Also serious reminder that if your kid DOES fail to get the results they need: 1) don't panic. 2) IT'S FINE. Don't rush. Ring unis. chat to them. Our phone line people are trained to help. 3) Consider Greenwich. Our entire thing is helping kids master study skills and become their best selves.

John Bull@garius.bsky.social · 3h ago

anyway Bluesky, if your kids do shit at their a-levels you can now blame it on malevolent gods, thanks to the eclipse. Also don't worry. There's places available in Clearing.

>20 years ago I was staying with a friend when the A-Level results arrived. Their little sister had missed their grades for Law at Liverpool Uni, had locked themselves in their room and was howling in distress. I established through the door that the most important thing was that they were sold on..

At Greenwich, we put a HUGE amount of effort into study support, from year 1 right through. Lot's of non-Russell Group unis do this. Frankly, we are generally better at it than they are. If your kid needs that bit of extra help, think carefully before going RG. Check they'll be supported properly.

Donal Brannigan@brannigand.bsky.social · 3h ago

I did a relatively standard engineering degree somewhere else. At no point were we taught study skills. I am sure it would have helped.

In a *stellar* essay entitled "Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same" by the data scientist Lauren Leek, we get a top-notch example of "putting things together": laurenleek.substack.com/p/temperatur... 11/

Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same

What 640 London shopping streets, 4,000 Billboard hits, a million films and synthetic AI personas tell us about why everything is flattening into sameness and how to regulate the algorithms behind it.

laurenleek.substack.com

King in the North has his Head in the Sand

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · 5h ago

Downing Street's press release for Burnham's "emergency" Cobra meeting on the drought didn't even mention climate, with the Prime Minister blaming the growing numbers of wildfires on disposable barbecues. He's since appeared on GB News this afternoon to talk about migrant camps

Revealed: just 20 out of of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation, as UK burns in fifth heatwave of this summer - FOI request by me @andyburnham.bsky.social needs to level with the country about the climate crisis & set out radical plan to tackle it 🧵 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Just 20 of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation amid drought and wildfires

Exclusive: England ‘desperately unprepared’ for effects of crisis including water shortages and heatwaves

theguardian.com

Since when do the UK police have a role in sentencing and prisons policy? This is overreach All I can see are groups objecting but not suggesting alternatives

Can't believe that Europe is getting the same eclipse as us. Was Brexit for nothing?

Bronze Age shaman and metalworker confirmed by DNA as a woman. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New discovery puts 'women at the centre of early Bronze Age society'

The 4,000-year-old skeleton of a metalworker was first found in 1803.

bbc.co.uk

10th August 2026 05.46

A summer holiday cartoon for @theguardian.com

"The objection appeared on page 75 of a press release in a section with a non-functioning hyperlink that takes the user back to the page they were on before."

Press Gazette@pressgazette.co.uk · 3d ago

Andy Burnham is bringing forward by several months to January plans to make subscriptions easier to cancel. Trade groups said this would leave publishers "scrambling to adapt to an entirely arbitrary new deadline - diverting valuable resources that would otherwise go into building better products"

Interestingly, as we cover in the Untitled History Podcast episode on Asterix (out this thursday) the village is there because Goscinny wanted it coastal, so Asterix could travel abroad. And Uderzo felt a special connection to Brittany as he'd hidden there to avoid forced labour conscription in WW2.

@timoconnorbl.bsky.social · 2w ago

Speaking of French rugby… This is the map at the start of Astérix. The Little Gaulish Village is, of course, Breton.

Sucks that all the tree protesters in the 80s and 90s spent all that time chained to trees and burrowing underground when they could just have said their favourite womble was buried there.

LATEST: UK confident of regaining single market access by promising everyone in European Parliament free access to National Trust properties, 10% off at M&S and one free photograph with a palace guard.

Western Europe recorded its hottest June-July on record, enduring the fourth heatwave since May with severe drought conditions that contributed to exceptional wildfire activity. Climate signals are becoming increasingly interconnected and increasingly difficult to ignore.

Meet our extended family… the Daisy family. A wildflower array of the Asteraceae still blooming here at Madrigal despite drought and relentless heat — yellow, white, purple, prickly, feathery and thistle-down soft. Different weather. The same wonderfully sprawling family #WildflowerHour #DaisyFamily

Ultimately, our shared interests and responsibilities are far better served within the EU than without it. Prosperity, opportunity, defence, climate change, migration…are all issues better tackled together than constantly knocking on the door, asking to be let in. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Yes, Cdns are paying attention. How can we not, under smoke-filled skies? But worry isn’t enough. If we don’t know what to do, more disasters just leave us feeling even more helpless. To catalyse action, we need to know: 1. what’s happening, 2. why it’s happening, AND 3. what we can do about it.

Canadians' climate change concerns rebound amid wildfire season | CBC News

The percentage of Canadians who see addressing climate change as a top priority spiked this summer after years of it taking a back seat to other issues, recent polling has found.

cbc.ca

Correct take. Small-scale solar has its own benefits, but it shouldn't be allowed to distract from the large-scale stuff we (also) need. There's a cognitive bug here where people don't intuit that the average field is MUCH bigger than the average warehouse or car park.

James O'Malley@jamesomalley.co.uk · 4d ago

Here’s why we need solar farms and pretending we can just cover car parks and buildings simply won’t work. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-green-...

The headline makes this sound like a u-turn, but there’s really nothing much new here. The clean power target was always a stretch goal, the N Sea projects with licenses were always likely to be approved, and the ZEV Mandate was always going to be reviewed. www.thetimes.com/article/dd53...

Researchers at the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark have conducted multiple landmark, population-wide studies tracking hundreds of thousands to over 1.2 million children using national health registries to examine potential links between vaccines and autism. Every major study found no connection.

Large Danish Study: No link between vaccines and autism or 49 other health conditions

A new Danish study finds no association between aluminum in childhood vaccines and 50 different health conditions, including autism, asthma, and autoimmune diseases. The findings reaffirm the safety o...

en.ssi.dk

Only sussed the other day that Freddie Jones is Toby Jones dad. Here he is as Thufir Hawat, complete with giant eyebrows in David Lynch’s 1984 version of Dune.

I am a girl. I like reptiles and horror movies and science fiction and comics and TTRPGs, and for my entire life, every time I have entered a space, I have had to prove that I didn't "steal" it from the person* it rightfully belonged to. (*Boy, then man.)

Highly usable post from last year

MS NOW@ms.now · 5d ago

MS NOW EXCLUSIVE: In fiery meeting, military families confront acting Navy secretary over conditions on the USS Lincoln www.ms.now/news/navy-me...

As an adaptation of Homer’s epic, the Honda Odyssey is a complete disaster. With its roomy cabin and rear entertainment system for the kids, the minivan foregrounds concerns that only arose with the American nuclear family and say nothing about the brutality that underlay the Bronze Age.

NERV IRB Coordinator@professormusgrave.bsky.social · 5d ago

WHEN will emily wilson review THIS

Do you want to hazard a guess at what this “jaw-dropping” list of freebies included? What luxuries asylum seekers might be being given “for free” in Thetford? Xboxes? Plasma TVs? iPhones? Ferraris? Let's take a look👀 🧵 1/22

A look at how our seven segments have shifted their voting intention since Burnham became PM. The most striking shift is among Progressive Activists the most socially and economically left segment where Burnham has erased the greens lead, though still way below Corbyn levels.

In Amsterdam, residents can apply for the city to remove the pavement stones and prepare a narrow planting bed helping Dutch streets become greener, cooler and better prepared for heavy rain. #ActOnClimate #Smartcities #ClimateActionNow

Chornomorets Stadium in Odesa after a Russian attack today. Two people were injured ‼️ ​FIFA wants to allow Russia back into the competition while it continues to kill Ukrainian athletes and destroy Ukrainian sports.

Kate from Kharkiv@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 5d ago

Russia has attacked the Chornomorets Stadium in Odesa. Several people were injured. What do you say to that, Infantino? Still want to allow russians back?