nicholas stibbs

[Michael H. @MichaelH14]

Tax-break trees: how woodland became a store of wealth for the rich https://t.co/ToDwXluPdZ

[🌻 Go Wild With Annette @writethewrongs2]

Record numbers of octopuses found off the south-west coast of England last year have now spread as far as Scotland and Wales and are transforming the fishing industry and the marine ecosystem, according to a study.

The surge in sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates was first recorded in 2025 off the south coast of Devon and Cornwall.

A new study, based on scientific surveys, underwater monitoring and observations from recreational divers and snorkellers, has found octopuses have spread along the north coasts of Devon and Cornwall, with sightings as far afield as Wales, Dorset, East Sussex and Scotland.

“It is pretty extraordinary,” said Bryce Stewart, a senior researcher at the Marine Biological Association and lead author of the study. “We have had blooms before but everything I am seeing is telling me this is the biggest bloom we have seen, it is quite different.”

The common or Mediterranean octopus, Octopus vulgaris, is native to UK waters but ordinarily in such small numbers that it is rarely seen. A sudden increase in the population – a bloom – is caused by a combination of a mild winter followed by a warm breeding season in the spring, and researchers say the surging numbers in UK waters are likely to be linked to warming seas and wider changes in the marine environment.

“Now we have warmer waters much more suited to these animals, we are seeing a huge increase in numbers,” Stewart said.

Read more: https://t.co/zJK5mUB9V9

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@MrJellyby @labourlewis @yanisvaroufakis Another mis-spelling of Palantir! It's not that hard.

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@hettonlea @labourlewis @yanisvaroufakis Please spell Palantir properly, unlike Clive Lewis.

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@labourlewis @yanisvaroufakis Why are you mis-spelling Palantir? I would have reposted otherwise?

[Kerry Burgess @KerryBurgess]

You can bet your bottom dollar that you and your family are going to be next...

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Around the country, a huge tree planting programme of our most important native tree is underway. But no bureaucrat decreed it in a policy paper, & it relies on no government funding. This mass planting is being carried out by nature herself.

2025 was a ‘mast year’ for acorns. In order to have the best chance of reproducing, some trees like oaks all produce a huge amount of acorns in the same year. This sheer abundance overwhelms creatures like squirrels that snack on the nuts, as they simply can’t eat them all.

Now, in woodlands & fields across the country, we see the results of this self-directed tree planting. Huge carpets of baby oaks that in some places are so thick they look like a grassy green lawn. I’ve honestly never seen so many oak saplings in my lifetime & this scene is all the more incredible given the oaks somehow knew to coordinate their reproduction like this.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This is really stupid, and it’s not getting enough attention.

The Trump administration is pulling a working $368 million ocean monitoring system out of the water, equipment taxpayers already bought, built, and sank into the deep ocean.

And they are doing it right when the oceans are behaving in ways that alarm the scientists who study them.

Record-breaking temperatures.

A system of Atlantic currents that may be lurching toward collapse.

The response?

Yank out the instruments and walk away.

That is not budgeting. That is smashing the gauges while the engine is on fire and calling it efficiency.

For what? The Trump administration dressed it up as a “nimbler approach” and “smart lifecycle management,” which is fancy nonsense for “we shut it off and hoped nobody would ask why.” There is no return-on-investment analysis. They cannot show taxpayers save a dime, because the gear is already paid for and the science it produces protects real money and real lives.

The kicker: the same people killing the monitors want to mine the deep sea for minerals. So they are destroying the only tools that could measure what that mining does. That is not an accident.

That is the point. You cannot see the damage if you break the instruments first.
https://t.co/MzE4AW1QBv

[Sam Davies @Sam_in_Cam]

Thought I'd take a look at @crash_map to see how that £2.4m investment in Fendon Road roundabout is working out - looks like more accidents, and a higher proportion of them are severe

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@paulpowlesland @cleanupbritain @EnvAgency @TiceRichard 'At the national level, Reform UK lacks a highly detailed, distinct littering policy, though its broader Reform UK Policies platform commits broadly to reducing single-use plastics and promoting more recycling.' GeminiAI

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@paulpowlesland @cleanupbritain @EnvAgency @TiceRichard ...couple of decades, litter problem has got worse by my estimation as consumerism has reached profound levels of choice and often packaging. Also Clean Up Britain has some stern suggestions about making some benefits claimants engage in littering, which aligns with hard-right.

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@Roadrunner19860 @bbcquestiontime @reformparty_uk @ZiaYusufUK Perhaps they're not bothered about winning there, or don't think they will win, or even want to see disruption a strong challenger like Burnham against Starmer would bring. I agree, this guy doesn't seem at all credible, representing weak side of the Reform coin being offered.

[Joe Reeve - 🇬🇧/acc @isnit0]

This is true pro-activism. @paulpowlesland is a real British hero.

Actually improving nature despite legal threats and insane Government bodies.

Really puts the environmental virtue-signallers to shame.

Great piece from @Channel4News

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@_InfoGram_ @ViralMindLive Just watched a clip from Star Wars, and reading Trump's words in my head as Anakin Skywalker (aka the proto Darth Vader). Works pretty well.

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@TheEconomist That hand...

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

https://t.co/zqfDPRTPUs

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@Th_Angelopoulos @miele_rodriguez @PolitlcsUK @billcurtis0 Come back to look at this thread in a few years' time. For the moment, just notice your certainty and dismissal of what you are responding to.

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@TheEconomist No, but Nigel Farage would have you think what? The layout of this X post doesn't work as it is. Shouldn't have to click on link to find out what question the text is answering.

[nicholas stibbs @NicholasStibbs]

@PolitlcsUK Farage looked somewhat chastened by the response - Keir Starmer succeeded in hitting home on that occasion. It was an undeniable point, whatever Farage's political orientation compels him to do, he chose to ignore the family's expressed wishes. Who knows where this will go now?