You can actually see the moment Ed Miliband thinks, what's the point burning through whatever political credibility I've got left energetically defending a man who's going to be gone in a matter of weeks.

He said: "By shifting the vast majority of university funding into the hands of the aggregate decisions of 17-year-olds, the English system of choice has become an enormous machine for finding out who has the best marketing department, with some world-leading research sprinkled in certain places."

Quite the quote from the John Blake, the former director of fair access at the Office for Students
www.thetimes.com/article/1cb6...

What awful news. Giles was wonderful and a brilliant advocate for safe, livable homes.

Giles was so generous with his time and so helpful when it came to explaining to journalists very clearly and with quotable precision exactly how a wrong un landlord was being a wrong un. But mostly I just remember thinking he was a really, really kind human who cared about the state of others.

Where's this? How sad!

Pretty! What flowers are those?

There's no such thing as being 'late' to the airport until you have actually missed your flight. So long as you get on board, you are On Time To The Airport. The dividing line is whether you want to be just on time, comfortably on time, or wasting time.

Money worries blocking navy from boarding Russian tankers No vessels have been seized because of concerns in Whitehall that berthing and maintaining them could cost tens of millions of pounds

lol: "The Royal Navy has not seized any sanctioned Russian oil tankers because of concerns in Whitehall that the cost of berthing and maintaining the vessels could reach tens of millions of pounds." www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Spanish or native bluebell | The Wildlife Trusts Spring is the best time to see woodland floors carpeted with beautiful bluebells, but are they native bluebells or not? Find out how to tell the difference between native and Spanish bluebells.

Could well be native then! www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how...

They're both beautiful! If they're a bit droopy and smell sweet, they're native. If they stand up tall and don't have much scent, likely Spanish or hybrid.

Influencers overtook a Bay Area neighborhood. Now, it’s fighting back. The wildflower wars have officially begun.

Part of me thinks we should be making a thing out of it like California does for the 'superbloom'. Another part worries it would end with the trampling and 'wildflower wars' they have there too www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

Bluebell - Plantlife

Yep! Makes me a little bit patriotic to think about www.plantlife.org.uk/plants-and-f...

Bluebellfest! I'd attend in a heartbeat

Ha, excellent. They seem to be having a very good year, much better than last year I think!

Spanish or native bluebell | The Wildlife Trusts Spring is the best time to see woodland floors carpeted with beautiful bluebells, but are they native bluebells or not? Find out how to tell the difference between native and Spanish bluebells.

If they're in an urban-ish area, worth checking if they're native or Spanish bluebells, and pulling them up if they're the invasive non-natives! www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how...

Half of all the world's bluebells are in the UK. I can't imagine living in a country where the woods don't turn into this every spring.

Thanks! I was in the back seat, with my legs practically in my lap 🤣 we were really annoyed to hit cloud.

Nonetheless, being arrested won't necessarily stop him. We found other criminals who had quite literally bought Dubai flats from jail.

She’s married to fugitive crime boss — and selling Dubai property Caoimhe Robinson, who married Daniel Kinahan in 2017, has been dealing in high-end real estate as the authorities attempt to freeze her husband’s assets

Daniel Kinahan has (finally) been arrested in the UAE.

With @occrp.org @georgegreenwood.bsky.social and I showed how he and his wife were making millions from buying, renting and selling Dubai property, while supposedly on the run...

www.thetimes.com/article/48f2...

Thanks! Was certainly an interesting challenge for reporting...

The last 3 weeks of tracking for a Belgian law enforcement vessel give quite a good indication of the smuggler's new tactics. The very slow courses are similar to French rescue/monitoring vessels when shadowing a small boat. Dinghies likely launch in Belgium then collect passengers in France.

SIYANIE SEVERA; IMO 9250385 Aircraft and Marine vessels

It's on our gunrunner list. Plus Ukraine reckons it was involved in grain theft. war-sanctions.gur.gov.ua/en/transport...

I'd be very interested in following/contributing!

If you work around France or Belgium in this area, please do be in touch. I took a break from covering this over winter/while recovering from surgery but have trips in the works again now.

While French police haven't been very successful at reducing crossings, their tactics - tear gas, batons etc - have made boarding boats more chaotic and dangerous, asylum seekers and charities say. We don't yet know what kind of tactics Belgian police will use, if they seek to intercept boats.

Migrant boats launch from Belgium to avoid French crackdown Channel smugglers are heading down the coast to pick up passengers waiting in France to attempt crossings to the UK

Smugglers in northern France are launching boats from deep into Belgium, requiring asylum seekers to make a 100km+ journey to Britain. We've been told boats have been detected launching from De Haan, north of Bruges - likely as a result of brutal French policing.

www.thetimes.com/article/9bae...

I too wish to know if I should be scared of jellyfish

The FAQs page of the Belgian Coastguard is utterly delightful. These are the questions people ask "frequently".

Quite a flex to turn up at the presidential palace, get him to confirm you as prime minister, call him unfit to serve with no moral authority, tell him to resign, and then pose for a picture

Nice spot!