Tim Smedley

Reform fury as someone else wins by Our By-election Editor Tim Shipsink The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost comprehensively to someone else. "It's totally unfair and rigged," said Goodwhinge. "I shouldn't be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost." Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me. Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X. "We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families." Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice. They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green." Reform leader Mr Farage, speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said, "It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either." PLUMBER DEFEATS MATT GOODWIN Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… I've stopped the cock

Beautiful from Private Eye on the massive toddler-tantrum that Matt Goodwin and Reform are having, because they got whooped in Gorton and Denton.

Your regular reminder that the UK's North Sea gas production is down by two-thirds since 2000 and is set to drop by another 97% by 2050 – even with new licensing rounds it would fall by 95%

Berry Bars

I've been unemployed for a few months. I now set myself pretend jobs to prevent the rot setting in. My son thinks this guy is funny, which is a good enough excuse to make something. Any requests?

JUST ONE YEAR'S OF SOLAR!?

In 2025, 82MT of LNG went thru the Strait of Hormuz. That's 1200TWh of gas = about 600TWh of electricity generation if it was used in gas power plants.

Meanwhile in 2025, global solar electricity generation rose by about 600TWh ☀️

Call for Evidence - Committees - UK Parliament Air Pollution In England

Closes 5pm Tuesday 3 March 2026 | @commonseac.parliament.uk’s inquiry into #AirPollution in England << Please read their call for evidence and submit responses to one or more questions committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evi...

They’re now speaking about it openly.

A 93% spike isn’t a ‘trend’ - it’s a stick-up. Gas is a ransom. Carbon is a conflict mineral. Fossil fuels are war. Renewables are the only real declaration of independence.

Stop being vassal states. Move decisively to cut the cord.

It's just 1 poll (for now) - but here's how it plays out in the Nowcast Model:

RFM: 227 (+222)
GRN: 135 (+131)
LDM: 92 (+20)
CON: 59 (-62)
SNP: 48 (+39)
LAB: 40 (-371)
PLC: 20 (+16)
Others: 10 (+5)

For those who are minded to do so, there's now a petition to sign too...

#DirtyBusiness

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75...

One of my favourite sides of politics/media.

Tuesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

Forget the AMOC Collapse: an ‘SPG Collapse’ Is Much More Imminent A collapse of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre (SPG) - a smaller but crucial sub-component of the AMOC - could happen as soon as the 2040s

Given the existential threat to the UK of an AMOC collapse and (sooner) the Subpolar Gyre (SPG) - a reader commented: "what is the UK Gov doing to prepare?" According to Hansard, AMOC has only ever been mentioned 3 times, in one Lords debate in 2024. And the SPG? Not once.
medium.com/the-new-clim...

Forget the AMOC Collapse: an ‘SPG Collapse’ Is Much More Imminent A collapse of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre (SPG) - a smaller but crucial sub-component of the AMOC - could happen as soon as the 2040s

Given the existential threat to the UK of an AMOC collapse and (sooner) the Subpolar Gyre (SPG) - a reader commented: "what is the UK Gov doing to prepare?" According to Hansard, AMOC has only ever been mentioned 3 times, in one Lords debate in 2024. And the SPG? Not once.
medium.com/the-new-clim...

The UK Government Blocked this Climate Intelligence Report — Here’s What It Said Supressed since last year and only now revealed thanks to an FoI request — this MI5 climate change report makes for chilling reading

So, it turns out that the UK national security report on nature -only published last month thanks to an FOI request - omitted the most serious forecasts. I've updated my earlier piece here with the @itvnews.bsky.social revelations:

medium.com/the-new-clim...

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

Data Centers Are Driving a US Gas Boom Gas projects in the US pipeline explicitly linked to data centers increased by almost 25 times over the past two years, according to new research from Global Energy Monitor.

i was actually shocked to see the numbers on new research from Global Energy Monitor on new gas projects in the US: nearly 100 gigawatts of power—enough to power tens of millions of homes—are currently in development explicitly to power data centers. At the end of 2023 that number was 4 gigawatts

Our report sets out essential priorities for Government which include:

Stop the polluters 
Fix the broken system 
Restore nature 

Read more in the full report: www.wcl.org.uk/docs/WCL_Cle...

Photo credits: WWT

Ancient stepwells brought back to life as India begins to run out of water Centuries-old wells restored to provide drinking water as parts of the country head towards “day zero” when no water will be available

India had a fully functioning water system until the British came along. The English word for a water storage tank comes from the Hindi 'tankaa'. The British turned rivers into sewers and introduced disastrous combined sewage & storm overflows across its Empire.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

👀 www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...

Chapter 1 of Moby Dick, page 1 The phrase ‘Call me Ishmael’, the first sentence of the book, is highlighted in blue, with careful highlighting on the very big C at the start. Above this, written in ballpoint pen ‘His name’

Love the glimpse into the beautiful mind that notated this used copy of Moby Dick I got

Ah maybe that's his cunning plan? He'll camouflage with the Louvre's curtains, and then spring out with his sword at any dastardly heisters? (Why is this all reminding me of Peter Sellers' Pink Panther...)

Good god. We pay for public goods via the tax system, not by robbing from individual loan borrowers by fiddling their terms. If ministers think a couple of plasters are going to fix this, 2029 is going to be a bloodbath.

Ha! Wonder if he said that during the interview? Interviewing panel raising an eyebrow and then nodding at each other, impressed.

And that matters.

Reading yet another article on an interesting, important topic in a mainstream outlet - but clearly AI written. All "it's not X, it's Y", runs of 3-word sentences, "That matters". We are losing our collective minds here, people.

And they want to do an illegal invasion in order to crush Iran's sovereignty and install the son of the previous dictator as a literal monarch, who will run the country as a playground for US capitalists.

This is a straight up plug, but...

If you're curious about what this felt like & exactly what led up to it, I have a chapter in 'Scientists on Survival' where I recount the details.

Available in paperback - www.mombooks.com/book/scienti...

Or as audiobook- www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0FCMVC437

Same. The mornings are nice - but the afternoons, when the US wakes up, are swamped by the horrors of what Trump has done this time. Globally relevant of course and I engage, but it does overwhelm all other discourse.