Terry O'Connor

Smearing Sussex (and Me): Responding to Nigel Biggar’s Latest Attack in The Spectator The University of Sussex, Feb 2026, taken by the author. Alan Lester The Spectator has published an article by Nigel Biggar smearing the University of Sussex as repressing students who ‘don&#…

The Spectator published this attack on me & colleagues just as the High Court is considering Sussex’s request for review of the Office for Students fine. It accuses us of ‘repressing’ our students. The magazine ignored my request for to reply. Please disseminate.

alanlester.co.uk/blog/smearin...

British Conservatism has Daddy issues.

In the case of the UK electorate, 'Have we woken up?' would suffice.

Sounds about right.
For background, I recommend Tom Holt's novel The Management Style of the Supreme Beings.

🌍 #WorldWildlifeDay

Coal spoil & other brownfield sites are vital for wildlife. These overlooked habitats support rare species - some found nowhere else, giving #Wales an international duty of care.

Industrial past, global biodiversity future. 💚

#CoalToNature #Wildlife #Cymru #Nature #Brownfield

I can't tell reality from satire from delirium these days. There has long been a streak of millennialism in US Christianity, now strongly integrated in US politics. So this Armageddon claptrap is entirely plausible. Aaaaarrghh.

Red STOP sign against a clipped hedge. Sign below reads 'You've already done enough damage'.

We encountered this useful sign in Canterbury.

Many in America are saying they’ve been dragged into a war by Netanyahu. Only 21% agree with the war. Therefore, have they, the UK and others joined a war led by a man wanted for arrest by the ICC for war crimes, and whose actions the ICJ agreed made a plausible case for genocide?

The job of the losing Labour candidate tells you a lot about what you need to know about the state of Starmer’s Labour Party:

Columns of terracotta warriors and horses in the excavated mausoleum.

The mausoleum of China's first emperor at Xi'an is best-known for the terracotta warriors, but the other materials used in its construction can teach us just as much. Charred timbers revealed the sophisticated resource networks of the Qin Dynasty.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

Well, now we know there's a clear objective. So that's all good.

Just s'o!

YouTube video by Netflix Harrison Ford: Life Achievement Award Acceptance Speech | 32nd Annual Actor Awards

When you have the chance, please take the time to watch Harrison Ford's remarkable, beautiful Life Achievement Award acceptance speech. #ActorAwards

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV_2...

Black Guillemot by Daniel Johnston / BTO

Would you like to contribute to important science work on one of our most iconic seabirds? Get involved in the All Island Black Guillemot survey this spring, a partnership survey between BTO NI & @npwsireland.bsky.social!
(1/2)

#ornithology #ConservationScience🌍 #seabirds

When the first fossils were reported, consensus round the lab was 1.6-1.8Ma. Not 0.3!! Always happy to be suprised, but that was just a bit jaw-dropping.

'Tis the Curse of the Apostrophe!

Is the remarkable dating absolutely solid? Remembering the revision of Homo floresiensis.....

YouTube video by New Scientist Why This Ancient Cave Is So Controversial

🧪🏺 Recent 30 min New Sci doc on #RisingStar & #HomoNaledi, gives c. 5 mins to expert critique.
Re burial claims: "Berger's team have managed to convince many experts" 🤔
Trusted #scicomm on disputed scientific questions is crucial; not sure this gets balance right...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQj6...

Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey:

"Tax exiles like Isabel Oakeshott and washed up old footballers who mock ordinary people who stay in the UK and pay our taxes... As we protect them, it's only right for tax exiles to start paying taxes to fund our armed forces, just like the rest of us".

CHOUGH CRITICAL BREEDING PERIOD. Please avoid posting photos of the Choughs during the breeding season and divulging their location and nest sites from 1st March to 31st July. #Choughs #CornishChoughs #Palores #CornwallBirds #BirdsInCornwall #CBWPS #Bird #Birds #Birdwatching #ConnectWithNature

Three stems ascend from a pot. Two bear big, blowsy red flowers, the third a tight bud. Pale green wall behind. Edge of a large mirror to the left.

This hippeastrum is having it admirably large.

Good point. Get the sludge pH-balanced and it could be s mighty low-nitrogen fertiliser. Or a Soylent Green precursor.

A Saudi official saying this on Al Jazeera, a Qatari media outlet, is far more telling than any nugget of information carefully leaked to an American media outlet.

This war will permanently alter the relationship of the Gulf states, the US, and Israel.

If bombing solved things, we'd have found out before now, I feel. It's certainly had enough tries at it.

Peregrine Falcon flying low with Teal and Wigeon on the water in the background

Amazing moment at RSPB Greylake yesterday when this stunning Peregrine Falcon shot low across the water! 😍😊
This is the fastest animal on earth!🐦
#BIrds 🪶

Interested in maximising data from fragmented bone? Of course you are. Join our free online workshop. Registration closes March 4th. 🦣🧪🏺

Scotland becomes first UK country to allow water cremations The process - called alkaline hydrolysis - will offer families a third option instead of burial or traditional cremation.

And where do you suppose the strongly alkaline effluent will end up?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Apprenticeships play a vital role in strengthening the conservation sector - creating accessible entry routes, supporting workforce development, and equipping individuals with practical, hands-on experience alongside nationally recognised qualifications.

Read 👉 c-js.uk/45ReQ3J

Plus c'est le mime chose, non?

Composite image made up of 6 frames, 2 images wide by side repeated 3 times, zooming in further on the faces each time. On the left, a woman holds her hand in the air to attract attention while kneeling next to a man who has fallen down clutching his chest, on the right, a serious-faced man holding a briefcase Woman: Y a t'il un docteur ici?. Man: Je suis docteur. Que se passe t'il? Woman: Une attaque cardiaque ! Man: Je suis docteur en philosophie ! Woman: Il va mourir... Man: Nous allons tous mourir. Translation in English: Woman: Is there a doctor here? Man: I am a doctor, what happened to him? Woman: - a heart attack Man: I am a doctor of philosophy Woman: He's going to die... Man: We're all going to die

I've only got 2 French jokes, this is the best