judithmknott.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Before I saw the news about Iran I was exercised about the new Ipsos/Telegraph poll putting Reform higher than I can recall AfD ever being. Who is funding this?

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Starmer don’t you dare go in after the monster Trump.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

That one person can drag us into a war without consulting or even notifying Congress, or our allies, or fully explaining to the American people why this is necessary, is absolutely bonkers. Reminder that Congress has the power to stop all of this. Where the hell are they? Hello?

submitted 1 day ago • 1793 comments

So it’s happened?

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40% of all corporation tax owed by small businesses isn't paid. How has this happened, without anyone noticing or caring? Because nobody wants to talk about it. These reactions to the latest HMRC tax gap figures are typical:

submitted 2 days ago • 16 comments

international diplomacy now has to be scheduled like a six-year-old's birthday party

submitted 2 days ago • 5 comments

(1/2) With a heavy heart, I have written to the Prime Minister to tender my resignation as a whip. Whilst I will continue to support the government in delivering the change the country so desperately needs, I cannot vote in favour of the proposed reforms to disability benefits.

submitted 3 days ago • 194 comments

A new free Substack introducing ‘Silence of the Gods’: open.substack.com/pub/drfranci...

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Have you ever wondered who were the last pagans in Europe? Well, there’s now an exhaustive book on the subject! Today is the official publication day for ‘Silence of the Gods: The Untold History of Europe’s Last Pagan Peoples’ 📚 www.cambridge.org/universitypr...

submitted 4 days ago • 9 comments

And that's why LLMs often present "NATO expansion" as a reasonable, even leading explanation of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Not because it's right or consistent with the facts, but because a ton of accounts are parroting Mearsheimer's contrarian/light-on-facts take and Ru propaganda.

submitted 3 days ago • 6 comments

No, MPs haven't legalised abortion up to birth. That lie was spread on X by many who should know better. The change is about saving a handful of vulnerable women from trauma and prison. Women about whom those people do not even think. New writing from me open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

submitted 3 days ago • 23 comments

White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) hosts unique range of invertebrates including its own ladybird, bee, moth & fruit fly Goniglossum wiedemanni. Strangest of all is tiny orange braconid wasp Utetes testaceus which is parasitoid of G.wiedemanni. Over dozen males were displaying today in Bengeo garden.

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Yeah, we did this in the US. Years of telling students that they need to be ready to listen to all sides and then a swift transition to locking them up for writing op-eds in the student newspaper.

submitted 3 days ago • 8 comments

I think I have a particular perspective on this, having attended a college that had only just admitted women - under protest from some of the posh male students.

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Was consumed all day at work by the fact that trump tweeted "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" at Iran, which from any normal president would be hugely consequential and it wasn't even a story because the media has just sort of deformed itself into nihilistic acceptance of the fact that he's insane

submitted 5 days ago • 61 comments

Hi, this is Meg Barnette, Brad's wife. While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE. This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely.

submitted 5 days ago • 2258 comments

Here's a longer video of Brad Lander's detention just now inside 26 Federal Plaza as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court, by masked federal agents.

submitted 5 days ago • 864 comments

Countries should boycott. But they won’t, just like England still plays cricket against Afghan men.

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🚨 BREAKING UPDATE Labour has FINALLY accepted defeat in our legal challenge of anti-protest powers We won this case in court twice - under both Conservative and Labour leadership Gov must now commit to reviewing ALL arrests made under these unlawful powers www.lbc.co.uk/news/exclusi...

submitted 5 days ago • 24 comments

Megamerina dolium ♂ today in Bengeo garden, scarce distinctive species associated with ancient woodland. Appears to be increasing as availability of deadwood on which it depends rises here. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social #IchneumonFly #saproxylic

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

For £15 you can experience this (and also get from A to B): Ingleborough, Pen-y-Ghent and a distant Pendle #SettleCarlisleRailway

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Today they have crossed a deep red line. We, the people, must hold the president and his appointees accountable for this outrageous abuse against American liberty.

submitted 10 days ago • 2261 comments

Reasons not to mow (20): Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca) larva today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, beautiful grassland moth. @bc-hertsmiddx.bsky.social

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Reasons not to mow (21): Capsus ater today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, common dark grassland mirid bug.

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Reasons not to mow (22): Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, host plant of attractive sawfly Macrophya annulata.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

When is the UK govt going to advise people not to travel? (Won’t hold my breath - especially as this is their beloved sport of football.)

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

"LLMs produce responses that are plausible, helpful & confident, but..contain factual inaccuracies, misleading references & biased information. These subtle mistruths are poised to cumulatively degrade & homogenize knowledge over time" royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

On underside of same Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) branch in Bengeo garden: Yesterday - Malthinus flaveolus ♀+♂. Today - Malthinus seriepunctatus ♀+♂. Hourglass marking on pronotum of seriepunctatus is useful way to distinguish these attractive woodland soldier beetles. @bugmanjones.bsky.social

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Reasons not to mow (19): Hoplia philanthus today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, common around Hertford. #WelshChafer

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Summer hoverflies (3): Epistrophe grossulariae ♂ on Bramble (Rubus sp.) today in Bengeo garden, large orange hoverfly that's easy to identify because of its straight abdominal bands & its habit of often hovering while feeding at flowers. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Gonocerus acuteangulatus 1st instar x3 on Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) today in Bengeo garden. Until 1990 it could only be found on single hill in Surrey on Box. Climate change has allowed it to dramatically expand both its range of host plants & its geographical range. @britishbugs.bsky.social

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Reasons not to mow (17): Podops inuncta today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, small grassland shieldbug. @britishbugs.bsky.social #TurtleShieldbug

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Micropterix aruncella today in Bengeo garden, Micropterix are primitive moths with chewing mouthparts that able to feed on pollen. @bc-hertsmiddx.bsky.social #teammoth

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Reasons not to mow (16): Axinotarsus marginalis today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, tiny beautiful soft-winged flower beetle that loves grassland near Oak. #Malachiidae #saproxylic

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

„Even America feels today that democracy is not an assured possession, that it has enemies, that it is threatened from within and from without, that it has once more become a problem.“ Thomas Mann, 1938 150 years of Thomas Mann Goethe-Institut www.goethe.de/prj/geg/en/t...

submitted 16 days ago • 3 comments

Reasons not to mow (13): Coremacera marginata today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden, very striking snail-killing fly. #Sciomyzidae

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Fox (Vulpes vulpes) today in Bengeo garden. This fox has taken up residence on lawn in last two weeks. My assumption is that it is being fed locally as no previous fox here would have tolerated being approached.

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

Reasons not to mow (12): Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) ♂ today on unmown lawn in Bengeo garden. @bc-hertsmiddx.bsky.social

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments