While JK Rowling and Amnesty are being mentioned in the same breath it's worth remembering why she lost her job there.

I have been pathetically ready and willing to give Burnham a proper go. But if the rumors are true that his first act as Prime Minister will be to announce new oil and gas drilling licenses for the North Sea, then the answer to the question below is: no

But another part of the problem has always been Labour's failure to understand its 2024 coalition, or basic electoral dynamics. It has lost voters to Reform, but these are a fairly unique fragment of their 2024 voters, v unlike those staying loyal or the greater number defecting to the Greens + LDs.

Seems like a good time for a reality check at the highest levels of the Labour Party

Another Oxford cargo bike theft!! Mine is customised by having a lot of stickers and nail varnish my kids did on it. Stolen on Meadow Lane at 18.30 today locked to a Sheffield stand. Please LMK if anyone sees it for sale. Probably in Cambridge. ;)

Economically illiterate economist Tim Leunig, author of such pieces as BEEP BEEP VROOM VROOM and MOAR ROADS gets a peerage from the Lib Dems.

The UK's record heatwaves have made a chunk of voters more worried about climate change and impatient for help from the government Public First polling for Politico found - 36% now more supportive of renewables - over 40% now more concerned about climate www.politico.eu/article/heat...

If Burnham announces drilling for more North Sea oil and gas, well, I’d like to say I give up. but there isn’t any giving up. The world is already burning and this fight will last for *at least* the rest of our lives, and our poor bloody kids lives too. I am so tired

Lab could probably get away with quietly soft pedaling - but anything construed as anti is a big opening for Polanski. Think @luketryl.bsky.social & MiC has always found similar. Just quite a really big gap between the elite/SW1 vibes on this area and where it sits as an electoral issue.

Along similar lines, associating Net Zero with high energy costs intuitively lands with core Reform 2024 voters but nobody else. Most just don't think about it much at all beyond passive support. Except for Lab/Green voters for whom it's still v important to be solid on it!

...so you drive voters to the Greens while not bringing back (or over) any from Reform or the Tories. In this sense, Lab coalition is pretty together on it. It’s the Con vote that's more split between what’s left of the Goldsmith environmental types and new wave NZ skeptics

Weird thing is most testing will show you that one of the most vote losing positions Labour could adopt is explicit anti-Net Zero signalling. This is because climate still disproportionately matters to Lab/Green voters while Lab/Reform voters don’t care either way...

“It feels like Ed is the thing to spend your political capital on. Otherwise what’s the point?” one Labour MP said. This is the key on Mahmood as Chancellor, I think. Burnham will never have a better chance to set his economic agenda. Why quit before you start? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I wonder, if you polled people, how much extra they would pay each year to have their city *not* be covered in thick, choking wildfire smoke for days at a time. I wonder if that might give you more insight into "willingness to pay" vis a vis climate change than asking in the abstract.

I blame Andy Burnham

I am not really at all invested in the football but today does feel like a Hopes-For-The-Country-Being-Dashed kind of a day

Was not even on my bingo card. Bewildering

It’s so important to remind people that we can do good smart things that help and don’t hurt.

The UK's June heatwave caused a £2.4bn hit to productivity, says a new report It says the cost of extreme heat could reach £6bn/yr by 2030 Interesting, bc we tend to focus on the cost of cutting emissions, rather than cost of failing to do so… www.verdantthinking....

It is mad that we have, somehow, allowed net zero - a policy common to all major parties under 5 years ago and supported by a majority of the public - to become a synoym for mad radicalism. It is doubly mad that we've allowed this to happen during the hottest summer on record.

Every city needs more bike counters. It's a great way to show that bike lanes are busy even when they appear empty. (And they often appear empty because cyclists don't get stuck in traffic.)

Afternoon.

Uh oh. Failing key tests already is it. Well, the Greens are right there, and perhaps it was never realistic to hope that Burnham had the stones to stop the rotten ship from sinking and taking Britain down with it. I had hoped this anyway, tbh, as all the other options lead through Very Bad Places

Former Conservative MP and chief of staff to Theresa May, Lord Barwell on why he was stripped of the whip by Kemi Badenoch. Turns out it came down to one Tweet in which he criticised her decision to oust Tory candidates who want to achieve Net Zero by 2050

“The COGE panel found that these regulations have allowed non-experts to undermine DOT’s planners and designers, drained city resources with repetitive feedback sessions, and set back desperately needed revamps in a city where roughly 50,000 people are injured” in traffic each year.

@emilykerr36.bsky.social you legend

The scientific consensus is clear: #diets rich in diverse whole-plant foods are one of the most effective strategies for promoting long-term #health, preventing chronic diseases, and supporting overall well-being: doi.org/10.1039/9781... #PlantBased #Vegan #Nutrition #CVD #Diabetes #Obesity #Cancer

Some extra context: 🚌 Overall bus & coach travel has fallen by a third since 1990, inc huge drop in service levels 🛩️ UK Domestic flights have halved since 2006, mainly to make room on crowded runways for more long haul flights 🛤️ Rail CO2 cuts are all a) electrification & b) grid carbon intensity

International aviation is the standout growth story Emissions from international flights: ✈️ 15.5 MtCO2e in 1990 ✈️ 36.2 MtCO2e in 2024 That's a 133% increase

Transport is now UK's biggest-emitting domestic sector, acc new gov data for 1990-2024 2024 = 30% of all UK domestic greenhouse gas emissions Broadly unchanged from 2023, but still 10% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019 🧵 👇

Policy on transport emissions is weaker than under last govt. - ZEV mandate for EVs weaker than in 2024 - Charge point installations falling - Little tangible progress on HGV decarbonisation (still no equivalent to ZEV mandate for HGVs) - Policy is to expand Heathrow, Luton, Gatwick, London City

Greenhouse gas emissions from transport stats out today. We really should be talking a lot more about the need for action on transport emissions. www.gov.uk/government/s...

4/4 Here they are, on the same bit of Guardian homepage But the dots are not being joined outside of a narrow section of UK media, who are failing their readers/listeners/viewers as they experience what a horrible, sweaty summer, but which might still be the coolest one for the rest of their lives

3/4 Meanwhile the industry lobby for more oil and gas drilling continues, with support from almost all on the Right of British politics, AS IF PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE HEAT CRISIS THEY'RE DEALING WITH IS A CLIMATE ISSUE www.theguardian.com/business/202...

2/4 However climate change has barely been referred to in coverage of UK heatwaves that delivered conditions for wildfires 3/4 of UK media coverage of heatwaves didn't mention climate as major contributory factor (which it was as confirmed by Met Office/Imperial) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Issue of the public mandate for Net Zero and climate action is beautifully captured by 3 headlines in the Guardian today Exhibit A: climate change impacts getting real. University of Exeter Wildfire Lab says Climate change is making wildfires more likely 1/4🧵🧵 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

One of a range of key upcoming tests for Burnham

Meanwhile

Our new paper reveals a shocking dearth of research on the impact of fossil fuel industry communication aimed at propping up the industry's social license & advancing their public policy & regulatory goals. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Bring it. @mason4c.bsky.social @ioppublishing.bsky.social

Sad that these people died in their beach chairs.

Why don't most Europeans have air conditioning? Dumb? Woke? No - WE DID NOT NEED IT UNTIL FOSSIL FUEL BURNING CAUSED THE CLIMATE CRISIS More info 👇 www.carbonbrief.org/eight-facts-...

Hmm why might Mr Manchester be not super psyched about Heathrow expansion

Good morning almost everyone

☕️🐕🏠🔥

HEY!! Here's a brand new piece for @thepointau.bsky.social - on the amazing situation of the fossil fuel industry promising to sell safe energy but never having done so for FIVE DECADES All to the end of dumping their risk onto our backs: thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

Plenty of fun new numbers in this. Eg - my long-running update of CCS promised vs actual capacity installations. It's......not great!!

Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.

The Met Office weather station on our Monks Wood site recorded 35.7C yesterday, 26 June. It was >30C by 10 am, and the grass temperature reached 45.2C. Imagine being a vole, hare, skylark chick, lizard or ground beetle in that heat. A foot deep, the soil was 22C.

Almost 3,000 excess deaths estimated in England and Wales during May and June heatwaves climatewithbrian.com/2026/07/13/a...