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Deb

@doobledong.bsky.social

Why can’t we live in a kinder, more respectful world? Call me naive, but I’m living in hope that it will all come good in the end. The baddies will get their comeuppance and the rest of us will ride off into the sunset. The End

385 Posts1090 Follower1767 Folgt
Carole Cadwalladr@carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you’re wondering why UK press has suddenly woken up to Farage, please read this. It’s because: Brexit. The r/w press refused to scrutinise the money behind Farage & the lawsuit against me scared off the rest. But this isn’t a new scandal. It’s the same one I’ve been reporting on for a decade

THE NERVE@thenerve.news · 2w ago

NEW: Who funds Nigel Farage? And why has it taken till now for any journalistic scrutiny? @carolecadwalla.bsky.social who has tracked him for a decade exposes how the UK press & regulators looked the other way 🧵👇

Farage the money launderer and me: a decade of denial
DCapTO@dcapto.bsky.social · 3w ago

“Who knows what other childhood curiosities are quietly growing into world-changing ideas right now in bedrooms, backyards and notebooks across the globe? The next big breakthrough might not come from a high-tech lab. It might come from a 10-year-old who just can’t stop wondering about butterflies”💖

Photo of 10 year old Japanese boy, Jo Nagai, with a black and white swallowtail butterfly on his jacket collar and another one on his index finger as he smiles at camera. Caption reads: A Japanese boy noticed his butterflies seemed to recognise him. He spent two years designing an experiment and proved that metamorphosis does not erase memories formed during the caterpillar stage.
Oisín McGann@oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 3w ago

I don’t know why this post doesn’t give his name, but it’s Jo Nagai. This is a true story. medium.com/@zehraanjum2...

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 3w ago

It’s one of the great ironies that people across the world who’ve spent years and years whipping up hate and dividing countries are now complaining that people hate them.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 4w ago

My coauthor Jay Falk's postdoctoral fellowship was terminated by the Trump administration for documenting the hummingbird example in this paper.

FIGURE 2 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint Operational biological sex definitions applied to hummingbirds (Bleiweiss 1992; Bleiweiss 1999; Bleiweiss 2001; Diamant et al. 2021; Falk et al. 2022; Falk et al. 2021) where sex is operationally defined by binary plumage phenotypes in the field. Each row depicts a wild individual hummingbird with morphological traits (beak length, plumage coloration), behavioural traits (territoriality) and their unobserved gamete type. This example illustrates how the same individual can be operationally defined as one sex in the field (based on external phenotypes) but classified as a different sex based on their gametes (which cannot be easily observed in the field), highlighting how definitional choices shape scientific reporting of sex.
Andy Lee, PhD@andylee.bsky.social · 4w ago

In our Viewpoint (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...) we synthesize the gametic definition (outlined by Janicke et al below) and other definitions of sex (e.g., multivariate definition). We contend that is NO consensus on “biological sex” (maybe a consensus isn’t actually necessary…)

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 4w ago

On Friday Britain formally ratified the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement - "a landmark international treaty to protect and sustainably manage marine life in the high seas, which cover nearly two-thirds of the world's oceans and sit outside any single country's control."

Sarah Murphy@13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 4w ago

The current stack of charges against Farage and Reform. Just in case you’d lost count. Spoilt-brat richboy, Tice, calls it all “a politically motivated smear” rather than the frenziedly greedy and corrupt piss-taking that it is. “Reform and Farage have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing” (iPaper)

Charge sheet All the major claims against the Reform UK leader and his party Nigel Farage’s finances are under increasing scrutiny as the Reform UK leader and his party face fresh allegations over donations and support. The former UKIP leader is the subject of a parliamentary standards inquiry over £5m he received from Thai-based crypto billionaire and Reform backer Christopher Harborne. He is also facing questions about financial support from convicted fraudster and crypto gambler George Cottrell, known as “Posh George”, who has funded Farage’s office and security staff. Reform and Farage have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing through accepting donations. Here, The i Paper takes a look at the key allegations they are now facing. Criminal investigation into Reform donations Headings and extracts: 1) Criminal investigation into Reform donations The Metropolitan Police has been investigating £500,000 in donations from Cottrell’s mother to Reform for more than a year, The Times has reported. 2) £5m donation from crypto billionaire Farage is being investigated by Parliament’s ethics watchdog for accepting a £5m undeclared gift from Christopher Harborne, Reform’s largest financial backer. 3) Money-laundering probe A report in The Guardian suggested on Wednesday that bankers raised concerns to the National Crime Agency through suspicious activity reports (SARs) about at least four transactions involving senior Reform leaders. These include the £5m gift to Farage and a £1m donation from Cottrell’s mother to Britain Means Business, described as a fundraising vehicle for Reform which deputy leader Richard Tice is a director of.4) Donations from fraudster ‘posh George’ Farage faces questions about undeclared support provided by his long-standing ally George Cottrell. He faces claims he failed to declare benefits, including staffing, security and housing, According to The Sunday Times, Cottrell recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the general election. 5) Lobbying referral A separate referral was made by Labour MP Phil Brickell over accusations that Farage “lobbied” Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to drop plans for a state-run alternative to cryptocurrency, which could be costly to Harborne’s business interests. But doubts remain as to whether a probe will be launched over the claims. Bailey has insisted that Farage’s lobbying on cryptocurrencies has had no effect on the Bank of England’s policies. 6) Jenrick donations investigated by police Police have also opened an investigation into a political donation of nearly £40,000 to Robert Jenrick’s campaign to become Conservative Party leader in 2024 amid claims it ultimately came from a foreign source, The i Paper revealed this week. It is illegal to accept political donations from foreign sources under UK electoral law. Scotland Yard did not state which individuals are under investigation.
Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 4w ago

A six-month investigation by Byline Times reveals that with the support of Palantir's Peter Thiel, Reform's policy chief James Orr has used the University of Cambridge as a student recruitment ground for a hard-right, theocratic political project aimed at bolstering talent in Farage’s party

Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Reform UK's Cambridge University Recruitment Pipeline Project Revealed

The world-renowned academic institution has nothing to say in response to a six-month investigation by Byline Times raising serious concerns about the safeguarding of students and foreign influence at...

bylinetimes.com

NationCymru@nation.cymru · 4w ago

A Chinese company accused of a “land grab” after closing three historic private schools including one in north Wales could face investigation if it goes into administration, a minister has said

School company accused of ‘land grab’ could be investigated, minister suggests

George Thompson, Press Association Political Staff A Chinese company accused of a “land grab” after closing three historic private schools including one in north Wales could face investigation if it g...

nation.cymru

Phil Brickell MP@philbrickellmp.bsky.social · last mo.

🧵I’d rather spend my weekends doing something else than post about Nigel Farage’s murky finances, but his behaviour poses such a threat to our democratic norms that I wanted to flag a number of points in the public interest.

Revealed: Nigel Farage secretly funded by convicted criminal

The Reform UK leader did not declare benefits including staff, security and housing by crypto-gambler George Cottrell, our investigation reveals

thetimes.com

Sean Woodcock MP@seanlwoodcock.bsky.social · last mo.

Families across England - including in Banbury Constituency - will benefit from cheaper and fairer flood insurance as the Government reforms the Flood Re scheme to better target support at those who need it most.

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Otto English@ottoenglish.bsky.social · last mo.

So I'm told a crowd of about 100 people turned up in Wimborne to protest against Katie Hopkins appearing there. Really impressive demo for such a small town showing the strength of feeling. Well done Wimborne.

Demonstrators outside Tivoli Theatre
Sarah Murphy@13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · last mo.

Times report on BBC investigation into people-smuggling… Lots of talk of “losing” access to critical information. Rather than Johnson not bothering to secure it. And Farage wanting an even harder Brexit. The stubborn refusal to face the consequences of our own govt’s stupid choices has become absurd

Brexit lets people-smugglers move to UK Matt Dathan - Home Affairs Editor Extracts: Immigration officers have blamed Brexit for allowing active peoplesmugglers with convictions in other European countries to enter the UK. An investigation by the BBC found that one prominent smuggler who had been jailed for five years in France in 2016 had claimed asylum in the UK and was living in Leicestershire. Lucy Moreton, the professional officer at the ISU union, which represents Border Force staff, said Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union had cut off access to databases for sharing criminal data. She said she was not surprised that convicted peoplesmugglers had been able to enter the UK undetected. Moreton told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “Once we left the European Union we lost our ability to share what’s termed low-level data. We still have Interpol data but that is not this level of criminality. “So ultimately, as long as you’ve not been fingerprinted in the UK before, the identity you give us when you arrive and give us your fingerprints — if you even give fingerprints — is going to be the only identity that we know you by.” The most important criminal database that was lost after Brexit was the Schengen Information System (SIS II), which was used to get real-time information about the movements of criminals, missing persons and objects of interest. The UK lost access to 40,000 alerts about investigations in other European countries. The Interpol database shares information only on the most serious criminals. The UK also lost access to the European Criminal Records Information System and the Europol Information System. It no longer has access to Eurodac, the fingerprinting system that shares biometric identities of all people who claim asylum in the EU. Sir Keir Starmer has tried to restore access to these databases, but a deal has yet to be agreed. Britain now relies on bilateral agreements with countries to share criminal data.
Sean Woodcock MP@seanlwoodcock.bsky.social · last mo.

New safe and legal routes for refugees to come to the UK will begin to rollout in the autumn, giving genuine refugees a pathway to rebuild their lives. Numbers will start small and build over time, ensuring the routes remain controlled and sustainable.

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Best for Britain@bestforbritain.org · last mo.

🚨 Keir Starmer: "Climate change is one of the most significant challenges of our time. "And I remember not so long ago, the party opposite leading in the COP summit, something that we were able to support. It is a shame that in order to chase Reform votes, they've changed their mind."

Leviathan Wilde@leviathanwilde.bsky.social · last mo.

Good to see 👇 Miliband has already delivered billions in UK investment & new jobs. Sharon Graham should lean into supporting her union members to take advantage of this, not make these unhinged false statements that undermine uk workers’ interests. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Progressive economists reject Unite leader’s criticism of Ed Miliband

Sharon Graham is urged to withdraw her claim that the energy secretary would cost jobs if he became chancellor

theguardian.com

Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org · last mo.

++BREAKING++ Leading climate scientists in the UK have written to senior editors in broadcast media - and OFCOM and IPSO: "To express our concern about recent media coverage of extreme weather, climate change and net-zero and to urge you…to inform public audiences of the scientific links"

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