Please don't use speaker phone while in library. Ask for headphones at the front desk.

Only a fallen society needs this sign

Over-the-counter pet flea treatments could be banned under new UK rules Exclusive: ministers consider restricting pesticide-based treatments, which can get into waterways and harm wildlife

“One monthly flea treatment for a large dog contains enough imidacloprid to kill 25 million bees” - & whenever a treated dog has a dip it pollutes the river

So it’s great news for nature that the Govt is planning to ban over-the-counter flea treatments:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Civil service head of the foreign office since early Jan 2025, Olly Robbins has now been sacked.

You may recall the name - he was chief Brexit negotiator under Theresa May.

Weeks later, Mandelson was denied security clearance, which officials overturned without the PM or ministers being told.

2/2

How on earth does a government department NOT inform ministers or the PM that someone has failed a vetting process? And instead overule the outcome.

How? Just how? I can only imagine how angry the PM must be feeling this morning.

I would be absolutely fuming.

1/2

I don't remember the last time I listened to the start of a programme and had such a strong sense of relief and of being seen. Writing is about thinking, not the output, but the output helps others think, and long form writing changes who we are. It matters, whatever the tech bros think.

Screenshot of the How Reading Made Us BBC Sounds page

If, like me, you have loved reading & writing & words all your life, and you're mystified and a bit lost in a world that thinks reading is inconvenient & slow, this amazing radio series - How Reading Made Us - is for you. Reading DOES matter & this explores how & why.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

One sleep to go!

I'll put that on my reading list! Enjoy the penguin, I did.

They should have to build the boats for the boat race themselves like the Red Bull Soapbox

Oh...

Yes!

NW Evening Mail: DARTS STAR VISITS TYRE SHOP.

"This is the one thing we didn't want to happen"

Just been approached by Huel to see if I'll be part of their paid influencer campaign. I don't think they're quite across what I do for a living. (FWIW, and in the interests of having influence, I regard Huel as a soul destroying, miserable product and the death of all that is worth living for.)

The tribes of Britain c. 540 in the time of Gildas.

#thatch

nigel farage tweet: The Bank of England is replacing Winston Churchill with a picture of a beaver on our bank notes. This is the definition of woke.

i, for one, am delighted that we finally have a definition of “woke”

Me today thinking about my 2026 travel plans 🤦

Coin used as Leeds bus fare was 2,000‑year‑old currency The coin was handed down to Peter Edwards from his grandfather in the 1950s.

This is the sort of thing a cashless society robs us of, the opportunity to try to get away with paying the bus fare in Carthaginian currency www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There is far too much pressure to live your best life these days. Leave me alone and let me live my most middling life in peace, with the colourful miscellany of highs and lows that naturally entails.

And those making or influencing policy predominantly attended them.

Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.

Since a handful of hate filled people protested outside RNLI HQ yesterday because they're angry that crews don't discriminate in their rescues and work to save all lives at sea you might want to show your support with a one off or regular donation.

rnli.org/pages/ig/new...

Franzi Schimmer captured this Grizzly bear in Brooks Falls, Alaska just floating along, tippy-tapping down the river, browsing the salmon.

Prior to hibernation, up to 40% of a bear's body mass is fat, which is less dense than water (~0.9 g/cm^2), so the murder-monster is also a floaty-boaty.

Jesus, the eyes 👀!

David Cameron tweet that says: Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband:

Mad we might get to see both scenarios here. It’s like getting killed in a video game and then returning to a checkpoint

Amazing. Thanks Ethan.

I didn't know that. Which ones?

💯 Charlie. I'd really like to see more simple, analogue models out there. I find myself looking at older Land Rovers and Japanese 4x4s for the simplicity and practicality.

I keep thinking the same, glad I'm not alone.