Reposting some of my best work of 2025. I was photographing godwits when I noticed this tūturiwhatu (New Zealand dotterel) sussung me out from the other side of a sand bank. I find this quite striking in black and white. 🪶🇳🇿

@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Hi, Tom! I'm Rosanna, an old subscriber of your work and books. I live in the Valencian land, close to the Mediterranean. I own a small flat in a village up the hills. The flat will be vacant for some days over the holidays, and I'd like to offer it to you both. DM?

A NEW study of the Finland basic income experiment just dropped. Turns out psychotropic drug use decreased by 8 %–11 %, and incomes increased on average by 9% to 11% due to people not losing the income when they accepted a job, unlike traditional unemployment. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New: We have just sued ICE to demand it turns over a secretive spyware contract that it refuses to release: www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

Can you die from face-palming? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“The defining feature of the 21st century is disregard for the sanctity of human life. The livestream is a deathstream with no way to turn it off.”

Another one’s landed safely @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social - I’ve made a brew and I’m going in 🙏🏻 💙📚

Meanwhile, in case we all forgot, Grok is in charge of procurement for a minor US agency, something called the Pentagon. 🤷‍♀️ www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

"When digital systems are abstracted from place, they become invisible. We lose sight of the true cost of their convenience: the emissions behind a search query or an AI prompt, the land consumed by hyperscale data centers, and the communities they displace or disadvantage."

Com la va incomplir al denunciar-me a mi i tres més pel complement salarial per residència al que teníem dret. Com vam demostrar. Han convertit una prestigiosa agència, reconeguda per UE i Fiscalia, en una Desokupa macarra contra l’oposició. @sergipitarch.bsky.social www.eldiario.es/comunitat-va...

1 in 3 doctors were born overseas. 1 in 5 university academics were born overseas. 1 in 7 UK business founders were born overseas. 1 in 2 builders were born overseas. 1 in 5 nurses were born overseas. 1 in 4 transport workers were born overseas. The media, their framing, IS the problem

The book was drenched 😔

Much of what the Trump administration has demanded, Columbia has conceded – though they insist otherwise. @meghnadbose.bsky.social and I tracked months of government demands and secretive Columbia rule changes, for @theintercept.com. theintercept.com/2025/08/07/c...

I have studied the targeting of journalists for many years, but the scale and public display of these killings is truly shocking: “Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital“ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

A Lithuanian phrase that one-ups “as poor as a church mouse” is “the mouse hung itself in the fridge.” An extremely metal Icelandic phrase about having little money is “to sip death from a shell.” But my favourite, from Estonian slang, translates to “I’ve got nothing but a dick and a desolate soul.”

Letter of the day (in the Times)

Nvidia et AMD vont verser 15 % de leurs revenus provenant de la vente de puces en Chine au gouvernement américain

Illustration from Nonsenseorship (1922). In this “levititious literary escapade” — as publisher George P. Putnam describes his anthology — some of the wittiest writers of the Jazz Age lambaste the nonsensically censorious atmosphere of prohibition-era US: publicdomainreview.org/collection/n...

Universal basic income would help with this problem too. No one should have to give up their pet due to loss of ability to afford them.

Universities across the US including Northwestern are introducing pro-Israel training programs. They call them antisemitism awareness training but in an age of doublespeak we must call things what they actually are, not what they claim to be www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... #academia

New Post: New report shows a catastrophic decline in formal language learning www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/07/31/n...

Lo que ha de fer Gencat és aclarir les subvencions per l'autobus Tortosa-Lleida. No pot ser q per fer un viatge 2/3 la distancia de Ttsa-BCN, ens costa 4 cops més el bitllet. No volem equilibri territorial i promoure altres zones? Hi ha estudiants deixant 40€/setmana. ebredigital.cat/2025/07/31/e...

The story continues! On the apocalyptic ambitions of top US officials, some of whom believe they were appointed by God to serve a foreign country: Full article: sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/bearing-wi...

Thanks to sales at etsy.com/uk/shop/StillDisgusted, glad to be able to donate total of £175 to #RejoinEU causes @stayeuropean.bsky.social @ledbydonkeys.org @therejoineuparty.com @marchforrejoin.co.uk @smrrejoinradio.bsky.social @europeanmovement.co.uk Fab handcrafted stuff, all profits donated 🙂🇪🇺👍

Good news if you like history, manuscripts, or nice books! 'The Illustrated Cairo Genizah' is now available at *greatly* reduced shipping costs via @theul.bsky.social (UK) and Amazon (worldwide) from this link: linktr.ee/nposegay. There's also a free sample file there with the entire first chapter.

Wonderful to see this today @theul.bsky.social - a magnificent choirbook probably from the court of Henry VIII or Henry VIII, with a motet and a five-part mass which appears to be the work of a Welsh Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, John Lloyd (c.1475-1523).

En direct, Gaza : « L’utilisation de la famine contre les civils constitue un crime de guerre », avertit le Programme alimentaire mondial

Your tax dollars at work www.cnn.com/2025/07/22/m...

As for my favourite spoonerized business name, it will never not be this furniture showroom in New Zealand...

Today is Spoonerism Day so here’s a list of the top ten best celebrity names when spoonerized… 10. Lude Jaw 9. Bathy Kates 8. Parah Salin 7. Hatt Mancock 6. Sandy Ravage 5. Him Tenman 4. Bean Sean 3. Shartin Meen 2. Rid Kock 1. Cradley Booper

Un pobre podria estar setze anys opositant? Meritocràcia? www.lasprovincias.es/valencia/cos...

"In a recent series of experiments, we paid people a few dollars to unfollow the most divisive political accounts on X. After a month, they reported feeling 23% less animosity towards other political groups." www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Dans la bande de Gaza, la défense civile annonce la mort de 26 Palestiniens près de centres d’aide dans des tirs israéliens

“Together, the two ships emit over 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, according to EU data – more than entire Pacific island nations like Nauru and Kiribati.” #COO30chaos www.climatechangenews.com/2025/07/18/b...

I hope everyone realises that *all* copyright will expire in 2042, as that will be 75 years after Barthes announced The Death of the Author

Checking in on that 'ceasefire' that Israel imposed on Lebanon... This still happens just about every day, often multiple times a day.

... You can read an extract here. Which will give you a bit more of an idea (but not a complete one) of the identity of this mysterious figure lurking in Joe McLaren's brilliant cover art: tomcox.substack.com/p/the-reason... But why was the book almost lost? I'll try to explain...

Beloved Blueskyans, I need a little help —there's a reward. The ERB is growing: major universities across Europe and the US are subscribing. But we need more. Please forward, repost or email the text in the reply to who can subscribe. If you help, I hereby grant you the title of INTELLECTUAL.

"Doctors entering Gaza have resorted to packing individual cans of infant formula in their personal luggage. On at least one occasion, Israeli authorities confiscated 10 cans of infant formula from the luggage of an American doctor recently entering Gaza" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

A la primera part del llibre, les entrevistes. Ara sóc aquí. Passant pàgines a poc a poc, i plorant. És difícil d llegir. Però s’ha de fer. Com un homenatge, potser. Com un respecte Sobre 'Els morts de Mazón', de @deshabitat.bsky.social, a @vilaweb.cat: "Els 228 noms" www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/els...

Dans la bande de Gaza, des bombardements israéliens font au moins vingt-cinq morts, selon la défense civile

Here are some nice mushrooms

He’s speaking my love language thehill.com/business/537...

🚨One of the most terrifying elements of the Trump budget bill is NOT getting enough attention. The Bill will make ICE the biggest policing and incarceration agency in the US. Bigger than the FBI, with more jail space than the Federal Prison Bureau. It’s a budget for a police state.

Seems deeply troubling to implement. Friends taking photos of each other. Photographer owns copyright to the snap, but person photographed has copyright of their own likeness in the picture?

The simple fact that most people do not want to confront is that it COULD BE YOU NEEDING IT at any point. But research shows that this basic fact does not increase empathy with disabled people, because people do not want to believe it.

This is on Trump’s head. Should be headline in every paper

Surprisingly effective things Zohran Mamdani ran on: -free buses -rent freeze -halal cart for $8 instead of $10 -taxing the 1% -no cost childcare -city-owned grocery stores -a Department Of Community Safety for mental health programs and crisis response -building affordable housing -why Cuomo sucks

Speaking of Unbound, today the Bookseller magazine has published this open letter from their authors, including me: it explains our situation and why we want answers (as well as to be paid what we are owed): www.thebookseller.com/comment/the-...

Short video with English subtitles from the @dailycatalan Instagram account showing the Catalan tradition of making the liqueur 'ratafia' on midsummer's eve.