Alexander Christie-Miller

“They’re calling it the quickest war ever…”

The Black Death’s counterintuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity New study finds that plant biodiversity collapsed in landscapes where arable production was abandoned during and after the Black Death era.

This fascinating research offers cautionary advice to rewilding enthusiasts… while there is a clear place for rewilding, traditional agricultural methods may boost biodiversity more than abandonment: theconversation.com/the-black-de...

The Black Death’s counterintuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity New study finds that plant biodiversity collapsed in landscapes where arable production was abandoned during and after the Black Death era.

Very interesting! Thank you @beccyscottuk.bsky.social

theconversation.com/the-black-de...

It’s extraordinary to me that this is the ground the Labour Party have ceded:

To be perfect, they would make a permanent statue of the seagull at the stadium.

This is the most Turkish thing ever.

One of the weirdest things about this creepy video is the way the “O” in ‘Restore Britain’ changes to a “Q” for a split second. Just so the real fruitcakes know they have a home.

Anti-nature policies are a dead end for Labour.

You don’t secure lasting growth by risking long-term harm to the ecosystems we rely on.

The public knows this.

There’s no need for the Government to pick a fight with voters on nature.

It’s bad policy and bad politics.

Thank you!

@jo-the-botanist.bsky.social Hi Jo, I found this growing in one of our ditches- is the beginnings of water crowfoot?

The Magnificent Kevin

Kevinly Creatures

Kingdom of Kevin

Brewdog was my go-to beer at the supermarket for several years. Then I saw the founder saying he wanted a British version of DOGE. I’ve never bought it since. If there weren’t tonnes of other beers around that are as good or better, it might have been a harder choice.

I see- good to know! BTW thanks for all your work and your focus on extremism in the UK. I’m a huge admirer of what you’re doing.

It would be interesting to know if Reform’s decline (which seems largely to benefit “Other”) is due to far right voters looking to more extreme alternatives (Restore + Advance).

I shut mine down 18 months ago and deleted it permanently. Never looked back.

A probable great silver water beetle (hydrophilus piceus) swimming in a jar of water.

My son was pond dipping in the ditches at the weekend and found this beauty. We think it’s a great silver water beetle (hydrophilus piceus), quite rare and a contender for UK’s heaviest insect... It was a bit of a monster:

V interesting thread

I wonder if the people who spend their time hating this guy have any idea how utterly batshit they look to any normal person?

Sitting in train and observing through seats student in front of me copy pasting an essay into a “revised first class version” with chat gpt, incl tips on how to make it sound less “AI” with different “tone” options (eg “more academic” sic) Also checks IG reels every few minutes.
Feeling despair.

This is exactly it. On essentially every issue, this Labour government is either too leftwing - a bunch of anti-business measures that nobody cares about, an infrastructure binge at a time when it should want downward pressure on rates, etc. etc. - or too rightwing (as set out below).

Palantir's Swiss Exit Highlights Global Data Sovereignty Challenge | NewsCase Switzerland's military has terminated its contract with Palantir Technologies Inc. following a security audit. The review concluded that U.S. intelligence ag

"Switzerland’s military has terminated its contract with Palantir… following a security audit… concluded that U.S. intelligence agencies could potentially access sensitive Swiss defense data… significant reputational warning for the data analytics firm"

www.newscase.com/palantirs-sw...

#R4Today

Ed Miliband should announce a leadership bid by calling a press conference in which he does nothing but eat a badly-overfilled burger.

Ed Miliband should announce a leadership bid by calling a press conference in which he does nothing but eat a badly-overfilled burger.

FINALLY time for chaos with Ed Miliband

There’s something obscene about this headline. As if stubbornness and vanity aren’t integral to personalist dictatorial regimes.

Oh my god I’m so glad we’re not the only ones.

As of yesterday, the Wpost was the only one left of the list above with foreign correspondents of its own. These jobs have not been replaced by independent journalists or substacks because of the immense logistics, expense, and personal safety issues around them.

When I started out in journalism in the mid-2000’s, there were almost a dozen US papers with bureaus in critical areas like the Middle East. Papers like The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Miami Herald, and Washington Post each had correspondents who were fierce competitors and colleagues.