Charlie Maynard

1934 joke from Punch magazine.

War. It’s bad. Don’t do it. As more elegantly expressed here in 1570 via the Triumph of Mars by Antoine Caron, whose day is today.

Astronomer Nevil Maskelyne racked up a £141 alcohol bill during his 18 month expedition to observe the 1761 Transit of Venus.

That’s over £26,000 ($35,000) in today’s money.

Or almost £50 per day.

He claimed it on expenses and would go on the become Astronomer Royal.

#astronomy #histsci 🧪

fascinated by the Brits next to me on the flight back from Venice who went "er they say London's expensive but they should try paying thirty euro for some peanuts in Venice!!", remarkable to see marks..... bragging about being marks?

£100k childcare cliff edge and 62% marginal rate (71% with student loan) will soon get more attention.

Would hope next Labour leader may bring PR in. Certainly more discussion in Labour circles of coalition of progressive left leaning parties potentially indicating willingness for cooperation, perhaps move to PR. I don’t like PR but I like parties being given a majority on 30% of the vote even less.

Valid points from both of you. Fair to say that people are willing to vote green perhaps more so than in the past especially now they’re focusing on wider issues outside 🌳. Think that also opens them up to far greater scrutiny on policies like NATO, etc but 2 party system I think broken, likely PR?

I would recommend blocking Cassandra et al who spout his xenophobic nonsense on these threads. Im quite disgusted it is often not pushed back on and is quite openly anti English from the likes of Cassandra who adds nothing of any quality or substance to these discussions than vindictive sniping.

Perhaps. I think the vote played out more on UK issues rather than EU. It’s doing some heavy lifting to see that as a swing towards EU. My reading as a by election is fury at previous labour MP comments. Upset at labour, stopping reform, overall more positive campaign on local/national issues.

Given the 🥬 policies I think they’ll always remain quite a fringe group, I would’ve very sceptical that’ll they’ll ever be in a position of putting a PM in number 10. No doubt they’ll increase their head count at the next 🗳️ but I don’t think we should overstep the mark and call this a “Hinge moment”

Evening.

As the analysis starts of the Gorton and Denton result, I wanted to flag some aspects that my experience yesterday suggests are being over or under-played

(Caveats - I went to Longsight, Gorton and Denton town centres and spoke to as many people as I could, but it was mostly during the working day)

Why is Britain educating China’s scientists? Why is Britain educating China’s scientists?

'Elite universities have more Chinese than British students taking Stem courses, which smacks of reckless self-neglect'

I do find it very hard to take either Labour or Green indignation at the other’s activities seriously. By-elections are often dirty fights, and this one has been no exception. Neither of the parties can sincerely claim to have fought cleanly. Spare us the phony righteousness.

Very little point engaging with Cassandra they’re just a massive Anglophobe and do nothing to hide their zealotry and xenophobia for the English. Mute and ignore

Great to see the Conservatives wanting to reform student loans. Would like to see an account for Osborne replacing maintenance grants with loans in 2015. This has left poorer students with bigger debts vs richer ones for a whole decade, compounding inequality between rich and poor. It’s scandalous.

I’ve gone to war with toxic cyclists. Get off my pavement!

Polly Vernon is sick of sweary speeding cyclists, on Lime rentals and e-bikes. Now she’s taking revenge on the worst offenders by shaming them on social media

Starmer’s government could learn a lot from the French and how to deal with an intransigent and destabilising 🇺🇸

2026 in one headline

Affaire Epstein : pression sur le gouvernement britannique pour publier les documents sur Andrew et Mandelson « Ce que nous demandons aujourd’hui, c’est que tous les documents relatifs à la vérification des antécédents (…) et la correspondance ministérielle [de l’époque] soient rendus publics », a affirmé le chef de file du parti libéral-démocrate, Ed Davey, sur la BBC.

Affaire Epstein : pression sur le gouvernement britannique pour publier les documents sur Andrew et Mandelson

We've failed Ukraine Let's stop overcomplicating this and remember Kyiv is our friend

We can tell ourselves any number of comforting lies, but in reality, the West has not met the moment and as a result, we have failed Ukraine.

lukemcgee.substack.com/p/weve-faile...

Map titled “The breadth of Reform’s council control across England”. It shows English local authorities by controlling party: dark teal for Reform control, lighter teal for Reform minority, beige for Reform with a Labour mayor, grey for other parties. Reform councils cluster in the Midlands, north-east, and Kent. Data as of Feb 23 2026.

After grabbing hundreds of council seats and 12 English authorities in local elections last May, Reform has faced a reality check. So, what has Nigel Farage’s insurgent party learnt from its first taste of power?

Today's Big Read is on #FTEdit 👉 ft.trib.al/JePCrsW

Another U turn incoming

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

"The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds"

www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...

Fox in the snow, 1893, by Winslow Homer. It’s his day today.

EU trade chief at the EP's trade committee today

On China: "We are seeing an acceleration and strengthening of trends of concern to us. First, China's ever-growing dominance in key sectors, including those at the higher end of the value chain"

Nothing like a troll from the left god you guys never give up do you and lord knows you are nothing but wrong lost after post

lol full on cope going on here…. Enjoy your tantrum 🤣

🥱 more left wing dribble

The fact you’ve asked the same question several times across these threads and quite posted my reply tells me that actually …… it will. ….. enjoy your day Jess