Julien Burcher

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom."

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

Just heard that 1, Percy Street is empty. It’s the site of Tour Eiffel cafe in the 1900s and where modernist poetry was invented.
Wouldn’t it be fun to recreate the moment in a pop-up poetry reading!

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

🤷🤣🍸

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

Naturally, I am celebrating the paperback publication of #TheCutThroatTrial by being locked in a leaking courtroom all day.

If anybody is out in the world and sees the damned book on shelves or billboards or what have you, I would be delighted to receive pictures.

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

🤷😔

[Ben Goldsmith @BenGoldsmith]

The European factory fishing industry and its political sponsors now accusing *birds* of causing the collapse of fish stocks says it all really.

This is what the conservation movement is up against.

‘European fishing nations call for cormorant cull’

https://t.co/OZHbJvNZ9D

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

🥺

[UNIFIL @UNIFIL_]

A UNIFIL peacekeeper died early this morning from critical injuries sustained when mortar shells struck his position near Marjayoun, southeastern Lebanon.

Two other peacekeepers, who also sustained injuries, are being treated at a medical facility in the UNIFIL base.

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

New video for pre-schoolers. Help them learn poems through repetition and fun! https://t.co/maom2oQyTS

[What're you giving me with the flying fish @RomanPBone1]

You know, I'd post more Irene Dunne (and Jean Arthur) if her publicity pics weren't so, dare I say, dull. She's lovable, charming and funny on screen. But her solo publicity portraits especially, are imo, formal and stiff, and somehow don't capture her goofy appeal.

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

🤞🏻❤️

[Mary Colwell @curlewcalls]

A very wet Oystercatcher chick. So much rain yesterday in Scotland, I hope it is ok.
Photo Daniel Hoffmann

[The Justice Gap @justicegap.bsky.social @JusticeGap]

Victims ‘feel like they have to fight the state all over again’: @CommonsPAC hear how victims of Windrush, Infected Blood, and Horizon scandals face significant barriers to compensation and ‘retraumatised by the process’ https://t.co/Y4eaqI0RiA

[Graham Appleton @GrahamFAppleton]

How quickly do juvenile birds learn to feed effciently?
Neat Black-tailed Godwit paper by Josh Nightingale, summarised as a #WaderTales blog:
https://t.co/N8HX4la990
#birds #ornithology #waders #shorebirds
#AnimalBehaviour #AnimalBehavior

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

*Matey* 👏🏻❤️

[Henry Grunwald @HCGQC]

Shared with you by a Times subscriber.

Enjoy this article for free.

https://t.co/2Hfl73Hnc7

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

*you couldn’t make it up*… @LBofHavering can 🫣

[Mr Mustard @_MrMustard]

@LBofHavering using what appear to be unauthorised words on the tarmac. Where is the Stop sign? There isn't one. Ambulances coming from the left have to comply with the 'give way' marking, what a muddle.

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

👏🏻🥳

[Big Meadow Search @bigmeadowsearch]

Bulbous buttercup, Ranunculus bulbosus. Up to 40cm. Stem base expanded into tuber (hence Bulbous name). Hairy. Three-lobed leaves. Grooved flower stalk. Reflexed sepals. Flowers up to 3cm wide

[Julien Burcher @Dowellenough]

H/t @CoviLeaks

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

The UK now hosts more than 500 active data centres (the third largest in the world). They have been rammed through despite huge local community concerns about the impact on their local landscapes and energy and water consumption.

These enormous data centres are giant industrial facilities consuming vast quantities of electricity, water and land while placing increasing pressure on the UK’s energy infrastructure.

▪️Water consumption by data centres is expected to reach 9.3 trillion litres, while CO2 emissions will rise to 399 million tons.

▪️Annual power consumption from data centres is projected to double to 945 TWh by 2030, around ‌the ⁠same as the whole of Japan’s energy consumption, with AI accounting for 40% of the total.

▪️The rise of AI is accelerating this trend. The UK Government's Compute Roadmap notes that AI data centres can devote up to 40% of their energy consumption to cooling systems.

▪️It is estimated that data-centre power and water consumption could double by 2030 due to AI growth.

▪️Emerging research suggests large AI facilities can create localised warming effects around their sites, sometimes described as a “data heat island” effect.

Numerous campaigns against these data centres are being organised by local communities. No one voted for this. If you are involved in any of these local campaigns, please DM me and I’ll try and help you amplify your campaigns.

[Williamrt @Williamrt]

New - The unstoppable rise of the Chief AI Officer   https://t.co/3mk5auTEh8 via @computerweekly

[Privacy International @privacyint]

From Big Oil to Big Algorithm: governments are investing public money in AI with little transparency. We’ve seen what happens when it comes too late. https://t.co/uCAJ395aEO

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Why is Sadiq Khan @MayorofLondon breaking his promise to make London’s rivers swimmable?

One of the most eye-catching promises the Mayor made to get elected, was to make London’s rivers swimmable. But halfway through his term he has made no progress towards this goal, & seems to be quietly dropping this goal on the basis that it isn’t achievable.
However, as a guardian of London’s third biggest river, who knows the river better than most, I know it is a completely achievable goal with effort & imagination. Further, the volunteer charity I run put forward a detailed plan to make the Roding swimmable, which was rejected by the Mayor’s Grow Back Greener fund without explanation. Here’s a thread, on how the Mayor can live up to his promises 🧵

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

Imagine the worldwide Christian rage at this.

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

https://t.co/pcSfJs0M2V

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

The current protections given to bird nests in the Wildlife & Countryside Act are woefully inadequate & this story by @sandralaville is yet another reason as to why.

The law currently only protect the nests of most birds whilst those nests are in use, so nesting holes used by generations of birds like swifts can be legally destroyed outside nesting season. Even where nests are in active use, it’s hard to get evidence of their destruction & the police do not take such crimes seriously.

We need to change the law to protect the ancestral nesting hole sites of birds like swifts and sand martins when they are not in use & give serious thought to protecting the ancestral nesting habitat of birds like nightingales as well. We also need to set up & fund a proper wildlife police force that takes the destruction of active bird nests seriously.