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Miles King

@milesking.bsky.social

5K followers 2.3K following 30K posts

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. HSP. Living with chronic vestibular migraine. Personal account.

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · Sep 1

Happy September! Weather stats for Dorchester. August was notably dry & warm until the last 5 days. Mean Temperature up to the 20th was 19°C, but a cooler end to the month saw the Mean drop to 18.3°C, with the hottest day the 12th at 29.4C. Only one day (30th) failed to reach 20°C, at 19.4°C. 1/4

Middle Farm Way Poundbury, looking very dry July 2025

Ramparts at Maiden Castle, Dorchester. July 2025

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 37m

Could Labour do worse than in 2019 and get < 200 (ie halve their MPs)? possible but unlikely.
Libdems have 72, could get 100 maybe more.
Tories could well get less than 100.
SNP had 50 in the last Parliament, could do again.
Greens could get 20+ by targeting consitutuencies.
Reform may get 150.

Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 37m

it's way too early to be thinking about the next General Election, so seat projections based on polls are even more meaningless than normal. But also, with a five horse race, the smaller parties will focus their efforts on a small subset of constituencies. And they could get 200 seats between them.

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Reposted by Miles King

Sussex Wildlife Trust @sussexwildlife.bsky.social · 56m

Yes, she will. More here - First it was newts, then bats… now it’s snails.

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/first-i...

First it was newts, then bats… now it’s snails. | Sussex Wildlife Trust

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1h

Ignore the seat projection.

Welcome to the 5 horse race that is now UK politics.

Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 5h

Seat Projection:

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1h

will she mention the "microscopic" Lesser Whirlpool Ramshorn snail?

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1h

When Trump doesn't get the Nobel Peace Prize, he's going to declare war on the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and may invade Svalbard.

Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1h

Food security for the UK can only ever mean anything if it includes imports, and that means imports of things we can’t grow, and, to a lesser extent, things we can grow - like Bread Wheat. Bread wheat depends so much on right weather conditions. Which, as the climate shifts, is becoming a Lottery.

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 1h

And this, class, is why aiming at agricultural self-sufficiency rather than spreading risk across different countries through international trade is a *really stupid idea*.

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Reposted by Miles King

Extreme Temperatures Around the World @extremetemps.bsky.social · 1h

September 2025 Globally,according to Copernicus,had an average temperature of 16.11C which is 0.66C above the 1991/2020 normal and ranked the 3rd hottest on record behind 2023 and 2024.

World most above average country was Canada,the most below was Libya.

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 7h

With gold at record highs, Farage is literally minting it.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 8h

Twelve Jobs Nigel has earned over £1 million in additional income since the general election.

To understand the scale of it, since the July 2024 election he's earned roughly £100k more as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion than Starmer gets as PM.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Nigel Farage earns over £1m from 12 'second jobs' - check how much your MP earns

The Reform UK leader's most lucrative second jobs include hosting on GB News, serving as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion and recording videos for Cameo

www.mirror.co.uk

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 7h

Can it be worse than Osborne’s?

Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 9h

considering it's published on the .gov website, perhaps the Chancellor should read it!

Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 10h

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer

Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

www.theguardian.com

Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 10h

Same story - 2 very different takes.

Reeves claims she unblocked a development being held up by a "microscopic snail or something", while Natural England claim they and the EA negotiated an agreement with Southern Water, to reduce water abstraction from the snail's habitat.

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1d

If only Badenoch had followed through with her degrees in engineering and law, and made some valuable contribution to society and the economy, instead of wasting her life becoming a failed politician in a dying party.

There’s still time to rethink Kemi!

Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · 1d

UK Tory Party Conference: Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch declares war on English degrees.
#literature #language #English #HigherEd #University

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Reposted by Miles King

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

No, it's not. It's all a lie. The blunt truth is across the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them.

Iain Mansfield @igmansfield.bsky.social · 1d

Outstanding piece by Stephen Daisley.

Ethnicity is no barrier to Britishness - it's culture and integration.

That means 'smaller cohorts and aggressive integration policies' - and tackling the institutions that 'have amplified grievance narratives and radical anti-Western ideologies'.

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1d

They know that a more educated electorate is less likely to vote Tory.

odbof85 @odbof85.bsky.social · 1d

The Tories, and Badenoch in particular, still think that education for the masses should be no more than vocational training.
inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Badenoch: Curb students taking 'rip-off' degrees such as English

The performing arts, sociology and anthropology are among the subjects the Conservatives would like to cut

inews.co.uk

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 1d

Reform is telling us what they want to do to the UK

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy, a petro-state with no income tax for citizens, to bribe them for the lack of democratic voice or free speech

It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 2d

Even Lord Sumption was flummoxed by racist boy Jenrick’s rabbit hole conspiracy drooling

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 2d

Coverage of Jenrick today basically amounts to sane-washing. He didn't criticise judges. He claimed there was a conspiracy by certain judges, who he had discovered and could number, to undermine British law and create open borders.

ʀak @raksky.bsky.social · 2d

“… a sort of mad McCarthyite scream of paranoia and anxiety of the sort which he has now branded himself… he is living entirely inside of his little mind…”

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social nails Robert Jenrick’s plans for “activist” judges during Sky News’ Press Preview.

Reposted by Miles King

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 2d

NEW

Freedom is just another word for "a gap in the law"

The Home Secretary wants to ban more things

By me

Substack
emptycity.substack.com/p/freedom-is...

Personal blog
davidallengreen.com/2025/10/free...

Home Secretary tells Sky News that “there is a gap in the law” when it comes to frequent, repeated protests on the same issue. Hence she will be giving police greater powers to move them to another location or time.

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 3d

They really aren’t good Stephen. They are both bad for development and very bad for nature. But yes they won’t yield results in time for the next election anyway.

Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 3d

Starmer and Reeves seem intent on leaving a legacy that makes Cameron's "Greenest Government Ever" claim now seem plausible.

Ministers to announce significant changes to UK’s planning system
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Ministers to announce significant changes to UK’s planning system

Exclusive: Differences over changes to environmental and legal provisions to prompt economic growth hint at chaos at heart of government

www.theguardian.com

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 4d

Excellent news

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 4d

And he’s back!!

Sunday isn’t Sunday without Stewart Lee. We were so thrilled at @thenerve.news that Stewart came with us.

His satirical columns for the Observer were some of our most-read content: funny, surreal, angry true. Essential weekend reading.

www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

DOUBLETHINK DOES DOUBLETIME

STEWART LEE

www.thenerve.news

Reposted by Miles King

Ben Whitham @drbenwhitham.bsky.social · 4d

Men in balaclavas set fire to a mosque in East Sussex last night. It's only appearing on the BBC's local coverage, rather than its main national headlines, despite coming just a week after the (also under-reported) firebombing of an asylum hotel in London last week
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Peacehaven: Fire at East Sussex mosque probed as 'hate crime'

Video appears to show two people in balaclavas at the mosque before a large blaze spreads.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Miles King

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 4d

The government want more coercive powers for the state against protests, and the main opposition party wants more coercive powers for the state against migrants.

Our political-media culture continues in a loop where the response to every perceived problem is yet more coercive powers for the state.

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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 6d

another defector to Reform?

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