Prof Chris Scotton @Isteefer

Open letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Dear Prime Minister, I am writing as a Labour supporter who is deeply concerned by the growing pressure surrounding your leadership, but also as someone who has developed a genuine admiration for the way you conduct yourself. What I respect most about you is your seriousness. You are not a political showman. You do not rely on constant drama, easy slogans or theatrical promises. You come across as disciplined, intelligent, decent and deeply conscious of the responsibility that comes with leading the country. In an age when politics is increasingly dominated by noise, outrage and personality cults, your calmness is a strength. Your resilience is also admirable. You have faced relentless criticism, personal attacks and an often hostile media environment, yet you have continued to behave with dignity. You rarely lash out. You do not appear consumed by ego. You keep returning to the work. That matters to me. Britain has already endured years of political chaos, revolving-door prime ministers and governments more interested in internal warfare than governing. The country does not need another leadership contest. It needs stability, seriousness and delivery. You were elected with a mandate to govern. You inherited damaged public services, weak growth, overcrowded prisons, an NHS under enormous pressure and public trust worn down by fourteen years of Conservative government. None of that can be repaired overnight. I hope you will remain Prime Minister and continue the work until the next general election in 2029. Labour MPs should understand that removing you now could trigger weeks of division, uncertainty and damaging promises made during a leadership contest. The press would feed on the chaos, financial markets could react, and Nigel Farage and Reform would be handed exactly the political instability they want. This is not the time for Labour to imitate the Conservative Party. I also believe your personality is better suited to this difficult period than many people appreciate. You are methodical rather than impulsive, measured rather than reckless, and focused on governing rather than performing. Those qualities may not always generate exciting headlines, but they are the qualities a serious Prime Minister needs. Leadership is not only about popularity. It is about character. It is about remaining calm when others panic, showing discipline when others chase attention, and continuing the difficult work when the noise becomes unbearable. Please hold the line. Many Labour supporters still believe in your integrity, your determination and your sense of duty. Britain needs less political theatre and more delivery, and you deserve the opportunity to complete the job the country elected Labour and you to do. Yours sincerely, Thomas Soede

🔍 THE SHALLOW DEEP DIVE The moment Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister — and only if that moment comes — much of the press currently building him up will begin tearing him down. Why? Because the modern media business rewards clicks, conflict and chaos. And billionaire media owners are unlikely to welcome a government moving significantly further to the left. Every mistake would be magnified. Every disagreement would become a crisis. Every spending commitment would be presented as a threat to the economy. Every difficult week would become evidence that the Government had lost control. The same newspapers and broadcasters encouraging Labour’s civil war today could soon demand a general election tomorrow. That would create exactly what ReformUK and Restore want: A divided Labour Party. An exhausted public. A weakened government. And a clear path for the populist right. Their wealthy backers would not need to win the argument. They would only need to make Britain feel permanently ungovernable. Project 2025 is not operating in Britain as one neat organisation. But the method is visible: Destroy trust. Deepen division. Attack the democratic referees. Discredit institutions. Then promise that only a stronger, more controlling state can restore order. Not the same machine. But increasingly, the same playbook. I just hope Labour MPs understand the danger and are not foolish enough to walk directly into the trap. Let Keir Starmer govern until 2029. Britain needs stability, serious government and delivery. Not another Westminster civil war manufactured for clicks, chaos and political advantage. #LessNoiseMoreDelivery

THE QUESTION NOBODY WANTS TO ANSWER Something curious is happening in Westminster. Keir Starmer lists achievements that critics said were impossible. The economy stabilising. Waiting lists falling. Migration coming down. Britain rebuilding relationships abroad. Yet the conversation is not about whether those achievements matter. It is about who should inherit them. That should give us pause. Because there are two very different arguments. One says Starmer has failed. The other says Burnham won a by-election. Those are not the same thing. One is a verdict on government. The other is an opportunity spotted by ambitious people. And perhaps the greatest irony of all is this: The louder the talk of a "calm", "dignified" and "consensual" handover becomes, the less it sounds like unity and the more it sounds like power. Politics is full of people who want the crown. Britain needs people willing to carry the burden. Keir Starmer inherited a country that was broken. He rebuilt the party. He won the mandate. Now he is doing the difficult work of rebuilding the nation. That is not a reason to replace him. It is a reason to let him finish the job. #Labour #KeirStarmer #UKPolitics

LBC @LBC

a week ago

- Stabilise the economy - Bring down waiting lists and migration - A 'closer, better relationship' with the EU Keir Starmer lists the achievements of his government - targets which two years ago, people told him were 'not possible'.

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A new study shows HPV vaccination in England has led to the number of deaths from cervical cancer falling to zero in vaccinated women under 25. Please encourage all eligible children to get vaccinated. thelancet.com/journals/lance…

My laboratory at University of Oxford is looking for a research technician. Join us - great opportunity to get involved in translational research in respiratory. Great opportunities for career progression in a supportive friendly team join us! my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecruit…

Looking for an exciting new challenge? We are looking for an outstanding individual to serve as a project and operations manager for the new Chalmers research group at the University of Oxford A chance to shape world leading research in a friendly group! my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecruit…

Lady in glasses, "I'd just like to say that if there should be any cold rage that is happening, it should be directed towards the politicians" Fiona Bruce, "What, all of them?" Lady in glasses, "No, the ones trying to sow the seeds of division between us" "Because we're basically being manipulated by billionaires at this point" "And it shouldn't be like that"

New figures show Reform raked in £9m in 3 months, with Farage still in the hotseat for his £5m "gift" from billionaire Chris Harborne. £4m came from billionaire Ben Delo, who was convicted for facilitating money laundering in the US, but pardoned by Trump. theguardian.com/politics/2026/…

“His response has been to appeal for rage. That’s his response to a father who has lost his son and asked for that not to happen. Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows exactly who he is” Keir Starmer responds to Nigel Farage at #PMQs

Today I'm posting a new blog about an astonishing scientific own goal. Hundreds of papers have reported using a completely wrong antibody to investigate the tumor suppressor p16. This mistake has happened because scientists have muddled the names of two proteins 🧵

Angela Rayner - £40k underpaid stamp duty - repaid. Lost jobs in Cabinet and Dep. PM. Peter Murrell - £400k theft from SNP - going to prison Huge coverage of both Nigel Farage - £5m undeclared bung (possibly more) - goes to ground for a month. Media coverage? You judge.

The first snRNASeq & spatial transcriptomic analysis of bronchoscopic cryobiopsies from patients with Early IPF & preserved pulmonary functions is out on @biorxivpreprint and message is Early IPF is IPF‼️ biorxiv.org/content/10.648…

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Before Brexit, there were about 300K net migrants a year, mostly from the EU. After Brexit, immigration shot up to 900K, and EU migration was negative. It’s amazing how stupid Brexit was from every possible perspective. Populism is a low IQ movement.

This article says climate change is “believed to have played a role” in the UK's extreme heat this week. As a climate scientist, let me fact-check that. First, climate change is not a religion. No belief is required. It is about evidence. And the evidence has been crystal clear for more than two decades: climate change is making heat waves hotter, longer, more frequent and more dangerous. In fact, science has advanced far beyond saying climate change merely “played a role.” Today, we can quantify how much more likely and how much hotter climate change made a specific event. Here's the bottom line: Climate is changing. Humans are responsible. And we are experiencing the impacts now. That’s the bad news. The good news is that solutions already exist, and the majority of people care - 89%, around the world! But meaningful action depends on helping people understand not just what is happening: we need to know how it affects our lives (this heat wave being example A today) and what we can do about it. That’s the opportunity this reporting missed. bbc.com/news/articles/…

💥 97,500!💥 Let’s tip it over the 100,000 mark to force the government to respond. Given the party in power now realises they need the pro-EU base - are they really going to refuse a debate in parliament on this? Let’s find out! Sign and share! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7491…

Today @DrJoGrady and @AndreaEganGS have written to Keir Starmer demanding emergency intervention as 15,000 jobs are lost across higher education and 2,700 staff face the axe at Nottingham alone. When British Steel was at risk, the government nationalised it overnight. Where's that urgency now? Read the full the statement here: ucu.org.uk/article/14514/…

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This is well worth a read...

Prof. Lopa Leach @LopaLeach

a month ago

The Cost Allocation Death Spiral and the University linkedin.com/pulse/cost-all…

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The Cost Allocation Death Spiral and the University linkedin.com/pulse/cost-all…

You'll want to be sitting down for this bit. Water companies are currently £82.7 billion in debt, have paid themselves £85 billion in dividends, leak over a trillion of litres of water per year, dump sewage for almost 4 million hours per year, have been convicted of over 1,200 criminal acts since 1989 and an average of 35% of your bill goes on nothing but paying more interest and yet more dividends. And not a single company has ever lost their operating licence. 👇

Prem Sikka @premnsikka

5 months ago

Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water have nearly 200 criminal convictions between them. On 6 August 2024, Ofwat fined them £47m and £17m for sewage dumping. Fines not paid, will not be paid. Firms claim to have invested. No penalty for abusing laws leftfootforward.org/2026/01/public…

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