Andrew Simms

Parliament refurb chairman defends potential £40bn costs Simon Thurley says the estimated cost does not seem like a

£40 billion to refurb the House of Commons? Surely that's a typo. You could build around half a million units of social housing for that 🤔

BBC News - Parliament refurb chair defends potential £40bn costs
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Relatedly: over half of all the freight moved on Indian Railways is coal. Ditching coal power would release huge amounts of rail network capacity to take lorries off roads in India

Why do surveys show strong public support for cycle paths, but Facebookers call it “fake news”? -- "Leadership means pushing past the noise — and over the Hill of Hysteria," says a leading mobility academic. The National Transport Authority has just published the latest findings of its Walking and Cycling Index for 2025 research which led The Irish Times to report that "the vast majority of residents across the State’s five main cities want increased investment in cycling infrastructure, even when that results in less road space for cars." That and other news reports have led many on social media to cry foul!

Why do surveys show strong public support for cycle paths, but Facebookers call it “fake news”?

-- "Leadership means pushing past the noise — and over the Hill of Hysteria," says a leading mobility academic. The National Transport Authority has just published the latest findings of its Walking and…

The UK Government Blocked this Climate Intelligence Report — Here’s What It Said Supressed since last year and only now revealed thanks to an FoI request — this MI5 climate change report makes for chilling reading

So, it turns out that the UK national security report on nature -only published last month thanks to an FOI request - omitted the most serious forecasts. I've updated my earlier piece here with the @itvnews.bsky.social revelations:

medium.com/the-new-clim...

UK will allow US to use bases to strike Iranian missile sites, says Starmer The prime minister says it remains the case that the UK will

The UK government's sanguine support for the breaking of international law (that included the reported killing of 150 people in a school), sits oddly with their furrowed-brow, earnest insistence on jailing people for holding paper signs protesting against genocide
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The weird thing about scrolling through BBC coverage of the US & Israel's attack on Iran is that nowhere in the headlines is it made obvious that this is a huge breach of international law... www.bbc.c.uk

Real UK extremism is the mainstream everyday kind: finance's toxic influence, the government's fawning over extreme market economics that divides, drives mass extinction & destroys the climate conditions for life, criminalisation of protest, ignoring genocide & pandering to anti-immigrant prejudice

World Without Fossil Ads The less time we have to avert run-away climate catastrophe, the more important a ban on fossil advertising becomes. Fossil advertising is pervading our streets, our social media timelines and our new...

Oh yes... See our colleagues' site where we all add wins to keep a track of progress... www.worldwithoutfossilads.org and www.badverts.org

To add that the clean air & climate progress made would be hugely enhanced if London (particularly TfL) followed the growing number of global cities, like Gothenburg, the Hague & Amsterdam, in ending adverts for heavily climate polluting products & services in its jurisdiction

Green Party wins Gorton and Denton by-election with Labour pushed into third by Reform Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber, also becomes the first Green Party candidate to win a Westminster by-election.

What great news to wake up to, the Greens are significantly more in touch than Labour, and appeal to the best in people, unlike Reform who exploit fear and insecurity...
BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
Green Party wins by-election with Labour pushed into third by Reform - BBC News

If you watch just one more of Matt Rendell's insightful takes on untold Olympic stories, watch this, requiem for a forest. The mainstream media coverage has been almost entirely devoid of ecological context. This sad, beautiful story corrects that...

Against the backdrop of high-carbon sponsors headlining the Winter Olympics, the Alps are facing heavy industrialisation. 🗻

In his latest Winter Olympics report, Matt Rendell explores the ramifications behind the development of this iconic landscape.🧵

youtu.be/l_yF9TPXEdk

As the Winter Olympics comes to a close, the town of Cortina seems to be enjoying the fanfare of the games.

However town councillor Roberta De Zanna tells a very different story 🧵

youtu.be/VKshLTGl-Rs

'The new tobacco': The cities banning fossil fuel adverts Cities across the world are clearing their billboards of flight ads, SUVs, cruise ships and petrol cars in an attempt to cut emissions.

Once again its leadership from below, as towns and cities around the world, realising that promoting our own self-destruction is perhaps a bad idea, are moving to follow the logic of tobacco ad bans, and treating fossil fuels and heavily polluting products the same way. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

The legal risks of elite sport hanging out with major polluters grow every day, apart from being the right thing to do, it makes practical sense for sport to drop dirty sponsors...👇

The Winter Olympics has a big precedent to make the world a better place - as the banning of tobacco sponsorship at the 1988 Winter Games showed us. 🚭

So why are the Winter Games still platforming companies melting the snow they depend on? ❄️
🧵

youtu.be/NBq0Y_5hOvM

Stop Palantir taking over our public services! Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir.

Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

Not a good look for the IOC in the shadow of their banning a Ukrainian athlete for his humble act of remembrance for fellow athletes killed in Russia's war of aggression...

High court rules ban on Palestine Action is unlawful – live Protest group’s co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws

Massive win for justice, and shaming on the government...

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

Olympic legacy is meant to be about building grassroots participation in sport and leaving behind new community assets, not speculative property developments to make the rich richer...👇👇👇

Our man at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics bringing you the stories behind the scenes missed by the big broadcasters... Here's the latest on protests 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

*This* is what journalism is for. Just how was Palantir, a foreign company whose leaders openly call for the elimination of democracy, given ownership of significant segments of UK institutions?

The 2026 Winter Olympics Will Have a Major Impact on the Region’s Snow A recent report found that carbon emissions caused by the Milano Cortina Olympics could lead to the loss of 5.5 square kilometers of snowpack and millions of metric tons of glacial ice.

New piece in Wired about our report on the irony of snow-melting climate polluters sponsoring the Winter Olympics to promote themselves...

www.wired.com/story/winter...

Why we moved our 2026 conference to Senate House — Carbon Accounting Alliance Why we changed venues from the Science Museum to Senate House for our conference in October.

The Carbon Accounting Alliance has pulled its Oct 6 conference from the Science Museum, moving it to Senate House after members raised concerns over the museum’s fossil fuel sponsors, Adani and BP.

www.carbonaccountingalliance.com/news/why-we-...

For a different take on the Olympic Opening Ceremony, see what the great Matt Rendell has to report for the @cooldownnetwork.bsky.social 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

For a different take on the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, watch this 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Welcome to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics; a festival of international sport in the middle of a global climate crisis that puts athletes, fans and sport itself at risk. 🏂🔥

youtu.be/ynH09MP2xg0

Winter Olympics Introduction Report - Matt Rendell covering the Olympic and climate frontlines YouTube video by New Weather Institute

The great sports journalist Matt Rendell will be doing daily climate and environment stories from the Winter Olympics for @cooldownnetwork.bsky.social & New Weather Institute. Here's a short intro... 👇

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr0P...

Save Our Snow YouTube video by New Weather Institute

No snow ➡️ no winter sports ➡️ no future for the Winter Olympics. 

The companies sponsoring the Winter Olympics melt the very snow we depend on. ❄️🔥

youtu.be/_R2fMT5lfTo

Save Our Snow YouTube video by New Weather Institute

Why is the Winter Olympics sponsored by a giant oil company? Please enjoy and share this short, beautiful (and rather moving) film from our Swedish colleagues about the fossil fuel threat to winter sports, and to our love for snow...
#saveoursnow #winterolympics
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R2f...