This is a grim view, but it is what Universities feel like on the inside these days.

This is an important read for anyone trying to understand the HE sector in the UK. As one of the staff persuaded into voluntary redundancy this year I was saddened to leave. But I am beginning to feel as if I escaped in a lifeboat from a burning ship loaded with gunpowder.

We are into that time of year when it doesn't really get dark at night. And I think that pale wisp of cloud is my first noctilucent cloud sighting of the summer.

Conjunction of Venus (top right) and Jupiter, bracketing the town hall spire.

Thanks to @fdmadsen.bsky.social for restarting the gravity meter with little delay. It is taking its time to settle down, but just about detected this afternoon's quake from Cuba. (I heard about this one on the radio: #BBC5Live 's world cup team felt it from Florida.)

It is news like this that makes me glad that I accepted enhanced voluntary death a few months ago.

Very much this. (As I have said before: bsky.app/profile/hugh... )

Readers in the UK might want to sign this one. Especially if they are annoyed by they way that Ol' Frogface is getting paid to be an MP and (mostly) not doing the job. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

Now, #Fungi seem a popular subject here on Bluesky, so here are some that I spotted in the woods surrounding super-spooky Yester Castle.

This morning's quake in the Philippines detected in Edinburgh on both the gravity meter and the @raspishake.bsky.social. On the Raspishake it is mostly visible in the lowest frequency bin of the spectrogram. On the gravity meter the signal has stuck the instrument against its endstop.

Quick visit to the local spooky castle in a wood, where a wizard conjured armies of goblins. Y'all have one in your neighbourhood, right? You can see into the hall of devilry through a barred window; sadly, the tunnel entrance is now blocked with a steel gate.

Ooof! (If you want to play with the thing yourself and see updates, go to climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_dai... )

Unlike her old pair, Mrs. P's new bluetooth earbuds do not have a "find device by making it squeak" feature. I set her phone to play "Ace of♠️" by Motörhead, and walked round the house listening for the chirping of a tiny tinny Lemmy. He was behind a plant on the kitchen table.

This is very clearly how ol' frogface and his gang treat the news.

I find it hard to take the state of Israel seriously when they have a government minister called Israel Katz. Imagine if the UK had a minister called Britain Gerbilz.

This. Both the party as a party, and also its current role as the UK government. Neither should be supporting a fascist hell-hole, which is what X now is ( @secret-labour-mp.bsky.social @dailyherald.bsky.social @jessasatomp.bsky.social @emilythornberry.bsky.social @lizzicollinge.bsky.social )

I went to one of those poncey gastropubs and . . .

For goodness sake, rain. My rain barrel has gone from empty to full over the last few days. You can stop now, thanks.

This (apart from being amusingly delivered) is a point worth making.

I like holidays but I really really hate booking them. To give you an idea, the thing I did this morning to put off booking a holiday was contacting the hospital to sort out <annual uncomfortable and invasive thing>.

Saw this as we came out of the local Indian restaurant last night. Not being LGBTQ+ myself it was only later that I thought "Well, yes, it was the start of #Pride month".

Thank goodness the #BBC felt that they could have Myles Allen on #BBCR4today to explain #Elnino and its relation to climate change, without needing to have some science-denying nutball to provide "balance".

Looking at John Wood's 1830 map of Dunbar I was entertained to see this pair of close neighbours: maps.nls.uk/view/7441978...

Bit of a change from the usual petitions, but you might want to sign it if you do any hill walking or have any interest in #geodesy . petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

The deep time trail at Siccar Point is now open (See james-hutton.org/dtt/) . We went today, in lovely fresh weather. I was pleased to see it after chipping in my 2d worth a few months ago. (1/5)

This is fab: I have just spent a while reading the whole list. Not made by a British person because, if it was, "Bounty Shag" would have made the top 10, never mind the top 100.

I suppose that it was inevitable that an episode of #BBCR4 "Any Questions" featuring both Dubai Dicky and @georgemonbiot.bsky.social was going to get a bit shouty. It is a shame that a lot of it was arguing about facts that could have been checked.

I have only been to #Italy briefly, and only for work. Part of me wants to take a holiday to see Rome and Pompeii, but another part of me thinks that the way Italy fleeces tourists makes me want to go everywhere else first.

This is an entertaining and informative thread; you probably want to give it a read. (It is much more informative than when I first saw it and it was only the first two posts, leaving me going "Duh, wot?")

I am a sucker for a hotel that looks like a castle, especially if you can go for a bit of hill-walking on the hills immediately behind the hotel. (Menstrie, near Stirling, #Scotland at the foot of the Ochill hills.)

Welcome to Britain, and more precisely, to central Scotland, where, in the late C18th, an over-rich aristo was mad enough to have a giant pineapple built in the grounds of his mansion. His reasons remain unclear.

This thread is very illuminating on UK universities. (I had to look up Kardashev: WTF???)

Worth reading this 3-tweet thread from @helenczerski.bsky.social .

Last night's quake in Chile detected in #Edinburgh on both the gravity meter and the @raspishake.bsky.social .

There are folk on here who have an aversion to Helen Lewis for reasons, and others who will pick on one line in this article and tell you it is wrong. But if you have not read any Terry Pratchett, please let me or Ms Lewis persuade you to do that.

We are now just coming into that brief time of year when you envy celebrity wisteria growers e.g. me, @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social and, it turns out, @dreadships.bsky.social . bsky.app/profile/hugh...

Pretty good summary. When are the #BBC going to notice, @vicderbyshire.bsky.social @bbcdomc.bsky.social @pallabg.bsky.social @rachelburden.bsky.social . . . .

Introduce yourself with 10 bands you’ve seen live Hawkwind Dumpy's Rusty Nuts Richard Thompson Roy Harper Nick Harper The Enid Dire Straits The Musical Box [*] Runrig Lindisfarne (Spread over MANY years!) [*] Genesis tribute band. Never managed to see the original thing.

Yesterday's M5.4 quake in Türkiye detected in Edinburgh on both the gravity meter and the @raspishake.bsky.social . Two other quakes only detected on the gravity meter. Many thanks to whoever re-nulled the gravity meter on Tuesday.

It is peony season in the garden.

The numbers of gooseberry sawfly larvae (Nematus ribesii aka Euura Ribesii) appearing on my bushes is ludicrous. I am inspecting the bushes 2--3 times per day and removing 5--10 affected leaves every time. They go from eggs to photo 1 (round holes) to photo 2 (most of leaf gone) really fast.

This message goes out to any geophysics students who were at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social , and who had to put up with me teaching them the mechanics of citations. Also to any such students in the earlier years who will get that stuff from my ex-colleagues.

Again. Tagging @vicderbyshire.bsky.social @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @bbcdomc.bsky.social @bbcstever.bsky.social in the hope that they will draw this to the attention of their bosses.

Dry run in #Edinburgh went well. If you are within reach of #Dunbar, do turn up and hear the final performance.

I have read about three of these. But the list is clearly wrong as it does not contain (*) any of the Flashman series, (*) Greenmantle (*) Any Walter Scott (Minor plug also for China Miéville's "The City and the City".) www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

I very much enjoyed this as a brief escape from the Starmer political psychodrama and the endless horror of Trump. Thanks, @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social and @sunshinemoon.zone .

Boycotting the Eurovision final? For readers in Dunbar, here is another way to get your fix of weird French music. (Readers in Edinburgh: we are also performing this program TONIGHT (Fri 15 May) at Greenbank Church, just off Comiston Road.)

QRPing just in case I have a reader in the USA (Mrs Waynetta Schlumpberger of Podunk Falls, Iowa) who is not already following @ncdominie.bsky.social . (Obvs, you should be following him.)

Not #BenchmarkMonday today, but it was when I spotted this mark on a railway bridge. It is this one: www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm263519 #geodesy

First flower of the year on the #ff00ff geranium.