I’m looking for speakers for a London event on the science of Star Trek. I’d really appreciate suggestions from underrepresented minorities in STEM, especially PoC/global majority.
(10 min, central London, Sept, currently unpaid but I’m trying to fix that)
Feel free to message
2026 books 063: The Mind Trap, by John Peel
Peter Kellner’s advice to the next Labour prime minister, and good analysis of how Starmer failed.
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
I may have my frustrations and disappointments about Starmer as a domestic politician, but internationally, I think he’s serious, responsible and trying to do his best for U.K. in unbelievably complex int’l environment, despite treasonous ghouls like Farage doing their best to undermine him.
2026 books 062: De gekste plek van België: 111 bizarre locaties en hun bijzondere verhaal, by Jeroen van der Spek
2026 books 061: Firefall, by @0hmyst4rs.bsky.social
Venus in the gloaming.
2026 books 060: Ghost Stories, by George Mann et al
Looks like there will finally be an actual *shop* in our village, despite years of NIMBY activism which delayed it.
achterdoechelen.be/2026/02/27/c...
If America still had the rule of law, this would be the easiest prosecution ever, but we all know absolutely nothing will happen.
Captain Gilson, and his impressive moustache.
Strongly recommend Ben Judah’s Times piece on the Chagos Islands. Whether you’re a Britannia-rules-the-waves nut or, like me, wonder why the UK is still so obsessed with hanging onto other people’s territory, it explains a lot. Link is to an un-paywalled archive.
archive.ph/wGJio
2026 books 059: Appointment with Death, by Agatha Christie
www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/l...
Author Dan Simmons has died.
I felt bad about delivering the punchline rather than the buildup. But it's a great punchline even on its own!
It was tremendous fun, and I recommend it to anyone who appreciates that style of writing.
Chapter LXXI: The End
"a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life, and which, however inadequate to my own wishes, I finally deliver to the curiosity and candour of the public."
reading-gibbon.livejournal.com/21335.html
Chapter LXX: Rome from 1300 to 1590
"the establishment of order has been gradually connected with the decay of liberty."
reading-gibbon.livejournal.com/21138.html
Chapter LIX: Rome, 1100-1300
"Ambition is a weed of quick and early vegetation in the vineyard of Christ."
reading-gibbon.livejournal.com/20987.html
Chapter LXVIII: The Fall of Constantinople
"Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade."
reading-gibbon.livejournal.com/20492.html
