Iran wants a peace deal in Lebanon to be part of wider negotiations with the US to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Lebanon is in danger of becoming an overlooked but increasingly deadly sideshow as both sides ignore US-brokered ceasefires. (£) www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

Researchers found that employees who responded warmly to management jargon scored lower on tests of analytical thinking and problem solving. They were also more likely to make poor calls when presented with practical workplace dilemmas (£) www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a... By @rhysblakely.bsky.social

One thing that won't get enough attention about John Cornyn's loss to Ken Paxton is that, no matter what happens in November, Texas Republicans just willingly gave up seniority in the Senate, one of the most prized currencies in federal politics. Let me explain what I mean... (thread)

27 May 1900 | A Polish Jew, Józef Dubrowski, was born in Radom. A tailor. In #Auschwitz from 10 February 1942. No. 20528 He perished in the camp on 11 April 1942. --- 📖 Jewish prisoners at KL Auschwitz: https://lekcja.auschwitz.org/29_zydzi_en/

Btw, an example of russia trampling the linguistic minority rights it claims to defend so fervently: in free Ukraine, the Bulgarian minority has access to schools that teach Bulgarian whereas in the Ukrainian territories Ru occupies, the authorities have removed Bulgarian from the school curriculum.

So much for the argument that the far right are protecting women and girls. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

A ban won’t shield kids from the harms of social media. The actual work required to protect children is much harder. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit... via @theglobeandmail.com

Tonight's viewing: CS2004 We're currently unable to show this channel. Please check your cables, reboot and then try again. For more info and help visit virginmedia. Called up in the end: a problem in this area. Due to be solved by 00:05. At least I could watch #c4news online

This is the best book I've read yet on AI. mitpress.mit.edu/978026204995... Seems to have gone under the radar compared to some of the more hype-y stuff. Lots of deep dives on neuroscience and linguistics as well as modern A from someone who was in on it at the beginning.

"Save our women and children" from asylum seekers, they said. And yet again, it was projection. They hunt what they see in the mirror. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Poor young woman. Failed by so many. #c4news Came over very impressively, very articulate.

Interesting that the idea of another EU referendum is regularly discussed on broascast media as something that would cause division and thus a bad idea. But plans to deport literally millions of people are discussed as administrative questions.

Netanyahu looks unwell. #c4news Sick old men in a hurry.

For most of my life the legal age to smoke has been 16. #c4news And I've never seen anyone under that age smoking.

The psychology of 'simps': "The fear of being single contributes significantly to the motivation behind male simping behaviors." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42178873/ 🫠

One potential shock awaiting Burnham is that he could lose the by-election. The other, far bigger, shock is that the job of being a “metro mayor”, even of a great city and even if done relatively well, is not particularly good preparation for being PM (£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Some jobs will be lost and others created as a result of AI. But the declining share of income afforded to labour at the expense of capital is unlikely to reverse. This remains the key policy challenge of our new technology. (£) www.thetimes.com/business/eco...

The old sayings are right, bees really can predict the weather www.thetimes.com/comment/regi...

(£) www.thetimes.com/world/russia... By @scribblercat.bsky.social A woman cut off from here son's grave and her granddaughter. War brings trauma on a massive, brutal, bloody scale, but also separation and sadness.

"English Women don't care about their bodies and just walk around with their fat bellies and odd shapes pushing a pram at 16 in their PJ’s." Robert Kenyon - Reform candidate for Makerfield. Patriot. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

But something else remains as small as ever

Nauseating (£) www.thetimes.com/article//art...

Yes. As a result of the Iran war, the world has less stuff, which means everywhere in the world states, businesses and households are paying more to secure a constrained supply. As a result, everything costs a bit more everywhere (and/or it is simply unavailable)

I seem to buy computers following the same pattern Microsoft used to have for its OSs: good, dog, good, dog... Currently a dog, fans going almost permanently, frequently running out of memory, which seems always at 90% and above, etc.

Although Turkey was on an autocratic path before the 2024 election, analysts said that since then the country had transitioned from an authoritarian regime to a hegemonic authoritarian one, like Belarus, Venezuela or Russia. (£) www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Letters in Times today on Palantir

Sonny Rollins, one of the most influential Jazz musicians of our time, died this afternoon. He was 95

. The Strait of Hormuz is about to be opened again. .

Real wages start to shrink in developed countries ft.trib.al/fpHzABi

Who is for and who against the critical evaluation of so-called alternative medicine? edzardernst.com/2026/05/who-...

Who knew progressive ideas would prove so difficult to kill? Thank goodness we have Zoe Strimpel and the rest of the columnists at The Telegraph bravely battling renewable energy, social tolerance and basic human dignity one deranged column at a time.

Letter in Times today from Michael Baum, quoting @edzard.bsky.social

The extent of dependence on foreign student fees is perhaps underappreciated by politicians. My old employer, for example -- RG, highly attractive to British applicants too -- derives 55% of its total fee income from overseas students, & 36% of TOTAL income. Mess with that & thing goes belly-up.

This is damning. As I said this morning, if Farage does not have evidence of a Russian hack, something which should trigger Cobra & a serious investigation, then he needs to apologise to the public and to genuine victims of this kind of violation www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

One of the consequences of richer countries sustaining their own demand for fuel by introducing general subsidies. Countries that can't afford to do this lose out in the global auction.

It's just so predictable: strongman starts off popular, gets things done, becomes more popular, believes he's invincible, inevitably ('events'), loses popularity, reacts with control and oppression, becomes more unpopular, so becomes even more oppressive, etc. #c4news on Turkey

Today has been the hottest day in May on record with Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 34.8°C - exceeding the previous highest May temperature in the UK by a full 2 degrees Celsius🌡️ This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid summer, let alone in May📈

Trump thrashing around desperately trying to find a way to surrender such that his cult followers can fool themselves it's a great deal. #c4news

At Spanish airports, for example, all IAG group airlines (Iberia, BA, Vueling) use this company southeu.com/en/ whose website makes it clear that it is a subsidiary of IAG. Similarly, Ryanair uses and owns "Blue Handling" (or "Azul Handling", in Spain).

That's a bit disingenuous. The airlines choose their ground handling contractors. In some cases they also own that company.

Got to hand it to him, getting your dad to bail you out with tens of millions of USD so you avoid bankruptcy is a fantastic deal (£) www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

The basic proposal is to remove income tax on overtime above a 40-hour week for workers earning less than £75,000. Reform calls it a "hard work bonus", estimates it would cost about £5bn a year, and says it would be funded from welfare cuts.

Inspired by the weather, I am off to look at radiators.

(£) www.thetimes.com/business/eco... By @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social

Newly discovered diaries show that long before A Brief History of Time became a fixture on millions of bookshelves, the young Hawking was a source of paternal anxiety. (£) www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a... By @rhysblakely.bsky.social Sounds like typical father of teenage boy

(£) www.thetimes.com/article//art... Cameras, points on the licence and £1,000 fines. Would stop it in a week.

Eddington report on future transport strategy concluded that much of the UK’s transport infrastructure is there — we didn’t need big new schemes. The biggest gains came from small projects, clearing chokepoints and joining things up. (£) www.thetimes.com/uk/transport... By @whippletom.bsky.social

Fifty-five years ago! Happy Birthday Bob Dylan Peanuts cartoon!!*

This month was the 200th anniversary of the birth of the American landscape artist Frederic Edwin Church on May 4, 1826. (£) www.thetimes.com/comment/regi...