Sheila Pinder

No repeat performances this year. Understood?

Crude oil prices, showing a very sharp increase in the last day, from around 65 to 101 dollars per barrel..

Oil prices wouldn't be all over the news today if more of our economy was powered by local, secure renewable energy.

This isn't an "energy crisis". It's a fossil fuel crisis.

44% of UK electricity came from renewables in 2025. More of that plus an electrified economy => no more oil shocks.

Worrying

Kafka understood that an even greater indignity than being turned into a giant insect was still being required to go to work afterward.

Proto-monopoly? Game board with the walls and gates, with the major buildings of Bologna, each marked with a different throw of the dice. 1691 (British Museum)

Ohhhhh

London Clay 'London Clay' explores the hidden layers that make up this city. Armed with just his tattered Streetfinder map, Chivers leads his reader down forgotten waterway

To build on this priceless piece of trivia, you need to read London Clay by the brilliant Tom Chivers
share.google/tmPyDLvNeG33...

And Tigger

I think of Pangloss SO often these days.

Even with climate change, we have enough water if we manage resources right. We need a well funded, well staffed regulator empowered to enforce rules, an overhaul of business use of water, repairs to leaking pipes, + to act to drinking water sources from forever chemical contamination.

We urgently need a parliamentary debate on Palantir. Please sign this & share with your network. Via @the-citizens.bsky.social & @change.org.

www.change.org/p/hold-a-par...

Are friends electric? The chatbots reshaping childhood Nearly three quarters of young people have an invisible friend. An “always on” companion, that validates their every opinion – what could go wrong?

What happens when the one “friend” who listens is built to keep you hooked?

AI companions don’t just chat – they shape behaviour.

Our article asks who’s in control.

Society launches call for new Applied History Fellowships, with the Institute of Historical Research and DC Thomson - RHS In November 2025, the Society joins with partners the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and publisher DC Thomson to launch a new Applied History Fellowship programme to support recent post-doctor...

Closing date 31 January: applications are now invited for the Society's new Applied History Fellowships with
@ihr.bsky.social & DC Thomson: bit.ly/4ijiuII

Fellowships support recent post-doc historians and demonstrate the appeal of historical skills for employers. £12,000 for 6 months #Skystorians

This is your reminder that Hungarian-Jewish scientist George de Hevesy dissolved two Nobel Prizes in aqua regia to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis.

He then left the dissolved solution on his shelf and fled to Sweden.

(After the war he un-dissolved the gold and the prizes were re-cast.)

Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark, didn't mess about in a letter to Farage explaining Parliamentary procedure...

Nice to see you here, Lucy.

They do this in the eaves of our house just above my study window.

A 'No Through Road' sign with the first 'O' missing

"... How I love thee, and thy sumptuous tarmac."

I've recommended your book many times this year, and often talked to people about it. Both the book and experiences you've shared online since publication contain important teaching for those of us working to make publishing more equitable.
I hope you find rest & joy over the holiday period.

My big plan is to engage people in conversations about books more online & offline. Reading is a huge part of my life, but I very rarely talk about the books I'm reading except to colleagues or close family. That's changing!

So glad I'm not the only person who forgets characters' names!

I think the amount you are angsting about this tells you to err on the side of caution.
And I'm spending part of Monday in your office. Would prefer you not to be ill 🤣

My calculations on this kind of thing are based around can I afford the lost time if I make a bad choice. I hate food waste, but I also don't take risks.

I'm in awe of the faith you have in all of us out here in the ether...

I’ll never forget the horror of the Covid wards | The Observer

Powerful piece by @drrachelclarke.com on the COVID inquiry. Those who say it’s easy to be wise in hindsight are being utterly disingenuous. Many of us spoke out at the time, and it’s in the public record.
@independentsage.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

At some point, for the love of God, will someone ANYONE at long last take the council funding crisis seriously?!?

Because THIS is what will break down a society, not some poor soul escaping incredible dangers, arriving on our shores.

The spines of three new paperback books in front of a Hodges Figgis bag. Image shows the publishers colophons rather than the full totle/author.

My haul from a visit to Hodges Figgis.
Books from an English, a Scottish and an Irish publisher.

(Sounds like the start of one of the terrible jokes my Dad used to tell in the 70s.)

Meanwhile... what a bookshop, and what a showcase for Irish books

Nooooo...