Fergus Murray (@oolong.co.uk)

@selmerguy.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 2:58 PMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

Elisabeth, The Cow Ghost was written and illustrated by William Pène du Bois in 1936 when he was 19 years old. The book tells the story of a kind, gentle cow that dies and wants to return as a scary ghost.
#SpookySunday

Cover of the book Elisabeth The Cow Ghost. The illustration shows a butter colored cow floating above a sleeping child.

@rahmstorf.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 1:09 PMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

An interesting new study has examined 20,736 scientific publications about climate tipping points. Several of those are estimated to be crossed around 1.5 degrees warming, i.e. any time soon: permafrost thaw, Greenland Ice Sheet, North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre.
theconversation.com/some-climate...

theconversation.comSome climate tipping points are being studied far more than others – new researchScientists aren’t focusing on the systems that may be closest to tipping.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 2:14 PM

It's a grub! Beetle larva, in other words. Not that easy to distinguish from caterpillars in any general way.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 12:22 PM

Most people don't, I think! It's very funny to me that they're one of the best-known insects, with a reputation for being cute and harmlessness, but when people first meet their heavily spiked, armoured young, their first reaction is usually on the lines of 'WHAT is THAT?!'

@garethwatkins.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 11:14 AMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

This is standard for the rock genre though - it's 'I *Want* to Rock' and 'I'm *Going* To Rock and Roll All Night' and 'We *Will* Rock You' not 'I have rocked and it was delightful' or 'As you can see I am currently rocking'.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 11:59 AM

Found a stone post with lots of ladybirds on, some of them larval.

#urbanNature

A ladybird larva: a fearsome-looking creature with many spikes on its back, some of them bright orange, but mostly black. It's on a very old, rounded stone surface.

An adult ladybird having some kind of interaction with an aphid a couple of millimeters away. It looks like two of the aphid's legs might be touching its mouth.

The ladybird has brown legs and many spots, some of them joined together; it's a harlequin, I think. The aphid's tiny and green.

@magscampbell.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 11:18 AMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

Trans people didn't suddenly become a threat or do anything to deserve the way they are being treated. It was always a cynical political and ideological decision to use an innocent minority as a wedge to open the door to fascism and power. Being transphobic makes you a fascist collaborator.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 10:07 AM

If your mum had secretly been the daughter of a man who'd had a long affair with your grandmother, and you had several cousins you didn't know about, would you want to know? Hypothetically?

@danielsohege.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 9:52 AMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

Yet again, Labour showing itself to be the single most racist and hostile anti-asylum government in living memory. It can take decades, if ever, for refugees to be safe returning to countries they fled, and that's when those countries are stable which Syria is not
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 9:32 AM

Yeah, it's not that it's *fine*, and I don't think anyone claimed it would be? Although it's worth noting that the actual motion defines Zionism in narrower terms than some would; if someone sincerely holds non-racist Zionist beliefs, I'm pretty sure they'll fall outwith that definition.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 9:03 AM

So much form.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 8:57 AM

I have to say that Zack Polanski has generally done exceptionally well with this kind of hostile, misleading questioning. I imagine that right now, he must be exceptional tired.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 8:55 AM

Members can hold racist beliefs. Anyone can hold racist beliefs. It's not discriminatory *beliefs* that the Equality Act makes illegal.

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 8:51 AM

Bizarre to see this after the group put out a survey showing their members were more or less evenly split on the contentious motion, and as a group, they did not oppose it.

@erristarling.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 8:45 AMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

BBC is not now, nor has ever been, unbiased. They've always centered fascism

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 8:48 AM

Not sure how Nick Robinson got an extra i, I'm not trying to impugn his gender or anything. I really wish we could edit posts here. 😣

@oolong.co.uk Oct 11, 2026, 8:09 AM

Nicki Robinson steadfastly pretending the question hasn't been answered, while wildly misrepresenting the role of the UN on the establishment of the state of Israel.

@stelhami.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 7:42 PMReposted by @oolong.co.uk

More than 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations said on Friday that the Gaza ceasefire “exists only on paper,” citing continued Israeli attacks and restrictions on aid and reconstruction a year after the agreement.
v.aa.com.tr/4083509

@oolong.co.uk Oct 10, 2026, 10:07 PM

One of those would be entryism. You have reason to believe it's happening, do you?

@oolong.co.uk Oct 10, 2026, 9:55 PM

I'm curious whether you've tried the Monotropism Questionnaire?
dlcincluded.github.io/MQ/