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  1. "He's very good at faking authenticity and I [know] that sounds incredibly pejorative, but it's v useful that he's approaching it as a profession and his profession is playing the prime minister on telly and that's kind of hopefully you are the actual prime minister" — #HelenLewis on the #PrivateEye Podcast.

    Lewis's description of #AndyBurnham so far is fair. Communication is not sufficient, but it is necessary. Of his 5 immediate predecessors, only Johnson could communicate.

    #ukpol #Burnham

  2. "He's very good at faking authenticity and I [know] that sounds incredibly pejorative, but it's v useful that he's approaching it as a profession and his profession is playing the prime minister on telly and that's kind of hopefully you are the actual prime minister" — #HelenLewis on the #PrivateEye Podcast.

    Lewis's description of #AndyBurnham so far is fair. Communication is not sufficient, but it is necessary. Of his 5 immediate predecessors, only Johnson could communicate.

    #ukpol #Burnham

  3. Invigilator Training?

    I saw the above cartoon in the latest Private Eye and, with Repeat Examinations rapdily approaching I thought I’d share it here without permission.

    Years ago, academic staff had to invigilate their own examinations. I had to do this in my first teaching job at Queen Mary and, later, at Nottingham, but more recently the job has generally been done by support staff rather than academics. I moved from Nottingham to Cardiff in 2007 and don’t think I ever had to invigilate examinations there, so I haven’t done it for almost twenty years. Nowadays we are just expected to be “on call” to deal with any queries that arise in the Exam Hall by phone.

    The cartoon reminded me of one of the funniest April Fool jokes I can recall. I think it was when I was at Queen Mary, but it’s so long ago I can’t remember who was responsible. Anyway, whichever colleague it was sent an email to all academic staff passing on what appeared to be a message from the University Management stating that all staff would be required to attend a compulsory day-long invigilator training workshop, including a “role play” session (the mind boggles). This message managed to trigger a significant number of staff members who made use of the “ReplyAll” on their email to vent their outrage at such a waste of time. It was a good April Fool, because the idea of it was quite plausible. Most April Fools are far too obvious.

    Anyway, I’m not sorry that I no longer have to perform the task of exam invigilation, as it was always one of my least favourite jobs, and not only because I don’t enjoy seeing people under stress. Initially I thought supervising an examination might allow me time to do something useful, but there always seemed to be some interruption, such as students wanting an extra answer book, or asking about some issue with the examination paper, or wanting to leave to go to the toilet, etc.

    The most dramatic interruption I can remember was when a student who suffered from epilepsy had a seizure in the examination hall. Fortunately we invigilators had been briefed as to what to do in such an eventuality, namely to move the furniture so the student didn’t hurt themselves but otherwise not to intervene until they went to sleep – which usually happens after a minute or two. This was done about 15 minutes before the exam started, not in a day-long training session. We were told that such an episode was unlikely as the student was taking medicine to prevent them occurring. It was quite when it actually happened, but happily the student recovered quickly and was perfectly OK afterwards. Apparently he had been so busy preparing for the examination that day he had forgotten to take his medication in the morning.

    Having given up on the idea of doing some other work during an examination, I used to take a few crosswords to do. These are good for passing the time because you can solve a few clues then pause to look around the hall. Other things I used to do included walking around counting the number of right-handed and left-handed students, for example, though I never did any detailed statistical analysis of the results.

    The primary purpose of invigilation is to prevent cheating or other misbehaviour, and I only ever saw a few examples of that – most of them involving calculators with, e.g., graph-plotting facilities which are not allowed.

    Anyway, I’m glad I no longer have to invigilate examinations, and that makes me all the more grateful for the people who do. Here in Maynooth there are three examinations per day during the Examination Period, with a brief period between to put out the next set of papers, which means a long day for those who do this job. Hats off to the staff of the Exams Office at Maynooth who carry out this thankless task three times a year!

    #Examinations #Invigilation #MaynoothUniversity #PrivateEye #RepeatExaminations
  4. So. Farewell then Karl Starmer.
    It was perhaps
    A free Arsenal ticket of Promises too far,
    of Beige presentation
    Satisfying no one
    You leave us now
    In the safe hands
    Of Continuity Starmer
    Thribb aged 17 and a half

    #thribb #starmer #privateeye #poetsofmastodon

  5. So. Farewell then Karl Starmer.
    It was perhaps
    A free Arsenal ticket of Promises too far,
    of Beige presentation
    Satisfying no one
    You leave us now
    In the safe hands
    Of Continuity Starmer
    Thribb aged 17 and a half

    #thribb #starmer #privateeye #poetsofmastodon

  6. Diversionary tactics

    Watch out they are canny sods.

    From Private Eye by ‘Jonesy’

    #Cartoon #DucksOfMastodon #Jonesy #PrivateEye

  7. Diversionary tactics

    Watch out they are canny sods.

    From Private Eye by ‘Jonesy’

    #Cartoon #DucksOfMastodon #Jonesy #PrivateEye

  8. I love #PrivateEye
    Coming out fortnightly the reporting within has had the time to prove it's relevance.
    The front page is always a treat when the delivery arrives.

    #farage #reformuk #scandal #Curruption
    #FrogFacedFascistFucker

  9. I love #PrivateEye
    Coming out fortnightly the reporting within has had the time to prove it's relevance.
    The front page is always a treat when the delivery arrives.

    #farage #reformuk #scandal #Curruption
    #FrogFacedFascistFucker

  10. As the news of a certain #wedding dominated the headlines all bloody week!

    I can't help think of the wonderful Private Eye headline when one of the Royals gave birth!

    #PrivateEye

  11. As the news of a certain #wedding dominated the headlines all bloody week!

    I can't help think of the wonderful Private Eye headline when one of the Royals gave birth!

    #PrivateEye

  12. Arkell v. Pressdram (1971) is a famous UK legal anecdote where Private Eye magazine defeated a libel threat from James Arkell.

    Private Eye responded to Arkell’s lawyer’s demand with a curt dismissal (“f*** off”), the case never went to court.

    #FactOfTheDay #Libel #PrivateEye

  13. Arkell v. Pressdram (1971) is a famous UK legal anecdote where Private Eye magazine defeated a libel threat from James Arkell.

    Private Eye responded to Arkell’s lawyer’s demand with a curt dismissal (“f*** off”), the case never went to court.

    #FactOfTheDay #Libel #PrivateEye

  14. Heartbroken by closure of satirical/investigative magazine The Phoenix. After 42 years, it is a huge loss to Irish journalism, politics and culture.

    #PhoenixMagazine was often compared to #PrivateEye. It had a similar mix of satire & investigation, but #ThePhoenix was more serious and was spared the Eye's English public school boy humour.

    Irish Times: archive.is/oXmxE

    RTÉ archive.is/xlTvb

    The Journal archive.is/2n70l

    Examiner archive.is/JIZB2

    #iepol

  15. Heartbroken by closure of satirical/investigative magazine The Phoenix. After 42 years, it is a huge loss to Irish journalism, politics and culture.

    #PhoenixMagazine was often compared to #PrivateEye. It had a similar mix of satire & investigation, but #ThePhoenix was more serious and was spared the Eye's English public school boy humour.

    Irish Times: archive.is/oXmxE

    RTÉ archive.is/xlTvb

    The Journal archive.is/2n70l

    Examiner archive.is/JIZB2

    #iepol

  16. The Thirlwall Inquiry, predicated on #LucyLetby’s guilt, has again found evidence that casts reasonable doubt on it. On 22 May the Inquiry released the full report into her successful grievance procedure against consultants at the Countess of Chester hospital, which the jury never saw.

    MD’s latest on the Lucy Letby case, only in the new #PrivateEye, out now.

    ALL previous parts of The Eye's special report into the Lucy Letby case are online: private-eye.co.uk/special-repo

    #WrongfulConviction

  17. The Thirlwall Inquiry, predicated on #LucyLetby’s guilt, has again found evidence that casts reasonable doubt on it. On 22 May the Inquiry released the full report into her successful grievance procedure against consultants at the Countess of Chester hospital, which the jury never saw.

    MD’s latest on the Lucy Letby case, only in the new #PrivateEye, out now.

    ALL previous parts of The Eye's special report into the Lucy Letby case are online: private-eye.co.uk/special-repo

    #WrongfulConviction

  18. #PrivateEye #Parody#FediFC #FIFAWorldCup #Soccer #Football From a May 2025 issue of The Eye. One of these is bound to happen, probably the last one ...

  19. #PrivateEye #Parody#FediFC #FIFAWorldCup #Soccer #Football From a May 2025 issue of The Eye. One of these is bound to happen, probably the last one ...

  20. The Case Files Of George Spade is a compendium of sly humor, sarcasm, and hardboiled fun.
    Pick up a copy at Apple Bks, Bookstore, B&N, Kobo, Amazon, Gardners, Smashwords, and other bookseller sites.
    #booksy #murdermystery #privateeye
    bookshop.org/p/books/the-case-

  21. The Case Files Of George Spade is a compendium of sly humor, sarcasm, and hardboiled fun.
    Pick up a copy at Apple Bks, Bookstore, B&N, Kobo, Amazon, Gardners, Smashwords, and other bookseller sites.
    #booksy #murdermystery #privateeye
    bookshop.org/p/books/the-case-

  22. I don't get the joke in this #PrivateEye cartoon. Can anyone explain it to me?

  23. I don't get the joke in this #PrivateEye cartoon. Can anyone explain it to me?

  24. #McBoatfacing is the mistake of letting the internet decide something.

    As in the 2016 poll to name a new UK research ship. The Internet said #BoatyMcBoatface. ❤️

    Helen Lewis of #PrivateEye suggests that #Makerfield by-election may be McBoatfaced. 😈

    In Jsnuary 1965, voters in Leyton were asked to rescue a senior MP who had lost his seat. .Bur voters weren't keen to be props in a Westminster game. A 9% swing against Labour gave the seat to the Tories.

    Will Andy #Burnham be #McBoatfaced?

    #ukpol

  25. #McBoatfacing is the mistake of letting the internet decide something.

    As in the 2016 poll to name a new UK research ship. The Internet said #BoatyMcBoatface. ❤️

    Helen Lewis of #PrivateEye suggests that #Makerfield by-election may be McBoatfaced. 😈

    In Jsnuary 1965, voters in Leyton were asked to rescue a senior MP who had lost his seat. .Bur voters weren't keen to be props in a Westminster game. A 9% swing against Labour gave the seat to the Tories.

    Will Andy #Burnham be #McBoatfaced?

    #ukpol

  26. "Keir's Bye-Bye-Election" 😅🤣

    Top marks to #PrivateEye for the title of this week's episode of their podcast.

    No, I haven't listened. But if you want to, it's at youtu.be/jaQ5mW4xp24

    #Starmer #Makerfield #ukpol

  27. "Keir's Bye-Bye-Election" 😅🤣

    Top marks to #PrivateEye for the title of this week's episode of their podcast.

    No, I haven't listened. But if you want to, it's at youtu.be/jaQ5mW4xp24

    #Starmer #Makerfield #ukpol