More than 15m oysters to be released in the North Sea for UK rewilding project Exclusive: Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbon

Great restoration efforts for the European Native Flat Oyster in this Orkneys rewilding project (one amongst others). The North Sea and other areas have lost extensive oyster beds due to historic overfishing, disease, or environmental factors. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Hegseth channels his inner Tarantino with fake Bible verse from Pulp Fiction The defense secretary said his prayer drew on Ezekiel, but wording closely matches Quentin Tarantino dialogue

Bad that Hesketh holy war script is like cheap pulp fiction, only to find this ‘prayer’ literally quotes Samual L. Jackson’s hitman Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction film whilst mis-referencing Ezekiel 25:17. Maybe after impeachment Pete like Jules will walk the Earth like Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu.

It’s time for UK Government to accelerate policies for nature recovery | The Wildlife Trusts MP and NGOs will join together at a parliamentary event on 15th April to urge Government to reset environmental policy to address the nature loss crisis.

Today MPs gather in Parliament, following Lords debate on impact of bottom-trawling on marine wildlife, to ask UK Govt to expand & accelerate policies for nature recovery. Biodiversity indicators of ecosystem health in England show continued falls with our birds & butterflies particularly affected.

Iran war means government's vicious circles tighten and darken A subdued economy makes trade-offs and choices over public spending more difficult, Chris Mason writes.

Refreshingly plain speaking in Chancellor Rachel Reaves interview with Mirror, but we know how that went down with POTUS in response asking “what special relationship?” of UK & criticising Labours refusal to increase North Sea oil drilling. Down to King Charles to help pour oil on the choppy waters.

‘Blasphemy’: outrage after Trump posts AI image of himself as Christ-like figure The US president’s conservative, Christian supporters decried the Truth Social post, calling it ‘disgusting’

Like a scene from ‘Life of Brian’, it would be funny if it was not so sad: Pope Leo XIV, 1st US-born pope in Catholic history, calls out Trump’s Christ-like “delusion of omnipotence”. Part of his Unholy Trinity of inner demons, alongside his narcissism & hubris. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

A Sigiriya Sunset | atoll This ‘Sigiriya’ (translated from the Singhalese for “Lion Rock”) is our town’s 21st-century Sri Lankan restaurant...

A Sigiriya Sunset (after a long absence from my Blipfoto diary) www.blipfoto.com/entry/348999...

Waves of Will: A Dance Performance Defying the Limits of ALS YouTube video by Dentsu Creative

Breanna Olson is a ballerina & now has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis the most common form of motor neurone disease, which has no known cure. But she is now able to dance again after her brainwaves were used to power a avatar live on-stage in Amsterdam as part of the dance performance ‘Waves of Will’

US defense official overseeing AI reaped millions selling xAI stock after Pentagon entered agreement with company Expert said federal law bars officials from taking actions in their jobs that benefit their own financial interests

It’s a criminal violation for a government official to participate in government actions that ignore conflict of interest & benefit their own financial position. But suspect Under Secretary Emil Michael is not even at the tip of that disreputable iceberg. Look up to Hesketh & Trump for that I fear.

First Lady Melania Trump Statement Good afternoon. The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical

Irony of FLOTUS Epstein statement is criticism of any “devoid of ethical standards, humility & respect” & talk of “false smears about me from mean-spirited & politically motivated individuals & entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially & climb politically”. Trump all over.

The only common sense & evidence of any ‘cojones’ in all this (referencing Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls) is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez who was quoted saying the “Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket” (of water).

Jade Thirlwall Answering The Hard Questions: Eating Disorder, Religion, Heritage | The Assembly YouTube video by ITV

New The Assembly out where beautiful group of neurodivergent & disabled young adults give Stephen Fry a journalistic grilling. But before that, I spotted I also hadn’t seen S.1.Ep.3 with Jade Thirlwall. Awesome TV, capped off with the crew’s joyous break dance moves to ‘I’m Coming Out’. Wonderful.

As Iran war exposes global dependence on fossil fuels, the biggest emitters are reaping the rewards Worst polluters hold world’s future in their hands as they benefit from higher fossil fuel prices, but global trends favour renewables

US oil gas sector set for its own $60bn windfall from war on Iran & yet despite Trump repeated misinformation on (lack of) China domestic wind energy programme “China added 360GW of new solar & wind capacity in 2024 & 430GW in 2025. Clean energy drove a third of the country’s GDP growth last year”.

Maga movement splinters as Trump threatens to eradicate a ‘whole civilization’ if Iran doesn’t make deal – live Tucker Carlson calls Trump strategy ‘vile on every level’ and Marjorie Taylor Greene joins Democrats’ calls to remove president using 25th amendment

Pope Leo XIV calling Donald Trump’s threat to annihilate “a whole civilization” (if Iran doesn’t open strait of Hormuz by 8pm ET) “truly unacceptable” sounds such a weak understatement & cop out. Compare U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that declared his threat just "cannot be morally justified".

UN Security Council vote expected on Hormuz resolution The UN Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a watered-down resolution calling for the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz -- far from the sponsoring Gulf countries' initial goal of obtaining...

Vote on a watered-down UN Security Council Resolution due today on Strait of Hormuz just hours before Trump’s deadline for unleashing hell on Iran. Originally intended to give clear UN mandate to any state considering force to unblock the strait - although won’t US just choose to act as it pleases?

Iran calls for 'definitive' end to war as it formally rejects US ceasefire proposal, state media reports Iranian media says Tehran has passed its response to mediators in Pakistan; meanwhile, Trump calls a separate proposal for a 45-day truce a

Disparaging of Iran supreme rulers, Trump rants: “They are lunatics and you can't put nuclear weapons in the hands of a lunatic”: This coming from a crazy Dr. Strangelove-esque madman www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c5...

Measles: Why Bangladesh is seeing a deadly spike in cases More than 100 people, mostly children, have been killed by measles since mid-March, officials suspect.

This Bangladesh Measles outbreak is so sad, senseless & yet avoidable. I read they had 97% immunisation in 2020 which depleted to 57% by 2025 due to political strife. Important lessons there for US Health Secretary RF Kennedy Jr who now seems to have shifted his anti vax stance on Measles at least.

German mayors call for night-time ban on robot lawnmowers to protect hedgehogs Leaders say automated mowers’ blades threaten nocturnal animals as studies highlight risks to wildlife

Well this sounds like the perfect plot line for a future Aardman #Wallace&Gromit film as “…German mayors have called for a nationwide ban on night-time use of robot lawnmowers to protect hedgehogs and other small nocturnal animals…” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Iran war latest: Trump issues expletive-laden threat to Iran demanding Strait of Hormuz be opened In a post on social media, the US president says in Iran “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one” if the key shipping lane is not reopened.

He can’t say this is more fake news, so surely the crazy man rant “…Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP” is enough to invoke Constitution & remove from office for ‘other high Crimes and Misdemeanors’?

Forget euphemism, Trump is using unabashed viciousness in his language against Iran The Trump administration takes pleasure in deploying dysphemism to describe the killing of Iranians

“..the real bullshit of geopolitical miscalculation & cynical profiteering seems to be simply swept under the carpet. The FT reports that a broker acting for Hegseth sought to invest in US military companies before the war. Trump told the same paper: “My favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran.”.

Decluttering my office today, I happened upon my old hand-typed PHD funding pitch from 1993 to research eco tourism architecture in Maldives. Afraid that got me nowhere but researching online again today, I happened on this by my own young Maldivian neice Sara dated 2025. Sadly nothing much changed.

Stanley Holloway - The Lion And Albert YouTube video by bearzrecords

Stanley Holloway reading ‘The Lion and Albert’ youtube.com/watch?v=oaw-...

As a state visit looms … can the king tame Trump? Royal visitors have long been popular in the US, and Charles has decades of diplomacy under his belt. But can soft power save the special relationship?

Now Charles III had heard of this lion; How he was ferocious and bling; But to see Trump sitting so peaceful; Well... it didn’t seem right to the King; So straight ‘way our brave little Regent; Not showing a morsel of fear; Took ‘is whip with the ‘orse’s ‘ead ‘andle; And shoved it in Donald’s ear!

To a world at a loss as to how to handle Trump, I say this: the only answer may be to wait him out| Simon Jenkins A great effort will be needed to undo the damage once the US president has gone. But with the constitution unable to bring him to order now, that is what we must do, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenk...

“One day he claims to have wiped out Iran’s nuclear capability, another he cites it as his reason for going to war. One day he offers aid to Iranian protesters in the streets, another he bombs those same streets. One day his ambition is regime change, another he says that it has been achieved”.

‘Vegas hotel meets aerospace bling’: Trump’s presidential library plan is a gaudy, self-glorifying monstrosity From JFK’s modernist concrete to Obama’s ‘Tatooine sandcrawler’, the presidential library is where egos burnish their legacies. But the brash, bookless vibe of Trump’s, complete with giant golden stat...

I would love to know what Mark Twain would have made of Trump and his latest self-aggrandising kitsch of a Presidential Library: I read he once said politicians & diapers both need changing often for the same reason. Allegedly he also said: “A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on top"

Artemis II blasts closer to the far side of the Moon The mission's last, big push on its lunar journey takes humans out of the Earth's orbit for the first time since 1972.

Am sure ‘Time’ from Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is on Artemis II playlist: “So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking, Racing around to come up behind you again, The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older, Shorter of breath and one day closer to death”

Marmalade to be rebranded in post-Brexit food deal The breakfast favourite will be legally renamed when Britain aligns with new EU labelling rules.

Marmalade rebranded: Surely an April Fool through too late? Also, why no quote off our Great British-Peruvian advocate-champion for all things “citrus marmalade”. OK yes, so technically 15th century Portuguese Marmelada was a quince paste first - but like Paddington, let’s keep that under our hats.

Ecosia - the search engine that plants trees Ecosia uses 100% of its profits for the planet and produces enough renewable energy to power all searches twice over.

After trip to Berlin my daughter told me of search engine & AI bot ‘Ecosia’ a German non profit using advertising revenue to fund reforestation projects & plant 230 million trees in biodiversity hotspots worldwide. Sounds so great & I needed a wean-off Google & ChatGPT dependency anyway so will try.

Writing on the wall: Art UK digitises thousands of murals as street artworks go mainstream From medieval church wall paintings to Liam Gallagher’s viral X post, charity has catalogued more than 6,600 pieces

Katey Goodwin of Art UK admires skill involved creating impressive huge murals in street art mapping project. Banksy once said:
“People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access”.

TV's Kristoffer Hughes hopes to offer UK's first human body composting service Human composting is when a body placed in a sealed vessel containing organic matter turns into soil.

Literally pushing up daisies: With The Terramation T1 composter you won’t be back - so Hasta la Vista, Baby www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Powerful X-class solar flare triggers radio blackout ahead of Artemis 2 launch (video) An X1.4 solar flare triggered radio blackouts and launched a fast CME as NASA prepares for its Artemis 2 moon mission.

Drama unfolds as ‘X1.4’ solar superflares & coronal mass ejection trigger radio blackout & maybe delay launch of Artemis 2 dark side of the moon mission. Exciting, but long way to go before we get to a ‘Moonbase Alpha’ like in 1970’s ‘Space: 1999’ series from Thunderbirds’ Gerry & Sylvia Anderson!