Umm. Politico: "A grammar school in Medway hosted an essay competition asking students to “evaluate the view that Reform UK have obliterated the 2-party system” & offered a Reform shirt with “Farage 10” on the back as the prize, presented by the party’s Kent Council Leader." Story by Local Authority

Privatisation of UK industries driving cost of living crisis & inequality. People ripped off by water, energy, rail, mail companies. Profiteering at care homes, dentists, GP surgeries, cataract clinics. Social housing destroyed. Privatisation is a scam. Delivered low investment, poor service.

Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms. Chemicals going into food chain, water, waterways with deadly outcomes. Corporations boost profits. Regulators failing to protect health and the environment.

Bank of England forecast to cut interest rates amid rising unemployment and Trump tariffs

England's water companies circumvent rules on exec pay. Yorkshire Water boss was paid extra £1.3m via offshore parent firm. UK company law is weak The payment not disclosed in annual accounts. End the circus. Nationalise water.

Corporate Welfare Chancellor’s attempt to intervene in car finance scandal branded disgraceful Ahead of the Supreme Court judgement, Reeves wanted court to consider economic consequences - rejected. She considered retrospective law to reverse judgement. Gives corporations licence to abuse people

Thousands of people have complained to Sky News about “excessive” coverage of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Private equity barons extracting millions from dentists. Bridgepoint is the latest PE entrant. Advisors include former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn, now recently lead non-executive director at the Dept of Health and Social Care. PE has devoured vets, care homes, GP surgeries, high street.

DWP change to Universal Credit and PIP could put 50,000 people into poverty. 1% have more wealth than 70% of the population combined. The bottom 20% pay higher proportion of income in taxes than the richest 20%. Tax the rich. Poverty is a political choice.

On this #PoisonedPlanet, so many threats to life. Cocktail of #pesticides and important issue for many species #NatureCrisis www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The excitement keeps on coming at CMO! This morning Lynnette got the traps in & came face-to-face with our first Gypsy Moth (another new moth for TG04 10km square as well 🙂). The map @norfolkmoths.bsky.social shows how scarce it is on the coast👌 @linnetincley.bsky.social #cleymothobs #norfolkmoths

By supporting the expansion of Heathrow Airport and spreading outright lies about decarbonising flying, Labour has again capitulated to lobbyists. This is its defining characteristic: doing whatever powerful lobbyists ask, regardless of the social, environmental and even political costs.

I had this Gelechid in this morning's trap in Blackwood ST171966 VC35 - it dies seem to resemble Exiteleia dodecella but am not sure. Help with ID much appreciated. @mothiduk.bsky.social #MothsMatter #teammoth #VC35

It is time to end the payment of most interest to commercial by the Bank of England www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06...

Brexit xenophobia destroys families. British woman laments Brexit rules that would stop her Italian husband moving to UK Post-Brexit savings and salary rules deny family visas to thousands. The state decides who you may love and settle down with.

Ellie and Adrian have been out there taking on Reform time after time This is the way we defeat the far right #TogetherWeWin

Reeves touts 'Labour choices' but let's remind ourselves what those Labour choices are 😕: Cut support for disabled people and keep hundreds of thousands of children in poverty while refusing to tax wealth fairly #SpendingReview

(1/) Today, we are focusing on some statistically significant population trends from England. Red Kite increased markedly across England between 1995 & 2003. Reintroduction projects are likely to be a contributing factor to this. @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social

MPs and peers urge govt to investigate how a US private equity company is funding £500m takeover of the Telegraph. Concerns about "Chinese state influence”. Why not the same concerns about the ownership of water, steel, auto, airports, banks, real estate?

When did you ever hear the BBC stating that it must alter “story selection” and “other types of output, such as drama”, to win the trust of Green voters, or of unrepresented people on the left? All the shifts are in just one direction. bylinetimes.com/2025/06/09/b...

Wonders of UK energy privatisation. Not enough capacity to carry/store electricity. On windy days, govt pays wind farms NOT to produce electricity. £500m this year, £8bn a yr by 2030. Elsewhere companies are paid vast sums for emergency production. Companies get ssubsidies, we get higher bills.

Haven't posted for a while so here are a few more behind the scenes sketchbook pages #birdart #birds

Voters overwhelmingly back tax on wealthy to protect public services A poll commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), found the public support tax increases on the wealthy and big businesses by a margin of almost two to one - 58% to 28% www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Zia Yusuf returns to Reform UK two days after quitting. Explains return to Farage cult by claiming he was exhausted. Now not exhausted enough to lead DOGE style team to slash jobs, public services, worker/consumer/human rights, promote uncosted policies What some do for the stench of power.

No mention of environment or rural here: common failure of Guardian coverage. Planning & Infrastructure (anti-wildlife) Bill - big bump. Cuts to Defra budget that prejudice wildlife targets - medium bump. Failure to announce reforms to grouse shooting - small bump www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

It’s #WorldSwiftDay 😀 BTO research into the highly aerial Swift, which spends the non‐breeding period on the wing, found they exhibit a rarely‐found chain migration pattern. Read the study ➡️bit.ly/SwiftsChainMi...#WorldSwiftDay#Ornithology

High court tells UK lawyers to stop misuse of AI after fake case-law citations. Fictitious case law and citations put before the courts by lawyers using AI. False court judgements secured as lawyers chase bigger profits. AI can't replace human touch, not yet anyway.

The best haul yet at RSPB Newport Wetlands comprising 250 moths of 69 species in this morning's trap, including almost 50 NFYs. #MothsMatter #teammoth #VC35 @rspbcymru.bsky.social @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social

Another very mild night ahead for most of GB and Ireland. Striped Hawk-moth (H. livornica) quite likely again, especially in the south and east of England (perhaps reports from much further north than last night). #teammoth

Deregulation. Privatization. Tax cuts. Free trade. Stagnant pay for most. A soaring stock market for the top. That’s the legacy of neoliberalism. Don’t buy revisionist attempts to rehabilitate it. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-tragic-history-of-neoliberalism

A good haul of 166 moths of 43 species in this morning's trap, Blackwood ST171966 VC35 including the first Lobster Moth, Coxcomb Prominent, Blood-vein and Heart and Club of the year #MothsMatter #teammoth #VC35 @rspbcymru.bsky.social @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social

I hope Homo sapiens dies out before other planets are reachable....

CEO pay is up 1,085% since 1978, while typical worker pay is up just 24%.  Why do we always hear "we can't afford to pay our workers more" but never "we can't afford to pay our CEO more"?

This Tinea trinotella Triple-spotted Nest Moth was in my garden moth-trap the other morning. It’s a reminder that while we might think of moth and butterfly caterpillars as herbivores (as indeed most are) some are detritivores, fulfilling another important ecological function #teammoth

Everyone seems to have forgotten about the REUL Bill. Until June 2026, Starmer can allow ministers to amend or axe these laws with minimal scrutiny. The 3 key areas targeted are: Food safety, environmental protections, and employment rights. What is REUL?👇👀 open.substack.com/pub/european...

Successive UK govts have attacked the working class - benefit cuts, power to snoop on bank accounts of benefit claimants. How do they treat the rich dodging taxes, hiding assets, engaging in illicit financial flows? Evidence is damning. Watch the Minister's reply. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZev...

Ladies & Gentlemen... Here's Geoff!!! We popped up along the Drift this morning to see if he was still around & yes he was! The extraordinary Albonia geoffrella (Hedge Beauty) micro at Cley today. @linnetincley.bsky.social #cleymothobs #norfolkmoths #teammoth

Thames Water: a water firm spending £200 million on lawyers to stop the government putting it into administration. Our bills are funding this – all so they can keep ripping us off. It's long past time for the government to step in and put Thames Water out of its misery.

UK govt defeated 287: 118 in the Lords over lack of copyright protections for the creative industries against AI pirates. Lords want to ensure that copyright holders are able to see when their work is used and by whom. I voted against the govt. hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-0...

UK govt to seek disqualification of benefit claimants from driving for alleged fraud or failure to return overpayments by DWP. What if people don't have the money? Loss of licence means can't work, have family life. Same won't apply to tax dodgers, thieves. scammers, money launders. Class war.

What we do NOT need are more dead zones a.k.a. plantations of Sitka Spruce...especially with no Environmental Impact Assessments! This needs to be sorted. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-todri...

Thames Water paid lawyers £1,400 an hour despite threat of collapse Paying £200m a year to advisers and consultants. Cost passed to customers. Interest on £21bn debt pile passed to customers. One-third of bill covers interest. Execs get bonuses. End abuses. Nationalise. archive.ph/k9LC7

It's great to hear that our trading relationship with the EU will be improved by the upcoming summit But this reverses is only a tiny part of the damage Brexit has done to our economy What we need is full EU membership and the government should start discussing how that might be achieved

Corporate Welfare. Centrica, owner of British Gas, makes massive profits by ripping off people. It wants more subsidies and guaranteed profits from gas storage. Privatisation empowered companies to hold govts/people to ransom.

Owners of 236,500 properties in England and Wales worth £64bn are hidden behind opaque trusts. Appeasement of the rich facilitates corruption, illicit financial flows. Compare this to how govts treat the poor. Soon their bank accounts will be snooped on.

Average asking price for UK home hits new high of almost £380k Median wage £30,252, net pay £25,301. What chance of buying a home, paying rent, surviving retirement? Scarcity of social housing, affordable homes. Years of real wage cuts, profiteering create insecurity.

Slot machine firms target UK’s poorest areas, channel funds to billionaires. Poor buy dreams but corporations always win, encourage addiction, don't bear the cost of harms. Councils need powers to stop these vampires. Govt pushing deregulation. Must tax vampires. Make them bear the social cost.

War on the poor. If the DWP makes error and overpays certain benefits, the Bill allows Ministers to recover money from the claimant’s bank account. No court order is needed. What if benefit claimants can't afford to repay, or face hardship? No equivalent law for fraudsters and scammers.

Highlights from this morning's trap in Blackwood ST171966, VC35 included the first Buff-tip, Eyed Hawk-moth, Shears and Mullein of the year. #MothsMatter #teammoth #VC35 @rspbcymru.bsky.social