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Ian Wiggins

@itswiggins.bsky.social
738 followers 522 following 419 posts

International Affairs for The Royal Society. Science Diplomacy via a bit of both science and diplomacy at the Foreign Office and then Uni of York. Also Chair of Trustees for Excel Learning Trust. (He/Him)

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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous f**king fortune
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ah yeh you’ve lost your wine transmission mate…. I mean I _can_ fix it obviously but it’s not going to be cheep. Yeh yeh I’ll need to change the intergenerational approach to social drinking and that’s gonna cost you
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The FT really subtweeting @stephenkb.bsky.social with this headline
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I read this headline very quickly and thought it said “Tim Montgomerie still hopes he will be the EU’s next member” Which would be somewhat out of character I guess
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This was fun to do as a Brit…
A dialect map showing I’m from New Jersey, apparently Reasons that gave me away for being from NJ
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🎶 Hold me closer lanky striker 🎶 #NorEng
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
RSA vs CAN…
The stick figure meme saying ‘c’mon, do something…’
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I’d not been following the test today, thought this was ironic. Checked score. Died a little inside.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Only one possible song for today, being as we are like seven inches from the midday sun
The cover of Smooth by Santana featuring Rob Thomas
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Pretty sure Yorkshire had some views the last time Lancashire became a centre of political power for the UK
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Have just finished ‘Blood and Treasure’ by @duncanweldon.bsky.social which was excellent. And have just started on ‘The Coming Storm’ by Odd Arne Westad… so I’m doing just fine thanks for asking.
The front cover of blood and treasure by Duncan Weldon The front cover of “the coming storm”
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Hats off to @politico.com London playbook for their The Day Today reference this morning.
static.klipy.com
Chris Morris Says YES! on The Day Today
Alt: Chris Morris Says YES! on The Day Today
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I find myself this morning thinking a lot about Prophet Song by Paul Lynch which is an excellent and terrifying novel about how yes this can in fact happen here. Between flags and riots, it feels like we’re currently living some of the early chapters.
The front cover of the book Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This is no more about the details of immigration policy than the progroms my great great grandparents fled were about Jews committing crimes. It's straightforward racist violence and it needs the strongest possible response.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Everyone on X and elsewhere who called for a violent response should be charged with incitement. Everyone involved in the pogrom should be locked up with exemplary sentences. Govt should make it clear that will be the response in future anywhere else. Enough.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The racism we're seeing across the right today is vile and dangerous but it's also a sign of desperation. Three parties all fighting over the votes of aging authoritarians.
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Michael Bell @mbellcoop.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
As ever @stephenkb.bsky.social gets to the actual issue, past the noise. Well worth reading www.ft.com/content/aa94...
ft.com
What Henry Nowak’s murder does — and does not — tell us about policing
Kemi Badenoch says his killing needs to be seen as a ‘Stephen Lawrence moment’ but the failures in both cases differ
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
When I lived in Moscow it was fairly common knowledge that the police would rent out radar guns from more senior officers so that they could in turn extract fines from motorists. So these developments feel somewhat unsurprising…
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
This piece by @stephenkb.bsky.social and the one @robertshrimsley.bsky.social are vital reads this morning. I’ll link to both below. As others have said, it is time to Make Racists Embarrassed Again
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 05/05/2026
This is really important. There's a tendency to conflate 'free speech' with 'uncurated speech' but they're different. Social signalling is how we avoid having to criminalise and enforce many difficult to define but terrible behaviours. The choices reputable institutions make shape that signal.
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Eddie Robson @eddierobson.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
How BBC Radio York covered York City's title-winning equaliser.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
What. A finish. Rochdale score 90+5. York equalises 90+13!!! The BBC Radio York commentary is just a joy to listen to
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Two very important games going on right now for my original hometown and my adopted one
A screenshot of the live text for Rochdale v YorkA screen shot of the live score for Worthing v Ebbsfleet
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
‘elf and safety gone mad
A sign from the Met police that reads “Pixie unloading”.  The sign is lying on the floor having been discarded sometime ago.  No pixies are visible, having presumably already been unloaded.
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
There was a non-zero chance yesterday that the US president was thinking about using nuclear weapons. The most optimistic interpretation was that he was planning the catastrophic destruction of civilian infrastructure. Diplomacy seems like the sensible approach in that situation.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
This is an excellent summation of what was an impossibly mad 24 hours.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The events of the last few hours, written down in one place, by the great chronicler of the US @hcrichardson.bsky.social
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Well, phew.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I feel like I’m a fairly seasoned (and therefore jaded) Trump watcher, including time up close in DC. But this latest post is a new level of shocking and horrifying.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Trump may not carry out the threat. But the fact he even made such a threat means he should immediately be removed from office. For that is the purpose of a constitution with checks and balances.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Top tip: setting this as your desktop wallpaper and staring at it for a while can tune out the news for at least a few mins.
Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region.  In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation.
[alt text from NASA]
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
This is the ultimate test for a constitutional order. Either constitutional mechanisms are used to check and balance this, and remove him from office, or they are not. For there can be no greater test for any constitution.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 06/04/2026
Reid Wiseman on #Artemis II: "We have Earth out window 4 and Moon out window 3... the Moon is about 3-4 times the size of the Earth and it is almost full, and the Earth is just a small crescent out there... it's magnificent... such a majestic view out here" Mission Control: "Amaze, amaze, amaze!"
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
This also sums up a lot of how I’ve been feeling this weekend. It really does set an edge to the phenomenal achievements of Artemis
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
This is an excellent thread from a prof who I wouldn’t say is know for hyperbole. For @profsaunders.bsky.social to say “terrified” is, well, a bit terrifying tbh
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 03/04/2026
More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕
A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
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Emma Dabbadoo 🌸🏳️‍⚧️💚 @emmadabbadoo.eurosky.social · 24/03/2026
This is not just a mic drop, it’s an M&S mic drop.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
“You finished those DC metro stations?” “Sure thing boss, beautiful, moodily lit and oddly unsettling, just like you asked.” “What?”
A metro station of brutal concrete blocks and jagged black obelisks.
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
I had to go and check this was real, and…wowzers… Doing that in the 8th when you’re already winning by eight is, essentially, a war crime
A screen cap of the Yankees vs Tigers score referenced in the quote tweet
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Coming up later today at #AAASmtg - Rethinking Science Diplomacy in a Fractured World. Join me for a fantastic panel with experts from the US, EU and U.K. - West 102 C at 11:30am
Front cover of the RS-AAAS Science Diplomacy report session details: 

DISCUSSION
PANELS
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Discussion Panels
Rethinking Science Diplomacy in a
Fractured World
West 102 - C (Phoenix Conventi)Details of panelists:

Panelists
+
A European Framework for Science
Diplomacy
Florent Bernard, Delegation of the European Union to the United States, Washington
• West 102 - C (Phoenix Convention
Center)
+
The Evolution of Science Diplomacy in a Fractured World
Richard Catlow, The Royal Society, London,
United Kingdom
•
West 102 - C (Phoenix Convention
Center)
+
Science Diplomacy in an Era of Disruption
Kimberly Montgomery, Center for Science
Diplomacy, AAAS, Washington, DC
• West 102 - C (Phoenix Convention
Center)
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Well this is just the update you want to see as you board a flight to the US…
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Delighted to see our former Foreign Secretaries win this award. And if you’re at #AAASmtg this week do join our session on Science Diplomacy 11:30 AM local time on Friday!
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Martin Smith @martinrsmith.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
There's a risk UK participation rates in Horizon Pillar II becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy - the more we create fresh uncertainty about future participation because of low success, the more we disrupt potential collaboration. So maybe... let's not do that?
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
If “that that” is good enough for Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address then I think we can all be okay with it
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Look, I’m just saying I’ve never seen Jason Mantzoukas and the Great Gonzo in the same room together…
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Unironically very pro this whole idea! Connecting these cities with high speed rail is a sensible and good thing to do! (But please let’s start with the Leeds - Manchester - Liverpool corridor which in any sensible country would already be a major and connected metro area)
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
The Entente Cordial (I’m sorry)
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Really excellent thread this - well worth reading all the way through
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Ian Wiggins @itswiggins.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Got this, by @juliaioffe.bsky.social, for Christmas and just finished it. Fantastic read, albeit tragic (like so much of anything about Russia). Made me both nostalgic for the Moscow I left in 2012, and deeply sad for the Russia we might have seen.
A picture of the book “Motherland” by Julia Ioffe.  The background to the book is a black and whole picture of St Basils on Red Square cut out like a Matryoshka, behind that as a bigger Matryoshka is a red and white design. The subtitle on the inner doll is “A feminist history of modern Russia, from revolution to autocracy”
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