NUJ responds to removal of journalists from @UKLabour Party Conference. "It’s a journalist’s job to hold power to account, and in a functioning democracy, elected reps must be transparent and open to challenge." #pressfreedom

The NUJ has issued notice to ballot members for industrial action at The Mirror and Reach's Scottish titles in a dispute over job losses, workloads, and artificial intelligence. The NUJ has asked members to vote ‘yes’ to both strike action and action short of strike. www.nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj...

The Woodwoses and Wildmen of #Suffolk - a Dunwich Museum talk - Saturday 18th October 2025 6:30 online via Zoom. Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-woodwo... @discoverdunwich.bsky.social

Andor would want you to cancel your Disney+ subscription. It's the least you can do for the Rebellion.

Faux fossil sauropod bones and a pterosaur, Jurassic Bay Adventure Golf, Shanklin, Isle of Wight. #FossilFriday

Initial analysis of geological sample collected by Perseverance Mars rover is "best evidence yet" for existence of earlier life on Mars. Tiny spots in the sample are suggestive of iron-rich minerals that are often the product of reactions caused by microbes. gizmodo.com/perseverance...

"The Sea Serpent Killer's sceptical scrapbook" - my illustrated article on probably one of the first cryptozoological clippings libraries, kept by Sir Richard Owen, a Natural History Museum co-founder who coined the term "dinosaur". In this month's @forteantimes.bsky.social (FT 462. October 2025).

I am 76 & I have had most of these vaccinations at one time or another. Also vaccinations against Covid, Tetanus, plus Cholera & Yellow Fever when travelling in foreign countries. These prevented me catching horrible diseases & dying a gruesome death. They did not harm me, they protected me!

The man who has put up the most England flags in Manchester was caught in 2016 trying to smuggle 4 Vietnamese people into the UK. Now he is out of prison hanging up flags. Any old grift.

Fragments of Jurassic oyster 🦪 shells in Portland Stone(?) in the facade of the Mashall Building at the LSE @lseblogs.bsky.social - my current place of work. #FossilFriday @pavementgeology.bsky.social

“ChatGPT killed my son”: Parents’ lawsuit describes suicide notes in chat logs arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

IMO many Americans don't even buy guns for personal protection or to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. They simply have a shopping addiction

Student newspaper The Stanford Daily is suing Trump Administration's for its targeted deportation of student journalists based on their reporting, in a First Amendment suit. theintercept.com/2025/08/26/s...

I'm ded 💀 😂 😂 😂

Surge in cancellations of Refirm events in Norfolk eastangliabylines.co.uk/politics/a-s...

Flowering artichoke in the front garden!

Video of Columbia Heights residents driving ICE agents out of their area. source: www.instagram.com/reel/DNjkvLQ...

I prosecute and defend the most serious sexual offences in our courts. The overwhelming majority of offenders are British-born. Overwhelmingly the victim is someone known to them, either a partner or relative. Anybody purporting to care about protecting women might start there.

if I ever go properly "screaming about nothing in particular in the street" mad it will be due to having spent too much time having read about the opinions of men who have absolutely never cared about women's rights for one moment in their lives but decided to pretend just for the sake of racism

EFL teachers at Malvern House London, members of @TeflUnion, have submitted a formal request for Union recognition and are balloting for strike action over re-instatement of a teacher, for abolition of zero-hour contracts, for paid admin and prep time. teflworkersunion.org/malvern-hous...

Fossil sponge which I found among gravel on a path at Kenwood House. Thanks to @timholtwilson.bsky.social for identification. #FossilFriday

Megalania (giant Australian Pleistocene monitor lizard) 🦎, life size reconstruction, Jurassic Bay Adventure Golf, Shanklin, Isle of Wight. #FossilFriday

After many years of trying I have finally managed to grow artichokes.

Places are still available for this event (free but book via Eventbrite as numbers are limited). A great chance to do some wildlife recording south of the border…

Handy "genuine mammoth 🦣 fossils" dispenser, choice of tusk or bone fragments for £1, with "choking hazard" warning. The Needles, Isle of Wight. #FossilFriday

"Right of substitution” clauses inserted in delivery riders’ contracts - to deny them workers' rights by making them “self-employed” - are exploited by criminal gangs fuelling a market in swapping, hiring or selling riders’ app accounts to illegal debt-slaves. www.sadrabbit.media/p/britains-g...

Petrified wood, Alexander Pope's Grotto #FossilFriday

Ammonite, Alexander Pope's Grotto, Twickenham #FossilFriday

Fossil oyster 🦪 shell, Alexander Pope's Grotto, Twickenham #FossilFriday

Report by Giving Evidence finds no evidence that Prince Andrew's patronage of around 60 charities helped them raise revenue. There was no discernible decline in their revenue when his patronage ended. giving-evidence.com/wp-content/u...

Ape sandwich story! That's a translation of "broodjeaapverhaal", which is Dutch for "urban legend." The strange story of the origin of the phrase is the subject of my article in @forteantimes.bsky.social mattsalusbury.blogspot.com/2025/07/ape-...

Surge in applications for conscientious objector status by serving US military personnel after Trump ordered Marines into Los Angeles to police protests against ICE raids. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

"From hippies with a delivery bike to durable pioneers" - Stichting Overal the secondhand shop in Nijmegen, NL, where I worked as a volunteer in the 1990s - celebrates its 50th anniversary. www.gelderlander.nl/nijmegen/van...

The Tories keep banging on about "disability benefit fraud" like 2000s TV presenters. The fraud rate for PIP is non-existent: 0.2%.

Elephant's head on the coat of arms of Hugh Colin Smith, died 1918, St Andrew's Church, Ham.

Whoops! Fox News inadvertently reveals how much better socialism would be for most New Yorkers than the current capitalist hellscape and its "market-based housing affordability solutions." 😂 With thanks to @DarrigoMelanie

US sees spate of arrests of civilians impersonating Ice officers www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Enough! This is exactly why ICE should be required to identify themselves. If ICE looks like criminals and thugs, they should be regarded as such. 🚨 Yesterday, an L.A. man was arrested for impersonating a federal agent. Loaded gun, fake documents, cop gear and even blinking & blue on his car

Ghost sign by Bayswater Underground, London W2. I can make out the word "shaver" in the bottom left and the painting appears to show a men wet shaving 🪒 while holding a child.

EU could take action against Israel if conditions in Gaza do not improve. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Possible by-election coming in Tory-held Central #Suffolk and North Ipswich eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...

English language teachers at private sector language school EC English London hold ballot for strike over pay, for paid admin time and for "good faith negotiations" with their union @teflunion.bsky.social www.elgazette.com/ec-london-te...

Islington Council takes foodbank to court for "trespassing" on site which it has occupied for nearly 10 years. Its trustees include an Islington councillor. www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/lega...

Finland gives every homeless person a house and within 6 months 85% have a job and are financially independent. Less crime, less hospital visits, less suffering and even including the cost of the house LESS COST than the UK/USA method of abandonment.

Save quality journalism education. NUJ backs @NCTJ_news campaign urging the reversal of planned cuts to journalism course funding. "The need for high-quality, accurate, ethical journalism has never been greater."

My latest scoop: ICE has rescinded its accountability policy for warrantless arrests, giving agents “free license to make any arrest,” per one lawyer representing victims. It follows @theguardian.com exclusive that the agency was told to “push the envelope” to meet Trump’s 3k arrest quota.

Foxgloves in the garden, grown from seed 🌱