Setting aside the insanity of a list including Ian McEwan, Peter Frankopan, the former head of MI6 and me - I am v jazzed to be part of the (gorgeous) literary festival on (gorgeous) Kardamyli in Greece in October. I’ll be speaking about climate + AI. kardamylifestival.com/programme/

What is the charge? Walking a path? A succulent salt path?

After the cardinals are sequestered, are they emitted? Does that mean the abatement is reversible?

something something late stage capitalism

LNER trains now have signs in the toilets informing people that period products are available, for free—just ask the staff for "a package for a friend". Which is excellent except that I can't think of anything more Austin-Powers-bananas to overhear someone saying to a conductor on a moving train.

The most iconic figure in the environmental sciences is the Keeling Curve, the CO₂ record from Mauna Loa, Hawaii. @noaa.gov had a wonderful site where you could visualize and download these data, and now it's just gone. These data belong to us and we should not let this happen!

One Gen-Z girl to another in the cinema last night, having just been shown an add for Audible: "Imagine listening to Atomic Habits as an audiobook. You couldn't skip anything!" 💙

A friend of mine took this photo yesterday

So I think Biden pardoning Hunter is broadly a bad move BUT also I really want someone to write a "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" style play about how that decision got made over Thanksgiving in the Biden household

My underwhelmed & unenthused wrap of #COP29: www.economist.com/internationa...

Good morning from what India’s NDTV colourfully and correctly calls the “hog wash loop” of #COP29

Haunted Baku morning

oof

9 days in—& w 2 official days left—latest draft suggests that #COP29 negotiators have agreed that new climate finance goal should be “USD X trillion” per year. On one hand: lol, I too could have guessed it would be X amount of money On the other: X *trillions* in the text feels significant (?)

Today in relatable science: Gulls making a mysterious daily trip that turned out to be to a potato chip factory

Day 18 #30DayMapChallenge I 3D-printed John Snow's 1854 cholera map of Soho. It took ages.

The boss has arrived

What a chart. www.economist.com/interactive/...

It's only right that my first post here is sharing Scotland's map of named ice gritters. You can follow where they all are in real-time. Some favourites this year: Sir David Attenbrrrrrr Stone Cold Steve Frostin Lord Coldemort You're a blizzard, Harry www.traffic.gov.scot/gritter-trac...

At every COP I end up playing one song on repeat. At Glasgow it was Radiohead’s “Karma Police”; in Sharm it was the Succession theme tune (lol); “No Children” by The Mountain Goats in Dubai; this year “Money” (Pink Floyd) & “Good Luck, Babe!” (Chappell Roan) are tied. Interpretations welcome.

"What does it feel like to be at COP29 in that giant circular stadium in Baku?", no one asked. It feels like being in one of these. (I'm the coin.)