Rachael McKelvey

• Higher Ed: Limiting overseas student visas
• Duolingo UI redesign
• Passion
• Is FTX the modern-day Enron?
• The Qatar World Cup

Higher Ed: Limiting overseas student visas
The Conservative party are so desperate to reduce immigration they’re seriously considering a limit on overseas student visas. An interesting take that University leaders and other politicians have rightly slammed. Overseas student fees keep universities solvent, fund research and contribute massively to economic growth.

The Germany Embassy in London took no time to sub-tweet that German Universities are offering a record number of courses in English and that it’s an attractive place to study and live because of the reduced cost of living. To which I say, show me where the lie is?

Duolingo UI redesign
Can someone explain why they broke Duolingo please & how I get my tree back? The launch of the path, or the ditching of the tree, is based on science and will guide learners on the most efficient way of learning. As an existing user I no longer have any idea where I am in my learning journey anymore, I’ve failed a spectacular number of lessons and really miss being able to pick how ambitious, or not, I am feeling when tackling lessons. I immediately took to Twitter to see if I could find the funny side (some excellent memes), I still have not (there have been some excellent memes).

Passion
I’ve had the most amazing opportunity in this last week to talk to people about how they got into doing what they are doing and taken great comfort in some common themes – it wasn’t the first thing they thought they wanted to do, it took them some time to find it and it typically came out of a moment (ideal and less than ideal) but that once they found it, it’s kept them learning and developing. A big thank you to everyone who has talked to me this week.

If you feel you have some time to spare and would be happy to talk to me about why you love what your do & how you found it, please do reach out. I promise to ask good questions.

Is FTX the modern-day Enron?
I didn’t want to get too excited last week, even though I secretly did….when John Ray III says the words “never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy finance information as occurred here” you know it’s possible that this is BIG. John Ray III worked on the wind down of Enron. Aspiring accounting students should be cheering there is a new case study for fraud, but accounting professionals wonder what obscure ill thought through legislation will hit the statute books because why fix the system when you can just legislate a knee jerk reaction.

The Qatar World Cup
I am not a football fan, but I do live with one, so IT IS ALWAYS ON, this tournament seems so conflicted for all of reasons. The World Cup in Qatar is surrounded by controversy, all the way back to how it became a host nation. With a current questionable human rights record, the working conditions and death of construction staff through to last minute changes that just mean even Qatar have failed in the mission to just make it about the football. But its bittersweet, for some nations it’s the first time they’ve qualified in a lifetime. I can usually go with the flow for the World Cup, but this time I just can’t get excited. Ps: Not to mention its winter in the northern hemisphere.

Current watch: Friends – It’s been a week and there will be more on that at some point, but this week I just needed comfort, familiarity and Friends and yes, I am that old, I used to wait to go out until Friends had finished. I used to have to wait for episodes.

Current read: When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Mate – With many friends reading the Myth of Normal, this book has been waiting in my TBR, as the owner of a few autoimmune conditions and the fascination of the mind-body link- and the role of emotions and stress in their make-up, this has been a fascinating if not slightly painful read on the costs of modern living.

Most impactful listen: Origin Story Culture War: Inside the rage machine – An insightful look into the history behind culture wars, explaining the modern fascination with defining everything as a culture war and why it makes such good political fodder.

• Sitting with discomfort
• FTX & lack of control
• Twitter
• Neighbours (the tv show)
• Equal Pay Day

Sitting with discomfort
Sometimes feedback can be uncomfortable, even the good stuff, in a very uncharacteristic move I’ve been asking for feedback this week and it’s been interesting to sit with the discomfort of the unrecognisable room for improvement as much as unrecognisable praise. Not all feedback is valid but its interesting to work through how someone might see something as true.

FTX & a lack of controls
How exactly do you ‘accidentally’ lose $8bn? How do you move $8bn to your private trading firm without knowing and/or remembering?
Ironically, most black holes on the balance sheet follow the same concept as those in physics and are formed from remnants of the lack of corporate and financial control and the rest of the numbers just aren’t big enough to trap the light.

Twitter
Oh its hard not to think about Twitter, my current account is 13 years old and this was not my first account on Twitter. I have lived, loved & laughed so hard on Twitter that it came to be real life.
I think my LinkedIn feed looked much like everyone else last week and I wonder how it survives and what the end game is. From a user perspective I currently feel like I’m part of the orchestra on the Titanic and just too tired to climb a life boat…but I have preserved my @ on Mastodon and got flashbacks to the early 2000’s.

Neighbours
Just four months after being axed by Channel 5 Neighbours is set to return on Amazon Freevee at the tail end of 2023 and I couldn’t be more delighted. It’s not highbrow entertainment, but it doesn’t pretend to be. For as long as I can remember Ramsey Street felt like an extension of home, the bright colours, the mild peril and its consistency is exactly the grown up sensory mental floss I need.

Equal Pay Day
Unhappy Equal payday to all Women. Sunday 20^th November 2022 marked the day this year when based on average pay women overall stop being paid compared to men. The gender pay gap has once again widened since Covid-19, this year standing at 11.3%.
With women disproportionately affected by the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis it is important now more than ever that if you can lend support or influence decisions that you get involved.

Current watch: Bored to Death – A struggling writer decides to lead a sort of double life by pretending to be a private detective & Ted Danson is involved, whats not to love?

Current read: The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper & Sarah Ellis – The single most recommended book by my colleagues on how to think about work and designing my career. Thank you for each and every single recommendation.

Most impactful listen: Richard Osman: The Untold Story Of A TV Legend’s Addiction – To use Richards own words “this was such an interesting thing to do, a multi-topic chat”, love or hate Steven Bartlett this interview is not to be missed.