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Tom Newby

@tomnewby.co.uk
1.5K followers 715 following 811 posts

Structural engineer. Stadium design. Emergency shelter specialist & ex-humanitarian aidworker. Interested in good people-centred design, equity & (climate) justice.

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Reposted by Tom Newby
Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
What fantastic news
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026
Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.
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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A satellite image of southern Gaza shows an apocalyptic scene—not a single building appears to be left standing.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Rayner is correct: these proposals are economically damaging and politically counterproductive. Pretty clear that view is now almost universal in the Cabinet/Labour Party and the informed public. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Angela Rayner condemns Labour’s migrant visa crackdown
Speaking before the party conference, the housing secretary says Shabana Mahmood’s immigration plans would affect care workers
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 24/09/2026
Love this. BCFC have bought one million bricks; cleaned, sorted and restored from the former City Hospital. They will be used to build the twelve towers of their new stadium. The bricks were originally made on the site of the stadium. Truly #CircularEconomy
bbc.co.uk
Powerhouse stadium to be built with bricks from former hospital
Birmingham City Football Club have purchased a million restored bricks from the former City Hospital.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 24/09/2026
This is a subtweet.
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Architects' Journal @news.architectsjournal.co.uk · 19/09/2026
Fresh fears have been raised over the future of London’s Central YMCA building after a bid to have the 49-year-old building listed was rejected.
architectsjournal.co.uk
Fears mount over future of Brutalist YMCA building after listing bid rejected
Fears mount over future of Brutalist YMCA building after listing bid rejected
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 19/09/2026
as.ft.com/r/f257abde-7... Morning all
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Walter Menteth @waltermenteth.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I would suspect it’s only going to get worse. As ppl start to think it’s viable to do this for ‘cost efficiencies’. Challenging value engineering will begin to look like a doddle.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 18/09/2026
This is pretty terrifying. An architect generated structural engineering calculations using AI. The calculations looked convincing to a non expert but were fundamentally wrong, and unsafe.
cross-safety.org
Inappropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI) in structural design
Concerns are raised about the unverified use of AI-generated structural design outputs to justify the installation of heavy plant on an existing building roof.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 17/09/2026
Driving that’s too fast, too dangerous and utterly lawless: why do we tolerate this petro-masculinity? | George Monbiot
theguardian.com
Driving that’s too fast, too dangerous and utterly lawless: why do we tolerate this petro-masculinity? | George Monbiot
In towns and in the countryside, I see 4x4s and pick up trucks driven without care or consicence. It’s a Magafication of transport, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Gabby HC @scriblit.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The person with the music written on their arse from Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights has pulled out of Ed Sheeran's tour
A bare bum with music written on it. Someone is pointing at it all 'look! Arse music!'
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Very nice to hear a sane voice from Piddington. Serious respect to this woman, who is apparently already being othered by more bigoted villagers.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 16/09/2026
I did this as a child growing up near Eindhoven. Each year we'd also be sent off in small groups with a map to find out own way and cycle to school camp.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 13/09/2026
Excellent from the Guardian about this absolutely critical work that must go ahead.
theguardian.com
Mapped: the £150bn megaproject that aims to protect Britain from energy shocks
Thousands of miles of new power lines are needed to deliver climate targets and energy security, but bills will rise in the short term and opponents are mobilising
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I resigned from ExxonMobil today. I spent the last three years doing fossil fuel extraction research at both BP and ExxonMobil. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing to maximize extraction while the window to act closes, and gambling with our lives. More below.
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Architects' Journal @news.architectsjournal.co.uk · 06/09/2026
OPINION When the planning system and the economic environment are stacked against making the right choice on building retention, we cannot halt the bulldozers, argues Alexander Buck.
architectsjournal.co.uk
Why we just can’t kick our demolition habit
Why we just can’t kick our demolition habit
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 06/09/2026
"Aviation faces hotter, stormier skies" Causes, not faces.
bbc.co.uk
Flyers might have to face more disruption with hotter skies
Are people going to have to increasingly accept more delays and diversions as the effects of climate change intensify?
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
'The number of students taking A-level music is at a record low: under 5,000, a drop of nearly half from 15 years ago....Music GCSE entries have also fallen. It has the widest attainment gap for disadvantaged students of any subject.'
theguardian.com
The Guardian view on music and drama education: reversing elitism starts at school | Editorial
Editorial: The number of students taking creative subjects at A-level and GCSE is at a record low. The arts must not become the preserve of the most privileged
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 05/09/2026
As gangs of masked men block Dover port, I will just leave this here www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25
Campaigners receive longest ever sentences for non-violent protest after being convicted of conspiracy to cause public nuisance
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 04/09/2026
I know we're all supposed to be herding onto the anti-data center bandwagon, but man, I worry a *lot* that it's going to overspill its borders & become a more generalized anti-wind & solar, anti-battery, anti-grid-infrastructure, anti-transmission, anti-anything mega-glonzo that leaves us worse off.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 05/09/2026
theguardian.com
‘Guilt by association’: why seven international aid workers were killed in Israeli airstrike
Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A new video from Syria shows M4000 chemical bombs being disassembled. These bombs were used in 3 attacks in 2017, including the notorious Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack. After that attack I pieced together their identity back in 2017 using open source evidence www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/04...
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Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The government simultaneously telling people to stock up on food, and going ahead with extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... The fact that they are incapable of connecting the two, shows they haven't a clue about what climate breakdown actually means
bbc.co.uk
Jackdaw gas field set to be approved as soon as mid-September, sources say
The government is set to give the go-ahead for the gas field off the coast of Aberdeen, the BBC understands.
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Stoic Thinker @stoicthinker2025.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
By the limited media coverage, you'd never know this is an existential crisis. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/c...
nytimes.com
U.N. Says World Will Miss Its 1.5-Degree Climate Target
Carbon removal combined with emissions reduction is the only remaining pathway to avert catastrophic levels of warming, a new report warns.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I think the Telegraph misspelled “the highly respected leader of Camden Council” in the headline.
Somali refugee tipped to face Polanski in Starmer by-election
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
ICYMI this is what the BBC were up to while Channel 4 were investigating Reform for allegedly breaking the law on party donations
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Polly Pallister-Wilkins @pollypw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
IT IS UK GOVERNMENT POLICY THAT CREATES THE SMALL BOATS. THE UK GOVERNMENT IS TO BLAME FOR THE SMALL BOATS. THEY COULD STOP SMALL BOATS TOMORROW.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 04/09/2026
70,000 pints of Guinness and a packet of of crisps
theguardian.com
Thieves steal more than 70,000 pints’ worth of Guinness from depot in Cheshire
Police say two lorries were driven into industrial estate in Runcorn and attached to trailers holding about 800 barrels
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Rob Davies @byrobdavies.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"I want your children's lungs to be smaller and less functional" is a bold electoral strategy.
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I do wish any of these pieces that criticise tax rises in favour of "welfare reform," would engage in the 16 year long experiment in welfare reform that has culminated in marginal savings and an increase (until recently) in child poverty. Truly, a mugs game. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Andy Burnham warned over ‘stupid’ tax raid on capital gains
Lord O’Neill of Gatley, who declined a role as the PM’s economic adviser, says raising taxes in the budget would show ministers were not serious about growth
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 29/08/2026
Wilem Frischmann. What a legacy of incredible buildings.
theguardian.com
Wilem Frischmann obituary
Structural engineer who worked with the architect Richard Seifert on striking modernist buildings
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I mean it's a slight over-simplification, but yes, that's more or less what transport policy *should* be like and sometimes is, certainly in urban areas.
It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the people in charge of transport policy in this country think that private car use is intrinsically harmful, morally suspect, and should be progressively made harder everywhere until it is a marginal mode reserved for specific essential trips.

    David Frost

The anti-car blob is out of control. It’s trying to make driving impossible

Motorists are crying out for a political party brave enough to fight back against the transport bureaucracy and its charity offshoots
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Unbelievably disappointing u-turn from the PM - where is the serious culture change at Westminster we were promised? Our democracy should not be for sale
theguardian.com
Burnham drops support for political funding cap aimed at curbing mega-donors
PM said he would set bar at £500k, but trade unions say funding reforms could undermine their ability to donate to Labour
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Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
"If you commute on an e-bike 20km a day, five days a week, your charging cost would be about $20 – annually."
theconversation.com
The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars
Electric vehicles get all the press – but it’s the smaller unsung two wheelers cutting oil demand the most.
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Tim Waterman @tim-waterman.co.uk · 26/08/2026
Tribute to my late colleague Michael Edwards, who was an inspiration in every way and a powerful model as I have learned to be a scholar. "What set Michael apart was his refusal to keep scholarship and active citizenship separate." www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/new...
ucl.ac.uk
Tribute to Professor Michael Edwards
We are sad to announce that Michael Edwards, Honorary Professor at the Bartlett School of Planning, passed away on 5 August 2026.
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton :(
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Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Even with headphones/earbuds, a person on a bike is far more aware of their surroundings than a driver in a soundproofed car. This is a distraction from the real issue of safe, mode separated infrastructure. Much like the helmet debate, it puts the burden on the rider instead of the infra design.
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Abilu Tangwa. @abilutangwa.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
We know exactly what works: • Rapid fossil fuel phase-out • Massive renewable expansion • Nature restoration • Fair climate finance Emissions are still rising, but the tools to reverse this exist. The only missing ingredient is political will. Demand better. Vote better. Act better.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 22/08/2026
One big lie behind the data centre gas build out: "It's just a transition fuel leading to a grid connection" Okay - but what happens once connected? You have a LOT of new fossil fuel infra that needs to burn stuff for decades to make $$ www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/ser...
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
13 years since the huge Sarin attacks in Damascus. It's really hard to underestimate what a huge catalyst that was for a denialist network that has spent the last 13 years twisting themselves into knots to find ways to deny the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.
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Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
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Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · 16/08/2026
This is absolutely heartbreaking to read.
Before CARE’s program launched in Rautahat in December 2022, Baitha says, the village averaged 10 to 15 neonatal deaths per year. By 2024, records show, there were zero. But since the program’s cancellation, newborns have begun dying again; the first was in December, and four more followed by March.
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UN Humanitarian @unocha.org · 16/08/2026
So far this year, at least 8 aid workers have been killed in #Gaza. 185 were killed in 2025. Statements of concern do not protect aid workers. All parties to conflict must uphold international humanitarian law. Those who break the rules must be held to account. #ActForHumanity
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R1ch1e5 @r1ch1e5.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Perhaps fossil fuel bills should be forced to state the monthly toll of deaths associated with their continued use. #ClimateEmergency #FossilFuel
nytimes.com
In One Week During Europe’s Record Heat Wave, Deaths Increased by 16,000 (Gift Article)
Deaths spiked in northwest Europe in June, where countries were unprepared for extreme heat that hit much of the continent.
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Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The visual definition of a "cyclist" completely changes the second you stop designing infrastructure exclusively for middle-aged men riding for sport.
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Just Lynn 💙🦋✌️🇺🇦 @shoredweller7.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
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London Cycling Campaign @londoncycling.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
There's been extensive research on floating bus stops, where cycle tracks pass bus stops on a main road. They need to be designed well - but the claims they're dangerous just don't match the evidence. Without them, cycling won't be inclusive & safe for everyone. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
standard.co.uk
Disability campaigners call on mayor to scrap floating bus stops
The stops, first introduced in 2013, involve a cycle lane running between a bus stop and the pavement
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Tom Holbrook @thomholbrook.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Well said Sadiq: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Sadiq Khan calls on Andy Burnham to commit to climate action as pressure grows over North Sea oil
London mayor points to ‘terrifying scenes’ this summer amid speculation Burnham may back Jackdaw and Rosebank projects
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Abilu Tangwa. @abilutangwa.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The IMF says we pay $5T/year to subsidize fossil fuels — that's $13M per MINUTE to destroy our future. Meanwhile solar & wind fight for scraps. We don't have a funding problem. We have a priority problem.
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