and the enormous support, safety net, we can form for one another globally, once we are in better alignment

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 8h ago

Living on this planet, especially as a member of a privileged society, our lives are intimately bound with the lives of others, including those who live thousands of miles away. We cannot excuse ourselves from the responsibilities we owe to each other.

I fear we might see a new alignment between a radical right death cult and a rural revivalist "simplicity" drive, which views collapse and a return to "organic" communities as a solution to decadent urbanism. A century ago this convergence led to a very bad place. www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/t...

The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed People

The astonishing story of how a movement’s quest for rural simplicity drifted into a formula for mass death

monbiot.com

flags are ridiculous though

mike taddow@miketaddow.bsky.social · 17h ago

this man should get combat pay bc he was FIGHTING here

our future problem won't be energy shortages, but that 'with great power comes great responsibility' thing in real life we may see increases in 'demand' as previously energy prohibitive uses become commercially viable (vanity upgrades to titanium?) and fossil fuels remaining part of the mixture

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 23h ago

Don't look now, but the world has now installed 3TW of solar. Took 10 years to get from 100GW to 1TW. Less than 3 years to get to 2TW. Less than 2 years to get to 3TW. Analysts expect *9TW* by 2036.

lovely day incoming

Nairobi residents should brace for several more days of chilly weather after the biting cold currently being experienced across was linked to increased cloud cover caused by a Madden-Julian Oscillation wave over Equatorial Africa and Indian Ocean. www.kenyans.co.ke/news/125860-...

i know votes are still being counted but the more i look at this michigan senate map the more it becomes clear that it kind of looks like a mitten

“Three female lions died of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo's Tama Zoo, ​the first heat-related deaths among the facility's lion ‌population in its 62-year history. The lions, aged 3, 11 and 15 and all born in the zoo, showed signs of severe dehydration ​and multiple organ failure in post-mortem exams”

Three lions die of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo zoo

Three female lions died of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo's Tama Zoological Park over the last week, ​the first heat-related deaths among the facility's lion ‌population in its 62-year history.

reuters.com

The case for rewilding could not be more clear, on every conceivable level. Now it's time to put it into *action*.

The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 22h ago

Done properly, rewilded landscapes are more fire-resistant.

🧐 I thought Medusa was in Ovid

Deidre Lynch@drbibliomane.bsky.social · 21h ago

You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.

Bede's World! Bede's World! Party time! Venerable!

I still am amazed and furious about how completely stupid and politics-illiterate both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were in their response to an obviously provocative and aggressive far-right movement, led by violent thugs the latter now heads Health and Social Care

Yvette Cooper boasts of having Union Jack bunting, flags and tablecloths

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has boasted of owning Union Jack and St George's flag "bunting and tablecloths"

thenational.scot

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterday

One highways manager told the High Court she had been placed on medication after becoming “fearful of being followed home, tracked and exposed on social media”. Highways staff now wear unbranded PPE, work in unbranded vehicles, wear face coverings to hide their identity, and do not travel alone.

The High Court also heard RTC leader Ben Cullen had threatened physical violence to a resident removing flags, boasting that he was a “violent criminal” who had served 15 years in prison. Full report in today’s Clarion: oxfordclarion.uk/the-clarion-...

The Clarion, 4 August 2026

We're doing a rain dance. You? While we wait for some sorely needed water, here is some news, not all of it cheerful. Including less than savoury details about Raise the Colours; celebrating Oxford Ci...

oxfordclarion.uk

i might die laughing

Bethany Brookshire@beebrookshire.bsky.social · 21h ago

I'm just here to say I've been hating on the protein-maxxing phenomenon since before it was cool (you're not even getting to the gym twice a week what muscle are you building my guy you're just trying to make your smoothie manly) and HAH I WAS RIGHT. www.scientificamerican.com/article/eati...

it’s okay Lucy, we all have our off days

Sad that these heartbreaking fatalities are being normalized. It's appalling that Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo has joined the grim list. May his soul rest in peace. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/n...

Immigrant Held at Delaney Detention Center Has Died, Officials Say (Gift Article)

The mayor of Newark identified the dead man as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo. The New Jersey center has been the focus of intense scrutiny for its treatment of detainees.

nytimes.com

a personal update, as I move into a new role, home and chapter of my life (I will be updating this site with more half-baked thoughts every few weeks)

New Beginnings

As some of you know, I'm starting a new chapter of my life this month. Some half-baked thoughts and observations...

calmerfuture.org

a personal update, as I move into a new role, home and chapter of my life (I will be updating this site with more half-baked thoughts every few weeks)

New Beginnings

As some of you know, I'm starting a new chapter of my life this month. Some half-baked thoughts and observations...

calmerfuture.org

Are you interested in Ann Radcliffe? Women in Gothic and Horror? Trans horror? Writing workshops with amazing people? You can get it all for one online event. Come to as much or as little as you like! 22nd and 23rd August www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1993974113...

'More Terrors Than Her Reason Could Justify': An Online Gothic Conference

On 22nd and 23rd August we celebrate 200 years of Ann Radcliffe's posthumous publications and marginalised genders in the Gothic!

eventbrite.co.uk

You don't hate ice enough

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you get a cosplay tribute, then you win Clacton, and then they build monuments to you, and finally they move that hand dryer. — not Nicholas Klein — def not Gandhi

Sarah Elizabeth Cox@oispooky.bsky.social · 2d ago

Stop talking about Nigel Farage and start talking about how compere, performer and drag king Mojo Jones has a new act called C*nty Binface 🗑️💖

Really good article about how peat restoration is helping farmers - a good counter to all the nonsense from the usual nonsense about "fuel load" and "rewilding" from the minority. www.walesfarmer.co.uk/news/2614875...?

Elan Valley farmer speaks out after devastation of terrifying wildfire

A farmer has spoken out after watching the land she calls home ‘burn’ and the restored peatland that helped save it.

walesfarmer.co.uk

we're not serious as a country, because the Rod Liddles (Rest in Pain) dominate the 'national discussion' with their hateful bile, and too many people give them the space to do so, instead of treating them like the cancerous toxic pariahs they are

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2d ago

Dr Michelle Degli Esposti said: "If we are serious about protecting the next generation of children, we need to stop looking for scapegoats in asylum-seeking children and start asking why so many children are only coming to the attention of services once they require state protection.”

England's children's social care system has reached crisis point, but poverty, not asylum seekers, is to blame, says a University of Oxford study that has interrogated 50 years of data. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-07...

elite white male privilege has a distinctive stench

Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 2d ago

Sad to see people posting on social media negatively about Rod Liddle, who died yesterday. If I have disagreed with you very strongly in life - and you die - I hope I'll be either silent, or kind.

Genuinely don't think we're hearing nearly enough about the effective youth/GenZ protest movements in middle and lower-middle income countries in the past couple of years foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/30/c...

How Gen Z ‘Cockroaches’ Beat Modi at His Own Game

India’s prime minister is famous for his savvy use of social media. Now he’s getting a wake-up call.

foreignpolicy.com

Most of the criticism of the late and widely unlamented Rod Liddle goes to his posts about abusing children, and his criminal assault on a pregnant partner. But his wild invective against Muslims was just as evil. Strikingly, it draws less comment.

If only there were some major literary character whose tenuous connection to reality took the form of antipathy towards windmills.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Trump: "Any country with windmills is a loser"