David Robinson
@davidrobinson58.bsky.social
Biology professor, retired. Airlie, Scotland.
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.
Reposted by David Robinson
So I have two choices: Cervantes or Sartre?
April 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
So I have two choices: Cervantes or Sartre?
Reposted by David Robinson
He’s got away with untold crimes, lies & offences. He’s achieved the highest office in the land. Twice. He’s lining his pockets on an industrial scale & persecuting his enemies for fun. But he’s still a miserable, bitter, humourless & furious man. Because deep inside, he knows *exactly* who he is.
April 20, 2025 at 5:25 PM
He’s got away with untold crimes, lies & offences. He’s achieved the highest office in the land. Twice. He’s lining his pockets on an industrial scale & persecuting his enemies for fun. But he’s still a miserable, bitter, humourless & furious man. Because deep inside, he knows *exactly* who he is.
Reposted by David Robinson
He's right of course.
The pages of the Telegraph, the Spectator, GBNews, right-wing "thinktanks" are increasingly dominated by bigots and racists like Murray whose reasoning and objectives are no different from the BNP of the 1990s.
The pages of the Telegraph, the Spectator, GBNews, right-wing "thinktanks" are increasingly dominated by bigots and racists like Murray whose reasoning and objectives are no different from the BNP of the 1990s.
April 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
He's right of course.
The pages of the Telegraph, the Spectator, GBNews, right-wing "thinktanks" are increasingly dominated by bigots and racists like Murray whose reasoning and objectives are no different from the BNP of the 1990s.
The pages of the Telegraph, the Spectator, GBNews, right-wing "thinktanks" are increasingly dominated by bigots and racists like Murray whose reasoning and objectives are no different from the BNP of the 1990s.
Reposted by David Robinson
‘Away from the politics of independence, it was notable that the two parties that got the most votes, Naleraq and the Democrats, are on the right economically, wanting lower taxes, leaner welfare and a smaller role for the state.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social in Greenland: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social in Greenland: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · ‘Everything is possible’: In Greenland
The immediate effect of Trump’s menaces, and the visit to Nuuk in January of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, was to...
www.lrb.co.uk
April 20, 2025 at 11:10 AM
‘Away from the politics of independence, it was notable that the two parties that got the most votes, Naleraq and the Democrats, are on the right economically, wanting lower taxes, leaner welfare and a smaller role for the state.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social in Greenland: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social in Greenland: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by David Robinson
What’s really unclear is why there’s anything wrong with this kind of globalisation. Why is it a problem?
Most objections ultimately boil down to racism.
Most objections ultimately boil down to racism.
If you want proof that globalisation is alive and well, look inside your iPhone. Even Donald Trump bows to its power
My read in today's @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/4f9c...
My read in today's @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/4f9c...
April 20, 2025 at 11:25 AM
What’s really unclear is why there’s anything wrong with this kind of globalisation. Why is it a problem?
Most objections ultimately boil down to racism.
Most objections ultimately boil down to racism.
Reposted by David Robinson
Friendly reminder. In the United States, criminals are entitled to due process. Even if you pay hush money rig an election, steal top secret documents, or incite a mob to overthrow the government; no matter how egregious your crimes, you’re entitled to due process.
April 19, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Friendly reminder. In the United States, criminals are entitled to due process. Even if you pay hush money rig an election, steal top secret documents, or incite a mob to overthrow the government; no matter how egregious your crimes, you’re entitled to due process.
Reposted by David Robinson
In praise of compost, by the brilliant @frasermacdonald.bsky.social . Read it here: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
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 19, 2025 at 5:39 PM
In praise of compost, by the brilliant @frasermacdonald.bsky.social . Read it here: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...