Beavers are turning rivers into powerful carbon sinks Beavers may be unlikely climate heroes, but new research suggests they could play a powerful role in fighting climate change. By building dams and transforming streams into wetlands, these industrious...

Beavers bring SO many benefits: especially to aquatic ecosystems, but also the climate, flood reduction, rural economies, etc., etc...

And they *coevolved* with Irish ecosystems, so would fit in perfectly. We need to be having a national conversation about this.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Alyn Smith: Dependency on oil is ludicrous when Scotland won the green energy jackpot An independent Scotland simply won’t run our energy market like this.

‘Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth, not one of them through the Strait of Hormuz,”
#Scotland
www.thenational.scot/business/259...

Re news on #Brabazon new town. Seems very sketchy at this stage.

Energy fallout from Iran war signals a global wake-up call for renewable energy The Iran war is exposing how much the global economy still depends on fragile fossil fuel supplies. The conflict has virtually choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for a fifth of the...

The Associated Press getting on board.

"The war in Iran is exposing the world’s reliance on fragile fossil fuel routes, lending urgency to calls for hastening the shift to renewable energy."

Similarly PT connectivity to existing Bristol suburbs (Lawrence Weston, Avonmouth, Harcliffe, Withywood, Stockwood, Southmead) all poor.

Will transport investment improve Bristol as a whole, or leave these areas behind?

Example transport failures:

Public transport (aka buses) run on hub & spoke model with Bristol center as hub, so circular connectivity poor/non-existent, eg S'mead hosp & Science park.

Transport to satellites, e.g. Yate and Winterbourne closed for years due to pollution & failed bridge.

Exciting to see new town anouncements and all right words about connectivity/(mid-rise?) homes/sustainability/breaking car dependency.

However, where is focus for this new #BrabazonNewTown & how will it be different from history of South Goucestershire sprawl if it looks and sounds like this:

What it looks like in the transcript versus what I actually said.

Here's the transcript. When I say ‘we had a convicted reality star’, you can add ‘who now rules as the most openly corrupt president in American history’ in your head.

downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith...

...

BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith lecture Journalists not allowed to repeat Rutger Bregman’s corruption claims against US president in coverage of edit

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

Wow. BBC journalists are now not even allowed to report the censored line from my Reith Lecture, that Trump is “the most openly corrupt president in American history.”

You can hear how carefully they’re forced to tiptoe around it. So chilling...

So why should BBC be exempted from the same Freedom of Expression protections AND duties afforded and placed on academia? If Bregman is qualified to comment, we should hear if broadcast.

Surely it’s what VP Vance called for in Munich?

@bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @privateeyenews.bsky.social

Obviously not remotely concerned then.

@sainsburys.bsky.social at your Emersons Green outlet today. Litter blowing around including plastic. Surely not the look you want?

@bbcpm.bsky.social briefing on drone warfare reminded me of Nazi Germany proving military capabilities during Spanish civil war. Is there a parallel process in Ukraine, which could see Putin’s Russia emerge with superior military capabilities? A briefing from a historian?

It doesn’t really say much beyond restating some of the rather obvious issues from being heavily hemmed in by government regulations and expectations in commercial terms. Research & educational success with disastrous business model. We know this.

The UK has long struggled to learn from Europe on spatial rebalancing.

A new blog by Charlotte Hoole & Jack Newman argues that while recent steps are positive, an asymmetric approach won’t tackle geographic inequality.

Read more - ow.ly/nBk850WJvJR

Mapping the Future of Civic University Engagement: Introducing the Civic 6 Framework

@rileyresearch.bsky.social introduces the Civic 6 Framework—a tool designed to help UK universities reflect on and strengthen their civic and policy engagement.

ow.ly/IOP650WNmyW

Saudi Arabia and France to lead UN push for recognising Palestinian statehood Two countries open three-day conference at United Nations with goal as part of peaceful settlement to end war in Gaza Saudi Arabia and France have opened a three-day conference at the United Nations with the goal of recognising Palestinian statehood as part of a peaceful settlement to end the war in Gaza. The conference began on Monday, just days after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Paris would officially recognise the Palestinian government in September in an effort to reinvigorate peace talks around a two-state solution that have all but been written off since the deadly Hamas raid and ensuing Israeli military operation that began in 2023. Continue reading...

Saudi Arabia and France to lead UN push for recognising Palestinian statehood

Fast Company, we made the list! Most Innovative Companies 2025.

We are pleased to share that Bristol City Leap has earned third place in the Economic Development category on @fastcompany.com's 2025 Most Innovative Companies list 🥳

This is a recognition of what is possible for city-scale decarbonisation with a public and private partnership 🩵

#Bristol

It will be interesting to see how far data sharing infrastructure can overcome barriers and how far it can protect and advance public interests in straightened times and balance public/citizens vs private interests

#CPSummit25 problem for data sharing: those who might have a use for data are not same as those who could provide useful data? So unless you identify value exchange/incentivise/monetise data sharing, then public goods through open data sharing are undersupplied.

At Connected Places Catapult #CPSummit25. Looks like most discussion likely on X which is a shame.

Bristol to Portishead line set to reopen in 'reverse Beeching' plan A total of £30m is expected to be ratified in March at the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority committee

It's full steam ahead for the reopening of the Bristol to Portishead railway line

Spot on. Really important to inspire new generations and for this, the national side, who use our nation’s branding, must not play behind a paywall. #SixNations

Home truths: the only thing Labour is building is a bigger, more dysfunctional housing market | George Monbiot Private developers offer politicians a simple solution for bulldozing through this crisis – build more. But it won’t work, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

George Monbiot is right….as is Prof Josh Ryan-Collins..But will the lobbying of developers ‘crowd out’ sound arguments made by macroeconomists? ..www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/2...

Malaysian PM announces multi-billion pound investment in Brabazon and Bristol Arena Anwar Ibrahim launched the Brabazon New Town on his visit to the UK

YTL will invest £4bn over the next five years into the UK as Brabazon hopes to become the most sustainable new town in the UK

There's a long list of papers (truud.ac.uk/publications/) covering things like:
- Short-termism in urban development: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Who can influence healthy urban development: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
- Systems approaches: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The TRUUD research project is taking a holistic, transdisciplinary approach to 'Tackling the Root Causes Upstream of Unhealth Urban Development'.

It's not on Bluesky yet so I thought I would write a quick thread to highlight some of the wide ranging work of my colleagues...