Leon Black
@drleonblack.bsky.social
Professor of Infrastructure Materials at the University of Leeds. Posting about materials, resilience, circular economy, green stuff, and whatever else I stumble on that I find interesting. No DMs, unless they're size 12 cherry reds.
There’s growing panic in the White House as no one can remember whether it’s Donald Trump’s turn to announce massive strikes on Iran or to announce that he’s called offmassive strikes on Iran because they’re now begging for a deal. More news as we get it
"Eight of the biggest oil companies amassed profits of more than $90bn in just three months as the Iran conflict sent energy prices soaring and the emissions-fuelled climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves." www.theguardian.com/business/ng-... by Jillian Ambrose and @dpcarrington.bsky.social 🔌💡
Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis
Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage
theguardian.com
“Free speech for the Right is sacred but they want free speech for the Left to be contingent. It’s all fun & games until they’re offended.” From a Left-Wing agitator with a book to flog - @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/from-a-lef...
From a Left-Wing agitator with a book to flog
This edition is a bit meta. Consider it a sequel to yesterday's Rod Liddle obituary.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
This is *such* a revealing line about Kemi's world view and contempt for those who do the day to day work of keeping our society functioning
As a rough estimate, Joshua Bonehill-Paine was one of ~10 people in the South West receiving Prevent Channel support for right-wing extremism in 2018. Well done to the Tories for being able to pick a candidate from such a small, select bunch. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c0e9a...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
“I have much higher thresholds for what it takes to be a Conservative MP.” So it is OK then to be racist then as a councillor ? What nonsense from Badenoch www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Badenoch defends decision to allow man jailed for antisemitism to stand as councillor
Tory leader praises Joshua Bonehill-Paine’s ‘contrition’ but says she has higher thresholds for MP candidates
theguardian.com
And now a discussion and conversion chart for linear measurement. Here the key measure is a Thorburn, which is 64.2 m (70'8.5") long, named for Paul Thorburn's world record successful penalty kick for Wales v Scotland in 1986
Hugh Jones@hbsj.bsky.social · yesterdayHere's another conversion chart: 1 Wales = 20,782 km2 1 Kilowales = 20,782,000 km2 1 Megawales = 20,782,000,000 km2 The world has only 510,072,000 km2 surface area in total (land and sea) which is about 24.5 Kilowales, so the Megawales is really only used for planetary science
It’s disgusting for the Conservatives to ask Jewish groups to meet their ex-neo-Nazi candidate, presumably in the hope he will charm them and they’ll offer their blessing. They should not expect Jewish people to sanitise this appalling choice. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tories offer Jewish groups meeting with ex neo-Nazi activist candidate
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was jailed over neo-Nazi activism, but has been selected to stand in a new Somerset Council seat in 2027.
bbc.co.uk
What’s amazing about the Telegraph crew is how thin their pretence of believing in ‘free speech’ really is.
44% reduction in illegal crossings to the UK, funny how that doesn't seem to be all over the headlines in Britain.
Frontex@frontex.bsky.social · 4w ago📉 Irregular border crossings into the EU: down 37% in the first half of 2026 🔹 Just over 49 000 detections 🔹 Steepest drop: Western African route (-67%) 🔹 Only increase: Western Mediterranean (+17%) More info on our website.
I just can’t believe we’re seeing this sort of stuff from a sitting MP Just want to say to British Somalis that you are loved and I’m so, sorry this is happening.
This is the natural end point of Gordon Brown apologising to Gillian Duffy
Pascal Jacquemain@jacquep.bsky.social · yesterdayRosindell is mad as a box of frogfaces.
Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.
I don't normally do this sort of thing, but I'll give it a go. One like --> one response.
BBC News is broken. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... The migrants were escorted back to Boulogne, but this is what the BBC chooses to show as it's headline and accompanying image.
Today is Venn Day, in celebration of the mathematician John Venn, born on this day in 1834. To commemorate the occasion, here’s a poem in the form of a Venn Diagram.
Absolutely crackers, extremely self serving as a defence as there is absolutely no chance she'd extend this same benefit of the doubt elsewhere, which becomes obvious in the, factually incorrect, statement on early release she can't resist tagging on at the end.
Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · yesterdayKemi Badenoch certainly seems to be advancing with her agenda to turn the Conservatives into Reform.
you can't build a big enough coalition if Gavin Barwell is too radical for you but an ex-Neo Nazi who broke into a police station isn't
Yes I acknowledge it makes sense in context but “I need my car to meet criminals” is now my favourite basis for an attempted exceptional hardship plea. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
SAME OLD RACIST TORY PARTY A former neo-Nazi activist with convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP has been selected as a Conservative candidate for a local election in Somerset. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, creator of satirical Crewkerne Gazette, has convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP
theguardian.com
Rod Liddle was very much like Marmite, in that you wouldn’t want him on your television screen, radio, or newspaper.
Remember when the NFL banished Colin Kaepernick for life for kneeling during the US anthem to raise awareness about police brutality and racial inequality?
W.E.D.em Boyz@leftistwonk.bsky.social · 3d agoJesus Christ. Sophie Cunningham fully embracing the right wing grift.
The Voyager photo of Earth and Carl Sagan's pale blue dot speech should be rammed down the throat of every single person on this planet until we, as a species, finally understand our place in the universe.
I think "AI" plumpers should be happy I'm focusing mostly on the nonsense it's doing to my field, rather than how it's very clearly designed as a tool for the capture of wealth and capital by a bunch of accelerationist weirdos enthusiastically huffing their own farts from the depth of their K-holes
The Register@theregister.com · 2d agoSci-fi authors Scalzi and Stross decry AI's dystopian impact on their craft