Dave in Essex 🇺🇦 🇨🇦

Since his ennoblement in Boris Johnson’s 2023 resignation list, Tees Valley regional mayor Lord (Ben) Houchen has claimed more than £25,000 in tax-free daily “attendance” allowances from the House of Lords for 73 days when he hasn’t voted, spoken or performed any recorded parliamentary activity.

Opened in 2022, Salisbury Station’s Cycle Hub provides 74 bike parking spaces for a modest £360,000 investment, delivered through a partnership between South Western Railway, the Department for Transport, and Wiltshire Council.

Michael Atiyah 🇪🇬: Fields Medal 1966 (also Abel Prize 2004), for K-theory. Ahmed Zewail 🇪🇬: Nobel for Chemistry 1999, for his work on femtochemistry. Omar M. Yaghi 🇯🇴: Wolf Prize 2018, Nobel for Chemistry 2025, for his work on reticular chemistry Naguib Mahfouz 🇪🇬: Nobel for literature 1988

1777: Rain was wanting for the sowing of wheat. Many swallows seen in Cambridge.

#Delft #Delftholland

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Good evening! This week's theme is Mist and Fog. ------ 'The Old Curiosity Shop, Portsmouth Street' by George Hyde-Pownall (1866-1939) (Private collection)

Worth a listen

I absolutely love the photos in this. www.londoncentric.media/p/oxford-str...

A remarkable stat popped out of this: Ukraine has been able to export more electricity to the EU than it has imported, a remarkable achievement under fire 🇺🇦

Unsurprisingly, I'm a massive fan of Oxford Street pedestrianisation. Well done Mayor of @london.gov.uk 👏

Cornwall hair.

We’ve done it! Oxford St is now pedestrianised.

Extraordinary scenes in the centre of Belgrade. I haven't checked the audio on this. Hopefully I'm audible.

Who is E. J. Thribb? Private Eye is 65. To celebrate, we’re taking a peek behind the curtain to explain where some of the Eye’s lore, columns, and in-jokes originate from.

Thank you for caring, E☠️☠️ON. 🫶

This is excellent!

A rant about 'combined' cricket stats: andrewsamson.substack.com/p/to-rant-or...

I'm being sued for $795m. By a fugitive fraudster. In Wyoming. Using an anti-Mafia law. 🧵

May I refer you to Arkell v. Pressdram? Private Eye is 65. To celebrate, we’re taking a peek behind the curtain to explain where some of the Eye’s lore, columns, and in-jokes originate from.

Still get a kick out of being in print Great to see our story, on gambling firm closely linked to Reform’s George Cottrell using fake documents to get a licence, in today’s @thetimes.com with @coramazov.bsky.social @georgegreenwood.bsky.social

Harry Brook has emulated what was hitherto a unique cross-format feat: he joins Chris Gayle, the only previous player to score 300+ in a Test, 200+ in an ODI and 100+ in a T20I.

We have a load of women who have literally done this job for years currently out of work, and you’ve decided a bloke whose main experience is running men’s rugby should get the gig? I absolutely despair at the way in which women’s cricket is now being governed in this country.

Toby Young’s frequent public comments on women’s anatomy over the years renders this rather unsurprising. Free speech!

30% YQ Population wholemeal in these. This was developed by the John Innes Centre and the team at Wakelyns from the ORC. They used 20 ‘parent’ wheat varieties to create 190 crosses and mixed the seeds. The increased diversity is more sustainable & led to greater ‘yield’ and ‘quality’ (hence ‘YQ’).

Great news for nature! 🎉 Today’s announcements by the Prime Minister at the first Wildfire Resilience Summit announcing £25m for peatland restoration is a positive step forward. This investment will mean that the critical & vital work restoring these natural landscapes can continue.

‼️⚡️270 Ukrainian Defenders return from Russian captivity!

Since 2016, London’s cycling network has grown fivefold, from 90 to 450 kilometres. The results? 1.5 million daily cycle journeys—a 43% increase since 2019—twice as many bikes as cars on City of London streets during the day, and motor traffic in steady decline—having fallen 25% in the same period.

To nobody’s great surprise, the answer to how much unused council land is there that can be built on, is not much. OTOH It’s not nothing and might be useful.

<Doctor Manhattan gif> War dogs. What I wrote last time. arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...

The Comoros-flagged merchant ship Khoryv sank in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania this morning. Preliminary reports suggest the vessel may have been sunk by a drone attack. There were 13 crew members on board - 10 Ukrainian nationals and

These are rather fun. I’ve seen the lady in the Lost Gardens of Helligan and always remembered it 🌱🇬🇧

Interesting sea-level pressure pattern as Storm Austen reaches the eastern Channel. A lobe of low pressure extends north-north-westward from it, resulting in a wide area of light winds, while to the west, a steep pressure gradient is bringing strong winds to W Wales & SW England.

Marnus Labuschagne has gone 47 Test match innings without a ton. This equals the Australian record number of innings of a Top 4 Test match batter failing to get a 100. The person who he now holds the record with? Alick Bannerman who played his last Test in 1893. #cricketcounts

3/ The US and Israel are reportedly making preparations for renewed strikes on Iran after the US midterms. The NYT reported on October 21 that the US and Israeli militaries have developed specific plans for a short and intensive operation against Iran after the US midterm elections on November 3.

3/ Russian forces are not winning on the battlefield, however, particularly as Ukrainian forces have stymied the planned Russian offensive to seize Donetsk Oblast.

2/ The Kremlin is fundamentally only interested in buying time to resolve the war on the battlefield while Russia simultaneously reaps the benefits of economic cooperation with the United States.

No matter what poverty line you choose, the share of the global population below it has declined. The World Bank's International Poverty Line is an extremely low poverty line. Set at $3 per day, it draws attention to the living conditions of the poorest people on the planet.

The logic for restricting domestic gas production never made sense. 12 thoughts on a more rational approach to Britain’s fossil fuel resources. www.samdumitriu.com/p/the-logic-...

People DO care about climate change, and more as time goes on. The headlines from this recent ONS survey are striking: 60% think it's an important issue for the UK 85% know they have already been affected by it People who care are in the MAJORITY. Never forget that. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

The banks say they’re overtaxed. The TUC says they’re undertaxed. We did the sums across nine countries, and we're going to annoy *everyone*. The UK isn’t a high-tax outlier. There *is* a case for increasing bank tax. But it comes with risks - and could hit households. 🧵:

On Tue a male Hen Harrier was seen nr Henny Church. 🚲 around but no sign, not surprised. 🚶🏻this morning, took bins in vague hope of seeing it. Just beyond garden, set of Rooks around a bird over the river. Kite? Bins reveal an Osprey! Disappeared behind trees, never saw HH (of course) #essexbirding

The new gas field isn’t going to bring down your bills. Gas is bought & sold globally, so the reality is, fossil fuels controlled by dictators have Britain in a chokehold til we fully embrace gas-free driving & heating and cut the link between electricity and gas. (🧵 1/2)

In October 2023, Hanningfield Reservoir counted 1,227 tufted ducks and 2,474 coots. This month? Eight tufted ducks and six coots. After another exceptionally dry year, where have Hanningfield’s waterbirds gone – and will they come back? @eastangliabylines.co.uk @davidj2024.bsky.social

1. New Treasury stats out today suggest that departments made significant efficiencies and savings in 2025–26. They report savings of 4.1% from ‘efficiency, savings, and productivity’, well above the 2024 Autumn Budget target of 2%. What should we take from these figures? 🧵

Your cut and and keep fact file on how the Patriot missile became the most sought after weapon in the world markurban.substack.com/p/patriot-ga...

Net migration was 171,000 for 2025 but visas were falling sharply & have kept doing so. Expect it to fall below 75,000 for July 2025 - June 2026 in November data, then zero for 2026 (announced May 2027) James has had vg modeling and predictions: his prediction is 50k bsky.app/profile/jame...

The White House and the Kremlin share an ideological agenda, a worldview and a geopolitical strategy inews.co.uk/opinion/usa-...

A thread worth reading and remembering the tragedy. I was 8, just like the children in the school. It hit home then, and it still upsets me today. Young teachers trying to save little children and all those wasted lives. ☹️