A Londoner Returns 🇻🇨🇬🇾

I think, therefore I can 🧠 Psychology ug @BirkbeckUoL Arsenal 🔴... #BLM We can all do better

[Supertanskiii @supertanskiii]

You are AN ELECTED MP, you doughnut. That makes your earnings OUR BUSINESS.

People are saying they’ve not seen him this angry before, yeah, because he’s not faced accountability before.

He’s completely buckled under a fraction of the scrutiny that other MPs have endured.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Scientists made 50-year-old skin cells behave like they’re 20 again.

Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge have developed a groundbreaking method to reverse the biological aging of human skin cells by approximately 30 years, all while keeping them as fully functional adult skin cells.

The team used a carefully controlled, short-term version of the Nobel Prize-winning Yamanaka reprogramming technique. By exposing adult skin fibroblasts to a specific set of reprogramming factors (the Yamanaka factors) for just 13 days—and then stopping the process early—they successfully “reset” many molecular markers of aging without pushing the cells all the way back to a stem cell state.

After this brief treatment, the rejuvenated cells displayed a dramatically younger profile: their epigenetic clock (a measure of chemical tags on DNA that tracks biological age) and their gene expression patterns (the transcriptome) closely resembled those of cells from much younger individuals.

Even more impressively, the cells behaved younger too. The treated fibroblasts produced significantly higher levels of collagen—the protein essential for skin firmness, elasticity, and wound healing—and they migrated faster to close an artificial “wound” in laboratory dishes compared to untreated older cells.

The researchers also observed reversal of age-related changes in genes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cataracts, suggesting the technique could have broader therapeutic implications.

While this work is still in its early stages and the precise mechanisms remain under investigation, the findings open exciting possibilities: one day, scientists may be able to selectively rejuvenate aging cells in the body to enhance tissue repair, improve healing, and potentially slow or mitigate some effects of age-related diseases—without the risks associated with fully reprogramming cells into stem cells.

[Gill, D., Parry, A., Santos, F., Okkenhaug, H., Seale, M., Dobbs, L. J., Reik, W., & Ocampo, A. (2022). Multi-omic rejuvenation of human cells by maturation phase transient reprogramming. eLife, 11, e71624. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.71624]

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

Suella, you got the private school scholarship, crushed Cambridge, then jetted off to France on Erasmus.

Now you’re telling white working class kids the uni path failed them and they should settle for technical training?

The report spells it out, poverty, single parents, free school meals, but you skipped all that.

After 14 years of Tory failure which you were part of it all, Reform’s plan is to keep these families stuck in lower-skilled jobs.

Classic: elites climb the ladder, then tell everyone else to stay down.

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

The UK’s welfare bill is lower than it was 15 years ago as a proportion of national income.

But mainstream media keep pushing the idea that it needs to be slashed so we can spend more on “defence”.

When economist Jonathan Portes was asked on Sky News where the welfare bill could be cut – he called out the broadcaster for asking a "nonsense" question.

The idea that welfare spending is out of control “is just wrong," he said.

[Thanos Angelopoulos @Th_Angelopoulos]

Here is the data that proves that @jdportes is right. It also the data that @cathynewman, @vicderbyshire, and @SkyNews ought to know and to have to hand when politicians spout unsubstantiated claims that welfare is "spiralling out of control" on their programmes.

@johnpringdns published a thorough piece showing that BBC and Sky News presenters consistently fail to push back on these claims. The OBR time series DNS compiled tells the story:

UK social security spending as a share of GDP (OBR, EFO March 2026):
• 2010-11: 12.0%
• 2012-13: 12.1% (post-crisis peak)
• 2019-20: 10.2%
• 2024-25: 10.7%
• 2025-26: 10.9% (forecast)

The IFS puts social security at 8.3% of national income in 1979-80. Today it is 10.7%. An increase of roughly 2.5 percentage points over 45 years. Not spiralling. A slow drift.

Where did the 2.5% come from?

• Not from working-age benefits. Non-pensioner, non-health welfare fell from 4% of GDP in 2009-10 to 2.6% in 2023-24 (Work and Pensions Committee, HC 837, July 2025). Cut, repeatedly, for over a decade.

• Pensions: state pension spending sat at 3.3 to 3.7% of GDP for two decades to 2007-08; total pensioner benefit spending then rose to 5.1% by 2023-24 (OBR). Triple lock and an ageing population. Roughly 1.5% of the increase.

• Disability and incapacity: caseloads grew from 1.2% to 2.1% of GDP between 2010 and 2024-25 (Resolution Foundation). A post-pandemic public health crisis combined with the aftereffects of austerity. Not a lifestyle choice.

• 55% of the total welfare bill goes to pensioners. The state pension alone is £146bn of the £323bn total (DWP, 2025-26).
One driver is a policy choice every major party supports. The other is a public health crisis. Neither is "scroungers".

The "spiralling welfare" line does not describe a category of spending that grew. It targets a category of spending that shrank. It is not a description of reality. It is a political project to manufacture consent for further cuts to working-age support that has already been cut to the bone.

Or, in simple English, the usual bollocks that harm the working class and those in need.

Sources:
@johnpringdns / DNS (2 July 2026): https://t.co/JBcYbCOOeY

OBR, EFO March 2026:
https://t.co/1PM7ZBudXX

IFS, "How have the size and shape of the UK state changed?" (May 2026):
https://t.co/3AOjc4jNTR

DWP Benefit Expenditure Tables 2026:
https://t.co/hFj0lc3WZZ

House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, HC 837 (July 2025):
https://t.co/Da9pfaeKB8

Resolution Foundation (Nov 2025): https://t.co/2z3tujKK9X

[A Londoner Returns 🇻🇨🇬🇾 @LondonerReturns]

Save Umana Yana - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/OxElOJCMAO via @UKChange

[DailyAFC @DailyAFC]

🔴 Martinelli throwing an Arsenal scarf on top of the camera inside the Spurs stadium #afc

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

Why did Boris Johnson accept a £1m gift from the same billionaire who gave Farage £5m?

What did Nigel Farage AND Boris Johnson do for the biggest lump sums of cash ever given to British politicians?

So glad to see this trending. #HarborneReceipts

And follow @thenerve_news

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

90% of countries in the world can own their water but not us. People in England want their water back. But the government is protecting private water profiteers.

It’s time to give the public a say. @Feargal_Sharkey wants you stand up and be counted. Sign the petition: https://t.co/NdwoKq7k3o

[Heketox (01) @heketox7000]

Después del GP que se ha marcado Russell, hace esto (que entiendo la idea) no le puedo aprobar.

Totalmente antideportivo, baja la velocidad tanto que es hasta peligroso, y el solito provocó el toque entre Hulkenberg y Sainz.

[The Race @wearetherace]

Lewis Hamilton’s dad Anthony is launching a V10-based racing series, and this is the first image!

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

"‘They’re a private company, run for profit!’: fury in Kent at South East Water’s outages."

Cam someone please explain to me why South East Water are still in business, how they still have an operating licence and why the public are still be asked to put up with this nonsense?

https://t.co/K6HRsH9UAD

[Premier League @premierleague]

Guiding Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 22 years 🔝

Mikel Arteta is your @barclaysfooty Manager of the Season 👏

[Premier League @premierleague]

@BarclaysFooty What a campaign for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta ❤️

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

We all deserve this ❤️

[Mohamed ELNeny @ElNennY]

I can’t stop celebrating I can’t tell how happy I am for the club, the team, and the fans. I love you, Arsenal 🤩🤩🤩