Paulb

#QuizNight on BBC2

Just seen this musical tribute to Biddy Baxter (with some photos that will bring back memories) by BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg. @bbcstever.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/bbcs...

A legend of children's television has passed. Biddy Baxter was editor of BBC TV's Blue Peter for 23 years. She made it her own and millions of kids (me included) used to tune in. Here's my musical tribute to a pioneering TV producer.

My elderly (& housebound) mother had no bus pass, passport or driving licence. She found it so difficult to prove her ID to HSBC… so much so that eventually they gave up.

She’d only banked with them for 30+ yrs and they could see that her only income was state pension. Hardly a money launderer!

Indeed… Lesley Judd was later wasn’t she.

Ignorance is how we got here. Sigh.

I watched Blue Peter too… no badge here (I’m *very*dull) - Can’t really remember Christopher Chase, but definitely Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves & John Noakes (not forgetting Petra, Shep, Jason & Fred(a))

A bus pass doesn’t have the same status, does it.

That said, I drive but don’t have a photo driving licence*. (And yes, it makes it a tad more difficult for ID purposes.)

*Yes, I’ve lived in the same place for ages and ages.

Don’t thing I’ve ever seen the performers ask the audience which pieces they’d like to hear again as an encore (the 3rd encore this was)

A Bitter Pill: How pharmaceuticals are rewriting the rules of rivers, marine life and ecosystems that depend on them I wrote yesterday about Sinking Cities, and about the damage caused by unsustainable water depletion.

A Bitter Pill: How pharmaceuticals are rewriting the rules of rivers, marine life and ecosystems that depend on them
open.substack.com/pub/peterfra...

Not ChatGPT but I've done a lot of work with large language models in medicine. They're brilliant tools, but so are calculators - and because they're good at the *appearance* of true intelligence (and the techbros hype "PhD level" every time a model comes out) it's tempting to think that way. 1/

There is a bleak irony here. Pharmaceuticals are among the most regulated products in human society. They are tested, trialed, scrutinized, and tightly controlled when they enter our bodies. Yet once they leave us unmetabolized, flushed into sewers, or leaching from landfill, they become largely invisible and unmonitored. They pass silently into the environment, where they begin to sculpt a world in their image.

Thought provoking paragraph here…

YouTube video by BBC Archive 1988: BIDDY BAXTER's Final Blue Peter | Making of... | BBC Archive

Biddy Baxter has died today 10 August 2025, at the age of 92.

Her extraordinary drive and obsessional dedication transformed Blue Peter into the world’s longest-running and most successful children’s programme

#BiddyBaxter's final #BluePeter:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCJD...

BBC Proms - 2025: Vivaldi and Bach at the Proms Summer from The Four Seasons and Bach’s Air are among the highlights in a concert of Baroque delights featuring violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte making his Proms debut.

Just watching this #BBCProms featuring Théotime Langlois de Swarte & Le Consort featuring baroque music by Vivaldi and Bach

Supremely talented - iPlayer link available until approx July 2026

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Oops!

PhD level…….

The RAF Red Arrows in V formation, trailing red, white & blue smoke

The Red Arrows perform a swooping turn, trailing red, white & blue smoke

The Red Arrows flying in formation, left to right

Some more of the Red Arrows from the show earlier.

That's it from me for now, but the airshow is on again in Blackpool tomorrow, Sunday. I heartily recommend it.

#photography #aircraft #airshow #Blackpool #RedArrows

Managing dog:dog interactions is a must for any dog but especially so fearful* or reactive dogs.

Distance from triggers is key.

(* a lot of reactivity and “aggression” is born out of fear)

The troubling decline in conscientiousness A critical life skill is fading out — and especially fast among young adults

Conscientiousness is strongly associated with personal and professional success, and even life expectancy.

Worryingly, levels of conscientiousness are in decline, especially in the under 40s.

Valuable new analysis from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com @data.ft.com

on.ft.com/4ftchbz

I’d never read any of Robert Harris’s novels but the fuss about Conclave made me seek some out.

I read “Enigma” a few weeks ago and have recently started “An Officer and a Spy” which despite it being historical, I’m really quite enjoying.

RPS is changing to become the Royal College of Pharmacy.

Find out more about how we're 'getting royal-college ready': ow.ly/a9YJ50Wy7UV

…. But the recent documentary managed (seemingly) quite easily to find experts either different opinions.

MP claims Surrey Care home is a “hot bed of terrorist activity” filled with Palestine Action supporters.

Just in case you were excited for GPT5. It's still a sophisticated bullshit machine.

bsky.app/profile/rada...

As a non-lawyer, the documentary about the Letby case was interesting. Why didn’t her defence at the time challenge more robustly the expert evidence against her?

The flaws cited in the prog were not newly discovered.

Expert testimony has wrongly convicted previously. (Sally Clarke is one)

I’ve done a few of those - they were ok, good even.

Suspected people smuggler detained in Birmingham A man suspected of being involved in an organised crime group which smuggled people to the UK in small boats has been arrested by the National Crime Agency.

There was a piece on BBC News yesterday about a 1yr undercover investigation into people smuggling gangs. A gang member was confronted but ran off.

Annoying that the police weren’t there to arrest him.

But the NCA did arrest him this morning.

www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/suspect...

Midlands Today - Evening News: 07/08/2025 The latest news, sport and weather for the Midlands.

Here’s the link - available for a ridiculously short time

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...