Simon Higgins

I never understood why @royalsociety.org elected this delusional Fascist techbro in the first place, but I’d have hoped that deliberately inciting UK civil war might just persuade them to kick him out.

Reading a Byline Times article about the US buildup off Venezuela and was interested by the statement that the Naval forces include 'the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, which is equipped with B52 bombers'. I think launching and recovering B52's from an aircraft carrier would be... challenging.

I have written letters to VCs on behalf of chemistry colleagues in other institutions selected for redundancy on Departmental contraction on grounds of lack of research income, when the reason was all the collegiate stuff they'd been loaded with, with no credit. Can't think it's any better now, tbh.

Could be! I was Departmental Safety Officer in my 2nd year (in a chemistry Dept, when COSHH was coming in...), then Year 2 coordinator, later Chair of Board of Studies. I did eventually wangle some grant money, hence excuses to say 'no' sometimes. And yes, some female colleagues were worse off.

You're not wrong though, sadly.

Way back when I applied for Senior Lecturer and didn't get it, I bemoaned my fate to a colleague, who replied 'Your problem is that you don't waste enough money!' I had a large teaching load and did a lot of departmental admin; my other problem was not saying 'no' enough.

That figure, and the ratios, are clearly plucked from thin air. These people are a plague on HE. I wonder how many humanities Profs bring in £100k per year? I had trouble meeting that figure in the sciences!

I’m watching a man wield a chainsaw halfway up a tree in the garden opposite. He has no gloves, hard hat or anything, and is not secured in any way . The guy holding the ladder below has all the safety gear!

More remarkable molecules from Harry Anderson and collaborators in Science- this time, fused porphyrin nano belts. www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Trojan gold: New US “standard” is another veiled attack on science Transparency, reproducibility, and acknowledging uncertainty are meritorious attributes of science that differentiate it from other human endeavors, such as politics. But they can also be subverted. I...

Why Trump's so-called 'gold standard science' is actually another attack on science: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Well, in this paper's intro, the authors put forward a strategy as if it's untried, that my supervisor used in his work in the 1970's (and probably other folk in the area). That's what bugged me a bit.

Reading an otherwise interesting paper on coordination chemistry of heavy Group 15 element ligands and having an old git moment (mainly on behalf of my old PhD supervisor): why do some authors seem to believe that science started around 2005? No citations of relevant older literature.

I don’t know what was wrong with the old method, appointing officers from the Royal Engineers. Reading some of the correspondence between inspectors criticising their line and railway managers from the mid Victorian era is a good source of entertainment.

‘‘Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.’ Why do Tories so love Mr. Gradgrind?

Got my first ever antiviral prescription today- aciclovir. Shingles has affected my left eye. I'm not sure how I acquired shingles, but it can get in the bin; I feel lousy. I've felt as if I was on the verge of a cold for the last ten days; now I suppose I know why.

I don’t think they will. I’ve tried that, including with ripe bananas and apples around for the ethylene, but only about one in five actually ripen.

They’re just appealing to the roundabout painting demographic who also often spell it that way.

It’s remarkable how shirty otherwise liberal people who work in the pro cycling world get when you mention the word ‘sportswashing’ though.

Storm Amy blew over the tomato plants. So far we’ve made green tomato soup and four jars of tomato chutney. Any ideas for the remaining crop??!

I’ve been making bread for 3 years now. Can’t eat supermarket cotton wool bread anymore. Homemade bread is well worth the effort!

Today, we’ve made green tomato soup and used 2 kg of green tomatoes to make chutney, and this is what’s left. Storm Amy blew over the plants.

Peter’s made it to Paris, after an unscheduled day off in Auxerre to avoid Storm Amy.

And finally, today, she’s free of both cage and the subsequent plaster. Thank goodness.

Seems fair comment. If Reform ever get into power here, we’d be faced with exactly the same level of Governmental competence and ethics in the UK.

The town of Pisse-Vieille near Bourge.

Son has reached Bourge on his way to Paris. This suburb he found amusing for some reason.

Thing is, I know a professional PhD level chemist (admittedly an organic synthetic chemist) who thinks man made global warming is a lefty scam. This is the effect of ideological conviction in the internet age.

Circle the City – Better Streets for Birmingham First Friday of the month, 6pm start, meet at Victoria Square, city centre Join us on the first Friday of every month for a group ride around Birmingham starting at 6pm. October 3rd 2025, 6pm - Hippod...

A reminder about tomorrow's #CircleTheCity. Leaving from Victoria Square at 6 PM.

All welcome, very much including relatively inexperienced cyclists who want to try out a low key group ride. It'll probably be dark by the time we finish, so bring lights!

This is the fifth successive apple crumble I have made with the cooking apples from our tree, after filling 8 3 litre Kilner jars with stewed apples too. And there are still loads of eating apples as well.

Quote from Andy Bennett, the guy who supervises my weight training, advertising his services on FB: 'The best time to start strength training is 20 years ago'. He's right, there, although hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I tried the Royal Navy’s new fitness test – and it wasn’t what I expected The Royal Navy has brought in a new standard test to ensure recruits are up to snuff – I headed to Portsmouth to give it a go

Interesting article on the Royal Navy's new fitness test. It all sounds eminently sensible. www.independent.co.uk/health-and-f...