Ben Spencer

Labour minister falsely linked journalists to ‘pro-Kremlin’ network in emails to GCHQ Exclusive: Josh Simons pressed intelligence officials to investigate reporters, in emails described as ‘McCarthyite smear’

Josh Simons says he was "furious" at how the PR firm Labour Together hired smeared journalists

But he handed its baseless 'reports' to the security services

The minister's comments don't stack up

As Jon Cruddas told me weeks ago: "this is dark shit"

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

In today's environment newsletter I wrote about the rain. If you doubt global warming is real, just look out of the window.
link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...

In today's environment newsletter I wrote about the rain. If you doubt global warming is real, just look out of the window.
link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...

One of the most consequential scientific breakthroughs I've written about for some time. Scientists are using AI to design new genomes from scratch and then bringing them to life in the lab. I went to California to meet them.

In today's Sunday Times and online @thetimes.com

One of the most consequential scientific breakthroughs I've written about for some time. Scientists are using AI to design new genomes from scratch and then bringing them to life in the lab. I went to California to meet them.

In today's Sunday Times and online @thetimes.com

Welcome to post-Darwinism: AI fires silver bullet for creating new life In a breakthrough experiment, molecular biologists and tech entrepreneurs have teamed up to write the genetic code of a virus that destroys killer bacteria

In a breakthrough experiment, molecular biologists and tech entrepreneurs have teamed up to write the genetic code of a virus that destroys killer bacteria

The Times and Sunday Times science/environment books of the year are out! By @masudhusain.bsky.social @adamweymouth.bsky.social Tim Gregory Liam Shaw @hannahritchie.bsky.social Suzanne O'Sullivan and Bollore/Bonnassies.

List here (click science/environment)
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Cop30: Oil-rich nations scupper deal to phase out fossil fuels The ‘axis of obstruction’ — Saudi Arabia, Russia and China — blocked the Belém road map as climate experts fear the growth of an anti-action consensus

An “axis of obstruction” emerges at #Cop30. Roadmap away from fossil fuels kicked down the track after it was blocked by Saudi Arabia, Russia and China.

In tomorrow’s Sunday Times and online now @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/5b14...

Labour ministers accused of abandoning nature in the pursuit of net zero, as row escalates at #Cop30 over UK failure to back fund to save the rainforests.

edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dyn...

‘I bought a £90k woodland for my sons. The return has been priceless’ Investing in alternative assets can have some unexpected rewards — and could even help with your inheritance tax bill

Anyone want to go in on a woodland with me? Slightly obsessed by this idea.

www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

"Until recently I was City Minister, but in truth I'm more of a country girl than a city girl," new environment secretary Emma Reynolds tells the Labour Party Conference. "A walk in the woods, a hike over the hills, a dip in the sea: these are things that make life worthwhile."

Thanks Damian

Secrets of the deep, deep tunnels where nuclear waste is buried Almost half a kilometre underground, engineers in Finland are about to seal radioactive material safely for ever. Britain wants to do the same

One of the great privileges of my job is going to places few others can. This was one of those trips, 433m below the earth in Finland, down tunnels which will soon be used to dispose of nuclear waste. With amazing photos by Richard Pohle

@thetimes.com

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nucl...

Fascinating to speak to Chris Van Tulleken about vaccine hesitancy, how to stop the next pandemic, ultra-processed food and his new BBC documentary Disease X. Oh, and the physics of fart diffusion.

In today's Sunday Times @thetimes.com 👇🏻

thetimes.com/article/e9441f…

I imagine that anything that can be sold as being part of the growth agenda will be enthusiastically adopted. It's the rest of it that I worry about.

Why can't Defra hang on to an environment secretary for a decent stretch of time? I've looked at this in today's environment newsletter and examined what we know about the new secretary of state, Emma Reynolds, and what her first challenges will be.

link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...

a sign that reads “NO LOITERING VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED”

me, to the judge: “Well if THAT’s what they meant, they should have used punctuation.”

Accepting the leadership, Polanski said: “We’ve come so far, but this is only just the start. It’s time to take this bold vision of social and environmental justice up a gear. I come into this role today with urgency, purpose, and a single mission: To build a country where no one is left behind.”

BREAKING: Zack Polanski has been elected as the new leader of the Green Party. This is what I wrote about the impact it will have on the party last week

link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...

Britain's nuclear fleet limps on. Heysham 1 in Lancashire and Hartlepool in Teesside have been given one-year extensions and are now expected to generate electricity until March 2028.

‘Precious’ breast cancer drug withheld from NHS in price row The pharma giant Gilead Sciences will not send Trodelvy for assessment by the UK drugs watchdog, claiming it can’t make enough profit in Britain

Excl: US pharma giant Gilead is withholding a breast cancer drug from Nice assessment, blaming the UK for undervaluing medicines. It's a marker of the disintegrating relationship between the biosciences industry and government in a war over prices 👇🏻

@thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/article/2b11...

Wasps (and me!) in @thesundaytimes.bsky.social today. Thanks @ben-spencer.bsky.social for championing wasps!

Get involved with #WaspPicnicSurvey and #BigWaspSurvey!
#SummerOfWaspLove
Links below!
@uclcber.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social
@adamhartscience.bsky.social

Why 70-year-olds look better today than they ever have Remarkable advances in health and wealth mean baby boomers could be the healthiest generation yet. Younger cohorts may not be so lucky

In today’s Sunday Times: why 70-year-olds look (and feel) better today than they ever have. And why the rest of us may never have it so good.

⁦@thetimes⁩.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/d5c1...

12 amazing wild animals that are thriving again in Britain It’s a conservation success story. Ben Spencer spies the ospreys, bison, beavers and other rare species recently reintroduced to our shores

Beavers, bison and osprey: an ode to species reintroductions in today’s Sunday Times Magazine.

@thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/magazines/th...

‘Nasa is being savaged’ — budget cuts and politics put space exploration in jeopardy The reignited space race may be over almost as soon as it started, with the US and European space agencies at the mercy of the White House

This is such a great piece by @astrojonny.bsky.social about the chaos at Nasa right now, including the impact it is having on the moon missions and European space projects.

👇🏻 @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/article/9a65...

Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser

Patrick Vallance always insisted politics wasn’t for him. So why, a year ago this week, did he accept a job as Labour’s science minister? “If you say no, then you should shut up - and I didn’t feel like shutting up.”

My interview with Lord Vallance @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...

Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser

Patrick Vallance always insisted politics wasn’t for him. So why, a year ago this week, did he accept a job as Labour’s science minister? “If you say no, then you should shut up - and I didn’t feel like shutting up.”

My interview with Lord Vallance @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...

Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser

In the UK, 'vaccination rates are falling because parents have forgotten the devastating impact of childhood diseases' - and in particular, 'that measles kills.' Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation ‪ @ben-spencer.bsky.social @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...

A revolution that started in a Scottish pub could save the world’s oceans Pioneered by worried locals, the success of a no-bottom trawling zone off the island of Arran has raised hopes that similar schemes can revive seas globally

If you've seen Attenborough's Ocean, you will have seen the unnamed diver from Arran describing the horror of bottom trawling. This is his story: a 35-yr fight to save the seas around his island and how his cause is now taken up by princes and presidents

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...