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→ Bernie Sanders stumps for Dick Cheney
Spare a thought for the Bernie Bros. Yesterday their man tipped his hat to the Cheney family for their recent endorsement of Kamala Harris. This may well be the most unlikely political partnership since the turn of the century — and just last month, we saw a Kennedy Democrat join Team Trump.
Bernie Sanders on Meet the Press: “Cheney and I agree on nothing. No issues. But what we do believe in is that the United States should retain its democratic foundations … I applaud the Cheneys for their courage in defending democracy.” pic.twitter.com/0exTfbfFIv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 8, 2024
“Cheney and I agree on nothing,” said Sanders in an interview with NBC. “No issues. But what we do believe in is that the United States should retain its democratic foundations […] I applaud the Cheneys for their courage in defending democracy.” Strange things are happening stateside…
→ Robert Jenrick pips Kemi Badenoch among Right-wingers — poll
The Conservative Party leadership contest is a drawn-out process, which may be wise given the scale of July’s defeat and the party’s lack of a clear philosophy in recent years. This also means that it moves at a snail’s pace. However, a revealing poll from the Popular Conservatism (PopCon) group shows that Robert Jenrick is currently pipping Kemi Badenoch to the Right-wing vote, 58% to 42%.
“If the final two candidates were as follows, who would you vote for?” One of the questions we asked in our latest survey of @Conservatives members. Read a summary of the results here: https://t.co/IhS7115aiI pic.twitter.com/1QVNq5SmSC
— popconuk (@popconuk) September 9, 2024
Both Jenrick and Badenoch have tried to appeal to the Right of the party base — the former on immigration and the latter on cultural issues — but it seems like his message is cutting through more clearly. PopCon, run by former IEA director and key Liz Truss ally Mark Littlewood, said grassroots Tory members want to see “major reform of the party structures and an unambiguously conservative policy platform”. What about the British public?
→ Do Chinese students understand plagiarism?
Last month it was reported that British universities are teetering on the edge of a financial crisis. But there are more subtle problems at hand as well. A particularly interesting article in Times Higher Education explains that many Chinese students are being disciplined over plagiarism because they do not understand the meaning of academic integrity.
Julija Jones, a teaching fellow at the University of Southampton, writes that “Chinese culture has an entirely different understanding of intellectual property and academic integrity”, saying that some students have “other perspectives”. She writes: “Harmony is one of the qualities of Chinese society that strongly underpin the belief that all parts of a community may be used by its members for a greater benefit, and this includes individual intellectual property.”
In 2021-22, 27% of non-EU students in the UK, around 151,000, were from China — an increase of 186% from 2011. That’s potentially a lot of students who don’t understand that you can’t simply copy others’ work…
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SubscribeWill industrial espionage henceforth be referred to as ‘harmonising’? They know exactly what they’re up to and have been told how to play the culture/race card in our weak, useless system.
I remember buying T-shirts from a young guy at a market in Beijing. Nike, Adidas, etc. We were having a lively discussion about the quality of the goods. Then I asked for a 10 yuan discount, citing that he was selling me a fake. “Everything is fake,” the guy answered cheerfully. 16 years later, British universities are starting to be surprised by the peculiarities of Eastern philosophy.
All you had to do was go to China 16 years ago. Conduct an on-site inspection.
Multiculturalism is something a little different from what you expect.
Did you get a Rolex too?
No, my budget was limited 🙂 , but I got a fantastic experience. It was one of the best business trips of my life, I’m not kidding.
BTW, T-shirts were really good. I think they were from the same production line where “real” T-shirts were produced.
There is a lot of import duty on Rolexes in Western Countries. Here in Australia, the “base model” costs something like $10K. In Asia, it only costs $30.
Don’t believe most of those Chinese students are here for the education. Many for the later research opportunities and espionage.
Some people just can’t stand Donald Trump. Richard Cheney and his daughter Liz Cheney have joined that group. Can’t understand it, myself, but opinions do differ.
It’s not just that they “can’t stand” Trump. He is after all a polarising figure on many levels. It is more that they recognise the dangers that a second Trump Presidency poses to the US, and to the World.
“many Chinese students are being disciplined over plagiarism.”
But no actual figures except the number of Chinese students in the UK. But a conclusion that “potentially a lot of students who don’t understand that you can’t simply copy others’ work…”
”Potentially”, “a lot”. Come on Unherd.
It would be extremely difficult to get exact figures. Most universities would be reluctant to release raw data, and probably all would refuse to release a breakdown by students’ countries of origin.
I spent a few years as “integrity officer” in my School at my university. On the basis of that limited experience, I think that Chinese students were probably over-represented among those alleged to have committed plagiarism, but I couldn’t prove it. A significant proportion of those cases were influenced by the students’ poor English skills, which is also a reflection on the university for letting them in.
As a side comment, the local students were much more adept at defending themselves than the international students were.
Chinese students – the generality conveyed is not unique to them and you can see similar in some other visiting students from different cultures. But here’s where our ‘soft power’ plays in – they are exposed, probably for the first time, to a different set of norms and values. We often panic about their malign influence forgetting the CCP worries as much if not more about ours on them.
Tory contest – Kemi for all her brilliance been rude to too many MPs. Won’t make last two. Members go for Jenrick but the Country would prefer Cleverly.
As to Sanders and Cheney: Nothing very remarkable. As quoted, Sanders doesn’t agree with Cheney about anything much, but they can both see the very obvious problems with Trump. (Note to Trump fans: No correspondence will be entered into.)
As to Jenrick and Badenoch: Who cares?
As to Chinese culture and plagiarism: Congratulations to UnHerd staff and Julija Jones for catching up with what all staff at all English-speaking universities have known for about twenty years. We explain our concept of academic integrity to Chinese students (and all other students) over and over and over again. There is no excuse for not understanding it.