Yay! My nephew Damien has reached the Edinburgh Castle finish line. He's run / walked the 100 miles in 43.5 hours. So impressed!

Nephew Damien has passed the 99 mile mark!

Can't go to bed as my nephew and his pal are doing a 100 mile Rat Run, they're just 4 miles from the finish. Set off from Bamburgh 7am Sat. I can't stop checking the live tracker! Go Damien! www.justgiving.com/page/damien-...

Once again, the PM and the Home Secretary should be asked to say out loud and specifically that they believe this is the law - their new law - working as they intend it to. That they consider all these people terrorist sympathisers.

I'm not going to repost any of the insane antisemitic conspiracy bullshit that grok is spewing today, but it highlights how absolutely essentially is that we not let LLMs become a form of epistemic grounding for our society.

Congratulations to The Silver Plate, winner of the prestigious Craft Guild College Restaurant of the Year - again! sheffcol.ac.uk/index.php/ne...

On the 9th anniversary of the day after the Brexit vote, here’s @mjrobbins.com to cheer us all up. Not. Well worth reading in full nonetheless! open.substack.com/pub/martinro...

A bit late to the party - #tombtuesday. Pillars forming the facade of Cairnholy 1, one or two chambered cairns near Creetown, Dumfries and Galloway Scotland. Built in the 4th millennium BC.

Thames Water fined £122.7m in biggest ever penalty Why the hell won’t Starmer nationalise Thames water, because the sort of incentives being offered to private investors to prop Thames up must be staggering! There’s a reason no other countries have a privatised industry! www.bbc.com/news/article...

Had a wonderful time at #rhschelsea last Tuesday. Loved the naturalistic planting everywhere. Lots of sweet rocket, foxgloves, angelica, cow parsley.

Half a century ago, a humiliated America scrambled out of a losing war. But parallels with Ukraine show little has changed, writes @jayelwes.bsky.social

If you're off into the hills then always carry the following: A map. A compass. A basic first aid kit and survival bag or blanket. A whistle. Mountain rescue teams are all selfless volunteers. They're there for genuine emergencies, not a safety net for idiocy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

For #standingstonesunday - the Rudston Monolith. Over 25 feet, gritstone, tallest monolith in the UK. It's in Rudston churchyard near Bridlington Yorkshire (we're staying nearby). Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age.

This made my stomach drop. How can anyone support a system that includes this?

BBC muzzling one of its best presenters from making an excellent, wholly factual programme because heat pumps are “controversial”. An organisation badly in need of new leadership.

Well worth reading the whole document.

Number crunching: Value of reduction in US tariffs for UK companies per year as against EU members v fall in UK exports per year due to Brexit From the new Private Eye, out now.

"On Tyranny" is a #1 NYT bestseller again. I wish the moment were different. But I’m glad the book is useful. And grateful for all the kind words about putting the 20 lessons to work. snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...

Tulips out early this year

Have you ever fancied seeing what it’s like to sing with Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus? Join us for a day’s workshop singing beautiful English anthems on 24 May at the Upper Chapel in Sheffield wegottickets.com/sheffieldphil

"It is not just lunacy. It is wicked." Martin Wolf on how Trump's tariffs will damage the world: www.ft.com/content/d96d...

It's amazing how few people in the UK realise that the last time the world went in to a massive financial tailspin, albeit one not directly caused by the President of the USA, it was Gordon Brown & the late Alistair Darling who provided the sort of international leadership desperately needed now.

Reflections

Reflections

Another Sheffield mural has caught the attention of @streetartcities.bsky.social. Phlegm's 'Devonshire Cat' has been shortlisted for the best new mural of March 2025. Please vote for it on their website: streetartcities.com/awards/2025-03 @visitsheffield.bsky.social @helpsheffield.bsky.social

Over the last two decades, Warp Films have won bucketloads of critical acclaim and multiple awards, but their dark, gritty stories have remained cult hits. Their latest, Adolescence, has now been seen by over 100 million people worldwide and is currently top of the Netflix charts in 80 countries.

Really clear piece by @faisalislam.bsky.social: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Terrific @sheffieldtribune.bsky.social article by @danhayesjourno.bsky.social about the making of the series Adolescence: www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/adolescence-...

That’s amazing news Lilian! ❤️ Everyone should consider joining the @dkms-uk.bsky.social stem cell register if they can. It’s simple & easy to do.🙏 dkms.org.uk/Stefanovic

Petition to protect from unauthorised use of our publications to train AI.

Trump: "Tariffs have come in and every country has called us... If we asked most of these countries to do us a favour, they would have said no. Now they'll do anything for us... Tariffs give us great power". This is what really motivates Trump on tariffs - not trade, but corruption & quid pro quo.

Donald Trump has committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

No, Britain did not get off lightly in the Trump tariffs. And no, it is not much of a vindication of Brexit. Or at the least seeing it is an economic dividend is to conveniently look away from the more substantial economic costs. New writing from me. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief. 1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.

Our open letter response to the #USCommerceDept and #POTUS

The UK exports £360bn of goods to the EU, on which we now struggle with big non tariff barriers, compared to £60bn to the US. Imagine looking at this sh1tshow and thinking it vindicates Brexit in any way.

Beautiful enormous magnolia tree. Kew Gardens earlier today. Fantastic.

curlews are beautiful birds with great big curly bills. they live in marshland and moorland, and sing a lovely little song that sounds like this...

If you see this, post a bridge. Ponte dei Carmini, Venice, February 2025.

This is awful news for the FDA and for public health. “The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official, Dr. Peter Marks, resigned under pressure Friday and said that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s aggressive stance on vaccines was irresponsible and posed a danger to the public.”

No, Farage is not 'distancing himself from Trump'. Only last week, he was raising funds for him in Florida.

This is a good and important suggestion - every major dataset housed in the US (which is a *lot* of great data) can be considered under threat right now. One way researchers and institutions elsewhere can help limit the harm is finding ways to mirror host/backup a lot of that data.

"The imperialism has no clothes." Terrific piece on JD Vance in Greenland, by @timothysnyder.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p.... Final paragraph below.

This will end with kids dying and being left damaged and disabled for life by diseases basic science has cured. RFK Jr will be gone sooner or later (ideally sooner) but nothing will bring those kids back or repair the damage done to their families.

One of our favorite Lake District views while approaching Haystacks in the Western Fells #LakeDistrict #Wainwrights #Cumbria

“This latest development must be a wake up call. It’s time to step away from farmed salmon – as consumers, and as a nation” theferret.scot/salmo...

Super sea shanty sounds from Waldershelf singers in Upper Chapel for @classicalsheffield.bsky.social festival this evening. Super! #CSCW25

Great sounds on Orchard Square - Tracks session. Marvellous achievements from some terrific young people! For @classicalsheffield.bsky.social festival weekend. #CSCw25

Tom Daggett smashing it in Sheffield Cathedral organ workshop. Here's Albie playing the organ - four kids and two adults had a go and loved it! A delight to see. Great playing from Tom and James. For @classicalsheffield.bsky.social #CSCW25 Albie's Dad happy for me to share this photo - many thanks.

James playing Bach's Toccata and Fugue to appreciative folk enjoying a close up view. He'll let them have a go when he's done. Sounds magnificent of course! @classicalsheffield.bsky.social #CSCW25