jmothecat

I found out when attending a class representative meeting that most departments have a specific date they need to return marks by, but that they try not to publicise the date so people don't know to complain.

That's pretty bad. Do your departments have a cut off date for final submission of marks?

People on Facebook are suggesting the UCU are planning a 'marking boycott' in order to disrupt people about to graduate this year. Not sure if it is serous, or just a threat, it's got people worried though. Even folk who have, up until now, been sympathetic to the previous industrial action sound unhappy about this.

It seems like an odd statement to make. With Winnie Mandela and the Israeli whistle-blower it sort of made sense, Glasgow has a lot of left-wing students and the anti-Israel thing is popular here. I've not been aware of any great anti-government intrusion groups having much popularity on campus. All the main political clubs, across the political spectrum, from Labour to Tory and even the Yes and Better Together societies, favoured other candidates. Only folk handing out Edward Snowden leaflets seemed to be odd looking men who wouldn't look out of place at a 9/11 truth meeting.

Unsure why he got voted in. An absentee rector isn't any use to anyone. It must be a political statement, but I had no idea people cared so much. Either that or people decided just to vote for the famous bloke. He got almost half of the first preference votes as well.

Edward Snowden has just been voted as rector of Glasgow Uni.

Yesterday was pretty poor... I think. I was pretty drunk and ecstatic from the Aberdeen result so my memories of the rugby are pretty blurry. Scotland looked awful, basic mistakes constantly being made, tackling seemed to have been forgotten about and when you are surprised to see Scotland win their own line-out you know it's been a bad performance. Pretty dire atmosphere as well, perhaps it was due to the quality of the rugby on show but the atmosphere was better at the Japan match in the autumn than it was last night. Apart from booing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' I don't think Scotland fans opened their mouths. Wooden spoon beckons methinks. Still, Aberdeen beat Celtic and are through to the Scottish Cup quarter Finals, so I'm not sure how much I care this morning.

More strikes about to begin. This is getting very frustrating. One of my modules only has three hours of actual teaching time a week, and two of those hours I'm going to lose due to the strike action (tomorrow and on Tuesday next week). As a self-funded student I feel I'm not getting the teaching I've paid for. I'm the class rep for that module so I'm in a good place to at least put forward my frustrations, but there is little that us, ordinary students, who have no control over staff pay, can do.

450-7 at the close of play, match drawn. Enjoyed that.

20 to win, four overs remaining.

Only 84 required to win now. India still need 6 wickets.

Enjoying this, South Africa need 145 to win.

The pleasure is all mine.

Scotland haven't got a test side. If they ever do I will support Scotland, but as it is, they don't. I therefore support the test side that are not only nearest me, but actually part of the same country as me. Were I to support any other side I would have to travel to the West Indies or Asia, or even Australasia in order to watch my side play test cricket. Why do that when I could travel to Leeds or Durham or Manchester and support a team from my island and my continent. It makes no sense to follow another team just because England are our rivals in football and rugby, that rivalry isn't there in cricket so I see no reason not to support them. And trust me, when I first started watching cricket there was no-one involved with England in the least bit cocky or with anything to be cocky about. We've been success starved, a bit of cockiness during a rare sustained period of success isn't too surprising. Looks bad now though admittedly. Plus I was named after one of England and Yorkshire's greats. I'd feel like I was betraying my name-sake if I were to support anyone else.

I decided to do a comparative literature module this semester, just for something a bit different. Regretting it considerably. Every non-English language novel seems to be existentialist or post-modern, up its own arse, shite. Exam is tomorrow, essentially think I'll be spending a couple of hours writing about Kierkegaard and Sartre more than any of the authors. Should have stuck with Scottish literature, when Scott writes about Jacobites he is actually talking about Jacobites rather than delving into the essence of man through the actions of an impoverished murderer in 19 century Spain.

Looking at the current Australian side they have a few players who were dropped for not performing, who have come back to be integral parts of the team. Haddin, Harris and Johnson were all dropped, but have become three of Australia's top performers. I think England are declining, and they have suffered three poor defeats consecutively, but I don't think it's suddenly all over for the bulk of the team. All in all, positives from Stokes and Root in this series and Bell's performance in the last show positives. The 3-0 win in the summer flattered England, they are declining, but I think some of the media reaction about how far England have fallen is premature. I'm optimistically going to predict that this series will finish 3-2 with some stand out performances from some of the players the media have declared finished.

It's pretty normal for cricket fans. Scotland haven't got a team that play test cricket so who else would we support?

I think it is pretty standard for Scottish cricket fans to refer to England as 'us'. I certainly do. They are essentially the test side for the British Isles. They may only technically be England and Wales, however we haven't got a test side but people from the other part of our country do so it makes sense to support them. I only know two Scottish cricket fans, other than myself, and they refer to England as 'us'. All three of us are firm 'no' voters though, so take that as you will. Andrew Neil defended himself on twitter during the Ashes series in England during the summer after he referred to England as 'us'. He said he's lived in England for years and Scotland don't have a test side so he follows England.

Swann out. Hoping Anderson and Monty can provide a bit of resistance just to give Prior a chance to get as good a score as possible.

Switch over slightly late and Cook is already out. This is going to be a miserable watch.

Pieterson out. Think I might go to bed.

Excited about tonight. No 5am starts for me this week, so for this test I can actually afford to stay up and watch a few sessions.

Another strike at Glasgow uni today. I was speaking to a friend last night, who will be manning the picket lines, apparently 'Scabby' the giant inflatable rat shall be attending to put people off using university services just before exams begin. Very pleasant.

I got Ashes 2009 for the Wii, thinking it might be the perfect platform for a cricket game. Awful though. Pity really.

I'm voting no. I'd like to see more powers devolved to the Scottish parliament, but for Scotland to still have representation in the United Kingdom.