Alan Matthews #ClimateCrisis #FBPE

Being born in north-east England gives you grit, says Fiona Hill Former White House adviser turns spotlight on ‘resilient’ region with new podcast Forged in the North

Hill was brought up in Bishop Auckland, daughter of a coalminer and a midwife. She went on to be a foreign affairs adviser to George W Bush, Obama & Trump and is one of the world’s leading experts on Russia & Putin & is adviser to the UK strategic defence review

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...?

It’s time to end Britain’s first-past-the-post election lottery The Gorton and Denton by-election confirmed just how capricious our electoral system has become

I think there is a vg case for the Alternative Vote (pluralist majoritarianism) UK's evolving party system - not least as of balanced use for voters on different sides of political spectrum. It allows sincere voting by every voter + strategic choices by those who care
www.ft.com/content/38d8...

This isn’t a hallucination, Michael Gove. You’ve never explained the millions you disbursed to buddies with your crony Covid Contracts.

Cashing in on the worst public health crisis in a century should disbar people from public life permanently.

www.bylinesupplement.com/p/we-need-to...

Russian strike on Kharkiv apartment block kills seven Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says ten other people - including children - are injured as rescuers continue to search through rubble.

Mass murderer Putin kills 7 people including children in an apartment block in Kharkiv.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Next Fri @guyshrubsole.bsky.social joins us to discuss nature in crisis in England. If big landowners claim to be stewards, how do we prove it’s not greenwash? He’ll explore tougher accountability & initiatives to democratise decision-making over land use. Followed by book-signing & drinks reception

Looking forward to hosting @guyshrubsole.bsky.social today 415 pm to explore this history of land ownership in England and its role in nature loss and recovery. In person and online - all welcome !

It was an honour to give a talk at Oxford University’s Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery last night, with the title ‘Ill Fares the Land? Holding large landowners to account for nature destruction & restoration’

Huge thanks to @ymalhi.bsky.social for inviting me!

bookwhen.com/oxfordbiodiv...

It is great news that the removal of sheep from the uplands brings back nature, but there needs to be a plan from government and buy-in from farmers.

Sheep are disappearing from our hills and our dinner plates Have we have passed

BBC News - Sheep are disappearing from our hills and our dinner plates - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Russia conducted a large scale combined missile and drone attack.

Shot down:
0/2 3M22 Zircon cruise missiles
8/13 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles
11/14 Kalibr cruise missiles
453/480 Shahed and other type drones

Hits of 9 missiles and 26 strike drones were recorded at 22 locations.

Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say The targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the officials said.

This is interesting. But it is more interesting that Trump is rewarding Moscow for doing this by helping Russia sell oil, repeating Russian propaganda points, and senselessly burning through weapon stocks.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

🧵 This has to be the funniest Brexit moment yet.

The Brexit-loving brigade spluttering into their cornflakes as they discover The Telegraph has been sold to a German media company.

The irony is spectacular.

Swiss–EU relations in practice - UK in a changing Europe Idris Abdelkhalek explains how the agreements between the EU and Switzerland work in practice and how they affect Swiss businesses and consumers.

"Sovereignty outside the EU does not eliminate interdependence; it reshapes it."

🇨🇭Idris Abdelkhalek explains how the agreements between the EU and Switzerland work in practice and how they affect Swiss businesses and consumers

🔗 https://ukandeu.ac.uk/swiss-eu-relations-in-practice/

The "Azizification" of London housing Fire brigade inspections, dubious safety certificates, and a landlord telling Sadiq Khan that it's business as usual.

The “Azizification” of the London housing market

www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

Good morning with good news: Combined solar and battery plant's global average cost is 44% LOWER than the cost of combined-cycle gas turbine plant!

Solar & battery: $57/MWh
Gas plant: $102/MWh
Solar: $39/MWh
Land wind: $40/MWh
Offshore wind: $100/MWh

WOW!
about.bnef.com/insights/cle... #energysky

I was very kindly asked by the @museumofchildhood.bsky.social to contribute a personal story related to my childhood and nature, which I did.

You can read it here:
museumofchildhood.ie/that-wilder-...

Osprey with fish on post, lake below, forest in background, painting.

Morning.
🖼️ John Leigh Pemberton

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

The report highlights the grim state of freshwater ecosystems, degraded marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the risk of extinction for many species. But it also emphasizes the potential for improvement through conservation, restoration, and renewed connections between people and nature.

Say no to Palantir in the NHS NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back

notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-tar...

Relentless sun and ruthless populists: how the climate crisis will change the next 20 years Former diplomat Arthur Snell says a heating planet is accelerating conflict and migration – and fostering a new age of empire. Democracies are dangerously unprepared, he warns

In the ahem now longlost days before the war, I interviewed @snellarthur.bsky.social about his new book on how the climate crisis is upending geopolitics (yes we did talk about the future of Gulf petrostates, which was looking fairly unstable even before this) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Academic flying

- from some senior researchers flying long haul multiple times a year

to flying students off to far flung field courses -

raises the question whether the resulting harm done to the environment

outweighs the good done by the research & educational gains

“Dear Diary,
Super excited to say that I’ll be serving my Clacton constituents today by flying to Mar-a-Lago to meet Donald Trump and to undermine the UK government. God I love being a patriot!”

Someone came into the library where I work and asked me if we had a book about Pavlov's dog and Schrödinger's cat.

I said it rang a bell but I wasn't sure if it was there or not.

I have good news and bad news about my friend Schrödinger's Cat...

Trump tells CNN he’s not worried whether Iran becomes a democratic state | CNN Politics President Donald Trump told CNN Friday that Iran’s leadership has been “neutered” and that he’s looking for new leadership that will treat the United States and Israel well, even if that’s a religious...

Well, there might be no clear goal to the US attack on Iran, but there is definitely one thing that is not a goal--and that is democracy for Iran. www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/p...

a man with glasses and the words people have had enough of experts behind him ALT: a man with glasses and the words people have had enough of experts behind him

Brexit was sold as Britain “taking back control”.

Instead the country weakened its economic power and economic power determines who owns what.

Which is how one of Britain’s most pro-Brexit newspapers ends up owned by a German media group.

Irony doesn’t get much better.

The Council has approved the revised EU climate law – a key step toward climate neutrality:

🟢 binding 2040 emissions‑reduction target
🟤 limited use of credits from 2036
🟡 clear path for post‑2030 EU climate action

More 👉 link.europa.eu/bhdWbH

He does not want democracy for the US either.

This is almost exactly what I said would happen on yesterday’s show. The conflicting & contradictory reasons given for the war, coupled with client journalists & pusillanimous politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, will enable him to claim ‘success’ when nothing remotely successful has happened.

Daily Express A bitter blow to Keir Starmer 'Trump's just chosen Britain's next Prime Minister - Keir Starmer is finished'

The Don seems to be developing a taste for deciding who should lead other countries. Good to see the Express displaying its patriotism.