On building young children’s brains & the essential early years environment. ‘We have a new prime minister and a new secretary of state for education. It is time for them to apply basic child development principles.’ @andyburnham.bsky.social @lucympowell.bsky.social @edusky.bsky.social #EduSky

Play, learning and the young child’s brain: ‘It doesn’t work like that’

Play is essential to early learning and children's development because our brains evolved to ‘boot up’ through social interaction and exploration

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

Millions in UK could face power cuts at short notice. 16%-20% of electricity imported. In hot weather & high winds, solar farms, wind turbines turned off. Poor electricity transmission/storage infrastructure. National Grid makes record profits, investment neglected. Wonders of privatisation.

Millions in Great Britain could face emergency power cuts at short notice

Exclusive: Grid operator Neso can now respond with rolling blackouts as last resort without need for government powers

theguardian.com

Biodiversity helps human survival, and we simply cannot replace nature with artificial alternatives. We need to value and respect it more, writes Glyn Evans.

Wildfires: do we love our wild spaces too much?

As a scorching summer fuels wildfires, our unlimited access to wild spaces raises uncomfortable questions about protecting them

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Authoritarianism isn’t just hitting America - it’s popping up internationally. Watch Rick Wilson‘s speech at the WOMAD festival in the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EavYdOBTIWI

“[P]arents and carers are often positioned as monitors, extending school surveillance into the home. These shifting roles transform relationships between teachers, parents, and students, increasingly structuring them around data, visibility, and oversight.”

Trajectories and togetherness: How technologies for homework are (re)configuring home-school relationships

Drawing on Massey’s (2005) conceptualisation of space as the product of intersecting ‘trajectories’, this article explores how technologies for homework (re)configure home-school relationships. Bas...

tandfonline.com

I still absolutely think that the English rugby team should learn how to morris dance properly and do it in response to the Haka against New Zealand.

Ditto schools. But apparently we lost that fight a while ago.

Dan the Gnome@brewergnome.bsky.social · last yr.

"Why SHOULDN'T government be run like a business?" Because the goals are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive. Businesses exist to make money. Governments exist to make people's lives better. You ask if the fire dept is successful at putting out fires and saving people, not the $ it makes

The Jason Arday story is by no means the biggest scandal at Cambridge University. I'm sure the media is going to pick this up and run with it in just the same way ... Or is the exaggerated CV of one Black professor somehow more important than this?

Byline Times@bylinetimes.bsky.social · 4d ago

🟡 From This Month’s Magazine Reform UK and Big Tech Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel’s ‘Political Pipeline’ Recruitment Project at the World-Renowned… By Byline Times raising The academic institution has nothing to say in response to a six-month investigation by Byline Times raising serious…

I hear patients describe feeling vulnerable & unsupported within the current healthcare context. This is usually not about 'anxious patients', or patients having excessive expectations, but rather a basic need for appropriate information, decent communication, & involvement in their own care.

It doesn't get much more Scottish than this wee beauty hard at work on a thistle. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐝 check my prints here: weescotland.com #bumblebee #thistle #scotland #nature #macro #wildlife #photography #floral #beekeeping #bee

Private equity buys EasyJet through a Jersey company. PE to hold £1bn preference shares carrying 14% interest. EJ to be loaded with £2.7bn-£3bn debt. Why debt? UK tax relief on interest payment hikes shareholder returns. Why Jersey? PE won't pay tax on income booked in Jersey archive.ph/3nKgX

EasyJet in tie-up talks with Virgin Atlantic after Apollo takeover

As buyout firm swoops on the budget carrier, discussions with Richard Branson’s airline may result in selling each others’ tickets

thetimes.com

Over 200 years of lifesaving at sea 🌊 Cromer Lifeboat Station was established in 1804. At this year’s Lifeboat Day, visitors watched today’s crews demonstrate the skills and courage behind every rescue. #Cromer #RNLI #LifeboatDay

RNLI Lifeboat Day Highlights and Cromer Coastline Safety

RNLI lifeboat launches across the UK were showcased at Cromer Lifeboat Day, highlighting water safety and coastguard teamwork.

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Very weird to be living for weeks through what has so far been the worst UK drought since records began and for the Prime Minister to have still said absolutely nothing about it

I love this, by Pete Wharmby, who gives an analogy that may help us understand Uta Frith's apparent argument that it's not autism if it's not 'severe', because we only identified the 'severe' people a long time ago when she first trained. Therefore that's autism and nothing else is. 🤔

More than half of accounts posting about violence in Belfast & Southampton on X were based overseas. Only 4 of the 12 most-seen posts were from the UK. X is now "“a weapon of choice” for hostile foreign actors seeking to manipulate shocking & divisive content". www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Free weekend update is out. This week a detailed analysis of a Trump con, which the press fell for entirely. He always knew Ukraine was dependent on Patriots, and used that leverage to harm Ukraine. He had no intention of letting Ukraine have a Patriot license… open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Weekend Update #197: Anatomy Of A Con:

The Overreaction In the Press: Ukraine Has Not Gone From Winning To Losing

open.substack.com

"People who love you for who you are and not for what you can do for them are the best kind of people." - Brigitte Nicole

Journalists attacked with rocks for reporting on racist rioters waging a pogrom whilst calling for refugees to "have their f**king heads chopped off". These are the "protesters" with "legitimate concerns" we keep on hearing so much about www.edp24.co.uk/news/2644352...

I've been attacked as a journalist twice in a year... I'm just trying to do my job

I was attacked for a second time in a year while covering the Thetford riots, here's what happened and why I'm going back.

edp24.co.uk

This is pretty good on the nuance of the situation surrounding small boat numbers. On the face of it, the government can point to a reduction in small boat crossings to claim its policies are working, but the situation is far more complex. 1/ www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Has the UK government’s strategy on small boat crossings been effective?

As the number of migrants crossing the Channel is down by 43%, have ministers cracked the problem?

theguardian.com

Prompted by @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social, have finally got round to looking at govt's EOTAS proposals. @tanialt.bsky.social as ever an indispensable guide, here: www.specialneedsjungle.com/eotas-consul... Sigh. Some thoughts:

EOTAS Consultation: A further assault on children's SEND rights with cost saving and reintegration to schools at its heart — Special Needs Jungle

A look at the new EOTAS Consultation: A further assault on children's SEND rights with cost saving and reintegration to schools at its heart

specialneedsjungle.com

Excellent article via @lennyvalentino.bsky.social. This is exactly what they do in Portugal. Lots of vigilance and responding quickly to conditions in the landscape.

The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · last wk.

The most effective wildfire risk reduction happens long before the first 999 call.

You can't talk about tackling the climate crisis without also tackling political donations and lobbying. Both Reform and Labour clearly have some pretty obvious vested interests.

Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · last wk.

Zack Polanski, "I'll work with anyone who wants to tackle the climate crisis and wants to protect nature" "There is a huge conversation to have about political donations, how they work, and how we make sure politicians are representing their constituents, rather than vested interests"

Second issue is compounded by Labour weakening protections for trafficking and modern slavery victims, making it harder for them to escape abuse and seek asylum. This creates something of a variance in official figures as trafficking victims are now less likely to be included in asylum stats. 9/

Paul Marshall, the co-owner of GB News, has tripled his hedge fund investments in fossil fuel companies in the first quarter of 2026 to £2.1bn. They're a propaganda channel cashing in on destroying our future. Always follow the money.

🔴 NEW Did the Trump Administration Have a Role in the Cueta ‘Migrant Invasion’? By Simon Nixon Read below. ↓

Did the Trump Administration Have a Role in the Cueta 'Migrant Invasion'?

Trump-aligned think tanks have previously advocated using Ceuta to exert pressure on Madrid, reports Simon Nixon

bylinetimes.com

Dozens of health workers working at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak staged protests to demand payment for their wages, abandoning several health facilities and disrupting care in the world’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak. apnews.com/article/cong...

Dozens of health workers at epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak protest lack of payment

Health workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are protesting over unpaid wages. They abandoned several health facilities on Thursday, demanding payment.

apnews.com

UK Govt contracts to require job creation instead of green targets under new rules. Why does it have to be either, or? Job creation should not be a trade-off with protecting the environment Govt appeasing corporations whilst planet burns, crops fail, food prices rocket.

Government contracts to require job creation instead of green targets under new rules

Louise Haigh says taxpayer money must benefit local communities amid backlash from environmental groups

theguardian.com

petergray.substack.com/p/223-resear... Worth a read. We cannot change where we are if we cannot see the environment clearly. We cannot get to somewhere more suitable if we don't know what that looks like.

#223. Research into Child Psychology is Largely the Study of Effects of Captivity.

School is a captive environment, which distorts the nature of childhood.

petergray.substack.com

Birdsong isn’t just a male thing. Female birds sing too – and in more than 70% of species worldwide, it matters more than we thought. Emma Phipps tells us more.

The hidden bias in bird research that impacts conservation

Scientists long focused on colourful male birds, but female birds may hold key clues to conservation and survival

eastangliabylines.co.uk

But they seemed like such nice, patriotic, community-minded chaps. (Except the ones currently facing murder, child abuse & assault charges, obviously.)

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · last wk.

Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.