Universities

[killer b]

No, well. The universities were very keen on filling their courses and halls, and everyone else was very keen on it all being over. But it's the logical conclusion of the much-predicted winter second wave.

It was you that was saying wtf though - are you actually surprised?

 

[existentialist]

Not sure he has room to store so much Have just spoken to his mum about it and she is going to help him do a bigger shop this weekend for tinned and dried stuff which will last ..

zahir what was your experience?

I think the urgency of the situation is such that I'd get him to prioritise getting and storing that 2 week supply. With a bit of creativity, there are all kinds of ways in which you can stash stuff, although I accept that student halls is probably going to be at the ultra-pokey end of the spectrum.

And I'd recommend that a lot of the stash is "boring" food - the kind of thing his new mates aren't necessarily going to be all over. So leave out the ambrosia creamed rice, and go big on baked beans. Pasta is good. Ideally, the only stuff he needs to shop for regularly is going to be fresh (and I suspect that not a lot of that will get eaten!).

I reckon it'd be worth putting together a food parcel, and then getting Hermes to ship it. I suggest you include a supply of multivitamin tablets, while you're at it - lots of students end up with deficiencies in the first weeks and months, if they're self-catering and living on cheesy chips and toast

 

[xenon]

I think the urgency of the situation is such that I'd get him to prioritise getting and storing that 2 week supply. With a bit of creativity, there are all kinds of ways in which you can stash stuff, although I accept that student halls is probably going to be at the ultra-pokey end of the spectrum.

And I'd recommend that a lot of the stash is "boring" food - the kind of thing his new mates aren't necessarily going to be all over. So leave out the ambrosia creamed rice, and go big on baked beans. Pasta is good. Ideally, the only stuff he needs to shop for regularly is going to be fresh (and I suspect that not a lot of that will get eaten!).

I reckon it'd be worth putting together a food parcel, and then getting Hermes to ship it. I suggest you include a supply of multivitamin tablets, while you're at it - lots of students end up with deficiencies in the first weeks and months, if they're self-catering and living on cheesy chips and toast

And a tin opener. A good one.
Thermos flask if no kettle in his room.
Some of that dry coffee mate stuff...

I know this is the usual student starter pack kinda thing but if you actually can't leave the building for a few days, this stuff could make it just about barible. Coffee, snacks, toiletries etc.

 

[Wilf]

On the students not going home for Xmas thing, my guess it will just about the one thing the government seek to avoid. It would cause the ultimate middle class revolt and the ultimate inter-generational revolt. Even if we are in full lockdown mode by then, they'll try to find a way using tests for individual students or somesuch. And in doing this they will probably be adding to societal risk, but politics will prevail. Nothing would scream political failure than families, including lots of middle class families being split up at Xmas. We'd probably have the daily mail flirting with Starmer at that point if he mounted a 'save student Christmas' campaign.

 

[Wilf]

But those Xmas musings aside, I feel compelled to keep posting, Ancient Mariner style, how truly fucked up this is.

And when we get into full blown newspaper moral (genuine) panics over first year students in halls, we should also ask the question of them: were you as concerned about the shopworkers? I'm not trying to drive a wedge between groups, quite the opposite *. But we should call out the inevitable hypocrisy this will lead to.

* not least because lots of students are shop and bar workers.

 

[danny la rouge]

if he mounted a 'save student Christmas' campaign.

He won’t. He’ll fully support the government’s measures.

 

[SpookyFrank]

He’ll fully support the government’s measures.

This is a 'fish in a barrel' prediction is ever I saw one.

 

[danny la rouge]

This is a 'fish in a barrel' prediction is ever I saw one.

And this, Sirrah, is a fish-in-a-barrel response to it!

 

[Lord Camomile]

(((fish and barrels)))

 

[chilango]

1. St Andrews
2. Edinburgh Napier
3. Glasgow
4. Stirling
5. Oxford Brookes
6. Bath
7. Manchester Metropolitan
8. Liverpool
9. Swansea
10. Aberdeen
11. Robert Gordon
12. Abertay
13. Exeter
14. Queen Margaret
15. Kent
16. Uni of West England (Bristol)
17. Leeds
18. Warwick
19. De Montfort (Leicester)
20. Gloucestershire
21. Hull
22. Newcastle
23. Durham
24. Salford
25. Northumbria
26. Essex
27. Heriot Watt
28. Edinburgh
29. Glasgow Caledonian
30. Aston
31. Coventry
32. Portsmouth
33. Staffordshire
34. York St John
35. Uni of South Wales
36. Aberystwyth
37. Uni of Leicester
38. Plymouth
39. Queens, Belfast
40. Sheffield
41. Sheffield Hallam

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

1. St Andrews
2. Edinburgh Napier
3. Glasgow
4. Stirling
5. Oxford Brookes
6. Bath
7. Manchester Metropolitan
8. Liverpool
9. Swansea
10. Aberdeen
11. Robert Gordon
12. Abertay
13. Exeter
14. Queen Margaret
15. Kent
16. Uni of West England (Bristol)
17. Leeds
18. Warwick
19. De Montfort (Leicester)
20. Gloucestershire
21. Hull
22. Newcastle
23. Durham
24. Salford
25. Northumbria
26. Essex
27. Dundee ???
28. Heriot Watt
29. Edinburgh
30. Glasgow Caledonian
31. Aston
32. Coventry
33. Portsmouth
34. Staffordshire
35. York St John
36. Uni of South Wales
37. Aberystwyth
38. Uni of Leicester
39. Plymouth
40. Queens, Belfast
41. Sheffield
42. Sheffield Hallam

How the fuck UoB isn’t on that list yet I’ll never know

 

[LDC]

How the fuck UoB isn’t on that list yet I’ll never know

UoB? Bradford?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

UoB? Bradford?

B’ham.

 

[SpookyFrank]

1. St Andrews
2. Edinburgh Napier
3. Glasgow
4. Stirling
5. Oxford Brookes
6. Bath
7. Manchester Metropolitan
8. Liverpool
9. Swansea
10. Aberdeen
11. Robert Gordon
12. Abertay
13. Exeter
14. Queen Margaret
15. Kent
16. Uni of West England (Bristol)
17. Leeds
18. Warwick
19. De Montfort (Leicester)
20. Gloucestershire
21. Hull
22. Newcastle
23. Durham
24. Salford
25. Northumbria
26. Essex
27. Heriot Watt
28. Edinburgh
29. Glasgow Caledonian
30. Aston
31. Coventry
32. Portsmouth
33. Staffordshire
34. York St John
35. Uni of South Wales
36. Aberystwyth
37. Uni of Leicester
38. Plymouth
39. Queens, Belfast
40. Sheffield
41. Sheffield Hallam

Time to start listing the ones without covid cases.

 

[chilango]

How the fuck UoB isn’t on that list yet I’ll never know

They're keeping their cases secret?

 

[Pingety Pong]

B’ham.

Oh, I thought you meant Bolton. That will definitely be on it by next week I reckon.

 

[Wilf]

No idea what the time lag from testing to results is now and even more so from infection to taking a test, but these campus infections were probably acquired what, a week, even 10 days ago? Right at the start of the period where anyone landed in/returned to halls? If that's in anyway correct the virus will now be in just about every university population.

 

[Wilf]

He won’t. He’ll fully support the government’s measures.

I suspect he'll try and peel off from the government at some point, too little too late. Hate to say it, when it comes to the pure venality of politics, Blair's instincts would have been better. And for our old viewers, Harold Wilson would have been better still. If you aren't going to mount a principled social democratic attack, you might as well have a vicious, unprincipled shit at the helm.

 

[Roadkill]

No idea what the time lag from testing to results is now and even more so from infection to taking a test, but these campus infections were probably acquired what, a week, even 10 days ago? Right at the start of the period where anyone landed in/returned to halls? If that's in anyway correct the virus will now be in just about every university population.

Yup. It's only a matter of time before the whole charade collapses and the announcement is made that should have been made the best part of a month ago; that all teaching (except perhaps some medical and lab-based stuff) will be online. The question is, how bad does it have to get before either universities start breaking ranks or the government does a U-turn?

 

[Wilf]

Yup. It's only a matter of time before the whole charade collapses and the announcement is made that should have been made the best part of a month ago; that all teaching (except perhaps some medical and lab-based stuff) will be online. The question is, how bad does it have to get before either universities start breaking ranks or the government does a U-turn?

However much I/we detest them, VCs and the various university groupings will be ready to 'pivot' (latest wanker word used at my place) back to online, while both shitting it and seeking a competitive advantage over the others as they do. A crisis managed by the very worst.

 

[Roadkill]

However much I/we detest them, VCs and the various university groupings will be ready to 'pivot' (latest wanker word used at my place) back to online, while both shitting it and seeking a competitive advantage over the others as they do. A crisis managed by the very worst.

I imagine they've spent most of the weekend wargaming how to do exactly that.

And consulting their legal teams.

 

[weltweit]

I know someone who is a teacher in a private school.
They have been doing quite a lot of distance learning since they started back.
I bet they are not unique.

 

[Wilf]

Labour and the NUS just about managing to say something here. Also some snippets on life in the plague ships. Like how the journos always manage to get a picture of students lined up millimetres apart.

Delay university term until on-campus testing ready, says Labour

Letter to education secretary comes as thousands of students confined to halls after outbreak

www.theguardian.com

 

[Wilf]

Actually, in the piece above, some of the comments from students in halls are giving a real sense they think there's no point isolating at all within the halls (300 cans for the Leeds match etc.). Again, it's not just that universities and government have allowed students into places where they are likely to catch Covid, they've also engendered an attitude of 'I can't not catch it, so I'll do what the fuck I like'. Wouldn't like to be a student with vulnerabilities in the middle of all that. And that's not blaming young people for shagging and drinking. We've all got a responsibility, but the fucking government have let this happen.

 

[kebabking]

It might be interesting to have a look at not the fees angle, but universities dependence on the astonishingly high fees they charge for halls.

I rather suspect that is why they are so desperate to have students around rather than studying from home is zoom or whatever.

If students can't do the uni socialising experience, and they only get to do F2F once a week, why not save a fortune and live at home - where you can go to the pub and go shopping, and then pop up to Manchester or wherever once a week...?

 

[weltweit]

..
If students can't do the uni socialising experience, and they only get to do F2F once a week, why not save a fortune and live at home - where you can go to the pub and go shopping, and then pop up to Manchester or wherever once a week...?

Could be a reason there.

The UNIs need the revenue from the halls of residence.

 

[zahir]

Could be a reason there.

The UNIs need the revenue from the halls of residence.

And which in the case of MMU they are apparently preventing students from leaving to go for a test.

 

[chilango]

In some cases it's not a loss of income from Halls that is motivating Universities here (after all they're run by private companies who picket the profits) but that they've agreed deals with the Halls that in the event of students not attending could cost the Universities £10s of millions in payments to these private companies.

 

[scifisam]

I think the urgency of the situation is such that I'd get him to prioritise getting and storing that 2 week supply. With a bit of creativity, there are all kinds of ways in which you can stash stuff, although I accept that student halls is probably going to be at the ultra-pokey end of the spectrum.

And I'd recommend that a lot of the stash is "boring" food - the kind of thing his new mates aren't necessarily going to be all over. So leave out the ambrosia creamed rice, and go big on baked beans. Pasta is good. Ideally, the only stuff he needs to shop for regularly is going to be fresh (and I suspect that not a lot of that will get eaten!).

I reckon it'd be worth putting together a food parcel, and then getting Hermes to ship it. I suggest you include a supply of multivitamin tablets, while you're at it - lots of students end up with deficiencies in the first weeks and months, if they're self-catering and living on cheesy chips and toast

Hermes would be an extremely expensive way of doing it. Just do an online shop delivered to their address instead of your own.

 

[existentialist]

Hermes would be an extremely expensive way of doing it. Just do an online shop delivered to their address instead of your own.

I think the problem was the unavailability of slots...though I suppose booking a home delivery to someone who's not going anywhere for a while, without an immediate time constraint might work