Dan Paris

‘I never wanted to sing into a vacuum’: Scottish folk pioneer Dick Gaughan’s fight for his lost music A skilled interpreter and social justice champion, Gaughan is a hero to the likes of Richard Hawley and Billy Bragg. Yet much of his work has been stuck in limbo for decades – until a determined fan s...

Please read, listen, and share widely. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.

Thinking about my own father, who arrived in 1946 with the Free Polish Army - when would Labour have sent him back to communist Poland? How could he have done anything to build a life and have children in the UK if he had had to beg to stay every two years? Disgusting. www.bbc.com/news/article...

One in nine species in Scotland is at risk of extinction. We can change this. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
The Natural Environment Bill is our chance to set binding targets to restore nature.
Take 30 seconds to email your MSPs here: scotlink.eaction.online/targets

#Scotland #NatureRestoration #NaturalEnvironmentBill

OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week

by OpenAI’s own estimates, hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users are showing signs of manic or psychotic crisis every week

Really great discussion at SNP conference on climate and nature policy - Scotland needs strong leadership and a real focus on delivery in the next parliament.

Great to have a full house for our event at #SNP25 on credible climate and nature leadership with
@alasdairallanmsp.bsky.social, @scotlink.bsky.social,
@oxfamscotland.bsky.social and @climateoutreach.bsky.social

SNP and Labour warned that ditching eco policies will cost them votes

The SNP and Labour have been warned that abandoning environmentally-friendly policies will lose them votes according to new polling

In Scotland we’re known for braving the cold, battling the wind and pretending it’s ‘taps aff’ weather at 12°C. But there’s one thing we won’t just tough out - losing Scotland’s wild places.

It’s in our nature to act. Sign our petition and stand up for nature: www.wwf.org.uk/scotland/202... ✏️

Scotland’s climate coalition condemns Conservative plans to scrap the UK’s Climate Change Act - Stop Climate Chaos Scotland Scotland’s climate coalition has hit out at plans by the Conservatives to repeal the UK’s Climate Change Act. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland chair Mike Robinson has said: “Scrapping the legislation would...

Conservatives have vowed to scrap the UK Climate Change Act if they come to power. SCCS chair Mike Robinson says scrapping the targets would be "an abandonment" of the science, economics, morality and reality of climate change.

www.stopclimatechaos.scot/scotlands-cl...

Ripping up Climate Change Act would be an act of national self-harm Ripping up Climate Change Act would be an act of national self-harm

Scrapping the Climate Change Act would be an act of national self-harm🚨

It inspired laws across the globe, billions in green investment, and a promise to protect future generations🌱

That promise must not be broken⛓️‍💥

Read more👇

www.wcl.org.uk/ripping-up-c...

#ClimateChangeAct

We're pleased that the @parliament.scot Rural Affairs and Islands Committee has backed proposals in the Natural Environment Bill to introduce statutory targets to restore nature.

Nature targets are a key demand of our Scotland Loves Nature campaign.

Read more:
www.scotlink.org/msps-back-na...

We are so humiliatingly deep into tinpot dictatorship territory. The government has just brokered the coerced sale of a major media platform to an ally of the president, who is openly boasting about converting it into (even more of) a partisan propaganda outlet.

‘Just add water’: how to bring back ancient plants in a Norfolk ghost pond An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’

Some hopeful weekend reading.

“This is nature’s emergency recovery mechanism. We’ve buggered almost everything up but this will still bring them back.”

Tories pledge to get 'all our oil and gas out of the North Sea' The government warns Kemi Badenoch's plans would

What passed for consensus on climate was always pretty thin. But the right's utter abandonment of the issue puts fossil fuel industry profits ahead of planetary survival.

Scottish and UK Governments must not follow them. New extraction must end, and polluters must pay.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A valuable thread pointing out that, despite wall-to-wall media coverage, Britain's far-right anti-migrant protests are mostly tiny, and some _don't even exist_.

The laziness and implied bias of the BBC here is extreme - "No 10 did not comment" presumably because the CPS and courts are independent, but there's no attempt to find anyone who would argue the opposite view, just the unchallenged whine of someone who called for asylum seekers to be burnt to death

He should be more widely recognised within Scotland, too.

Why has it taken a decade to exhume the bodies of the 800 dead babies of Tuam? | Caelainn Hogan The mass exhumation in Ireland is vindication for campaigners – but their battle for justice is far from over, says Irish journalist Caelainn Hogan

Why has it taken a decade to exhume the bodies of the 800 dead babies of Tuam? | Caelainn Hogan

Police in Canterbury today informed a protestor that the phrase "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza" could be considered a declaration of support for Palestine Action and therefore a terrorism offence.

"There are hundreds of people roaming the streets of #Srebrenica who are war criminals."

Today is the 30th anniversary of the #SrebrenicaGenocide. This outstanding report by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social is worth a re-read every so often. theferret.scot/mourning-in-...

OBR: Net-zero is much cheaper than thought for UK – and unchecked global warming far more costly - Carbon Brief Reaching net-zero will be much cheaper for the UK government than previously expected – and the economic damages of climate change far more severe.

Net-zero is much cheaper than thought for UK – and unchecked global warming far more costly, says Office for Budget Responsibility

#climatecrisis
Story by @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org

www.carbonbrief.org/obr-net-zero...

Tony Blair’s staff took part in ‘Gaza Riviera’ project with BCG Former UK prime minister’s institute participated in meetings on plan to turn shattered enclave into trading hub

NEW: Tony Blair's staff took part in a BCG project for the redevelopment of Gaza along the lines of the 'Trump Riviera' plan www.ft.com/content/0b1b...

People lacking good public transport more likely to feel lonely, UK study finds Research finds correlation between car dependancy and loneliness, particularly in rural towns

Interesting new study from @smfthinktank.bsky.social finds a correlation between car dependency & loneliness, particularly in rural towns.

This might be due to there being “fewer ways to reach others” and space given to cars creating “barriers in what might have been walkable neighbourhoods.”

BBC News front page right now

Israeli officers and soldiers have revealed they’ve been ordered to deliberately shoot at unarmed Palestinians trying to get aid.

That’s in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Israel is deliberately massacring civilians it’s deliberately starving.

There are few crimes more depraved.

Jaw-dropping reporting by Haaretz www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

‘It takes 25 years for a footprint to disappear’ – the secret, beguiling magic of Britain’s bogs They are the air-conditioning units of the world – filtering water, preventing flooding, preserving history and providing habitat. Our human ancestors knew the extraordinary power of peatlands, so why are they still being destroyed? I haven’t found an hour when I don’t love a bog. Recently, after a night of counting rare caterpillars in Borth in Mid Wales (they come out only after dark), walking back to the car under the glow of a flower moon, I wondered if 2am was my new favourite. I felt very safe, held by the bog’s softness, and everyone that was out at that hour seemed to have a sense of humour. I met a nightjar hopping around on the ground, pretending, I think, to be a frog. But there is also something about the humidity of a languid afternoon on a bog, when everything slows and fat bumbles hum, that is surprisingly good. I have done freezing horizontal rain and thick, cold-to-your-bones fog and wind so howling that I couldn’t think. All of those were hard, but I did come away feeling truly alive. Continue reading...

‘It takes 25 years for a footprint to disappear’ – the secret, beguiling magic of Britain’s bogs

Yes loads of them the last couple of weeks.

A photo showing several ferns growing from the side of a mossy tree trunk. In the background is the mixed greenery of an Atlantic rainforest on the west coast of Scotland. Photo taken by John MacPherson.

Did you know that there are rainforests in Scotland? 🌳

Thanks to mild temperatures, high rainfall and clean air, the west coast of Scotland is home to fragments of Atlantic rainforest. This rare habitat is home to a rich diversity of species making them hugely important. 💚

#WorldRainforestDay