iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Congratulations to the @spun.earth consortium on their @science.org paper providing the first global estimate of plant root symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal biomass and hyphal length in soils. Great review in @theguardian.com on global implications. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

theguardian.com

Subterranean fungi networks more than 100 quadrillion km in length, study finds

First ever global mapping of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi shows scale of hyphal systems that sustain plant life

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Perfect timing William. We're just back from a lovely 5 day sp ring break in Amsterdam. Spent a full day at the Rijksmuseum where the history, including 🇳🇱 🇬🇧 company interaction, and legacy of the Dutch East India Company exhibited in fabulous detail.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Our European friends do still mourn the Brexit divorce James. Their common concern regarding Thursday's ReformUK landslide is that, whatever Starmer says about EU alignment, Brussels will not risk any accommodation before the next GE with Nigel Farage for PM high in the polls. #SOS #Starmermustgo

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

@mrjamesob.bsky.social Just back from enjoying old Dutch Masters, tulips and canal trips in sunny Amsterdam. A point of discussion with our Dutch friends was why 10 years on from voting Brexit, UK still voting Nigel Farage. I had only one answer "British free-range turkeys keep voting for Xmas" 😳

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Reminded of my plant-microbe-soil research re. shifting dogma in teaching climate impacts on soil carbon/nitrogen turnover. Recalcitrant C RIP? Three decades of continuous warming in temperate forests destabilizes persistent forms of soil organic matter - ScienceDirect share.google/kHEIC1uJtOCJ...

share.google

Three decades of continuous warming in temperate forests destabilizes persistent forms of soil organic matter

Rising temperatures have altered the balance of soil carbon stored versus respired in forest ecosystems worldwide. Yet, the molecular-level mechanisms…

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Lovely early spring day walking in the grounds of #ChatsworthHouse. Just the tonic in these troubled times.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I was not surprised James would finish today's phone in section of his show asking which Shakesperean character could describe #Starmer in the Shakesperean tragedy that his tenure as PM will be described by future political historians. I'd also go for Brutus. Over to @theianmckellen.bsky.social ...

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

@mrjamesob.bsky.social Re. Starmer's disastrous "Strangers" speech (by a McSweeney approved speech writer?), check out the seminal, now viral, US broadcasting moment on Stephen Colbert's late show last week. @theianmckellen.bsky.social Shakespeare "Strangers" masterclass. bsky.app/profile/thei...

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Starmer tried to hide behind process at #pmqs yesterday morning then U-turned in the afternoon and this morning sends out Steve Reed on the media rounds who then blames process (i.e vetting process). His position as PM is now untenable.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

@mrjamesob.bsky.social Looking forward to tomorrow morning's #LBC show James. Just a reminder of an old tweet. #Starmer must now personally "take responsibility" as he promised and resign as PM. After the shattered Ming vase, we've lost count of the U-turns, the latest this evening. Broken Britain?

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Ed Conway @edconway.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

🚨Our film is up We spent months making this👇 About how Britain shut down many of the factories we need to feed us and defend us. Will have more to say on it in due course but in the meantime - pls watch, share and let me know what you think youtu.be/PQ3hT8tqZgo?...

youtu.be

The UK is losing the industry that makes everything

YouTube video by Sky News

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Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement @tylerprize.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement names Toby Kiers as the 2026 Laureate. Her research reveals how underground fungal networks support life on Earth. Explore the hidden world beneath our feet: tylerprize.org/laureates/toby-kiers spun.earth/underground-atlas @spun.earth

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Starmer should know after a year of failure inc. the catastrophic Madelson fall that, as with Humpty Dumpty, all the King's horses and all the King's men at Trump's state visit cannot put his cherished but shattered Labour Ming Vase back together again. Riddell 🎯 in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Listened to the show driving home on 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 flag festooned M20, M25 and A1 after a 6 week road trip through Europe and Scandinavia. A year on James it must be time to accept Starmer needs to have a chapter in the 2nd edition of your magnum opus. His quote in last year's Observer now a political epitaph.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

"You can’t claim to be a high-tech, connected nation if people can’t stay connected for a two-hour journey outside of London. And you certainly can’t compete on the global stage if the very backbone of your country, your transport and telecoms network, is stuck in the past". George Icke @lbc.co.uk

lbc.co.uk

Britain wants to be a global tech powerhouse - but I can’t get phone signal on the M42?

Barely a day goes by without a Government Minister confidently declaring that the UK is on track to become a global powerhouse of industry and technology.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

No surprise, being the son of a distinguised NIH Physician and Immunologist, that Stephen @colbertlateshow.bsky.social brought long-serving NIH Director Francis Collins back on the late show last night. But now talking about the "gutting of the NIH and brain drain" 😱 youtube.com/watch?v=lW9c...

youtube.com

A Scientific Brain Drain Has Followed Trump’s Gutting Of The NIH - Dr. Francis Collins

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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Kefa Hyder @yhwhrulz.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Former ITN presenter Sandy Gall dies: A look back at a legendary career | ITV News - YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXu1...

youtube.com

Former ITN presenter Sandy Gall dies: A look back at a legendary career | ITV News

YouTube video by ITV News

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Sarah Watkins @minilebowski.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

If you get the chance to see @willdalrymple.bsky.social speak live, grab it! He was fantastic.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

We've been enjoying the last 9 days of the @hayfestival.bsky.social both at the festival and out in the gorgeous Welsh Black Mountains countryside. Looking forward to new and relevant Golden Road updates to inform current Sino-Indian relations. @empirepoduk.bsky.social 📷 Our last encounter at Hay.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Thank you @scaramucci.bsky.social and @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social for an incredible evening. My wife, who does not do political podcasts i.e. #restispolitics @restispoliticsus.bsky.social, was so impressed she will read both your books! For me a #tourdeforce.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

No worries Alastair. We're all ready to enjoy the "Special Relationship" between you and @scaramucci.bsky.social here at the @hayfestival.bsky.social this evening.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Our 6th @hayfestival.bsky.social 📚 and 1st on the @bsky.app. Here for the whole festival this year. Great to see so many primary school pupils from around the country enjoying the first day.

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Francis M. Martin @fmartin54.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Delighted to announce the publication of our new study on N assimilation pathways in Laccaria bicolor & poplar ECM in PlantPhysiology. Special thanks to Feng and Xinyin for their key contributions to this work, which builds upon research I initiated in 1985! academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Lovely garden view Francis. We're also enjoying blue sky and sunshine in the garden. Spent the last two weeks restoring our old garden mill pond digging out 20 years of accumulated leaf litter. Restocked with water lilies and marginal plants. For once, decided not to inoculate with AMF RootGrow 😉

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Our red amaryllis blooms return for a 38th year but now on Bluesky 😀.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Thank you, #Australia and #Canada for showing us the way✌️. After the Farage #ReformUK landslide in yesterday's Mayoral and Council elections, Starmer's #UKLabour gov. has to build still closer 🇦🇺🇨🇦 economic ties that must also extend to the 🇪🇺. Where there's hope there's a way. 📷 @theguardian.com

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Our restored Mill pond sees the light of day. Waiting for the first water lily leaves break the surface. Our thanks to LincsPlants.com for a fabulous selection of water liles and marginal plants.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

The irony of Sweden's iconic global retailer 🇸🇪IKEA🇪🇺 opening its London City store on a 🇬🇧 bunting adorned Oxford Street. Timed on Election25 day with polls forecast big #ReformUK wins. But #Brexit Nigel Farage will brush off any talk of the 🇪🇺🇬🇧 benefits of closer trade deals. @mrjamesob.bsky.social

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Took advantage of the continued spring drought to complete my 70th birthday project - a present to family and neighbours. Eschewing hiring a JCB digger, Paul and I spent 10 days digging out composted leaves and peaty soil runoff accumulation in the old Mill pond. Pond plants delivered next week.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

It's hard to get your head around the scale of the environmental vandalism the Labour government is hoping to unleash. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is up there with Trump's executive orders. And the reason is the same: corporate power. This week's column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime | George Monbiot

The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told us, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

At last back to James O'Brexit we know and love 🔥. You've finally stopped giving Starmer the benefit of the doubt. But Ming vase Starmer's a one trick pony in the face of Trump's global earthquake over 83 days. There never was a "special relationship" and the post-Brexit US trade deal just a mirage.

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

We polled Nature readers to ask if they were thinking of leaving the US for jobs abroad. Three-quarters of them (who said they were US-based scientists) said yes. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving

More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Back to Osborne's Pb🎈austerity politics but now from a Labour government 😡. Reeves should've asked ChatGPT what was the UK economic legacy of Osborne's austerity policies (2010-2016). She became an MP in 2010 with a background in economics and banking. So no excuses? chatgpt.com/share/67de7e...

chatgpt.com

ChatGPT - Osborne Austerity Economic Legacy

Shared via ChatGPT

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Brave new world? 😱 I still remember my first US trip to present a plenary talk at ICOM1 in San Francisco. I transited in JFK and along with other European colleagues had an intense grilling at customs. Dread to think what would happen now 😰. Had no customs issues on conference trips to Canada 😍.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Your much deserved #India "magnum opus". Kept seeing evidence of maritime Golden Road when visiting the British Library Silk Road exhibition. So look forward to seeing you again at #HayFestival2025. Excited to hear the new evidence unearthed since publication. www.hayfestival.com/p-23031-will...

hayfestival.com

William Dalrymple - Hay Festival

The historian draws on a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India’s oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

For his research projects Artin has been recording and collecting plant and soil samples for 10 years now. He caught the bug during his ugrad dissertation peoject in our mycorrhiza inoculated Scots pine nursery seedling transplant trial at Delamere. Time flies! He loves his wolly hats.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Looking good out in the field Mark and regards to Artin.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

What's the betting that our food & drinks exports to the US makes up for these Brexit-related losses? Starmer and Mandy will be working hard buttering up Trump but does tariff-free means our kids eating imported industrial US farmed hormone beef Big Macs 🍔? #UPF ++ ☠️ = #NHS privatisation for $$ to 🇺🇸

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

The irony of watching the ignominious death throes of the British Empire. The Mother Country itself now confronting "corporate looting" by foreign actors, the modus operandi e.g. in India re. the East India Company/Raj. In both cases much of the national wealth handed over in corrupt circumstances.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

More EU sanctions on the third anniversary of the war but a report in today's @theguardian.com highlights EU payments of €21.9bn for Russian oil and gas in the last year. Too late for EU to negotiate purchases from the USA, Canada and Norway re. mutual trade benefits and 🇺🇦 solidarity.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

We see the great ridge to Mam Tor and Kinder Scout from our lounge windows. Sorry not to have met up during your visit. Great hearing you discussing "regen farming" on the @bbcfoodprog - check out my Rothamsted BS tweet. Tried to do my bit with local hill farmers these last 20 years. #Dejavu?

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Listening to your excellent #bbcfoodprog "regenerative" farming episode on @bbcsounds.bsky.social was a walk down memory lane hearing from @kengiller.bsky.social 😀👏. We researched plant root symbiotic soil🦠and 🍄‍🟫 at @rothamsted.bsky.social 45 years ago before our Department 📸 closed 9 years later 😥.

Rothamsted Soil Microbiology Department 1979.

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Robin Sen 🇬🇧🇫🇮🇮🇳🇪🇺 @rsen5.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Great news and thank you for your service! We were getting concerned it was a health matter. Enjoying @lewisgoodall.com but as he keeps telling us "no worries the legend that is @mrjamesob.bsky.social will be back". Wondering if jury service has got you thinking #Starmer should go back to the law?

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