Deborah Talbot

Minority representation on TV causes outrage There has been widespread support for prominent Reform MP Sarah Pochin after she complained about the over-representation of minorities on television. Said one angry viewer, "She's right. Every time you turn on the telly there's another Reform MP being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg." She added, "I respect their way of life and their strange customs, but Reform MPs comprise only 0.7 percent of the House of Commons. Yet Nigel Farage is on Question Time more than Fiona Bruce." "I'm not prejudiced. Some of my best friends are swivel-eyed loons, but enough is enough. There are too many people with angry red faces on television.”

Gotta love Private Eye.
Always cuts through the crap.

The nature extinction crisis is mirrored by one in our own bodies. Both have huge implications for health Modern life is waging a war against ecosystems around us and inside us. Keeping our own microbes healthy is another reason to demand action to preserve the natural world

This research shows that there is more than one element of self-interest in trying to protect and grow biodiversity and natural environments. And research that aligns with parallel breakthroughs in the gut microbiome.

Interesting stuff.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

New Paper Alert 🧵📣

There is a growing concern that the negative valence in climate stories paralyses consumers & perhaps even prevents them from taking pro-environmental actions.

However, we found that climate anxiety is a robust and universal driver of pro-climate behavioral intentions.👇

I am so deeply shocked that the thing could have passed had a few Labour MPs not rebelled and @theguardian.com not reported on it. Total moral abdication on the part of @teamlabouruk.bsky.social to try and get MPs to abstain. They are destroying the Labour Party.

If I had his money I could build everyone in the world a home with running water, tackle many of the world's diseases, and build education systems.

He funds a messed up racist with a god-complex.

Kind of an expression of inadequate hypermasculinity. These people (clearly undereducated about history) have no idea what a war is, if they are comparing of course horrible individual murders, the motive of which is unclear, with war.

That sounds reasonable to me. Probably a good enough quality (needed for working long hours) but also good budget chairs. Desks do cost that much, even second hand. Is this really journalism?

Fascism was always a system of government with global aspirations. Is anyone surprised?

My sympathies. Totally recognise your story (lupus).

Those Essex flags will be rags in a few months time.

Someone in my village put up a flag pole with the union jack recently. They are the same people that complained about cow muck on the roads, after deliberately moving to a village with two very obvious dairy farms. Fortunately, the rest of the village is sticking with the village hall Ukraine one.

YouTube video by TreE PlaNat Integrating natural processes into woodland creation

Another nice output from TreE_PlaNat project @uktreescapes.bsky.social: a video on integrating natural processes into woodland creation has just been released www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0N2...

I fear that as well, but no fault of Zack, of course. Last time I paid too much attention to social media adoration syndrome from anonymous accounts, which put me off engaging. I've been reminded of it on this thread. This time I plan to ignore all of that!

I wouldn't say my views are particularly representative of the population). Is there a strategy around this? Does polling suggest the Greens would win them anyway?

No need to be so hostile. In my area (Glos) Greens have won many council seats formally inhabited by Tories. The populations haven't changed that much. The Greens around here focus very much on the environment. So what happens with the new focus (which I agree with, but...

Do you live in a rural area? Interested in your evidence.

How do you know this?

They are homeless, it appears. These are trad rural Tories who are keen on the natural environment.

It's great, but it isn't elections. One thing that worries me is the Greens in Glos have been winning former Conservative seats who are pro-environment. Will that continue? How do you reach out?

The arrogance of it. They are being voted down because they didn't win the election. Almost Trump like in seeing a democratically-elected government as somehow not legitimate.

British politics is like invasion of the bodysnatchers. Everyone's had their brains taken over.

I really can't stand it when belligerent men talk over women (and some men, e.g. Polanski) like that. Learn some manners. No-one wants to listen to that.

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

Wonder if Peter Thiel has ever heard of the concept of projection?

Anyway, you know when powerful people (with contracts from the UK govn. start getting mystical fever dreams, we're in trouble.

Totally eyebrow-raising scoop by @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Glad he got out safely.

And no degrees will pay off economically because of AI. Unsurprising that younger gens are going, well I'll just do something that gives me good reasoning skills.

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

In case you missed it, here's our fifth MINAGRIS briefing, covering the potential for global plastics policy development, an interview with Giulia Carcasci from the FAO, and everything we've been up to 2024-5.

Find it here: buff.ly/gCXu1Ll

#microplastics #soilscience #horizoneurope

The UK is launching a massive tree planting programme, with two new national forests & planting millions of new trees.

But what is the best way to grow forests? Is it by planting new trees or by allowing trees to spread naturally, or a combination of both?

Read the research: buff.ly/BVH4ioz

🌐

Our Impact & Insights Note from our project Connected Treescapes highlights the importance of diversity and connectivity to woodland invertebrates - animals without a backbone, like snails, worms and butterflies 🪱🐌🦋.

🌐

Read the Note here: buff.ly/lQaWMl1

Agree on all counts. And what else could the digital ID be extended to? Revealing health information to potential employers? Who knows, but as you say, power is never given back once taken - it is always extended.

The question is, what do we do? Refuse to get one? Where's the mass campaign?