Craig Winstanley
@cwinstan.bsky.social
Voluntarily severed ex-Professor of Bacteriology dabbling in creative things (music [C÷M, gigs looming], images, writing [a silly children’s story & a sketchbook about old Lancashire towns]). From Chorley (originally). craigwinstanley.online
Pinned
We will be playing live on 14th November near you!*
(*if you’re near Northwich)
(*if you’re near Northwich)
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Just re sharing this as it comes to light just how vulnerable the BBC is to capture by anti democratic forces ...
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The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Just re sharing this as it comes to light just how vulnerable the BBC is to capture by anti democratic forces ...
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
🚨UPDATE WITH COMMENT FROM THE BBC: Byline Times can confirm that of the four-person BBC panel that interviewed Prescott and made the decision to appoint him as an advisor, three of them had longstanding Conservative Party ties. bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
November 11, 2025 at 10:02 PM
🚨UPDATE WITH COMMENT FROM THE BBC: Byline Times can confirm that of the four-person BBC panel that interviewed Prescott and made the decision to appoint him as an advisor, three of them had longstanding Conservative Party ties. bylinetimes.com/2025/11/11/b...
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
"Yorkshire Water was privatised in 1989 under the Water Act, launched debt-free and promoted as the start of a new, efficient era.
What followed was anything but. Today, the company carries almost £7bn in debt. Our rivers are polluted, our bills keep rising, and we’re told to pay still more..."
What followed was anything but. Today, the company carries almost £7bn in debt. Our rivers are polluted, our bills keep rising, and we’re told to pay still more..."
Yorkshire Water: it’s time to end the rip-off
Handing the company back to local people would return both control and value to those who need it most
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 7:58 AM
"Yorkshire Water was privatised in 1989 under the Water Act, launched debt-free and promoted as the start of a new, efficient era.
What followed was anything but. Today, the company carries almost £7bn in debt. Our rivers are polluted, our bills keep rising, and we’re told to pay still more..."
What followed was anything but. Today, the company carries almost £7bn in debt. Our rivers are polluted, our bills keep rising, and we’re told to pay still more..."
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Metagenomics colleagues!
I'm looking for studies where both Illumina and ONT sequencing were performed on the same samples from soil, human, ruminent, and other sample types for comparison. Bonus if those studies include PacBio data.
Please help and share!
I'm looking for studies where both Illumina and ONT sequencing were performed on the same samples from soil, human, ruminent, and other sample types for comparison. Bonus if those studies include PacBio data.
Please help and share!
November 11, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Metagenomics colleagues!
I'm looking for studies where both Illumina and ONT sequencing were performed on the same samples from soil, human, ruminent, and other sample types for comparison. Bonus if those studies include PacBio data.
Please help and share!
I'm looking for studies where both Illumina and ONT sequencing were performed on the same samples from soil, human, ruminent, and other sample types for comparison. Bonus if those studies include PacBio data.
Please help and share!
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
spending the first year in power appeasing the racists in an attempt to win over reform voters who will never vote for him then going "somehow, racism has returned" the second he finally sees people are abandoning him for the greens
Racism returning to UK politics – and people are very scared, says Starmer
Racism returning to UK politics – and people are very scared, says Starmer
PM attacks ‘toxic division of Reform’ and gives strongest signal yet that two-child benefit cap will be lifted
*
UK politics live – latest updates
Decades-old racism is returning to British politics, and “it makes people feel very scared” Keir Starmer has said, warning that divisive hard-right politics was “tearing our country apart”.
Speaking to GP and TV personality Amir Khan, the prime minister accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of overseeing a return of the racist and divisive politics “that frankly I thought we had dealt with decades ago”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:36 PM
spending the first year in power appeasing the racists in an attempt to win over reform voters who will never vote for him then going "somehow, racism has returned" the second he finally sees people are abandoning him for the greens
They didn’t anyway, but yes, it will get even worse. And that is the whole point of the attack & intimidation.
"We should be honest: the BBC will not report on Trump freely now. It won’t need to be told not to" | Jay Robinson
Fake news: the BBC, Trump and the fight for impartiality
"We should be honest: the BBC will not report on Trump freely now. It won’t need to be told not to"
northeastbylines.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 5:26 PM
They didn’t anyway, but yes, it will get even worse. And that is the whole point of the attack & intimidation.
#NowPlaying
Coming up on random play from my iPod…
When Ultravox! We’re really rather good
(& yes, I still use an iPod)
youtu.be/VukbssbgKvI
Coming up on random play from my iPod…
When Ultravox! We’re really rather good
(& yes, I still use an iPod)
youtu.be/VukbssbgKvI
The Frozen Ones
YouTube video by Ultravox - Topic
youtu.be
November 11, 2025 at 5:13 PM
#NowPlaying
Coming up on random play from my iPod…
When Ultravox! We’re really rather good
(& yes, I still use an iPod)
youtu.be/VukbssbgKvI
Coming up on random play from my iPod…
When Ultravox! We’re really rather good
(& yes, I still use an iPod)
youtu.be/VukbssbgKvI
Don’t think I’ve watched a Bond film since the 80s, maybe even the 70s, so I don’t have anything to add to that debate. Doesn’t stop most people, I know…
November 11, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Don’t think I’ve watched a Bond film since the 80s, maybe even the 70s, so I don’t have anything to add to that debate. Doesn’t stop most people, I know…
Newspapers that repeatedly have to publish corrections because they regularly lie and mislead…
But the reason is that the BBC has decided to take its editorial line from them. It’s apparent in every news bulletin.
But the reason is that the BBC has decided to take its editorial line from them. It’s apparent in every news bulletin.
If we're talking about bias, why do BBC politics programmes, from Politics Live to the Laura Kuennsberg Show, still always begin with a look at the newspaper front pages, which are overwhelmingly biased in one direction. Helps frame the entire news agenda and debate in their favour
November 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Newspapers that repeatedly have to publish corrections because they regularly lie and mislead…
But the reason is that the BBC has decided to take its editorial line from them. It’s apparent in every news bulletin.
But the reason is that the BBC has decided to take its editorial line from them. It’s apparent in every news bulletin.
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
"No Mr Bond, I expect you to deliver 40-50 packages before your first piss break"
November 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"No Mr Bond, I expect you to deliver 40-50 packages before your first piss break"
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Percy Platt’s motor cycle shop in Union Street, Oldham, c.1915 (Past pix/SSPL/Getty).
November 11, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Percy Platt’s motor cycle shop in Union Street, Oldham, c.1915 (Past pix/SSPL/Getty).
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
This is quite the read on @lrb.co.uk
"Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention"
"Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention"
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:20 PM
This is quite the read on @lrb.co.uk
"Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention"
"Anyone who thinks the 21st century will not see the biggest global movement of peoples in history has not been paying attention"
As appropriate compensation, can I suggest that the BBC send Robinson, Mason & Kuenssberg, dressed in Downton period costume, to be Trump’s personal servants to add that extra touch of class to the new White House (along perhaps with Michael Portillo, in typically tasteful attire)?
November 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
As appropriate compensation, can I suggest that the BBC send Robinson, Mason & Kuenssberg, dressed in Downton period costume, to be Trump’s personal servants to add that extra touch of class to the new White House (along perhaps with Michael Portillo, in typically tasteful attire)?
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
"On another occasion, a BBC executive forbade me from writing for the New Statesman, imploring me to ask The Spectator instead, saying that would be perfectly fine."
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/the-truth-...
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/the-truth-...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
"On another occasion, a BBC executive forbade me from writing for the New Statesman, imploring me to ask The Spectator instead, saying that would be perfectly fine."
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/the-truth-...
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/the-truth-...
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Some very exciting news! The Big Midweek - which follows @stephenhanley6.bsky.social 19 years in The Fall is available to pre order from TODAY in Audiobook form! 💥 Narrated by Stewart Lee! Published on 26th November! 💥 www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Big-M... or www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Midweek-... !!
November 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Some very exciting news! The Big Midweek - which follows @stephenhanley6.bsky.social 19 years in The Fall is available to pre order from TODAY in Audiobook form! 💥 Narrated by Stewart Lee! Published on 26th November! 💥 www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Big-M... or www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Midweek-... !!
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
'They were those like Sir Oswald Mosley who were fascinated by the spectacle of brutal power. They would like to use it themselves. They grovelled to Nazi dictatorship in order that they could make people in their turn grovel to them'
Winston Churchill, 1936
Winston Churchill, 1936
Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston tells GB News that the BBC should "grovel" to Trump.
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
'They were those like Sir Oswald Mosley who were fascinated by the spectacle of brutal power. They would like to use it themselves. They grovelled to Nazi dictatorship in order that they could make people in their turn grovel to them'
Winston Churchill, 1936
Winston Churchill, 1936
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
I see it turns out that they don’t actually give a shit about sovereignty then…
November 11, 2025 at 11:54 AM
I see it turns out that they don’t actually give a shit about sovereignty then…
Grimly inevitable & soon to be visited on the entire country unless things change radically
"This entire saga has a smell hanging over it. The people of Teesside, Hartlepool and Darlington are no fools. That smell will not go away until there is a full, transparent and independent inquiry."
Teesworks scandal: a dark tale of public wealth lost and private gain
Teesworks - a story that reads like a screenplay for a dark political drama
northeastbylines.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Grimly inevitable & soon to be visited on the entire country unless things change radically
BBC News coverage has never been left wing. It’s one of the most successful examples of a repeated lie being eventually taken as truth. From the 80s onwards anyone remotely left wing has been vilified & marginalised. They’ve changed the definition of left wing to mean: not a swivel-eyed loon.
November 11, 2025 at 10:29 AM
BBC News coverage has never been left wing. It’s one of the most successful examples of a repeated lie being eventually taken as truth. From the 80s onwards anyone remotely left wing has been vilified & marginalised. They’ve changed the definition of left wing to mean: not a swivel-eyed loon.
One of Labour’s biggest acts of cowardice & a massive own goal.
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The Leveson Inquiry was meant to usher in a new era of press regulation, but have we gone from one ineffective regulator to another? | Cliff Mitchell
After the Leveson Inquiry, is the press now beyond control?
The Leveson Inquiry was meant to usher in a new era of press regulation, but have we gone from one ineffective regulator to another?
centralbylines.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 10:19 AM
One of Labour’s biggest acts of cowardice & a massive own goal.
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Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Why can't the BBC just be more impartial towards President Trump, like GB News, says Nigel Farage.
GB News:
GB News:
November 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Why can't the BBC just be more impartial towards President Trump, like GB News, says Nigel Farage.
GB News:
GB News:
How very modern BBC to invite all of the worst liars, manipulators, propagandists, sociopaths & charlatans on, one by one, to question its integrity & loudly trumpet their malevolence as if it is the most important news in the world.
Signing its own death warrant.
Signing its own death warrant.
November 11, 2025 at 9:48 AM
How very modern BBC to invite all of the worst liars, manipulators, propagandists, sociopaths & charlatans on, one by one, to question its integrity & loudly trumpet their malevolence as if it is the most important news in the world.
Signing its own death warrant.
Signing its own death warrant.
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Good morning to all those people who wasted the last decade saying, "there's no point tackling climate change in the UK, because China."
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past 18 months, analysis finds
World’s biggest polluter on track to hit peak emissions target early but miss goal for cutting carbon intensity
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Good morning to all those people who wasted the last decade saying, "there's no point tackling climate change in the UK, because China."
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Reposted by Craig Winstanley
Exciting news! I have two positions open in my lab at the UoManchester: one PDRA and one Research Tech.
Join our team to study evolutionary mycology and help us understand antifungal resistance in fungal pathogens. A fantastic opportunity to join the brilliant Manchester Fungal Infection Group!
Join our team to study evolutionary mycology and help us understand antifungal resistance in fungal pathogens. A fantastic opportunity to join the brilliant Manchester Fungal Infection Group!
November 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Exciting news! I have two positions open in my lab at the UoManchester: one PDRA and one Research Tech.
Join our team to study evolutionary mycology and help us understand antifungal resistance in fungal pathogens. A fantastic opportunity to join the brilliant Manchester Fungal Infection Group!
Join our team to study evolutionary mycology and help us understand antifungal resistance in fungal pathogens. A fantastic opportunity to join the brilliant Manchester Fungal Infection Group!