Ben Knights

Five years on from the pandemic, the right’s fake Covid narrative has been turbo-charged into the mainstream | Laura Spinney Before the next outbreak, we need a serious conversation about how to cope, but first, the more strident, misguided voices must be muted, says author Laura Spinney

Brilliant from Laura Spinney👏

It saddens me that not even such a heartbreaking loss of life, health, and livelihoods is enough for some folks to look out from behind their blinkers...

If H5N1 breaks, we're in serious trouble.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

New data shows all bad news for England's priority wildlife habitats.

❌big drop in monitoring: Natural England needs funds to keep up
❌fall in favourable management in & outside SSSIs
❌fall in SSSIs in good condition: better incentives & enforcement urgent.

🧵1/3

This Is Not Appeasement, It Is Worse Calling Donald Trump A New Neville Chamberlain Is Unfair To Chamberlain

This Is Not Appeasement, It Is Worse

Comparisons to Neville Chamberlain and Appeasement are not fair to Chamberlain. Trump isn't trying to delay a war with Putin or give himself time to rearm. The US president is trying to help Putin @phillipspobrien.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

At least six independent inspectors general fired by Trump all have one thing in common: their agencies investigated Elon Musk's corporations.

Musk's crusade against the government isn't about "waste" or "efficiency."

It's about shielding himself from accountability.

When Trump was sworn in, Elon Musk's corporations were under more than 32 investigations conducted by at least 11 federal agencies.

Most of the cases are now closed or likely to be closed soon, and the federal agencies are being defanged by DOGE.

Funny how that works, huh?

A deep dive into the crackpot conspiracy theory about the Frankfurt School that unites neo Nazis with mainstream conservatives. I researched the hell out of this and the story is even weirder than I imagined. (Working link this time!)

A handy compilation of Labour’s negative achievements (so far). They had an opportunity — a big but shallow FPTP mandate. They blew it, & keep doing so a bit more every day, e.g. today’s creeping subservience to US tech. They’re beyond disappointing,

The ABA supports the rule of law It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accor...

🚨🚨 Timely statement from the American Bar Association on the looming Constitutional Crisis in the US: "The ABA supports the rule of law". Well worth to read the statement in full. 🧵
www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...

The speed of the implementation of Trump’s suppression of open enquiry and his reinforcement of prejudice can only indicate that business and agency leads are being pushed in a direction they are all too willing to go.

I’m in Tallin airport+I’ve read all my books+ cleared as much work email as possible. In shop, had either read or didn’t want to read books. So I bought Pride and Prejudice (read last 1995?).Gosh. Ch 1. Such density. Also: Mr Bennett (quick, sarcastic, reserve, caprice) surely a bit Darcy like?

Skills for the Future of English | The English Association We support the teaching, learning, and enjoyment of English at all levels of education, from early years to further and higher education and beyond.

What can you do with English Studies? Anything! I am sharing @englishassociation.bsky.social Skills for the Future link again, with student stories about the skills they are learning, plus some amazing case studies from the world of work. See 🧵 englishassociation.ac.uk/skills-for-t...

Have heard song thrushes and mistle thrush in last few days. And a visit of 8 long-tailed tits yesterday!

Saying ‘deep state’ over and over doesn’t count as deep thinking.

UK during Brexit just about survived because law and courts did work (much to the aggravation of right wing media and politicians)

IT IS A COUP This is what should be on every front page in 150 point banner headlines. All I have is this Substack but I lay it beneath your feet and pray to a higher power that I'm wrong.

This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen. IT'S A COUP.

It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
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open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

As a big caveat, a core reasons the German railway system around DB fell apart over the late 2000s and 2010s was because of a disastrously cackhanded attempt to save on maintenance, personnel and infrastructure costs in order to boost short term profits and attract investors for a part-privatisation

Collaboration, civility and complexity A time of rising darkness is a portentous phrase. But whilst the focus of 2024 has inevitably and rightly been on university financial sustainability, we have spent less time on another trend which…

Why join us? Because 'we need to find ways to emphasise the collaborative nature of arts and humanities research, a fundamental aspect of what we do'. Please do read the excellent blog by @christophersmith.bsky.social on this very topic: anatomiesofpower.wordpress.com/2024/12/27/c...

I'm sure there's a handkerchied knotting app available on the App Store.

'No more knots today'

Judge Halts DOGE Access to Treasury Payment Systems The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by 19 attorneys general accusing the president of failing to faithfully execute the nation’s laws when he let DOGE comb through federal computer systems.

When the State of New York finally has to secede from the Union, I hope the first statue they raise is to the inestimable Letitia James.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/n...

It’s time for climate populism As politics turns against net zero, we need to mobilise a genuine mass movement against ecological catastrophe.

Climate action globally is under threat. It’s hugely urgent to seize initiative from rightwing populists. We need to change tactics: start by building climate resilience in local communities where people can feel tangible benefits – we’re calling it climate popularism. @rupertread.bsky.social & me🧵

Naomi Smith, "When we think about the world of tech, over the last two decades, their mantra of move fast and break things, was rewarded"

"If you bring that approach into gov, politics, to the fabric of society, it won't work. And all it will seek to do is undermine the structures that protect us"

Just spotted that the Musk White House has disbanded the legal effort to go after kleptocrats. It's beginning to feel a lot like the United States has just changed sides.

www.justice.gov/ag/media/138...

Be clear about what Trump and Musk’s aid axe will do: people will face terror and starve, many will die | Gordon Brown The decimation of USAid is already having a terrible effect in some of the poorest places on the planet. It damages America: it will harm us all, says Gordon Brown, the UN’s special envoy for global e...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Be clear about what Trump and Musk’s aid axe will do: people will face terror and starve, many will die | Gordon Brown The decimation of USAid is already having a terrible effect in some of the poorest places on the planet. It damages America: it will harm us all, says Gordon Brown, the UN’s special envoy for global e...

'Coming alongside President Trump’s plan for a US takeover of Gaza, the US administration’s resolve to shut down its international aid agency sends a clear message that the era when American leaders valued their soft power is coming to an end.'

Long-tailed tit seen from the rear with its tail pointing upwards

And it's goodbye from the long-tailed tit

Long-tailed tit with purple chest and black and white throat and head.

That long-tailed tit again

A long-tailed tit on a twig. Its body colour is a dark pink. It has a white throat and black and white head.

Long-tailed tit in the trees

Golden hour in Durham yesterday — two attempts at taking one of my favourite views of the Cathedral (apart from the more usual ones) — looks wonderful to the eye, which focuses on the Cathedral, different or less so to a lens, which sees the trees. @legalmusings.bsky.social

Still not clear how long ago Musk set about recruiting and preparing his myrmidons.

FT isn’t holding back today.