A bricklayer in East Yorkshire has spent 35 years putting up barn owl nest boxes on weekends. This year, the region saw 308 owlets hatch. His name is Robert Salter. He's 56 and does bricklaying full time. In 1990, he saw a piece on the news about a man in Lincolnshire installing barn owl boxes, and decided he'd do the same. He started with five. He now has more than 350 boxes scattered across fields, farms, outbuildings, and trees in East Yorkshire. Every June, he takes four weeks off from bricklaying and visits them with his wife Sue. Scrambling up ladders, ringing chicks, cleaning boxes, repairing the ones the weather got to. He's a licensed bird ringer for the British Trust for Ornithology. In 2024, the region ringed 95 owlets. In 2025, the count was 308. The Barn Owl Trust says that nationally, this year was "pretty poor" for barn owl breeding, but east Yorkshire is the exception, and it's the exception because of one man with a ladder. The barn owl population in the UK was estimated at 4,000 pairs in the mid-2000s and crashed to roughly 1,000 by the early 2010s. The species is still recovering. Most of conservation is one person who refuses to give up.

I used to be an alcoholic and it makes you the most selfish person. For 25 years I just thought about the next drink or how to escape on my own to self sabotage. I sat today with the 6 old dogs in the retirement home. Some have fallen off bridges. One is blind. Atlas had a huge cancer removed. They are the oldest sickest dogs. I was completely at peace (albeit only for 10 mins as busy with emergencies). The stuff in here is simple and fairly cheap. It’s the middle of the jungle. The dogs don’t care what I’m wearing or what model my iPhone is. It’s a place of simple calm recovery and peace. I’m not looking for praise. It’s more just a reflection of the person you can be without alcohol (or whatever your vice is) holding you back. I’d never have done anything like this with booze. If anybody out there maybe thinks you can’t do it too please have a go. I never thought it was possible to be happy but sitting with my sick dogs today I really was. It’s nice to not be beholden to addiction and it’s amazing to just be able to hold your head high and say to yourself “yeah this is nice” ❤️

#PostOfficeScandal #Mandelson #MandelsonEpstein #Epstein #RoyalMail The Epstein Files just revealed something explosive about how UK State Assets were sold. On June 13, 2009, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson forwarded a confidential Government memo to Jeffrey Epstein listing £20 BILLION in State Assets the Labour Goverment planned to sell. Including Royal Mail—for which Private Equity firm CVC had just bid £2 Billion for a 30% stake. Let that sink in: While Parliament debated Royal Mail's future in June 2009, while Unions prepared to strike, while Labour MPs revolted, Mandelson was feeding Britain's privatisation playbook to a convicted sex trafficker with direct lines to JPMorgan and Wall Street's biggest Private Equity firms and Hedge Funds. This is how modern corruption works. No briefcases or brown paper bags stuffed with cash. No crude traceable bribes. Just Panamanian Shell Companies, Dinner parties with Royals and Academics, yacht trips, young girls and boys, "Advisory Roles," and confidential Government memos forwarded to financiers who trade on information asymmetry. The insiders know. The public pay. This leaking of State secrets wasn't a one-off error of judgement by Mandelson. 👉August 2009: Mandelson sends Epstein another confidential memo warning about Trillions in Bank refinancing debt 👉December 2009: He advises JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to "mildly threaten" the Chancellor over a proposed Banker Bonus tax January 2010: JPMorgan's Jes Staley emails Epstein about acquiring RBS Assets—right after meeting Mandelson in Davos. The Royal Mail deal collapsed in July 2009. Official reason? "Market conditions." Real reason? Private Equity firm CVC Capital's £2 Billion offer was too low, Brussels threatened to challenge the Pension Liability write off , and Labour backbenchers made passage impossible. When Royal Mail was finally floated in 2013, it was widely criticised as undervalued and a "fire sale"—costing taxpayers hundreds of Millions. Advising the Goverment on this State Asset Sale and many others - Lazard Bank who Mandelson joined in 2011 as a 'Special Adviser' and went on to become Chair of their International arm. The questions that should haunt us: ⚖️How many other deals were shaped by this 'shadow system'? ⚖️How many Government memos reached Epstein's inbox—and from there to Wall Street trading desks? ⚖️How many Billions in public value were sacrificed because insiders knew what outsiders could only guess? EVERY STATE ASSET SALE FROM THIS PERIOD MUST BE REVIEWED starting with RBS Sempra. Britain's democracy requires sunlight. What the Epstein files reveal is that for years, the most important economic decisions were made in the dark—by those who viewed Public Office as opportunity for private profit. The British public deserves to know who really governs their country. And in whose interest. @DanNeidle @CommonsTreasury @CommonsBTC @CommonsPAC @HouseofCommons @UKHouseofLords @premnsikka @andyverity @Cyclefree2 @TimBushLondon

The Peter Mandelson scandal is on the Prime Minister. What a disgrace - and what an appalling appointment to make.

If aliens arrived on Earth and tried to understand our financial system. 🤣 🔊

The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974. And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself. Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy." This is about the petrodollar system that has kept America the dominant economic power for 50 years. And Venezuela just threatened to end it. Here's what really just happened: Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The largest on Earth. More than Saudi Arabia. 20% of the entire world's oil. But here's the part that matters: Venezuela was actively selling that oil in Chinese yuan. Not dollars. In 2018, Venezuela announced it would "free itself from the dollar." They started accepting yuan, euros, rubles, anything BUT dollars for oil. They were petitioning to join BRICS. They were building direct payment channels with China that bypass SWIFT entirely. And they were sitting on enough oil to fund de-dollarization for decades. Why does this matter? Because the entire American financial system is built on one thing: The petrodollar. In 1974, Henry Kissinger made a deal with Saudi Arabia: All oil sold globally must be priced in US dollars. In exchange, America provides military protection. This single agreement created artificial demand for dollars worldwide. Every country on Earth needs dollars to buy oil. This lets America print unlimited money while other countries work for it. It funds the military. The welfare state. The deficit spending. The petrodollar is more important to US hegemony than aircraft carriers. And there's a pattern of what happens to leaders who challenge it: 2000: Saddam Hussein announces Iraq will sell oil in euros instead of dollars. 2003: Invaded. Regime change. Iraq's oil immediately switched back to dollars. Saddam lynched. The WMDs were never found because they never existed. 2009: Gaddafi proposes a gold-backed African currency called the "gold dinar" for oil trade. Hillary Clinton's own leaked emails confirm this was the PRIMARY reason for intervention. Email quote: "This gold was intended to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar." 2011: NATO bombs Libya. Gaddafi sodomized and murdered. Libya now has open slave markets. "We came, we saw, he died!" Clinton laughed on camera. The gold dinar died with him. And now Maduro. With FIVE TIMES more oil than Saddam and Gaddafi combined. Actively selling in yuan. Building payment systems outside dollar control. Petitioning to join BRICS. Partnered with China, Russia, and Iran. The three countries leading global de-dollarization. This isn't coincidence. Challenge the petrodollar. Get regime changed. Every. Single. Time. Stephen Miller (US homeland security advisor) literally said it out loud two weeks ago: "American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property." He's not hiding it. They're claiming Venezuelan oil BELONGS to America because US companies developed it 100 years ago. By this logic, every nationalized resource in history was "theft." But here's the DEEPER problem: The petrodollar is already dying. Russia sells oil in rubles and yuan since Ukraine. Saudi Arabia is openly discussing yuan settlements. Iran has been trading in non-dollar currencies for years. China built CIPS, their own alternative to SWIFT with 4,800 banks in 185 countries. BRICS is actively building payment systems that bypass the dollar entirely. The mBridge project lets central banks settle trades instantly in local currencies. Venezuela joining BRICS with 303 billion barrels of oil would accelerate this exponentially. That's what this invasion is really about. Not stopping drugs. Venezuela accounts for less than 1% of US cocaine. Not terrorism. There's zero evidence Maduro runs a "terror organization." Not democracy. The US supports Saudi Arabia, which has zero elections. This is about maintaining a 50-year-old agreement that lets America print money while the world works for it. And the consequences are terrifying: Russia, China, and Iran are already denouncing this as "armed aggression." China is Venezuela's biggest oil customer. They're losing billions. BRICS nations are watching a country get invaded for trading outside the dollar. Every nation considering de-dollarization just got the message: Challenge the dollar and we will bomb you. But here's the problem... That message might accelerate de-dollarization, not stop it. Because now every country in the Global South knows what happens if you threaten dollar hegemony. And they're realizing the only protection is to move FASTER. The timing is insane too: January 3rd, 2026. Venezuela invaded. Maduro captured. January 3rd, 1990. Panama invaded. Noriega captured. 36 years apart. Almost to the day. Same playbook. Same "drug trafficking" excuse. Same real reason: control of strategic resources and trade routes. History doesn't repeat. But it rhymes. What happens next: Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago sets the narrative. US oil companies are already lined up. Politico reported they've been approached about "returning to Venezuela." The opposition will be installed. Oil will flow in dollars again. Venezuela becomes another Iraq. Another Libya. But here's what nobody's asking: What happens when you can no longer bomb your way to dollar dominance? When China has enough economic leverage to retaliate? When BRICS controls 40% of global GDP and says "no more dollars"? When the world realizes the petrodollar is maintained by violence? America just showed its hand. The question is whether the rest of the world folds or calls the bluff. Because this invasion is an admission that the dollar can no longer compete on its own merits. When you have to bomb countries to keep them using your currency, the currency is already dying. Venezuela isn't the beginning. It's the desperate end. What do you think?

This is not AI. This is real footage of Earth rising over the Moon captured by the Japanese lunar orbiter. © JAXA / NHK

In 1977, Bing Crosby and David Bowie delivered one of the most beautiful duets of all time. It was Crosby’s final Christmas special. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy.

This is one of the simplest ways to understand trauma and healing... ‼️‼️

🛤️ Live near the railway? We need your help ahead of #StormAmy arriving this afternoon. Please secure any loose garden furniture, sheds and trampolines, to avoid tracks being blocked by debris. It'll help us keep services moving.

15 Lines from Classic Novels that will stay with you Forever

🧵 So… You’re saying entire religions should be blamed for the crimes of individual men? Cool. So I guess Christianity’s out because of the priests. And Judaism’s out because of the bankers. And white folks? Well… let’s not start counting. You see the problem yet? It’s not about protecting people. It’s about feeding rage. Don’t fight evil with tribal hate. Fight it with justice. Every predator—no matter his race or faith—deserves one thing: A prison cell. Anything else? That’s not justice. That’s propaganda.

A message to the 🇮🇪 government before I sail to Gaza

"We are going to kill ourselves because of stupidity"

The goddess of neuroscience who discovered the “molecules of emotion": Dr. Candace Pert. Her research showed that your feelings aren't separate from biology. They ARE biology. ​​Here's how you can harness your emotions to rewire your brain for greater vitality and energy:

💚 A huge thank you to our young volunteers Angel, Chloe and Julie 💚 They’ve been out litter picking in Rowley Regis, helping to keep their local area clean and cared for 🌿 It’s always inspiring to see young people getting involved and making a difference ⭐👏 #litterwatch

I couldn't believe this. In 2013, a Google insider discovered something so disturbing, he quit. He found the terrifying truth behind how social media breaks our brains. Here's exactly how it happens (and how to protect yourself):

Help keep our roads clear & safe! Remember to #GiveYourLitterALift when bins aren't accessible. Let's all play our part in helping to #KeepScotlandBeautiful💙 Don't toss rubbish from your car - it's our Scotland, let's protect it! @KSBScotland @Scotgov

Parasympathetic Activation is the best way to rewire your brain from toxic habits, heal stored trauma, and restore your nervous system to optimal health. Here’s what it is and how to do it: 🧵