Donald Trump may have accidentally proved modern monetary theory right. The US can create the dollars to fund his war. What it can't create at will are missiles, factories, skilled workers and raw materials. Richard Murphy explains why that matters for far more than war. @eastangliabylines.co.uk

Traditional economics is wrong: Donald Trump has proved it

Conventional economics says that governments can only do what they can pay for. Trump’s war proves its not true

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, East Sussex. #wildflowerhour #ByTheSea. The flowers of Frosted orache, Atriplex laciniata. You can't get nearer to the sea than Atriplex laciniata; it grows on the high tide line. On Sussex Rare Plant Register.

In my photo there are male and female Lissonata sp. wasps. The females have ovipositors twice as long as their bodies so they can lay their eggs directly inside the bodies of other insect larvae deep in plants and bark.

Sim Elliott@sim-elliott.bsky.social · 4d ago

Back at Rye Harbour today. I noticed that many of the Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, had these insects pollinating them. I think they are solitary wasps of the Banchinae subfamily of Ichneumonidae wasps, possibly Lissonota spp. possibly L. cruentator. Spectacular wasps. Any ID help appreciated. Thanks

Three contrasting vegetated shingle "forests" of vegetated shingle vascular plants aside the mouth of the River Rother @sussexwildlife.bsky.social Rye Harbour NR. Sea Spurge, Euphorbia paralias; Sea Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum subsp. maritimum & Rottingdean sea-lavender, Limonium hyblaeum.

Probably the lichen Lecanora chlarotera s.l., magnified, on a wooden fence post facing the sea at Rye Harbour facing the prevailing south-westerly salty sea spray. Lichens are extremotolerant organisms.

I always find the memorial in Rye Village Church to the loss of the 17 crew of the Rye Harbour lifeboat Mary Stanford touching, the youngest crewman being only 17. On November 15, 1928, the wooden, oar-powered boat capsized. This remains the largest single-day loss of life in RNLI history.

Back at Rye Harbour today. I noticed that many of the Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, had these insects pollinating them. I think they are solitary wasps of the Banchinae subfamily of Ichneumonidae wasps, possibly Lissonota spp. possibly L. cruentator. Spectacular wasps. Any ID help appreciated. Thanks

Verbascum virgatum, Twiggy Mulein, a neophyte, is doing really well on the vegetated shingle of @sussexwildlife.bsky.social Rye Harbour Mature Reserve. A lovely plant with yellow flowers with purple splodges and orange anthers. It is very twiggy in shape

The largest patch of Cladonia foliacea, I’ve seen. In the Netherlands called Summer Snow, because when desiccated the white underside of the squamules turn upwards. At @sussexwildlife.bsky.social Rye Harbour NR. Vegetated shingle. “Rare & declining in lowland England” @britishlichensociety.org.uk

Red Listed (critically endangered) Red Hemp-nettle, Galeopsis angustifolia, in front of The Red Hut at @sussexwildlife.bsky.social Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, with Rottingdean Sea Lavender, Limonium hyblaeum, in between. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Living on the edge! Growing on the ‘drift line’ (high-tide mark). Babington’s Orache, Atriplex glabriuscula and Sea Pea, Lathyrus japonicus. First recorded in 1640 as 'Suffolke Sea Pease at Rie’. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social Rye Harbour Nature Service @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Least Lettuce, Lactuca saligna, just one. I accompanying the regular @bsbibotany.bsky.social recorder for the Sussex location. I have never seen it before. This is the fewest Least Lettuce recorded at this sight, possibly because of the drought? We looked & looked & looked 😩Has been iRecorded.

@andyburnham.bsky.social 360,000 people evacuated across France and Spain due to wildfires 2,868,400 people evacuated in China due to Typhoon Bavi Drought declared across half of England That's just the beginning. And you know why? "Pragmatic" burning of oil & gas means more climate change.

Burnham promises ‘pragmatic’ approach to North Sea oil and gas

PM tells reporters the government cannot ignore the energy resource ‘when people are struggling’

theguardian.com

My partner thinks I’m mad! It’s 5.05 and I’m on a bus to Brighton Station to get two trains to Rye to visit Rye Harbour to meet fellow Twiglets (the Friday meet-up group of the Sussex Botanical Recording Society) to see the uber-rare Least Lettuce, Lactuca saligna, which only flowers in the morning.

Memento mori. "Gone-over" Betony & Perforate St-John's Wort on the South Downs. I photograph wild flowers in all stages of their lifecycle; because its useful to be able to recognize plants at all stages; and it is a reminder that aging does not preclude beauty. We all age. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Naturally colonised Night Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret and Crane alongside resident Grey Heron are not enough, apparently, and cultural connections mean we should introduce another generalist predator into the last fragile refuges for Amphibians & reptiles. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘They’re part of folklore’: storks return to Derbyshire after 600-year absence

Conservationists are thrilled at the arrival of three juvenile birds at Willington Wetlands, hoping more will follow

theguardian.com

Andy Burnham to make it harder for people to claim benefits, vows to ‘get serious’ about cutting welfare bill. Silence on corporate welfare. 37.8% of Universal Credit claimants are in work. Due to hikes in retirement age, many seniors can't work, claim benefits. Women will be hardest hit.

Burnham to make some benefits conditional and ‘get serious’ about cutting welfare

New prime minister has also warned that ‘the NHS will collapse’ unless he fixes social care

independent.co.uk

Probably Cryptocephalus aureolus, one of the pot beetles, on Lesser Hawkbit. Devil's Dyke, South Downs.

Female Sympetrum fonscolombii, Red-veined Darter. A new species of Dragonfly to me. A fairly frequent migrant, principally to the south of Britain. Breeds in large shallow water bodies such as rice paddies in Southern Europe. Devil's Dyke. South Downs. West Sussex

Silver-spotted Skipper, Hesperia comma. A rare skipper restricted to chalk downs in southern England. Seen on the South Downs around Brighton.

Female Dark Green Fritillary, Speyeria aglaja; strongly associated with flower-rich, open habitats. In Sussex, the largest of their self-contained colonies are found on downland. Devil's Dyke, South Downs, West Sussex.

I think this is Ichneumon bucculentus, Chubby-cheeked Ichneumon, bucca meaning “cheek”. Distinctive white patterns along the inner margins of the eyes & a white band on the first segment of the abdomen. A rarer Icheumon, not recorded in Sussex until 2023. Devil’s Dyke, West Sussex.

Hemp-agrimony providing food for a Sulphur Beetle, Cteniopus sulphureus, which is a comb-claw beetle. Typically found in dry habitats such as dunes and chalk downland especially near the coast. Feeds on pollen and nectar.

Whenever you have a snack at the lovely Wildflower Cafe, Saddlescombe Farm, Newtimber Hill, South Downs, one of the chickens checks your pockets for food.

I love my Fuji Instax Evo. You can take photos with it or you can choose photos, in its phone app, that you have taken with your phone camera and print them. I stick them on a page in my paper nature journal, and write their names with a pen. So much more satisfying than an electronic journal.

Save Sussex Sea Trout - threatened by pollution & housing developments. A free walk to explore the home of the Sussex Sea Trout & how we can respect the rights of the River Ouse. SATURDAY 22nd Aug - meet 10am for a 10.30 start COOKS BRIDGE STATION CAR PARK. Contact: landscapesoffreedom@gmail.con.

Forest Bug, Pentatoma rufipes, on a wooden post bordering Rottingdean Bowls Club. Clearing not old enough to play bowls.

Electric busses are not new. Just down the road from my house. Built in 1909 for the Brighton, Hove & Preston United Omnibus Co Ltd as a re-charging station and depot for its pioneering fleet of battery electric busses. www.nationaltransporttrust.org.uk/heritage-sit...

Non-object Black, 2015. One of the The Vantablack Voids in the Anish Kapoor exhibition at The Hayward, South Bank, London, with accidental self-portrait, and a gallery attendant’s chair. Visual illusions and voids. Melevich would have liked it. I think I did

A letter to the Prime Minister from the #𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗘𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴 experts in today's @financialtimes.com. Please share. Link to a zoomable image: www.nebriefing.org/media With thanks to Business Declares. #TimeToStepUp #NationalRenewal