UK rightwing press called rabid europhobes "eurosceptics" for decades up until Brexit. Meant to make them sound intelligent Don't hear the word so much now.
Ex-NHS IT guy. Wildlife, trees, Sussex downs, climate. Environmental fantasy novel: 'Root Rage'. I amuse myself by twiddling on a concertina. Born at 316ppm
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UK rightwing press called rabid europhobes "eurosceptics" for decades up until Brexit. Meant to make them sound intelligent Don't hear the word so much now.
We love a parkland walk.
I draw the line at killing, injuring or otherwise abusing children. I'm so sorry if you think that makes life boring.
A person who freely chooses to buy a car that is designed in a way that makes it more likely to kill a child shouldn't be driving. And a company that sells them shouldn't be trading.
Only one?
Health minister Stephen Kinnock: "...you want to make sure that people aren't falling into ill health, because that just makes it even worse for the taxpayer if we're having to deal with that kind of thing." What an unpleasant attitude. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Good news for southern England, if the wind's from the south east. This is from 10 years ago share.google/oFzATTr9JvNp...
Grieving for our little Peggy. She was always there, keeping tabs on us, organising us, talking with her eyes, ears, tail and body. Always ready to protect us from threats such as rats, cats, fireworks, thunderstorms, deliveries or the recycling collectors. Such a bright spark; we miss her yaps
I am normally wary of conspiracy theories, but in this case I have to agree with George Monbiot. We are being pushed towards fascism and it does look like a co-ordinated effort.
Perhaps economics should be renamed as Money Studies, since it restricts itself to that subject.
There is no new normal, as long as we keep burning fossil fuels - just an increasingly abnormal and extreme climate getting worse and worse year by year.
The media are (mostly) owned by the same people who own Trump and Farage.
In which case dormice, presumably, are superhuman...
Hawthorn, blackberries, sloes are all ripe, and holly berries are ripening. Landport Bottom, Lewes, on the South Downs
These are some of the ponies that are currently grazing Landport Bottom (chalk grassland above Lewes, Sussex). There's a fair amount of agrimony in the sward, and its seeds are notoriously sticky - hard little cones with barbs that catch in animal hair and are really hard to remove.
High in the treetops, our pre-human ancestors learned to build nests ... Cosseted in these protective tree-nests, primates could do something that is rare in the animal world: long, deep sleep share.google/gJ4uoOMjoQ1V...
Banded Demoiselle on a water sedge, perched over an algae covered pond. I just love the effect the beautiful soft background gives to this amazing little insect predator. This image is still one of my favourites, so l thought l'd give it a reshare. #ukwildlife #insect #demoiselles
It's part of their core purpose, to push Britain rightwards into an authoritarian corporate state. The migrant obsession is the bait to entrap a nation, just as the USA has been entrapped.
It does seem.early. Started picking in July. They were nice ones, maybe they descend from a cultivated variety introduced by a previous tenant. Still some around elsewhere. It's been a warm and very dry summer down here.
Blackberries finished, at least the ones bordering my Sussex allotment have.
Are you really sure it's just Dunning-Kruger? bsky.app/profile/writ...
Fledgling sparrows sitting in the apple tree and wondering when Mum is going to turn up with some food #birds
#FirstBirdOfMyDay: well, birds: the sparrow gang. Much cheeping, whirring of wings and splashily energetic communal bathing.
Was that a great tit joining in the music in the glade? Lovely!
Really enjoying this morning's edition from Slimbridge. Great to hear a concertina making one of its rare appearances on Radio 3 - Rob Harbron is a fine player
I remember being told, in the 1970s, about the leisure explosion ahead. Computers would do all the boring jobs and everyone would have an easy, prosperous life. The real future was millions slaving at bullshit jobs to afford a mortgage,or even just rent.
Wasn't it actually the Red Arrows jet that struck the #birds, rather than the other way round? www.bbc.com/news/article...
Just checking that we in the UK are happy to pay more for our water and energy in order to enjoy the 'benefits' of AI, which will be competing with us for limited supplies. Maybe we should tax it? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Bet you there will still be human plumbers and hairdressers. But not lawyers or accountants.
English and Scottish, but not Welsh? Arswydus!
Worth keeping hope going.
I really don't believe dashboard buttons can be a major component of the cost of building a car
Tiny but mighty! 🐜 From farming to engineering, ants display remarkable feats. Part of their success as a species is due to their ability to form complex, cooperative societies. 🧪🌏 Read more in @theconversation.com
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I was pleased with it. Taken in a wood where students were filming & I was taking some stills for them - it actually photobombed some of their shots!
Flying Ants day here
That's all true, of course, but I don't think it's that far-fetched to suggest that some very rich, very right wing people use their money to influence politicians of various parties.
What if Labour, Conservatives and Reform are just like Tide, Ariel and Fairy - brands of the same mega-corp, selling essentially the same product to different demographics and giving the illusion of healthy competition?
As part of education, students should be taught to detect bullshit. For example, in maths they could learn how junk statistics are used to deceive people. You could call it 'Defence Against the Dark Arts'.
To what extent did the popularity of Music Hall, which I believe (I might be wrong) was a mainly English phenomenon, affect the survival of English folk traditions in the 19th & early 20th centuries?
A friendly and inquisitive robin, possibly wondering if I'd brought anything good to eat. #birds
A Speckled Wood butterfly posed prettily for me on some sedge by a pond
Visited Brandy Hole Copse near Chichester today; an ancient woodland local nature reserve where the trees are ever watchful... #treefaces
It's a bit like an alcoholic going on dialysis to take the alcohol out of his blood, so he can keep knocking back the gin
An amazing place created by an amazing woman. Probably the only theatre where the performers are regularly upstaged by dolphins.
So, does that mean an astronomer's academic promotion prospects cannot legally be harmed by his teaching that the sun goes round the flat earth?
Expensive! But here's a tip: whizz up enough fruit of your choice (ideally, self-picked) to fill a jamjar with a couple of tablespoons of chia seed, leave overnight on the fridge, and you have jam! No need to add sugar unless you want to.
Totally agree - dreadful user interfaces: unintuitive, too busy, poor feedback, incomprehensible error messages, and the worst is, no way to contact a human when the damn thing fails, just a chatbot that hasn't a clue.
If you've not already seen it, you might enjoy a visit to the Iron Age village at Carn Euny which is nearby. There's Goblins Gold in the fogou. ((Seriously)
Trawling was banned off parts of the Sussex coast, including this area, in 2021. www.bbc.com/news/article...
It's a wild life under the sea. For #MarineWeek - Ella Garrud tells us about our fantastic & diverse Sussex seabed habitats & the creatures they support 📷Bryony Chapman, Paul Parsons, Paul Naylor, Nikki Oliver buff.ly/XOwTNt8
There was I thinking you'd share some dramatic images of Storm Floris in the Hebrides
Absolutely! The counterpart to WYSIWYG (remember it?) was always YAFIYGI (You Asked For It You Got It)
If what we need is more intelligence, why are we ignoring all the intelligent people telling us to stop burning fossil fuels?
As this woody nightshade was growing close to Pagham Harbour on the RSPB reserve there, I'm going to claim it as #ByTheSea #WildflowerHour
“My false o'erweighs your true” - Shakespeare being only too relevant today
How long before sections of the path slide into the sea? Is there a plan to keep re-routing it? The coast of North East Norfolk is eroding rapidly.
“My false o'erweighs your true” - Angelo, Measure for Measure, Act II Scene IV Still from a modern adaptation of “Measure of Measure” that I'm filming at Chichester University @chiunipress.bsky.social Isabella: Katie Lifton Angelo: Wilfrid Watson DOP: Kieran Anderson #ShakespeareSunday
Of course you're right - in the normal world. The far right, though, live in a very Through the Looking-Glass kind of world. As in ... “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
Culture clash here. As a physicist, you perhaps see facts as hypotheses exhaustively tested by experiments. Orr is a man of religion; for him, facts are anything that people can be induced to believe. As a professor and far right influencer, his job is to turn ideology into facts.
Zoë & I took a short walk walk along the banks of Pagham Harbour in Sussex yesterday. Here's a linnet, a small white and a red admiral butterfly. Also spotted a little grebe, lapwings, redshanks and distant egrets, and heard the cry of the curlew. #birds @rspb.bsky.social
Morning stretch, woodpigeon style #birds
Isambard Kingdom Brunel. And of course, Kings George I, II & III
New month, new butterflies and moths to look out for in your gardens and local green spaces! 🦋🌻 See how many you can spot in the #BigButterflyCount, which runs until 10 August 👉 buff.ly/4pAZzyX
This one's like a film poster . Thank you @nathanhammonds_photography for today's #FoxOfTheDay
Rhum behind an exploding sun.
A blackbird giving a solo dawn chorus
Once we were a great country. We built Stonehenge, Avebury Ring, Silbury Hill and more. Then it all went wrong. Personally, I blame the beaker folk.
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
An aggressive, nuclear armed race with a growth obsession and history of genocidal colonisation developing space warfare capability would certainly be a red flag for galactic police.
Listened last night cooking dinner - very moving, lovely songs, fascinating, eye opening and sometimes heartrending stories, and the last number had me dancing at the stove. Thank you!
Income is defined as movement of money, not the amount of capital, so yes, it is money churn.
I get far more joy from the skylark's song than annoyance from the plane noise, so no need to feel sorry for me. There are much bigger reasons not to fly, though
GDP is not a measure of wealth, just money churn. But flat GDP in a falling population may increase per capita tax take.
The song of a skylark from a clear blue sky mingled (as is so often the case) with the roar of one of the endless procession of twinjets full of end-of-holidaymakers returning from the Med., that circle over Sussex waiting for a landing slot at Gatwick
Three serpents together! Amazing!
Citizen scientists needed. Help us learn more about local chalk streams and monitor the changes which are taking place. No experience needed. Full training is given and you will be supported by staff or members of local groups. More info -
Around 1990?
Perhaps he should direct his kicking boots at foreigners taking over British newspapers, like, you know, the Daily Telegraph.
Maybe it did - anyway resolved by uninstalling and re-installing the app (updating wasn't enough). But it's an impolite block screen that lacks a link to help if you're wrongly blocked. In fact the whole tone is bad - no apology to loyal listeners from abroad, just "go away, foreigners".
Sadly I can't listen on BBC Sounds as I'm in Sussex, which apparently isn't part of the UK anymore.
Retired thunderstorm departing over the Sussex Weald #sky #clouds #weather
Add to taste - I like the sharpness in combination with other foods.
Depends how much you need! Btw we make jam by just whizzing uncooked fruit with chia seed. Leave overnight in the fridge. Fresh blackberry jam with peanut butter on my breakfast toast this morning - yum!
#FirstBirdOfMyDay a great tit teacher-teacher song. Haven't heard that for a while.
'Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.' (Joseph Heller).
Expect a huge uptick in billionaire funded young far-right influencers on social media targeted at teenagers
Wearing 'Community Payback' jackets
A nursery web spider has created a tent on one of our lavender bushes to protect its young. It doesn't build a web to catch prey, it's an active hunter. #spidersky #arachnid 🕷️
Labour will be converted to PR when it's destroyed their power to deliver. In power, Farage will discover that he always loved FPTP.
There were lots of aphids in spring. Now, lots of ladybirds.
Beware people who try to sell you shares at the top of the market.
Software teams have been using difference finders (often as part of version management systems) since at least the 1980s. It would have been considered unprofessional not to.
Awesome...
That looks a much more interesting shape, the old one was basically scaffolding.
Hickling Broad is a special place for me as I spent a few months volunteer wardening there in the 1970s. There was a heronry tower then that we took people up, wonder if it's the same one.
Just a reminder that Superman was depicted as an undocumented migrant refugee who arrived in a small boat (well, spaceship)
Thanks!
Wild basil, with a small (I think) skipper butterfly #wildflowerhour
