Here’s a spot of good news: in a survey of 125,000 kids aged 8 to 18 in 479 UK schools, 36.1% say they like reading in their spare time — up from 32.7% last year. According to the National Literacy Trust, 20.3% say they read every day. Last year’s figure was 18.7%.

Breaking News: David Hockney, the English artist whose colorful paintings restored the human form to art, defying the abstract schools of the mid-20th century, died at 88. nyti.ms/3S4k0Fx

431.92 parts per million (ppm) CO2 in air 08-Jun-2026 keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/

Give Omar fairness💔

South Africa, Germany and other recent #WorldCup hosts were forced by FIFA to promise all accredited officials, players and staff would be guaranteed visas and minimal immigration interference for the tournament duration. Why is the United States exempt from that @FIFAcom?

This man was banned because of his nationality and for no other reason. FIFA did nothing to help him, not even lodge a protest. Ugh bbc.co.uk/sport/football/art…

“What we need and what we want is to moralize politics, not to politicize morals.” — Karl Popper

George Orwell’s 1984 was published today in 1949. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Mysterious ‘cold blob’ in the Atlantic suggests the AMOC is weakening A patch of ocean south-east of Greenland is the only place on Earth that is cooling, and it could be a sign that the warm water “conveyor belt” in the Atlantic is slowing down newscientist.com/article/252… docs.google.com/document/d/1…

Two books one should read & have, Prof. Bill's book here and the "classic" 'Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History [revised edition]' by Tim Fagan. Prof. Bill gives us the global effects, while Tim's classic is focused on Britain & how quickly society is affected. Buy 'em both.

🚨 WOW! Erin Brockovich completely destroys the AI data center narrative. She confirms these massive facilities emit a non-stop, 24/7 deafening noise that is literally driving local residents crazy! She exposes the total lack of environmental oversight. Pure corruption!

Respect. Sigh .

The Iranian navy, which has been destroyed eight times, has apparently closed the Strait of Hormuz again, because the United States, for the seventh time, won the war that wasn’t a war, so now the United States has to open the Strait of Hormuz that was already open before the not-war began. The not-war began because Iran had uranium that was totally, completely, beautifully obliterated, so they can’t build the nuclear bomb they weren’t building, which is why the United States had to start the not-war it definitely didn’t start. Now the United States, which has nuclear weapons, is threatening to use nuclear weapons to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, because nuclear weapons are far too dangerous for countries with nuclear weapons to allow other countries to have. If the United States saw the United States doing what the United States does in other countries, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States.

Veteran news anchor Jon Snow has shared that he’s living with dementia, speaking publicly for the first time to raise awareness of a condition affecting around 1 million people across the UK. Jon and his wife, neurologist Dr Precious Lunga, are supporting Alzheimer’s Society @alzheimerssoc and shared the story of Jon’s diagnosis in @DailyMail as part of our Defeating Dementia campaign with the newspaper. dailymail.com/tvshowbiz/arti… We’ve partnered with Jon, in association with @Channel4, on a powerful new documentary airing on 20 June. Jon Snow: A Last Big Story looks at how he’s navigating life with dementia, and how, when we all come together, we can change the story. Thank you to Jon and Precious for their courage and openness to bring much-needed attention to dementia 💙 @jonsnowC4 Photo credit: Cynthia R Matonhodze

He was never satisfied with his music. Somewhere, maybe at the bottom of the ocean or beyond the stars, there was an ultimate sound. Our obituary of the saxophone colossus economist.com/obituary/2026/…

I await Nigel Farage calling for “pure, cold, rage?” .

A statement from the President, Arwa Elrayess:

Las inteligencias artificiales no viven una experiencia, no poseen un cuerpo, no pasan por la alegría y el dolor, no maduran en las relaciones ni conocen desde dentro lo que significan el amor, el trabajo, la amistad y la responsabilidad. Tampoco tienen una conciencia moral: no juzgan el bien y el mal, no captan el sentido último de las situaciones ni asumen el peso de las consecuencias. Pueden imitar, pueden simular pero no conocen lo que producen, porque no residen en el horizonte afectivo, relacional y espiritual en el que el ser humano se hace sabio. #MagnificaHumanitas

Tony Blair is the living embodiment of what happens when political office becomes a down payment on future plunder. Ejected in 2007 by his own MPs as a massive liability, he bequeathed Britain a wild casino economy primed for the 2008 crash. And when the British economy crashed and burned, Mr Blair kept quiet while honing his skills at securing power by other means. His first job, after his ejection from 10 Downing Street, was as the West’s Middle East envoy, with a supposed emphasis on Gaza. It took six painful years for Mr Blair’s tenure to prove a failure so profound it amounted to active complicity in Israel’s ethnic cleansing, in Palestinian erasure, and in paving the ground for the ongoing genocide. Soon after, the Chilcot Inquiry demolished Blair’s Iraq lies, exposing him as a liar, a chancer and a war criminal responsible for countless corpses of Iraqis, but also of British soldiers. Then came Blair’s real innovation: the financialisation of the ex-premiership itself. The Tony Blair Institute, fuelled by £130 million from Oracle's Larry Ellison—coincidentally, the largest individual donor to the Friends of the IDF—became a shadow state, brokering governance contracts for autocrats and companies like Palantir that weaponise AI to produce mega-death abroad and full-on surveillance of Western populations. Now, in May 2026, this corporate fixer issues a 5700 word tantrum demanding that Labour embrace Trump even more than Starmer already has, denounce what is left of Labour’s betrayed Green New Deal, and trash the remnants of workers' rights. This is not the wisdom of an aging statesman. It is the frantic squirming of a man fearing his grip on oligarchic power might soon wane and whose entire post-10 Downing Street existence depends on preventing the many from ever reclaiming what the few have plundered. theguardian.com/politics/202…

Sonny Rollins (1930-2026) nytimes.com/2026/05/25/arts/…