I have a commentary in CarbonBrief about the French heatwave. A few highlights. www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-f...

I’m wondering if Belgium should send Trump a box of chocolates for accomplishing the dual feat of firing up their team while demoralising his own through his crude and crooked intervention. #fifa #worldup

I’m working on a systems thinking ‘causal loop diagram’ connecting energy, electrification, climate impacts (nature, agriculture, health), national security, extreme weather, nature, etc using a causal link diagram - I’ll try to get it published but interested in who else has published similar work.

BBC Radio 4’s ‘More Or Less’ this morning (at 15’40” into programme) totally demolished the ridiculous story - that repopulating Whales is a major solution to climate change by sequestering carbon - that has been around for a years but has been reinvigorated by the not so clever bods at the IMF. 1/

The best bit during the game was commentator “whoever loses is going to be leaving the Americas 🧐 although I suppose Paraguay will be staying whatever happens” (or words to that effect). Almost as good as David Coleman’s “there are players all over the field!” from 1978 if I recall correctly.

This Global Weirding episode from 7 years ago by @katharinehayhoe.com is still unsurpassed in how it answers the question of "what's the big deal with a few degrews?". It combines engaging metaphors with plain english, all underpinned by scientific insight. Please share. youtu.be/6cRCbgTA_78?...

The Comma, and you can see why it is called that from its underwing, is my favourite butterfly and always loves to rest on our garden steps handrail. It always gives me joy seeing it return, for another year, as it did this evening. 1/2 @savebutterflies.bsky.social #comma #nailsworth

A couple of quickie watercolours in small sketchbook. The first using minimal gear on windy Manorbier Besch. The second a view of Penally from the beach path done in ‘street art’ style. #pembrokeshire #manorbier #penally #watercolour

When I talk to lay people about retrofit - be it heat pumps, insulation or solar - they often feel it difficult to get practical actionable information. It can be a bit too high level in some cases or too technical in others. On social media it is the usual back and forth claims and counter claims.

This is an impromptu exchange I had with Claude AI on consciousness. I have to admit to a glass of wine, whereas Claude was completely sober. Needless to say, I feel it was a draw! essaysconcerning.com/2026/06/10/w...

Is there anything more sublime than Sandy Denny singing her song Who Knows Where The Time goes on this rendition by Fairport Convention on the History Album. Rediscovering a love of the simple pleasures of vinyl. No track switching algorithms, just enjoying a work of art as it was conceived.

📣 Our ‘A Well‑Adapted UK’ report is live. How do we protect our way of life from the biggest climate risks we face today? www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLU7... ⬇️

Future carbon emissions scenarios will be determined by politics. The warming *associated with* those scenarios will be determined by physics. If you fail to acknowledge the fundamental difference between these two things, you're either as dim-witted or dishonest (or both) as Donald Trump.

So the Greens won with a plumber, so now Reform come up with a plumber in the Makerfield by-election. Is this a weird kind of mirroring behaviour at work or what? All we need now is for Burnham to prove he can clear a blocked u-bend and it’s game on.

Journalists outside No. 10 saying “it’s an absolute riot here” … caused by …hmmm … journalists! #bbcnews #skynews

@skynewsrss.bsky.social why is @bethrigby.bsky.social not challenging Reform claiming an old property cannot be heated by a heat pump? Heat pump experts have called out this misinformation but you let it go by. Here’s an actual real world example. My house. essaysconcerning.com/2023/03/29/h...

Tired of the persistent attacks on the cost of running a heat pump vs. a gas boiler. I know many have debunked this, but I thought I'd try a different approach to illustrate the role of the 'spark gap' essaysconcerning.com/2026/04/22/w...

Please can we have JD Vance come to support Nigel Farage come the next UK general election

Despite spark gap, it is cheaper to run an EV than an ICE car even using Ofgem capped electricity prices. A well installed heat pump will cost no more to run than a replaced gas boiler, again because of relative efficiency. However, fixing the spark gap would speed the transition immeasurably. 1/3

Prostate cancer, radiotherapy, Avogadro’s number & me What I get up when having radiotherapy is perhaps a little idiosyncratic, but a great distraction. Reflecting on those doodles created a surprising result from Claude AI following my curiosity led questions essaysconcerning.com/2026/03/25/p...

Watching the Tories and Reform doubling down on drill baby drill will be something they will regret because moving to clean energy is something that will become increasingly popular, and regressive policies will lose the right a lot of votes. Labour need to press hard on this.

The first person to suggest heating homes with a heat pump - in 1852 (yes 174 years ago) - was one of the UK’s greatest scientists, William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). 1/

The release of the internal documents related to the hiring of Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to the US starts today. It brought to mind something I wrote about in a my book 'Trusted Knowledge in a digital and fragmented world of work' in the chapter Institutional Memory … 1/

What's interesting in the history of science is that the understanding that the Earth was a sphere is ancient and until quite recently, even amongst the less well educated, well understood. Even the medieval belief is of a human domain surrounded by a wide ocean. 1/

I’m guessing Edinburgh will be one big party tonight. 50-40 against France. What a game.

A retired General is aghast that the UK doesn’t have the “muscle” to bring force to bear in the Middle East. Well hellooooo Welcome to post Imperial Britain (Talk about living in the past)

No meter, it was removed. So pleased we disconnected from the gas grid in November (when we got induction hob; having previously got a heat pump 4 years ago). All that is needed now is for the uk electricity market to decouple from gas prices and for even harder renewables push as if there’s a war 🤔

The fact that Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic, did not agree to demands from the Trump administration to allow their technology to be used to spy on Americans and for autonomous weapons is to be applauded. Hello Claude, Goodbye ChatGPT

In order to understand UK politics in 2026 you must realise that a plumber & plasterer doesn't represent the interests of the working class because she is left-wing but a wealthy broadcaster & former academic does represent the interests of the working class because he is right-wing. Hope this helps

BBC Radio 4 Today around 7.20am; Anna Foster’s interview of Pres. Herzog. She asked: when this ends? what Iran will look like? He said it’s not about regime change but neutralising military capacity Israel/US has just decapitated the Iranian regime, the very definition of attempted regime change! 🤷‍♀️

remember folks: the energy transition is really not about the consumer price of energy commodities vs. energy technologies. it's really not.

Shocked there is not an *energency* edition of @therestpolitics.bsky.social out yet following the Greens win last night! 😂

@profmarkmaslin.bsky.social you were great on this In Our Time episode, under the new host Misha Glenny, discussing The Great Dying as a counter narrative to the benign sounding Colombian Exchange. It’s great that the inexplicable silence regarding climate change for 25 yrs seems to have been lifted

Jonathan Dimbleby on @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social giving an apologia for the Royal Family's failure to bring Andrew to account (and possibly worse - to give him active cover) is cringeworthy

When Trump, Vance or any of his MAGA entourage make accusations of bad intentions or plans directed at their opponents, be wary! The chances are that is exactly what they are doing or planning. essaysconcerning.com/2026/02/15/m... #MAGA #MirrorPolitics #Accusationsinamirror

Another example of the non apology apology … Sir Jim Ratcliffe “sorry that my choice of language has offended some people"

Essential reading. “I predicted .. in August that Morgan McSweeney would win his power struggle with Sue Gray. He has duly done so .. This is a disaster for Labour, but even more so for Britain .. Such creatures may be useful during election campaigns, but should not be allowed near government.”

Is this the same Kemi Badenoch giving lectures on good judgment www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

It’s good to see the GBR Curling team are doing well thanks to my insightful sofa-based coaching 😅

Good question! @katyrshields.bsky.social has a great four part essay about how deep the rot goes... medium.com/@katyrshield...

“They did what Milad would have wanted,” said his older brother, Reza. “They danced through tears at the burial. Even in mourning, they honoured his vibrant life.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

It’s good to see that not all men are shitty. Two academics, Norman Finkelstein and Joseph Chaney, are in the Epstein files calling out who he is. 💪

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

On #holocaustmemorialday, when BBC Today is asking why the number of schools participating in Holocaust Memorial Day is falling, I’m reposting this piece from 2018 ‘When did you learn about the holocaust?’ writing on how I learned from a passionate teacher. essaysconcerning.com/2018/01/28/w...

Confronting the hereditarian mindset and embracing diversity essaysconcerning.com/2026/01/24/c...

I'll say it again: watching Robert Jenrick do "cunning politics" is like watching a toddler hide behind a cushion. "Where's Robert gone? THERE HE IS! Oh no! Where is he? THERE HE IS!"

Managed to finally get into the studio to do this alla prima (wet on wet) oil study this afternoon of a viewpoint on Pensile Road that always beguiles me

(This is what you get if you add up the entire annual supply of: 1) Food; 2) Construction; 3) Waste and sewerage, and multiply by 25 years)

I saw a truncated headline flash across my feed: Nadhim Zahawi defects … I thought, where do I start?

Charcoal and pencil A3 quickie on Sandbay amongst the grasses looking towards Sand Point