Dave Simpson 🇪🇺

I just want a government that is morally *better* than this.

Phylogeny of Southeast Asian Mapania (Cyperaceae: Mapanioideae) using chloroplast sequence data Abstract. Mapania (Cyperaceae) is a pantropical genus associated with the forest understorey. Its evolutionary history and species delimitation are poorly

The pantropical genus Mapania is associated with forest understorey, yet its evolutionary history & species delimitation are poorly known. Here, DNA sequence data was used to change this, highlighting the need for further research to better protect this genus! 🌍 🧪 👇

With neonicotinoid pesticide ban, France’s birds make a tentative recovery - study Analysis shows small hike in populations of insect-eating species after 2018 ruling, but full recovery may take decades

Good news: Study shows France’s birds making tentative recovery after neonicotinoid pesticide ban

UK has only just closed loophole in neonics ban (‘derogations’) so may be too soon to see recovery here?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Every time I hear a politician say that an issue is “dividing” this country they always then come down on the side of the right wing view of it. Just once I’d love to hear someone say “this issue is divisive, which is why I’m making the argument that kindness and compassion is important”

Labour has shredded its claim to competence A chaotic week has raised the risks around this month’s crucial Budget

"This is a government that, thanks to its own mis-steps, has burned right through the political capital its landslide election victory earned it just 16 months ago". www.ft.com/content/3128...

Nature not a blocker to housing growth, inquiry finds Commons committee report challenges ‘lazy narrative’ used by ministers that scapegoats wildlife and the environment

This is what many of us have been saying. Part 3 of the Planning & Infrastructure Bill is based on a myth: that we don't have enough homes because wildlife and green spaces are protected. It will solve nothing, and inflict terrible harm on our remaining ecosystems
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Labour’s latest attack on asylum seekers is cruel & counterproductive. How does it help community cohesion to hold threat of deportation over vulnerable people? We don’t need an arms race with the hard right over asylum, we need safe routes & European cooperation #bbclaurak

UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.

This is as bad as anything proposed by Reform.

Leaving refugees in permanent limbo and unable to build a new life in the UK would be a complete abdication of our humanitarian responsibilities

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Two stories you may not have seen this week that would be a big deal in a normal country:

1) The ‘dossier’ detailing the BBC’s editing of the Trump speech literally edited Trump’s speech.

2) The NBER calculated that Brexit’s longer term damage to GDP was greater than originally forecast.

Housing secretary tells Labour MPs to vote down planning bill amendment Amendment restricts protection for animals to allow faster house building

Watching Labour MPs take a wrecking ball to nature makes me so angry & so sad. Their action tonight voting down amendments to the #PlanningBill intended to protect wildlife & habitats from destruction is so reckless & so counterproductive. People didn’t vote Labour for this 👇

The four-word message the BBC should send Trump about his $1bn lawsuit The corporation must show it will not be cowed, unlike American broadcast media, and call the president’s bluff

The BBC can retrieve something from this mess (and show US broadcasters what a spine is) by sending Donald Trump a four letter response: “See you in court!” www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...

Yorkshire Water: it’s time to end the rip-off Handing the company back to local people would return both control and value to those who need it most

"Yorkshire Water was privatised in 1989 under the Water Act, launched debt-free and promoted as the start of a new, efficient era.

What followed was anything but. Today, the company carries almost £7bn in debt. Our rivers are polluted, our bills keep rising, and we’re told to pay still more..."

Just watched Farage talking about Trump and BBC and it makes me so miserable that his career has been so helped by an institution he is committed to destroy - I am bewildered

Nigel Farage says if the BBC doesn't produce straight news then it has no future

Of course the BBC have been producing straight news for years, it is why its one of the most reliable and trustworthy news outlets globally

I wonder when he will start suing news outlets for describing his barefaced lies about the 2020 election as barefaced lies…

Should Gibb be sacked? yes, obviously. He's an abomination of basic journalistic standards. His GB News channel spreads conspiracy theory & disinformation. His Jewish Chronicle newspaper spreads invented stories. He is plainly trying to undermine the BBC so it's as bad as everything else he touches.

Around 2,000 farmers attended a meeting in a mart on the nitrates derogation last night The nitrates derogation is a key exception that allows Irish farmers to use more nitrogen than other EU farmers.

This is not on individual farmers.

But the fact that farming organisations & politicians can watch an ecological and climate catastrophe unfold in real time & still demand “discounts” on climate fines & more derogations is staggering.

It is indefensible & shows a blatant refusal to face reality.

LNG ‘can’t happen fast enough’, says Taoiseach as Cop30 grapples with ending fossil fuels Martin indicates that liquefied natural gas a security imperative for Ireland

LNG ‘can’t happen fast enough’, says Taoiseach Micheál Martin as Cop30 grapples with ending fossil fuels.

Micheál Martin has absolutely no credibility when it comes to climate action.

Ryanair’s latest “look how much we’re flying” graphic leaves out a pretty important detail: their emissions and consequent harm to human health.

Pretty important as they're one of Europe's most polluting companies, but not to worry, I fixed it.

Cowen urges Taoiseach to seek better nitrates deal Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen has called on the Taoiseach to pursue a better deal for farmers on the nitrates derogation.

Alternative, more accurate headline: Cowen urges Taoiseach to ignore the science and our wrecked environment.

Lancashire’s Reform-run council plans to close care homes and day centres Questions about potential conflict of interest as council’s cabinet member for social care owns private care company

Meanwhile, in Reform's Lancashire CC, the councillor in charge of care homes, owns a private care home, and is closing council care homes. 👀

A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?

If you want to sustain your carefully-cultivated fury at the stupid Panorama edit then don’t, whatever you do, read or listen to Trump’s speech in its entirety…

It’s ironic but predictable that the BBC duo -who tried so hard to please the right wing papers-are removed by the right wing papers.

A big win for people more outraged by a silly edit at the BBC than by a man impeached by Congress for literally inciting an insurrection being back in the White House. Pathetic.

Gosh, the right wing saying the BBC is biased against them. What a joke. #r4today

National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature An unfiltered assessment of the latest threats to UK food supply, health and national security from eight leading experts to an invitation-only audience - also covering positive solutions. Westminster...

www.nebriefing.org?source=direc...

Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out Exclusive: Leading ecologists say warnings over threat to wildlife have been ignored in drive to build 1.5m new homes

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say Exclusive: report by Stand.earth says subsidiary of power plant received truckloads of whole logs at biomass pellet sites

www.theguardian.com/business/202...