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John R Ebdon

@jrebdon.bsky.social
137 followers 124 following 330 posts

Semi-retired polymer scientist. Interested in science, politics, economics, film, TV drama, motor sport, gardens and gardening.

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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 11h
As recently as last Thursday, the UK government listed more tankers carrying Russian oil. The FO then issued a statement saying: "The message is simple: if you help Russia fund or equip this war, you will face the consequences”. Well UK government, time to put your money where your mouth is.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 20h
Correction: "Any Questions"
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 20h
Dido Harding on Radio 4 Question Time busy demonstrating the "talent and intelligence" that made the Test and Trace programme and TalkTalk such "successes" under her stewardship.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 23h
Not as bad as the mistake someone in the lab made when I was an undergrad: filling a Dewar with a mixture of acetone and liquid air! The lab was evacuated until it all had evaporated, fortunately.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
We have had banknotes since 1694, and the appearance of portraits of people other than the monarch on them dates all the way back to, er, 1970, when I was 27. Hardly a long tradition, more a brief interlude.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If you can't build a railway line from London to Birmingham for less than £90 billion (and counting), I don't see how you can build a missile defence system for only £10 billion.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The Quatermass Experiment, BBC TV, 1953
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Are they campaigning for seats in the Duma?
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A BA in Art History and an MA in Magazine Journalism is a good training in economics surely!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yes, yes, all very well! But what is the colour of their skin!?
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Cast out the communists! He's just laid out a red carpet for the No. 1 communist, and given him a state reception and dinner!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Labour offered free broadband via a nationalised British Broadband in 2019 arguing that it was an essential service like energy and water, but seemingly nobody wanted it then. Now might be a good time to resurrect the idea.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
You might get away with this with the very rich who have no idea what everyday things cost, but not with those who are forced to spend everything they earn on food and energy.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Slovakia's equivalent of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yes, I appreciate that Denmark joined ERMII so you have effectively adopted the Euro. Perhaps I should declare at this point, as a UK citizen, that rejoining the EU is not a priority for me; joining the Single Market would be enough!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yes, Denmark has a formal opt out of the Maastricht Agreement. The others have agreed to adopt the euro eventually, but no deadlines are set for this. It is clear that Sweden has no intention of adopting the euro for the foreseeable future, and the EU has no mechanism for forcing its hand.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Why would we need to adopt the euro if rejoining EU? Sweden, Denmark, Czechia, Poland and Romania kept their own currencies. Also, tying one's fiscal policy to those of other EU countries could be disastrous. Remember the ERM and Black Wednesday.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
And what about roads that do exist but which few initially know about? In 1994, the Bristol Development Corporation built and opened the St Philips Causeway, overriding a local council decision. The council subsequently refused to signpost it. Visitors to Bristol thus discovered it by accident.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
No need to put ideas into its head.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Box set of the 8 major Kubrick films on DVD. £10 from Oxfam. Worth it for Barry Lyndon alone.
DVDs of eight Kubrick films
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I don't understand why data centres need to "consume" water. Surely it can be cooled and recycled, as it is in many other types of water-cooled plant.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
But not running until 8 years from now? Why is it taking so long to build and commission just 29 trains? The Chinese could probably have done it in 12 months, given the rate at which they develop and build EV cars.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Why do the Saudis need US (or anyone's) military help? They have an army and an airforce 50% or so larger than those of the UK, in terms of both manpower and equipment!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Not just thugs, but stupid thugs. Allowing them a platform/defending them on social media is one thing, but giving them an easy ride by our national broadcaster is indefensible. Also indefensible is that our government has made no attempt to nip this action against the RNLI in the bud.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's a sad fact of modern life that, if you have enough money, you can buy absolutely anything, including a government.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
What an awful, appalling man.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Trump doesn't even understand microeconomics, hence his string of business failures
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
And particularly galling for you given that your department has carried out world leading and internationally recognized research in the area!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I wonder if a crowd of "concerned citizens" would have gathered outside the hotel if it had been a cricket team from Albania. I suspect they wouldn't have been brown enough.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I don't see why data centres in the UK need to use, i.e., consume, any significant amount of water. It is being used as a cooling fluid and can be recycled through cooling towers or refrigerators surely?
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Trump's renaming of Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario is ridiculous, but having dual names for geographical features has many precedents of course. As a matter of interest, does Google call The English Channel, La Manche, to Map users dialling in from France?
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Given that nearly all petrol cars registered since 2005 and diesel cars since 2015 comply with ULEZ requirements, I can't imagine that many of the Tory's beloved "motorists" are inconvenienced by ULEZ
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Has he given up on the Nobel Peace Prize then?
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
And it's a Tory one apparently. I got the impression from BBC political coverage that it was Reform.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Whatever Jason Arday's sins, that he was hounded to death is beyond dispute, and the msm played the largest role in that.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Apparently, Ofcom has a budget of £233.2 million for 2026-2027. For that we get, as far as I can see, zero value.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The UK chemical industry in large measure destroyed itself in the late 20th C, e.g., break up and selling off of ICI, Courtaulds, BP Chemicals, and bits of Shell to overseas companies and private equity. We still have some major (and many small) manufacturers though, e.g., Ineos, Croda and Synthomer
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Soon to be followed by cracked eggs, squashed tomatoes, and broken biscuits.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I think "a nasty piece of work" is all that needs to be said about him.
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Reposted by John R Ebdon
Nettlecake @nettlecake.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Ah, the benefits of a Cambridge education!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I was bored. According to my calculations, Moon = 2.2 x 10^10 km^3. Australia = 1.6 x 10^10 km^3. So not much in it.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I thought he still had a job, as an MP
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
There cannot be many people on the planet who have such a monstrous superiority complex but who are so demonstrably inferior.
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
First item mentioned on BBC World at One (and at length) - unbelievable!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Trump has asked Xi if he can borrow the terracotta army for the weekend
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Back in the nineties I spent two weeks teaching chemistry at a university in northern Nigeria and spent all my spare time living in their NMR room. It was so hot in the other labs that when you opened a bottle of methylene chloride, it boiled!
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Are we sure that the camera is not just pointing in the wrong direction and what we are seeing are rows of portaloos in a corner of the field, with the main event taking place behind us?
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Apparently the helicopter exhausts scorch the grass, so to prevent the grass from being scorched they are replacing it with concrete! 🤦
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John R Ebdon @jrebdon.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Is that why the price of gold has fallen by nearly 3% over the past week?
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