#burnham the frontrunner to be the next PM, just hired a Thames Water lobbyist as his chief of staff. James Purnell's old firm helped water companies fight off fines and regulation, and now he decides what Andy Burnham focuses on

James Purnell was chief executive of Flint Global, paid by Thames Water, BP, Apple and Amazon to help them resist government oversight.

#polanski the #Green party leader in England and Wales, asked why the Labour government appeared to be “so keen on bringing in corporate lobbyists into the heart of Downing Street”. “This is starting to feel like a bit of a Blair and Starmer tribute act, with Labour Together’s Josh Simons also expected to have a senior role,” he said.

Air-conditioning doesn't reverse climate change. It accelerates it. It may increase economic activity and growth but THAT DOES TOO. Like any cancer, growth needs to be stopped, particularly if it uses fossil fuels.

France and Western Europe have been plagued by a massive heat wave over the last ten days, already the second heat wave of 2026 in the region. It is taking an unprecedented toll on people’s physical and mental health and is increasingly looking like a moment of truth, the moment we, a rich, developed group of countries are finally collectively coming to the realization that climate change is […]

THis

I have clarified any and all confusions you may have had about ancient Chinese political thought in one convenient chart.

#history #politics #classicalchinese #philosophy

Reform U.K. is for people who have tattoos of their children but not custody of them.

Were it not for the brilliant investigative journalism which uncovered this stinking mess, we would never have known.
Fossil fuel money has corrupted everything, seeping like oil into every crevice of public life.

Today’s deeply troubling Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Slaughter strips away critical, century-old protections that have allowed independent federal agencies to protect American consumers without favor, and deals a massive blow to digital rights and consumer safety.

#Staffordshire County Council Leader Martin Murray said his party "stood on a pledge to eradicate equality, diversity and inclusivity policies". He aims to provide a template for all #UK fascists. They are amongst us, with their unfair, whites only, exclusive prejudices. Well done, idiots. "It could be you-hoo" next.

"France is hotter than the Sahara. What more polite wording do we need? The truth is that climate change is no longer a future threat. It’s a present-tense force reshaping the world. It’s in our classrooms, power grids, hospitals, farms, forests, oceans and homes. It’s in the silence where birds used to be. It’s in the heat stored in concrete at midnight. It’s in the river water too warm to cool a power station. It’s in the child trying to concentrate in a classroom never designed for 40 degrees.

The real danger isn’t only that these events are happening. It’s that we’re learning to live with them. Not by adapting in the serious, science-based, justice-based sense. But by emotionally accommodating them. Politically absorbing them. Lowering our expectations. Shrinking our imaginations. Forgetting what abundance felt like. Forgetting what safety felt like. Forgetting that this was preventable.

We need to remember what normal was, not because the past was perfect, but because memory is resistance"

'This Is Corruption': Trump Bought Stock in Taser Maker Just Before ICE Contract Notice | Common Dreams

https://www.commondreams.org/news/axon-stock-trump

@woo @ChrisMayLA6

Often these youtube things where X is supposed to have 'DESTROYED' Y, in big yellow letters, are just hyperbolic nonsense. Pure clickbait. But in this one, Corbyn goes straight for the jugular on a case by case basis, fully justifying the description.

Last Autumn, I thought about asking for an ADHD assessment. I was warned there was a 6 year waiting list. I finally got my act together this week and tried to see the mental health nurse, as advised then (delay due to ADHD.) The government have given us the 'right to choose' to outsource to private providers and for the NHS to pay. This looks very like a Tory tactic. I have a moral dilemma now that I didn't need. I don't want treatment, just a confirmation of my own diagnosis. It's bannoying.

There's been a rapid reduction in outside temperature this evening, here in Middle England. Inside is still hotter than a chip-pan fire, so that external insulation we had installed must work. Yay! :-/.

@sainati @dan @dev

I grabbed this photo from the internet around 2018, apparently some people would fill a flip chart with random business bro nonsense before leaving the conference room for the next unsuspecting meeting.

The cost of the Iran war is lot more than the $29B number touted by the White House.

"The Pentagon has already asked Congress for $80 billion. Meanwhile, Moody’s Analytics has put the likely total at $132 billion while two other experts think the tab could ultimately reach as much as $1 trillion, once costs like veterans’ benefits and rebuilding damage to American bases are incorporated."

More analysis and charts at https://stevenrattner.com/2026/06/trumps-iran-deal-billions-for-iran-a-huge-bill-for-taxpayers-steve-rattner-on-morning-joe/
#UsPol
1/n

The mainstream media needs to stop posting click-bait to closed content or surrender of privacy to advertisers, just to sell subscriptions. A free sample to show the quality of their work, fair enough, but obviously that wouldn't work because of the quality of their work. Good newspapers don't do this, so it's a very good indicator.

UK pumped-storage schemes approved. Batteries you can fish in and float on.

First major hydropower projects in Great Britain in 40 years given go-ahead - Yahoo News UK https://share.google/lCT0S8KejdjcJ7dAH

I wonder if you could float PVs and/or wind turbines, or house-boats?

Turns out all those crazy hippies who said that CCS was a chimera dreamed up by fossil fuel interests to blunt the urgency of phasing out fossil fuels were right all along! Nothing more irritating than a bunch of hippies who keep turning out to be correct about things, amirite?!