Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski: “You know, we are in Europe sometimes castigated as a declining civilization. “But in Europe, we think that allowing people to go bankrupt for the sake of medical bills is not how a good society should be treating itself.”

Reminder... Any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message — they can't win on their ideas alone.

Reform has scooped up another failed Tory. David Bannerman. Former MEP for the East of England in case you’ve forgotten. He says he wants to join the “revolution”. #loser

We're half-way through the day here at the Penrith Agricultural Show and the Brexitometer is filling up nicely. Could a trend be appearing in the results so far? Zoom in to find out! 🔎📲

One of the things I appreciate most about living in Norfolk is the fact that it induces a near-constant state of bewilderment. 1/4

Spot the Hare #ukwildlife #shropshire #Nature #wildlife #mammals #wildlifephotos #Hares #photography

I hugged him without asking 🤭

This is really important & something that *everyone* can do. Stop using anthropomorphising language when talking about LLMs. They're not "thinking", they're not "feeling", they're not "imagining". And they're most *certainly* not "intelligent". They're not "AI", they're Probabilistic Automation. >>

Frances Spalding called Peter Coker 'one of the foremost realist painters in England … a proud and vigorous inheritor of a great artistic tradition.' This work 'Fish and Newspapers,' was made in 1953 when Coker was living in Manningtree in Essex.

Net zero denial gone madder than ever. In the midst of its massive heatwave, the Trump administration has scrapped over 1600 pages on how to save energy, and thus cut bills, from its Department of Energy website. Who is it serving, the people or the utilities? www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

BBC link for those without a Times subscription:

The first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star.

Today I made an unannounced visit to ICE’s facility in Scarborough, Maine. What I heard was unacceptable: no body cameras, no training, and no accountability. Johan Guerrero should be alive. Congress must act. Abolish ICE. End qualified immunity.

I give up - Liz Truss just made parody accounts redundant.

It’s happening. New Survation poll: RFM 24% (-3) LAB 24% (+5) CON 21% (+1) LD 11% (-1) GRN 11% (=) SNP 3% (=) RB 2% (=) PC 2% (=) OTH 4% (=)

On past history, that’ll be spaffed up the wall.

‘Above all, she was genuinely authentic’: Tributes to the late Brenda Fricker

youtu.be/uZ3zW86qbLg @lutralutra.bsky.social From about 2mins on. Good Ol Shor

Somnambulation. Shades of the traditionalist amongst bargees - most folk would tie a pair of boots on the rear bumper of the wedding chariot - bargees have to be more inventive. A double wedding or something more sinister afoot?

For 27 new jobs 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Unite seem to be running the Burnham show 🤦‍♂️ www.upstreamonline.com/politics/uni...

For goodness sake-more disappointment.

@avantgardening.pl You might find this interesting.

Interesting thread 👇

Meanwhile in Shrewsbury …

A great read aloud that will delight not only moggy lovers but anyone who likes to see children giving full rein to their imagination @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social ill. Alex Willmore @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social - it’s #RedReadingHub’s #picturebook of the day reviewed on the blog wp.me/p11DI5-dUq

Currently looking like it will be 44 pages in landscape format and all black and white

Trump made a series of unsubstantiated claims accusing China of meddling in the US electoral system, going against previous US intelligence assessments that China had not interfered in elections. It’s part of his campaign to undermine confidence in elections ahead of the midterms. 1/2

The Times reports an 'extreme far-right campaign to infiltrate Restore Britain' Yet this had been an inflitration - by invitation - in plain sight The Times now understands Lowe "plans to root out those who espouse those ideologies from his party" (!) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

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It’s one of the great ironies that people across the world who’ve spent years and years whipping up hate and dividing countries are now complaining that people hate them.

It feels like howling into the void given the stance the Tories and Reform have taken, but it is important business leaders continue to make this point. There is prosperity, security, resilience, and growth to be had through ambitious climate action. www.businessgreen.com/news/4532882...

The Hotshot Wake Up: “It’s a wall of fire from Northern Minnesota all the way through Ontario. It’s no longer a ticking time bomb… the bomb went off.” My analysis: With the fires burning so close to the U.S. border, there is the potential Wed-Fri for record-bad smoke pollution in MI, NY, Toronto.

#France deploys their Canadair Super Scoopers they purchased from Canada to put out the fires in the Fontainebleau forest Credit to pascal_n.y

It's insane how DIE WELT downplays the man-made climate catastrophe almost every day and portrays its consequences as manageable with a bit of technology (air conditioning!), while at the same time, its own current news headlines prove the exact opposite. Is anyone even paying attention anymore?

As Reform are so aggressively attacking anyone who dares question Farage’s demands for security and claims he was never offered any, seems only right to highlight this actual fact👇🏼👇🏼

Deaths in ICE custody are at their highest level in over a decade — and have more than doubled since Trump’s second term began. Some of Trump's biggest supporters are private prison corporations that have received huge government contracts to run detention centers. Cashing in on cruelty.

It is mad that we have, somehow, allowed net zero - a policy common to all major parties under 5 years ago and supported by a majority of the public - to become a synoym for mad radicalism. It is doubly mad that we've allowed this to happen during the hottest summer on record.

" . . . I mean, your pop-up 'War and Peace' was a quarter of a verst wide . . ."

It was bad, it is bad, it was time to act, it is time to act, and now is the only time when you can act. And none of that really lessens the grief or cushions the loses.

In the first part of our special Substack mini-series examining the impact of climate change, @liamdutton.bsky.social explores why temperatures are rising and heatwaves are becoming more frequent.

Channel 4 News last night was an excellent special on Climate Change, covering many strands to do with the issues.

Woman shows ICE thug the Red Card.

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Somnambulation. OK, so all babies are lovely, even if they do look like something out of a Vivienne Westwood catalogue...

The 400 year celebrations continue of Scarborough being the first spa resort. I did a poem.

🔍Detalles🔎

Chochín paleártico (Troglodytes troglodytes) ​📸 IG: @ernestopfoto