26 Ministry of Labour camps, the primary purpose was to ‘recondition’ men who had supposedly gone ‘soft’ through unemployment by exposing them to hard manual labour. Conditions The men lived ..read more

Kim Leadbeater speaking at the launch of the Government’s loneliness strategy in 2018 (Tracey Crouch, the Minister, is on the right) The Batley and Spen by-election was marked by heightened religious and political tensions during the campaign, followed by a result that upset the bookmakers’ expectations and overturned the predictions of many political commentators. And it returned a candidate who is best-known outside the constituency for being the sister of a murdered former MP, but locally is probably best known as an adult educator. Kim Leadbeater started her working life in sales before be ..read more