Michael Peel
@mikepeeljourno.bsky.social
@FinancialTimes.com science editor. Ex-Nigeria, UAE, Thailand, Belgium & Japan. Latest book: What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) - https://linktr.ee/whateveryoneknowsaboutbritain. Author of The Fabulists and A Swamp Full of Dollars.
Thanks @helenebismarck.bsky.social!
Yes, @columnist.bsky.social, I tried in my book to puncture some common UK delusions while warning of the dangers of entrenching a culture of despair. The country still has a lot going for it, as I point out.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Yes, @columnist.bsky.social, I tried in my book to puncture some common UK delusions while warning of the dangers of entrenching a culture of despair. The country still has a lot going for it, as I point out.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Thanks @helenebismarck.bsky.social!
Yes, @columnist.bsky.social, I tried in my book to puncture some common UK delusions while warning of the dangers of entrenching a culture of despair. The country still has a lot going for it, as I point out.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Yes, @columnist.bsky.social, I tried in my book to puncture some common UK delusions while warning of the dangers of entrenching a culture of despair. The country still has a lot going for it, as I point out.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Look forward to moderating at the @financialtimes.com Live Global Pharma & Biotech Summit in London. We'll explore breakthroughs reshaping healthcare from AI in drug discovery to the future of biotech investment.
Speakers include CEOs from Roche, Eli Lily, Takeda and more. Register: bit.ly/4nF9eja
Speakers include CEOs from Roche, Eli Lily, Takeda and more. Register: bit.ly/4nF9eja
November 6, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Look forward to moderating at the @financialtimes.com Live Global Pharma & Biotech Summit in London. We'll explore breakthroughs reshaping healthcare from AI in drug discovery to the future of biotech investment.
Speakers include CEOs from Roche, Eli Lily, Takeda and more. Register: bit.ly/4nF9eja
Speakers include CEOs from Roche, Eli Lily, Takeda and more. Register: bit.ly/4nF9eja
My superb colleague @stephenkb.bsky.social shows how UK governments have for years failed to explain how the world has changed.
ft.com/content/f1b5...
I explore this in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) - available digitally for 99p until Oct 30.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
ft.com/content/f1b5...
I explore this in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) - available digitally for 99p until Oct 30.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
October 28, 2025 at 10:33 AM
My superb colleague @stephenkb.bsky.social shows how UK governments have for years failed to explain how the world has changed.
ft.com/content/f1b5...
I explore this in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) - available digitally for 99p until Oct 30.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
ft.com/content/f1b5...
I explore this in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) - available digitally for 99p until Oct 30.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Buy the digital version of my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) for just 99p until October 30!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
“Honest, persuasive & good-humoured”–Jonathan Coe
"Incisive, informative & deeply enjoyable"–Rosie Holt
"Extremely entertaining"–Simon Kuper
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
“Honest, persuasive & good-humoured”–Jonathan Coe
"Incisive, informative & deeply enjoyable"–Rosie Holt
"Extremely entertaining"–Simon Kuper
October 27, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Buy the digital version of my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) for just 99p until October 30!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
“Honest, persuasive & good-humoured”–Jonathan Coe
"Incisive, informative & deeply enjoyable"–Rosie Holt
"Extremely entertaining"–Simon Kuper
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
“Honest, persuasive & good-humoured”–Jonathan Coe
"Incisive, informative & deeply enjoyable"–Rosie Holt
"Extremely entertaining"–Simon Kuper
This is such an important point about the political impact of the gap between perceptions of the UK and reality.
“Trick Mirror”, the first chapter of my book What Everyone Know About Britain* (*Except the British), is about this.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
“Trick Mirror”, the first chapter of my book What Everyone Know About Britain* (*Except the British), is about this.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
September 23, 2025 at 8:14 AM
This is such an important point about the political impact of the gap between perceptions of the UK and reality.
“Trick Mirror”, the first chapter of my book What Everyone Know About Britain* (*Except the British), is about this.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
“Trick Mirror”, the first chapter of my book What Everyone Know About Britain* (*Except the British), is about this.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Huge thanks to @mja-uk.bsky.social for last night's awards for my brilliant columnist colleague @anjahuja.bsky.social and the @financialtimes.com project on the race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases. Congratulations to @ian-bott.bsky.social, @sdbernard.bsky.social and Charlie Bibby!
September 18, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Huge thanks to @mja-uk.bsky.social for last night's awards for my brilliant columnist colleague @anjahuja.bsky.social and the @financialtimes.com project on the race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases. Congratulations to @ian-bott.bsky.social, @sdbernard.bsky.social and Charlie Bibby!
It may partly be a reactivation of poisonous tropes from the cultural everyday of my generation’s formative years (I’m 51).
In my book, I look at the dark power of nostalgia rooted in casual racism, sexism and bullying, from the TV series Monkey to the Beano’s pages.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
In my book, I look at the dark power of nostalgia rooted in casual racism, sexism and bullying, from the TV series Monkey to the Beano’s pages.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
September 14, 2025 at 7:59 AM
It may partly be a reactivation of poisonous tropes from the cultural everyday of my generation’s formative years (I’m 51).
In my book, I look at the dark power of nostalgia rooted in casual racism, sexism and bullying, from the TV series Monkey to the Beano’s pages.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
In my book, I look at the dark power of nostalgia rooted in casual racism, sexism and bullying, from the TV series Monkey to the Beano’s pages.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Absolutely - and that extent of reliance on food imports has been rising.
(from Chapter 5)
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
(from Chapter 5)
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
September 7, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Absolutely - and that extent of reliance on food imports has been rising.
(from Chapter 5)
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
(from Chapter 5)
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
President Donald Trump and his allies are stepping up lobbying for him to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
This is what Hanna Stjärne, Nobel Foundation exec director, said when I asked her about this in March.
(The Peace Prize is decided by the Norwegian Nobel committee).
www.ft.com/content/61d9...
This is what Hanna Stjärne, Nobel Foundation exec director, said when I asked her about this in March.
(The Peace Prize is decided by the Norwegian Nobel committee).
www.ft.com/content/61d9...
August 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
President Donald Trump and his allies are stepping up lobbying for him to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
This is what Hanna Stjärne, Nobel Foundation exec director, said when I asked her about this in March.
(The Peace Prize is decided by the Norwegian Nobel committee).
www.ft.com/content/61d9...
This is what Hanna Stjärne, Nobel Foundation exec director, said when I asked her about this in March.
(The Peace Prize is decided by the Norwegian Nobel committee).
www.ft.com/content/61d9...
The triad of right to buy, tax cuts for the wealthy and the frittering of North Sea oil money has had a massive and woefully under discussed impact on how this country is today.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
August 8, 2025 at 8:29 AM
The triad of right to buy, tax cuts for the wealthy and the frittering of North Sea oil money has had a massive and woefully under discussed impact on how this country is today.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
I think often about how the historian @davidedgerton.bsky.social predicted the disturbing extremist slide in UK politics, in this interview conducted in the summer of 2023 and recounted in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
August 4, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I think often about how the historian @davidedgerton.bsky.social predicted the disturbing extremist slide in UK politics, in this interview conducted in the summer of 2023 and recounted in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
@helenebismarck.bsky.social is right.
We need to be both unsparing in exposing Britain’s problems and unrelenting in solving them.
Claims that Britain is doomed help only those who want to stoke nihilism.
From What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British):
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
We need to be both unsparing in exposing Britain’s problems and unrelenting in solving them.
Claims that Britain is doomed help only those who want to stoke nihilism.
From What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British):
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
July 22, 2025 at 7:50 AM
@helenebismarck.bsky.social is right.
We need to be both unsparing in exposing Britain’s problems and unrelenting in solving them.
Claims that Britain is doomed help only those who want to stoke nihilism.
From What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British):
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
We need to be both unsparing in exposing Britain’s problems and unrelenting in solving them.
Claims that Britain is doomed help only those who want to stoke nihilism.
From What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British):
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
I hope you will find a sense of that - needed - rounded perspective in the book. :)
July 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
I hope you will find a sense of that - needed - rounded perspective in the book. :)
A sobering view from @jonnelledge.bsky.social on the state of Britain.
I write in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) about how its problems have been clear to outsiders for a while.
Lots of warnings and lessons from elsewhere.
We can do better!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
I write in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) about how its problems have been clear to outsiders for a while.
Lots of warnings and lessons from elsewhere.
We can do better!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
July 21, 2025 at 12:20 PM
A sobering view from @jonnelledge.bsky.social on the state of Britain.
I write in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) about how its problems have been clear to outsiders for a while.
Lots of warnings and lessons from elsewhere.
We can do better!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
I write in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) about how its problems have been clear to outsiders for a while.
Lots of warnings and lessons from elsewhere.
We can do better!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
On the anniversary of Lord Daniel Hannan’s predicted UK post-Brexit independence day, it’s worth recalling that he wrote an entire book about the possibilities.
From the chapter “Flawed Prophets” in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
From the chapter “Flawed Prophets” in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
June 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
On the anniversary of Lord Daniel Hannan’s predicted UK post-Brexit independence day, it’s worth recalling that he wrote an entire book about the possibilities.
From the chapter “Flawed Prophets” in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
From the chapter “Flawed Prophets” in my book What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Mirror life could threaten life on earth - and top scientists are pushing to stop it ever being created.
It sounds like apocalyptic science fiction, but it may one day be technologically possible.
See it all here, including the dark link to the Thalidomide scandal.
www.ft.com/content/3f94...
It sounds like apocalyptic science fiction, but it may one day be technologically possible.
See it all here, including the dark link to the Thalidomide scandal.
www.ft.com/content/3f94...
June 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Mirror life could threaten life on earth - and top scientists are pushing to stop it ever being created.
It sounds like apocalyptic science fiction, but it may one day be technologically possible.
See it all here, including the dark link to the Thalidomide scandal.
www.ft.com/content/3f94...
It sounds like apocalyptic science fiction, but it may one day be technologically possible.
See it all here, including the dark link to the Thalidomide scandal.
www.ft.com/content/3f94...
The history of the phrase “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells” is, like much comment about EU relations, also full of myth and misinformation!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
May 19, 2025 at 9:14 AM
The history of the phrase “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells” is, like much comment about EU relations, also full of myth and misinformation!
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
The whole eat-what-we-don't-catch/don't-eat-what-we-do-catch dynamic in fisheries is very striking. I cover it in chapter five here on Britain's island vulnerabilities, including the thoughts below from fishy observers.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
@duncanweldon.bsky.social
@alanbeattie.bsky.social
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
@duncanweldon.bsky.social
@alanbeattie.bsky.social
May 19, 2025 at 8:18 AM
The whole eat-what-we-don't-catch/don't-eat-what-we-do-catch dynamic in fisheries is very striking. I cover it in chapter five here on Britain's island vulnerabilities, including the thoughts below from fishy observers.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
@duncanweldon.bsky.social
@alanbeattie.bsky.social
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
@duncanweldon.bsky.social
@alanbeattie.bsky.social
I wrote this more than a year ago in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
The book is about the failure in UK politics to be honest about changes the country needs - and trade-offs along the way.
It also offers ideas on how we can do better. More:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
The book is about the failure in UK politics to be honest about changes the country needs - and trade-offs along the way.
It also offers ideas on how we can do better. More:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
May 13, 2025 at 8:21 AM
I wrote this more than a year ago in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British).
The book is about the failure in UK politics to be honest about changes the country needs - and trade-offs along the way.
It also offers ideas on how we can do better. More:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
The book is about the failure in UK politics to be honest about changes the country needs - and trade-offs along the way.
It also offers ideas on how we can do better. More:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
"This is the degrading ‘sovereignty’ to which the Brexiters have consigned us: an undignified attempt to duck and dive, to wheel and deal, to fawn, bluster, plead, and flatter."
Vivid by @chrisgrey.bsky.social
bit.ly/3Et6FQv
I wrote on "Tinder Britain" in my book:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇(7/x)
Vivid by @chrisgrey.bsky.social
bit.ly/3Et6FQv
I wrote on "Tinder Britain" in my book:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇(7/x)
April 18, 2025 at 8:01 AM
"This is the degrading ‘sovereignty’ to which the Brexiters have consigned us: an undignified attempt to duck and dive, to wheel and deal, to fawn, bluster, plead, and flatter."
Vivid by @chrisgrey.bsky.social
bit.ly/3Et6FQv
I wrote on "Tinder Britain" in my book:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇(7/x)
Vivid by @chrisgrey.bsky.social
bit.ly/3Et6FQv
I wrote on "Tinder Britain" in my book:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇(7/x)
It does recall the infamous Dominic Raab moment (see below).
My book has an interview with @davidedgerton.bsky.social, including on how we are in an era of the “return of the real” as supply route breakdowns cause chaos - see @edconway.bsky.social’s great Material World.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
My book has an interview with @davidedgerton.bsky.social, including on how we are in an era of the “return of the real” as supply route breakdowns cause chaos - see @edconway.bsky.social’s great Material World.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
April 13, 2025 at 8:03 AM
It does recall the infamous Dominic Raab moment (see below).
My book has an interview with @davidedgerton.bsky.social, including on how we are in an era of the “return of the real” as supply route breakdowns cause chaos - see @edconway.bsky.social’s great Material World.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
My book has an interview with @davidedgerton.bsky.social, including on how we are in an era of the “return of the real” as supply route breakdowns cause chaos - see @edconway.bsky.social’s great Material World.
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
Raab with added Gen X TV show shade.
April 13, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Raab with added Gen X TV show shade.
* Tinder Britain, about how the UK has since Brexit proclaimed the benefits of its independence - and yet at the same time cast around desperately for international alliances.
Read much more here:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(4/x)
Read much more here:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(4/x)
April 10, 2025 at 8:58 AM
* Tinder Britain, about how the UK has since Brexit proclaimed the benefits of its independence - and yet at the same time cast around desperately for international alliances.
Read much more here:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(4/x)
Read much more here:
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(4/x)
Two chapters seem particularly relevant right now:
* Reversal of Fortune, about how the UK’s island nation status has turned from historic strength to modern-day weakness in an era of resource battles and trade wars.
👇
(3/x)
* Reversal of Fortune, about how the UK’s island nation status has turned from historic strength to modern-day weakness in an era of resource battles and trade wars.
👇
(3/x)
April 10, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Two chapters seem particularly relevant right now:
* Reversal of Fortune, about how the UK’s island nation status has turned from historic strength to modern-day weakness in an era of resource battles and trade wars.
👇
(3/x)
* Reversal of Fortune, about how the UK’s island nation status has turned from historic strength to modern-day weakness in an era of resource battles and trade wars.
👇
(3/x)
It reflects an unreality in British politics, founded on outdated ideas about the nation and global trends.
What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) dissects this problem - and suggests answers.
‘A persuasive, good-humoured book’ – Jonathan Coe
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(2/x)
What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) dissects this problem - and suggests answers.
‘A persuasive, good-humoured book’ – Jonathan Coe
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(2/x)
April 10, 2025 at 8:58 AM
It reflects an unreality in British politics, founded on outdated ideas about the nation and global trends.
What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) dissects this problem - and suggests answers.
‘A persuasive, good-humoured book’ – Jonathan Coe
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(2/x)
What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) dissects this problem - and suggests answers.
‘A persuasive, good-humoured book’ – Jonathan Coe
linktr.ee/whateveryone...
👇
(2/x)