This is true

Essential reading.

The petrostates really want you to hate environmentalists. Don’t fall for it.

Trump, war, attention deficit: five threats to climate progress that dogged Cop30 Did the talks succeed or fail? The verdict must take account of the geopolitical minefield in which they took place Jonathan Watts in Belém www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Happy Birthday to the amazing Beryl Bainbridge, born #OTD 1932. Author of 'An Awfully Big Adventure', 'According to Queeney' and a slew of great novels. I wrote about her travels around England in 'Footnotes' - which is today selling for a ludicrous 99p on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Footnotes-Jo...

One of my favourite episodes of Radio 4's #Ramblings, ever! Anjana's knowledge and passion for all things 'rock' are hugely inspiring, and this episode is an absolute delight. Listen again via link below, and follow Anjana here: @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Just printed out the final proofs. One last (or 12 more) anxious read(s)… Out May 2026!

Pretty sure this is a Van Morrison song.

😢 "Perhaps the most striking findings is that the British public vastly overestimates the cost getting to net zero by almost 14,000%, fueling scepticism & a reluctance to pay. On average, they estimate it will need 28% of GDP by 2050, compared to @thecccuk.bsky.social forecast of just 0.2%"

Today a story I've spent months reporting and writing runs on @desmog.com and @theguardian.com. It's based on hundreds of exclusive documents revealing how Exxon funded the rightwing Atlas Network to spread climate denial across Latin America and the Global South. www.desmog.com/2025/11/03/a...

If you own a Kindle, you might like to buy my books 'Footnotes' and 'A Thing of Beauty' for a ludicrous 99p each. www.amazon.co.uk/Footnotes-Jo...

If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...

My lifelong love of Harrison Ford has just leaped to another level. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The production of 'The Maids' at the @donmarwarehouse.bsky.social is brilliant. An absolute thrill. And the acting from the three characters is phenomenal - such power and speed!

Sounds grim.

Brilliant

Just over £13k still needed to save 112 acres of nature-rich land amid the dairy pastures of Devon. Please chip in if you can, or share this widely.

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Exciting!

Very glad to hear the Pope call for action against climate change. If you oppose urgent action, it's probably because you have your snout in the trough (Trump, Farage, Badenoch).

A United Nations treaty designed to protect the abundant marine life and ecosystems of the high seas - known colloquially as the High Seas Treaty - has received the 60th ratification required for the agreement to be brought into full force. oceanographicmagazine.com/news/histori...

How - given the facts and the news - can climate change 'scepticism' be rising? And given what Starmer must know, how can he possibly not speak out? Isn't that what leaders are meant to do? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I saw 'Constellations' last night, as part of the Wanstead Fringe, and it's absolutely brilliant. I thought (after having seen it in the West End a few years ago) I didn't even much like the play - but this is gripping, in-the-round theatre. Last chance to see it! wansteadfringe.org/series/const...

Oh ok.

For 56 minutes Sky News and BBC News interrupted everything else and carried a Reform UK feed live, uninterrupted, unchallenged. The stream spluttered, froze, pixelated - dozens of times - still they stuck with it. FOR ONE HOUR. This is an editorial choice. No other party gets this coverage. ~AA

Power is the rock on which truth founders. The mainstream media, with a few exceptions, is a single-issue lobby group, whose purpose is to assert the rights of capital. Here's what I've learnt about the industry in 40 years in journalism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Although some people say that Sam Johnson's birthday is (or was) TODAY!

You can buy 'A Thing of Beauty' for your Kindle for 99p at the moment. It's absurd, of course - but if you don't want a print version (from your local bookshop!), then I guess fair enough. And I'd be thrilled to have people read it. amzn.eu/d/ciXTcys

If you haven’t seen it, THIS is what is being allowed - in Marine Protected Areas. youtu.be/eLxmUbQESAU?...

If you are in Corfu at the time of the Literary Festival there are some fantastic events. Or just make time and go! It’s magical. www.corfuliteraryfestival.com

Happy Birthday (probably!) to Dr Sam Johnson, compiler of the first English dictionary and subject of the world's greatest biography (James Boswell's 'Life of Johnson'). 'The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken' indeed...

‘The old summer’s-end melancholy nips at my heels. There’s no school to go back to; no detail of my life will change come the onset of September; yet still, I feel the old trepidation.’ — Sara Baume

Where to report any sightings of the poisonous orange-faced predator.

On one hand, reducing car use reduces urban pollution. But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable

If you are in Corfu at the time of the Literary Festival there are some fantastic events. Or just make time and go! It’s magical. www.corfuliteraryfestival.com

Apparently it’s International Dog Day. So here’s the much missed Bonnie - camping enthusiast, reader, beach lover and friend.

5 years after Brexit, it’s shamefully clear that UK is being left behind on environment policy. With few exceptions, Govt has *deliberately* chosen not to keep up with standards of EU neighbours. Worse, in a number of areas they’re planning to actively go backwards @ieep.eu @europeanmovement.co.uk

I just signed this petition calling for better cooperation with the EU on the environment. Will you add your name, too? www.europeanmovement.co.uk/uk-eu-enviro...

The great JB Priestley died #OTD 1984. Here he is in his travel book 'English Journey', written in 1933.

Friends in London, Oxford, Bristol, Edinburgh and Sheffield, here are some dates for your diaries! There will be chat about GREYHOUND which may (or many not) involve: the appification of travel, mobility (who gets to move and who gets left behind), communal space and its privatisation, (1)

Beautiful acorns. Seems like a mast year.

Happy Birthday Guy de Maupassant! Born #OTD 1850. Author of over 300 brilliant short stories, 6 novels, 3 travel books, some shit poetry, a smutty play - all in about 10 years. Died from syphilis age 43. Here's the bar named after him in Étretat, Normandy. He's buried in Montparnasse Cemetery.

I’ve been trying to put up some new bookshelves.

I’ve just seen a bit in a British-made Netflix series in which an English character said ‘I could give a shit’ instead of ‘couldn’t’ and I am once again calling for the severing of all economic and diplomatic ties with the United States of America.

Writing this makes me realise how many opportunities there are if you know about them. Funded residencies! Grants! Submission opportunities! Make sure you check it out. I want to do it all....

Signed

i dno, maybe time to let it go

Thinking of a trip to Greece? Or just dreaming of the wine-dark sea? The BBC Radio 4 Book of the Year (well, one of them) is a ridiculous 99p on Kindle. amzn.eu/d/aQfvrqk

I’m no expert but I would’ve got a person to do it.