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Roy Williams

@roydavidwilliams.bsky.social
398 followers 227 following 779 posts

Edinburgh resident and identifies Scottish but also American. Data mining in astronomy. History, photography, cooking, bad jokes.

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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Every 100,000 immigrants lost to the UK costs the treasury £7bn, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility." Can the racist flagshaggers just shut up now?
theguardian.com
Cutting immigration to the UK means billions less for the Treasury. Can the country really afford that? | Zoe Williams
‘Taking back control’ turns out to be staggeringly expensive. That’s something to mull over as budget day approaches, writes Zoe Williams
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kashwitna.bsky.social @kashwitna.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Trump's efforts to disenfranchise Democrats. Trump's refusal to seat them even if they win House or Senate. How a Democrat chamber can be defanged by Trump even if sworn in. Clearly there's going to be a lot of anger in the USA. www.chathamhouse.org/publications...
chathamhouse.org
What will happen if Trump rejects the midterm results?
The administration’s efforts to undermine confidence in the US electoral system could spark a political crisis in November – with consequences for the 2028 presidential race and beyond, writes Bruce S...
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Just as Einstein unified gravity and geometry, Maxwell unified electricity, magnetism and colour. Also this dark-sky area in Galloway would be fabulous for astronomy outreach.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The great thing about astronomy. No matter how much things get f**ked up for me, for my country, for planet Earth, the stars and galaxies will stay just the same 🔭📡🎆🌜⭐️🪐
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Imagine a Beef Wellington with the crisp pastry shell sculpted to look like a politician you dislike. Then cut into it to reveal the succulent pinkish beef interior! Farage Wellington! Trump Wellington!
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Please add suggestions to my list of things that should have never have been invented: - Slavery - Nuclear Weapons - Artificial Intelligence - Crypto currency
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Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A third of nurses and a third of doctors were born overseas. Without immigrants the NHS would collapse. You are more likely to be treated by an immigrant than to be behind one in a queue. Massive underfunding of our NHS and lack of social housing were a political choice.
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Rob Sheridan @rob-sheridan.com · 05/09/2026
My cousin’s shirt took me a second. He said “it’s great because anyone who would be offended by it couldn’t understand it anyway.”
A shirt with the following words in rainbow colors:
Fluorine
Uranium
Carbon
Potassium
Titanium
Rubidium
Uranium
Magnesium
Platinum
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
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altNOAA 🇺🇸 @altnoaa.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The Trump Administration has tried to reduce and eliminate funding for the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope in both of his administrations, but Congress preserved it. She's going to fly on Sunday!
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Theo Priestley @theopriestley.net · 14/08/2026
A Professor can be hounded to death by the media for alleged plagiarism but tech companies can plagiarise on a worldwide scale and they’re left alone, celebrated for their “genius”…
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Eclipse from #Edinburgh
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Best way to view the eclipse? Look in the opposite direction! A tree makes good shadows, also a colander.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
The USA has replaced competence in public health with fawning kakistocracy. How ironic that the result is a outbreak of explosive diarrhea.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
A century ago it was Jews. Now its Muslims. With declining fertility, the UK needs immigrants!
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Locals take pictures in #Edinburgh (blue/black), versus where the tourists take pictures (red/white). Adapted from brilliantmaps.com.
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Chris Jones @chrisjones1.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Updated probabilities from my World Cup simulation model* * Monte Carlo World Cup model: 10,000 simulations of the full bracket, goals calibrated on real match data, Dixon-Coles corrected. Penalties 50/50.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Things I want changed with the new Labour leader in UK: (1) Stop arresting peaceful protesters (2) Harder line against Israel (3) Palentir out of NHS (4) Tax the billionaires (5) Encourage skilled immigrants
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Breaking News: the algae has agreed to accept $300 billion to consider vacating the reflecting pool
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Exhibition at Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. I think this could never be exhibited in the USA, even with its explicit free speech protections. Perhaps the UK is the new land of the free? #trump
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Solnit unpacks the world with precision. Failed Trump, failed AI, failed wars, failed men, causing the rise of renewables and women.
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The planned ~30% cuts to UKGov funding of astrophysics, particle physics & nuclear will not only be devastating for University physics departments across the whole UK, it's also impacting treasured institutions like our Royal Observatory here in #Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭🧪 www.heraldscotland.com/news/2604118...
heraldscotland.com
Fears grow for Edinburgh observatory as funding cuts could put future at risk
Fears are growing for Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory after warnings that potential UK funding cuts could put its future at risk.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
An #AI system to copy data, text, and insights from researchers without attribution. How ironic to name it after a victim of plagiarism. #Rosalind. openai.com/index/introd...
openai.com
Introducing GPT-Rosalind for life sciences research
OpenAI introduces GPT-Rosalind, a frontier reasoning model built to accelerate drug discovery, genomics analysis, protein reasoning, and scientific research workflows.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Rachel Reeves hits out at Donald Trump Iran war 'folly' hitting UK families In an interview with The Mirror, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was 'very frustrated and angry' at America's actions as families across Britain suffer the consequences www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
mirror.co.uk
Rachel Reeves hits out at Donald Trump Iran war 'folly' hitting Brit families
In an interview with The Mirror, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was 'very frustrated and angry' at America's actions as families across Britain suffer the consequences
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Reasons for being in outer space: (1) spectacle (2) science. Certainly #Artemis was spectacle, but #NASA science is being rapidly destroyed under trump. So my joy is muted.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Politics is dark but its Springtime in #Edinburgh!
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
After the bad leader, the country elected a quiet, good man but he was too boring so they elected a bad populist again. - Nixon - Carter - Reagan - Trump - Biden - Trump - Johnson - Starmer - Farage
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
400 years ago, people were quite sure that witches caused evil, so burning them was justified. Same now with #MAGA in US and #Reform in UK: people think immigrants cause evil and so cruelty is justified. And you can't understand them and can't change their minds.
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Anti-Trumpism @forabettertomorrow.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
In the movie Contact, Jodie Foster has a question for an advanced alien civilization: "How did you survive your technological adolescence without destroying yourself?"
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NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 26/01/2026
The night sky looks steady. It's not. 💥 In the night sky, asteroids drift. Stars pulse and flicker. Distant galaxies flare when something dramatic like a supernova is happening inside them. The Universe is constantly changing, even when our eyes can’t see it. 🔭🧪☄️
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
There are two wonderful billionaires. ❤️Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Bezos, giving it away to good causes. ❤️Taylor Swift, supporting her employees and the cities she performs ** Any other wonderful billionaires out there?
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
A year ago it was impossible that the USA would be in bed with Russia and making an enemy of Europe.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Russia attacks Ukraine to steal their wheat. The USA attacks Venezuala to steal their oil. I'm glad my country (Scotland) is not one of the revolting bullys.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Stop buying stuff! What your family member really wants is you saying you love them.
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NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 17/11/2025
Something’s a little sus… 👀 Flares, flashes, and fakes — not every change in the night sky is what it seems 💥✨ Test your skills with Rubin Difference Detectives on Zooniverse! Help Rubin scientists spot cosmic events (and catch the imposters). 🌌🔍 👉 zooniverse.org/rubin
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
The Rubin Observatory needs help from citizen scientists, please think of contributing, or suggesting this project to family members. We need to train the algorithm for real vs bogus images, and YOUR EYE is really good at this! www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe...
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Nobody likes prejudice. A woman in the workplace doesnt like men to assume she is a sex object or incompetent or maker of tea for men. And a man doesnt like a woman to automatically assume he is an overbearing mansplainer or groper.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
See what happens with racist populists like Wilders and Farage? Elected on a wave of manufactured anger, then kicked out because of incompetence.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
The four killers of the USA: Congress, Oligarchy, Propaganda, and the Cult. They conspire to enable Darth Vader. newrepublic.com/post/202227/...
newrepublic.com
Trump Wrecks America. His “Patriotic” Fans Cheer. Is There Any Bottom?
Here are the four categories of people who enable the president’s fascism.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Its like our civilisation has the resilience of a house of cards. One little push and we are scrambling for cash. Two little pushes and the water and power are gone. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
‘I’m having a great day’: AWS outage offers some a brief glimpse of a tech-free existence
There was a different side to the chaos of the Amazon outage that affected crucial services around the world, such as no exams, light switches not working, and less work to do
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
ANTIFA: anti fascist ANTINA: anti nazi ANTIGA: anti gestapo ANTIMA: anti maga
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Gary R Simonds @garys79.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
As a fan of Norman Rockwell and a believer in the goodness of my country, this one hits hard.
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
My heart goes out to the brilliant US scientists being fired. But if your field is AI, think of Edinburgh. www.ed.ac.uk/news/eu10m-p...
ed.ac.uk
€10m project to accelerate AI use in UK | News | The University of Edinburgh
A new multi-million-pound European project is set to boost adoption of AI among businesses and researchers across the UK to help unlock untapped economic and scientific potential.
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emily blight 🐦‍⬛ @threnody.northsky.social · 09/10/2025
just watched a dozen people ask microsoft copilot experts their most pressing questions and those questions were 90% “how do i turn it off?” and “when i turn it off, is it really off or is it spying on me?”
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scha·den·freu·de @blisterpearl.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
"Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared." Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943
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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below. It's especially for journalists covering this story! Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
balkin.blogspot.com
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
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Roy Williams @roydavidwilliams.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
And this is why we must fight like hell to stop Farage doing to UK what Milei has done to Argentina. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? | Aditya Chakrabortty
The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silence, writes Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
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Lukas Engelmann @engelmal.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Yes 📣 @katewomersley.com 📣 "This political theatre highlights a longstanding and harmful problem: pregnant women, and their babies, are routinely let down by partial, poor-quality and missing medical evidence." 👇👇👇 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Pregnant women deserve so much better than Trump’s theatre of scaremongering and shame | Kate Womersley
There is no credible evidence linking autism with maternal paracetamol use. But the US president’s ‘tough it out’ message could harm mothers and babies, says doctor Kate Womersley
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