I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC. The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.

Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.

The Rise of AI is Creating A Massive Revival in Analog Media Many people are turning away from anything associated with AI and are rediscovering the analog joys of printed books, board games, records, hand crafts, and other similarly "human" pursuits. newsentinel.org/arts-culture...

'Wheelbarrow Washing" by Pamela Grace, contemporary artist and printmaker living and working in Galloway, Scotland #WomensArt

Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).

Flea and tick medication, antibiotics & illicit drugs found in UK freshwater study by Imperial & @earthwatcheurope.bsky.social. The research also found antibiotics at concentrations high enough that antimicrobial resistance should be studied further in UK freshwaters 🧵 ow.ly/jQUN50Xmmxc

And for @cnn.com here:

In this episode of @planetpossible.bsky.social, Julie Foley comments how ridiculous it is that the EA draws up coastal erosion management plans with foremost experts, and everyone, including the government, feels completely free to ignore them when building: share.google/mlAONLAEMmpo...

Huge thanks to @adamvaughan.bsky.social for his excellent article in today's @thetimes.com about #GBRedList. Wild plants inc Common Restharrow, Common Rock-rose & Common Milkwort all now classed as Vulnerable - so no longer common! Download the new Red List: britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...

Major revision of #GBRedList of plants published today shows 25% of our native & archaeophyte flora threatened with extinction. Many iconic widespread species classified as threatened for first time including Betony, Marsh Marigold, Devil’s-bit Scabious and Harebell. Another wake-up call for action!

A magnificent piece of work. Comprehesive, revelatory & shocking. Journalism this good is always rare & precious but never moreso than at times like this. Latter day Lord Haw Haws being plumped, preened & delivered to your doorstep in plain sight by a Nazi-saluting goon news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

I've finally got around to curating a selection of films about the #climate crisis 🎥 There's lot of mediocre climate films out there, but for me these stand out head & shoulders above the rest 🎞️ They make excellent resources for classrooms, lecture halls, or community cinema's 🎬 Thread:🧵Plz RT

For the day that's in it... 'All Hallows' by Louise Gluck - has a deep sense of loneliness and loss, that shifting between the seasons, and the final lines where the veil between this world and the next becomes thin #poetry #poemoftheday #Halloween

I was going to attend the ball of ghosts and witches, A delegation would appear there in masks and wigs, And dance, unrecognized, in the chorus of the living. Czeslaw Milosz, All Hallow's Eve #everynightapoem

The First Frost, 1906 by Austrian impressionist painter Olga Wisinger-Florian #womensart #November

A poem in answer to Charles Causley’s poem On All Souls Night – and also to celebrate the birth of my daughter on All Souls Day. From ‘Red House’ @carcanet.bsky.social

Exclusive: mercury from fillings, belched out of crematoria, is getting into our rivers and fish. More than 98% of fish & mussels tested in English waters contain mercury above proposed EU limits. 43 countries have banned it. Why not here you might ask... www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Next week peers will vote for or against swift bricks to be incorporated into all new builds. To help please email [email protected] & [email protected] who are crucial to the decision. Ask them to SAVE OUR SWIFTS ‼️put SWIFT BRICKS in the subject line 🙏 Such a small thing.

Great evening at Heligan last night chatting about Cornwall, history and more with @matthewmshaw.bsky.social and a lovely audience. Also got to see the spectacular Lowarnes fox sculpture by Sue and Pete Hill, a gargantuan presence leaping through the woods, worth the trip to Heligan just to see it!

Here’s my first guide to planning patios that are the right size and not too big www.wildway.info/p/how-big-sh...

11 of the Victorian ink bottle kits I posted about yday have sold but I've a few I'll be listing in my Etsy shop at 8.30pm this eve👇. Kits incl a booklet I've written on how creative activity improves mental health+dried flower posy+giftbox. I ship anywhere,incl the US: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...

Just as an aside: tell EVERYONE you know about this. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Overshooting 1.5°C wasn't 'inevitable.' We've been pushed by fossil fuel giants & governments that pander to them. Every delay, every oil field, every broken promise made this crisis worse. Keir Starmer, will you promise to leave Rosebank undeveloped? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"Ministers are under pressure to U-turn on the decision to limit access to the Covid vaccine over fears it is creating a two-tier healthcare system as demand for private jabs soars." 1/ @ashleydaltonmp.bsky.social @profstevegriffin.bsky.social

evil!

We need to rewild 30% of the planet to restore nature & protect our wildlife, but Britain is falling behind. So I've signed this new petition calling on one of our biggest landowners - the Church of England - to rewild its land. Join me?

Beavers have returned to Glen Affric, 400 years after their extinction in Scotland :beaver: A family of five beavers and a beaver pair were released last Friday at two sites on Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin in the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve 🦫 Full story 👇 treesforlife.org.uk/beavers-rele...

Numbers no doubt still being crunched, but initial response from green groups to new clean power contract budget is cautiously positive. www.businessgreen.com/news/4520979...

Brilliant article by a teacher highlighting the current dire situation for teachers and kids every winter when it comes to infection risk and spread. We continue to fight for our kids to have the right to breathe clean air. stevebheadteacher.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/d...

The kids are not, and never were, OK💔 Brave testimony from @sammiemc.bsky.social on the impact of #LongCovidKids on her own, & 1000s of other families. The gaslighting & influence of certain "public health" figures what wholly unacceptable 🤬 @longcovidkids.bsky.social youtu.be/DFykYkqr5Z4?...

A groundbreaking study reveals that cancer patients who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy lived dramatically longer than those who didn’t. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Halnaker tree tunnel is a natural cathedral of colour. Once part of the old Roman road, there's no better place to soak up the beauty of the season. 📷 Mark Rowe #SouthDowns #AutumnBliss

It's that moment again for National Trust members to vote to keep the entryists out. Quick and easy to vote and please do so by 31st of October Quick Vote link keeps the AstroTurfers out. Then share. Thank you. secure.cesvotes.com/V3-3-0/nt25/...

What idiot called it ‘Storm Benjamin’ and not ‘It’s Raining Ben’?

Tmrw eve. at 8 I'll be launching my new early '26 creative & mental health workshops: botanical & bird illustrations,small museums & casting nature finds in silver. I trained as a molecular cell biologist,have taught creative w'shops on BBC Countryfile,Victoria & Albert & Bronte Parsonage Museums...

The fact that our next book Telenovela is going to carry a Books By People stamp certifying that it is AI-free has also now been reported around the world in Publisher's Weekly: www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

The absolute bloody vandalism of austerity in one chart. Good analysis of the overall picture here.

112 acres of biodiverse land in the Devon dairy-belt needs saving. Only £10k short now. Can you chip in or share this skeet? Thanks!

Liquidambar leaf palette just now👇🏼. Pause for a moment if you’re feeling anxious-your brain’s likely to release dopamine due to a positive response to colour gradation, certain bright colours & looking at images our brains find appealing. A pause here will make your day slightly easier to tackle 🍁

2025 Reading 1: Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton. A fascinating use of format for a memoir/linguistic commentary: Barton picks fifty onomatopoeic or more broadly 'mimetic' Japanese phrases and explores their meaning to her, using the form to narrate her experience of working in Japan as a teacher.

NEW ANALYSIS: More than 80% of UK social housing still relies on gas boilers keeping bills exposed to international gas markets and climate targets out of reach. I’ve explored how other European countries are tackling this at scale, and what the UK can learn. www.sureserve.co.uk/news-and-pro...

Little Uncertainties are v. short books, each containing a single story. You can't buy them: over the next year, @uncertainstories.com are aiming to give away 12,000 with book orders and via participating cafes and bookshops. All to spread the love of short stories! What an amazing thing to do!

Here’s Richard Smyth - @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social - answering our Q&A on reading, writing, and his story ‘Chalklands’, which we’ve just published as a Little Uncertainty:

So much confusion by charging guidelines for Covid and flu vaccines in UK with a massive mismatch in eligibility for who can get them 🧵

"In a study taking data from across the USA, children and adolescents were found to have double the risk of developing long COVID after their second infection with SARS-CoV-2" Timely study given the current #CovidInquiry module is focussed on children.

Children take in more air per kg than adults, meaning they absorb more pollutants in classrooms with poor air quality. Spending 30+ hours a week in this environment can affect both lung development & concentration. Clean air in schools is essential. bit.ly/3UPil4Q

Last chance to get early access to my 2026 calendars that I design using recent neuroscientific research to improve mental health by looking at the images. They usually sell out quickly but if you message me (click 'contact' on my Etsy👇) you can guarantee your pre-order: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...

We are in the foothills of a solar-wind-battery civilisation. This is our best chance of avoiding catastrophe. But it threatens the profits of fossil fuel companies & nations - so these are pouring money into right-wing populism to stop the transition. This seems to me the biggest story in politics.

📺 Important clip from the Covid Inquiry from @cvcev.bsky.social about the issues for children & families in education: 🚸 Safety - gov did not recognise airborne transmission 🚸 Flexibility 🚸 Politicisation of masks - that has led to stigma & even safeguarding

We don't know exactly what is in the proprietary fluids used in fracking - companies claim they can't share this information because it's commercially sensitive - but we know the produced water that sometimes surges up from fracking sites can contain chemical nasties like arsenic + benzene.