Trying to plan your future at the moment is like playing chess on a rollercoaster weknow0.co.uk?p=3121

Reminder that @antonyjohnston.bsky.social joins us at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social THIS FRIDAY! Our last guest speaker until September. Hope to see you there! 😊

The most impactful experiences we have are frequently at a distance from our credentials. Whether or not OpenAI and Anthropic are proved right, we need to answer the question of what to learn when the future is uncertain weknow0.co.uk?p=3109

My short review of @rfkuang.bsky.social 's deliciously wicked academic satire about following your PhD supervisor into Hell weknow0.co.uk?p=3004

Excited to announce next @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social meeting on Friday 12 June 2026 with award-winning, New York Times bestselling graphic novelist, author and games writer, @antonyjohnston.bsky.social Location: FoE Warehouse, 54-57 Allison Street from 7.45pm. Further details attached below:

JUNE EVENT: We're very excited to welcome award-winning writer @antonyjohnston.bsky.social as our guest on Fri 12th June. Come and join us at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social, B'ham Friends of the Earth, or online via Zoom. Tickets available on the door or via Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/1990418163307

Happy Book Birthday to @theresaderwin.bsky.social. Her dystopian Novella, #GodsVengenace is published today (22nd May) from #CrystalLakePublishing. Best of luck and congratulations on making it to print🎉🥂📚

Save the date and start thinking of some questions for @antonyjohnston.bsky.social when he visits us at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social on 12 June! A master of storytelling in all its forms, from Atomic Blonde to SF to crime to westerns to rom coms to YA. Further details soon youtu.be/dzY0a7p2vXw?...

If actuaries want to protect the pipeline of future actuaries, the education syllabus will need to be reviewed. Universities may need to plug people in at a different career point. The alternative is an ageing profession withering on the vine it refused to nurture weknow0.co.uk?p=3084

I had my head exploded by Hamnet last night weknow0.co.uk?p=3070

The arrival of the latest report from the IFoA and Anglia Ruskin - Planetary Solvency:Tipping into the wild unknown - is a chance to view the world from the POV of the flora and fauna we share it with. A fig tree for instance weknow0.co.uk?p=3062

The ice loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet is hard to grasp! This is what the 30 million tonnes of ice that Greenland loses every hour looks like, if it were positioned next to the Eiffel tower before melting:

Perhaps, instead of obsessing over GDP growth, we should be focusing on what countries like Iceland, Norway, Australia and New Zealand have been doing in recent years to tackle population health. I think it would make us all feel better weknow0.co.uk?p=3047

Congratulations to BSFG Committee member on the publication of her first novel. Wishing you lots of success

Here follows the pre-order link: geni.us/GodsVengeance

This week's piece is all about monsters and their creators, from Mary Shelley to Anthropic weknow0.co.uk?p=2698

MAY EVENT: @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social are very excited to welcome Hugo Award winning author Ray Nayler as our next guest on Friday 8th May. This event will be held over Zoom - free for members, £6 for non-members. Tickets and further info here: eventbrite.com/e/1987709792...

MAY EVENT: We are very excited to welcome Hugo Award winning author Ray Nayler as our next guest on Friday 8th May. This event will be held over Zoom - free for members, £6 for non-members. Tickets and further info here: eventbrite.com/e/1987709792497

My review of Claire North's Slow Gods, a polycrisis in the form of wonderful rich space opera weknow0.co.uk?p=2969

Great session with Oliver Bettis at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social last night, despite a few technical difficulties. A very engaged discussion about the choices facing us on climate action and how to discuss them constructively from different perspectives

We'll be talking about terraforming with Oliver Bettis in Birmingham this Friday night at 8pm. Hope you'll be able to join us weknow0.co.uk?p=3028

On 10 April @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social welcome Oliver Bettis, ESG actuary and co-author of Climate Scorpion and Parasol Lost. Come and discuss the real terraforming going on and its risks at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social or via Zoom. Tickets on the door or via eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985958692911

Calling it a cost-of-living crisis is a bit like calling the Black Death a labour market crisis weknow0.co.uk?p=3008

APRIL EVENT: We are looking forward to welcoming environmental, social and governance actuary Oliver Bettis as our guest on Fri 10th April. Come and join us @inthewarehouse.bsky.social, B'ham Friends of the Earth or via Zoom. Tickets on the door or via Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985958692911

On 10 April @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social welcome Oliver Bettis, ESG actuary and co-author of Climate Scorpion and Parasol Lost. Come and discuss the real terraforming going on and its risks at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social or via Zoom. Tickets on the door or via eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985958692911

My visit to @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social last night: little-bits.paulmorriss.com/2026/03/firs...

Palantir’s technologies are used by the powerful to attack the powerless. This company should not be involved in our public services. Sign this petition if you agree act.globaljustice.org.uk/get-palantir...

This is what you expect from a Milo Minderbender presidency. It has been clear since the 1960s that the US requires enormous strength of purpose from its executive to hold its industrial-military complex in check. That is why so many of them have been so keen to install a Trump weknow0.co.uk?p=2997

Mega-donors can pour millions of pounds into our political parties and drown out the influence of ordinary voters. We need a donation cap now. Please sign our letter. secure.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/page/187342/...

As the Module 3 report from the Covid Inquiry is launched, a reflection on the absolute refusal to accept the existence of any small coin acting under gravity when it comes to the nation's mental health weknow0.co.uk?p=2976

Great event on Friday...and not just because we were forced to hold it in Kilder over the road. Thanks to @aychao.com for welcoming us into her world!

My moment of peak Birmingham with Big Special. Warning it's a bit sweary, and even more so if you click any of the links. But then, it is only swearing weknow0.co.uk?p=2945

MARCH EVENT: We are very excited to welcome bestselling fantasy author @aychao.com as our guest on Fri 13th March. Come and join us at @inthewarehouse.bsky.social, Birmingham Friends of the Earth, or online via Zoom. Tickets available on the door or via Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/1984229713487

We need infuriatingly slow, inclusive and deliberative decision-making, involving people taking their responsibilties more seriously than being a human-in-the-loop would ever allow. Our decision-making systems need more grit and less oil. AI is all oil weknow0.co.uk?p=2937

On Friday 13 March @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social are delighted to welcome Alice Chao, No1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal. 7.45 for 8pm start at the FoE Warehouse, 54-57 Allison Street, Birmingham B5 5TH. This is our last meeting at 2019 prices so we hope to see you there!

This week's post starts with The Actuary on data versus stories, listens to the FT's latest push for economic growth as a universal panacea, this time for HE, before noting the market impact of a bit of SF on the Global Intelligence Crisis of June 2028 weknow0.co.uk?p=2925

My review of Bletchley Park Museum, or the Museum of Path Dependence as I am calling it weknow0.co.uk?p=2900

Elections should represent what people want and need, not those with the loudest voices or deepest pockets. A National Commission is how we'll get the change we need. Could you add your name? www.open-britain.co.uk/ncer

BREAKING NEWS: We have just had it confirmed that Alastair Reynolds will be in Birmingham tonight and has very kindly volunteered to give a short talk before the Book Auction. Entry is still free. Usual place at the FoE Warehouse on Allison St, 7.45 for 8pm. Hope to see you there!

Politics is a bit depressing this week, so I thought instead I would focus on the asymmetry of our attitudes towards different high octane liquids weknow0.co.uk?p=2879

First Past the Post can no longer deliver real mandates - only chaos. 60% of Brits want it scrapped. Yet the Representation of the People Bill won’t even touch our voting system, which leaves millions unrepresented. Tell Keir Starmer to change this. actionnetwork.org/petitions/th...

if our rulers' Mandates of Heaven are dependent on eternal economic growth and they, rightly, think it is not possible in our current non-AI-enhanced world but, wrongly, think it is possible in a future AI-enhanced world, then that is the way they are going to demand we go weknow0.co.uk?p=2866

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

The Snow Globe may be shaken but it's still safe from the rest of us weknow0.co.uk?p=2858

Come and join us and Jaine Fenn on 13 February at @birminghamsfgroup.bsky.social ! Details below

FEBRUARY EVENT: We are very excited to welcome our first guest of 2026, award-winning SFF author @jainefenn.bsky.social on 13th Feb. Come and join us at The Warehouse, Birmingham Friends of the Earth, or online via Zoom. Tickets available on the door or via Eventbrite (link to be provided soon).

The world may be wrestling with the problem of a mad king, but it turns out we have lost something more important. My bit on the latest joint report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the University of Exeter about the fight to maintain planetary climate solvency weknow0.co.uk?p=2849

For those fans of Manchester United's way of running things who seem to be running things at the moment, there seems to be a hell of a lot of catharsis around at the moment. Evidence suggests that it is unlikely to achieve much weknow0.co.uk?p=2830

Happy new year! Let's start with something uncontroversial like, I don't know, getting rid of traditional exams? weknow0.co.uk?p=2785