Prof Mike Yearworth

Ian Chapman maps the changes to UKRI’s budget between 2026 and 2030 Changes to how UKRI will deliver its investments have prompted questions and debate. UKRI’s CEO Ian Chapman discusses the rationale and mapping the old world onto the new

'Today, in a video published on the UKRI website, and in this piece, I want to describe what this means for individual researchers and innovators and, in particular, the place for curiosity-driven research within that.' 1/2

Anxiety ‘understandable’ but science money ‘is there’ – Vallance Science minister says way physics funding cuts were communicated was ‘pretty gruesome’ but insists most budgets will increase

Science minister Patrick Vallance has acknowledged that UK researchers are facing an “uncomfortable period” in the transition to new funding structures but insisted “the money is there” to support them, reports @jgro-the.bsky.social #research #AcademicSky
https://ow.ly/QUVT50YoX5q

Want to stop Farage with your vote? At the moment you can’t – and Starmer must fix that | Polly Toynbee The PM’s in-tray is overflowing. But he can’t afford to neglect the real issue that is distorting our politics and the way we live, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

“The consequences run deeper than fair voting or psephology. The primacy of a few voters in a few marginals has profoundly distorted the way we live. Our exceptional inequality, among the the worst in the developed world, is exacerbated by our two-party system”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Gas prices jumped again this morning and are on track to double - a stark reminder of our exposure to fossil fuel volatility.

The real solution isn’t more drilling, but moving away from combustion: electrify, use renewable power, and boost energy efficiency.

Polymarket users won big with unusual bets on US attack on Iran FT analysis identifies 12 accounts on platform that made large well-timed wagers just ahead of start of conflict

Absolutely fascinating story by @chriscook.news and others about suspected insider trading just before the strikes on Iran.

Who knew war was coming? And did they try and profit from it?

www.ft.com/content/2883...

Data centres in space: less crazy than you think They could be cheaper than ones on Earth, with the right technology

“Another unknown is cooling. Starcloud’s initial satellite could not run its GPU around the clock because (as expected) it got too hot.”

[gift link]

economist.com/science-and-...

Dyson settles forced labour suit in landmark UK case Migrant workers alleged they were subjected to abusive treatment in a Malaysian factory for Dyson.

Dyson proving once again how very dodgy his business practices are
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#Today stopped being a serious news programme years ago. The presenters refer to it as a show. Interviewees thank the presenters for being invited onto the show.

Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas has just received an order from the UK on 1,38GW to the Vanguard West wind farm off the cost of Norfolk
The order consists of 92 turbines with a nominal capacity of 15MW each.
Adding this picture showing the mould for one blade. Notice the person in the picture.

Private equity makes risky $1.1bn bet on hospice care Kinderhook’s acquisition of Enhabit comes with thin margins, heavy debt and increasing scrutiny

Private equity is buying hospices. What happens in the US will arrive here.

Palliative care and impending death is seen as a profit opportunity.

PE destroyed care homes and vets. Patient deaths have risen in PE owned hospitals and nursing homes.

UK handing more of the NHS to PE.
archive.ph/uO3aF

Analysis: China’s clean-energy exports in 2024 alone will cut overseas CO2 by 1% - Carbon Brief China’s clean-energy technologies such as solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles are helping to cut emissions in other countries.

The solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines exported from China in 2024 are set to cut annual CO2 emissions in the rest of the world by 1%, some 220m tonnes (MtCO2). www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chi...

France’s Engie strikes deal to buy UK Power Networks for £10.5bn French utility to acquire owner of electricity cables and power lines across London, south-east and east of England

“A French utility has agreed to buy the owner of the electricity cables and power lines across London, the south-east and the east of England in a deal worth £10.5bn.”

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

Fall in UK net migration threatens to carve deep hole in public finances Issue is expected to come under the spotlight in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement

"If annual net migration were to be 200,000 lower on average than the OBR’s current assumption over the five years of its forecast, the cumulative 1mn hit to labour supply could add up to £20bn per year to forecast borrowing." 👀

Are views on research ethics and questionable research practices discipline-specific? This study investigates attitudes toward research misconduct and questionable research practices (QRPs) among researchers (n = 11,050) and ethics reviewers (n = 144) across academic fields. Our findings indicate that while most questionable practices are viewed as unacceptable overall, attitudes vary systematically across fields. Medical researchers and ethics reviewers generally viewed questionable practices as less acceptable than researchers and reviewers in other fields. Female researchers and full professors also had stricter attitudes.

Are views on research ethics and questionable research practices discipline-specific?

New work by Amanda Lindkvist, @linakoppel.bsky.social, @danielvastfjall.bsky.social, et al.

doi.org/10.1016/j.re...

This is the reality of nuclear energy, always massively delayed and massively over budget.

Hinkley was scheduled to cost £18 billion and be running last year (2025) - more likely now to be next decade and £50 billion.

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

Today's by-election is another illustration of the problems with FPTP.

The result may tell us less about what voters want to happen than whether they can game the system effectively to stop a result most *don't* want.

The electoral system should not be an obstacle that voters have to work around.

‘Selling a dream’: the French nuclear start-up that ran aground Naarea’s unravelling provides cautionary tale for dozens of small reactor developers racing to bring designs to fruition

“About 12 tonnes of plutonium is separated a year at La Hague, most of which is already pledged to France’s state-owned EDF — while Naarea could need that amount for just one reactor, the people added.”

www.ft.com/content/a782...

‘Selling a dream’: the French nuclear start-up that ran aground Naarea’s unravelling provides cautionary tale for dozens of small reactor developers racing to bring designs to fruition

France #SMR #nuclear unravelling 'provides cautionary tale for dozens of small reactor developers'
French nuclear start-up Naarea is now a step away from a court-managed liquidation.
www.ft.com/content/a782...

Positionality statements are relevant for all research Madeleine Pownall and Sebastian Cordoba make the case for reflexivity and positionality statements as important in all kinds of research Madeleine Pownall and Sebastian Cordoba make the case for refle...

Reflexivity and Positionality Statements in Quantitative Research

"Choices about research questions, data sources, analytical techniques, and interpretation are all influenced by researchers’ epistemological commitments, their lived experiences..."

By @maddipow.bsky.social & @scordoban.bsky.social

‘Magic beneath the surface’: pioneering geothermal plant launched in Cornwall A mini power station and lithium extraction plant near Redruth set to bolster energy and jobs

“From Thursday, the Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL) plant near Redruth will feed electricity created by tapping into hot granite rocks to the National Grid and extract lithium from the mineral-rich water used in the process.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Implication:

For questions about polarization, dimensionality, or demographic sorting, over-constrained synthetic data can mislead.

Silicon samples are useful—but require structural diagnostics.

Full paper: drive.google.com/file/d/1bsmC...

Looks a v interesting paper - and results def in line with my priors.

Pleased to share the latest version of my paper with Arthur Spirling and @lexipalmer.bsky.social on replication using LMs

We show:

1. current applications of LMs in political science research *don't* meet basic standards of reproducibility...

Memory chip boom leaves PC and smartphone makers in the cold The three big manufacturers are increasingly selling chips for AI rather than household gadgets

Memory chip boom leaves PC and smartphone makers in the cold ft.trib.al/TKXsqY0 | opinion

Six Things Wrong About Public Procurement

A general explainer by me, following-up on my pieces on the Palantir-MoD contracts

Substack:
emptycity.substack.com/p/six-concer...

Personal blog:
davidallengreen.com/2026/02/six-...

NHS in England to be set targets on getting people back to work Ministers also planning to link patient data to benefit claims and employment statistics

Streeting grappling with the concept of failure demand “The NHS is great at patching us up, but too often it then sends us home without the support we need to get back on our feet. That’s bad for…because we end up walking back through its doors sooner than we should.”

www.ft.com/content/6943...

Six concerns about public procurement What is wrong about public procurement - and why it can be hard to do anything about it

NEW

Six concerns about public procurement

What is wrong about public procurement - and why it can be hard to do anything about it

Detailed post by me:
emptycity.substack.com/p/six-concer...

Palantir sues magazine that revealed Switzerland rejected its approaches Peter Thiel-chaired data intelligence group alleges that Republik did not give it sufficient right to reply

Palantir - by their actions shall you know them.

"It is unusual for a large international company to file one against a local media organisation."

www.ft.com/content/434b...

So-called 'nudify' apps. Smart glasses that secretly record video. An explosion in sexualised deepfakes.

Tech has turned against women, and it's time to regulate it properly, says author and gender equality campaigner Laura Bates.

Read more: ft.trib.al/Z3gd5bP

Any merit in the drivel I write comes from learning painstakingly how to write essays.

To assay - to test - exactly what I thought and knew about a matter.

Great essayists - Woolf, Orwell, Bacon, Montaigne, Hazlett - are utter intellectual joys as you read how they test themselves on topics too.