Paul Jaymes

No tribe.
No agenda.
Trying to be sensible.
In favour of evidence and reality.
Proud to accept when I'm wrong, which like everyone else, is quite often.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

Thought bubbles are everywhere these days.
People trapped in their own echo chamber, asserting unassailable moral and factual superiority, oblivious to how out of touch and foolish they seem to anyone outside their circle.
I worry every day that I might be one of them - do you?

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

Pavement cyclists - this one's on you - again!
https://t.co/RNKsfqo6JG

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

I know everyone's singing along but "Livin on a prayer" in the f--kin 'hydration break'?
Really?
Is this what football has come to?

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@GarethDennis Observation: In many previous incidents (Talerddig, Potters Bar, Clapham Junction and others) the cause was down to a factor that no-one knew about in the immediate aftermath.
There is a strong possibility that the same is true for Bedford.
This is why speculation is wrong.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@SimonHarrisMBD You're right, it's a really boring post.
Most drivers consider the A282 as part of the M25 route. Just like people consider the Elizabeth Line part of London Underground, or Isle of Man part of UK.
Technically you're right, but it doesn't matter, because most people don't care.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@solamiga @NotJT19 Traffic still driving up Wandsworth road only to be turned straight around. If you're heading that way you'll need take a right onto wyvil road and loop back towards Stockwell.
Traffic in the area is very slow moving in all directions, stay as far away as you can.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@Chinney_1 What's happening?

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@solamiga @NotJT19 Anyone approaching #Vauxhall from any direction would be well advised to turn around and find another route. This includes folk already in traffic queues who face being turned around when they get there anyway.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@solamiga @NotJT19 Vauxhall gyratory is closed outside St George wharf. Police, fire brigade and ambulances in attendance. Not clear what's happened.
All traffic from the west and south is being turned back down Wandsworth road.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@BladeoftheS Actually if freedom of movement is implemented correctly - not like before - it should make it easier to "stop the boats" & cut down excessive, unproductive immigration which sadly is a real problem.
But the culture war narratives on both sides are set like concrete so no chance

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

One pavement e-bike rider told me to "f**k off" yesterday and another passed within an inch of me this morning.
Bad cycling apologists: this is on you. Something has to be done. Vulnerable pedestrians are sick and tired of being told to suck it up.
https://t.co/L2QPmpulcV

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@Strobe_Lightly @polblonde My son is 9 years old.
This week, IWD brings a flurry of well-meaning activity to his primary school - talks about how wonderful women are (& sometimes about how awful men are).
The trouble is that for 9 year olds all this reinforces the very stereotypes it's trying to challenge

[Simon Maechling @simonmaechling]

I’m a chemist. I need to say this - because it’s getting dangerous out there. The biggest health myth in the world isn’t about vaccines.

Or GMOs. Or fluoride.

It’s the root of all of them.
It’s called chemophobia - and it’s killing science.

Fear of “chemicals” now drives vaccine rejection, GMO bans, food hysteria, and entire political movements.

From tampons to tap water, people have been taught to fear chemistry - the very thing that keeps us alive.

Chemophobia tells us:
“Natural is good.”
“Synthetic is bad.”

That’s a lie.

Botulinum toxin is 100% natural and one of the deadliest molecules known.

Aspirin is synthetic and life-saving.

We’ve gone from banning harmful substances for good reason…to banning safe, well-tested molecules for emotional reasons.

You’ve seen the slogans:

“If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.”
“Paraben-free.”
“Clean beauty.”

They sound empowering. But they’re not science - they’re marketing.

And they’re making the world dumber, poorer, and sicker.

Your body doesn’t care if a molecule comes from a plant or a lab.
Vitamin C is vitamin C.

Formaldehyde is formaldehyde and your body makes more of it every day than any vaccine ever could.

Dose matters. Source doesn’t.
This fear isn’t harmless.

It shapes public policy.
It blocks innovation.
It raises food prices.
It slows down cancer treatments.

Chemophobia is now mainstream and it’s costing lives.

Scientists aren’t losing because we’re wrong. We’re losing because fear spreads faster than facts.

Because influencers sell fear for clicks. Because lawyers monetize doubt.

And because scientists are too tired to fight back. So here’s my message, as a chemist and as a citizen:

Learn how toxicology works.
Call out chemical fear-mongering.
Support policies based on evidence, not emotion.

Chemistry isn’t the enemy.
It’s the reason you have clean water, safe food, and modern medicine.

If we let fear win, we lose all of it.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@MrMatRead @TfL Just go to St Pancras and explain to Eurostar staff; they will just put you on the next train, no dramas

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@MikeWillSee @GarethDennis Already seeing comments that this means the upgrade was badly done and a "waste of money" when this is obviously an old section of wall, not the new concrete further along.
Yes more work is required, but the damage today would have been much much worse without the upgrade

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@JulesRow @GailKir94323570 It's clearly an old section of the Dawlish wall that's been compromised, not one of the new sections.
You can tell because it's clearly a simple low wall built with granite - the new sections are thick concrete.
Without the completed works the damage today would be much worse.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@CementAndRebar @GarethDennis I'll leave someone better qualified than me to comment on that.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@GarethDennis Fair enough.
I guess that weld could have been in many locations along the route. I suppose I was thinking the crossover would cause additional stresses on it, but I totally accept that that's a reach.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@CementAndRebar @GarethDennis No. Apart from anything else, this is Spain, where trains run on the right.

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

@GarethDennis Absolutely heartbreakingly awful.
My very inexpert first reaction is that the nearby crossover cannot be a coincidence. It looks like this weld might have connected the S&C to the continuous rail.
It's not a spreader bar but as soon as I saw the crossover I thought "Potters Bar".

[Paul Jaymes @paul_jaymes]

This surrender to Putin is so absolute, Trump and his supporters might as well hand over the white house to be the Russian embassy.
Never before has a US president been so played and humiliated by a foreign power.
The biggest tragedy is that they don't even know it's happened.