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Cat T

@cattownsend.bsky.social
4.1K followers 2.3K following 1.1K posts

Anthropologist, gardener, animal lover, fantasy & sci-fi fan. Climate anxious. She/they.

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Reposted by Cat T
Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 20h
New: Chris Rufo & his co-host devoted a podcast to "The Indian Question," framing Desi people as a problem to be solved. Their "solution?" Mass expulsion. For those allowed to remain: an “assimilation hazing process” w/ instances of “vulgar, defamatory racism" talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chris-r...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing
To the degree that a “respectable” or “moderate” right exists today in...
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 21h
According to the International Energy Agency, total global investment in solar energy (including both rooftop solar and utility-scale projects) was less than half of this figure, despite our dire ecological situation
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Crawford Kilian @crof.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘The toll is huge’: El Niño-driven wildfires overwhelm Indonesia’s orangutan population
The global climate phenomenon has triggered devastating infernos in the ape’s Indonesian heartlands, with long-term effects on the animals still unknown
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“Unia, Belgium’s independent centre for equal opportunities, plans to file a complaint against Nathan Cofnas, a US researcher at Ghent University, over remarks it believes repeatedly breached the country’s anti-racism law” www.brusselstimes.com/2341250/unia...
brusselstimes.com
Unia to take 'race realist' researcher Nathan Cofnas to court
Unia said the US philosopher was spreading ideas in Belgium that rank people in a hierarchy on the basis of supposed scientific knowledge.
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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Unsurprisingly, Richard Hanania is doing rape apology coverage of the Cornell case with fellow wretch Michael Tracey
Richard Hanania @RichardHanania
X.com
Watch me discuss the Cornell rape controversy with Michael Tracey.
I think the lesson of this is that women do not want to have casual sex with men they don't know well.
They'll end up hating themselves, being hated by other women, and even seen with contempt by the men involved. This is why these situations turn bad.
Maybe she was assaulted, maybe not, either way it was a terrible decision to make.
Women need to be told the truth.
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Cat T @cattownsend.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The more I read about Cornell, the angrier I get with the ongoing victim blaming. The DA who failed to prosecute, Mathew Van Houten, is now claiming that he never saw the transcript of Jane Doe’s interview with campus police, & he never saw the Snapchat screenshot 🙄 1/2
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Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is good news. So much money raised, yet still over two million quid to go.
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Charles C Roseman @evoroseman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
If you are in the greater Washington DC area on Friday 6 November and have an afternoon to spare, I’m giving a talk at George Mason University. I’d love to see you there. (baboon skull diagram from Theibault et al. 2026) 1/7
Poster for a talk by Charles Roseman entitled "Spencer's Long Shadow: Why we should abandon the extended evolutionary synthesis" featuring a diagram of baboon skulls from Thiebault et al. 2026, some clipart mice, and a picture of the speaker whose father came in second in an uglyman contest.
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Crawford Kilian @crof.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Second the motion! Declare the climate crisis a Public Health Emergency of International Concern - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Declare the climate crisis a Public Health Emergency of International Concern
Climate change is shaping health in the 21st century. In the past few weeks alone, Nepal has faced unprecedented flash floods, and multiple countries have experienced deadly heatwaves and catastrophic...
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Cat T @cattownsend.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Worth a read. It may be that the Cornell 7 escape legal accountability for their sadistic behavior. But that doesn’t mean they should be spared social shaming for what they did. slate.com/life/2026/09...
would be a less resistant one. None of us were in the room when the alleged rapes occurred, but the tone of the Snapchat messages offers a sense of the atmosphere, which seemed to be one of male bonding over a woman rendered person-less, nothing more than a "free pussy"-something the men enjoyed not simply because sex is a fundamental human pleasure and it feels good, but because they felt powerful and bonded by communally degrading the young woman in question. Her degradation, and the power they felt they derived from that, was the turn-on, not the sex itself. And "free pussy" also implies, although of course does not prove, that at least some of the men believed Jane Doe to be unable to consent-that this was a bunch of men having their way with an incapacitated girl-rendered-object, not a fun consensual group
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Since we’re talking about the politicisation of science, another laughably bad “national IQ” paper has just been published in Evolutionary Psychological Science. This paper barely even pretends to be science yet is published by a mainstream publisher, with prominent academics on the editorial board
Screenshot of new paper 

Evolutionary Psychological Science > Article
Democratic Peace, Intelligent Belligerence: Evolutionary Psychological Foundations of Interstate Wars
Research | Published: 12 September 2026Section of text from new paper
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Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Three days to go for @northwildlife.bsky.social to raise £30M to buy the Rothbury Estate. Impressively, they've secured over £27M in donations & pledges. But that still leaves a shortfall. I can only hope they're given more time by the seller. Or that he waives the difference. You can chip in here:
wildlifetrusts.org
Donate to Secure The Rothbury Estate | The Wildlife Trusts
Stretching over 3,800 hectares, the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland is abundant with opportunity. It’s the largest continuous area of land to appear on the market in 50 years. Its sale creates a uni...
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is certainly a different opinion to the Vanderbilt report: “corporate libertarian donor networks, fossil-fuel companies & conservative think tanks intensified campaigns targeting university governance…embedding donor-aligned scholars, building research centers insulated from faculty oversight…”
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BonnieHuval @bonniehuval.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It is no longer safe to ask people like me at a party, “What do you think of this El Niño?” It is not the boy child we know. This is the devil boy. El Niño Diablo is going far beyond what we have ever seen before. bonniehuval.substack.com/p/el-nino-di...
bonniehuval.substack.com
El Niño Diablo
Main audience: everyone
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 26/09/2026
Please sign if you can! OPEN LETTER: PAUSE THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF AI-MEDIATED TUTORING IN ENGLAND'S SCHOOLS > Children should not be exposed to a technology whose future, effectiveness, and safety we cannot predict, and for which the evidence is mostly negative.
docs.google.com
OPEN LETTER: PAUSE THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF AI-MEDIATED TUTORING IN ENGLAND'S SCHOOLS
OPEN LETTER To the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister, and the Rt Hon Lucy Powell MP, Secretary of State for Education The Department for Education has announced plans to develop, what it calls, “...
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Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I know the burning question on everyone's mind right now is "How did magnetohydrodynamics develop over the course of the 20th century?" Well, you can all breathe a sigh of relief. In this week's History Weekly Edition, I discuss Alex Blum and Arnab Chaudhuri's article explaining just that.
XKCD one-panel comic with a ponytailed stick figure talking to a pair of other stick figures saying "The sun's atmosphere is a superhot plasma governed by magnetohydrodynamic forces..." to which one of the others replies "Ah, yes, of course." The caption reads "Whenever I hear the word 'magnetohydrodynamic' my brain just replaces it with 'magic.'
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The Skeptic @skeptic.org.uk · 25/09/2026
skeptic.org.uk
Why it is reasonable to label Nathan Cofnas’s race realism as pseudoscientific - The Skeptic
"Race realist" Nathan Cofnas claims his "hereditarianist" viewpoint is scientifically accurate - by citing pseudoscientific research and misleading rhetoric.
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Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Why is the UK’s suppressed #climate national security report significant? Report warns of food shortages, conflicts, mass migration and other threats to the UK’s national security, including going as far as the risk of nuclear war or the breakdown of society. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Why is the UK’s suppressed climate national security report significant?
Warnings about the catastrophic effects of vital ecosystems collapsing were not published under previous prime minister
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This year has been brutal, and like most people you probably want to do more about climate change. But what, and how? Great news – I’ve written just the book for you! It’s called What One Person Can Do and it’s a clear and simple how-to guide, a roadmap to help you make influential changes...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
With big thanks to @doctorofmusic.bsky.social, here's my discussion today with Lord Jackson about North Sea oil and gas. Tape your jaw to your face before watching. Really.
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Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 22/09/2026
Your 'bonus moment of doom' for today: "The latest science confirms that we have breached, that we've transgressed seven of the nine planetary boundaries that regulate the health of the entire planet." www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnpE...
youtube.com
Official Planetary Health Check 2026 with Johan Rockström
YouTube video by Planetary Boundaries Science
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 21/09/2026
The “jaw-dropping” El Niño currently heating up the planet has burst through the highest temperature ever recorded for the phenomenon, several months before its expected peak.
A line chart showing temperature anomalies in the Niño 3.4 region of the Pacific Ocean, compared to a 30-year rolling base period since 1982.

A gold line shows temperatures in 1997, a teal line in 2025, and a red line in 2026. The red line surpasses all others reaching 3.07ºC, and at an earlier point (September) than the previous El Niño that reached a comparable range in November 2015.
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Katie Hodges-Kluck, PhD @klhkhistorian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights** Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight.
From meteorologist Eric Snitil

**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights**

"Heads up birders, I would not be surprised if the biggest bird migration night of the year happens over the next 2 nights. Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight. That is a lot, but the pattern could not be better for migratory birds. A massive area of high pressure will turn the low level winds from the northeast to the southwest across most of the US. The last time we had anything similar to this in the fall was early October last year when a record 1.25 billion birds were in flight. I doubt we get to that level, but I suspect the number will top 500 million especially Monday night which looks to be the bigger of the two nights. You can help by turning off those outdoor lights on big migration nights, and the next 2 nights is about as big as it gets."
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
There’s more to be said about the relationship between Pinker-style stardom and the state of academia. Not because academia is Woke, but because star systems loosen rigor at the top while solid scholarship becomes a dead end lower down. Shoddy celebrities and broke PhDs proceed from the same machine
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D. Hicks @danhicks.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Good Caturday, is hello
Very wide-angle photo from my breakfast chair on the patio. A black cat is sitting on a small table next to a full mug of tea and bowl of oatmeal. In the background an adolescent tabby is looking at through an my open screen door. My laptop is off to the right, with a Nature story about CRISPR crops visible.
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Cat T @cattownsend.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“In defending the west, Pinker seems to think he’s now sitting with the cool kids, the anti-woke avant-garde. But in When Everyone Knows… he struggles to keep the intellectual whip hand.” From @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social www.thenerve.news/p/steven-pin...
thenerve.news
From celebrity intellectual to anti-woke outlaw: how Steven Pinker lost his way
The pop psycholgist’s new book seems to betray a lurking fear of others’ criticism – about his Epstein links, his manosphere admirers and his discredited former field of study, writes Virginia Heffern...
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Samantha Asumadu @samanthaasumadu.substack.com · 18/09/2026
Students walk out of graduation ceremony at Ghent University after the faculty’s honorary vice-rector denounced what he called a “lynching” of self-described 'race realist' and avowed eugenicist Nathan Cofnas brusselssignal.eu/2026/09/ghen...
brusselssignal.eu
Ghent students walk out
Professor Freddy Mortier, a honorary vice-rector and professor in ethics , used the platform to call out colleagues who had ganged up on Cofnas.
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
9,500 years old! And still intact! A Mesolithic woven baskets from Spain’s Cueva de los Murciélagos (“Cave of the Bats”) are Europe’s oldest known basketry. Thanks to the cave’s near‑zero humidity, organic materials didn’t decay, preserving several baskets for more than 9,000. 🧵/1/2 📷 me
Woven cylindrical basket displayed against a black background, with a wide rim and rounded base illuminated by a spotlight.
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Protect the Wild @protectthewild.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Regent House in Dorking was a known nesting site for Common Swifts, but was destroyed this year during nesting season, with Swift nests inside. It is highly likely that safeguards intended to protect nesting birds were not properly followed at the site.
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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 16/09/2026
📰 Archaeologists uncover unique sculpture of a person sat on a leopard from 11,000-year-old Karahantepe, Türkiye. 🏺 #ArchaeologyNews via @mymodernmet.bsky.social mymodernmet.com/11000-year-o...
mymodernmet.com
Archaeologists Unearth 11,000-Year-Old Sculpture of a Person Sitting on a Leopard in Turkey
“To my knowledge, the human figure mounted on an animal is unique.”
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Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Boosting this so more people will see it. @crits4cats.org is a fantastic rescue, and they and the cats they help could use whatever help you can provide!
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 16/09/2026
Sea surface temperatures in the key Niño 3.4 region have been at record highs since early June (climate change plus El Niño), now more than 1°C above the 1997 record this week! 😬 Bring your El Niño questions and more to our free webinar tomorrow (sign up): climatecentral-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Line graph time series of daily Nino 3.4 sea surface temperatures from 1982 to 2026. This year is currently a record high for this time of year through September 14, 2026. Data is from NOAA OISSTv2.1, and the graphic is created by Climate Central at https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-briefings.
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Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 15/09/2026
Breaking News! Code UFB!!! Yesterday's (preliminary) Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature just broke past 3.0°C above the 1991-2020 baseline! This marks the 108th consecutive daily record, is 1.07°C above the previous daily record set in 1997, and is 4.02σ above the baseline.
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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 15/09/2026
"This indefensible, dangerous bill seeks to put an industry that has been lying to the public for decades above the law. And the cherry on top of this sweet giveaway to polluters: the bill attempts to codify climate science denial by misrepresenting the field of attribution science."—Kathy Mulvey
ucs.org
Big Oil Immunity Bill Connected to Prominent Right-Wing Operative Leonard Leo in House Judiciary Committee Markup
Big Oil Immunity Bill Connected to Prominent Right-Wing Operative Leonard Leo in House Judiciary Committee Markup
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Cat T @cattownsend.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
One important point here is demonstrating how Cofnas equivocates between a weak & strong claims about racial differences - a hallmark of pseudoscience.
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Thomas Long @rayosunlong.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The more shit you store in the cloud, the more data centers they will build. Get an external hard drive and secure your own data. Stop paying them to destroy the country. How many cat videos do you need?
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Ren Zelen @renzelen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
the.organise.network/campaigns/te...
the.organise.network
Terminate the NHS contract with Palantir!
Add your name:
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Protect the Wild @protectthewild.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The Severn Estuary is internationally important for biodiversity, and is a habitat for Great Crested Newts. But Rivington Energy want to bypass an Environmental Impact Assessment for the AI data centre they are planning. We need a moratorium now!
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Ren Zelen @renzelen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
“While fascists protest in UK ports and purvey nonsense and poison online, ever fewer people have the perspective or analytical tools to challenge them” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Warning: our democracy won’t survive the death of reading. Read on if you still can | John Harris
While fascists protest in UK ports and purvey nonsense and poison online, ever fewer people have the perspective or analytical tools to challenge them, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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Protect the Wild @protectthewild.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Planning documents state that both water voles and otters have been sighted in recent years less than a kilometre from the planned Viridor/Rivington AI data centre at Avonmouth, Bristol.
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Cat T @cattownsend.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Look at this clown
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026
Here's Amazon's two new planned fossil-fuelled AI data centres next to the ENTIRE POWER GRIDS OF SEVERAL LARGE COUNTRIES Together, the two gas-burning data centres will emit more than Spain's entire grid, if built
Bar chart comparing 2025 national grid CO2e emissions (grey bars) with two Amazon fossil‑fuelled AI data centres (red bars), showing the Amazon sites at about 33 and 17.5 megatonnes CO2e—higher than many countries' entire power grids.
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Gregory Kohn @kohngregory.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I really enjoyed reading this review paper on the function and influence of song outside the breeding season. It moved from individual-level processes to group level consequences, and reiterates that we still have much to learn about why birds sing. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Stationery Explorer @stationeryexplorer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Monster fishing vessels are hoovering up whole ecosystems in UK waters that are supposed to be protected. I just signed a petition calling on the new government to save our seas from destructive fishing, by banning supertrawlers in UK Marine Protected Areas. Will you join me? act.gp/44M8iQA
act.gp
A landmark victory for our oceans: the Global Ocean Treaty comes to life - Greenpeace UK
The Global Ocean Treaty is finally coming into force, after more than sixty countries officially ratified it.
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Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 10/09/2026
Your 'moment of doom' for Sept. 10, 2026 ~ Until 2027 "August 2026 was a remarkable month in the global climate record. It was both the warmest August and the warmest month ever recorded, with global temperatures reaching 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels." climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-a...
climate.copernicus.eu
Copernicus: August was the world’s joint hottest month on record, pushing global temperatures back above 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels
August 2026 was the joint warmest month ever recorded, tied with July 2023.
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Extreme Temperatures Around the World @extremetemps.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
SUMMER IN WINTER IN SOUTH AFRICA This absurde winter heat continues and breaks record after record. Tropical nights even above 1000m asl in WINTER. AUGUST RECORDS 33.5C Springs 31.1C Ceres HIGH MINIMUMS 21.5C Springbok 18.8C Pofadder More records coming !
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Gabrielle Hecht 🇵🇷 • she/elle/ella/cis⚔️ • AOC 4USpresident @gabriellehecht.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
There are now over 3000 signatures on this letter, including mine. Please consider adding yours.
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Leonid Schneider @forbetterscience.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Over 3,000 signatories! Almost twice as many as the Cofnas support campaign. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
So the ultra-rich will continue to own our politics, and our country. Disappointing to say the least. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Burnham drops support for political funding cap aimed at curbing mega-donors
PM said he would set bar at £500k, but trade unions say funding reforms could undermine their ability to donate to Labour
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
>2500 signatures on this petition in less than 24 hours Even if you don't want to sign, the letter provides excellent context about the problem of scientific racism. Thanks to Pieter, @gillianmathys.bsky.social and their colleagues for all their efforts to protect the integrity of our profession
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