I think it’s as simple as “I don’t want to admit that my election strategy was flawed” and everything else is working backwards from that.

Loosening licensing rules will increase alcohol harm and means fewer protections for communities – especially in already‑vulnerable areas. We encourage other organisations and individuals to share responses too. Don’t let industry influence outweigh the needs of the public.

It really is astonishing that government have given only 3 weeks for a response to their licensing proposals which include setting "economic growth" as a licensing objective. Their top down micromanaging is fundamentally incompatible with public heath and protection from harm.

Asked whether council elections next year will all go ahead and not be delayed, the Minister says the Government wants that to happen. Is that a yes? I'm not sure.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s energy joint venture in India purchased Russian oil transported on sanctions-listed vessels, according to an analysis of satellite imagery, shipping data and customs records by the FT on.ft.com/3WZkFHh

🚨 🪪 The Government seems to have magically pulled £2 BILLION out of the hat to force through their dangerous digital ID plans... Meanwhile, thousands of @waspicampaign.bsky.social campaigners are fighting tooth-and-nail for the compensation they are rightly owe

🎶 There’s a hole in my budget, Ed Davey, Ed Davey, There’s a hole in my budget, ED Davey, a hole…

The thing everyone said would happen has happened. Well done to the government for its complete ignorance of all things tech.

Does the 2024 Lib Dem formula still work?

We're here in Bournemouth at the Liberal Democrats conference. Whilst some parties are turning their back on climate action, the Lib Dems are launching new climate policy and we're looking forward to hearing more. #climateaction

Elon Musk’s dangerous rhetoric is an attack on our democracy. No one—no matter how wealthy or powerful—should get away with using their platform to incite violence or inflame division.

This on the back of MSD walking away from £1B project in London and an almost completed building is pretty disastrous for UK Biomedical science.

Can't believe what nonsense Amol Rajan is talking on Today about AI "being close to obtaining the *skills* to make biological weapons". The theory is very different from the skills. Computers can't do CRIPR. Not the first time I've heard this hype either.

Who out there is a fun guy? Can I eat these? They're growing in my planter.

Abolition of stamp duty would be good for mobility, but surely floating the idea as a long term goal is another way to stifle growth in the short term as people put off purchases in the hope of saving £10,000s. Someone needs to get a grip of the government's messaging.

This week I wrote to the Home Secretary and the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation to challenge the Terrorism Act 2000. Peaceful protest is a fundamental pillar of any liberal democracy, and this legislation is denying people that right.

Akiko Iwasaki opening this #longcovid meeting

Highly sceptical of a government which u-turned on taking a few hundred pounds of winter fuel allowance from wealthy pensioners will be willing to take their cars away. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Needing some help from all the mouse doctors around! Does anyone know who might keep a B10.D2 mouse colony in the UK (or even mainland Europe)?

🧊New episode out🧊 ICE - How Trump built an American Gestapo. Masked men bundling people into unmarked cars is now a state-sponsored activity in the US. @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social ask how we got here. 🎥Video available on Spotify! Listen / watch: linktr.ee/originstoryp...

Happy #YorkshireDay however you celebrate.

Two things happened today... 1) The UK brought in draconian new laws requiring adults to identify themselves online (or at a minimum prove their age) 2) The IDs of millions of women who used the Tea app leaked. If you can't see why 1) is bad when given the evidence of 2), there's no helping you.

Strong vibes the authors gave up when addressing Northern England becuase this map doesn't reflect "economic coherence" Key transport links and TWAs excluded from "Urban Strategic Authority". Wigan but not Warrington? Southport but not Glossop?

I feel seen...

We welcome their belated decision to stop multiple foreign states each owning substantial stakes in our British papers – a move that could have seen malevolent actors club together to undermine our historic press freedoms. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

Reach local news sites are one of the main routes for misleading news to reach UK audiences. Due to idea these outlets have standards they’re included in aggregators and seen by millions. When will DCMS ministers stop listening to news industry lobbyists and open their eyes? bsky.app/profile/jim....

⚠️URGENT ADVICE WANTED⚠️ I have two refugee families in my ward who are being moved involuntarily hundreds of miles away. If anyone knows any immigration lawyer who may be able to give advice, please pass this message on. Email at [email protected]

The disconnect between what voters think local govt is for (doing things they care about like roads and bin collections or things they enjoy like parks and leisure centres) and what local govt actually does (social care, invisible to most residents, poorly provided to those using) is not healthy

Phage people: Rich Losick and I are combing the world looking for T4 rIIB mutant FC0 (also known as P13). FC0 was the starting point for Francis Crick's beautiful 1961 paper on the triplet nature of the genetic code. We want to sequence it. Anyone have it in an ancient stock collection?

Or to put it another way, overseas students now subsidise the cost of teaching each UK undergraduate by an average of £2,500 each. Take them away and you've got an absolutely existential crisis for universities. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...

Labour's vote shares put them in fifth place in the wards with the most graduates. Average figures in grads over 40% wards: Lib Dem: 28.6 Con 25.9 Ref 19.8 Grn 13.4 Lab 12.7

Great to see Llew elected in Winslow and that the ex-tory "independent" didn't fool too many people.

Who's ready for another @thestemvillage.bsky.social Immunology Seminar Series? If you haven't seen these before, we invite LGBTQ+ immunologists to present online to the wider immunology community. If you'd like to present or attend, please drop a mention below #immunosky 🧪 #academicsky

Greek 10-year bond yield is lower than US, UK and Australia. What about them fetas?

Our lab has a postdoc position available to use super-resolution microscopy to understand how nanoscopic localisation of immune checkpoints dictates their function. Please get in touch if interested in applying. www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai... #ImmunoSky #Imaging #Microscopy

Today the Russell Group has published a letter, also signed by CaSE, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Institute of Physics, urging the European Commission President and UK Prime Minister to keep the future of UK-EU research collaboration on the agenda at their upcoming summit in May.

Looking for cycle route suggestions from Hazel Grove (near park & ride) to Oxford Road corridor. Consensus of route planners seems to be back streets to Dialstone Ln, Lancy Hill to A6. Strava/Garmin heatmaps show A6 more popular. Any ideas @owlernook.bsky.social @theblueulysses.bsky.social ?

Trump has been signalling his plan to force Ukraine's capitulation to Russia for years. That European allies aren't better prepared for it is a stunning political failure. Starmer's grovelling last week looking increasingly impotent.

Government missions require long-term R&D plan, says @sciencecampaign.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

She was also a biologist who exchanged ideas with Charles Darwin. The @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social institute was named after her in 2018.

Two weeks left to apply for a postdoc position with the Slack group! Please spread the word!

After one year of the Bradford clean air / low emission zone, GP visits for breathing and heart problems were down by a quarter. My latest for @theguardian.com. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

James Meadway writes “So to summarise, a bunch of Oxford and Cambridge graduates who live in London are very very keen on seeing lots of investment taking place in Oxford Cambridge and London. But don’t worry, this time it’s going to be very different to all the other times this has happened.”

Our study on pasteurising influenza viruses in milk is now out! It's a nice simple story: influenza viruses (including H5N1) are killed really effectively by pasteurisation, but in raw milk they stay infectious - obvious public health implications of both points... (1/2) rdcu.be/d73te

Prior vaccination prevents overactivation of innate immune responses during COVID-19 breakthrough infection | Science Translational Medicine www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Heard from inside the National Cancer Institute, part of NIH — travel through April is canceled. Purchasing with government card is frozen. All public comms are off limits. Can’t even submit abstracts to future meetings. Can’t submit *manuscripts* for publication. All hiring activity frozen. Fuck.