This really is a great picture:

Utterly despicable.

American independent cinema owes much to Sundance king Robert Redford | Adrian Horton

Dismay as north of England universities miss out on share of £54m talent fund. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Letter in Times today

Yes it's much bleaker. Back then department budgets were coming off a decade of increased spending. Now they've been through 15 years of painful spending reviews. There's nothing left to cut.

Having engaged with UNESCO UK, I’m writing a column about #Future100 prospectus commitment to build on World Craft City status to achieve ‘Stoke-on-Trent’s ambition of being designated an International Centre for Ceramics, and pursuing a medium-term plan to become a UNESCO Creative City.’

“The ‘new world order’ of the past 35 years is being demolished before our eyes.” Wise words from Gordon Brown. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"You boy! What tariff is it today?"

Breaking now: Ministry of Economics reporting the tariffs have not caused significant changes to our trading volumes

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

Donald Trump has committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded econ.st/3YbbFjq

This is brilliant!

I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.

FDA lead forced to resign: “I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency…However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

Need to await full facts but on face of it, this is shocking and worrying.

This is mortifying. It's the kind of calculation you would normally make about a dictatorship. open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Tesla sales plunged 47% in February in Europe. But we can do better.

Good to hear @jesstud.bsky.social bang the drum again for Total Place 2.0. www.newlocal.org.uk/articles/tot... #BennettInst

T-level qualifications still less popular and more expensive than BTecs, watchdog finds

#StokeonTrent was bloody good at land reclamation..... Westport Lake, Central Forest Park, Berry Hill Fields, the Greenway System, the National Garden Festival, and more recently Chatterley Whitfield Country Park Let's shout about it

London councils are spending £120m a month on temporary accommodation, @tomcopley.bsky.social told @homelesslink.bsky.social’s conference on rough sleeping 👀

In case anyone was wondering, this is what it looks like visually.

Stoke-on-Trent’s love affair with ceramics saw it awarded the World Craft City status, which is why it is affectionately known as the Potteries. @jonrouse.bsky.social

This is a fiercely sad and damning piece about the reality of one of our most admired professions. What a terrible fate for a dedicated man www.the-londoner.co.uk/nhs-doctor-s...

News: Journalists at Voice of America were just informed that they’ve been put on administrative leave. Two people there told me this went to all fulltime employees. “From what we can tell, VOA is effectively shut down from this moment.”

Delighted to see Gareth Snell sponsored Ceramics (Country of Origin Marking) Bill has its second reading in Parliament on 25 April. If the Bill passes all stages it will help to protect ceramic manufacturers in Stoke-on-Trent. #AllMadeHere pottery back stamps are an indelible mark of quality.

Analysis, produced as part of our response to Treasury’s Spending Review, estimates NHS needs annual (day-to-day) average funding growth of 3% over next 10 years to meet needs of growing, ageing population with more major illness and to deliver improvements to services. Read more ⬇️ buff.ly/d3IpvTW

Tusk is really rising to the occasion www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/w...

While I don’t want to cast a cloud on all the inspiring posts for #IWD2025, I simply observe that healthy life expectancy in Stoke-on-Trent is worse for women than men, and for both is unacceptably low. Let’s focus every day on enabling women to enjoy better lives, particularly those who have least.

This Reuters article is extraordinary. It is no longer considered safe in the US to be a federal judge.

Link to the full report here: www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/report/inter...

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F. 18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it. We made this website to tell our story: 18f.org

Journalists, please do not describe what happened at the White House today as a "spat", "heated exchange" or as Zelensky-Trump "going at each other". Zelensky was ambushed by Vance while very calmly explaining why Ukraine needs security guarantees and doesn't trust a ceasefire...

Impartial journalist does job, gets criticised by a Trumpist, gets put on leave. Looks like Voice of America, the nearest thing the US has to the BBC World Service, is being turned into a propaganda agency

Reality check. Thank you, Financial Times.

Anthony Albanese Prime Minister of Australia 👏

Want to go visit the national parks this year? Sorry. The reservation system is shut down, EMT personnel are gone, so don't get hurt or lost. No one can clean the bathrooms or cabins, so they'll be closed. Rangers are fired. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Would have been an unthinkable column from @gideonrachman.bsky.social a month ago. www.ft.com/content/11f1...

The measles outbreak in Texas is reminding me of the public letter Roald Dahl wrote about losing his daughter to measles in 1962, just before the vaccine was publicly available.

Time to recognise Nathan Lyon as one of the all-time great bowlers. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

Stoke-on-Trent's biggest band with their latest release. KiLNE are on a mission to spread hope through joy. Like & share youtu.be/Z_vMnMkHF1M?...

Ceramics sector, the “lifeblood” of Stoke-on-Trent, a city “neglected for so long.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Here's what's happened, if you're just tuning in: 1. Musk ally Tom Krause told the Treasury career staff to cut off USAID payments 2. The career staffer resisted, saying doing so is illegal 3. The career staffer was ousted by Trump team 4. Krause has now been installed as head of the payments system

The richest man in the world declares that the national government no longer has a Department of Education as elected officials are blocked from finding out what is going on. Factual descriptions of American government right now sound positively dystopian

Last night, Musk's staff were stopped trying to enter USAID's HQ. They threatened to call U.S. Marshals. @cnn.com: Sources say they wanted access to security systems and personnel files and to access classified information. Today, the USAID Director of Security and his deputy were put on leave.

Absolutely spot on from Rory Stewart

As this is being reported on Reuters, I assume there is some truth. If so, it is a worrying development. Other sources, but may not be as reliable, reporting similar actions on some US Treasury and GDA systems. www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...