“This is censorship... This is a demonstration that some of the worst abuses in our time are not confined to kings, emperors, governments … but to a class of companies that have assumed the sovereign affect, and seek to assert their power the same way that some of those despotic nation states do.”

Memories of the Summer of 1976 endure in the British memory, 35.9 °C, parched fields, standpipes in the streets. 50 years on and, in the last decade alone, temperatures above 36 °C have been recorded on six days in the UK and the UK’s highest record temperature now stands at 40.3 °C.

As we face an unprecedented May heatwave, please remember that globally we haven't any idea how many are killed by extreme heat. The given estimates may be a small fraction of the real total. A huge and shocking data gap, which illustrates rich world indifference. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The UK urgently needs a climate adaptation strategy that is *fair* - enabling frontline coastal communities to move, as communities, rather than the false dichotomy of 'hold the line' vs 'abandon' Great piece by Sandra Laville exploring the complexities: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I’m not sure if we’ve become desensitised or what but there are high res models showing 35-36C on Tuesday. “It’s just summer” apparently in final spring month. The much touted 1976 summer never got hotter than 35.9C in early July. We are in May….

Tonight will be a warm and uncomfortable night for sleeping in the south📈 Temperatures may not fall below 20°C in a few spots - this is known as a tropical night, uncommon in mid-summer, let alone May🌴 The highest daily minimum temperature record for May could be broken 🌡️

Western Europe Bakes! Pink dots are all-time records for May. I count at 30, but there are many more. Temps 15°C+ (almost 30F) above normal. For some areas a heatwave this extreme this early is without precedent, but climate change makes it much more likely, more intense and longer lasting.. 1/

🌊 The ocean absorbs >90% of Earth’s excess heat, and our ability to track it depends on a fragile global network of floats, ships and sensors. New research warns that cuts to the Global Ocean Observing System could make climate signals indistinguishable from noise. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lots of terrible things happen in every war but I’m not going to soon forget the dozens of little girls killed in the opening salvoes of this war. The recourse to war—even “just” airstrikes—should be regretted by leaders and citizens because every war kills innocents.

Treasury rejected ministers’ plan to cut VAT on public EV charging to 5%

“if humans fail to collaborate during times of abundance, they will fail three times as much to find common ground during times of scarcity. Not my opinion. I’m just reading out the history for you, directly from the book” open.substack.com/pub/georgets...

IMPORTANT: The Dutch invested €595 million annually on urban biking, resulting in €19 BILLION saved in public health care costs alone. That’s how smart governments do the math on investing in better mobility. Let’s be clear— it WASTES public money to NOT do it. #CityMakingMath HT @modacitylife.com

(Sorry to repeat myself, but there are things we can do, plenty of them)

Got to be honest, loosening sanctions on Russia before we’ve even tried any basic demand-side measures is not filling me with pride or joy

The price of fish has gone up in no small part because of Brexit. We import the fish we eat and export the fish we catch here. Extra costs around logistics. Some of us did say this would happen but it's not getting mentioned at all in articles like this. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

This thing is NOT an e-bike it is a motorbike and should not be sold to children. Anything that does not require pedal input from the rider is a motorbike. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/...

England must harvest rainfall and take action on water usage, Lords warn: Without urgent intervention England faces water shortages of 5bn litres a day by 2055, peers tell government Rainwater harvesting, the use of grey water in homes and an urgent campaign to reduce water usage across s...

That's a great phrase, populism killing the future. And we have to face up to the fact that social media is the fundamental factor driving populism. Because social media - and its influence on traditional media - is the only common feature to all countries where populism is rising.

The forecast for Sunday in London is 32°C. There is a chance of breaking the UK record temperature for May of 32.8°C, which occurred back in 1944, just before D-Day. Recent paper from Met Office discussing the 1944 heatwave with modern context: rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Does that include the £5mn?

The BBC News homepage has now returned Climate to its main menu following the local elections. However, it still remains lower down the left-to-right ordering compared to recent years. (See my thread about this below.)

I don't see anyone proposing any big changes. More tinkering around while ignoring the really difficult stuff - immigration, social care, local government funding, EU relations, share of government spending, the entire regulatory state...

Worryingly, the rate of severe school absences is rising. But there's a lot of regional variation, with London performing significantly better ⤵️ buff.ly/SdrRmBm

In other news, the government today announced 26 life peerages for hereditary peers, including for one Duke, three Earls, and three Viscounts. Such is the break with the status quo. www.gov.uk/government/n...

"I Know I’m Clickbait, I Know I’m Being Monetised’ Sadiq Khan talks to me about his ten years in City Hall and how this new era of rising algorithmic online hate is now transforming our politics and putting his own personal safety at risk bylinetimes.com/2026/05/12/s...

Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jess Phillips and Alex Davies Jones; so far all 3 ministerial resignations are women, 2 directly responsible for delivering on the manifesto pledge to halve violence against women and girls. There has been real simmering anger in the women's PLP about not being listened to.

My longer take on UK politics - we've become addicted to simple solutions to run away from the Brexit contradictions, and they inevitably don't work causing a vicious cycle of discontent. The necessary reset must seek to make a services economy popular. ecipe.org/insights/res...

Labour's processes for changing leader are hopelessly, catastrophically unsuited to government. More than half of all prime ministers since 1945 have taken over between general elections. This is not an unusual procedure. So it really matters when parties screw this system up... 🧵

Great Britain has been ahead of the US when dealing with the revelations in the Epstein files. Epstein survivor, Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, ‘Nobody’s Girl’ has been named Book of the Year at the British Book Awards! #ProudBlue #GreatBritian www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Spiralling global temperatures (1850-2026) It is exactly 10 years since I first put this animated graphic of changes in global temperature online. #ClimateSpiral It instantly went viral. People watched it over and over again. It still offers the power to shock a decade on.

It's good that Reform UK have won more councils. It will provide even more evidence of their total incompetence when governing before the country decides who should be the next national government. This is an opportunity to expose Reform UK's ineptitude & shallow populism to the British electorate.

Why 2030 Is a Point of No Return for Climate Change 2030 is not just a year — it’s a climate deadline. the 1.5°C target matters, how feedback loops could trigger irreversible damage, and what the world must do now. Why 2030 Is a Point of No Return for Climate Change medium.com/@sanghamitra...

It’s Act III of a dreadful play. The people who brought you Brexit & Boris Johnson (not all of them based in Thailand) have now set Farage on the path to power. And Labour look incapable of stopping him… open.spotify.com/episode/25eY...

now thats an anecdote with a punch, from Gillian Tett www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

How infuriating to hear the chairman(?) of Asda on the Today programme implying that land use for solar farms might significantly hurt UK food production. It's nonsense. Golf courses use more than solar ever will & beef/lamb production is huge yet provides a tiny fraction of our protein & calories.

This is frightening. 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 open.substack.com/pub/charliea...

Tesco argues equal pay claim disregards ‘economic reality’ ft.trib.al/HAPlSrP

The way the US/UK/even Canada are treating their universities, and the way European jobs are so tied to grant-getting, I genuinely believe that, in 20 years, fancy PhDs are going to be fighting each other for top jobs in Japan/China/India

“They are everywhere, raping all your women”. “Who are” “The small boats migrants, I would not come to your country” point out that I’m a criminal lawyer who observes the footfall of rape cases on a daily basis and check government statistics and explain 83% of rape defendants are white in the UK

Fairbanks 60-month (five year) running total precipitation (rain plus the water equivalent of snow) over the past 90 years. It’s as if something changed about 2015. #akwx #Climate #Precipitation #ClimateChange

A truly scary story As you all know , one of the hidden risks of #ClimateChange is the clouds After South California data , here is the data about Europe Clouds are disappearing .... Plain scary #ClimateCrisis #Metacrisis

In 1964, when my father was 20 years old, he went to Mississippi to register voters as part of Freedom Summer. NPR interviewed us in 2021: www.npr.org/2021/07/14/1...

We are facing strongest El Niño in 150 years-median forecast for 2026. It could rival — or even surpass — the 1877 El Niño, the strongest on record, which was linked to drought, monsoon failure & global food crises in parts of Asia, Africa, & S America. www.linkedin.com/posts/jeff-b...

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.” “Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath Some costs are savings.

This was already evident before 2024, private companies simply don't have the incentives to meet the new homes pledge, but it was helpful to them that there were so many people happy to make the case for them to enhance profits by relaxing planning rules.

This weekend news broke that President Trump has fired members of the National Science Board (NSB), which oversees the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). This independent governing body has advised U.S. presidents and Congress on scientific policies for more than 75 years.

Paris urban biking investment helps cut pollution in half: “Between 2005 and 2024, levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter — 2 of the most harmful pollutants to human health — have been slashed by 50% and 55%, respectively.” Via @momentummag.bsky.social momentummag.com/paris-proves...

Steve Kerr spot on as usual