America is growthier and techier but fatter, deadlier, drugier, gunnier, crashier and unequaler www.economist.com/special-repo... from The Economist

Underbridge, hightide, fullmoon, timelunch

My team at the ONS is organising the first ever UK Statistics Assembly to discuss with users and producers, the country’s priorities and needs for statistics. Visit to register and complete the call for contributions ⬇ uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/uk-statistic...

STOP THE BATS *some time later* oh no

An unexpected find in one of those boxes you forget about… Miners’ strike just ended, the ‘83 election still reverberating, and some bloke called Gorbachev has just become General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union…

My take on the triumph of the far right in East Germany, and why far right extremists winning a state election is a dangerous first with far reaching ramifications well beyond Berlin. 👇👇

What would happen if we all abandoned Elon Musk’s toxic platform? Twitter/X has become a cesspit of racism, bullying and unpleasantness. Has the time have come for a mass X-odus and shall we name the date? By Alan Rusbridger August 16, 2024 👉 www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

A stark warning from @carolecadwalla.bsky.social, someone who knows. 👇👇

Just… genius.

On the weird state of affairs where opposition expected to prove credibility by replicating failure of an unpopular government. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It unpacks the social psychological factors that increase our appetite for identity-affirming falsehoods, and how the alignment of social identities on America’s political right creates an efficient engine for “identity driven wrongness,” easily exploited by political & media elites.

The Red Road at Cap Martin, near Menton, 1884 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9992

The Road in Vetheuil in Winter, 1879 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9275

It can be such a busy and stressful time of year. Here, if you need a break, is some gentle quiet to escape to. 37 minutes from a shell beach in Essex. Episode 81. Rising tide in the rock garden - the sea wall near Bradwell-on-Sea > bit.ly/LenBrad

A vast, covert Russian influence operation on TikTok involving 12,800 fake accounts spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine to millions of users in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Israel and Ukraine, has been uncovered by BBC Verify and @dfrlab.bsky.social.

This is very smart. 👇

It's ORR stats day, and we have a new MOST used ...

🤔 Ever wonder how fireflies are able to find mates while flying in those chaotic clusters? 🔥 A new article from Nature by SFI’s @oritpeleg.bsky.social reveals new insights on the physics of firefly swarms! www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Just a reminder with the holiday season approaching: If you offer someone a drink and they say, "No thanks, I don't drink" the correct response is not, "Why not?" or "Come on, just one!" or anything else like that. The only correct response is, "No worries. Can I get you anything else?"

"A Rant About Technology" The absolutely marvellous Ursula K. LeGuin packs so much into this short piece in terms of how we think about technology (especially what we consider high tech). www.ursulakleguin.com/a-rant-about...

Rachel Clarke writes better than anyone alive about the Covid pandemic. Here she is on the cowardice and cruelty of our ex Prime Minister. Please read and circulate widely. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Slightly serious thing for a mo: UK primary schools have just 10 days left to apply for 30 free BBC micro:bits, pocket-sized computers that help teach digital creativity and coding. So if you are or know a primary teacher, spread the word! www.bbc.co.uk/teach/microb...

Not only predictable. Predicted. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"The UK began the 20th century as Rome and the 21st as Italy" - Martin Wolf casts on an unsparing eye on the stagnant British economy www.ft.com/content/ba5d...

New @bennettinstitute.bsky.social report released today by me, @andywestwood.bsky.social and Stella Erker calls for a universal basic infrastructure across the UK to ensure more equal quality of life and lift productivity. www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/publications...

Original vinyl, saying goodbye. Thanks Shane.

2. To Poland! And its vast, rich tradition of carols. 'Oj Maluśki, Maluśki' (O, Little One) is a cracking little pastoral, sung here very simply - it's almost ghostly, perhaps a little uncanny, even - but somehow still sounding rich. Quite a trick. www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Mh...

It's Advent. Again! So let's have a carol a day. Again! Starting with: 1. 'Halcyon Days', a scoop of swoony gorgeousness brought to us by two of the coolest people in contemporary music - composer Melissa Dunphy and choir MD Anna Lapwood. An absolute banger. www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4rR...

The Red Road at Cap Martin, near Menton, 1884 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9992

Just to note the BBC adding in-video British Sign Language to every available episode of classic Doctor Who is a staggering amount of work that no other broadcaster would ever do. To me, someone who’s only learning BSL, it’s beautiful. To a deaf BSL-using fan, it must be amazing.

This evening I will be giving my last Reith Lecture on the Future of Prosperity in that most prosperous of American cities, Atlanta. And tomorrow morning at 9AM UK time my first Reith Lecture, on the Future of Democracy will be on Radio 4. Please tune in! https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001sty4

Review of productivity commissions here www.productivity.ac.uk/wp-content/u... @productivity.bsky.social

Perfect.

Banks of the Seine at Jenfosse - Clear Weather, 1884 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9955