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Oxtale

@oxtale.bsky.social
448 followers 1.6K following 531 posts

Well. Here we all are. Issues, crisis & strategic comms for food, farming, science & industry. PhD @ Uni of Nottingham Vet School, graduate @ SRUC, displaced Scot & serial dog adopter. AKA Amy Jackson.

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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
It's no less toxic - just toxic on the left rather than the right with little tolerance for diverse views.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
It makes me laugh when people talk about EU animal welfare, environmental & food safety laws as if they're some kind of utopian ideal. They're not. There are many cases of the UK moving more quickly, more smartly or further in all these areas. 1/2 www.thetimes.com/article/e8e9...
thetimes.com
What’s on the table as part of Keir Starmer’s EU deal?
From security and immigration to food standards and fisheries, the key elements in the prime minister’s wide-ranging new agreement with the bloc
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
We've never grown less of our own food... www.thetimes.com/article/7a9c...
thetimes.com
From chicken to potatoes, Britain’s never grown less of its own food
Cheap imports and poor returns from farming mean our self-sufficiency is in peril. Some even think we’re on the road to rationing
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
And here we all are worrying about accepting that calendar or bottle or wine from suppliers at Christmas. abcnews.go.com/Politics/tru...
abcnews.go.com
Trump administration poised to accept 'palace in the sky' as a gift for Trump from Qatar: Sources
President Trump poised to accept "palace in the sky" as a gift from Qatar: Sources
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Will Yeates @wyeates.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
If you read to the very bottom of the Telegraph article He wants Fortescue to reach what he calls “real zero” by 2040 – where fossil fuels are no longer used because there are better alternatives. “I believe net zero is a f------ con,” he says. “Real zero is serious. Just stop burning fossil fuel.”
buff.ly
‘Net zero is a f------ con’, says mining tycoon going green — The Telegraph
Interview: Andrew Forrest is on a mission to prove that business nous and climate evangelism can coexist
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
*Facism* *Truth* *Big *Law* *Love* Five words explored by George Orwell in his works, that have taken on a chilling new resonance today. And of all of these, 'truth' is the most devastating. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/serie...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Sounds - Orwell in Five Words - Available Episodes
Listen to the latest episodes of Orwell in Five Words on BBC Sounds.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Quite encouraged by the bug count on my car today. More than I've seen in a few years. But underlines the importance of good spring weather to bug populations?
Squished bugs on front of car
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Root and Reason @rootandreason.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Should UK farmers play a part in meeting UK govt goals on climate change? AFN Champ @oxtale.bsky.social has released a report following a ‘farmers’ jury’ experiment conducted earlier this year. Read some conclusions & recommendations 👉 tinyurl.com/eefywrfd & full report 👉 tinyurl.com/farmerjury
tinyurl.com
Amy Jackson - AFN Network+
Amy has spent most of her life working in and around farming: on farms, as trainee auctioneer and cattle breeder, and in agricultural public relations – including four years as head of communications ...
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Somerset Wildlands @somersetwildlands.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Help us rewild the Somerset Levels, and make more space for nature. All this week your donations will be 𝗗𝗢𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗗 as part of the Big Give. If you can't donate please share to help spread the word. Thank you! donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
St George learns issues and crisis management.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
I do appreciate your concern @aendra.com, but that percentage does actually seem to reflect the wider population? In England and Wales, the 2021 census indicated that 0.54% of the population identified as a gender different from their sex registered at birth.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Pretty clear-eyed and helpful in terms of explaining the facts, issues, context and routes forward... www.thetimes.com/article/f89e...
thetimes.com
Ill-informed challenges to Supreme Court decision help nobody
Citizens should be involved in debate about law reform, but questioning the legitimacy of the judgment on misconceived grounds is irresponsible
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Just love this obituary of Anne Harper (formerly Scargill). I think many in high profile political roles are attracted to strong partners, but you rarely hear their partners' stories... www.thetimes.com/article/9ee1...
thetimes.com
Anne Harper obituary: activist and wife of Arthur Scargill
Firebrand who brought ‘girl power’ to the miners’ strike in 1984-85 and later occupied pits threatened with closure
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
I found this a very thoughtful and empathetic view of the issues on both 'sides' in this heated debate. Views? www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/blog/sex-and...
fawcettsociety.org.uk
Sex and gender identity: finding a way forward
Our CEO, Sam Smethers, reflects on the importance of empathy in order to balance the rights of both women and trans women.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
You can. You just get an ESTA, same as before 🤷🏻‍♀️. Not excusing these guys but we don't need to make it worse than it already is...
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
What an age we live in. And what reprehensible, self-obsessed people we're watching shape it.
For about 11 minutes on Monday, Earth will have six fewer people on it as Lauren Sánchez soars to the edge of space and back with five female friends aboard one of her fiancé’s rockets....By contrast...
The FBI should investigate who is spreading Russian propaganda in the White House, a senior Ukrainian MP has said, after President Trump described a Russian ballistic missile strike which killed at least 34 people as a “mistake”.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
SUCH a great story via @theknowledgenews.bsky.social... Middle age men community cards 😍 www.tokyoweekender.com/entertainmen...
tokyoweekender.com
Middle-Aged Man Trading Cards Go Viral in Rural Japan Town
A trading card game consisting of real-life ojisan (middle-aged men) are going viral with kids in the city of Kawara in Fukuoka Prefecture.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Drama every day. Every single day. Puts me in mind of... youtube.com/watch?v=zYUD...
youtube.com
Poop Poop!
YouTube video by MikhailCompo
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Sobering thought for the day from @theknowledgenews.bsky.social
Quoted: “What is a committee? A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.” American journalist Richard Harkness
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Gory Thing @korybing.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Instead of believing the myth that three expensive, genetically modified wolves are “de-extinct” dire wolves, let’s look at animals humanity has actually brought back from the brink of extinction using proven science and dedicated hard work: 🧵/6
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
I can't tell you how up for this I am. Go @themerl.bsky.social!
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
The problem is that average UK cows' milk per 240ml emits 300g CO2e (1.25kg/litre) and some (eg Arla's) is as low as 260g. UK also uses only 1.9 litres of 'blue' tap or abstracted water per 240g. The rest is rainfall. So global figures really are pretty irrelevant at a national level?
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Today, I found out my husband travels abroad with cocktail sticks.
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The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Spring forth, spring equinox
A painting of a horse and rider, before a scene of fields and sky. The horse's front legs are suspended in the air.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Wondering if BlueSky is now a liberal elite echo chamber of people who, through an inability to empathise with those who feel differently to them, have unwittingly stoked this current crisis? 🤔 There are very few bad people in the world - but plenty of scared people. Shall we try to help sort that?
media.tenor.com
a dog is sitting in the back seat of a car and looking at the camera .
ALT: a dog is sitting in the back seat of a car and looking at the camera .
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Plum blossom just alive with bees today....
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Much as I like Pride & Prejudice I find it impossible to deny that this is the greatest review of it of all time.
Just a bunch of people going to each other's houses.
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Sustainable Food Trust @susfoodtrust.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
🗨️ Livestock farmers: If your local abattoir closed, what would you do? We need to hear directly from those on the frontlines of farming to understand how abattoirs are important for their businesses and the impact of losing the services they provide: surveymonkey.com/r/abattoirs
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Is there any particular reason Google hasn't flagged Harriet Tubman day...? 🤨 Just asking... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet...
en.wikipedia.org
Harriet Tubman Day - Wikipedia
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Neil Heseltine was inspiring at the Oxford Farming Conference... www.thetimes.com/article/f618...
thetimes.com
I’m a farmer with 400 sheep and only made £500 in a year
Neil Heseltine swapped 80 hours a week of intensive sheep farming for half the hours, an environmentally-friendly herd and money in the bank
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
I have rarely seen a more worthwhile petition. Please read and given the current climate of ramapant overseas interference in many countries' domestic issues including ours, consider signing.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Beautiful wild crocuses popping up!
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Rob Cameron @robcjournalist.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Stansted. Has he not suffered enough?
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
One of the all time greats on the Far Side calendar yesterday...
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Who'd have thunk it about that newfangled thing called pasteurisation.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
@oxfordcitycouncil.bsky.social take note please re Cornmarket
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Stephan Lewandowsky @lewan.uk · 06/02/2025
My latest column just appeared in Science, entitled "Free speech, fact-checking, and the right to accurate information”. (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) I use one of President Trump’s first executive orders to unpack the terrain between misinformation and claims to free speech 1/n
science.org
Free speech, fact checking, and the right to accurate information
True to his campaign promises, on 20 January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed a broad range of Executive Orders, the scope of which ranged from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” t...
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
I think many can relate to this, in @theknowledgenews.bsky.social today... 🚄
Heroes
Network Rail, for cracking down on the use of such grossly offensive words as “mother”, “mankind” and “passengers”. In a 134-page manual entitled “Speak Passenger”, staff are advised to instead use “parent”, “humankind” and “you”. A pregnant woman is now to be referred to as a “pregnant person”; “normal” should be “neurotypical”. It’s all part of a drive to make customers less frustrated over train delays and cancellations, says Allison Pearson in The Daily Telegraph. “A better way of doing that, of course, would be to make the railways run on time.”
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Can anyone explain this to me? Steve Micklewright, chief executive of Trees for Life, said: "If we are serious about tackling the nature and climate emergencies, we need lynx back." 🤔 www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
John Swinney rules out reintroduction of lynx to Scotland
The first minister tells farmers that no carnivorous species will be reintroduced under his government.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
As if HMRC would ever 'reach out'. Do better scammers - and sort that shonky email address out...
Scam email purporting to be from HMRC
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Some positive news on bird flu as researchers close in on suitable antibody-based vaccine ...https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2025/02/04/bird-flu-breakthrough-amidst-pandemic-fears/?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=06-Feb-2025&cid=DM1191257&bid=613695494
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
@jakereynolds.bsky.social What happened to that post about WRI, where emissions come from, and behavioural factors? Because I have a question! 🙋🏻‍♀️
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
"...pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white—then melts for ever; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow’s lovely form Evanishing amid the storm."
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Great thread on a new study that shows despite differences in soil carbon stocks in fields around the country, the carbon stored under hedges is consistently significantly higher! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Consistent soil organic carbon accumulation under hedges driven by increase in light particulate organic matter
Hedgerow planting is recommended by biodiversity policies and those that promote the inclusion of woody plants in agricultural landscapes to sequester…
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Like Chester Royde arriving at Glenbogle. Well done @thescotsmanpaper.bsky.social for contacting the co. after seeing "scaling conservation to deliver positive environmental & social impact, in an attempt to save the world” on its website, to ask what that means. www.scotsman.com/hays-way/fir...
scotsman.com
Firm buys historic 15,000-acre Scottish Highlands estate to 'rewild' and sell carbon credits
Records show it’s the third time the estate has changed hands in about 300 years.
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Reminded of prey animals hiding weakness to avoid attracting attention...& wonder whether there are negative repercussions for women in showing fatigue? Or maybe female 'success' relies more on relationships hence we strive to keep those going in adversity? 🤔 www.thetimes.com/article/f75d...
thetimes.com
Why nobody notices when women are tired… but do when it’s a man
Nasa has found that observers tend to underestimate how much fatigue women are experiencing, but overestimate tiredness in men
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Very eerie light out there...
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Interesting development considering one of the main treatments for E. coli infection in young weaned pigs has been zinc oxide (now banned in UK and EU).
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Oxtale @oxtale.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Useful collation of expert opinion on the safety and use of Bovaer from the Science Media Centre. But as we know, the science is one thing, emotion and perception is quite another... www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...
sciencemediacentre.org
expert reaction to social media posts about cattle feed additive Bovaer | Science Media Centre
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