Britons listen to about as much radio as they did 20 years ago, and the country’s most popular channel is BBC Radio 2. The reasons for this reveal a great deal about the nation’s psyche

If you want to understand modern Britain, listen to BBC Radio 2

Jeremy Vine’s show is a microcosm of Britain

bit.ly

If you’re thinking of buying a book any time soon, please consider ordering it from @newhambookshop.bsky.social They do so much for their local community and authors like myself

Newham Bookshop@newhambookshop.bsky.social · 6d ago

Please read and share widely.

Libraries make us a harder target for authoritarianism. Equal access to info, ideas, and space that doesn’t require a purchase to belong. Also: using the library means money stays in your community instead of streaming out to Amazon. 📚 What’s checked out on your card right now?

I’m exploring what it means to have an “authentic” experience as a tourist or traveler. Particularly interested in all aspects of digital interaction before, during, and after the physical travel itself. Any good articles or books you’d recommend? #AcademicSky #UX #travel #authenticity #tourism

Some really important questions from @deevybee.bsky.social on Jay Bhattacharya’s edge science paper. Bishop’s reanalysis suggests Bhattacharya inexplicably excluded some papers and made choices around the novelty definition to make the results appear more robust. pubpeer.com/publications...

GOOGLE DOCS USES AI THAT TRAINS ON ANYTHING YOU WRITE IN IT, EVEN IF ITS A “PRIVATE” DOCUMENT. It’s now possible for users to get Google Docs’ AI to share information that is otherwise not publicly accessible, if it was written in Google Docs at some point. You CANNOT trust it w/ confidential info

11–13 Sept in Bologna, an international gathering of anarchist archives organised through FICEDL, ten years after the last Bologna meeting. Archives as movement infrastructure: preserving memory, circulating experience and keeping history in our own hands. ficedl.info

A reality check to the Government on the climate crisis. Heatwaves this year estimated to have killed thousands of people. The BBC didn't stream this emergency conference at all despite the urgency & their constant coverage of Reform - thank you to Sky. www.youtube.com/live/QnygX67...

Green leader Polanski delivers 'urgent message to Burnham'

YouTube video by Sky News

youtube.com

exactly 💯 on LLMs: they simulate the output we call language, not the cognitive capacity we call language!

Dr Katie Twomey@k2mey.eurosky.social · 3d ago

Arguing that LLMs are anything more than a load of numbers going into a complicated mathematical function and spitting some more numbers out. Yes they simulate. But they simulate *language*. They do not simulate the cognitive processes underlying communication.

NOT FARAGE Confederation of British Industry. They show that the net zero economy now directly employs more than 300,000 full-time workers, while supporting the jobs of 1.1 million. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A question for Nigel Farage – why is your nationalist party so obsessed with destroying British jobs? | George Monbiot

Claims that our prosperity depends on oil and gas are bunkum – unless you’re a Reform backer with fossil fuel interests, of course, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

My goodness please *listen* to this extremely wholesome story

We asked a first grader to interview his hero: A bird scientist

NPR asked an aspiring scientist in Philadelphia to interview an adult who is living his dream about his career in conservation science.

npr.org

Interested in art, medicine & how the human form has been represented? Join a virtual talk on 25 Aug at 12pm to travel through 500 years of anatomical illustration (1500–1900) featuring astounding anatomical art from the RCP’s collections. Book: history.rcp.ac.uk/event/virtua... #artandmedicine

Yesterday the EHRC Code of Practice came into force. Call it what it is: a trans segregation code. A bathroom ban. I feel furious, heartbroken and scared by what the UK has become. [1/3]

TransActual@transactualuk.bsky.social · 6d ago

The EHRC's new Code of Practice comes into effect today. Here's what you need to know. transactual.org.uk/know-your-ri...

Interestingly, one recent horrible anti-trans employment tribunal (LS vs NHS England) specifically noted that following existing guidance or good practice advice cannot justify an incorrect interpretation of the law. So just because the EHRC suggests something, doesn't mean you're safe if you do it!

Contact local establishments suggesting that they can make themselves more welcoming *and* more legally secure by switching to unisex toilets, and just being clear when they contain urinals.

naoarte@naoarte.bsky.social · 5d ago

Single sex spaces will now most probably go into decline from today.

This is an interesting idea, but would be a long term project I think. Will publishing become less centred on London? I think we could all benefit from such a move. www.thebookseller.com/features/no1...

No10 North: will publishing follow Westminster?

For many in the industry, Burnham’s decision to establish No10 North is symbolic. If political decision-making no longer needs to be concentrated in Westminster, they argue, perhaps publishing does no...

thebookseller.com

Sad to hear that the Barbican branch of Chimes’ music shop is closing. www.thestage.co.uk/news/barbica...

Barbican music store shuts down

A shop on the Barbican estate selling sheet music and scores to creatives and theatre audiences has closed down

thestage.co.uk

Last month: A spokesperson for Cambridge told Retraction Watch that Arday was a “victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility” and that he had been cleared of “allegations of plagiarism regarding his thesis and journal publications.”

Exclusive: News outlet killed story on plagiarism allegations after Cambridge prof hired law firm

Jason Arday In September 2025, Times Higher Education had a bombshell story in the works: A star sociology professor at the University of Cambridge had allegedly plagiarized parts of his Ph.D. thes…

retractionwatch.com

This looks like a great initiative. For the amateur music making world it would also be helpful to include music libraries in the advocacy efforts, so that sets of vocal scores and orchestral parts can be available for groups to hire.

Leah Broad@leahbroad.bsky.social · last wk.

For women's music to stay in the repertoire, we don't just need recordings. We also need score publication, composer info & advocacy. So I'm delighted to announce the launch of UNHEARD HERITAGE, a recording initiative marrying research & performance leahbroad.substack.com/p/announcing...

I'm absolutely furious that facts and information like this are allowed on social media while every Reform MP is working so hard to spread misinformation and lies and stir up our gullible supporters who will believe any old bollocks.

"assessment outcomes were shaped more by the judges than by the papers...Journal effects did not explain [the] variation" We often say "just read the paper, have an expert look at it, don't use journal as a proxy in evaluations. But if beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. arxiv.org/abs/2607.09783

Judges matter more than papers in post-publication research assessment

Research assessment relies on expert evaluations, yet human judgement is noisy, and it is unclear whether differences in assessment arise primarily from differences in genuine research quality or from...

arxiv.org

“A New Golden Age, in contrast, is a grab bag of political grievances, half-thought-through justifications for policies the Trump administration was already pursuing, and insinuations that scientific experts are kind of annoying and should learn how to fix car engines.”

Ars Technica@arstechnica.com · 3w ago

Historian friend was reading a civil war era letter in an archive, the letter said “In this envelope I include my smallpox scabs” and sure enough there they were. Had to call CDC for a hazmat team.

Today we are pleased to launch the DRIVER recommendations, a new framework designed to improve the quality, reliability and reproducibility of research using in vitro models: nc3rs.org.uk/news/driver-...

The DRIVER recommendations: Improving the quality of in vitro research

New NC3Rs recommendations set international standards for designing and reporting in vitro research.

nc3rs.org.uk

@rluk.ac.uk & The National Archives are delighted to launch the 2026-27 round of their Professional Fellowship Scheme, which is open to staff from RLUK members, TNA &, for the first time, eligible archive sector partners. Find more about how to apply at: www.rluk.ac.uk/professional...

TNA/RLUK Professional Fellowships - Research Libraries UK

The National Archives and RLUK Professional Fellowship Scheme enables staff from both organisations to gain experience and insight from one another, strengthen and diversify the relationship between t...

rluk.ac.uk

Just occurred to me that this raises the question of the future of the Commons SIT committee. Previously, S&T has been seen as important enough a cross-govt issue to deserve a committee of its own, but with the creation of DSIT the committee became a conventional ‘shadow’ to the dept. So what now?

Read our response to the House of Commons Education Cttee’s Reading for Pleasure report. It’s clear: school and public libraries run by trained library staff are essential to build a reading nation. CILIP is ready to work with Govt to turn these recommendations into action. https://ow.ly/Bpif50ZpWx9

Web of Science & other biblio database users - what's the *easiest* way for beginners to do 'who cited this paper' searches &/or do you know a good online explainer? (Bonus if it clears up why WoS appears to offer THREE ways of doing reverse citation lookups 😬🙄) RTS appreciated!

Wayne Rooney Knighted for Services to Football, please. Saying live on the BBC that the best bit about the half time show was "the end" and that "it was crap" was both refreshingly honest, and spoke for most of us. (Oh and watching him play provided some of my favourite ever football moments, too)