• Cambridge in crisis, Trump’s wicked humour & the beauty of AI ceramics

  • Oct 24 2024
  • Length: 53 mins
  • Podcast

Cambridge in crisis, Trump’s wicked humour & the beauty of AI ceramics

Listen for free

View show details

  • Summary

  • This week: Decline and Fall – how our greatest universities are betraying students.

    Our greatest universities are betraying students, writes David Butterfield, who has just resigned from teaching Classics at Cambridge after 21 years. What went wrong? First, class lists of exam results became private, under alleged grounds of ‘data protection’, which snuffed out much of the competitive spirit of the university. Now even the fate of examinations hangs in the balance. Grade inflation is rampant, and it is now unheard of for students to be sent down for insufficient academic performance. For students, the risks have never been lower. ‘The pace of change over the past decade has been astonishing, driven on by three forces: an administrative class that wants to minimise complaints, a subset of academics who actively resent the no-nonsense traditions of the university, and a proportion of students who will take the easiest path proffered.’ David joined the podcast alongside the author Philip Womack, who recalls his own run-in with university administrators in the magazine. (01:46)

    Next: the return of Trump the stand-up comedian.

    There had been a lot of talk that Trump had lost some of his spark, with declining attendance at his rallies and his jokes failing to land. But, as The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews writes this week, he appears to have his mojo back. At the Al Smith dinner, he delivered a series of wicked barbs aimed at his opponent Tim Walz and Kamala Harris, to a rapturous reception in the room. So what has changed? And why is humour so important to Trump? Kate joined the podcast alongside journalist and former speechwriter to Tony Blair, Philip Collins. (18:06)

    And finally: could AI lead to a revival of decorative beauty?

    In her arts lead for the magazine, Lara Prendergast meets the founders of a company in Stoke-on-Trent using AI technology to mass-produce uncannily authentic Delftware tiles, the iconic blue and white ceramics. ‘Josiah Wedgwood would have loved what we are doing… I suspect William Morris would have hated it,’ says the co-founder of Not Quite Past – the company creating these tiles – and who joins the podcast to discuss further. (37:55)

    Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
    Show More Show Less
Show More Show Less

What listeners say about Cambridge in crisis, Trump’s wicked humour & the beauty of AI ceramics

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com.au reviews

Amazon Reviews
No Reviews are Available
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.