Sometimes it’s worth the risk “We will definitely bring proceedings for Defamation and Malicious Falsehood if you publish such complete and malicious lies.”

www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/sometimes-it... I wrote last week about two villains and one hero in the battle between truth and lies. Well here’s another hero - the Sheffield Tribune, one of the Mill stable of independent news sites, had the courage to publish an important story despite legal threats..

Excellent and courageous investigative journalism.
The fact that it is (apparently) legal to do this to people is utterly disgusting.

Government to extend ban on moorland burning - closing loopholes in existing rules

Great news for nature, carbon, & people who’ll be spared from acrid smoke & flooding

Bad news for dukes & billionaires who own grouse moors 🎻

Here's my quote running on PA newswire: 1/

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

Progress towards opening up land ownership data continues: Land Registry will be launching consultation on search fees, with new system in place by 2026

Ace to see this response from @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social to PQ tabled by @alexsobel.co.uk

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...

The Telegraph’s been reproducing versions of this same story for years. Wokeness and a ‘recipe for a crisis’ in membership. But National Trust member retention is higher than comparator organisations despite the cost of living crisis, and visitor numbers have been increasing.

Andrew Neil’s latest column of shitspangle. This time ‘explaining’ that Donald Trump’s depravity has only become clear in the last week.

The last *seven days*?
What *we* have *always feared*?
What an irredeemable fraud he is.
Gets a whole chapter in ‘How They Broke Britain’.
And here he is now, ‘seeing the light’.

Danny Dyer voiceover: “Twat.”

Defenestration in Russia: State Duma parliament member Buvaisar Saitiev fell from his third-floor Moscow apartment window and died on March 2nd. He was a 3-time Wrestling Olympic Gold Medalist.

I wonder whether they've run out of champagne in the Kremlin yet.

Grew up being in awe of The USA…

Utterly appalled by it now.

Trump berating Zelensky for his hatred of Putin…

…from the man who globally shared his hatred of Taylor Swift because she endorsed his opponent.

Russia: Air traffic at Sheremetyevo Airport closed an hour ago in anticipation of Ukrainian drone strikes in the region. It is the main airport in Moscow.

⚡️Last night, Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed a Russian thermobaric munitions warehouse in the area of Selydove, Russian-occupied part of Donetsk region - General Staff.

Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar region of Russia was also under Ukrainian attack.

Glory!

Remember: a vote for Nigel Farage is a vote for Donald Trump, who has just humiliated the true leader of the free world, President Zelensky

I think this is the closest many of us have ever got to seeing the real Trump. The only consistent thread in his entire unhinged rant was the love & praise for Vladimir Putin. Zelensky has more courage & dignity in his little finger than every member of Trump's regime & fan club combined.

Whenever you welcome guests, treat them with kindness, grace and respect. Simple as that.

Imagine being a federal worker and asked what you’ve done this week by an unelected billionaire nepo baby whose dad owned a fucking emerald mine and whose only achievement is taking credit for other peoples work, as the dept which used to handle your workers rights is dismantled by him.

Congrats to @bsky.app and all the users and team that make it unique !

32m users is real !

"Turkey supports the territorial integrity,sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine.At the same time, I emphasized that we will provide all support to conclude the negotiations with the establishment of sustainable peace."- President of Turkey Recep Erdoğan after his meeting with President Zelenskyy

At last, rather than talking up being ‘tough on crime’ our politicians are waking up to the fact that it doesn’t work. It doesn’t make our streets safer & it costs a fortune. Instead, it’s time to get ‘smart about crime’, the reasons for it, & the real answers to the crisis we now find ourselves in!

This is something very special and significant. This is the first time the TWO oldest football trophies in the world have EVER been pictured together. The Youdan Cup 1867 (world’s oldest) and the Cromwell Cup 1867 (world’s second oldest) for the purposes of filming an ITVX special

Rachel Reeves looks to have been a bit silly but for journalists of a certain age to profess outrage at creative expenses claims turns hypocrisy in to an art form. When I started out, one legendary character was reputed to have put a son through Eton via bogus receipts. But my favourite story...

Calling all Sheffield Heritage fans it’s your chance to come and see one of the finest remaining examples of a Victorian bathhouse in Sheffield the newly minted Birley Spa Preservation Trust is planning to restore it and they need your help on Saturday 15th Feb
from 1pm. Have a mini tour of it !

Environment Secretary Steve Reed launches a national conversation on land use by celebrating Sir Dudley Stamp, who pioneered the mapping of land use in Britain in the 1930s

(You can read all about this in my book The Lie of the Land - Stamp’s work helped lead to the postwar planning system)

Some choose to ridicule the idea of being ‘woke’. But for me it’s simply a way of talking about working at being a well-informed, thoughtful, compassionate, respectful human; alive to the insights, contexts & needs of others, in order to make the planet a more just place for all!

Been reading through the Government's new Land Use Consultation. Here's the juiciest bits I've seen so far!

An excellent, bold proposal to spare 9% of England's least-productive land for nature & carbon - restoring peat bogs & regenerating woods - & changes to ag land use over a further 10% /1

It was back in 1985 that I founded the Oasis charity, which means this year we are 40! So we’re getting ready to celebrate and thank everyone who has supported us across the years! Here’s a snippet of one of the projects we’re putting together. More coming soon.

x.com/Oasis_UK/sta...

euphoric photo of dolphins jumping under a rainbow

this is how it feels to reach 30 MILLION users!!!

Let’s remind ourselves whose backing Britain

Sheffield Council is to approve a grant of £400K (£80k pryr over 5yrs) to St Lukes Hospice as a contribution to
the Compassionate Sheffield programme to improve people’s experiences of death and bereavement/. It will also give £6k for St Luke’s Hospice to organise the COVID-19 Day of Reflection 2025