I find it absolutely galling to have read over and over about how the state pension triple lock couldn’t conceivably be overturned/debacle over winter fuel payments while there has been as yet zero political commentary about how exploitative student loans have been for a whole generation.

Deeply amused by Limavady Utd dumping Linfield out of the Irish Cup. Although as a properly anxious / borderline superstitious Glentoran fan, also hoping Drumaness Mills, who we play later today, are not the Nemesis who follow my hubris.

Hadrosaurs have got even cooler

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

Is there anyone out there of good character who can clean house and make the case for our best invention, liberal democracy? Because now I fear only cynical populists will prosper.

Stop. Buying. Stuff. On. Amazon. Just. Because. It's. Handy.

Penny for Christopher Steele's thoughts

Annual Conference is the UK's largest annual gathering of microbiologists. Register now to secure your spot: https://microb.io/AC26Register #Microbio26

When the Guinea worm eradication program began in 1986, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases across 21 countries in Africa and Asia.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... So he *did* mind if people got filthy rich and *didn't* pay their fair share of tax. Utter treachery of a colleague.

Definitely seems like they destroyed the country on purpose.

Hard to see how this latest Mandelson scandal, & the accumulated effects of all priors, can be anything other than very damaging to Starmer. Appalling judgement having him around. Although there is a case Starmer is the Labour leader holding the can when the music stopped. Surely others suspected?

Why isn't this a major news story?

Alistair Darling and the official Treasury were always aware that investment banks had an inside track to Number 10. But the brazen nature of that inside track is rather breath-taking.

But AT THE TIME was a public servant.

Both MRC and BBSRC responsive modes now withdrawn until further notice. Existing applications unlikely to succeed (late 2025 round expecting 1-5% success rate). Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating. Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky

@nickcohen.bsky.social wrote a superb piece about Matt Goodwin recently and made the same diagnosis Thompson made back in 1941. Embittered middle class people who feel society owes them something, and that 'elites', of whom they are jealous, have held them back, are often primed to go fash.

Source: Belfast Telegraph search.app/3qrR1 He's not wrong, is Declan Devine! Now we need a decent partner for him up front, someone who can regularly test keepers inside and outside the 18 yard box.

Watching Alex Honnold through my fingers. Terrifying.

No water, no heating, no power, -15 degree weather outside. It is not on the front pages of your newspapers, but Ukraine is living through a humanitarian disaster right now because of Russian bombardment and the world has barely noticed.

How Niall Ferguson went from a respected historian and Trump critic to a Trump booster—he even now chalks up January 6th to pandemic craziness and believes Trump genuinely believes he won in 2020—handpicked by Bari Weiss for a CBS pundit gig. www.thebulwark.com/p/how-niall-...

Just back from seeing 'Melania'. The twist at the end, when she walks into the ensuite and sees Putin and Trump in the shower. 🤯

I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable. Biden himself said they were fabricated! www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

It's telling how Green people keep trying to twist what Polanski did with Thypnoboobs stuff because it is entirely indefensible and speaks hugely to his character. It's a puff piece. He is directly quoted saying his hypnosis can have a physical effect. He's lying to vulnerable women for publicity.

@staridaz.bsky.social is supporting the second #DIAH conference through supporting 2 researchers to present their innovation. Candidates from outside of Europe and LMICs that work on a STAR IDAZ priority topic and that pass the selection process will be prioritised. Don’t wait and submit now!

Peer review science relies, more than we care to admit, on what @zey.bsky.social calls "load bearing frictions" that make it difficult to fake good science, and on trust that most ppl also value science itself & won't cheat just for personal gain. This creates the wrong environment for that to hold.

Global exodus: How climate change is forcing hundreds of millions of people to relocate As the planet continues to warm, states should already begin preparing for new waves of migration.

An outbreak of Nipah virus has been confirmed in West Bengal, India. Nipah has a fatality rate of 40 to 70 percent, according to the CDC, and no cure or vaccine. Here's what to know about the virus:

Wife recently got me a small notebook and I've taken to sketching in it to de-stress.

Lambasted (n): sheep born out of wedlock.

Please please vaccinate your child against measles. This is from our @independentsage.bsky.social report from last year, led by @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social & @helensalisbury.bsky.social independentsage.org/wp-content/u...

Labour should be campaigning and calling Reform, 'Reborn' with a picture of Liz Truss and a lettuce in front of that teal background colour they use.

It's Burns' night!

Some of Saturn’s moons sculpt its rings with gravity. Here’s Prometheus (right) dragging ripples through the F ring as it passes. Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute #astronomy

Reform MP Andrew Rosindell tells the BBC that he "would not object" to scrapping the NHS and replacing it with private insurance

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand... The news is often overwhelming. I only found this recently. It's a tonic. A reminder of the good our species can do. The heights we can soar to.

American Fascism is testing the limits of what it can get away with, having already gotten away with a failed coup, we are now well into the rounding people up without due process and extrajudicial executions stage.

Alex Pretti, the man killed by federal agents today in Minneapolis, appears to have been a registered nurse, an athlete, a son and a brother, with ties to Colorado and Wisconsin. Here is a photo he used for several accounts.

In case you missed it: My suggestion that Farage was whispering to Trump behind the scenes while Trump was going after Greenland has been essentially confirmed. As @jamesdaustin.bsky.social notes: Working against your country's interest with a semi-hostile state - there's a word for that.

We can all get things wrong, but if I had been this consistently and catastrophically wrong about such important issues I don't think I could carry on publishing my opinions every week. I'd want to go away and think about how I'd so badly misunderstood the things I write about.

Thiel, Vance and the Second Coming. Or how to govern a humanity that you despise open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...

An observation test for your inner 8-year-old. You’ll be doing well to spot 12 deliberate mistakes. From Treasure magazine, 1963 Official answers coming soon (Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one?)

midnitelibrary.itch.io/you-are-revi... This is glorious!

Sky News: Danish PM Mette Freideriksen’s note in the visitors book when she visited UK today

Next week Netanyahu will honour Charlie Kirk as a “fighter against antisemitism” even though Kirk revelled in anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. My piece on how the Israeli far-right will welcome any racist as long as they hate Muslims more than they hate Jews comment.press/as220126

Sinners was such a great film. A vampire, delta blues musical with Buddy Guy. What's not to like?

If only it was Dignitas.

Let's cut a deal with the great deal maker. The greatest ever. Release the Epstein files fully and unredacted, and Trump can have Greenisland maps.app.goo.gl/uVUjEMgtjV16...