Breaking News: Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French author whose graphic novel series “Persepolis” illuminated the struggles of Iranians during the Islamic Revolution, died at 56.

Endorse. This is an excellent essay on a specific aspect of LLMs - their supposed possibility of consciousness.l

Medical researcher I know responded to this with: "not to be dramatic, but it’s the end of scientific freedom in the US" www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

No real problem with this but seems pretty futile if your boss is making their own pronouncements on rates giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Amidst the chaos, cage fights, no-shows and ballrooms, this is what really counts

Russell Vought, Director of the OMB, has issued a set of proposed changes that would dramatically alter federal grant funding. However, we can each take action to prevent these from taking effect. Here's how, a 🧵 🧪 1/n www.science.org/content/arti...

This is unbelievably chilling. I thought the headline was hyperbole until reading the article

Here’s a poem called ‘What Don Corleone Did Next’. #worldotterday

Great show. Great presenter. Great guests* *my wife may be one of them

I see that John Bell has been bloviating again.

Jokes as far as the eye can see

Introduce yourself with 10 bands you’ve seen live The Wedding Present Foo Fighters Public Enemy Motörhead PJ Harvey Faith No More Morrissey The Pixies The Prodigy The Rolling Stones

Universities and skilled workers are the ONLY way out of poor growth. Immigration, like debt is not a moral question

As the US Supreme Court prepares to rule on the President's suspension of our Constitution's 14th Amendment, I highlight the research of myself and 95 colleagues on the economic consequences of that act —>

Have to hope this can be achieved

So more than 20 yrs ago Rob Buckland wrote an influential research note at Citi on how the equity base of markets was shrinking through share buybacks and take privates - a process he called de-equitisation. Now he argues the AI boom could put the process into reverse www.ft.com/content/e2a9...

Ugh this is so brilliant i wish i'd commissioned it. What went wrong for the Groucho? (Apart from everything) the-fence.com/dean-street-...

Amazon prime absolutely determined to make me go ad free They just started ad break at the most iconic cut in cinema, during 2001: a space odyssey

Some positive news on UK productivity under Labour. My new post blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

‘Appealing to scripture in order to lend religious legitimacy to slavery isn’t unique to Islam: the Bible was frequently used to justify Atlantic slavery.’ Youssef Ben Ismail on an account of slavery in the Islamic world. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

#totp1999 I wear goggles when you are not here…

I was annoyed that I couldn't find a database of David Attenborough documentaries where I could search for a specific episode by topic. So I made it. attenborough-100.vercel.app

I've had to pull the car over to let you all know I've just spotted a van advertising a doggy day care centre in Norwich called... Scent-a-Barks. SCENT-A-BARKS

“Farewell to this lands cheerless marshes Hemmed in like a boar between arches, her very lowness with her head in a sling, I’m truly sorry but it sounds like a wonderful thing”

Lots of good news stories like this at present! The UK's relative strength in terms of venture capital investment, and how to build on it, probably ought to feature more heavily in the economic debate (might be easier when the politics calms down)

Many have expressed surprise (and dismay) at this. So I'm happy to have a chance to discus why I think manufacturing's promise for developing countries is fading with Oliver Hanney over at VoxDev. Bring your questions. cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...

$2.1 billion. That is the scale of the Series B funding secured by Isomorphic Labs, a landmark moment for #UKBiotech 🔗➡️ shorturl.at/9cgDx The funding will accelerate AI Drug Design Engine, and bringing AI, engineering and clinical talent together to tackle biological and medical challenges.

As @duncanweldon.bsky.social says, this is much better and more thoughtful than the scare quotes some were sharing would suggest.

Happy Tuesdays

www.economist.com/britain/2026... Wrote about how the 1990s has a chokehold on Britain, whether it is a luvvies reminiscing at the Groucho or a Jim Davidson gig in Purfleet

You can read the whole paper at this link. nejm.org/doi/full/10.... You might also want to compare to the efficacy of Pfizer's mRNA flu vaccine in a similar study. nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Seems monetization incentives on platforms that reward engagement over everything else is bad actually?!?!

Helium is not just for fun unfortunately

Norman Lamont Lancia Delta HF integrale Marco Pierre White Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion Harold Lloyd An old fashioned The fixed point theorem Kuhn-tucker Rosencrantz Ko-ko Bjorn, benny, agnetha & Anni-frid

Maddening.

NHS data should be driving innovation & improvement – it’s an amazing resource We just published the sequel to our 2021 "Road to Hell" paper on using NHS data for research... things are worse! Buckle up for a long 🧵about *how COMPLETELY mad* system is for accessing NHS data for research 1/20

Shocked. SHOCKED.

Sometimes it feels like young people are either demonised for staying in — or going out. Connie Muttock, the head of policy at think-tank Centre for Young Lives, says: “We talk about the time children spend on their phones, but we don’t talk about alternatives.” as.ft.com/r/a6850871-f...

This is what Marco Rubio decided to do with his life: "AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to HIV Assistance: A once-robust HIV treatment and prevention system, credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives, has begun to crumble..." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

UK biotech funding shows 'a broader distribution of funding across companies and stages' www.bioindustry.org/resource/uk-...

Do read @bhgreeley.bsky.social's FAB piece on the petrodollar (1st 300 clicks free to read) as.ft.com/r/92ef3e7b-7...

Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.

Just listen to this short post by @jamellebouie.net on the destruction of #USAID by #ElonMusk. Hundreds of thousands have died, millions-mostly black & brown people-more will die due to the white supremacist vision of this man. Bouie says it so directly, so clearly. www.instagram.com/reel/DXfJWyF...

This is a FRAUDULENT paper, AI-generated. My name was used as an author and I had nothing to do with it, never saw it until today e-pubmed.co.uk/journals/dig... The "Editors" Angelo Rossi Mori, David Mensah, and Zarnie Khadjesari and this "Journal" should be reported.

Feeling seen

BRB, just telling my stockbroker to go big on Hot-Dog man memes

Fully specified Führerbunker

Anyone with even the slightest experience of Saudi will have foreseen this See also ‘diversify the economy’ www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/a...

This paper represents a small but deeply impressive and genuinely important achievement by the much maligned British state in what is probably the most important global issue of our era. Hear me out ( 🧵) 1/ www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/our-eva...

End of days sign