Paul Chapman 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Instead of delivering support on the cost of living, Westminster is busy demonising people who seek sanctuary.

I will have no part in it.

Our Saltire is a flag of welcome - and refugees are welcome here in Scotland.

Let’s be clear - a genocide is unfolding in Gaza as a result of Israel’s actions.

We all have a moral and legal responsibility to act, and Scotland will play its part.

Today I have set out a range of diplomatic, economic and humanitarian measures.

Read below for more. 🧵

i Weekend front page Reform takes a shock 15-point lead over Labour as Farage dreams of taking power 13%| » Record lead for Farage's party in poll for The i Paper puts Reform UK on course for huge election win » Polling is described as 'catastrophic for Labour which is struggling to deal with voters' immigration concerns » Reform more trusted to resolve the small boats issue » Government wins legal challenge on asylum hotel but is accused of putting migrants ahead of Britons

There can be absolutely no “shock” about this. The media has been shamelessly platforming Reform all summer. All summer, we’ve had hate-mongering headlines about immigration. It’s a tedious and grim inevitability that you’ve made people angry enough to want to vote for this shit in response.

The UK's tiny and historically ineffectual far-right groups - with new financial & strategic backing from US fascists - are successfully capitalising on five years of cowardly "mainstream" ruling-class politicians and media (Tory & Labour) blaming refugees for all the misery they themselves created.

🤬 Woman who admitted incitement to violence and racism on Social Media and in Court was jailed for 2.5 years.

Gets released early and British TV and media repeating what she said originally, give her prime spot on TV.

Britain wonders why they have a problem which every day is getting more extreme?

Are you seeking employees for a land-based or animal care post?

You can advertise your job vacancy for free on the SRUC website by completing this form 👉 buff.ly/S9XWY5g

Extension cable plugged into the charging socket of an electric car

Two computer monitors working during g a power cut

Power cut has given me the excuse I needed to test the vehicle to load capability of my EV. Now running two monitors off my car's battery #StormFloris

Garden Birds - loved the illustrations. Out of this selection, I had that one and Puss in Boots as a child, but Puss in Boots never made as much of an impression as Rumpelstiltskin or the Elves and the Shoemaker.

Le Petit Cafe at Uyeasound, Unst, Shetland. Essentially, an outdoor kettle, selection of instant hot drinks, French snacks and an honesty box.

Enjoyed a hot chocolate at the café across the road last month

Bird highlight was an Osprey that landed briefly in a tree directly above my head before noticing me. Can't be that common to record Osprey in the 25m distance band in BBS! @nesmammals.bsky.social highlight was a Pine Marten bounding across my transect route.

Common Sandpiper numbers are very consistent with 8-9 seen every year, but Grey Wagtails were notable by their low numbers this year. Also the first year I failed to record Garden Warbler (although typically I found one alarm calling on my transect route as I returned to my car after I'd finished!).

Chaffinch and Willow Warbler remain the two commonest species as they have each year I've done it, although a feeding frenzy of Sand Martins over the river provided the highest count for any species.

Open birch woodland with sun shining through the canopy

Fast flowing river through a rocky channel

Short, mown amenity grassland with children's play equipment, surrounded by woodland

Slow moving river with shingle banks and wild flowers at the edge.

Went out to do my late @bbs-birds.bsky.social visit at Potarch, Aberdeenshire this morning. My 4th year of doing this square, which has a nice variety of habitats, but mostly woodland and river.

Can't believe BBC2 is doing a Billy Joel night on the very evening I was meant to be seeing him live at Murrayfield. Talk about rubbing salt into the wound! Hope he makes a good recovery but can't see him doing big stadium gigs again.

'How the Media is Cashing in on the Rise of Nigel Farage' News organisations are failing the country at the moment when responsible independent journalism is most needed, argues Mathilda Mallinson

🔴‘How the Media is Cashing in on the Rise of Nigel Farage’

News organisations are failing the country at the moment when responsible independent journalism is most needed, argues ‪‪Mathilda Mallinson

bylinetimes.com/2025/05/30/r...

Storm Petrels returning to their nest sites in the iron-age Broch of Mousa under cover of darkness #scottishbirds #birdinggear

White flowers of the endemic Edomonston's Chickweed and the pink flowers of Thrift on otherwise bare serpentine gravel with sea and hills beyond

White petaled flowers of the low growing Edmonston's Chickweed on the otherwise bare gravel

A green cushion of moss campion with tiny pink flowers on the bare gravel

Small, purple flowered spike of Early Purple Orchid growing on the bare gravel.

Wikdflowers at Keen of Hamar nature reserve, Unst #wildflowerhour

A bonxie (great skua) flying across a grassy slope with Muckle Flugga lighthouse behind

A whimbrel feeding in a grassy field.

Four Rock Doves on a grassy field. The wild ancestor of the feral pigeon, but lacking the plumage variation.

Three Dunlins feeding at the water's edge

Some birds from Unst #scottishbirding

Looking through a heather-clad gully towards the distant conical hill of Saxa Vord on the island of Unst. There is a white radar dome on top of the hill

A dramatic coastline sloping up towards a vertical cliff at Hams on the island of Muckle Roe

A sand tomobolo, with the sea on both sides, stretching towards St Ninian's Isle

Looking out from inside a cave across a sandy beach towards heavy rain clouds, St Ninian's Isle

A few pics from an enjoyable week working in Shetland the week before last. Lucky (mostly) with the weather and able to do a bit of sightseeing at the end!

The irony is, the UK rivals the US for the best international reputation for higher ed.

& foreign students contribute >£40bn per year to our economy too.

We could be set to benefit from this, but instead we are cutting migrant graduates’ rights.
Because Farage😔 #r4today

A black desktop computer on display at CERN, Geneva, with a label stating that it was the first web server used by Tim Berners-Lee when creating the world wide web I'm 1989.

Brady Stevens, a graduate of the Environmental Protection and Management MSc at SRUC, now works as a consultant with @sacconsulting.bsky.social

Brady reflects on his time at SRUC, sharing how the course helped shape his career and gave him the practical, real-world knowledge he uses daily.

Forget soft Brexit if you strike trade deal with Trump, EU insiders warn Starmer Some Brussels insiders believe the US may want to drive a wedge between Britain and the European Union

“Starmer has repeatedly insisted he does not have to choose between the
EU and the US over trade”

But undermining our reset with the EU to please Trump is just not a risk worth taking.

As things stand, Starmer is wrong. He must choose. And he must choose Europe.
liveapp.inews.co.uk/category/364...

Starmer told to accept Trump 'free speech' agenda to win trade deal 'Good chance of agreement, says JD Vance - but sources say his concerns over Britain's hate speech laws 'are still a red line' David Maddox Political Editor • Tuesday 15 April 2025 20:27 BST

"No free speech, no deal. It is as simple as that," the source close to the vice-president said. It is understood that Britain has already offered to drop its proposed digital services tax as a means of getting a trade deal through. But the US wants to see laws on hate speech repealed as well as plans for a new online safety law dropped.

“Take back control of our laws” so American fascists can decide them for us…
I don’t think so.
Just imagine if the EU demanded this of us.
Intolerable for it to even be on the table.
Intolerable to be at this table at all, frankly.
Another Brexit humiliation.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

I went out with the thermal imager this evening to see if I could see where my cat was. Found a badger instead in the field behind my house @nesmammals.bsky.social

A road approaching a tunnel entrance in a mountainside. A blue sign indicates that the tunnel is 24.5km long.

Entering the tunnel

Inside the tunnel

Blue light illuminates a cavern within the tunnel, one of three built to break up the monotony of the journey.

My inner nerd was excited to find I was staying next to the Lærdal tunnel, the longest road tunnel in the world. My poor family had to put up with me driving through it, then turning around and driving back - 20 minutes each way!

Norway seemed less ridiculously expensive than it used to be - prices mostly similar or just slightly higher than at home, but when we hired a car, rapid EV charging was about half the price it is here and with much better infrastructure.

Looking down on the city of Bergen from Ulriken mountain under a blue sky with the sea and islands beyond

Wooden buildings crowding either side of a narrow walkway in Bergen's Bryggen world heritage site.

Looking down on Aurlandsfjord from an elevated viewpoint at Stegastein near Flåm

Steep mountains reflected in the calm waters of Nærøyfjord

I had an enjoyable family trip to western Norway last week. Apart from a very brief trip across the border from Sweden a couple of years ago, it was my first visit to the country since 2003, despite living closer to Bergen than London!

And a few days before I recorded this Barn Owl after hearing it screeching in the dark. All three clips filmed within 200 metres of home! #BirdingScotland