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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱

@50ishgardener.bsky.social
177 followers 155 following 1.8K posts

Rusty Astrophysicist. Gardener. North Cotswolds

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Reposted by FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱
Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Just so dispiriting to watch the Greens be corrupted by the same poison that took over Labour. All the same shit: the excuses, the mealy-mouthed justifications, the tortured position statements, the deafening silences. Like a historical reenactment.
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Daniel Sugarman @danielsugarman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Although it feels like I am shouting into the void about this sometimes, I want to share some further thoughts on the “Zionism is Racism” motion which the Green Party is due to debate in the next 16 hours. Just to address various points which I think people in general should know. A thread:
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
For people who don't understand what is wrong with this motion, there's a good explanation here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Green party’s anti-Zionism motion is yet another attempt to tell Jews how we should think | Jonathan Freedland
The resolution shows little understanding of what Zionism is, who Jews are or how antisemitism works, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
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Jonathan Freedland @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Green party motion on Zionism shows little understanding of what Zionism is, who Jews are or how antisemitism works. Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Green party’s anti-Zionism motion is yet another attempt to tell Jews how we should think | Jonathan Freedland
The resolution shows little understanding of what Zionism is, who Jews are or how antisemitism works, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
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The New World @thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Green leader did well during the final phase of the Starmer collapse when people wanted something new. But now he seems like yesterday’s news ✏️ @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
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Unserious and down in the polls: Zack Polanski doesn't look up to the job
The Green leader did well during the final phase of the Starmer collapse when people wanted something new. But now he seems like yesterday’s news
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
@mattlewishistory.bsky.social A cracking hour’s listen. Thought provoking. Thank you 🙏
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Whether you’re into Shakespeare or not, this is worth an hour of your time… An interesting perspective on leadership : There are no “good” kings, nor “bad” - only good and bad actors playing the role of king. Apply this to Prime Ministers … podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...
podcasts.apple.com
Richard II & Richard III: Shakespeare's Version
Podcast Episode · Gone Medieval · 25 September · 56min
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
Michael Wynn-Jones, husband of Delia Smith, dies aged 85
theguardian.com
Michael Wynn-Jones, husband of Delia Smith, dies aged 85
Former journalist and honorary life president of Norwich City FC died peacefully at home on Monday Michael Wynn-Jones, the journalist and husband of the TV chef Delia Smith, has died at the age of 85. Wynn-Jones was honorary life president of Norwich City football club, which said everyone at the club was “deeply saddened” by his death. Continue reading...
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Met Office - weather and climate @metoffice.gov.uk · 26/09/2026
Thank you for sharing your beautiful #LoveUKWeather pics over the last 24 hours📷 Your photos have really captured the very mixed great British weather we're currently experiencing😍 Keep an eye on the skies this evening too as the full moon rises in the east👀🌕
A photo of a misty sunrise over a river in Derbyshire - thanks to @Jacksweatherch1 for the photoA photo of a orange sunset in Wigan - thanks to Lily Rose Worth for the photoA photo of a rainbow in West Yorkshire - thanks to Tori Lacey for the photoA photo of blue skies and blue seas and the beach in Sheringham, Norfolk, thanks to @TractorWalking
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Today’s “Fucks sake!!!”…👇
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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
England is a made up thing. It has no basis in the ineluctable laws of nature. Its extent is defined by Edward II getting his arse handed to him. Athelstan conquering York. The Welsh of Cumbria were incorporated, the Welsh of Gwynedd were not. It is a political idea, an aspiration - not taxonomy.
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The RNLI has always been above politics. A little known (over here, at least) example - after the Irish War of Independence , the new Dáil Éireann asked the RNLI to stay on and continue its life saving work, which it does to this day Even Sinn Fein are cool with the RNLI rnli.org/about-us/our...
rnli.org
RNLI timeline 1922: The Irish Free State is founded
When the Irish Free State was established in 1922, RNLI volunteers at lifeboat stations all around the island continued to save lives at sea.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This should be the moment people finally realise that Farage has turned them into fascists. If you’re choosing this dangerous inhumanity over the rescue work of the RNLI, you’ve lost your minds to racism and hatred.
Reform UK
Follow
@reformparty_uk
Charities' actions in aiding and abetting the invasion of our country will be illegal under
Reform UK.

Photo of Farage on Gb news
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 20/09/2026
Reαd carefully: how to spot – and avoid – a homoglyph attack
theguardian.com
Reαd carefully: how to spot – and avoid – a homoglyph attack
Scam emails are increasingly using psychological tricks, such as using near-identical URLs such as miсrosoft.com
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“It's about privilege. I don't even get to vet who moves in downstairs, let alone feel that I can dictate to gov't how it can use land it owns a mile away. Why do they think they get to dictate what happens on public property within miles-radius of their country living? It's not a reasonable ask.”
podcasts.apple.com
B-Side: Passport to Piddington
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 18 September · 59min
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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 17/09/2026
The wellness boom has brought a wide array of consumer products that promise to boost your health and happiness. Xand van Tulleken has delved into it all and explains how to think about the evidence behind the hype. www.newscientist.com/article/2586...
newscientist.com
Xand van Tulleken on the 3 wellness trends to be most wary of | New Scientist
The wellness boom has brought a wide array of consumer products that promise to boost your health and happiness. Xand van Tulleken has delved into it all and explains how to think about the evidence b...
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Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
‘Earthrise’ was captured by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, while orbiting the Moon with Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. Anders later reflected, “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”
The 'Earthrise' photograph showing a blue and white Earth partially illuminated, appearing to rise over the grey, cratered horizon of the Moon against the deep black of space.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Jonathan Pie @jonathanpienews.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The Trillion Dollar Bribe JonathanPie.com youtube.com/watch?v=5Arr...
youtube.com
The Trillion Dollor Bribe
YouTube video by Jonathan Pie
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Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It's hard to think of anything less British than the morons doing this to the heroic RNLI
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Jackdaws_Of_Midgard aka Elijah Blyth @jackdawsofmidgard.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
38d.gs/jpcf They volunteer to save people drowning or in distress in the water, it doesn't matter where the person in distress is, or where the person is from, these people put their lives on the line to save people. Not all heroes wear capes.
38d.gs
An open letter in support of the volunteers and staff at the RNLI
This is a disgrace. Brave RNLI volunteers being called scum for risking their lives to save others at sea is just plain wrong. So I've signed an open letter of thanks for the RNLI letting them know th...
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This German comedy sketch (with English subtitles) perfectly captures so much of what is going on right now in the UK, the US, and across Europe. "Playing the 'Nazi Card' in the Third Reich", by Browser Ballett.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Chief Rabbi speaks for Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and their apologists in this country. Ed Miliband speaks for me and many other British Jews.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Cartoon by Stephen Collins for The Guardian. Script as follows:

[scene is Winston Churchill in a bbc studio, giving his 'finest hour' speech]

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CHURCHILL:
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. 

2
CHURCHILL:
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.

3
CHURCHILL:
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free 
and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sun-

BBC PRESENTER:
Thank you prime minister 

4
BBC PRESENTER:
Mr hitler, your response?

5
HITLER [in the studio]:
Vell zis is hysterical woke nonsense as usual from mr Churchill

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HITLER:
What we are proposing -

CHURCHILL:
Hang on

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HITLER:
Let me finish - what we are proposing eez a simple power-sharing arrangement -

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CHURCHILL:
What's he doing here

BBC PRESENTER:
It's important we hear both sides of the debate

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CHURCHILL:
This isn't a debate 
You don't debate fascists

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HITLER:
Oh here we go with ze Godwins law!

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HITLER:
Why must you people always compare ze things you don't like to 'fascists, Nazis, Hitler'...

CHURCHILL:
Because you are a fascist Nazi Hit-

12
HITLER [standing up, saluting]:
RAUSS!

BBC PRESENTER:
*Please* Mr Churchill let him speak

[ends]
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Excellent, and timely thread…👇 It’s an oft repeated complaint about history teaching in this country that the only things taught are the Tudors and Nazis… Maybe we should’ve spent more effort getting it into people’s heads that Nazis = Bad…???
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Adrian Littlejohn @yorksfella59.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Negotiated over Champagne and Oysters... Note: not Fish and Chips and a pint. That would only be for when Nigel was pretending to be a "man of the people". If you honestly think he's "one of us", I can't help you. Nigel Farage is the posh British Establishment personified! He's not on your side!
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:
channel4news.substack.com
Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation.
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Ed Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 03/09/2026
This is serious. If Reform blatantly, intentionally and knowingly broke election law, they should be held fully accountable. Liberal Democrats have asked the Police and the Electoral Commission to investigate.
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Dave Robinson @daverobinson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Canadians are sharing this with their American friends as the anniversary of 911 approaches:
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
FUCK IT! Who'd like to win a signed book from me & Jim? 3 of these going to 3 randomly selected people who repost this & pop a reply below. YOU MIGHT LIKE IT IF YOU LIKE: Weird stones Bookshops Mysterious pensioners Badgers The devil fungi Deer Pixies Sample story here: www.tom-cox.com/the-date/
Our massive brilliant orange cat Jim on some grass with my new collection of short stories
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Abso-fucking-lotely…👇
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Genius 👇🤣👏👏👏
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Peter Gibbs @petergibbs.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Google plans to bulldoze a wildlife haven in Essex – home to rare species – for a data centre. Sign the petition now to help save it before it’s gone forever 🐝🦋 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Save Arena Essex- Tell Google to search elsewhere!
  Wedged between the Mar Dyke Valley and Lakeside Retail Park, the former Arena Essex Raceway is not your usual wildlife haven. Where once stock cars and speedway bikes lined up to cross the fini...
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Hugh Jones @hbsj.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @dmu.ac.uk Like many UK universities, De Montfort's origins lie in a technical college, enabled by late C19 legislation If you like this image, I’d really appreciate a repost - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old monochrome picture postcard showing the Technical and Art School, Leicester: its a solid Victorian brick building on an empty street
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Jonathan Pie @jonathanpienews.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Blame Canada! Tickets to my Live Tour are available at JonathanPie.com youtu.be/cowIo-eTpLQ?...
youtu.be
Blame Canada!
YouTube video by Jonathan Pie
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Absolute genius!! 👇🤣🤣🤣
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Alistair Barrie @alistairbarrie.com · 22/08/2026
Not gonna lie. This has been the toughest Fringe I have had numbers wise since 2004. But the show is excellent. Sorry to be that arrogant, but just read the reviews here. I love performing it - I would just like to do so to a bigger crowd. Last show today 15:50. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
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Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 17/08/2026
Carbon offsetting in all its forms is nothing more than Papal indulgences for the climate crisis. But CCS is just plain old fraud.
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Grumpy-ish Brian🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇮🇪 @brian770.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Private Eye tells the story of the political, institutional, professional and personal failures, written in the hope that the lessons of the Post Office scandal will guard against such abuses in future. With a foreword by Sir Alan Bates.
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Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 14/08/2026
Earlier in the summer I presented a figure showing how a comparable weather event to the summer of 1976 would be experienced in a warmer current climate. It would be 3-4°C hotter, with London hitting 38°C. Yesterday, that is exactly what happened.
Weather of 1976, and a version for the current climate
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
An American interviewer asked me about my political beliefs. #VoteBinface
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FiftySomething Gardener 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇩🇰🇬🇱 @50ishgardener.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
IMHO the best REM track of the lot, and it’s obviously a very high bar…👇
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R.E.M. @remhq.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
We’re celebrating 40 years of “Fall On Me” today (the first single from the band’s fourth album Lifes Rich Pageant was released on this day in 1986). The video was filmed & directed by @michaelstipe.bsky.social
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Met Office - weather and climate @metoffice.gov.uk · 11/08/2026
From one extreme to the other ☔☀️ To start 2026, Cardinham in Cornwall saw 55 consecutive days of rain Now it's the opposite, with Wisley experiencing 55 days without rain The longest dry spell on record is 73 days, observed at Mile End in London from 4 March to 15 May 1893
Days without rain (10 10 Aug)

Wisley, Surrey = 55 days
Heathrow, London = 49 days
Odiham, Hampshire = 49 days
Coningsby, Lincolnshire = 46 days
Andrewsfield, Essex = 45 days
Swanage, Dorset = 42 days
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Peter Gibbs @petergibbs.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The hottest - so far..... BBC News - Summer 2026 on course to be UK's hottest on record, says Met Office www.bbc.co.uk/weather/arti...
bbc.co.uk
UK weather: Summer 2026 on course to be hottest on record, says Met Office
Only average conditions are needed for the remainder of August to break the record, which was set just last year.
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paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Finally, people of a certain age can shut up about 1976. 🙄 'This summer is on course to be the UK's hottest since records began, according to the Met Office.' www.bbc.co.uk/weather/arti...
bbc.co.uk
UK weather: Summer 2026 on course to be hottest on record, says Met Office
Only average conditions are needed for the remainder of August to break the record, which was set just last year.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The @royalastrosoc.bsky.social has great advice for those hoping to catch the partial eclipse - including the all-important kitchen colander www.ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
ras.ac.uk
How to see best solar eclipse visible from UK since 1999
The most impressive solar eclipse visible from the UK in almost 30 years can be enjoyed by people across the country on Wednesday 12 August. Around 90-96 per cent of...
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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 09/08/2026
The total solar eclipse on 12 August will only be visible to a lucky few, but eclipses happen all over the world – here are the next ones to look out for, wherever you may be
newscientist.com
Where to watch the next total solar eclipse anywhere in the world | New Scientist
The total solar eclipse on 12 August will only be visible to a lucky few, but eclipses happen all over the world – here are the next ones to look out for, wherever you may be
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