The BBC just remade Lord of the Flies β the story that taught generations humans are fundamentally savage.
But when it ACTUALLY happened in real life? Six boys shipwrecked for over a year built a functioning society.
@zenamarks.bsky.social
Science + natural history journalist and producer-director for TV, digital and radio. Social evolution specialist. Sceptical, not cynical.
The BBC just remade Lord of the Flies β the story that taught generations humans are fundamentally savage.
But when it ACTUALLY happened in real life? Six boys shipwrecked for over a year built a functioning society.
Recommended watching: loved both #TheTonyBlairStory and #TheNightAgent (season 3) this week
20.02.2026 23:23 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Al Sharpton: Barack Obama was able to become President because of Jesse Jackson.
17.02.2026 17:10 β π 168 π 22 π¬ 10 π 0"Wherever the BBC has been forced to withdraw β for financial or political pressures β propaganda has been quick to fill the gap.
[The #BBCWorldService is] an instrument of soft power. But...also part of our national security. Accurate journalism is the strongest weapon in the war of information."
Russia stepping up gray zone attacks against NATO countries in the Arctic
www.reuters.com/world/norway...
And yet Russia continues to push NATO's boundaries with their internet cable-destroying trawlers, drones and such. Clearly you're using the false premise that a woman can't have an informed opinion. If she disagrees she must not understand the situation.
14.02.2026 11:43 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0No, Russia's ability and propensity to attack the UK beats people's ability to protest in that particular way.
13.02.2026 11:11 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0IMO the strongest argument for proscribing a group which broke into RAF bases & caused hundreds of thousands of pounds-worth of damage to fighter jets was always, in a time when Russia thinks they're at war with us, 'what would Russia think?' The ban discouraged that, so no it wasn't 'vicious folly'
13.02.2026 10:48 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0What on earth are you talking about George? I admired your nature and social equality work. These statements make you sound batshit crazy.
10.02.2026 00:22 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I love it when stats and poll watchers are confounded by real life. Reminds me why I was named after Zeno of Elea. #StSebastiansparadox #hareandtortoiseparadox
10.02.2026 00:15 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I have no idea what pundits saying they 'don't know what #Starmer stands for' are on about. He's principled and competent. He'll get our NHS, economy and defence back on form. And he'll combat corruption. It's clear from space! #Labour
10.02.2026 00:07 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0"Hardly been a triumph"; NHS waiting lists massively down, interest rates down, massive majority, not upsetting the applecart at a time of incredible international upheaval... Not small feats!
09.02.2026 13:10 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Tom Allan is a big loss. The operation became noticeably more effective when he came in.
bsky.app/profile/theg...
This is the perfect opportunity for #Starmer to demonstrate that he did indeed inspire the character of Mark Darcy - defending vulnerable people from the Wickhams of the political/financial world. I despise corrupt people, who so predictably try to take down principled people holding them to account
08.02.2026 17:46 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Not *all* Labour MPs wanted McSweeney out.
βGutted about Morganβ, one texts.
βSo many of us know heβs brilliant to work with, so exceptional at the bigger picture strategic thinking, relentlessly focused on the moving piecesβ¦ and credit him with winning the majorityβ.
Actually changing people's lives, making sure hundreds of thousands of lives are saved by pulling the NHS around... and hundreds more positives. Come off it George - are you doing an intentional parody here?! π
08.02.2026 16:11 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0One (rare) advantage of X over BlueSky - you can bookmark posts from your phone app, rather than only 'like' them. @bsky.app please can you advise/sort?
07.02.2026 00:51 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0#Starmer staying in power is in the interests of UK national security. This is particularly on the basis of national and international stability and yes, I would strongly argue, principled competence.
05.02.2026 11:13 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0To state the blooming obvious, in today's global climate, national security and politics need to be in lockstep.
05.02.2026 11:09 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I personally am much more interested in the relationship between #Epstein and #Trump.
The UK needs to know more about this for its own national security.
π¨π¨Poland to examine βincreasingly likely possibility that pedophilia scandal was co-organized by intelligence servicesβ in Moscow.
Read the full story below. ποΈ
www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
Would the security services not set someone to ingratiate themselves with a guy with criminal connections and unclear finances, who had inveigled prominent individuals, to find out what, why, and who for? Ideally someone prominent, with cover, and able to seem a bit 'grey area'?
05.02.2026 10:05 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Would the security services really allow someone who wasn't a member of the security services to be ambassador to the U.S. in the second Trump era? #PeterMandelson
05.02.2026 10:05 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Slow Horses' London rules ('cover your arse') matter more to many than getting the job done. Short-termist and self-defeating.
02.02.2026 00:41 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0It seems to me that, today, society rewards looking as though you're doing something more than actually doing it. Performativeness. (I wonder whether the advent of 'liking' things, rather than actually liking them, has anything to do with it.)
02.02.2026 00:39 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Alcaraz β€οΈ π
01.02.2026 22:18 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0There are tougher times Roper. And MI6 has cleverer solutions. Bring on series 3 #NightManager
01.02.2026 22:17 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Sandwiches instead of the roast at boarding school π» Poor Roper #NightManager
01.02.2026 21:33 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0"I was there that day recovering the bodies of my fellow astronauts." Yet another way in which @captmarkkelly.bsky.social is a hero. #ColumbiaDisaster #MarkKelly #Americanheroes
01.02.2026 21:02 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0