Tim and I analyze some data and enjoy the fact that voters are realizing Trump really doesn’t care about them. Better late than never!--and better now when voters can punish Trump's GOP this fall. A more upbeat Monday pod than usual! (I realize that's a low bar...) open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Photosynthesising mouse eyes alert:

Sneaking a giant screen into the flagshagger march is one of the funniest things @ledbydonkeys.org have ever done. "STAY HYDRATED" 😂🤣😂

This is spot on. You can 'hear' AI writing because it sounds like AI.

Good morning! I give you the deeply furrowed bark of the Crimean Pine and the ebullient bright green foliage of the Weeping Katsura at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. A magical place, well worth a visit.

This possibly goes some way towards explaining why we're in such a mess.

Oh my friends, I wish you could smell this. I'm in Titania's perfumed bower.

Those brilliant women on the @whatshernamepod.bsky.social podcast have created a fabulous episode about the entomologist Evelyn Cheesman, inspiration to David Attenborough, detective of the earth's mysteries and WW2 intelligence gatherer. Listen here: What'shername share.google/g4R3eNkbg5E9...

Nigel Farage claims the details of a £5m donation “shouldn’t even be public” and states it was an unconditional “reward for campaigning for Brexit”. Previously Reform UK have said the donation was to cover Mr Farage’s security costs for life

Farage has now admitted it is a political donation with that sentence ‘reward for campaigning for Brexit’. The Standards Committee should now suspend him and call a by-election.

And cheese.

incredible and shameful there isn’t international condemnation of the united states for collective punishment of 10 million people

It is publication day for The Organism-Environment Pairing (@mitpress.bsky.social)! This 📗 has been deeply formative for me as a scholar, and it owes so much to so many wonderful people. I truly hope it finds many readers! mitpress.mit.edu/978026205282... #booksky #philsci #histsci #philsky #evosky

Those brilliant women on the @whatshernamepod.bsky.social podcast have created a fabulous episode about the entomologist Evelyn Cheesman, inspiration to David Attenborough, detective of the earth's mysteries and WW2 intelligence gatherer. Listen here: What'shername share.google/g4R3eNkbg5E9...

Every single member of the History Department at Uni of Nottingham is at risk of redundancy. Every single one of us.

I really don't think a single individual outside politics, Fleet street and his own family, see Wes Streeting as a dazzling politician

Morning. Storm coming over barley.

Some lessons for Labour here...

Today I mended something with clips, pliers and a crochet needle. I am a white collar worker and it was life-affirming not have to refresh an app, reset a password or call IT.

Found my approach to history, with thanks to Nigerian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka: "Give the dead some room to dance." Perfect.

"Can you explain this gap in your resume?" Me:

🗡 A hiker walking in the Austrått district of Sandnes, Norway, has discovered a gold fitting from the scabbard of a 1,500-year-old sword. 📰 Read all about it in the latest AWLOH ⤵️ open.substack.com/pub/historyh...

I cannot bear the lipsmacking relish with which the political journalists are reporting the pain of a man facing his demons. I'm no fan of Starmer, and he has made some massive mistakes, but this is a personal tragedy for him. Have some human sympathy. We're all diminished by this carnival

Humanities chairs—anxious about increasing political interference, declining enrollments and students’ skepticism toward the value of humanities degrees—are largely pessimistic about the future of their departments, according to a new report from the AAAS. #AcademicSky #EduSky 👉🏻 @insidehighered.com

Subtext: Burnham has offered Rayner a top job if he becomes PM. It's not perfect but a Burnham-Rayner ticket could probably see off Farage www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New roses, old wall. I love how they change colour from yellow buds to pink when fully blooming.

Philipson trying hard to explain how Reform is full of racists and fruitcakes that are pulling at the fabric of our society - Kuennsberg not interested, taking over her and dismissing her. The BBC are a big part of the problem - and why Nandy hasn't addressed it I'll never know.

A question I'm often asking myself...

What this graph shows is that the majority of voters supported either Greens, Labour, or Lib Dem (plus more supporting either SNP or Plaid). There's always a progressive majority in this country, so we must fight like hell to keep Farage out of Number 10.

The publishing industry views Bluesky as some tiny unimportant island out somewhere in a far-off ocean. It's not worthy of their attention like Amazon Algoland or The Republic Of Instagram Influencer Collaborativepost is. What they don't realise is just how much the island's inhabitants love books.

Our warmest and wildest 100th birthday wishes to Sir David Attenborough, vice-patron of our Society. Today, we are celebrating Priam's Birdwing, which he said he would include in his "ark" to protect from extinction. This illustration is from E Donovan's "An Epitome of...Insects of India" (1800).

Wow!

Attempted Murder

While nature is at her best when at her wildest, I do love a blue field

Sir David Attenborough inspired generations of wildlife researchers and presenters, but who inspired him? Step forward diminutive, dismissed but indomitable Evelyn Cheesman, whose books about the natural world inspired the young David Attenborough. But not for her well-resourced expeditions.../1

Sir David Attenborough inspired generations of wildlife researchers and presenters, but who inspired him? Step forward diminutive, dismissed but indomitable Evelyn Cheesman, whose books about the natural world inspired the young David Attenborough. But not for her well-resourced expeditions.../1

The Lost Elms by Mandy Haggith wins the 2025 Richard Jefferies Award for Nature Writing

If you vote for anything other than Reform tomorrow, there's a good chance they'll do their best to do things like fix potholes. If you vote for Reform they're more likely to waste your money on providing parking spaces for themselves. www.lbc.co.uk/article/refo...

Come on, guys, please let’s get the word out, and spread these articles around. Media complicity in Reform’s rise is truly shameful.

· #AcademicSky · #AcademicChatter · I’m burnt out and leaving academia. How do I finish my PhD?

Typewriter question: does anyone know what you call the metal arm embossed with the shape of a letter that swings forward when you strike the corresponding key on the keyboard? It smashes into the inked ribbon, leaving the impression of a letter on the paper. I'm sure it has a name! Thank you!

Silver lining--"the closure of the Strait of Hormuz marks an inflection point: the global green energy curve, which was already on a rapidly rising trajectory, has suddenly become even steeper." Paul Krugman

Green therapy

Some good news.

The straggler

That is definitely a person turned into a tree, and in some discomfort, probably by the fairy queen for some vile calumny

The news is not all bad: five inspiring science stories to lift your mood 🖋️ @rfieldmouse.bsky.social ⇢ @nature.com

We have dropped the paywall on the Prospect website until 10am Monday 11th May, giving you unlimited access to all our online articles!  Visit: www.prospectmagazine... to start reading now.