Posted by @ipsumlorem.bsky.social on Facebook.

🔭 Western Moon, Eastern Sea Image Credit & Copyright: Guy Bardon ap260710

Significant cuts following STFC prioritisation. UKRI have published the outcome of the ‘prioritisation’ process at the STFC to bring down projected costs to be in line with the STFC budget. The consequences will be significant cuts to some areas and facilities funded by the STFC.

About to spend summer encouraging young people to be interested in and enjoy science. Then launching a local science club for schools in our area in Autumn. This sort of thing makes it very difficult to encourage them into to science careers with a straight face. A poor reflection on our society.

Major science facilities to be scaled back, UKRI confirms as it unveils final STFC cost-savings plan. STFC will also reduce project spending, despite £135m of fresh money. @francesjones.bsky.social got hold of details ahead of imminent announcement. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

And so the axe drops at @ukri.org . STFC confirmed it will “protect post-doctoral researchers within PPAN grants at the financial year 2025 to 2026 level” including inflationary increases, and “support continued investment in PhD studentships and fellowships”. -- hard to do this on cut projects.

Host demanding 'transparency' from the Count while the while thing is about avoiding that for Farage. Who I note is not there.

I don't think I've ever seen a presenter get the tone quite so spectacularly wrong. Clearly affronted and views Binface as beneath him. Why the hell are you trying to do a gotcha hit on a man in a bin costume?

I'm not sure "he's not even a real bin" is the winning electoral argument some of Count Binface's opponents imagine. I think the voters of Clacton had pretty much already realised that on their own.

This is how we know they are actually worried.

Already with the negative campaigning - nervy Nigel's calling in the troops... Because Count Binface is funny. And, not only that, he is also pretty nimble in interviews with some good points to make about democracy and representation.

How strange that two such stories around Trump should appear on the same day.

I go on quite a lot about Reform’s migration plans but not enough people seem to realise the effect they would have on hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have made their lives here. It would be Windrush x 20.

Show long before Reform start trying to cast @countbinface.bsky.social as an establishment false flag actor instead of the hero he really is?

😳 Trump just flubbed his way through his meeting with Zelenskyy, at various points referring to the "Islamic Republic of Japan," repeatedly calling Zelenskyy "President Putin," and railing against the "JCPOC" Here's the blooper reel:

Yes, a Torygraph reader. And writer.

At a minimum this all has the appearance of being dodgy as hell. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

So, there is a precedent for vetoing an MP's resignation Viscount Chelsea (Henry Cadogan) applied for the Chiltern Hundreds in 1842 The Chancellor (Goulburn) refused because, get this, Cadogan wanted to resign to obstruct an investigation for bribery h/t @fascinatorfun.bsky.social and @gazhay.com

🔭 Swift Boost Mission Image Credit: Katalyst Space Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II) ap260708

As always, Nick Robinson misses the mark. The real question is: “why do you claim a democratic vote legitimises the dodgy donations to Farage? Isn’t that literally straight out of the fascist playbook?”

When you wanted to "wrestle back the agenda" but the agenda is now whether or not you can beat a bin.

There is a lot here. Most obviously though that this is a massive opportunity for @countbinface.bsky.social. Both he and Farage promise uncosted fantasies but Binface's are based in positivity and fun and have a serious point. Farage's are based in relentless hate. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If only these were satire. “I'm very disappointed because [Farage] promised all these things" "...now we can't even trust Reform, so I really don't know who I'd vote next time.” "I thought he was going to run the country and everything was going to be lovely." www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...

"A spokesman for Tendring District Council confirmed that Farage had offered to cover the cost of the by-election." Uh huh. And the money for that is coming from... where? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“I resign as leader but also nominate myself as the new leader!”

Let no one in Reform ever call anyone a snowflake again

"Reform only has 8 MPs but they're getting a lot of headlines, aren't they?" says the newsreader on the news.

also, not sure you can call it a "press conference" if the press aren't there, diva?

Well, I guess this is one way to make sure he actually spends some time in Clacton with the people there.

Tricked the BBC into giving him a chunk of primetime unchallenged.

Have checked and parliamentary prodecure nerds seem pretty sure: if Farage resigned, triggered a by-election, and won, the old investigations could all resume. So unless they're wrong (and I don't think they are), there's no procedural get-out-of-jail card here.

Will the people of Clacton even be able to tell they don't have an MP for the next couple of months?

Breaking: UK's Worst Man unhappy with consequences of his own actions.

Calling a by-election over the sovereign right of every MP to take secret gifts from a convicted criminal. What a time to be alive.

Good grief. He took a long time getting to resigning to avoid scrutiny didn't he. All the usual chip on shoulder tropes along the way too. I hope the people of Clacton turf him out on his ear.

Not the first time he’s done it, either, it’s been a repeated line and it’s an insult to the memories of Jo Cox and David Amess (as well as Ian Gow, Sir Anthony Berry, Robert Bradford, and Airey Neave, if you go back a bit further).

Almost certainly. He has an unavoidable need to play the outside hero coming to the rescue. And thereby dodging scrutiny. His other desperate need.

I have no idea what he's going to say but man a Reform leadership contest would be hilarious.

Well, the Americans elected a crook, so why not the French? We seem to be skirting that way too.

Americans are now so used to their president cheating and breaking rules that many of them seem genuinely not to understand why the world was rooting for Belgium.

It really would be a damning failure of the progressive parties, and indeed our entire electoral system, if we end up with a government that torches the UK’s climate policies on behalf of the 16 per cent of people who believe against all evidence that climate change is nothing to worry about.

FACTCHECK: A guide to manufacturing headlines, by the Times 1) highlight upfront costs of an “eco” home (EV, heat pump, solar) 2) pretend that petrol cars and gas boilers are free (yes really) 3) count upfront “eco” costs twice, for good measure 4) that’s it!

Trump (and Rubio and Vance) have made it plain they want to shape UK (and other European) politics in their own image to their own ends. We must not forget they are anti- #democracy

Remember how Trump and his team campaigned on the promise of "free speech", and claimed - generally without a shred of evidence - that progressives were shutting it down? Well, here's the reality. Speak out against these paramilitary murderers, and you could find yourself in very big trouble.

There are now major wildfires in France, Spain, Portugal and Greece at the same time. The climate crisis is here and it’s *still* not being treated as the emergency that it is.

Prosecution seeks death penalty in regards to murdered man who professed to follow Christ. Madness. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Trump summing himself up again. "...the referee gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't think it meant much." www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage threatens a Sky News journalist who asks about his undeclared gifts from convicted criminal George Cottrell "You harass my family anymore, there will be serious consequences"