One of my pet hates from my University days was the small number of senior politics “academics” who were seemingly only interested in using their position as a platform for their own (usually warped) views. While I was a student at York, Alex Callinicos was the worst offender, although there were others. He no longer works at York, and I must say I am considerably more likely to donate to the alumni fund now that they aren’t wasting money on his wages.
A second problem that lurks within politics academia has risen above ground again - that of political guesswork masquarading as “research”. Professor Tony Travers, an “urban politics expert”, has just released a new “study”, and unfortunately the Manchester Evening News seems to have swallowed it. Let’s have a detailed look:
1978 was a long time ago
One of my pet hates from my University days was the small number of senior politics “academics” who were seemingly only interested in using their position as a platform for their own (usually warped) views. While I was a student at York, Alex Callinicos was the worst offender, although there were others. He no longer works at York, and I must say I am considerably more likely to donate to the alumni fund now that they aren’t wasting money on his wages.
A second problem that lurks within politics academia has risen above ground again - that of political guesswork masquarading as “research”. Professor Tony Travers, an “urban politics expert”, has just released a new “study”, and unfortunately the Manchester Evening News seems to have swallowed it. Let’s have a detailed look:
Continue reading ‘1978 was a long time ago’