Yesterday the street WhatsApp group exploded due to political disagreements. Someone else started a new and nicer group. I don’t want to kick things off again so soon, but the provocation is severe…

learned this morning about Korean “dopamine sites”—fake shopping sites that allow you to go through the motions of online shopping without actually spending money or purchasing anything. And it has me thinking about grading.

"However, as I get older, I feel the fragility of our lives with ever increasing intensity. And this feeling has become entangled with my horror at the winnowing away of once common wildlife, and our disconnection from the rhythms of nature."

David Higgins@davidhiggins.bsky.social · 6h ago

I've published a version of my almost-prizewinning essay 'Minibeasts', shortlisted for the Nature Chronicles Prize in 2024. It's about my usual obsessions: wildlife, parenting, collapse, care, and hope. I would love for some of you to read it! medium.com/@d.higgins/m...

I've published a version of my almost-prizewinning essay 'Minibeasts', shortlisted for the Nature Chronicles Prize in 2024. It's about my usual obsessions: wildlife, parenting, collapse, care, and hope. I would love for some of you to read it! medium.com/@d.higgins/m...

Minibeasts

An essay about small creatures and how we care for them

medium.com

A moment of calm this morning. Took my son to football camp and, en route home, watched swallows and house martins circuiting low over the playing fields. All I could hear, for a moment or two, was the wind through the trees and the birds’ high-pitched calls.

Rosebay willowherb and a photobombing insect (honey bee?), West Yorkshire #wildflowerhour

Right. I have written a personal essay of about 4000 words on turtle doves, the nature writer Richard Jefferies, time, mortality, and parental care. It needs a home. Any suggestions?

Loving the "Campus Biodiversity" boards around @universityofleeds.bsky.social campus and launch of a "Greenery Trail". When that greenery flowers beautiful things happen. I've recorded an amazing 16 butterfly species around campus this year, including this Gatekeeper. @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Publishers — I’m begging you — if at all possible do not allow authors to record their own audiobooks. Most of them are terrible at it.

May not have survived the devastating fire 🔥 Along with many wildlife species scarce Silver-studded Blues & Graylings will be gone. Many years before they recover. Graylings will have to recolonise from areas already destroyed by Sizewell C @savebutterflies.bsky.social @sayno2sizewellc.bsky.social

Mike Smith@mikecsmiffy.bsky.social · 6d ago

Male Gatekeeper clinging to a grass seed head on a windy day at Dunwich Heath Suffolk. #Butterfly #Butterflies #wildlife #ukwildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #naturephotography @bc-suffolk.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social

Using this to remind folk that I am available for freelance and part-time projects! I am very qualified and competent; please hire me to teach, research, edit, or administrate so that I can afford my wedding.

will pooley@willpooley.bsky.social · 5d ago

youve heard of failing upwards. well academic careers in 2026 encapsulate the reverse: succeeding downwards. so many talented, highly qualified people, being punished for their achievements

The world seems bleak this evening. It’s not only the constant terrible news. It’s that the worst possible people have been given so much power, and seem determined to make things even worse. Despair is an indulgence, I know, but it‘s hard not to succumb sometimes.

I'm screaming inside reading this. The implications are beyond comprehension.

Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 5d ago

Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.

Microsoft wants to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...

Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!

Microsoft want to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.

you.38degrees.org.uk

Naturally colonised Night Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret and Crane alongside resident Grey Heron are not enough, apparently, and cultural connections mean we should introduce another generalist predator into the last fragile refuges for Amphibians & reptiles. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘They’re part of folklore’: storks return to Derbyshire after 600-year absence

Conservationists are thrilled at the arrival of three juvenile birds at Willington Wetlands, hoping more will follow

theguardian.com

1/3 We're delighted to announce the longlist for the 2025/26 Nature Chronicles Prize! 🇸🇬 Leonard Yip, Tremors at the Edge of Vision 🇺🇸 Nicholas Moore, In Pursuit of the Gold Within 🇺🇸 Susan Ratliff, Harmonic Restoration 🇦🇺 Kate Forsyth, Blackness and Silence: The Double-Fated Yew Tree

The countdown is on! There's just one week to go until the longlist announcement and we're very excited to share all the details with you! Scroll for a reminder of our key dates in the meantime. #NatureChroniclesPrize #NatureChronicles #NatureWriting #Nature

UK government Higher Education plans in full: 1. Starve the sector of cash (except for AI stuff, etc) 2. Let the chips fall where they may 3. Hope that the result is the collapse of courses, research, and institutions deemed (on no clear basis) of limited economic value 4. Er... that's it

It is putting it mildly to describe these people as a death cult.

Here's a quick recap of those five stages of climate denial... 1. Deny the problem exists 2. Deny we are the cause 3. Deny it is a problem 4. Deny we can solve it 5. Claim it is too late And we should probably squeeze in... 4.5. Claim we can just adapt www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The 5 stages of climate denial are on display ahead of the IPCC report | Dana Nuccitelli

Dana Nuccitelli: Climate contrarians appear to be running damage control in the media before the next IPCC report is published

theguardian.com

This is terrible news. Dunwich Heath is a beautiful place and an important habitat for rare species. I saw Dartford Warblers there earlier this year. And it is right next to the iconic RSPB Minsmere reserve. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Major incident declared in Suffolk as 90 firefighters tackle wildfire on heathland

Several people evacuated after ‘large-scale, wind-driven’ fire breaks out at Dunwich Heath near Leiston

theguardian.com

Two modes of organising a kids' playdate: 1. Text message sent; reply received; date and time agreed. 2. Complex and extended negotiations akin to the UNFCC climate process. Misunderstandings and ghosting. Eventually, a deal is struck! The kids will meet at an indefinite future date and time.

Just finished this year's round of internal REF reading: one of the many tasks in academia that is hidden from view. Always nice to read colleagues' work; less nice to have to write a report and score it against quite loose descriptors.

My son has been at an athletics club this week. Yesterday, he used a treadmill unsupervised. The organisers weren't to know, but I could have told them beforehand the likely outcome. He is okay but, judging by the friction burns, he must have left the treadmill at some velocity...

I am available for autumn teaching in London & the Southeast. Please share/ think of me for all your last minute cover needs in English & Creative Writing! www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-wo...

Open letter to the PM on Rosebank & Jackdaw oil and gas fields, covered in the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/environment/... Full letter here: climateuncensored.com/letter-to-th...

1/Southern Europe is burning — 20,000+ evacuated in France, fires across Spain, Portugal & Greece, temps near 45°C. Last summer I wrote that we're now, quite literally, "at war" with wildfires. Are our militaries prepared? The question's only gotten sharper 🧵

Thousands flee wildfires in France and Spain as temperatures reach extreme levels in southern Europe

France asks EU for help while Spain declares national emergency around Madrid, as marine heatwave sees parts of Mediterranean Sea 5C hotter than normal

theguardian.com

Had been planning a family holiday to southern Europe next year. But between the insane cost of travelling in the school holidays, and the increasing likelihood of dangerously high temperatures on the Continent, I‘m thinking again. Trivial, sure, but the climatic shift we’re seeing is far from it.

Cities dismantled their tram networks to become “motor cities of the future”. The result? You could travel further within 30 mins via public transport in 1957 than you can in 2026. Cities are seeking billions to rebuild networks. Incredible piece of work this.

The Exchange@theexchangeleeds.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you stood on Briggate at 8am on a weekday in 1957, and stood there again in 2026, in which year could you reach more of the city in half an hour? Samuel Bancroft has crunched the numbers. Since the 1950s, Leeds has got bigger - but the city has effectively shrunk.

Where is the university ethics committee that has stepped up to the plate and said "There's no ethical way to use Generative AI"?