John Peters

There's no question it's an appalling, brutal, repressive, aggressive regime in Iran. But bombing it in the hope of change seems optimistic at best. #c4news

Richard Dalton (diplomat) - Wikipedia

Richard Dalton not holding back about the American 'bully'.
#c4news

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

Ukraine is living inside a large war for a long time now. We know these strikes on large cities. We truly understand what it's like to experience these moments on the videos.

I see these explosions and I am so sorry for the civilians who are suffering.

'...in a war between the US and Iran, a war that threatens to engulf the whole region with unknown, and almost certainly unintended, consequences.' Lindsey Hilsum on the very real concern about how all this unfolds. #c4news

Latent, Lytic, and Linked to Multiple Sclerosis—How EBV Drives Autoimmunity EBV latent and lytic genes uniquely contribute to Multiple Sclerosis development by various immunopathogenic mechanisms in susceptible hosts. Briefly, EBV infection shapes the B-cell repertoire and p....

University of Zurich researchers review growing evidence that Epstein Barr virus infection is necessary for multiple sclerosis and may drive inflammatory T bet positive B cells into the brain, fueling immune attacks on myelin.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

I've been catching up with the brilliant Blair documentary.
Iraq will be better off without Hussein. Weapons of mass destruction. Terrorism.
Turn on #c4news and
Iran will be better off...

Yes, exactly

Yes, it really does. And apparently the poor guy got a lot of criticism online when he really can't control what he said.

We need a ticker showing the cost to the American taxpayer every time a bomb is dropped, a jet takes flight, a warship moves etc

Seems to be plenty of cash for that, not for, you know, actual living.

Tourette’s is cruel but offers insight into what it is to be human In showing what happens when a brain goes wrong, Tourette’s helps us to see what’s required to make a brain work right

For sufferers, it is terrible. Hard to imagine many crueller conditions in social species for whom ostracism is worse than death. Showing what happens when a brain goes wrong, it gives insights into what happens when a brain goes right
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @whippletom.bsky.social

This is a really interesting paper and, if I may, particularly well written.

The Ukrainian grandads who fix up rockets to fire at Putin’s men Since the invasion the tight-knit volunteers of the Steppe Wolves have fought so younger generations won’t know the brutal rule of Moscow they grew up with

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, this group of Ukrainian pensioners has been involved in military action in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions as well as the Zaporizhzhia region where they are based
(£) www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

Oh dear. Over 60. I'm a 'grandad'

New purge shows Xi is punishing all signs of disloyalty The Chinese president has sacked more than half of his top military commanders, suggesting he wants no opponents to his possible plan to rule for life

Extraordinary how Xi is tightening his grip.
(£) www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

And we've seen so many times that in doing so a leader becomes more and more divorced from reality.

Fenwick Lawson obituary: sculptor of devotional works Artist who was mentored by Jacob Epstein in the neo-brutalist tradition before cutting his own path dies aged 93

“Humanity is my theme,” he said.
(£) www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

Powerful work. As he said, it's the humanity.

Charles Kushner, the Trump envoy who won’t turn up for a dressing down The US president’s man in France — and father-in-law to Ivanka — has made a habit of ignoring his hosts. Across Europe, it is a familiar tale

Gawthorpe pointed out that American diplomatic top jobs had once been filled by campaign donors or business figures. Under Trump this had changed. His envoys often had an “ideological edge” & “don’t really care about diplomatic norms”
(£) www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
By @davidcharter.bsky.social

How Trump’s ‘favourite general’ is waging war on Afghanistan Field Marshal Asim Munir’s declaration of ‘open war’ on the Taliban will only cement his status as the de facto absolute ruler of Pakistan

On paper Asim Munir answers to the country’s civilian leaders. In reality, he does not. Declaration of “open war” on Afghanistan will only cement his status as the de facto absolute ruler of the ostensibly democratic south Asian state
(£) www.thetimes.com/world/middle...
By @scribblercat.bsky.social

Donald Trump take note: brevity is often best Short speeches tend to live longer — look at Lincoln and Churchill — than this president’s ramblings on his own record

Often wonder whether Trump learnt when filming 'The Apprentice' just to keep talking, knowing that it's edited afterwards. And that he's doing something similar now, knowing that it all gets reduced to soundbites anyway. The vast majority never listen to it all.
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

I wore smart pants to help scientists track my ignoble gases Tom Whipple and his six-year-old went head-to-head (well, not quite) to see who records the most overnight ‘events’ as part of a global study

More hot air from @whippletom.bsky.social
(£) www.thetimes.com/article//art...

“Doctors just don’t believe the person who says they are farting 300 times a day.” But at least one person is.

Blimey.

We've entered the stage of the news cycle where the clear initial information has been reported, fresh reporting is hours or days away, and the gap in between is full of talking heads either constantly re-stating the bleeding obvious and/or speculating wildly based on nothing.

As I understand it, the answer is

Yes - because their parents are economic migrants,

So working-class children aged 7 should face hurdles & barriers to secure status, family security & educational opportunity that affluent classmates & those in private schools will not

This new QJE paper concludes that the macroeconomic costs of climate change are far greater than earlier estimates suggested. It finds that a 1°C rise in global temperatures reduces world GDP by over 20%.

Who killed Olof Palme? Amateur sleuths seek to solve infamous cold case The murder of the Swedish prime minister in Stockholm 40 years ago still attracts suspicions of cover-up, as thousands of Swedes step in where police failed

After more than three decades of botched investigations involving 10,000 interviews and more than 500,000 pages of files across 250m of shelving, the answer to one of northern Europe’s most infamous cold cases remains further away than ever.
(£) www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

No, autistic people are not ‘mind blind’ – here’s why The idea that autistic people lack a ‘theory of mind’ has shaped ASD research for 40 years. The evidence never supported it – and it’s time to move on.

The idea that autistic people lack a ‘theory of mind’ has shaped ASD research for 40 years. The evidence never supported it – and it’s time to move on.

black and white drawing of a city with lots of trains

@garethdennis.uk "London in the year 2500" . 1920's Advertisement .

And as the publisher of the fraud Wakefield, The Lancet is itself not without blame.

Unimaginable. And Trudi's eloquent composure while in so much pain and grief and her strength in dealing with it are remarkable.

Yeah, and those. Horrific.

I know. I think everyone is wondering the same thing. The years of abuse, the deliberate assault and the massive, permanent, life-changing injuries and he's out in 8 years.