animal testing: we can stop sacrificing millions of lives for our own health - www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... "he forced swim test (FST), in which a rodent is placed in a body of water it cannot escape and researchers measure whether antidepressants extend the time it struggles for life. "

Jimmy, the 40-year-old assistant manager of the club, was ~ahem~ entertaining his 23-year-old girlfriend – or, as the San Francisco Chronicle put it, “crushed to death … when an elevator piano accidentally rose to the ceiling while he was entangled atop it with a young woman”

Powerful from Andrew Sullivan on the indecency of Donald Trump open.substack.com/pub/andrewsu...

This is a very naughty boy

Nothing I have read so far changes my view that the £200m spent on the inquiry so far could have been better deployed elsewhere

This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation. I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.

If you missed Shabana Mahmood’s all-conquering performance on Monday, it is worth re-reading hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

The UK needs either sustained tax rises on the middle classes to European levels or to accept a US model where public services don't exist. The billionaires are a fairytale to avoid hard choices. Labour are fucked because they dodged this one. This isn't a great sign for the other left option.

FFS

Danny's column is about 'common knowledge' and Starmer's weakness. This applies clearly to gender ideology too. People now see that everyone else also knows you can't change sex and that men can't be women. 'No debate' was an attempt to stop this happening. www.thetimes.com/article/d6dc...

'Labour must back home secretary on small boats — or be scuppered. Shabana Mahmood has set out a brave and radical rethink of the asylum system. Her challenge lies in convincing Labour MPs that their survival depends on it' | ✍️ The Times View

The Parliamentary Labour Party and the Bluesky shut-ins are frothing over Shabana Mahmood’s asylum reforms. Truth be told, they are achingly moderate and to the left of the average Labour voter. But they are a welcome start. My @thespectator1828.bsky.social take. (Which is the correct take.)

Shocking. ( And incidentally - Nicole, Tom and others are good reasons for not leaving the other site)

From @ericidle.bsky.social & Neil Innes' brilliant & criminally overlooked/unavailable RUTLAND WEEKEND TELEVISION, here's a truncated glimpse of George Harrison's Christmas 1975 guest appearance runner, where he didn't want to perform a song - He really just wanted to play a pirate...

Freezing thresholds = raising income tax, whatever the clever semantics

"Weak, feeble." www.thetimes.com/article/a36f...

Interesting theory open.substack.com/pub/factsandre…

WASPI - least deserving campaign ever

Wes Streeting asked on Sky News if he can rule out launching a challenge to the PM’s leadership

New from me on the BBC scandal, in which I basically ask, why has everyone gone crazy? ianleslie.substack.com/p/the-bbcs-f...

Ian Leslie nails it. The BBC's Friends Can Be Its Worst Enemies - by Ian Leslie share.google/VZXutmgy15A8...

These countries have reduced fatality rates in recent years, but still have much higher death tolls than other rich countries. Read Hannah’s article on how the United Kingdom built some of the world’s safest roads: ourworldindata.org/britain-safe...

Mark Urban 'the BBC can’t find an effective way to thrash out questions of bias internally, then it’s in big trouble.' markurban.substack.com/p/liberal-bi...

Come and do a PhD with us! Please RT! Funding opportunities and projects: I'm also advertising projects on "How can we tell which children might have later language impairments" and "Why are autistic people more likely to suffer from gender dysphoria"? www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/s...

We are really seeing peak Bsky stupid tonight from the commentariat

I was blocked by the OP who is keen to claim that Davie went because of a RW conspiracy.

Spot on

BBC bosses needed to go for allowing our respected national broadcaster to become a mouthpiece for Hamas and its clear bias against women. Trump is a footnote.

And again tonight. Just fuck off

There's lots to be written and read about Jim Crow in the US army in WW2. But this is good on how local Brits often refused to accept it. Experiences Of Black Americans In Britain During World War 2 share.google/39ZYPKITB1c9...

Bastard fireworks

Ahh, I see it's not enough for somebody to be a terrible person, as James Watson mostly was, but that also has to mean his scientific achievements should be rubbished. But they shouldn't, he made important contributions, often in the public good.

Dear diary, Great first day in my new role at All3media www.thetimes.com/article/239b...

The public intellectuals (Stephen, David) have been hopeless. One more chance for David to get it right tonight. #celebrityTraitors

Beverley Minster, less famous than it's York neighbour, but beautiful.

I mean she could be a monster but I’ll never trust the word of a handsome man complaining about a woman in song.

This is an extraordinary spectrum of views

The entertainment goes on

This sounds genuinely innovative. Or maybe just catching up to French rehab services. www.thetimes.com/article/21c3...

What a farce.

Total n=99. (Sighs) BBC News - Number of Irish citizens deported from US rises by more than 50% www.bbc.com/news/article...

Spot on. Truly pathetic.

Steve Coogan is a bit of a tit isn't he? Another actor believing he's a warrior for truth