Between 2012-2020 the Government sold off student loan debt to Private Companies, the interest rates are now usually double inflation or more. Also the level and amount you repay goes up and up and up as thresholds will be frozen forever.

#Europe vs #USA

On today’s episode of “The Suppression and Censorship of US History” …

There's a new way to browse and find walks to do for 2026! A *much* requested feature - you can now browse a map of Scotland will ALL our route lines shown at once, to help you find the one you want to do (and easily see how they connect and intersect). www.walkhighlands.co.uk/maps/big-map...

🧵 As 2025 draws to a close we’re continuing our tradition of gathering our favourite stories of the year, this time with a twist, 9 themes over 9 days, 11 stories in each. 1st stop in this whistle-stop tour of 2025: 'Health & Safety' (and obviously we're not just talking OH&S box-ticking here).

Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more

“What’s beyond doubt is that EU citizens will keep breathing polluted air for longer. Only time will tell if their jobs and the technological prowess of the bloc have been saved.”

See earlier post… poor people not fed versus this:

This appeared in my food followed very closely by a post on billionaires - a concept that shouldn’t even exist

For both Australia and Europe, there is still a narrow and blunt rhetorical coupling between blackouts and the energy transition, when the data centre boom is now blatantly a real and material threat to the ability of grid operators to keep the lights on *alongside* decarbonisation

It's become a mantra that the govt are protecting curiosity-driven research It's still the biggest chunk of UKRI's budget But figures out today clearly show it will decline in real-terms, while spending on govt priorities and innovation will rise www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Labour are launching an investigation into historical foreign interference in UK politics. But they are explicitly excluding the Brexit referendum from the investigation. That's like pledging to investigate instances of arson while ignoring the wall of flames spanning the horizon.

This is already the situation, and the world hasn't even begun to reduce emissions yet. Last year concentrations of atmospheric CO2 increased by a record amount !!! If we don't stop burning fossil fuels ASAP, we're going to get very fucking hungry !!!

Agreed but am baffled by this: “while a new pay-per-mile tax on electric vehicles will ease the transition away from polluting petrol and diesel cars.” how? What’s the logic? 🤷‍♂️

"What makes Sudan's crisis even more alarming is its invisibility. The world is not watching closely enough" The Sudanese civil war is creating the world's worst humanitarian disaster with 12 million people now displaced This 🧵traces the deep connections b/w this conflict & the #ClimateCrisis 1/n

I thought this was fairly well established, but: here's another new study showing that wind and solar complement each other and make for a more stable grid when combined.

How much carbon budget do we have left if we want to stay below 1.5˚C? Just 2 more years at current rates. It is essentially impossible to avoid global temperature rise exceeding 1.5˚C. climatelabbook.substack.com/p/the-shrink...

Imagine living in a house on fire and occasionally throwing a glass of water on the flames and claiming it's progress. That's Labour's attitude to Brexit. (No political party is loud enough on the issue given its immense salience. They should be screaming 24/7 about it.) bsky.app/profile/euro...

Interesting observation : “In a world where everything runs on electricity, electricity itself becomes the currency of civilization.” It is measurable, divisible, storable, and universal – [ ] directly linked to productive output. No politics. No inflation. Just physics.” …

"Much faster than scientists expected" is becoming quite a refrain 😬

A new study warns that deforestation across Ghana, Niger and Nigeria is intensifying West Africa’s water crisis, threatening the health and livelihoods of more than 122 million people. For every 1,000 hectares of forest cleared in Niger and Nigeria, 9.25 hectares of surface water disappear.

Excellent essay here on the slow strangling of mass literary culture in the West - most clearly in the US, but it's obviously happening here too

Outrageously accurate:

This will impact EVERYONE. Combined with other anti-protest measures proposed like bans on face coverings, the Crime & Policing Bill will see the right to protest in the UK stripped to the bone. Protest is fundamental to democracy. We must protect it. www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/govern...

This! There wont be ‘business as usual’ or even an economy in an overheated world where ecosystems have collapsed… 🤦‍♂️

As per the comments: “If you are going to do a per mile charge it should be for all vehicles. Petrol is undercharged in comparison to its negative impacts.” L

Fossil fuel lobbyists are now talking gas up as a ‘green’ fuel. To be absolutely clear, this is nonsense. Coal full life cycle emissions: 800-1,700g CO2e/kWh Gas full life cycle emissions: 290-930g CO2e/kWh Wind power full life cycle emissions: 5-15g CO2e/kWh

"The X algorithm prioritises sending new users right-wing leaning content", a Sky News Data and Forensics investigation reveals news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

NEW zero waste merino scarves! Handmade using industry waste yarns- no compromise on quality, just using up someone else’s surplus. Limited edition and reversible! www.collingwoodnorrisdesign.com/designer-lam... #zerowaste #handmade #shopsmall #merinoscarf #reducewaste #stripes #madeinscotland

Love This: In Louisiana, air pollution monitoring becomes an act of resistance lailluminator.com/2025/11/02/c...

Mamdani: “resonated with thousands of New Yorkers and allowed (him) to dramatically expand the electorate, energizing younger voters in particular who are hungry for generational and ideological change by tapping into an anger over inequality, soaring prices and frustration with Democratic centrism”

I agree but it says a lot that we have got to this: ‘a rejection of political cynicism”…

disinformation is real

Europe's lag in tech is also an opportunity to rethink what tech is good for. Martin Sandbu rightly argues for more homegrown digital services to serve both productivity and democracy. www.ft.com/content/01e7...

Happy Monday!

a century of glaciers melting 🧪🌐

Huge congratulations to Harvard’s Naomi Oreskes for winning the Volvo prize! She is a pioneer in unmasking the financial interests and methods behind climate science denial. I’m proud to have published with her how Exxon knew exactly what they were doing. www.environment-prize.com/laureates/na...

Pretty extraordinary story here www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....

The current ‘reset’ with the EU is pathetic! “By the government’s own estimate the reset of EU-UK trade will deliver just 0.3 per cent uplift to UK GDP by 2030 — less than one-tenth of the 4 per cent long-run hit to GDP that Brexit will cause, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility” FT

I just got $35 dollars in the Facebook class action lawsuit. Meaning Facebook and Cambridge Analytica used my data to psychologically manipulate voters, turn our country fascist, end public health, end antitrust enforcement, & drown us in scams. They get an enshittifed forever-empire and I get $35.

Never take seriously those who ridicule low income people for having a smartphone or laptop. “If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???” Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is luxury, survive a month without it.

This is by far the most brilliant take down of the Gates memo that I’ve read. It utterly dismantles the false choice between poverty alleviation and climate mitigation that Gates advances — and not even just by saying “climate makes poverty worse.” I won’t spoil it here — you must read it!

Absolutely this: yes, coalitions are difficult but at least every vote counts…

In a win for the arts and universal basic income, Ireland plans to make permanent a $1,500-a-month pilot program for artists, citing benefits to creativity, mental health, and financial stability.

93% of the Gaza Strip has been rendered unusable by Israel (Euro-Med)

The annual 10 new insights in climate science are here! Perhaps the best way to keep up with climate science news of the past year, made for lay people, policy makers and scientists alike with its different levels of detail: from simple tiles to a journal paper. 10insightsclimate.science#explore

“In my work with the (Nuremberg Trial) defendants, I was searching for the nature of evil, and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy... a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” - Captain G.M. Gilbert, US Army

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term www.gov.uk/government/p...

“Computer says, no’ Only it’s not funny -