Prof Mike Yearworth

‘From the article: A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “It is categorically untrue that the UK only has access to two days of gas supply. We have a diverse energy mix and are confident in our security of supply.’

Crunchy decision to run with the headline, ey?

The end of the de minimis rule, globally, is as grim a thing, for the reality of millions of lives and livelihoods, as the slamming down of tariff barriers in the Great Depression.

Mindless, brutal, sovereigntism.

UK recruiter emerges from insolvency for third time, avoiding millions owed in tax Hampshire business seems to have benefited from ‘phoenixism’, which costs the taxpayer about £800m a year

UK recruiter emerges from insolvency for third time, avoiding millions owed in tax.

Companies run up debts, declare bankruptcy, debts shed, new company formed with same management/owners ... rinsed and repeated.

HMRC loses £836m a year. Creditors, including SMEs, lose millions.

Nazir Afzal: ‘Class Discrimination Isn’t a Complex Mystery – It’s a Structural Issue Quietly Enforced, Politely Denied, Endlessly Deferred’  – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition The Chancellor of Manchester University has co-authored a new report, ‘Class Ceiling’, examining working-class participation in the creative industries across Greater Manchester. He spoke to Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes about how opportunities for people from poorer backgrounds has declined since the 1960s, and why his work prosecuting the grooming gangs perpetrators as the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West informed his insights on class

🟨 Print Edition — Nazir Afzal: ‘Class Discrimination Isn’t a Complex Mystery – It’s a Structural Issue Quietly Enforced, Politely Denied, Endlessly Deferred’

The Chancellor of Manchester University has co-authored a new report, ‘Class Ceiling…

2026 Doomsday Clock Statement - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists It is 85 seconds to midnight.

One of the scientists at Chornobyl sent us this for our upcoming film, Climate in a Time of Conflict, set partly in Ukraine. But look at how much closer to midnight we’ve become since 27 January when this article was written. #risk

Not a good month for humanity.

thebulletin.org/doomsday-clo...

Great Britain has only two days of gas stored, while Iran war threatens to disrupt supplies National Gas insists storage broadly in line with levels for time of year despite disruption for tankers carrying LNG

UK has only two days of gas stored, Iran war threatens supplies.

Maximum capacity is 12 days.

Mainland Europe has reserves of several weeks’ worth of gas.

UK storage capacity shrank after privatisation.

The Rough storage facility closed in in 2017. British Gas wanted subsidies.

Fire near Glasgow Central station causes major rail disruption Dozens of trains cancelled and station closed after blaze at building on Union Street Train passengers are facing major disruption after a fire broke out near Glasgow Central station. Dozens of trains were cancelled on Sunday evening after the blaze at a building in Union Street. Continue reading...

Fire near Glasgow Central station causes major rail disruption

Dramatic rise in water-related violence recorded since 2022 Experts say climate crisis, corruption and lack or misuse of infrastructure among factors driving water conflicts

As we witness the horror of attacks on desalination plants, we need to be aware, on a warming planet, conflict over water, using water as a weapon of war, & targeting people seeking water is on the rise

- in the past 4 years, it's nearly doubled:

share.google/p0PrSGiLMdz0...

Why have we forgotten Robert Vas? The Hungarian filmmaker, who settled in England, is long due a revival. There are signs that one may be on the way

“My life has been broken like a piece of film.” Sukhdev Sandhu remembers Robert Vas, the forgotten genius of Free Cinema who believed, “Movies are a world of fragments, so why pretend smoothness?”

Food Prices Tracker: February 2026 The Food Foundation Food Prices Tracker: February 2026 shows families are cutting back on fresh food and reducing the size of their shopping baskets

The @foodfoundation.bsky.social says climate-driven events like drought, wildfire & floods, along with post-Brexit admin costs on imported foods are already pushing up UK food prices:

foodfoundation.org.uk/news/food-pr...
2/4

UK must stockpile food in readiness for climate shocks or war, expert warns Prof Tim Lang says country produces far less food than it needs to feed population and is particularly vulnerable

“The default position that others can feed us is hardwired into the British state system, and indeed into the nature of how agrifood capitalism works in Britain. Others are wiser. … What we glorify as efficiency is now vulnerability.”

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Anyone dug into data about unusual purchases in the oil and gas futures markets?

Google pledges roughly three hours of its annual profit to fight climate change Google and others are committing $100 million to combat climate change.

The perfect headline doesn’t exi…

US and Gulf states hold talks with Ukraine over drone detection Kyiv in contact with Washington and Middle East capitals to see how its systems can be replicated to combat Iranian UAVs

US and Gulf states hold talks with Ukraine over drone detection ft.trib.al/D0PKdD4

The third Gulf war: one week on Also on the daily podcast: Missile interceptors and Ali Khamenei obit

“If Iran continued to fire at that rate, we’d have a crisis in under a week.” Gulf states risk running out of interceptor missiles, Shashank Joshi tells “The Intelligence”

2024 TfL hack affected around 10 million people, BBC can reveal TfL insists it has

“Around 10 million people had their data stolen when Transport for London (TfL) was hacked in 2024, the BBC has discovered, making it one of the biggest hacks in British history.”

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

Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills Some risk spending too few days in the emirate and too many in the UK

“A private jet was “an instrument of return” to keep them within their fiscal terms, “in many cases with the cost of a jet being far lower than their potential tax bill if they miss the minimum days”.”

www.ft.com/content/80bf...

“…”Service providers must clearly explain what data is collected and how it is used," it said in a statement.”

ICO writes to Meta over 'concerning' AI smart glasses report Videos, including of glasses-wearers using the toilet or having sex, are sometimes reviewed by a Kenya-based subcontractor.

“the UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), told BBC News "devices processing personal data, including smart glasses, should put users in control and provide for appropriate transparency".”

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

Anybody have a source for this?

US air defenses may not be able to intercept many of Iran’s one-way drones | CNN Politics Trump administration officials told lawmakers during a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday that Iran’s Shahed attack drones represent a major challenge and US air defenses will not be able to...

“…Shahed attack drones represent a major challenge and US air defenses will not be able to intercept them all…The drones, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine acknowledged, are posing a bigger problem than anticipated”

Iran's Missile Math: $20,000 Drones Take on $4 Million Patriots Which side runs out of munitions first could determine the outcome of the war.

"Iran's Missile Math: $20,000 Drones Take on $4 Million Patriots
Which side runs out of munitions first could determine the outcome of the war." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

South East Water fined £22.5m for ‘repeated supply failures’ in Kent and Sussex Regulator says failures that hit nearly 300,000 customers made worse by utility’s failure to maintain efficient supply system

South East Water has been warned repeatedly by regulators, over a period of 4 years, that it was at risk of supply failure & needed to act to protect water resources in order to keep the taps on.

🧵
1/4
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Regulator investigates private dentistry market

🔺 BREAKING the competition regulator has announced that it is to launch a full market study into the £8.4 billion private dentistry market

South East Water faces £22m fine for supply failures The firm was unable to cope during high demand, Ofwat says, leading to

“South East Water is facing a £22m fine by the industry regulator for "multiple supply disruptions" between 2020 and 2023 which caused residents in Kent and Sussex "immense stress and anxiety".”

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

Grid investment is rising fast. BloombergNEF reports record spending in 2025 of 470 to 483 billion US dollars, up 17 percent on 2024. That is the second year of double digit growth.

This reflects structural change: more renewables, electrified transport & heating + rising demand from data centres.

🟧 #𝐄𝐉𝐎𝐑: 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡
𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝟑𝟑𝟏 | 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝟑 – now available on ScienceDirect

www.sciencedirect.com/journal/euro...

@mikeyearworth.bsky.social

Bank of England says it can run £431M settlement system without Accenture Deputy governor tells MPs central bank now has in-house skills and IP to maintain revamped RTGS As the last Accenture employee clocked off from supporting the Bank of England's £431 million Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street was assured it would no longer depend on the global consultancy.…

ICYMI: Bank of England says it can run £431M settlement system without Accenture

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