David Robinson
@davidrobinson58.bsky.social
Biology professor, retired. Airlie, Scotland.
Reposted by David Robinson
Enough said:
In 1970 the UK and Norway were roughly equal, almost no debt, and owned all their Public Services.
Now the UK owns nothing and has £3tn of debt.
While Norway still owns everything and has the equivalent of £10tn.
That's how privatisation 'works'.
Now the UK owns nothing and has £3tn of debt.
While Norway still owns everything and has the equivalent of £10tn.
That's how privatisation 'works'.
December 20, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Enough said:
Reposted by David Robinson
Blindingly simple and bleedingly obvious.
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Blindingly simple and bleedingly obvious.
Reposted by David Robinson
Lots of resonances for me in this long essay on (mainly) British comedy. Very much looking forward to the novel itself.
Ahead of the publication of my next novel, Drum, here is a Not A Blog piece about comedy. A sort of starter drug for the book to come.
www.rob-chapman.com/cenestpasunc...
www.rob-chapman.com/cenestpasunc...
Ce N'est Pas Un Comédien
A piece about my comedic influences and the role comedy has played in shaping my life.
https://www.rob-chapman.com/cenestpasuncomédien
December 10, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Lots of resonances for me in this long essay on (mainly) British comedy. Very much looking forward to the novel itself.
Reposted by David Robinson
‘The wind turbine and the Catapult building advertise Blyth’s centrality to the carbon-free economy of the future. They advertise it, but I don’t quite believe it, and neither, judging by the local popularity of Reform, does Blyth.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Ten-Foot Chopsticks: The North-East Transition
The ghost of the industrial revolution haunts Britain. The language of today’s politicians, of unlocking and...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
‘The wind turbine and the Catapult building advertise Blyth’s centrality to the carbon-free economy of the future. They advertise it, but I don’t quite believe it, and neither, judging by the local popularity of Reform, does Blyth.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by David Robinson
Good on Penn Jillette. Having to come to terms with your entire political identity and philosophy being wrong is not easy and most people could never do it.
December 7, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Good on Penn Jillette. Having to come to terms with your entire political identity and philosophy being wrong is not easy and most people could never do it.
Reposted by David Robinson
What do people usually get wrong about plants? “I think many people do not realize how dynamic plants are throughout their lifetimes. As plants growth up, they undergo tremendous shifts in form and function…” (8/9)
December 2, 2025 at 12:20 PM
What do people usually get wrong about plants? “I think many people do not realize how dynamic plants are throughout their lifetimes. As plants growth up, they undergo tremendous shifts in form and function…” (8/9)
Reposted by David Robinson
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by David Robinson
I am the ghost of Christmas Future Perfect Subjunctive; I will show you what would have happened were you not to have changed your ways.
November 17, 2025 at 11:20 AM
I am the ghost of Christmas Future Perfect Subjunctive; I will show you what would have happened were you not to have changed your ways.
Reposted by David Robinson
Just got back from the doctor's. The bad news is that tests have revealed I have Onomatopoeia.
Naturally concerned, I asked, 'What's that?'
'I'm afraid,' he replied, looking up from his notes with a serious expression. 'It's exactly what it sounds like.'
Naturally concerned, I asked, 'What's that?'
'I'm afraid,' he replied, looking up from his notes with a serious expression. 'It's exactly what it sounds like.'
November 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Just got back from the doctor's. The bad news is that tests have revealed I have Onomatopoeia.
Naturally concerned, I asked, 'What's that?'
'I'm afraid,' he replied, looking up from his notes with a serious expression. 'It's exactly what it sounds like.'
Naturally concerned, I asked, 'What's that?'
'I'm afraid,' he replied, looking up from his notes with a serious expression. 'It's exactly what it sounds like.'
Reposted by David Robinson
‘Liverpool went from having a single slave ship in 1709 to more than a hundred six decades later. By 1795 it controlled almost half of the European slave trade.’
John Kerrigan on Atlantic slavery:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan on Atlantic slavery:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan · No Illusions: Syntax of Slavery
Slavery was accepted across most of the early modern world. No one wanted to be a slave, except when the alternative was...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
‘Liverpool went from having a single slave ship in 1709 to more than a hundred six decades later. By 1795 it controlled almost half of the European slave trade.’
John Kerrigan on Atlantic slavery:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan on Atlantic slavery:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by David Robinson
reading slaughterhouse 5 for the first time and i was absolutely knocked senseless by this passage, which is so true and relevant that it feels like it was pulled from a history book
October 26, 2025 at 6:01 PM
reading slaughterhouse 5 for the first time and i was absolutely knocked senseless by this passage, which is so true and relevant that it feels like it was pulled from a history book
Reposted by David Robinson
Sadiq Khan condemns Nigel Farage's threat to deport hundreds of thousands of Londoners with settled status.
“They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.
“Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”
“They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.
“Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”
September 22, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Sadiq Khan condemns Nigel Farage's threat to deport hundreds of thousands of Londoners with settled status.
“They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.
“Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”
“They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.
“Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”
Reposted by David Robinson
3D depiction of rainfall distribution across Great Britain.
England is a very dry place: London gets as much rain as Jerusalem.
With climate change, the south will need to prepare for even more acute water shortages.
England is a very dry place: London gets as much rain as Jerusalem.
With climate change, the south will need to prepare for even more acute water shortages.
September 21, 2025 at 12:21 PM
3D depiction of rainfall distribution across Great Britain.
England is a very dry place: London gets as much rain as Jerusalem.
With climate change, the south will need to prepare for even more acute water shortages.
England is a very dry place: London gets as much rain as Jerusalem.
With climate change, the south will need to prepare for even more acute water shortages.
Reposted by David Robinson
Also. "The only people I like talking to are scientists. You know why? Scientists are the only people who will say 'I don't know' when you ask them a question. Everyone else will start talking. After a couple of minutes you have to stop them and say the correct answer is 'I don't know'.
September 18, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Also. "The only people I like talking to are scientists. You know why? Scientists are the only people who will say 'I don't know' when you ask them a question. Everyone else will start talking. After a couple of minutes you have to stop them and say the correct answer is 'I don't know'.
Reposted by David Robinson
By the way, I noticed Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves is on BBC iPlayer for the next few months. Lovely little film. Deadpan humour, understated and poignant. I recommend, if you haven’t seen it.
July 27, 2025 at 9:30 PM
By the way, I noticed Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves is on BBC iPlayer for the next few months. Lovely little film. Deadpan humour, understated and poignant. I recommend, if you haven’t seen it.
Reposted by David Robinson
Completely agree. I’ve been a local gov journalist for 12 years and have reported on the fall of local government in that time. It’s had a massive impact on the fabric of our society, on what makes our communities work. It’s about more than just bins and roads, it’s about a sense of place and pride.
Increasingly convinced the cheapest way to address this is to reverse local government austerity. Returning English local authority budgets to 2010 levels would cost about £7bn. Factor in population and demographic change and you'd want maybe £15bn. Benefits could be seen quickly and felt widely.
"The truly unnerving thing about the fall of Rome (yes, I’m going there again, sorry) was that most Romans probably didn’t notice it had happened."
Morning all!
Morning all!
July 21, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Completely agree. I’ve been a local gov journalist for 12 years and have reported on the fall of local government in that time. It’s had a massive impact on the fabric of our society, on what makes our communities work. It’s about more than just bins and roads, it’s about a sense of place and pride.
Reposted by David Robinson
“The idea that taking walks, reading things unrelated to your research, and hanging out with strangers in a campus pub should be considered part of the serious process of thinking, but might well meet with skepticism in practice.”
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
The forgotten half of scientific thinking | PNAS
The forgotten half of scientific thinking
www.pnas.org
June 26, 2025 at 1:23 PM
“The idea that taking walks, reading things unrelated to your research, and hanging out with strangers in a campus pub should be considered part of the serious process of thinking, but might well meet with skepticism in practice.”
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by David Robinson
Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn...
The Most Beautiful Experiment: Meselson and Stahl
YouTube video by Science Communication Lab
www.youtube.com
June 26, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn...
Reposted by David Robinson
Reading this incredible book and realising why the late great Penny Reel wrote about reggae in the voice of Damon Runyon: because the world of Kingston sound systems is like Runyon's world of big characters, guns and absurdity.
June 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reading this incredible book and realising why the late great Penny Reel wrote about reggae in the voice of Damon Runyon: because the world of Kingston sound systems is like Runyon's world of big characters, guns and absurdity.
Reposted by David Robinson
"Stupidity is infinitely more fascinating that intelligence. Intelligence has its limits while stupidity has none."
- Claude Chabrol
📷 Nancy R. Schiff, 1980
- Claude Chabrol
📷 Nancy R. Schiff, 1980
June 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
"Stupidity is infinitely more fascinating that intelligence. Intelligence has its limits while stupidity has none."
- Claude Chabrol
📷 Nancy R. Schiff, 1980
- Claude Chabrol
📷 Nancy R. Schiff, 1980
Reposted by David Robinson
Here’s Paul Dano as Wilson putting together Good Vibrations in an exhilarating scene about the creative process from the underrated Love & Mercy: youtu.be/aUIpP7KUmeQ?...
Good vibrations | Love & Mercy
YouTube video by Cagliostro Video
youtu.be
June 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Here’s Paul Dano as Wilson putting together Good Vibrations in an exhilarating scene about the creative process from the underrated Love & Mercy: youtu.be/aUIpP7KUmeQ?...
Reposted by David Robinson
‘Are we, as Richard Seymour suggests, “in the early days of a new fascism”? In 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, Seymour argues that in trying to understand the new far right, we have been looking in the wrong places.’
@trillingual.bsky.social on far-right populism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@trillingual.bsky.social on far-right populism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Daniel Trilling · Is this fascism?
As the historian Ian Kershaw says, trying to define fascism is ‘like trying to nail jelly to a wall’, yet for all...
www.lrb.co.uk
June 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
‘Are we, as Richard Seymour suggests, “in the early days of a new fascism”? In 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, Seymour argues that in trying to understand the new far right, we have been looking in the wrong places.’
@trillingual.bsky.social on far-right populism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@trillingual.bsky.social on far-right populism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by David Robinson
Reposted by David Robinson
Things I learned recently:
* Edinburgh’s seaweed is collected and dumped in landfill because it is too contaminated with wet wipes to be composted.
* Most packaging labelled ‘compostable’ is not usually compostable.
* Edinburgh’s seaweed is collected and dumped in landfill because it is too contaminated with wet wipes to be composted.
* Most packaging labelled ‘compostable’ is not usually compostable.
Fraser MacDonald · On Compost
I sometimes wonder whether my love of compost is a response to the dispiriting cleanness of modern life – the spray’...
www.lrb.co.uk
April 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Things I learned recently:
* Edinburgh’s seaweed is collected and dumped in landfill because it is too contaminated with wet wipes to be composted.
* Most packaging labelled ‘compostable’ is not usually compostable.
* Edinburgh’s seaweed is collected and dumped in landfill because it is too contaminated with wet wipes to be composted.
* Most packaging labelled ‘compostable’ is not usually compostable.
Reposted by David Robinson
Non-Lookalike: John, Paul, George & Ringo; and Joe, Paul, Barry & Harrison
From the latest Private Eye, in shops now.
From the latest Private Eye, in shops now.
April 21, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Non-Lookalike: John, Paul, George & Ringo; and Joe, Paul, Barry & Harrison
From the latest Private Eye, in shops now.
From the latest Private Eye, in shops now.