Kal Winston

A waiting list of thousands, and just five new homes for social rent: this city shows the depth of Britain’s housing crisis | John Harris Liverpool was once praised for its tolerance, but housing shortages are driving fearful, unsettling behaviours – and people are blaming outsiders, says Guardian columnist John Harris

We need a maximum on private property and land ownership, to free up more space and homes for people who need them. @zackpolanski.bsky.social : www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick | George Monbiot The government’s new planning bill is tearing down environmental protections to benefit developers. This nation of nature lovers won’t stand for it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Today's column is about the government's huge, unprecedented assault on nature ... and about the eerie, astonishing silence of the big nature groups. The RSPB, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts have 7.5m members between them. A vast force, completely unmobilised. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making In an example of egregious planned obsolescence, as many as 400 million computers will soon hit the waste stream.

Nobody needs Windows 11. I work on an 8-year-old laptop running MX Linux and it's amazing. We can't go down this ridiculous global e-waste path every couple of years

"The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making" www.404media.co/the-end-of-w...

Maybe. Though young people travel, use AI, etc. Possibly less overt denial, but is their behaviour really so different?

Or maybe all out general strike until a weslth tax is implemented?

The Guardian view on Labour targeting nature: the problem isn’t snails, but a broken housing model | Editorial Editorial: Rachel Reeves’s drive to speed up development is beginning to treat wildlife and the environment as expendable. Voters want homes built, but not at any cost

The Guardian view on Labour targeting nature: the problem isn’t snails, but a broken housing model | Editorial www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Indeed. Perhaps we should push for a maximum salary for anyone working in HE. How much is enough for a comfortable life?

We all need forests to be allowed to mature

Protect young secondary forests for optimum carbon removal - CIFOR-ICRAF Knowledge: Publication Avoiding severe global warming requires large-scale removals of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Forest regeneration offers cost-effective carbon removals, but annual rates vary substantially by location a...

Not all forests are equal when it comes to fighting climate change.

New research shows that young secondary forests (20–40 years old) can remove up to 8x more carbon per hectare than newly planted ones.

Read more: 👉 https://bit.ly/4emhIIU

#Trees4Resilience

Green turtle bounces back from brink in conservation 'win' Once endangered due to hunting, it is making a strong recovery thanks to global conservation efforts.

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

Selective empathy is moral blindness. It’s when compassion depends on who suffers, outrage on who’s harmed, and silence on who speaks. True empathy isn’t agreement, it’s feeling another’s pain even when it challenges your comfort or loyalty.

Changes in energy content of menu items at out-of-home food outlets in England after calorie labelling policy implementation: a pre–post analysis (2021–2022) Introduction Eating from out-of-home food outlets (OHFO) is common and linked to poor dietary quality, weight gain and obesity. In response, England implemented mandatory calorie labelling regulations...

NEW PAPER: Implementation of mandatory calorie labelling in England was associated with a small (9kcal) overall reduction in mean energy content of items on the menus of large chain restaurants.

bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/3/2/...

In an analysis of more than 30,000 menu items we found:

Need a campaign for a maximum salary for any university role, a strict upper limit to the greed.

Here's the relevant chart from the above report. It's rare to see such a clear, consistent slope in any social trend. That segregation is decreasing is perhaps the best evidence, least controversial social fact of modern Britain

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

On enshitification www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

True for my 60 years ... cemetery desecrations, security concerns on holy days, etc, have been the norm

An attempt to explain why AI use might well lead to idiocracy: arxiv.org/abs/2506.11015. Curious to know what others think of this paper.

Big trees in Amazon more climate-resistant than previously believed Forest is ‘remarkably resilient to climate change’, but remains under threat from fires and deforestation

We need big trees in big forests: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A good idea? Might this help reduce inequity between students woi can and cannot afford the paid versions of AI tools?

Might it be helpful in protecting kids from online predators?

‘It changed my view’: the letter campaign urging pupils in deprived areas to try university Personalised notes from students who share similar backgrounds are designed to make higher education feel more accessible

Timeline cleanse. And wow, this is wonderful. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

China is helping Uzbekistan save the Aral Sea Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea is now almost entirely a desert, having lost more than 90 percent of its surface area since the 1960s.

globalvoices.org/2025/09/17/c...
"China has sought to frame itself as an expert in combating desertification as a means to strengthen ties with Uzbekistan and other countries facing issues with soil erosion and desertification. "

Illywhacker, outstanding, from very first line. Long though Or Bliss

Expect the free speech warriors to be all over this suppression of expression!

Indeed. Perhaps one of the most serious consequences of the brexit 'debate' has been the legitimisation of racist discourse.

Exceptional from Zack Polanski on a 1% wealth tax and aligning CGT on earned income #C4News

The Greens are proposing what Labour should have rolled out when they came into power in 2024

I'm pro wealth, pro entrepreneurialism, pro innovation, but I'm also pro wealth taxes on those with £10m+

The arms industry deserves scrutiny at a time when defence and military spending threatens health

Read this editorial introducing our new series on the arms trade and health

www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1794

Five steps towards writing in fragments The myth of ideal academic writing time persists. We all long to be in a quiet office, surrounded by books, with hours of uninterrupted time to craft elegant arguments. But the reality is very diff…

Use little windows of time to progress your academic writing patthomson.net/2025/08/30/f...

The evidence is so strong that the only explanation is that Americans want mass shootings. Otherwise they wouldn't accept it, they'd insist on change. They must like it this way. Nothing else makes sense.