Jon Turney
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jonturney.bsky.social
Jon Turney
@jonturney.bsky.social
1K followers 1.7K following 1.2K posts
Writer & editor, past lives in science policy, sci-comm etc. Retirement pastimes include managing climate anxieties. New writing at UKjazznews.com and @theartsdesk.bsky.social
jonturney.wordpress.com
See also https://bristoljazzlive.co.uk
Posts Replies Media Videos
jonturney.bsky.social
Ha ha ha ha…
December 1, 2025 at 2:17 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
Exaggerated idea of one’s own importance an occupational hazard for political journalists…
davidbeech.bsky.social David Beech @davidbeech.bsky.social · 18h
No that's not *your* on *our behalf*. Your job is to report the story, presenting all sides fairly and then *we* call it. What Mason is saying here is fundamentally not what the bbc is for!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
December 1, 2025 at 11:57 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
disease organisms as the last resort aid to science and health communication... (sigh)
lukesteuber.com Luke Steuber @lukesteuber.com · 1d
presented without comment
Offit told me that Kennedy is a "liar" and a "terrible human being." I asked him to explain. "It doesn't matter what I say," Offit said. "He thinks the medical journals are in the pocket of the industry, he thinks that the government is in the pocket of the industry, he thinks I'm in the pocket of industry, and he's wrong." Offit continued: "If he has data showing he's right, then fucking publish it. He can't, because he doesn't have those data." I asked Offit if he saw a way to reverse the public's rising distrust in science. "I don't think there is any way to regain that trust other than have the viruses do the education, and the bacteria do the education, and then people will realize they paid way too high a cost," he said.
December 1, 2025 at 10:55 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
just caught up with this rather excellent James Watson story (read to the end)
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Jonathan Flint | A Diagnosis
The day before James Watson arrived to deliver the 2013 Michael Davys Lecture in Oxford, I received an email from his...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Jon Turney
stubailie.bsky.social
Happy 10th birthday, Backlisted podcast. Great books are rediscovered and the chat is tremendous. My faves include Autumn Journal, Gawain and the Green Knight plus the two bold immersions into David Seabrook and All The Devils Are Here. Admirable work.
December 1, 2025 at 9:01 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
Pleased the many Stoppard stocktaking pieces mention Professional Foul, which we revisit every few years. Surely one of the best bits of -TV ever, & Peter Barkworth’s finest hour?

youtu.be/D5MYDrWGobg?...
Play of the Week - Professional Foul (1977) by Tom Stoppard & Michael Lindsay-Hogg
YouTube video by Play For Forever
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Jon Turney
catacalypto.bsky.social
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
If you want a measure of how nothing outside London interests our media or politicians, pop up to Birmingham every few weeks as we do, and realise the bin strike is still on and… no-one outside our second city cares at all.
November 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
Wondering if I can
Incororate this into a current writing assignment with @eleanorturney :)
cathygreen67.bsky.social Cathy Green (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈💜🏳️‍⚧️ @cathygreen67.bsky.social · 3d
“It is hoped the study will launch a new academic revolution to replaced “lived experience” research with what Dr. Hoyland’s team call “the infinitely sexier art of guesswork and speculation”.”

😄 😄 😄
thedailytism.com The Daily Tism @thedailytism.com · 18d
The study, entitled “Why are they like that?”, seeks to investigate the causes of autism as conjectured by the highly opinionated loved ones and colleagues of autistic people, whose hot takes are infinitely more valuable than anything autistic people have to say.
November 28, 2025 at 9:54 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
June Tabor starting Quercus’ 1st set @stgeorgesbris.bsky.social tonight with a stunning unaccompanied song. So great to hear her back in our favourite venue.
November 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
I happen to be interested in this paper... Mt first thought was, this can't be real - but, heaven help us, it is! Unbelievable.
erikangner.com Erik Angner @erikangner.com · 4d
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
Infographic with AI slop published in Nature Scientific Reports
November 27, 2025 at 4:38 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
Idea - reassign some of the people devoted to sniffing out benefit fraud to look into MOD and its contractors frittering billions on projects that produce undeployable equipment
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Army halts use of Ajax armoured vehicles after soldiers fall ill
The UK government previously said they were ready for deployment with interest from Nato allies.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 12:58 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
My main feeling about the budget is to be pleased it’s finally here and we no longer have wade through piles of lobbying served up as journalism about what the Chancellor should do
November 26, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Jon Turney
sadiahqureshi.bsky.social
Of crucial relevance to this whole affair.

bsky.app/profile/paul...
paulbernal.bsky.social Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 6d
Y’know, believing there’s a kind of racism that isn’t hurtful or insulting is itself quite revealing.
November 26, 2025 at 10:52 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
A favourite of mine since it came out - such a fine writer
craigmaclean.bsky.social Craig MacLean @craigmaclean.bsky.social · 6d
Just finished reading this amazing history of biology by #massivelegendofscience Francois Jacob. Some of the evolutionary biology and microbiology is outdated, but the perspective is compelling and the breadth of scientific scholarship is amazing.
November 25, 2025 at 11:09 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
when headline writers just get carried away...
November 25, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Jon Turney
unamccormack.bsky.social
Reach for the stars... New @backlisted.bsky.social, LAST AND FIRST MEN by Olaf Stapledon, with @mdeabaitua.bsky.social!
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
Treasury source: “we will never tolerate error, fraud or waste in the welfare system”. Reality: the only error & fraud-free welfare system is no welfare system.
November 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
last bit of reviewing from London Jazz Festival - I didn't say "living legend", but I could have :)
ukjazznews.com/eddie-hender...
Eddie Henderson Quartet at Pizza Express Soho - UK Jazz News
A bit more nostalgia than excitement, a friend said after this set, and that seems fair enough. Eddie Henderson is in his mid-80s, when trumpeters probably need to stick to mid-range, and mid-tempo to...
ukjazznews.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Jon Turney
elliekupo.bsky.social
My favorite moon landing conspiracy is that it was faked but they hired Stanley Kubrick to direct it and he was so dedicated to make it look real he demanded that they shoot on location.
November 21, 2025 at 5:22 PM
jonturney.bsky.social
So prosecution pending… ?
pmarsha11.bsky.social Paul Marshall @pmarsha11.bsky.social · 10d
Suspended Reform UK Councillor, Tom Pickup’s WhatsApp group called for "mass Islam genocide" and encouraged others to stockpile weapons to attack "lefties" and "migrants.”
Reform councillor suspended after 'Islam genocide' comments made in WhatsApp group | LBC
Tom Pickup claimed the comments he made were
www.lbc.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Jon Turney
rowhoop.bsky.social
This week - the evolution of music!
rowhoop.bsky.social Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 10d
We recreate the acoustics of prehistoric caves with Steve Pretty of Hackney Colliery Band www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKY3...
How Music Made Us Human
YouTube video by New Scientist
www.youtube.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
poetry and jazz anyone... ?
(a qualified yes from me)
ukjazznews.com/adrian-dunba...
Adrian Dunbar, soloists, Guildhall Session Orchestra – T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ - UK Jazz News
The Waste Land, among many other things, is a view of London, and a trip down the Thames. Fitting, then, that this first musical treatment* of Eliot’s century-old pillar of modernism should come here,...
ukjazznews.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM
jonturney.bsky.social
Now asking myself who in UK politics has anything to say to someone (I imagine a great many) under 35 who is seeing the world like this…
youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 10d
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself

it is also free to read

youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 11:14 AM