Simon Cullen

Super Typhoon Ragasa has crossed the coast of northern Philippines.

Strong wind gusts here in Manila, but a long way away from the worst of it.

Yes, freedom of information laws need updating, but not like the government is proposing The Albanese government’s proposed FOI reforms attempt to update decades-old laws. Some of it is needed, but other parts severely threaten government transparency.

Worth a read if you are interested in transparency in Government, FOI and what Labor is cooking up.
theconversation.com/yes-freedom-...

"You can say what you like, I don’t care, because that’s what free speech is," Nigel Farage has just told the House Judiciary Committee, about three hours after his party banned me from covering its conference this weekend.

The UK has experienced a “solar surge” this year as a run of sunny days and new panels on rooftops generated record amounts of electricity.

Solar power output has broken records for the last five months in a row, @ember-energy.org found.

Comparing temperature anomalies in summer 1976 and summer 2024

As we seem to, yet again, be talking about the hot UK summer of 1976, a reminder that the UK is not the world.

Yes, it was hot that summer over our small region, but the bigger picture tells a different story.

And, we've had hotter UK summers since.

BBC returns to Gaza baby left hungry by Israeli blockade Malnourished five-month-old baby Siwar is now out of hospital in Gaza - but as we found, she and her family are struggling.

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

Live updates: Conclave elects new Pope | CNN White smoke has risen above the Sistine Chapel, the signal that cardinals have chosen a new pope on the second day of the conclave. Follow here for the latest.

We have a new Pope!

edition.cnn.com/world/live-n...

Trump discovers the US is no longer indispensable America cannot offer enough aid, green technology or new market access to mould the world trading system

"In the global game of trade poker, Trump inherited a weakening hand and is playing it extremely badly," writes @alanbeattie.bsky.social in today's @financialtimes.com

www.ft.com/content/c2eb...

As Trump works to cut FEMA, data shows there was a major disaster declaration every four days in 2024 | CNN There were 90 declarations of “major disasters” in 2024, making it one of the worst years for disasters declarations in the last three decades.

At a time when the Trump administration wants to scrap FEMA, the data shows an undeniable reality: climate change is already affecting the United States and the government needs to help people adapt.

edition.cnn.com/2025/03/24/c...

Major disaster in the US declared every four days in 2024, IIED analysis shows The United States experienced a near record number of climate-related disasters last year, prompting FEMA to declare 90 major disasters - nearly double the annual average.

The International Institute for Environment and Development @iied.bsky.social crunched 30 years of FEMA data, and cross referenced it with census estimates for each affected county.

Read more here: www.iied.org/major-disast...

What do 30 years of FEMA stats show us about climate-driven disasters in the United States?

- 2024 was the second highest number of Major Disasters in a year. That's one every four days.

- 41% (137m people) of population lived under a Major Disaster or Emergency Declaration at some point in 2024.

Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest Suspensions affect accounts spreading information about the widespread demonstrations.

Elon Musk's social media platform X has suspended several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey amid widespread civil unrest in the country.

Musk, a self-proclaimed protector of free speech, said he acquired X to restore free speech on the platform.

www.politico.eu/article/musk...

interesting data Hannah. What do you mean by 'development awareness' spending?

We should worry about migrant rape gangs, says the man who just pressured Romania to free the Tate brothers so they could return to the U.S.

The British public has a very positive opinion of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and very negative opinions of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: +48
Donald Trump: -51
Vladimir Putin: -85

yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

Danes offer to buy California to spite Trump’s Greenland aims: ‘We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood’ Satirical petition from Denmark, which owns Greenland, racks up 200,000 signatures as Trump eyes Arctic island

Maybe even Norway, with its colossal sovereign wealth fund, could pitch in?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Only 13 countries met the Feb 10 deadline for updated climate targets.

And one of those is the United States (which has since announced it will withdraw from the Paris Agreement).

Some big names still missing: The European Union, China, India, Australia, etc, etc.

www.iied.org/only-13-coun...

Fewer people than ever before are marrying in China. But divorces are up | CNN The number of new marriages recorded in China fell to a record low last year, despite sweeping government efforts to encourage young people to tie the knot and have babies to halt demographic decline ...

The number of new marriages recorded in China fell to a record low last year.

Some 6.1 million couples registered their marriages in 2024, a plunge of 20.5% from the previous year.

edition.cnn.com/2025/02/10/c...

30. Trump 2.0 and the future of global climate action In this episode, IIED’s head of global climate governance, Subhi Barakat, and IIED’s senior press and PR manager, Simon Cullen, discuss what Donald Trump’s recent return to the White House means for i

With Donald Trump back in the White House, where does that leave climate action globally?

Take a listen to the latest episode of the Make Change Happen podcast with Subhi Barakat from the @iied.bsky.social

#climatechange #ParisAgreement #DonaldTrump

soundcloud.com/theiied/30-t...

Tesla Sales Plunge 59% in Germany to Lowest Level in Years Tesla Inc.’s sales plummeted 59% last month in Germany, where Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk asserted himself in national politics like never before.

Tesla's sales plummeted 59% last month in Germany, where Elon Musk asserted himself in national politics like never before.

The company registered only 1,277 new cars in January, its lowest monthly total since July 2021.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

UK monthly sales stats out today:

Tesla's car sales in January 🔽 by 7.78% in January 2025, compared with Jan 2024.

That's despite a 41.6% 🔼 in electric car sales for the same time frame.

Tesla car sales plummeted across parts of Europe in January 2025, compared with same month last year.
🇫🇷: 🔽63.4%
🇳🇴: 🔽37.9%
🇸🇪: 🔽44.3%
🇳🇱: 🔽42.4%
🇪🇸: 🔽75.5%

30. Trump 2.0 and the future of global climate action In this episode, IIED’s head of global climate governance, Subhi Barakat, and IIED’s senior press and PR manager, Simon Cullen, discuss what Donald Trump’s recent return to the White House means for i

Trump 2.0: what does it mean for the future of climate action?

Take a listen to the latest @iied.bsky.social podcast.

on.soundcloud.com/cyxzANvHYuPX...

Five years on, few Britons think Brexit has been good for anything

% saying Brexit has had a positive impact on...
Control the UK has over its laws: 31%
UK's ability to respond to COVID-19: 23%
UK's level of international trade: 11%
NHS: 6%

Full list in chart 👇

yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

In the past 2 days, Switzerland and the UK have submitted their climate targets.

So, we're at 6 now.

(5 if you remove the United States... which submitted its target under Joe Biden).

Just 4 countries have submitted a new national climate plan a fortnight before a UN deadline

The UK has announced its plan, so will likely submit before 10 Feb, making 5

The plans are for emissions cuts by 2035: they're a v important part of Paris Agreement process

Graphic by @iied.bsky.social

I like this line: ‘In a democracy, ignorance is never the right answer’

I’ve definitely limited my intake of news over the past couple of years. But we still need to be informed.

So, when Elon posts these kinds of tributes... remember that the killer watched a stabbing video on X moments before he murdered the girls.

X refuses to remove stabbing video watched by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was able to view Australian clip before murdering three young children despite pleas from authorities

Remember when Elon Musk accused Australian authorities of trying to censor the internet? (They had asked 'X' to remove a Sydney stabbing video from the platform).

Well, that's the exact video that a UK killer watched minutes before murdering 3 young girls.

on.ft.com/4gcyYiQ

Very interesting. Would be fascinating to combine with questions about media consumption.