I'm in Herefordshire, but sharing this for people in the next-door county...

I'm lucky to live in a place with a garden in a countryside less trashed than many places in Britain, so I get to see bumblebees and solitary bees, not just honeybees.
Plants in my garden currently visited by bees include comfrey, periwinkle, blackcurrant, and gooseberry (and plum, now gone over).

I didn't know that - softwood cuttings? Thanks!

A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple episode) A Murder is Announced was the fourth episode in the BBC series "Miss Marple". It featured Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and was directed by David Giles with screenplay by Alan Plater. It was first broad...

More info: agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/A_Murde...

I saw the BBC version of 'A Murder is Announced' starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple for the first time after the 'assassination attempt' against Donald Trump. But did it give his team an idea?!
BBC Four showed these recently, but sadly they're not on now.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0087...

Thanks for the clarification!

Andy Kershaw: Former Radio 1 DJ and Live Aid presenter dies aged 66 The broadcaster was known for his eclectic taste and for helping champion world music on BBC Radio 1.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Just seen this sad news.

I'm sceptical. (And cynical - is this a power source wanted by the military?) We don't need more power. We need to make do with what we have, and use less: more insulation, more, better, cheaper public transport so we aren't forced to use fossil-fuelled cars, and more energy storage solutions.

How ‘out of touch’ Tony Blair became a serious threat to climate action Even before his call for a net zero ‘reset’, there had been criticism of ex-PM’s lucrative links with fossil fuel nations

re-upping this following yet more fossil-fuel-friendly comments from the Tony Blair Institute

- How ‘out of touch’ Tony Blair became a serious threat to climate action

- ex-PM’s lucrative links with fossil fuel nations criticised

#cllimatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds

- Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

Story by me
2/2
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Fossil Fuel Subsidy Tracker Track fossil-fuel subsidies with the IISD-OECD interactive Global Database. Play with graphics and data to visualise subsidies by country, by fuel and by type of subsidy. Download data in line with th...

$1.7 trillion - the explicit fossil fuel subsidies in 2022 when Russia's war in Ukraine spiked prices

Expect a bumper year in 2026 due to the US-Israel war in Iran

And all the while Big Oil makes colossal windfall profits (next post)

#energycrisis #climatecrisis
1/2
fossilfuelsubsidytracker.org

Why support an airline company? Why help them damage our climate?
Yes to supporting businesses doing good worthwhile work. But not all businesses are doing that.

And the energy and water needed to run 'data centres' should prevent us from falling for this scam by the 'tech bro' neofeudal oligarchs.

And the energy and water needed to run 'data centres' should prevent us from falling for this scam by the 'tech bro' neofeudal oligarchs.

Agreed that 'any benefits from AI will be captured by a tiny minority, while the majority battles with the consequences of mass unemployment'.
But there are no 'machines now displaying cognitive skills, able to both think and learn'. They're just machines - they're not conscious. They can't think.

Agreed that 'any benefits from AI will be captured by a tiny minority, while the majority battles with the consequences of mass unemployment'.
But there are no 'machines now displaying cognitive skills, able to both think and learn'. They're just machines - they're not conscious. They can't think.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

-FDR, 1937

Liz Kendall sounds like a Conservative not a Labour MP. Why are people in the 'Labour' Party taken in by the nonsense of so-called 'artificial intelligence'? Can't they see it's yet another scam by rich and powerful people to get more power over the rest of us?

Lots of cuckoo flowers out around here in Herefordshire. I've seen quite a few orange-tip butterflies too. I've got some cuckoo flower seed and hope to grow some plants for my garden and allotment, and as food for orange-tip caterpillars.

So many of our problems converge on the same, readily available, solutions.

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

More than 15m oysters to be released in the North Sea for UK rewilding project

- Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbon

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

There's a novel I've read which includes a short comment about the much-appreciated ethical commitment by people with particular abilities to help people without those abilities. The example was of somebody exceptionally strong, rather than tall. My failing memory can't remember the book yet...

As a short person with short arms I have no objection to tall people offering to help me - thank you all!
I worked for Waitrose for several years, and at the start one of the questions was about height, precisely because some of us cannot reach the top shelves except with steps.

First 'Community-owned' battery investment scheme opens - Energy Live News Community battery project cuts emissions and boosts local clean energy

The first community-owned battery investment scheme is here, helping store excess solar power and use it when it’s needed most ⚡️

💡 Powered by local investment, the Ray Valley solar park already supports 7,000 homes, and now it’s getting even smarter 🔋

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

Absolutely outrageous. Oil and gas giants have raked in billions in unearned profits in the first month of Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war - all while ordinary families across the country struggle to cope with rising energy costs.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

🥁🥁🥁

#BookAnnouncement- my second book, Green Thinking: Unlearning Outdated Ideas in Science, Economics and Politics, is published by Routledge on April 10.

But you can pre-order now 👇
nataliebennett.substack.com/p/change-eve...

Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout

This is from last August. I missed it at the time. There's a link from the 15 April Guardian article.
This should be front page / top item news all over the world.
This and the horrific USA / Israel / Iran war should finally spur us to stop burning fossil fuels.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

We need to escape our addiction to burning fossil fuels and trashing the land.
The loss of the current has worried me for years, but the previous estimates were that it wasn't likely to collapse.
Now this terrifying new evidence that it really could.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Good news: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Though it's about the bad news of how much worse global heating has got, seen from a long perspective.

After 1,200 years, cherry blossom record to live on despite Japanese scientist’s death Prof Yasuyuki Aono’s meticulous work charted shifting bloom dates as a marker of climate change

Glad to see www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...