Utterly depressing that NHS workers are having to put up with such appalling behaviour. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

NHS radiographers report rise in overt racist abuse by patients

Survey reveals medics were called ‘monkeys’ and ‘dirty foreigners’, and patients refused to be seen by black or Asian staff

theguardian.com

20 people have died in European wildfires this summer. More than 300,000 have been evacuated from their homes. The Prime Minister has not ruled out further drilling in the North Sea. Please Mr Burnham. Stop dancing to Farage's tune... Tackle the real issues!🙏 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Burnham pledges to be 'relentless' in curbing small boat crossings

The prime minister says enforcement is increased but there also need to be more safe routes into the UK.

bbc.co.uk

But the Canadian prime minister says we can’t afford to fight climate change. Not sure if I’d call that leadership. Seems like he’s being led. . .

Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 5d ago

Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.

Farage's latest whinge is about not being invited to Andy Burnham's social care meeting. How many more things will he find to complain about before this day is out? Maybe, just maybe, the voters of Clacton will see him for what he is — a disingenuous scammer with no solutions other than victimhood.

I spoke a little too soon about the swifts yesterday. There are still some around, and a handful have just done a circuit right over my head. But I suspect they're juveniles, and overall the skies are a lot quieter, as most swifts are heading off now or have already done so.

I'm not qualified to judge whether such people are psychopaths. All I can say is that they behave as if they are. From today's Telegraph.

Looks like the Roztoky swifts are bidding us farewell. Usually at this time of day (around 9:00), there would be loads of them ducking and diving and looping the loop above the local rooftops. About an hour ago, they were congregating higher in the sky.

Ever noticed how the rich owners of our media burst a blood vessel at the mere suggestion that the rich might be asked to pay an incy wincy bit more tax?

If you're on holiday in Central Europe and suddenly crave mac and cheese, look out for bryndzové halušky, the Slovak national dish and a very good substitute. It consists of gnocchi drowning in melted cheese (in this case, bryndza, a tangy sheep’s milk variety) sprinkled with spek.

After seeing it through @neondeutschland.bsky.social's eyes, you'll never see Germany's neon signs the same way again:

Jesse Simon: ‘Is it possible to be nostalgic for a time you didn’t live in? I think it is.’

The Anglo-American typography expert on the magic of neon, signage in both Germanys, and the umlaut as engineering problem.

theauflauf.com

Someone at a senior level in UK government needs to very publicly tell the US it is none of their business who the UK PM appoints.

Is it just me or does anyone else think it's a miracle that Trump didn't attempt to walk off with the FIFA World Cup Trophy and claim that he had won the tournament?

How many UK PM term lengths before Christmas?

Wenceslas Square, 20.7.26. Next year, trams will return to the upper half of this famous boulevard after a break of almost 47 years. Work continues on laying the tracks. I'm very rarely in Prague city centre these days, and a lot of progress has been made since my last visit.

It's fascinating to watch commentators who sat completely silently for a decade as the Conservative Government changed its leader four times in a row mid-term, now suddenly discover such a keen interest in the concepts of 'mandates' and 'legitimacy'

Think I'll stand as a candidate in the Clacton by-election. Anybody else thinking about this too?

So Rachel Reeves is no longer chancellor. I'll miss her keyboard wizardry on "True Faith", "Shellshock" and "State of the Nation".

In my opinion, major UK business concerns are always listened to. It might be time for politicians to actually start representing the people. Just a thought.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 3w ago

Major UK businesses say that they have been struggling to contact Andy Burnham’s team, causing anxiety that the next UK prime minister will not listen to their concerns ft.trib.al/sC4DY6a

Old photo: "Leigh Court Barn is an outstanding example of English medieval carpentry, and the largest cruck framed structure in Britain. Built for Pershore Abbey in about 1325, it is over 42 metres long with 18 cruck blades each made from a single oak tree". Text: English Heritage. Photo: me.

Vivid pink clouds over Roztoky u Prahy. They now look like Portuguese Man of War jellyfish. Pity my phone camera just doesn't do the colours justice. Meanwhile, the local swifts have the zoomies and keep looping the loop.

Just imaging how much trouble Farage would be in right now if he was a Labour woman.

Now Farage is threatening journalists. A Dulwich College-educated millionaire who hobnobs with the richest people on the planet. Yet he still has the colossal cheek to the play the victim card. Poor, put upon Nigel! The establishment are out to get him. Life must be so hard!

Facts you won't find in a Reform UK election leaflet ... meme via Robert Thomson

Great to see Nigel Farage squirming under the spotlight. But of course it would have been even better if the BBC and the mainstream media actually did their job and scrutinised him relentlessly from the start.

We have lift off! The first Pufflings are now leaving the Isle of May as birds are now independent. This is a big moment as they’ve never flown and not seen the sea before! Good luck :)

Wonder what Alastair Cooke would have made of all the shenanigans in Murica right now. Thinking back to his Letter from America, which I always associate with cooked breakfasts on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. Back in the day.

This is our extraordinary 🌎 Why do we destroy their habitat? pollute it? Warm it ? #ClimateCrisis #Metacrisis #WarOnNature #nature #Oceans

The multimillionaire Nigel Farage rails against climate action, while gliding from one air-conditioned building to another. He knows that he and his ilk will suffer least. But he is prepared to sacrifice everyone else to the demands of his fossil-fuelled funders. So much for "the man of the people".