Patrick Thomson

Robert Jenrick complaining that the country is broken is like Fred West complaining that his patio is uneven.

We did a thing! A depressingly-necessary message. Chemists, do as much as you can to support teachers and schools, or the student pipeline dries up and departments close. With @sci-drscott.bsky.social and colleagues.

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A comic for the Guardian by Stephen Collins on New Years Eve 2024. Script as follows: 1 THE SCENE: is BBC Television centre or wherever that is these days. HARRY STYLES is getting out of a limo to enter a studio. An autograph-hunting FAN accosts him. Also, a DATE STAMP appears ‘on screen’, like it used to do in the X-files, reading: OCTOBER, 2024: Maidstone Studios, England FAN 1: That’s Harry Styles! FAN 2 [Approaching Harry]: Can I have a selfie, Harry? 2 FAN: What are you doing at Maidstone Studios on this finbe day in mid October, Harry? 3 HARRY STYLES: Why, I’ve come here in mid-October to record ‘Jools Holland’s New Year Hoote-‘ 4 *FSHW* [Harry Styles is suddenly vaporised by a LASER BEAM] 5 [We see the culprit; a hi tech flying DRONE has zapped Mr Styles to death. The drone has a camera eye on the front of it] 6 [Cut to: JOOLS HOLLAND in his Hootenanny lair, watching a screen which has just alerted him to the elimination of Styles] [Legend on screen]: ARTIST ELIMINATED HOLLAND: Goddamn it 7 HOLLAND: Why can’t they keep their mouths SHUT? 8 HOLLAND: Tim Davie! TIM DAVIE [Director General of the BBC]: Y-yes Jools? HOLLAND: Who’ve we got left for this year? 10 TIM DAVIE: The Boomtown Rats, one of Sister Sledge and Marc Almond HOLLAND: Almond *again*? 11 TIM DAVIE: We’re running out of artists to call, sir… M-must we keep killing… so many…? HOLLAND: You know the rules, Davie. The secret of the Hootenanny must be protected at all costs. All who divulge it… 12 HOLLAND [close up on his evil face, eye twitching]: Must be eliminated

One year since I posted this. One year since everybody treated it like a joke. One year of watching my back. Tell me: have you seen much of Harry Styles this past year? Tim Davie's gone a bit quiet too, hasn't he?

A screenshot from Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give you up music video

A screenshot from Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give you up music video

A screenshot from Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give you up music video

A photograph of the seminary gym in knives out. It has the same window.

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up.

I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

Six dozen parsley, presumbly

Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again

They missed a trick not calling a rival parcel service "Prometheus" with the slogan "We'll make sure your de-livering happens every day!"

YouTube video by James Covenant Captain Picard sings "Let it Snow!"

Merry Christmas one and all! As always, here's Picard letting it snow and making it so.

youtu.be/oiSn2JuDQSc?...

Starting tomorrow- join us for the ultimate organic reaction bracket #ReactionRunoff hosted by the ACS Organic Division @organicdivision.org
Round 1 from Dec 10-11 and new rounds every 2 days
#ChemSky #ChemChat
#AmplifyOrganic

The worst (best) part is it coincided with a joint birthday, so we have the Enterprise D in the post as well.

Rivendell, we did our own kitchen fitting to save money so deserved a "little" treat. Build big, then build small.

The underside of a LEGO component with a hexagon-shaped arrangement of pieces

Benzene ring hiding in the Lego!

Promotional poster by the Royal Society of Chemistry titled 'Disability-Inclusive Laboratories in the Chemical Sciences'. Features an illustration of diverse individuals working in a laboratory setting, emphasizing accessibility in chemistry.

Explore our case studies on making chemistry workspaces more accessible for disabled scientists.
As part of our Disability-Inclusive Laboratories in the Chemical Sciences report, the library offers 29 examples to inspire change.
Read the case studies & share your own: https://rsc.li/486SU67
#ChemSky

Front cover of the Royal Society of Chemistry Disability - Inclusive Laboratories in the chemical sciences report. Making chemistry accessible for everyone.

Chemistry should work for everyone. However too many chemists still face avoidable physical & cultural barriers every day

The @rsc.org NEW report shares lived experiences & solutions for accessible labs #ChemSky

Let’s build science for everyone #InclusiveLabsRSC

Read the report rsc.li/4ijV3yN

I know it's my fault for not maintaining separation of accounts, but half the time I play D&D as "Dr Patrick Thomson, Strathclyde (he/his)" and half the time I'm in work meetings as "Grognog Bloodpuncher" and honestly it works better both ways.

Dear All Have you seen Prof Biscuit recently? Professor Biscuit is roaming Main Building or more likely, is asleep somewhere cosy. Have you seen him recently? If so, could he be persuaded to be returned to the Bursary, please?

They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)

Something something outwith

The change tracking for the alteration of "Teaching Fellow" to "Senior Teaching Fellow"

I am delighted and surprised, or as surprised as you can be when you remember putting in the paperwork!

Obligatory #NotAllResearchers

Excl: Edinburgh University begins compulsory layoffs with department set to be axed Seven staff in the Instute for Academic Development are set to lose their jobs when the department closes

"Not impacting the student experience" my arse. The IAD, like any Academic Development, compounds investment in the student experience by making researchers marginally less shit at teaching. They're also how I ended up in my current career.

thetab.com/2025/10/31/e...

I've gone in different places in the author list on my papers in the SAME JOURNAL because one or more coauthors were in a more precarious career situation and needed it

Oh GREAT, the one transformation that our introductory organic teaching says we can't easily do in one step.

We’re just innocent men

Higher Ed in 2025 is opening your mailbox to see that your institution has sent you:

1. A Center for Teaching and Learning call to integrate AI into your classroom; and

2. An Office of Academic Integrity email encouraging you to crack down on students who use AI to cheat.

I'm in this photo and I don't like it

Rest in peace to Jane Goodall, whose tireless advocacy for primates has brought us closer than ever to the Planet of the Apes becoming a terrifying reality

PC gaming feels a better fit than railroads. There aren't many consumers holding AI bonds about to get devalued, and the remnants won't be hundred-year infrastructures but technologies, products, and shifts in equilibria.