Fergus Bell

I'm taking part in a campaign and research exercise exploring healthy masculinity called #HardAsNails. This March, hundreds of men will creatively confront stereotypes by having their nails painted. It will hopefully spark interesting conversations about masculinity...

...So yesterday I made my first trip to a nail bar. I booked a manicure and polish and went for blue, because its my favourite colour. I'll be adding observations to a scientific study measuring shifts in attitudes and behaviours. To learn more, or take part: www.hard-as-nails.com.

The Fathm team have made it to Delhi and we're making the final few updates before we welcome our first South Asia cohort to the @WAN-IFRA Newsroom Al Catalyst Programme.

Journalism Today. 29 Jan 2025 By Eduardo Suárez and Gretel Kahn 🗞️ 3 Top News Stories 1. What DeepSeek may mean for journalism and AI.

The latest edition of our daily roundup on journalism is out, featuring a new piece on Deepseek, a new report on addressing news avoidance and a new project on Israel's shifting public sphere

Click to read, share and subscribe
www.linkedin.com/pulse/journa...

Two hundred UK companies sign up for permanent four-day working week More than 5,000 workers to benefit from reduced hours with no loss of pay

In June 2023 Fathm made the permanent move to a four-day working week and we haven't looked back. If you're thinking about making the move and need tips for how to implement it, we're always happy to share anything from our journey that might be helpful. www.theguardian.com/money/2025/j...

Big Banks Quit Climate Change Groups Ahead of Trump’s Term Several large U.S. financial institutions, including the Federal Reserve, have withdrawn from the networks after years of growing political and legal pressure.

US banks & the Fed have left voluntary climate initiatives after pressure from Republican states, and now Trump.

But US lenders & asset managers have clients in Europe, where net zero targets continue to apply. Expect further EU-US bifurcation of ESG investing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/b...

More Speech and Fewer Mistakes | Meta We're ending our third party fact-checking program and moving to a Community Notes model.

"We will get rid of our fact-checking control, stop demoting fact checked content..."

This is a truly bonkers move from Meta. The world needs to take the threat of misinformation more seriously, not less.

I'm afraid my account has been cloned and whatever bot is running it seems to be messaging people who thought they were following the real me and pivoting to a hard crypto sell. I've reported it but if you've been on the receiving end I would be grateful if you could do the same! Below is the fake👇

White Christmas (1942) is a climate change song

I'd want to see something about how groundbreaking the conflict was from beginning to end in how regular people told the story of what was happening through what started as "UGC" and evolved into something far more complex and far more organised.

Small island nations face climate-induced ‘catastrophe’, warn experts First comprehensive study on health and climate change in small island developing states lays bare impact of the crisis and calls for action from richer countries

"Heatwaves, drought, insect-borne diseases and extreme weather are getting worse because of the climate crisis, putting lives and livelihoods at risk, found the report, the first comprehensive analysis of the state of climate change and health in island states."

“In the future, if climate change is not addressed and is not thoughtfully handled, triathlons can cease to exist."

I'm excited to be joining this initiative being led by @ezraeeman.bsky.social. I'm one of the members of the inaugural AI in Media advisory board. Looking forward to getting started!

COP29: Key outcomes for food, forests, land and nature at the UN climate talks in Baku - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief explains how food, forests, land and nature featured inside and outside the negotiations at COP29.

✨Just out: the @carbonbrief.org summary of what COP29 means for food, land and nature.

Carbon markets, deforestation, the Rio Trio, Indigenous rights, methane, greenwashing, new NDCs…it’s all in.

w/ @giulianaviglione.bsky.social @daisydunne.carbonbrief.org @orladwyer.carbonbrief.org Yanine Quiroz

Storm Bert: thousands without power as UK is lashed with 70mph gusts Rising temperatures now likely to cause widespread flooding due to melting ice and heavy rain, say forecasters

Is this what the collapse of #AMOC would look like for #Ireland and the #UK? A week-long cold wave and snow followed by a big storm and rapidly rising temperatures? For #adaptation planning this is a real headache www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Huge election year worldwide sees weakening commitment to act on climate crisis Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’

"It’s been a bad year for climate and we’ve seen a gradual erosion in the public’s commitment to action for a couple of years now. The paradox is, of course, that major climate events are happening more frequently everywhere, yet people are no longer willing to prioritize this."

Does a new social network have to actually be "useful"? Or is it ok if we use it for something different this time?

Carbon Brief’s team of specialist journalists, who are on the ground in Baku, Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 will be hosting a free webinar to discuss the key outcomes from #COP29.

🗓️ When? Monday 25 November, 15:00 (GMT)

Register here ➡️ https://buff.ly/4eIg7vm

Climate Change Is So Bad, Even the Arctic Is On Fire Around the world, wildfires are moving underground, burning up massive carbon deposits. The resulting emissions threaten to worsen global warming.

Underground wildfires - burning from the Arctic to Indonesia - threaten an outsized impact on climate change. Their astonishing scope is shown by @bloomberg.com journalists Kyle Kim and Armand Emamdjomeh. Thanks to @mparrington.bsky.social and others quoted.
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

I would love to make a starter pack for UK-based freelance journalists joining Bluesky to help get commissions, please let me know if that's you or someone you've worked with (freelance journalists outside the UK will be next!)

What do you know about Spirulina? It’s a wonder plant that could be an asset in the fight against climate change.

BTW climateXchange is nonprofit initiative that supports newsrooms to create solutions-focused climate journalism output like this www.climatexc.org
#climatesolutions #climatejournalism

What we’ve learned in the five years since our first environment pledge An update on our progress from the Guardian’s head of sustainability

"We have seen first hand that setting targets and sharing expectations with suppliers helps increase the pace of change. The actions we take, such as refusing to take advertising money from fossil fuel producers, can show others what is possible."

Calling it now, “climate smart” is about to become the new “natural” label. Just absolutely meaningless, unregulated food marketing BS

This seaside town will power thousands of homes with waves A test site off the Oregon coast could be key to unlocking wave power in the United States. Surprisingly, residents aren’t opposed.

"There’s enough energy in the waves off America’s coasts to power one third of all the nation’s homes, said Matthew Grosso, the Energy Department’s director of the water power technologies office."

Five firms in plastic pollution alliance ‘made 1,000 times more plastic than they cleaned up’ Five oil and chemical companies which promised to divert plastic from environment accused of producing 132m tonnes of it

"Oil and chemical companies who created a high-profile alliance to end plastic pollution have produced 1,000 times more new plastic in five years than the waste they diverted from the environment, according to new data obtained by Greenpeace."

Make a difference in your community by training to be a reporter There is an opportunity for a trainee community reporter to come and join our team as part of the NCTJ’s Community News Project

We have a great opportunity for a trainee community reporter to join the famous @liverpoolecho.co.uk

You don't need any qualifications & can work in our newsroom as you learn on the job. A great chance to get a foot in the industry.

Details here 👇

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

Bluesky now has over 20M people!! 🎉

We've been adding over a million users per day for the last few days. To celebrate, here are 20 fun facts about Bluesky:

Building up a new list of people to follow is exciting but would be too easy to just replicate my feed from the "other place." I'd love any pointers toward journalists and newsroom strategy folk focusing on Global Majority markets as that is where the interesting stuff is really happening.

🇮🇹 🍝 🍕Ciao Italia! Now with @pagellapolitica.bsky.social and @facta.news included!