This is a good news local government story - www.north-herts.gov.uk/news/bin-cre.... Credit to Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and (East Herts only, when in power) Conservatives for making it happen. Shame on North Herts Conservatives for consistently opportunistically opposing it.

Rupert Lowe's political party has just announced its first councillor: Maria Bowtell (Yorkshire). It seems this is her 4th affiliation since election: elected as a Tory in May 2023; defected to Reform in March 2024; became Independent in March 2025; just defected again to Restore (for now).

A Valentine’s Day cartoon for @newscientist.com

Some Jelly Ear fungus that has colonised a branch of my buddleia bush. It is more usually found on elder trees.

This statement is on US Department of State website. It includes the following excerpt: "President Trump expressed his support for the monumental achievement during his meeting with Prime Minister Starmer in the White House." www.state.gov/u-s-support-...

The utterly shameless & widely covered "report" out today, claiming net zero will "cost" £9tn is based on: * Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc AND * Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero I kid you not, it is that stupid

Forensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.

Am I correct that Reform members were completely excluded from the selection process for the party's recently announced choice of candidate for London mayor in 2028 (another Tory defector)? The party really ought to be called Conform.

(1/4) I thought this was interesting: a graph of my relative weight during the calendar year. I have measured my weight in a consistent way (no clothes, just after waking and urinating) every month or two over the last 10 years and therefore, using interpolation, have estimated daily records.

I have signed up again for the Flight Free UK challenge (flightfree.co.uk#take-the-cha...) saying I will not fly unless required to do so for work. The web page linked illustrates how high the carbon footprint of flying is compared to other activities. I have not flown since 2005 for that reason.

The cellar spider that has been wandering speculatively around my house for a few weeks found something to eat today just underneath my sitting room radiator. I have occasionally been giving it a drink (using a wet cotton bud), which it seems to appreciate. (It wouldn't survive outside in winter.)

A reminder that on 18 February 2022 Putin said this. Less than week later, he launched the invasion. news.sky.com/story/ukrain...

(1/22) As it will not be around for long, I thought I would post some photos of some excellent artwork - seasonal, charismatic, humorous and mostly painted freehand using rattle cans - by Paul Myerscough of Bespoke Signs (www.bespoke-signs.com). These are located in Hermitage Road in Hitchin.

Another must-read debunking from Emma. Worth bookmarking to counter any "They're cancelling Christmas" outrage you come across.

(1/2) The sudden interest of Reform and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in Christianity is, I expect, primarily aimed at pushing a line that Britain is a Christian country. This will give them something to facilitate causing friction with (or disadvantaging) groups they dislike who follow different religions.

I doubt Reform's church services will ever include a reading from Matthew 2.13: "... an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him'"

I think to adults, President Trump being awarded a FIFA Peace Prize is completely harmless. We can all form our own view on what it is worth (or if it is worthless) and whether he deserves it. I do worry a bit though that it is propaganda that most children will not be able to critically process.

All the coverage of Reeves ‘lying’ debagged in a single sentence.

I liked this contra dance (this time from the UK). It combines a very good band (WillPower) and caller (Louse Siddons), an interesting dance with a 'Ricochet' Hey ("Pat and Terry's Contra" by Geoff Cubitt), and a high standard of dancing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDM3...

Nottingham Forest have now won two consecutive games at Anfield (3-0 today and 1-0 last year). While Brian Clough was manager of Nottingham Forest, his team played Liverpool away 18 times (from 1977 to 1993) and didn't win once there.

If President Trump does successfully sue the BBC it'll effectively mean that ordinary British people (licence fee payers) will be handing over money to an already very rich man who himself has a reputation for making a large number of false or misleading claims (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_o...).

I have not yet formed a view on any of this, but for information, the full report by Chris (including his proposals for policy shifts in UK farming) is here: a0215923-034a-47e3-8106-ccbf1d925a81.usrfiles.com/ugd/a02159_7... (also accessible via a link in the Farmers Guide article linked below).

Milei looks like all the cast of Are You Being Served in one

Another (with only c. 400 views) underwatched YouTube video, part of Club Débris's performance of Reel du Combat: www.youtube.com/watch?v=16EV.... There is a full (and in my view, even better) version on the band's excellent CD 'Ricochet' available via clubdebris.bandcamp.com/album/ricochet

Awful from Farage. Very few things in life are 100% certain, but it must surely be better to go with the probabilities (especially where very high) and expert judgements. By all means fund more independent research at the same time, but don't use that as a reason to delay.

That’s the way to do it!

Democrat @raskin.house.gov excoriates Nigel Farage for banning journalists from Reform UK events: "I'm asking you a direct question. Why do you ban journalists who oppose your views from coming to your events? Why did you tell local government not to do interviews with your local newspaper?"

Absolute joy - I have discovered how to switch off the data-hungry Google feed I get on my mobile phone when I swipe right on the home screen: (1) press on the background until a menu appears and select 'Home settings'; (2) select 'Swipe access'; (3) change 'Google feed' to 'Nothing'.

Market Place in Hitchin this morning at its best. If you visit the post box knitted topper, there is a QR code to make a donation to Hitchin Choices (a youth club for children with special needs) or you can make a cash donation (as I did) at the Visit Hitchin office nearby.

Trump thinks he can manipulate whatever government statistics he likes. His core supporters won't care about something like this. Congress won't stop him. Neither will the Supreme Court. But I wonder if, ultimately, the markets will? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This is one of the best ideas I've heard in ages.

I have just discovered a useful live map of the Great Northern / Thameslink rail network showing the status of (late running) engineering work: livemap.greatnorthernrail.com#/GN/mapview

I was walking along a footpath in Hitchin yesterday, and did not expect to come across this.

You get some ridiculous clickbait articles about football. Here's one: www.footballinsider247.com/morgan-gibbs.... The "news" in the article is just: "[Wood] has been taking a break away from football and he shared his holiday pictures with his Instagram followers, which was liked by Gibbs-White."

This news story sums up Reform in a nutshell. Their candidate: (1) is rich enough to be able to spend £1,700 on his own election campaign; (2) did not understand the rules; (3) as a consequence may have broken the law. Their whistleblower: has been sacked. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article....

As today is World Parrot Day I’m bringing back to the timeline my favourite rendition of Whole Lotta Rosie by Tico (parrot) and Frank (non-parrot) of Tico and the Man (a truly great squawk n' roll band)

I suspect many Reform supporters would prefer the pound to be preserved. Are there any experts here who can advise whether permitting donations in cryptocurrency makes it easier for a political party to contravene laws relating to permitted donations? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I have had a couple of these notifications from Facebook recently - an initial rejection of a reported post followed by it reversing its stance and removing it - but only about 2 months later. It seems deeply unsatisfactory it made a mistake and left it up so long. (Name obscured by me in red.)

SORRY. Sorry. Have we seen this *incredible* news video coming out of Queensland? Wait for the witness/witnesses statement

The standard of Contra Dancing (and the music) at the recent Sautee weekend (in Georgia, USA) seems really good: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P12D....

TransReformers: Tories in Disguise www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This is how you do it. Jenner & Block's statement after filing suit against the Trump administration for illegally targeting them. They created an entire site to post this statement. www.jennerfirm.com

Hitchin has a new refill store (+ café), Plantifull, replacing The Wholesome Weigh (TWW) near the top of Hermitage Road. TWW was a fantastic shop thanks to the ethos and immense efforts of previous owners Aimee and Ali, but I liked my first visit to Plantifull too. This week it has a 10% discount.

(1/2) People sometimes buy pillows filled with feathers and down. At this time of year I put the proceeds of my last (self-)haircut out in my garden and some birds (I have seen magpies do so, maybe there are others) take it to line their nests.

All right, fine. The second Trump administration as villains from the Batman TV show. Let's do this.

A possible scenario for the year ahead: (1) Reform splits and Musk financially backs the Lowe faction; (2) Original Reform is dented, but it still has Farage's fanbase and the breakaway doesn't get above 10%; (3) Conservative and original Reform merge; (4) Farage eventually replaces Badenoch as LOTO

“I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.” Scotten served three combat tours in Iraq as a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer and earned two Bronze Stars. Clerked for Roberts and Kavanaugh.

If President Trump wants to consider the impact of DEI, he should look at the mistake in issuing the memo on freezing federal grants and loans. This is the sort of error that occurs when you do not employ a diverse range of people, some of whom will have the relevant insight to be able to push back.

I think that commemorative coins or stamps are a waste of money, but at least one acquires a physical object that one can hold, look at, or display. Out of interest, what does someone get to look at if they purchase a meme coin? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We had a busy weekend last week talking to voters on the doorstep and we'll be doing the same next weekend Hitchin Labour are also pleased to announce our candidates for Country Elections Ian Albert for Hitchin North, Indie Sunner for Hitchin South and Nigel Mason for Hitchin Rural