This is a deeply depressing read. Even has a bit of “scary China” thrown in for good measure. This is what happens when norms and shared values get tossed. Everything comes into play. spacenews.com/a-double-sta...

And again - German space investment...

Significant that Germany are investing heavily in space capacity.

I always love reading Dwayne's articles in the Space Review. They will always have something interesting in them.

I genuinely believe that Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the most beautiful of all Star Treks. Even the artwork it produced and inspires is beautiful.

"Very impressive application and we'd be delighted to have you help us. Just one question... you say there were only three reactors in Pripyat?"

I very much like the look of that Ashes squad. Packed full of quick bowlers and recognising that Pope is no longer a knock-in bet for No.3 #cricket

To cheer myself up, I’m making what can only be described as a decadent Ragu.

All that royal flattery and five days later Trump tells the world that Britain's going to hell and London's governed by sharia law. To repeat: the scorpion always stings.

So much of the way we view umpires has been shaped by Dickie. He was a pioneer! But most of all, he very deeply loved the game. RIP Mr Dickie Bird.

A lovely morning working whilst listening to the new Divine Comedy on repeat. All the Pretty Lights shows that Hannon still knows how to put an entire life into a song.

Progress MS-32/93P: A nice view of the approaching Progress; range to ISS is now less than 1 km

This game has shown the power of “scoreboard pressure”. It has also shown the advantage of having a fit Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid in your side #cricket

I genuinely think a cogent argument can be made for Neil Peart being the greatest rock drummer of them all. He was magnificent.

Aiden Markram is a proper player #cricket

Last Night of the Proms is always near my birthday and is the gateway to Autumn. Back in the days when there were things on BBC that I wanted to watch, it was also the starting point of the run up to the Christmas shows.

That was staggering. Salt was like a man possessed. #cricket

This pitch is a road, but South Africa have been utterly profligate with their no-balls #cricket

Bethell has decided to join in England’s range hitting practice #cricket

It’s very early days, but this England Men’s White Ball #cricket side is starting to look very exciting. Buttler, Salt, Bethell, Brook, Jacks - you wouldn’t fancy bowling to any of them!

Buttler looks absolutely on it tonight #cricket

Frankly, Mower is up there among the Gods of Old. His performance in The Devil Rides Out alone ensures that.

Hey, cool - this article cites my 2001 NASA-published monograph HUMANS TO MARS. (Not that I think the proposal it describes is workable.) ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20...

And this may seem irrelevant at the moment. But: 1) EU and ESA convergence is inevitable. 2) UK is 3rd biggest contributor to ESA budget 3) EU will stop non-EU members from getting the goodies in lucrative contracts 4) UK will say "Hey, we're paying in... why aren't we getting a piece of the pie?"

Kai-Uwe is one of the very best thinkers on European space law (a key adviser behind the EU Space Act). Always worth listening to him if you are interested in how the EU moves forward in space exploration and how this will affect ESA (and by implication the UK's space strategy).

Re: last RT. Conor Gearty was a giant of constitutional law. The rarest blend of compassion, fierce intellect and kindness. The world (and especially the academic study of law) will miss his insights and wisdom.

Awful news about the death of the great Conor Gearty. Perhaps the kindest and most encouraging law professor imaginable. A dreadful loss to the study of civil liberties and constitutional law.

To be fair, the amount of stupid that I am reading generally makes me wonder whether I am the one out of step.

It's this type of nonsense that makes me despair. Designed to pander to people who wouldn't care if every University was firebombed.

Rick Davies (slightly out of sync) performing 'Downstream' youtu.be/lL04yjjtX_c?...

RIP to a wonderful writer and performer. The Yang to Roger Hodgson's Ying in Supertramp and someone who is responsible for some of the loveliest pop music of its time. Go well Rick x

This is really good stuff.

What a player Bethell is turning into. That was a magnificent hundred #cricket

I don't like my new glasses. I mean, they do all the 'seeing' stuff that I need, but I think they make me look like a dweeb*. *More like a dweeb than normal

The problem with any reentry mission. Where to reenter?

In the latest RUSI Commentary, William Dixon explores why the UK needs to create a dedicated national agency to combat disinformation, similar to how the NCSC was established to handle cyber threats.

Also, the Suede album is 39 minutes long. The perfect length for an album. Just as 89 minutes is the perfect length for a film and 23 minutes is the perfect length for a sitcom. I bet you've missed these pearls of wisdom.

Perennial reminder: the 'Sputnik moment' was only a negative event for the relative minority group who had some prior emotional investment in being *first* in space. For most of the world, Sputnik was felt as an inspiring achievement.

This new Suede album is a bit tasty.

As Aquinus said If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever!

This has not been a great week. I won’t bore you with the reasons and I’m sure it can all be explained away by deficiencies on my part. So a bit of self reflection is needed. I am, however, still extremely fortunate and privileged. Tomorrow will be better.

Endemic corruption and being international pariahs through an illegal war is not conducive to developing peaceful space capabilities. And after the OneWeb fiasco, their commercial reputation as a launch provider (in a globally throttled market) is in tatters.

For every year I have been alive (that I can remember) there is one day where I think “oooh it’s coming in dark earlier” and being genuinely surprised by this. Even though it is the most predictable occurrence. You can literally set your clocks by it. Yet still, old dumbo here is surprised.

I got the Professionals crime busting kit for my 9th birthday. I have - to this day - never been happier with a birthday gift.

These have been an absolute joy. Thank you John for what you’ve done and - hopefully - for what’s to come.

#OTD 22 August 2005, the NASA/ESA/ASI #Cassini spacecraft mission returned this image of #Saturn 's moon #Titan, taken from a distance of about 159 000 km 🧪🔭. www.esa.int/spaceinimage... @science.esa.int

Whatever happens from here, there is no going back to how things were. There has been a fundamental change in politics, economics, diplomacy. I fear things will get a lot worse before they get better. I wonder if we have seen the modern Romulus Augusta and if so, I wonder who Odoacer will be?

Not now Cyborg Jellyfish!

If you have interest in the development of China’s space programme, give my wonderful friend @andrewjonesspace.bsky.social a follow.

Aesop’s fable of the Wind and the Sun usually makes for good policy decisions.