Trump’s escalating impact on consumption of all kinds: condoms, rubber gloves, aluminium foil - reports FT
NHS is one of the biggest customers
War disruption forces world’s biggest condom maker to raise prices by up to 30%
Certainly do. Just heading back to Scotland, always several degrees cooler than London (very much colder if AMOC is switched off) thanks for friendly response
What’s not being said in Scottish manifestos? How to pay for promises (old and new). And issues coming down the track like public sector pay.
@fraserofallander.org dissects serious denial of Scotland’s fiscal reality ‘Scottish Greens Manifesto is essentially a 165-page wishlist of higher spending.’
“Just as the NHS is a prime reason for pride in Britain, we can expect the same pride in homegrown energy independence, freeing us from rollercoaster markets and mercurial foreign oil and gas dictators: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump or ayatollahs.”
Sir David Attenborough is turning 100 🎉 He’s inspired generations to love and protect our planet. Now let’s thank him together. Sign his 100th birthday card here to show your appreciation:
Thank you
Thanks @mrmoog.bsky.social I should have explained I’m very concerned about the way human behaviour continues to destroy our natural environment which we all need for healthy survival. All of us (all political parties) must work together. Yet climate change rarely features in any manifestos
??
Is London ready for the Green Party?
“…meet the reality on May 8 that there’s no money for their bold plans to provide higher wages and bring services back in house — just none.”
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Is London ready for the Green Party?
And the environment?
In today's post George Thorley of the Mercat Group wonders if "Returning Officers should be announcing,” And the Winner is …. The Absent Voters Party”!
Updating @scepscot.bsky.social pre-election posts (in my own name until I get access to our bsky.social account)
They are all worth reading. Stimulating, non-tribal, stuff during this weary unconvincing #ScottishElection2026
Beginning with Prof James Mitchell
sceptical.scot/2026/04/what...
UN warns South Sudan at risk of ‘full-scale famine’ as fighting intensifies
UN warns South Sudan at risk of ‘full-scale famine’ as fighting intensifies https://aje.news/dp20jz
Our next Scottish manifesto analysis: the SNP. Would the food price cap work? And does the manifesto face up to the fiscal reality?
Read it below: fraserofallander.org/2026-scottis...
I struggled with this. It doesn't feel right to write cheery stuff while despots destroy homes, lives, gardens, wildlife and all.
Yet nurturing nature is a kind of defiance against tyranny. I tell myself. Come for a walk. fayyoung.org/lets-ring-th...
💥🇭🇺With 95% of votes counted, Hungary’s map shows the opposition Tisza party crushing Fidesz 94–12 in constituencies. Péter Magyar has secured a 2/3 majority, asked President Tamás Sulyok and other Orbán loyalists to resign immediately, and announced his first visit to Warsaw.
Fantastic
And perhaps Vance played a part
💥🇭🇺🗳️ BREAKING: Péter Magyar says Viktor Orbán called to concede and congratulate him.
Magyar will be Hungary’s next prime minister and, as it stands, is set to secure a 2/3 supermajority – enough to fully dismantle Orbán’s system.
A 16-year chapter is over.
Today marks 78 years since the massacre of Deir Yassin, an atrocity that came to define the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 to establish the state of Israel on stolen Palestinian land.
Yes, I think @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on fed-up-niks offers a great deal more insight - the lure of ‘strongmen’ to left and right giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Britain is in the grip of the fed-up-niks
Hungary’s turnout is BRUTAL: 37.98% by 11am (2022: 22.77%), pointing to 75–80% or more overall. In such a scenario, Orbán’s chances look slim, and it’s unlikely any party beyond Fidesz and Péter Magyar’s Tisza clears the 5% threshold.
Follow me for more #HungaryElection updates.
Aha! Wind gusting at over 40mph but wind turbine has turned its brake on. Batteries are full (plenty energy from solar panels too)
Time to put the washing machine on
#renewable #solarpower #windpower
"The rehash of old arguments, unsustainable promises and demands for another independence referendum were never likely to make for an inspiring election." And no mention of challenges facing next Scot Gov, Prof James Mitchell on 2026 election weariness sceptical.scot/2026/04/what...
US already making major concessions to Iran in the talks. What a fiasco this war has been.
It is truly remarkable that after the Vietnam War, after the Afghanistan War, after a catalogue of US military failures in the post 1945 world, people claiming to be serious analysts are saying because the US dropped alot of bombs it won this war.
It did not.
Proud mother time...
For friends in or near London 29 June
Rare chance for rare performance by Tommy Perman @surfacepressure.bsky.social & Morgan Szymanski playing for first time at Ronnie Scott's www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/...
(Listen for sounds of Perthshire Pond Cottage bats and trees)
An extraordinary March heat wave sent temperatures soaring to almost 90 degrees, further baking the soil.
If rainfall shortages and record heat continue, the effects may ripple throughout the U.S. food supply, with the cost of beef already surging.
#Neurodivergence in Scotland. Research reveals serious concerns about needs of neurodivergent people. Are they genuinely prioritised in government practice?
"A key theme running throughout the evidence was the stark gap between policy and practice."
You’d hope that is the kiss of defeat for Orban
“The inability to talk plainly and respond sensibly to the energy crisis is a big problem”
Stephen Bush makes plain unpopular sense - like economists at recent @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social #WeekendofMistakes
Government has to protect the poor but tell rest of us energy *will* cost more
