John F. Allen

It doesn’t get any more disgusting than this.

Poster of Thomas Tallis as a rabbit in an unlikely outfit, with a watch that seems to have gone through the washing machine.

On 25 April, my choir will be singing the complete choral works of Thomas Tallis in one day - culminating in his stunning 40-part motet "Spem in Alium".

Do come and listen if you're in Oxford, or watch the livestream. And we'd be hugely grateful for any donations!
www.justgiving.com/campaign/tal...

The cost of government ministers (whatever their party) using ‘National Security‘ as an excuse to not disclose things is that at times like this Members of Parliament simply do not believe ministers.

In the past MPs may have nodded along, but today they rightly insisted on independent assessments.

"The perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty" ... just a few of the words in this excoriating order.

Whenever I see posts with pics from this programme I ignore the content almost entirely because I find it so remarkable that anyone involved could have thought that putting an "LK" on the face of the clock would look anything other than ridiculously stupid

Of all the various lessons of 1938 that get discussed, the notion that it's a bad idea to ask a defender to hand over their defensible frontier to the aggressor is probably the one we've actually learned... Here's hoping anyway.

Heroes come in many forms and this is one of them

The Co-Creation by Olivia Judson: 9780593831045 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books A daring and visionary new narrative of the emergence of life, one that refocuses our attention on the beautiful and mysterious tango between life and Earth itself, from Olivia Judson, the bestselling...

The book I am most looking forward to this year.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746822...

The shooting of Alex Pretti was (US) state sanctioned murder and has been followed up by attempts to destroy evidence and stop local police (and even the FBI) from investigating.

Minnesota police are trying to counter the lies and illegality.

Terrifying

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

Good for him.
I mean it.

Keep watching - Trump and his circle almost have their precious goal: invoking the Insurrection Act.

As per said before: a great deal of what is being done is simply Trump and his circle working backwards from this objective.

I’m seeing posts from people (outside of MN) about how US citizens should carry their passports.

And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.”

Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.

zenodo.org/records/1822...

Its not that the media is not covering what is happening, but it does feel like the military occupation of an American city should be treated as a national crisis.

A quote advising that you should always laugh at fascists because they absolutely cannot deal with it.

Facts.

Western University is looking for a Canada Research Chair (CRC)
Tier 1 in Metabolomics. We are intent on building capacity in this system and the ideal candidate will help build infrastructure and mentor junior faculty.

Please see the job ad at: uwo.ca/facultyrelat...

We took a criminal and made him president. He is running the country like a mob boss and ICE are his hitmen.

Trump to meet Venezuela's María Corina Machado on Thursday Machado, the winner of 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, had offered to share the honour with Trump, an award the president has long coveted.

Trump goes to new lengths to make himself look even more craven, pathetic and narcissistic. He is the spoiled brat at someone else's birthday party who thinks every party should be about him.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

An easy walk along sea cliffs of Cambrian-Silurian Tumblagooda Sandstone, ~ 450-400 million years old, S of Kalbarri, W Australia. Lots of crossbedding. Ancient river deposits at a time of zero terrestrial vegetation.

An easy walk along sea cliffs of Cambrian-Silurian Tumblagooda Sandstone, ~ 450-400 million years old, S of Kalbarri, W Australia. Lots of crossbedding. Ancient river deposits at a time of zero terrestrial vegetation.
⚒️🧪

My latest.

But the response of supporters of President Trump and of his administration has been neither of these. Instead, they have rushed to trash the reputation of the woman, depicting her as a “domestic terrorist” who somehow deserved to be summarily executed by an ICE agent who was acting in “self-defense”. There are also claims that the ICE agents in the footage were injured in the incident but are making “full recoveries”—claims that can be refuted by watching the video. An alternative—and official—false narrative is being created by which the ICE agents did nothing wrong, and everything right, in killing Good. This dishonest construct is one means by which the federal government wants to evade taking responsibility for what seems to have been an extra-judicial murder of a US citizen. Another means to this end is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is not cooperating with local police for any investigation. By spreading falsehoods and hampering any independent investigation by Minnesota police, the federal government is seeking immunity for the violence its agents are inflicting on people in America. These tactics are part of a broader strategy to ensure that those with federal executive power can do exactly what they want, without any remedy to those affected: government outside the law.

NEW

Death in Minnesota

The significance of the reaction to the killing of Renee Nicole Good

By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Brexit has made everything worse, new poll reveals The UK’s disillusioned Gen Z are losing faith in democracy, survey finds

“During the Brexit referendum, supporters of staying in the EU who warned of severe consequences if Britain left were accused of running a “Project Fear” campaign of bogus claims. The survey found that most voters now believe the grim forecasts were right” www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

This thread sent me looking into the work of Patrick "PP" Laidlaw whose NIMR lab isolated flu virus in 1933 6 years after Thomas Rivers defined viruses as "obligate parasites in the sense their reproduction depends on living cells," - paving the way for vaccines that have saved millions of lives."

It would be nice if a British leader could say the same: and stand up for London, it’s Mayor and the BBC at the same time

Save on a subscription to New Humanist Magazine before 31 December. Get four print issues, plus full digital access and archives dating back to 1885, for just £21. A brilliant gift for the humanists in your life.
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Harsh but fair. (Source: www.ft.com/content/11a8...)

Ah, the Flexicurve.

Zelensky *cannot* withdraw his troops and cede territory. His army won't do it. The public won't accept it.

In a fitting tribute, Trump turns his inanity up to eleven.