Higher education white paper paves way for 85,000 university places to be opened up to competition Universities will compete against each other for a quarter of the students they recruit next year under government reforms unveiled on Tuesday, putting pressure on institutions to bring down fees. English universities will be granted the power to recruit unlimited numbers of the best-performing students. At present, universities have a fixed number of government-funded places for home undergraduates each autumn and are fined if they over-recruit. This limits competition between universities and denies some students their first choice. A competition based on strength of student demand and the pricing of courses will put pressure on institutions to bring down fees or focus sharply on improving quality. The higher education white paper allows institutions to expand to take on more students who achieve grades AAB or higher at A-level. The government estimates this will cover about 65,000 students next year. The shakeup also proposes creating a “flexible margin” of 20,000 places which can only be taken up by universities charging an average fee of £7,500 or less. Universities will compete for these places and the government says it will consult on the criteria for this competition. The combined effect of these changes will be to remove about 85,000 places – about one in four of the 350,000 new undergraduates – from universities’ central allocation and open them up to competition. This is likely to squeeze middle-ranking institutions that charge high fees as they will be unable to attract the best-performing applicants and also lose places overall. The universities minister, David Willetts, said the proportion would increase each year from 2012: “We tried in the first year to get the balance right between opening up the system without imposing too much turbulence. We want to go further every year.” Willetts said there would be “pressure for quality and value for money” on universities. The white paper allows employers or charities to sponsor extra places outside the government quota system. The government says these must have “fair access for all students applying, regardless of ability to pay” and rules out the possibility of individuals being able to sponsor extra places. The government is looking at extending the role of the Office for Fair Access (Offa), the watchdog which monitors university access for under-represented groups. Offa may get powers to instruct a university to spend more on access from its fee income and publish assessments universities that are failing to make sufficient progress against their access agreement. Ministers claim the package of reforms will give students more choice over where they study and strengthen their right as consumers to “get their money’s worth” from universities charging higher fees. Under the reforms, universities will be required to publish comparable information for prospective students on teaching hours and quality. Ministers are asking for the publication of detailed information about the employment and earning outcomes of specific degrees in order to name and shame courses that are not valued by employers. The government wants teenagers to have better information when choosing A-levels by asking universities to publish the qualifications of previously successful applicants. The Russell group, for example, favours traditional subjects: maths, English, geography, history, the three pure sciences and languages. Higher education University funding David Willetts Students Education policy Student finance Jeevan Vasagar Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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PM urges workers planning to strike on Thursday to stop and reconsider arguments about public sector pension reforms Public sector pensions cost every household £1,000 a year, David Cameron claimed as he made a detailed appeal to unions to accept the government’s proposals and back away from strike action. The prime minister said he believed there were “misconceptions” amongst those planning to strike on Thursday, urging them to stop and reconsider the arguments. He warned that the pensions system was “in danger of going broke” if reforms were not made. “Of course, in a democracy people can go out and protest,” Cameron told the Local Government Association conference in Birmingham. “But the people marching should know what they’re objecting to, and I believe there are some misconceptions flying around.” Concerns about the impact of Thursday’s strikes were raised when it emerged that the UK Border Agency has written to airlines suggesting they might encourage people to choose another day to fly amid concerns about the impact of immigration staff taking strike action at Heathrow and other major airports. The cabinet met and discussed contingency plans on Tuesday as the number of schools estimated to be closed on Thursday grew. In comments that unions said were an attempt to drive a wedge between private and public sector workers, Cameron said: “The taxpayer currently contributes over two-thirds of the costs of maintaining public sector pensions. That’s the equivalent of £1,000 a household. That figure is only expected to rise. “Is that a fair? I don’t believe it is, especially when people in the private sector are seeing the value of their own pensions falling, their own pension age rise and when, according to the Office for National Statistics, the average gross pay in the public sector is now higher than in the private sector. So we need to rebalance the system.” In a speech almost entirely focused on the pensions issue, but notable for its non-confrontational language, he argued: • That reforms are essential as people live longer and the bill for public sector pensions rises. “The reason we can’t go on as we are is because as the baby-boomers retire – and thankfully live longer – the pension system is in danger of going broke … in the 1970s, when a civil servant retired at 60, they could expect to claim a pension for around 20 years,” he said. “Today, when they retire at 60, they can expect to claim a pension for nearly 30 years – about a 50% increase on before.” • That the system of paying for public sector pensions needs to be rebalanced to make it fairer on the taxpayer. But he also argued that the reforms would be fair for public sector workers, protecting their defined benefits, albeit under a pension scheme with payouts based on career averages instead of final salaries. Accrued rights would also be protected, and the lowest paid protected from contributions increases. “Your pre-reform entitlements are being fully protected,” he said. “What you have earned you will keep. Fact. That’s why I can look you in the eye and say public service pensions will remain among the very best – much better, indeed, than for many private sector workers.” • He argued that the career-average scheme was fairer for low paid workers, who are no longer expected to subsidise the final salary schemes of those who jump to the highest salaries before retirement. “This is not about saving money. It’s about doing what’s right and fair by you,” he said. • Refusing to act now would store up a problem in the future that in five, 10 or 15 years would become unaffordable, he said. • He concluded with a direct appeal to those planning to strike on Thursday, saying: “To those considering strike action at a time when discussions are ongoing, I would say to you: these strikes are wrong – for you, for the people you serve, for the good of the country. It’s the changes we propose that are right. Right for the long term. Right by the taxpayer. And, most crucially of all, right by you.” David Cameron Local government Trade unions Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Public sector pay Public sector pensions Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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It seems no matter what Sarah Palin does or doesn't do, she's going to be lambasted by America's press – even the supposedly “conservative” ones. On Tuesday's “Morning Joe,” co-host Joe Scarborough used Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's successful campaign launch as a means of bashing the former Alaska governor (video follows with transcript and commentary): JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: And what a contrast, Andy, with Sarah Palin. And there’s going to be this contrast for some time. Of course, Sarah Palin’s people now are conducting outreach to Iowa activists. She obviously can’t love what’s happening with Michele Bachmann. But just think: had Sarah Palin a year ago surrounded herself with professional handlers where, not to tell her what to say or how to act, but, but to stop her from doing some self-destructive things. It’s like when Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News and knows a little bit about these things. Roger Ailes said, “Don’t put out that thing on Facebook after Gabby Giffords (unintelligible).” She ignored Roger, and she paid for ignoring Roger. She doesn’t listen to people. Michele Bachmann does, and it makes a difference. First off, why do people in the media – even the supposedly “conservative” ones – think Palin isn't happy with Bachmann's success? Doesn't this assume she's going to toss her hat into the ring and therefore sees the Minnesota Congresswoman as a competitor? If the opposite is true, and Palin has no intention of running next year, at least not for president, she might be thrilled with Bachmann's success. She could be exuberantly cheering her fellow Tea Partier on as Bachmann likely more closely echoes Palin's conservative views than most of the other Republican presidential candidates that have announced. As I like so many observers believe the former Alaska governor is not going to run and instead is biding her time to not only have some influence over the 2012 platform but also to decide who she's going to throw her support behind, it is quite possible in the coming months we're going to see these two ladies on the same stage with one quite happily endorsing the other. As such, Scarborough and his compatriots in the media on both sides of the aisle gleaning some de facto competition between these women are making an assumption that could be tremendously false. As for Ailes recommending Palin not respond to the Tucson shootings, does that mean he was right? People all throughout the liberal press were blaming the former vice presidential candidate for Giffords' shooting. Should she really have stayed quiet and not defended herself? The idea that Palin's response to that incident hurt her is largely in the minds of her detractors who will attack her no matter what she says or does. At this point in time, is there really anything this woman could do that would get the approval of folks like Scarborough and his colleagues? Beyond which, why do the press see Bachmann and Palin as being tied at the hip? Does every action by one have bearing on the other? Fortune magazine editor Andy Serwer pointed this out to Scarborough. There is indeed an odd sexism going on here that presumes that every discussion about Bachmann has to involve Palin and vice versa. Until the moment that Palin actually does enter the race, can't these women be judged independently, or is that asking too much?
Continue reading …Thirty five firefighters battling to control blaze on 17th floor of residential tower block in south-east London amid reports that building was struck by lightning Firefighters are battling to control a blaze on the 17th floor of a residential tower block in south-east London amid reports that the building had been struck by lightning. Six fire engines were sent to the block in Abbey Street, Bermondsey, as electrical storms swept over the capital, bringing heavy downpours. A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said 35 firefighters were trying to bring the fire under control. He said there was no immediate information on what caused the fire, but reports circulating on Twitter blamed a bolt of lightning. Images posted online showed flames and thick grey smoke billowing from the balcony of a flat several storeys from the top of the building. There were no reports of any casualties, but London Ambulance Service said it had dispatched two “hazardous area response” teams to the scene. “At present our staff have not treated any patients,” he said. Firefighters London guardian.co.uk
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Independent writer admits inserting quotes not taken from the original interviews A high profile interviewer and columnist with the Independent was at the centre of a plagiarism row and a Twitter storm on Tuesday after he said that he inserted quotes into interviews he had conducted that were taken from the subject’s writings and not from the original interview itself. Johann Hari, who has written for the newspaper over the past decade, said in a blogpost entitled “interview etiquette” written late on Monday night that he inserted quotes when “I’ve interviewed a writer” from their other published work when they’ve expressed “an idea or sentiment” more “clearly in writing than in speech”. The Orwell prize-winning writer was responding to a growing number of bloggers who had accused him in the past few days of plagiarism, starting with the Deterritorial Support Grouppppp (DSG), who compared a 2004 interview conducted by Hari with Italian Marxist Antonio Negri with a 2003 book Negri on Negri, written by Anne Dufourmantelle . Hari wrote that he was “a bit bemused to find one blogger considers this ‘plagiarism’” and described most of his interviews as “intellectual portraits”. He said that “after doing what must be over 50 interviews, none of my interviewees have ever said they had been misquoted” and added that he had called around other unnamed newspaper interviewers “and they said what I did was normal practice”. His remarks, though, prompted a flurry of mainly hostile comic tweets, and the hashtag “#interviewbyhari” ranked third in the trending categories on Twitter worldwide by Tuesday lunchtime. Other bloggers, meanwhile, raced to find other examples of alleged plagiarism. Hari’s response to the allegations was made on the writer’s personal blog, rather than on any Independent site. Since then Hari has not responded to a phone call, email and tweet seeking comment as regards his interview technique – and nor has the newspaper yet responded to the allegations and growing internet controversy. Entitled Hari Kari/Hackery the original DSG posting, written on 17 June, cited a quote Negri gave Hari on the subject of memory in that 2004 interview . “Who controls memory? Faced with the weight of memory, one must be unreasonable! Reason amounts to eternal Cartesianism. The most beautiful thing is to think ‘against’, to think ‘new’. Memory prevents revolt, rejection, invention, revolution.” The DSG blog (the writer has not chosen to reveal his or her identity) goes on to cite a passage from pages 100 and 101 of the Dufourmantelle book written a year earlier. That passage uses almost identical language to the interview quotes, beginning “Who controls memory? Faced with the weight of memory, one must be unreasonable! Reason amounts to eternal Cartesianism”. The book then has half an extra sentence: “As against Descrates, one ought to chose Gaileo instead” before continuing with almost identical language as appeared in the 2004 interview by Hari. “The most beautiful thing is to think ‘against’, to think ‘new’. Often, memory prevents revolt, rejection, invention, revolution.” That was followed by Brian Whelan, another blogger, who chose to examine other Hari interviews , doing what he called “a basic check for plagiarism”. He compared a 2010 Hari interview with controversial Israeli journalist Gideon Levy with writings by Levy in Haaretz, the newspaper for which he works. Whelan found a passage in the September 2010 interview of that year that appeared to be composed of sentences that had appeared in a column written by Levy in March. Whelan cites this passage from Hari’s interview: “After saying this, he falls silent, and we stare at each other for a while. Then he says, in a quieter voice: ‘The facts are clear. Israel has no real intention of quitting the territories or allowing the Palestinian people to exercise their rights. No change will come to pass in the complacent, belligerent, and condescending Israel of today. This is the time to come up with a rehabilitation programme for Israel.’” The same quotes, interspersed with other remarks appear in the following two paragraphs of a Levy piece written in Haaretz on 18 March 2010 . “The facts are clear: Israel has no real intention of quitting the territories or allowing the Palestinian people to exercise their rights. Israel does not truly intend to pursue peace, because life here seems to be good even without it. The continuation of the occupation doesn’t just endanger Israel’s future, it also poses the greatest risk to world peace, serving as a pretext for Israel’s most dangerous enemies. “No change will come to pass in the complacent, belligerent and condescending Israel of today. That’s why this difficult, thankless task has fallen on the shoulders of an ally, as only it has the power to get things started. No agreement will come out of another endless series of futile diplomatic trips or peace plans to which no one intends to adhere. We have tried this enough in the past, and all for naught. This is the time to come up with a rehabilitation program for Israel. The entire world, and ultimately Israel too, will applaud Barack Obama if he succeeds.” • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . The Independent Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Independent Print Twitter Internet Blogging Digital media Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk
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Heavy downpours and thunderstorms are due to end the UK’s short-lived heatwave Get the latest weather forecasts Parts of south-east England are on the alert for flash flooding after forecasts that heavy downpours and thunderstorms are due to end the UK’s short-lived heatwave. Staff from the Environment Agency (EA) are looking out for surface flooding from storms which are likely to affect Essex and Kent. The briefly violent weather may also reach London, but Met Office warnings were reduced overnight after initially including the home counties, East Anglia and parts of the Midlands. Most of the country is now expected to have a much quieter end to the balmy three days brought by the Spanish plume effect of warm air funnelling from the Sahara, across the Iberian peninsula and up the western and northern coasts of the UK. The EA and Met Office still expect up to 40mm of rain to fall within a very short period over the south-east, and flood alerts – the lowest warning grade – have also been issued for Thames tributary rivers in the London boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich and Lewisham. The alerts follow the hottest day of the year on Monday when temperatures at Gravesend monitoring station in Kent hit 32.8C (91F). A spokesman for the EA said: “Our staff are on 24-hour alert with teams monitoring river levels as the band of rain moves across the country. The public are encouraged to tune in to local media for forecasts for their area and to keep an eye out for signs of surface water flooding.” A Met Office spokesman said the “sheer volume of rainfall falling in such a short space of time” could overwhelm flood defences but the very dry spring would be likely to help absorb rainfall. Parts of eastern and central England are officially in a state of drought, which the rain should partially relieve. The Met Office said that most parts of the UK would have a dry but fresher day, with a pattern of sunny and largely warm weather settling in for the rest of the week, interrupted by occasional showers. Weather Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Lady Hale says the government’s proposed cuts will have a ‘disproportionate’ effect on the most vulnerable in society The only female justice on the supreme court, Lady Hale, has highlighted the impact of the proposed cuts in legal aid, declaring that they would have a “disproportionate effect upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society”. Her comments came as solicitors warned that more than a third of law centres in England and Wales providing advice to the disadvantaged would be forced to close under the legal aid plans. On Wednesday the government will push the second reading of its legal aid and sentencing bill through the Commons only a week after the repeatedly-delayed legislation was first introduced into parliament. In his speech last week, the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, signalled that help might be given to law centres because so much of their funding would be withdrawn. Figures provided by Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Federation, show that of 52 centres in England and Wales at least 18 will have no alternative but to shut down because three-quarters of their income comes from legal aid that will no longer be available. Law centres help those who cannot afford to pay a solicitor to obtain legal advice and support in housing, welfare, medical negligence and many other areas that will soon no longer be eligible for legal aid. Last year, law centres helped 120,000 people, Bishop said. Soon, because of the government’s determination to slice £350m out of its annual £2.1bn legal aid budget, the number who can be helped will fall by two-thirds to 40,000. In an unusually forthright speech that appeared to address those concerns directly, Lady Hale voiced worries circulating in the broader legal community about problems of access to justice for the less well-off. “There is a well-known ironic saying,” she said in a speech to the Law Society on Monday evening, that “in England, justice is open to all – like the Ritz.” Legal aid was now being removed from “most civil and legal cases”, she noted. But providing legal advice at an early stage, she said, could often save greater costs for government agencies at a later stage when problems spiralled out of control. “These plans will, of course, have a disproportionate effect upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society.” British courts, she said, have had to defend right of access to the courts in the face of government insistence that the civil justice system should pay for itself. Her speech, which she entitled Equal Access to Justice in the Big Society, is – not least because of its timing – likely to be received as a direct challenge to one of the government’s major cost-cutting measures. It will intensify recent concerns, expressed over superinjunctions, about relations between parliament and the judiciary. Proposals in the government’s bill to introduce means-testing in police stations for those arrested to ascertain whether they are entitled to legal advice also came in for fierce criticism from the Law Society, the body that represents solicitors. Des Hudson, the organisation’s president, said: “We will go back to the excesses of the 1970s and run the risk of people being verballed [have false incriminating statements recorded] by police officers if there are no solicitors available to advise those who have been arrested.” Legal aid Brenda Hale UK supreme court Public sector cuts Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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UK Border Agency says people should avoid flying on Thursday, with letter to airlines warning of ‘delays at the border’ The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has suggested people should avoid flying on Thursday if possible in order to avoid “severe” disruption at airports caused by immigration officials taking strike action, the Guardian has learned. Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) are expected to stay away from their posts at terminals, raising the threat of significant queues at passport control. At least seven out of ten UKBA employees at some major airports are PCS members. A letter to airlines at Heathrow from UKBA said “some passengers may experience delays at the border” and “those passengers who can travel on an alternative day may therefore wish to do so”. UK airports handle around 500,000 passengers per day, with Heathrow dealing with around one-third of that total. BAA said the UKBA advice appeared to apply to airports across the UK. Mark Serwotka, the PCS general secretary, said training UKBA managers to take the place of passport checkers would not prevent delays. “It is likely that there will be severe disruptions and delays affecting both ports and airports,” he said. “Our membership in Dover and Heathrow is particularly strong. “We expect longer queues and for managers to waive controls they would usually undertake. There will be less presence in terms of people coming and going. There is a theoretical risk to security in terms of smuggling and security of the borders, which essentially could be weakened.” Serwotka said courts would also be disrupted, with sittings delayed or cancelled. People who are sentenced on Thursday could face long waits in holding cells, with no administration staff to process their transfer to prison. Cells at police stations could see a substantial backlog building up through the day, which could take another day to clear. Members of the Prison Officers Association – who are banned in law from striking – are expected to hold protest lunchtime meetings at every prison in the country on Thursday in an expression of solidarity. Government contingency planning in the run-up to Thursday, including a call for parents to step in at strike-hit schools, has been criticised by union leaders. According to the PCS, the training regime does not cover the so-called IS81 stage, which is the power, under the Immigration Act, to detain someone attempting to enter the UK. The union also alleges that stand-in staff will not be able to stamp passports and will have difficulties accessing lists of people wanted by the police and security services, with further concerns over the ability of temporary staff to spot forged documents. “It takes an experienced immigration officer to be capable of detecting a forged passport. I think passport control will be extremely vulnerable,” Sue Kendal, a PCS shop steward and former immigration officer, said. The PCS also claimed there would be no customs control on Thursday. However, an airport source played down security concerns, saying: “It is a question of delays rather than threats to security.” John Strickland, an air transport consultant, said: “Passport control is a notorious pressure point at airports at the best of times, so it will not give a good impression of the country to first-time visitors. “And it will not be any better for UK natives who are already not happy with the delays and queues at airports in south England.” A Manchester airport spokesman said the strike was “likely to affect border controls at airports including Manchester.” He added: “We are already working with the Border Agency to minimise disruption and ensure we are able to handle the passengers who are expected to fly back in to the airport.” PCS members start industrial action at 6pm on Wednesday, with the action ending at midnight on Thursday. Jonathan Sedgwick, the acting chief executive of UKBA, said: “We will do everything we can to minimise disruption and inconvenience to travellers. But our priority will always be to ensure that the UK border remains secure.” The cabinet held a special session on Thursday’s strikes during its regular weekly meeting in Downing Street on Tuesday to discuss the likely impact and some contingency planning. David Cameron’s official spokesman said the prime minister would be setting out the government’s position on public sector pensions in a speech today. Sources said his language would be “non-confrontational” and set out the case for making public sector pensions fairer for taxpayers. “Our view is that reform of public sector pensions is necessary, that the proposals we have set out represent a fair deal for public sector workers and for the taxpayer, and that as we are in the middle of discussions with the unions, strike action on Thursday is premature,” the spokesman said. Trade unions David Cameron Transport Air transport Public sector pensions Public sector pay Public sector cuts BAA Dan Milmo Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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Young specialists with broadcasting flair were sought by BBC Radio 3 and research council to bring fresh voices to the public They are, in theory, the brightest of our bright young things: 10 academics chosen in an X Factor-style talent search with specialist subjects that range from the history of fan mail to the significance of the desert in modern culture. The Guardian can name the winners of a competition to find a new generation of thinkers and communicators, pictured as they gathered on Monday at the BBC. The talent search was a collaboration between Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Matthew Dodd, head of speech programming at Radio 3, said they wanted to find academics with a flair for broadcasting earlier in their career. “We felt that the people in academia we were dealing with were often very established with published books who were on air regularly,” he said. “We are looking for people with the most interesting ideas who want to share their knowledge and can make fantastic programmes.” It began with whittling down more than 1,000 applications – “far in excess of what we expected,” says Dodd – to select 57 finalists at a series of day-long workshops and auditions. He said: “It was a revelation to us how media savvy they were. The notion of being in an ivory tower was a long, long way away. They were all brimming with ideas and eager to spread their knowledge. There was none of the gaucheness that a stereotype of the scholar might throw up.” The list was then whittled down to the 10 winners. One is Alexandra Harris, who won last year’s Guardian First Book award for Romantic Moderns, her revisionist work on culture between the wars. Harris, an English lecturer at Liverpool University, got through with her specialist subject on how the weather – and more specifically being cold – has influenced English art, music and literature, although she admitted “it is research which is very new and I’m just starting.” She called the New Generation Thinkers scheme a fantastic opportunity and added: “I’ve never been a believer in the ivory tower university and all the people who have inspired me have been just terrific communicators who have made their research buzzing and relevant. “It also felt like a breath of hope at this point where it’s just cuts, cuts, cuts and this sense of academia being irrelevant and the government turning its back on the humanities. In a way, I wanted to apply just to say, ‘I love the sound of this scheme.’” Another of the 10 is Philip Roscoe, a lecturer at University of St Andrews school of management, who is looking at how economics shapes the moral landscape in everyday settings, including internet dating, an industry he called “social engineering on a massive scale”. He said much academic research is important and interesting but is a hard-sell in terms of generating headlines. “The prospect of being able to make some programming about the ideas and the concepts behind the research and take some time and do it properly was very appealing.” The others and their specialist subjects are Corin Throsby, Cambridge University, the history of fan mail; David Petts, Durham University, the commercialisation of British archaeology; Jon Adams, London School of Economics, on crowding in the modern city; Laurence Scott, Kings College London, on the image and significance of the desert in modern culture; Lucy Powell, University College London, a literary exploration of prisons; Rachel Hewitt, Queen Mary, University of London, on the 1790s: the Age of Despair; Shahidha Bari, also Queen Mary, on the Arabian Nights; and Zoe Norridge, York University, on cultural responses to the Rwandan genocide. All 10 can be heard on the next 10 editions of Night Waves from tonight and they will then develop their broadcasting ideas further with Radio 3 as well as appear in special New Generation Thinkers debates. Radio 3 Higher education BBC Lecturers Entertainment Mark Brown guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Young specialists with broadcasting flair were sought by BBC Radio 3 and research council to bring fresh voices to the public They are, in theory, the brightest of our bright young things: 10 academics chosen in an X Factor-style talent search with specialist subjects that range from the history of fan mail to the significance of the desert in modern culture. The Guardian can name the winners of a competition to find a new generation of thinkers and communicators, pictured as they gathered on Monday at the BBC. The talent search was a collaboration between Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Matthew Dodd, head of speech programming at Radio 3, said they wanted to find academics with a flair for broadcasting earlier in their career. “We felt that the people in academia we were dealing with were often very established with published books who were on air regularly,” he said. “We are looking for people with the most interesting ideas who want to share their knowledge and can make fantastic programmes.” It began with whittling down more than 1,000 applications – “far in excess of what we expected,” says Dodd – to select 57 finalists at a series of day-long workshops and auditions. He said: “It was a revelation to us how media savvy they were. The notion of being in an ivory tower was a long, long way away. They were all brimming with ideas and eager to spread their knowledge. There was none of the gaucheness that a stereotype of the scholar might throw up.” The list was then whittled down to the 10 winners. One is Alexandra Harris, who won last year’s Guardian First Book award for Romantic Moderns, her revisionist work on culture between the wars. Harris, an English lecturer at Liverpool University, got through with her specialist subject on how the weather – and more specifically being cold – has influenced English art, music and literature, although she admitted “it is research which is very new and I’m just starting.” She called the New Generation Thinkers scheme a fantastic opportunity and added: “I’ve never been a believer in the ivory tower university and all the people who have inspired me have been just terrific communicators who have made their research buzzing and relevant. “It also felt like a breath of hope at this point where it’s just cuts, cuts, cuts and this sense of academia being irrelevant and the government turning its back on the humanities. In a way, I wanted to apply just to say, ‘I love the sound of this scheme.’” Another of the 10 is Philip Roscoe, a lecturer at University of St Andrews school of management, who is looking at how economics shapes the moral landscape in everyday settings, including internet dating, an industry he called “social engineering on a massive scale”. He said much academic research is important and interesting but is a hard-sell in terms of generating headlines. “The prospect of being able to make some programming about the ideas and the concepts behind the research and take some time and do it properly was very appealing.” The others and their specialist subjects are Corin Throsby, Cambridge University, the history of fan mail; David Petts, Durham University, the commercialisation of British archaeology; Jon Adams, London School of Economics, on crowding in the modern city; Laurence Scott, Kings College London, on the image and significance of the desert in modern culture; Lucy Powell, University College London, a literary exploration of prisons; Rachel Hewitt, Queen Mary, University of London, on the 1790s: the Age of Despair; Shahidha Bari, also Queen Mary, on the Arabian Nights; and Zoe Norridge, York University, on cultural responses to the Rwandan genocide. All 10 can be heard on the next 10 editions of Night Waves from tonight and they will then develop their broadcasting ideas further with Radio 3 as well as appear in special New Generation Thinkers debates. Radio 3 Higher education BBC Lecturers Entertainment Mark Brown guardian.co.uk
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