etymologic Profile picture
Resident of Sheffield, citizen of the world. Scientist but NOT an epidemiologist or medic! Husband. Father of three. No I will not 'let that sink in'.
Nov 28, 2019 8 tweets 4 min read
The #USS executive, led by Bill Galvin, fear scrutiny & transparency, and they will go to any end to avoid it ... The #USS executive had promised to release this Executive Summary as soon as Prof Hutton's consent was obtained. Now they have U-turned.
Apr 5, 2018 26 tweets 10 min read
Bangor University's response to the UUK survey is out now, thanks to @noremacnosila's FoI request. Bangor was in the 42% to reject investment risk.

Join me on a rambling thread 👇 with more on Uni finance, consultants, and the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG) Bangor's Survey-Monkey response to UUK is here: whatdotheyknow.com/request/465548…

@VianBikir was first on the case ...
Mar 26, 2018 6 tweets 4 min read
Three key figures of the #USS pensions dispute were working together in Birmingham on the SMT back in 2012: Alistair Jarvis, David Eastwood and Adam Tickell.

All three are in this wonderful issue of @BuzzUniBham: intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/buzz/doc… Alistair Jarvis, sans beard, was the Director of Communications & Marketing.

From "Enhancing Birmingham's Reputation" to "Trashing UniversitiesUK's Reputation" in 5 short years.

If only he had stuck to Happiness Lectures ...
Mar 26, 2018 12 tweets 4 min read
My quick thoughts on the email from Sally Hunt. They'll have to be quick because we have a branch meeting for all members at 1pm! (mini-thread) First, it is apparent there is a split in views amongst the union leadership. In several places, the text says "I" when it should say "we".
Mar 25, 2018 15 tweets 5 min read
JUST FOUND in Cambridge ...

Title: "Draft Response for Colleges to USS consultation 9 2017final to Bursars.pdf"

From: The co-chair of University's Pensions Working Group.
To: All college bursars.
Author: a Director of Xafinity Consulting.
Date: 21st Sep 2017.

THREAD 👇 This is a missing piece of the jigsaw on "collusion" in Cambridge. The document confirms that a University Working Group, set up by Finance Committee, put together a preferred survey response, and sent to bursars. ±12 bursars responded for their colleges, without GB oversight.
Mar 20, 2018 9 tweets 5 min read
Hard evidence of collusion in Oxford!

Pembroke College, Oxford have just released their response to the UUK September survey on #USS pension risk ...

... and it is word-for-word the same as the University of Oxford's!

But it gets worse 😮 ... (THREAD 👇) Let's begin by reviewing the evidence.

Pembroke College, Oxford: whatdotheyknow.com/request/466074…

University of Oxford: ox.ac.uk/sites/files/ox…
Mar 19, 2018 20 tweets 7 min read
This is a Thread of Threads, to keep track of what I have written on the #USS pensions issue, particularly focussing on the dodgy September survey by UUK, and the role of Cambridge and Oxford.

In reverse chronological order: 1. On FoI documents showing that Cambridge college bursars "colluded" to give *the same* response to the survey.
Mar 13, 2018 20 tweets 7 min read
NEW: How 18 Bursars from Cambridge and Oxford got together at OXCAM on 20th September 2017, and helped "steer" the @UniversitiesUK consultation on #USS pension risk. THREAD 👇 Here is a summary of what was discussed on 20th Sep at OXCAM re: the USS scheme. Read on for context & comment ...
Mar 12, 2018 21 tweets 8 min read
Who is behind the drive to end the Defined-Benefit #USS pension scheme?
A key figure is Prof Koen Lamberts, VC of University of York, and Chair of the Employers Pension Forum (EPF).
Join me on a rambling thread 👇. The EPF was set up by three bodies which share Woburn House in London: UniversitiesUK (UUK), the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and GuildHE. It shares an office & press officer with these bodies.
Mar 3, 2018 23 tweets 8 min read
"A Tale of Perfidious Infamy!"
or
How @UniversitiesUK botched, bungled and biased its September 2017 survey of #USS employers. 👇 (THREAD) Recall: In October, UUK reported that 42% of #USS employers had REJECTED the level of risk proposed by the USS trustees - based on Question 3 of an online survey. UUK received 116 responses from "#USS employers".
henrytapper.com/2017/12/03/you…