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physicistphil.bsky.social
Phil Benson
@physicistphil.bsky.social
350 followers 370 following 280 posts
Physicist with a penchant for politics and philosophy. And occasional amateur photographer and astrophotographer! https://www.flamsteed.info/
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physicistphil.bsky.social
Featuring a Wokie Dokie that I also spotted! So, it must be great 😂 What was it...? You'll just have to listen to... the mighty @quietriotpod.bsky.social Xx
quietriotpod.bsky.social Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 5d
NEW EPISODE: CRIME & BANISHMENT

😱 Is anyone NOT challenging Starmer's position?
👮 Just how broken is our justice system? (Spoiler: very)
🎄Trees: Sneaky evergreen wokeness klaxon

With guest @kirkkorner.bsky.social.

🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/54hc...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Crime and Banishment
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 20/11/2025 · 1h 11m
podcasts.apple.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
alexsobel.co.uk
We need to move away from First Past the Post. 🗳️

#PR #ProportionalRepresentation #FairElections

Full article: https://loom.ly/ojnMd-A
Time for a PR campaign Andrew Adonis (“Why you should stop thinking about electoral reform”, Prospect online, October) argues time spent considering reform is wasted as there is no certain route to change. Noting Nigel Farage has no interest in fair votes now that first-past-the-post (FPTP) promises to favour him, Adonis invites us to abandon hope. But the unprecedented fragmentation of British politics, with support split between more parties than ever before, should lead to the opposite conclusion. It is precisely because things are so volatile that we urgently need a better system and that a chance for reform could quickly materialise. It is now “anyone’s guess what you get out of our electoral system”, says Professor Rob Ford. Under these conditions, FPTP delivers random, profoundly unrepresentative results where any party—even an extreme one—could win a majority on less than a third of the vote. With a record 60 per cent of the public in favour of change, it would be irresponsible to allow Britain to sleepwalk into such instability. MPs across the Commons are calling for a National Commission on Electoral Reform: a time-limited, independent process to review FPTP and alternatives and recommend a way forward. Whether its conclusions informed this government or future manifestos or governments, it is hard to argue against the merit of such a process. I would also counsel Lord Adonis against too confidently predicting what the future holds for electoral reform. British politics has had a habit of upending expectations this last decade and, thanks in no small part to the voting system, it is now less predictable than ever before. Alex Sobel MP, chair, APPG for Fair Elections
November 18, 2025 at 8:14 AM
physicistphil.bsky.social
Misty and drizzly day in South London...
November 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
mariuskiely.uk
Saw this on the Instagrams, but it is soooooooo true:
Screenshot that states: "Gen-X are just 45-60 year olds who look 30-40 years old, but mentally still teenagers." It is a white serif typeface on a scumbled black background.
November 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
gylesnamopaleen.bsky.social
Dear Britain:

Your polls look very "European" and NOW would be a really really really really really really really good time to switch to PR.

➡️ RFM: 26% | 170 (+74)
🟥 LAB: 19% | 124 (-110)
🟦 CON: 18% | 118 (-38)
🟩 GRN: 15% | 98 (+55)
🟧 LDM: 14% | 91 (+10)
🟨 SNP: 3% | 19 (+2)
🔲 PLC: 2% | 12 (+7)
graphical illustration showing the distribution of seats under FPTP based on todays yougov poll. under PR there is a wider spread of seats across parties, while under FPTP, it displays a massive landslide of seats for the Яeform Party.
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
quietriotpod.bsky.social
Putting this together was actually a HUGE amount of fun.

Feel free to share it - here or on whatever platform and with whichever friend or family member you think would enjoy our vibe and the gorgeous community we have become.
November 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
snellarthur.bsky.social
Have a listen to my conversation with @emilythornberry.bsky.social
pimlicat.bsky.social Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 19d
EXTREMELY excited that the superb foreign policy podcast Behind The Lines is now part of the Quiet Riot family of shows and WHO better to kick us off than the marvellous @emilythornberry.bsky.social

And a huge welcome to @snellarthur.bsky.social

🎧👇

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
Emily Thornberry on British Foreign Policy
Podcast Episode · Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · 05/11/2025 · 56m
podcasts.apple.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:00 PM
physicistphil.bsky.social
The best just got better! Way to go, guys! 👍
mrkennycampbell.bsky.social Kenny Campbell @mrkennycampbell.bsky.social · 18d
We've only gone and teamed up with the best podcast on foreign policy!
sturdyalex.bsky.social Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 19d
Behind The Lines with @snellarthur.bsky.social - the best source of intelligent conversation on foreign policy, and global security - is now our sister podcast!

📣 open.spotify.com/episode/0n82...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

Give it a proper Quiet Riot welcome by following/subscribing.
November 6, 2025 at 10:47 AM
physicistphil.bsky.social
This series is going to be Epic, Fab, Fun, Thoughful, Educational.... huge recommend... if you didn't catch series one try it out...!
November 4, 2025 at 11:54 AM
physicistphil.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on Britain’s new class divide: the professional middle is being hollowed out | Editorial
Editorial: A micro-elite in finance and tech hoovers up talent while-white collar jobs lose their lustre. A society that rewards proximity to capital over contribution risks rupture
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
selfe.bsky.social
SELfE's legendary EUROMETER hits Bromley
October 30, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
bremaininspain.com
The Wonderful Lord Heseltine
"He walked slowly to the lectern, one hand on the rail, the other behind his back. A 92-year-old Lord Heseltine at London’s Ministry of Sound isn’t an image you expect to see. But there he was at the Next Gen 2025 conference"
observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Politics has left gen Z screaming into the void. At least...
As Labour loses support among young people, others are standing by to hoover it up
observer.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 9:08 PM
physicistphil.bsky.social
This is insane. And yet there are still climate change deniers that walk amongst us...
subfossilguy.bsky.social Melaine Le Roy @subfossilguy.bsky.social · 27d
UTTERLY SURREAL LOW ANGLE GLACIER SLIDE!! 😮😱

On Saturday at 11:00 am, a 2 km-long, 25 m-high, and 150-200 m in width section detached off the Ismoil Somoni Glacier (Tajikistan) and slid down the gorge! 🧊🌊

asiaplustj.info/en/node/354309
📽️ via @volcaholic1
October 28, 2025 at 4:38 PM
physicistphil.bsky.social
Fantasic news!
alexpodyssey.bsky.social Alex Andreou's Podyssey @alexpodyssey.bsky.social · Oct 26
Publishing a preview, with full schedule and dates next weekend. Four bonus episodes after that. Then Season 2 begins in December. A x
October 27, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
quietriotpod.bsky.social
🗡️ NEW Sunday School: Well Plaid!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Caerphilly result - what it means; what it doesn't
🌹 Lucy Powell is elected deputy Labour leader
☠️ Celebrity Traitors; or Why Clever Folks Can Be Total Idiots
😂 Kenny & Alex get the giggles.

🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/6A0r...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Sunday School: Well Plaid
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 26/10/2025 · 58m
podcasts.apple.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
physicistphil.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

New podcast find of the day. And the first episode is titled 'procrastination'. Perfect.
Procrastination
Podcast Episode · ill-advised by Bill Nighy · 09/10/2025 · 26m
podcasts.apple.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
stephencollins.bsky.social
1 Nurse: It’s become a real problem in this area 2 Nurse: We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction 3 Show a building sign posted: Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it Nurse: Ministers, Spads, Researchers… 4 Nurse: Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely [Nurse on phone taking a call] Ok - we’ll be right over 5 Nurse: We just have a gentle chat [Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster Minister: I understand your concerns… 6 Nurse: Are you OK love? Minister: Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters 7 Nurse: That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian [Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters] Nurse 2: Give us your phone, love 8 Nurse: At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to [We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.] 9 Minister: YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR [woman looks baffled] 10 woman: I just want a bus service Minister: LOOK AT MY FLAG [produces a St George's flag] [ends]
October 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
carolecadwalla.bsky.social
NEW: Police knew a Kremlin spy ring recruited former leader of Reform Wales at least 3 years ago.

So why was Nathan Gill not charged till Feb this year?

Pls read part 2 of @thenerve.news special investigation into Nathan Gill. And please share!
1/
October 18, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
johnharris1969.bsky.social
Quite the spectacle to see media outlets who've cheered on austerity saying 'oh god, SEND spending is out of control'. Well, if you gut councils, fail to provide local special school spaces, collapse SureStart and leave public/collective transport to rot, that's what happens. Cuts are expensive
October 16, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
nvondarza.bsky.social
Telling poll showing majority of Brits preferring the pre-Brexit immigration system, incl. 37% of (confused) Reform voters.

Not necessarily a wish to go back to free movement, but certainly an acknowledgement that Brexit did not only not solve the issue but created new problems.
Brits are pining for the pre-Brexit migration system
The idea was that leaving the bloc would give the U.K. back “control” of its borders and create a fairer system. But the widespread perception is it didn’t turn out that way.
www.politico.eu
October 16, 2025 at 10:23 AM
physicistphil.bsky.social
Andromeda galaxy. Amazing what you can image, even from central London... #astrophotography
October 13, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
implausibleblog.bsky.social
Lord Heseltine, "Brexit is now having a debilitating effect on the UK.. It will be reversed, not it, when..The deception of Brexit has exposed Britain"
October 9, 2025 at 8:54 PM
physicistphil.bsky.social
The physics of sinking boats (thanks Kenny. Sigh), porn in public and the "drag queen theory" of interviewing... quite the journey in today's @quietriotpod.bsky.social! oh, and some politics as well 😂
quietriotpod.bsky.social Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · Oct 2
🌹Keir as Crystal: Time to Call Things by Their Names 🐸

Labour Conference
Starmer Speech
Farage Tantrum
BBC Bias
Reform Russian Bribes
Moldova Election
Ukraine Pushback
Wokey Dokey
All this AND @annettedittert.bsky.social!

🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/3out...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Keir as Crystal - Time to Call Things by Their Names
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 02/10/2025 · 1h 11m
podcasts.apple.com
October 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Reposted by Phil Benson
climatecasino.net
Another must watch from Sabine:

youtu.be/5UsKzOkOn-c?...
“Termination Shock” Could Explain Recent Global Warming, Some Climate Scientists Think
YouTube video by Sabine Hossenfelder
youtu.be
October 1, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Phil Benson
sturdyalex.bsky.social
Podyssey Season 2 @alexpodyssey.bsky.social is now very close to reality - threshold is being able to pay production costs and expert contributors for 10 episodes (season will be 20 episodes, but will pick up numbers/support as it goes).

Please, become a monthly supporter.

www.ko-fi.com/podyssey
September 12, 2025 at 12:34 PM