We just watched the Masterchef final, and this series has been so good. Apart from the benefit of dropping two creepy middle aged men, Grace Dent and Anna Haugh add a level of emotion and empathy that vastly improved the experience. And Grace Dent has a wicked sense of humour too.

On forward guidance: because policy takes time to have its full effect, and because the things buffetting inflation and unemployment also have effects strung out over many periods, monetary policy is not a single interest rate but a view about interest rates over the future.

Genius

Ariaa®@ariaa.bsky.social · 2d ago

Dasia Taylor,now 22, developed a surgical suture that changes color in response to pH changes associated with wound infections. #Invention #Innovation #MedicalBreakthroughs

My friend Pete Morris built BlinkTalk, a free, open source app allowing people with no more than eye movement to use their computer or phone to speak on their behalf. It uses your preferred gesture (blink, look up etc), learns your speech patterns and is multilingual. mrpmorris.github.io/BlinkTalk/

BlinkTalk — Speak again, one eye gesture at a time

Free communication software for people with locked-in syndrome. A single eye gesture or tap becomes letters, words and spoken sentences.

mrpmorris.github.io

Post of the day 👏👏👏 Friday I’m in Love has always been one of my favourites. It’s poetry set to a beautiful tune and this version is sublime. Find it at the end of the video, but perhaps don’t skip the rest to hastily - you’ll miss a gem.

Helen Czerski@helenczerski.bsky.social · 4d ago

Last week I got to hear live an amazing cover of Friday I'm in Love (The Cure), by Charlotte Carpenter. It was made for the @cosmicshambles.com music doc cos I chose the original as one of my favourite songs, and it's 58 minutes in here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=quj8... Do listen - it's fantastic!

I feel that Marcus is describing my brain here.

Marcus Chown@marcuschown.bsky.social · 4d ago

You could fit the human race in the volume of a sugarcube That's because atoms are 99.9999999999999% empty space. And, if you squeezed all the empty space out of all all 8 billion people, they would indeed fill a sugarcube AVAILABLE ON KINDLE FOR 99p IN AUGUST www.amazon.co.uk/Infinity-Pal...

Lib/Lab looks like a smart thing

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 5d ago

If replicated in a General Election, this poll would see Labour fall just 18 seats short of an overall majority.

The hospital floor where dreams come to die.

Great job by @404media.co here.

404 Media@404media.co · 5d ago

UPDATE: After the publication of this piece, Google sent 404 Media a statement saying it was “rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails.” www.404media.co/google-earth...

Post of the day 👏👏👏

Katharine Hayhoe@katharinehayhoe.com · last wk.

Overnight, a masked bandit broke into our kitchen. Armed with opposable thumbs, he proceeded to sample everything on offer. I’d just visited the farmers market, so the menu was extensive. I can now share a highly specific peer-reviewed list of what this particular raider did & did not enjoy. 🧵

Post of the day 👏👏👏 My late mother had breast cancer twice, once in her mid 50s and again 20 years later. The first round of radio therapy withered her left shoulder significantly and permanently. Her attitude and strength just made her even more beautiful.

Victoria Derbyshire@vicderbyshire.bsky.social · last wk.

I wrote this 👇 open.substack.com/pub/vicderby...

The Greens should be a credible, environmental party, capable of entering a coalition. They’re squandering their opportunity such that they’re now squatting on and discrediting the Green brand. Reform UK reports Zack Polanski to police over guillotine T-shirt post www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Reform UK reporting Green leader Zack Polanski to police over Instagram post

The post included a photo of a man wearing a top featuring the name "Nigel" alongside an image of a guillotine.

bbc.co.uk

Rich@rich-bryant.uk · last wk.

If I were to design a Making Plans For Nigel t-shirt I think a prison door might make a better point than a guillotine and also not count as incitement to, you know, murder.

This is the most wholesome thing, other than from a rodent perspective.

Richard M. Nixon@dicknixon.bsky.social · 2w ago

Larry got a mouse this morning.

We really need to quit the low quality polar opposites of AI evangelism vs slop-hate. These are amazing tools they can do extraordinary good when used right, or produce nonsense or even do harm handled poorly. So let’s all play smart.

Cat Hicks@grimalkina.bsky.social · 2w ago

You start seeing this moment enough (I've now seen more than a dozen because of sharing my informed-patient skill around) you just really, really think about the possibilities for all the AI shaped problems here

There’s only one member of my family fluent in Ancient Greek, but she wouldn’t enjoy Musk slop because she’s a classics academic.

Alon Pinkas@alonpinkas.bsky.social · 2w ago

This changes everything

Post of the day 👏👏👏

Alex Selby-Boothroyd@alexselbyb.bsky.social · 2w ago

Andy Burnham joins Robert Peel, Gordon Brown and Liz Truss on a list of prime ministers whose surnames are also culinary imperatives

Good job by the police.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 2w ago

A 28-year-old man has been charged with the murder of the former Conservative minister after she was found dead at her home on Dartmoor. ft.trib.al/cCCoh2q

So this one perplexes me and I hope that the Home Office will chart a less aggressive, less anti-immigrant path. The other appointments so far seem AOK to me.

UK Prime Minister Updates@downingstreet.bsky.social · 2w ago

Shabana Mahmood has been reappointed as Home Secretary.

This is super news. I can’t think of more important spending that defence increases right now. I wish it were different but it’s not.

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Former Defence Secretary John Healey has been appointed Chancellor.

If Tuchel is considering replacing Pickford, I’m ready to serve 🫡

Post of the day 👏👏👏

Giles Wilkes@gilesyb.bsky.social · 3w ago

There's gonna be a new PM. What he needs is an op-ed telling him what to do, of which there's no doubt a lamentable absence. Here's the time-hallowed method for creating one: 1. Set out the problem cleanly, as if the PM had literally no idea that growth, the cost of living and deficit matter. 1/

Watching with family from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇧🇷 🇸🇪 🇪🇹 Go 🇪🇸

Not for 🇦🇷

Spinal Tap: These Go To 11

ALT: Spinal Tap: These Go To 11

static.klipy.com

Post of the day 👏👏👏 My posts of the day are generally banal humour. Today is different and genuinely worth your time reading.

THE NERVE@thenerve.news · 2w ago

NEW: Who funds Nigel Farage? And why has it taken till now for any journalistic scrutiny? @carolecadwalla.bsky.social who has tracked him for a decade exposes how the UK press & regulators looked the other way 🧵👇

@t0nyyates.bsky.social many thanks for organising the Bluesky drinks you’re a 🌟

Next door neighbour is Argentinian. We’ve let the other neighbours know that we both might do quite a lot of shouting.

Helene von Bismarck@helenebismarck.bsky.social · 3w ago

Interrupting my social media break to put on record that I am OF COURSE rooting for you England, even if I am just a little bit worried that my many English friends may be COMPLETELY INSUFFERABLE if you win this tournament. That said, I have decided to be the bigger person. Good luck England. 😘

Hey @countbinface.bsky.social, what’s your response to this then? Surely Reform have you (me and most of the rest) backed into a corner with their intellectual might?

Post of the day 👏👏👏

Sean Marshall@seanyyz.bsky.social · 3w ago

Why I’m a fan of the Oxford comma.

This is quite chilling and we all need to be starkly aware of the unpleasant reality that we could be at war soon and are badly underprepared. The nature of that war, it was indicated, is likely to be small exclusionary incursion, maybe Baltic islands to test NATO resolve. 🧵1/2

Chatham House@chathamhouse.org · 4w ago

Following this week’s Ankara NATO summit, General Sir Richard Barrons told the 2026 Chatham House London Conference that European countries must act to re-establish deterrence in the light of the US drawdown in Europe.

I hear this theme discussed a lot in UK startup circles. Also floated at the @chathamhouse.org London Conference.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 4w ago

Japan finance minister urges giant pension fund to invest more at home ft.trib.al/swYast0