Miles King
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milesking.bsky.social
Miles King
@milesking.bsky.social
Now at tail end of a long career in UK Nature Conservation - nature reserves, SSSIs, policy work, lots of reports - and 10+ years of blogging. Currently run @poundburynatureproject. Cellist. Living with chronic vestibular migraine. Personal account.
Pinned
Toby Young, Matthew Elliott, Daniel Moylan, Claire Fox, Daniel Hannan, Michael Gove, Therese Coffey (a Brexit convert), Paul Goodman, John Moynihan, Ruth Lea, Stewart Jackson, Michael Hintze, Charles Moore, David Frost, Theo Agnew; & now John Redwood.

Rewarded for the Brexit calamity with peerages.
Ex Tory MP John Redwood has been made a peer, as Lord Redwood on 31 January, and was formally introduced in the Lords on Tuesday
And that Galileo, a far left terrorist. A heretic. The church was right. The sun clearly goes round the earth. Just look at the sky! No more fake views. Make the earth Great Again. Thank you for your attention.
"A new ruling from the Trump administration says that when the sun disappears at night, we don’t know where it goes.

All remaining top scientists have been taken from their positions & tasked with getting to the bottom of this."

www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/... (h/t @billmckibben.bsky.social)
Trump Administration Announces That We Don’t Know Where the Sun Goes at Night
After deciding carbon dioxide does no harm, it was the logical next move.
www.theatlantic.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:18 PM
“Capx” is a front for the Centre for Policy Studies, a dark-funded Tufton Street Thinktank.
"The Green Party has a habit of supporting things in principle and opposing them in practice. It wants environmentally friendly transport, then opposes HS2. It wants clean energy, but opposes wind farms locally. It supports affordable housing, but opposes almost every building project it sees."
READ MORE
Green councillors are making North London housing even more expensive
capx.co
February 16, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Just another organised waste crime site, this one in Essex news.sky.com/story/this-s.... Organised crime will have known for years that there is next to no enforcement against industrial scale illegal waste disposal and huge profits to be made. Now it’s just a matter of finding the next site.
This shocking illegal M25 waste site has kept on growing - despite an Environment Agency investigation
The "absolutely heartbreaking" landfill looks unrecognisable from what it once was. It could soon spill into the River Roding, London's third biggest river.
news.sky.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Miles King
Every so often you hear calls for ministers to be more robust (or something) in the face of legal advice.

But one can be fairly certain government lawyers warned about both proscribing Palestine Action and cancelling local council elections.

And here we are - a defeat and a reversal respectively.
February 16, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Labour Together dirty tricks scandal broken by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social Democracy for Sale, finally picked up by BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Keir Starmer orders investigation into Labour Together claims
The think tank paid a company at least £30,000 to investigate the origins of a story about undeclared donations.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Miles King
Quite possibly THE best theme tune ever!
youtu.be/RQFuzWSIjjc?...
February 15, 2026 at 6:13 PM
If you're interested in the ever morphing language of Brexit, I recommend reading @chrisgrey.bsky.social chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com and listening to @aiannucci.bsky.social and guests, on www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand.... Between them they cover all the ground you could want covered (and more).
February 15, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Miles King
This isn't a purely philosophical or semantic argument about what "British" means.

Once you accept different tiers of British citizenship you gain a way to formally discriminate.

USSR documents famously had a "5th line" denoting ethnicity. Stalin's nationalist repressions used this as their basis.
It *literally* does.

Thats what it is. A document which says youre British.
February 15, 2026 at 2:01 PM
The worst kind of fake-balance from the BBC in this headline, and to a lesser extent the article.

One person has said the purchase is divisive, but it's their words that have been used for the headline.

One person. Along with his photo.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Bid to buy Rothbury Estate as divisive as Brexit'
Funds are being raised to buy the Northumberland estate - but the plans have split opinion.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Miles King
"In Britain as a whole, you are never more than six feet from a rat. In Westminster, you are either right next to a rat or, as is more likely, you are actually a rat and haven’t realised."
www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
👇
February 15, 2026 at 11:12 AM
My thought exactly. Historians of all people should understand why this is wrong.
*Academic sells history off to the highest bidder*

There, BBC, we sorted that headline for you

If he truly feels *a connection* to the find, as the article claims, would he not have donated it to a museum?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Professor finds Iron Age coin hoard near Bury St Edmunds
Tom Licence says he feels a personal connection to the coins, which are to be auctioned.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 9:22 AM
Yesterday was the first dry day (midnight to midnight) since the 5th January. So we didn't quite reach the biblical 40 days of rain.
February 15, 2026 at 8:04 AM
Is he crossing the channel in a small boat?
February 14, 2026 at 9:59 AM
Latest post from Stewart Lee on @thenerve.news sees Lee explore an extended flight of fancy about rats in Parliament (yes metaphorical & real). "A mischief of six rats was deliberately maintained at Westminster in a tradition dating back to the days of Charles II" www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
Stewart Lee: The rats are taking over Westminster - and there’s a rodent problem too
In Britain and around the world, the vermin seem to be becoming more visible. But then they recognise a sinking ship when they see one
www.thenerve.news
February 14, 2026 at 8:03 AM
More analysis of the Palestine Action appeal from @davidallengreen.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/emptycit...
What the Palestine Action judgment means - and what it does not mean
The High Court rules against the government, but not with enthusiasm
open.substack.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Very much enjoying season two of Patience. And they actually made a decent effort at researching the botany episode (6).
February 13, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Miles King
NEW

What the Palestine Action judgment means - and what it does not mean

How the High Court ruled against the government, but not with enthusiasm

By me: emptycity.substack.com/p/what-the-p...

(A follow up to my Prospect post this morning.)
What the Palestine Action judgment means - and what it does not mean
The High Court rules against the government, but not with enthusiasm
emptycity.substack.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:51 PM
As with everything else climate crisis-related, the sooner we take action to massively increase our domestic fruit & veg output, the better prepared we will be when our current fruit & veg imports decline away to nothing. It's not if, but when.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/floods-...
Floods in Spain and Morocco set to hit UK fruit & veg supply
The flooding has devastated farms supplying olives, strawberries, citrus, avocados and winter crops
www.thegrocer.co.uk
February 13, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Miles King
Palestine Action have WON their judicial review in the High Court!
A massive victory for free speech, freedom of association and the right to protest.
A massive defeat for the draconian attempts by Keir Starmer's government to curtail our fundamental rights.
February 13, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Miles King
This means that even if Palestine Action ad not won on Human Rights Act/ECHR grounds, Palestine Action would have won on another ground.

No doubt this will be missed by a lot of media reporting of this judgment, but even if HRA repealed etc, Palestine Action would have *still won*.
February 13, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Miles King
Wow!

Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report.

This is a *big* legal win.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule
Protest group’s co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:11 AM
Who would have thought Tony Blair would end up licking Trump's arse.
February 13, 2026 at 9:24 AM