The axolotl found living wild in south Wales reminds me how fond we British are of amphibians in cavities: eg toad in the hole, frog in the throat and now, if it were sufficiently curious, axolotl in a bottle. #axolotl #r4today

It’s bin day. Blue bag for paper and card; red bag, metal and plastic. Blue bin for glass. Red bin for radioactive substances and rage. Yellow bin: mustard, custard and cowardice. White bin: ignorance and stupidity. Emerald for esoteric arts, sacred knowledge and lost wisdom. Save the planet.

Live in Wales? This is the new voting system: you get 1 vote - for a party. The party with most votes has a candidate elected - then a seat at a time is removed until only 1 person is left - they are crowned ‘Gravy Boss’ + given no money to run a country so shafted only a miracle can save us. #wales

what reporting of the Mandelson story sounds like to me: when did and how the foreign office and Olly Robbins who his appointment he who and then why vetting and ticking the box and sacking nevertheless the ‘agrément’ because number 10, with concerns and UKS paperwork who the why and #bbcwato

I didn’t say I wanted a cake, you thought I said cake, I came in here for a roll but just because I looked at the cake you assumed that I wanted a cake. You should resign. I don’t want your bread rolls. They look stale. I don’t care about the queue. (Kemi Badenoch goes to the baker) #r4today

Hello BBC Today editors. Maybe, once in a while, instead of talking money, share prices and investments you could have a similar run down on the state of the environment, on the number of lapwings or bumblebees in the UK, or God help us, fish in our rivers and seas. But you won’t will you? #r4today

This morning, thank insects and John Lubbock, banker and parliamentarian who, at 8 years old, was a neighbour and protege of Charles Darwin. As an MP Lubbock needed more time to do what he loved most, study insects, so he proposed the Bank Holidays Act of 1871.

Artemis ll will send humans further than they’ve ever been, except that without getting out of bed, my father, in his 96 years, had been further through space than any astronaut, a passenger on this sphere whirling around the Milky Way at half a million miles an hour. #artemis #r4today

Reminder: Nick Robinson earns between £410,000 and £414,999 pa. #r4today #residentdoctors

Manchester - where Marx and Engels plotted the overthrow of capitalism, Dr Dee summoned Satan and Ernest Rutherford saw inside the atom. A weird isles episode featuring some appropriately fragmented guitar playing from my pal Tim. (also on Soundcloud, Apple etc etc) open.spotify.com/episode/3cmK...

Of course Earth will not be part of this planetary array as the other planets think we’re a bunch of racist c**ts. #r4today

Why does it matter if a politician or any guest on a news programme is reading? Someone with a good memory can learn and repeat party lines, but reading is seen as cheating. Nick Robinson is fatuous, bigoted arse. #r4today

Plumber came over yesterday, fixed my boiler, moaned that he paid too much tax, then asked to be paid in cash. As much as I am thrilled by Hannah Spencer’s success, I can’t see many her profession voting for higher taxes. #greens #gortonanddenton #r4today

Some context please, Justin Webb: Luke Johnson is the son of historian Paul Johnson, isn’t a stranger to privilege and supported Brexit, which, surprisingly, he didn’t mention as a cause of one of the UK’s slow growth. #r4today

Farage, in support of Ratcliffe, says immigration has caused, for example, ‘worse roads’ - he doesn’t mention how someone like Ratcliffe, who as a tax exile has left the exchequer £4 billion worse off, has led to a decline in public services. #r4today

Radcliffe’s comments are obnoxious: he grew up housed and educated by the state, went to university before fees, but felt it ok to become a tax exile to avoid tax (around £4 billion). This is typical of the Reform universe: avoid tax, let public services rot, blame immigrants. #radcliffe #r4today

What I’ve learnt from today’s news so far: humans are far less intelligent than we assumed; cows are more intelligent than we assumed. Conclusion: stop eating cows, start eating humans. #r4today

How I agree with John Lanchester. School put me off Shakespeare and Jane Austen, two authors I took decades to come back to and now adore. The UK education (and exam) system kills so much joy. And I was a headteacher. #r4today

Athelstan’s tomb lies in a dusty corner of Malmesbury Abbey, almost overlooked. But then he never had a Bayeaux Tapestry. #r4today open.spotify.com/episode/0cyI...

My album of the year: ‘Drones’ by Workhouse Disko. Almost nothing happens. It’s like an evening sky, a desert at dawn, the smell of fresh laundry, or floating out on a boat on a bay and waking up to the roar of a helicopter over your head, miles from land.

Celebrity ‘In Our Time’? Is nothing sacred?

For all this celebration of Jane Austen, I rarely hear mention of how Darcy, or any of her wealthy protagonists, made their money. #r4today

And it should never be forgotten that at around the same time Dawn Sturgess died, the leader of Reform in Wales, Nathan Gill, was taking bribes from the same murderous regime that was responsible for her death. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

BREAKING: Nathan Gill is sentenced to 10 & a half years in prison after pleading guilty to eight charges of bribery from a Russian agent. The "ultimate source" of the funds came from "a close friend of Vladimir Putin," said Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.

Gill - tee www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Michael Gove suggests inequality made Britain more susceptible to the virus. And whose fault is that? #r4today

Excellent news that the government will make it illegal to resell a concert ticket for higher than the original price. Why not apply this to housing? A landlord cannot charge more rent than the property costs to buy. #bbcwato

My great grandfather was born before the Wright brothers first flight - when he died humans had walked on the Moon. He lived through two World Wars. Life changed fast for him - it didn’t make him a racist. #r4today

Why are UK generals so posh? Anyone would think there was no meritocracy in the armed forces. #bbcwato

Let’s put Arthur Laffer in context - BBC News won’t - here is a man who, when working for Ronald Reagan, kick started the age of neoliberal economics which, in turn, began a huge transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest + led to the shitshow of UK and US populist politics. #bbcwato

Another example of shrinkflation - earlier on this bottle of wine had 750ml of wine and now there’s less than half that. #bbcpm #shrinkflation #votelemming

The Office for Budget Responsibility says we lose 4% in growth due to Brexit. That’s £110 billion. Why do people still think Farage is the answer?

How does struggling children’s author Keira Knightley manage to get her book promoted on Radio 4’s flagship news programme? #r4today

Big Bong #r4today

A tent on a river bank. A human living like an animal. But, you know, stop the boats. #homelessness #r4today

Bavaria! Bavaria! Where all the men are hairier, And dogs are so much scarier Than any in your area #nationalpoetryday

Justin Webb, Victorian time-traveller, arrives unexpectedly in a BBC studio to interview a neurologist and asks questions about the soul and other such quaint notions #r4today

In a pub, talked to a Reform councillor. I try be civil. He says he just wants to represent local people - but scratching below the surface he reveals he thinks climate change is a scam and migrants are forming an army. He denies scientific evidence for the former, but believes his own skewed truth.

25% of schools in England do not have a physics teacher. #r4today

The most privileged (including Farage, Tice etc) often pay less tax, as a percentage, than most of us - it’s a huge injustice - but there’s rarely any noise about this. #r4today

‘the sort of thing George Osborne did well,’ says Richard Tice. Now we know - a Reform government would be a rerun of Tory austerity. As they see the reality of government coming into focus, so we can see - Reform have no new ideas. #r4today

I went to Malmesbury, found the tomb of Athelstan, first king of England and pioneer of hot air ballooning. Please give this a listen - only 6 mins. (also on other all platforms - search ‘these weird isles’) open.spotify.com/episode/0cyI...

The Battle of Bosworth Field took place on this day, 1485. The exact location is still disputed, although there is a Visitors’ Centre, of course, with a pleasant restaurant and gift shop. (on most other platforms too) open.spotify.com/episode/6k2s...

On a day when we’re warned that high temperatures in the UK could be a threaten to life, when wildfires sweep across Spain, guess what issue is headlines across nearly all media? Fingers in ears, head in the sand. #bbcpm #bbcnews

Right wing politicians, think tanks and media tycoons have done their best to destroy the social fabric of the UK - but we do not face ‘societal collapse’ because of the work - and hope - of millions of ordinary people who do their jobs with unfailing duty and care. Unlike Nigel Farage. #r4today

56 years ago today, three men left Earth and set off for the moon. A wise decision.