Peter Brommer
@pbro.bsky.social
Born, lives. Cares about active transport, including cycling, sustainability. Associate Professor in Materials Modelling at Warwick University.
Pronouns: he/him.
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Twitter: @pbro48 (inactive)
Pronouns: he/him.
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Twitter: @pbro48 (inactive)
Pinned
Peter Brommer
@pbro.bsky.social
· Jun 16
Scooping for ground states
Nature Physics - More than a hundred quasicrystals have been found so far, but their thermodynamic stability has remained an open question. Extrapolating density functional theory calculations of...
rdcu.be
Are quasicrystals thermodynamic ground states? I wrote a News & Views piece for @natphys.nature.com on the work of Baek & coauthors, who used DFT (density functional theory) with clever extrapolation to show that there is strong evidence that two quasicrystals indeed are ground states. rdcu.be/eqRPM
Reposted by Peter Brommer
Labour's anti-asylum policies are already fundamentally inhumane and discriminatory. Applying them retrospectively is pure cruelty though. It serves absolutely no purpose. Meanwhile it will increase the costs and bureaucracy of an already dysfunctional Home Office.
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
November 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Labour's anti-asylum policies are already fundamentally inhumane and discriminatory. Applying them retrospectively is pure cruelty though. It serves absolutely no purpose. Meanwhile it will increase the costs and bureaucracy of an already dysfunctional Home Office.
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
www.thetimes.com/article/6f83...
Reposted by Peter Brommer
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 24, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
Reposted by Peter Brommer
Compare and contrast the Government language.
£3,750 EV grant on a £35k car: ‘helping families’.
Cycle to Work: ‘subsidising leisure’.
And yet cycling delivers TEN TIMES the impact of electric cars for reaching net zero. It’s almost like narrative, not data, is driving policy.
£3,750 EV grant on a £35k car: ‘helping families’.
Cycle to Work: ‘subsidising leisure’.
And yet cycling delivers TEN TIMES the impact of electric cars for reaching net zero. It’s almost like narrative, not data, is driving policy.
November 21, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Compare and contrast the Government language.
£3,750 EV grant on a £35k car: ‘helping families’.
Cycle to Work: ‘subsidising leisure’.
And yet cycling delivers TEN TIMES the impact of electric cars for reaching net zero. It’s almost like narrative, not data, is driving policy.
£3,750 EV grant on a £35k car: ‘helping families’.
Cycle to Work: ‘subsidising leisure’.
And yet cycling delivers TEN TIMES the impact of electric cars for reaching net zero. It’s almost like narrative, not data, is driving policy.
Reposted by Peter Brommer
Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, we remember the transgender lives lost to violence.
The Green Party stands shoulder to shoulder with transgender people in the face of increasing transphobic rhetoric in our society and politics.
The Green Party stands shoulder to shoulder with transgender people in the face of increasing transphobic rhetoric in our society and politics.
November 20, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, we remember the transgender lives lost to violence.
The Green Party stands shoulder to shoulder with transgender people in the face of increasing transphobic rhetoric in our society and politics.
The Green Party stands shoulder to shoulder with transgender people in the face of increasing transphobic rhetoric in our society and politics.
Reposted by Peter Brommer
![4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiby6can6k76yzfmv2czxs4pu2l7zie7bqbrpswi7h3ifmiadkuqvu@jpeg)
Reposted by Peter Brommer
For a party that has always, and always will, stand up for refugee rights - join.greenparty.org.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:06 PM
For a party that has always, and always will, stand up for refugee rights - join.greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by Peter Brommer
Why! Sorry, but why? Labour's anti-asylum, anti-immigration, policies are the antithesis of anything anyone who genuinely supports human rights should be defending. They're absolutely inhumane and condemnable. Anyone supporting them can't claim to be "progressive"
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
No 10 tells Labour MPs it expects support for tough new asylum policies
Some backbenchers already opposing planned immigration crackdown seen as ‘economically and culturally illiterate’
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Why! Sorry, but why? Labour's anti-asylum, anti-immigration, policies are the antithesis of anything anyone who genuinely supports human rights should be defending. They're absolutely inhumane and condemnable. Anyone supporting them can't claim to be "progressive"
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Looong thread on make
Labour's anti-immigration stance and why progressives are disappointed with this government.
Labour's anti-immigration stance and why progressives are disappointed with this government.
Very long thread: As with many of Labour's anti-immigration policies, this isn't new. British police have been stationed in other countries for this purpose for a long time
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
Home Secretary orders police and border 'hit squads' to Albania to stamp out people smugglers | LBC
Shabana Mahmood will send hit squads of police and border force teams to Albania in a fresh drive to stamp out people-smuggling gangs upstream.
www.lbc.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Looong thread on make
Labour's anti-immigration stance and why progressives are disappointed with this government.
Labour's anti-immigration stance and why progressives are disappointed with this government.
I think she's blaming me for the weather outside. "Human, do something about it! Make the rain stop!"
November 14, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I think she's blaming me for the weather outside. "Human, do something about it! Make the rain stop!"
Reposted by Peter Brommer
One important thing to understand about these policy support mechanisms (“benefits for middle class voters”) being scrapped or slashed is that they are *expressly designed* to incentivise people with money to spend it on clean technology, on basis that public spending can’t deliver transition on own
Hundreds of thousands to lose heat pump subsidies in Reeves’s budget plan
Exclusive: Supporters say grants largely going to middle-class households, but experts warn move will slow transition from gas boilers
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:50 PM
One important thing to understand about these policy support mechanisms (“benefits for middle class voters”) being scrapped or slashed is that they are *expressly designed* to incentivise people with money to spend it on clean technology, on basis that public spending can’t deliver transition on own
Reposted by Peter Brommer
The cost of living crisis was caused in large part by gas prices.
Heat pump policy supports a solution which which gets the country off gas AND reduces emissions.
I seriously hope this is some crossed wires, if not we really are in trouble.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Heat pump policy supports a solution which which gets the country off gas AND reduces emissions.
I seriously hope this is some crossed wires, if not we really are in trouble.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Hundreds of thousands to lose heat pump subsidies in Reeves’s budget plan
Exclusive: Supporters say grants largely going to middle-class households, but experts warn move will slow transition from gas boilers
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
The cost of living crisis was caused in large part by gas prices.
Heat pump policy supports a solution which which gets the country off gas AND reduces emissions.
I seriously hope this is some crossed wires, if not we really are in trouble.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Heat pump policy supports a solution which which gets the country off gas AND reduces emissions.
I seriously hope this is some crossed wires, if not we really are in trouble.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Car size, by @xkcd.com xkcd.com/3167
Car Size
xkcd.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Car size, by @xkcd.com xkcd.com/3167
Reposted by Peter Brommer
“Heat pumps are superior in efficiency to condensing boilers, even if the heat pumps are powered by electricity from a power station burning natural gas.”
Not me saying that but the late Prof Sir David MacKay.
More in my @carbonbrief.org article 👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
Not me saying that but the late Prof Sir David MacKay.
More in my @carbonbrief.org article 👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
November 9, 2025 at 9:05 PM
“Heat pumps are superior in efficiency to condensing boilers, even if the heat pumps are powered by electricity from a power station burning natural gas.”
Not me saying that but the late Prof Sir David MacKay.
More in my @carbonbrief.org article 👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
Not me saying that but the late Prof Sir David MacKay.
More in my @carbonbrief.org article 👇
interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/he...
![Screenshot of autofilled web form. Question: What is your ethnicity?
Autofilled answer: "Coventry" [white checkmark in grey circle]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:va2mlgyf6hdoycqe6r3volzt/bafkreif5x26jrkgjwl3ojbb2rrzwckhbpkj2i5negxcqkcqfk6uvzvoaui@jpeg)
Great sleuthing by @krivachytamas.bsky.social - a broken Springer API causes referencing chaos. Read the thread (and/or) their paper at arxiv.org/abs/2511.01675
November 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Great sleuthing by @krivachytamas.bsky.social - a broken Springer API causes referencing chaos. Read the thread (and/or) their paper at arxiv.org/abs/2511.01675
Reposted by Peter Brommer
5️⃣/🔟 In Scientific Reports, 5 of the top 10 most cited articles have an article number of 1.
5️⃣/🔟 In Nature Communications the same: 5 of the top 10 are article 1s.
Coincidence? 👇
scirate.com/arxiv/2511.0...
I think not.
5️⃣/🔟 In Nature Communications the same: 5 of the top 10 are article 1s.
Coincidence? 👇
scirate.com/arxiv/2511.0...
I think not.
November 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM
5️⃣/🔟 In Scientific Reports, 5 of the top 10 most cited articles have an article number of 1.
5️⃣/🔟 In Nature Communications the same: 5 of the top 10 are article 1s.
Coincidence? 👇
scirate.com/arxiv/2511.0...
I think not.
5️⃣/🔟 In Nature Communications the same: 5 of the top 10 are article 1s.
Coincidence? 👇
scirate.com/arxiv/2511.0...
I think not.
They found a good use for AI. Do give formatmypaper.com a go!
November 2, 2025 at 9:41 AM
They found a good use for AI. Do give formatmypaper.com a go!
Reposted by Peter Brommer
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Reposted by Peter Brommer
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...
Reposted by Peter Brommer
Is the universities regulator protecting free expression or, as @jamesrball.com asks, are some beliefs more protected than others?
The assault on academic freedom
Is the universities regulator protecting free expression, or are some beliefs more protected than others?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Is the universities regulator protecting free expression or, as @jamesrball.com asks, are some beliefs more protected than others?
Reposted by Peter Brommer
Trans rights are not a policy. They are a principle. And Your Party does not consider our rights to be in keeping with their principles. That is why they say nothing about us and tell us to wait until conference. They hope a vote on policy will finally placate us.
/9
/9
October 27, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Trans rights are not a policy. They are a principle. And Your Party does not consider our rights to be in keeping with their principles. That is why they say nothing about us and tell us to wait until conference. They hope a vote on policy will finally placate us.
/9
/9
What's the point of Labour?
Inside Labour’s pro-business push to ‘defang’ competitions watchdog
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-competitions-and-markets-authority-pro-business-deregulate-corporate-capture-keir-starmer/
How Keir Starmer’s government prioritised tech firms and the finance industry over British consumers
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-competitions-and-markets-authority-pro-business-deregulate-corporate-capture-keir-starmer/
How Keir Starmer’s government prioritised tech firms and the finance industry over British consumers
October 26, 2025 at 4:46 PM
What's the point of Labour?
So I did something in the sun, winds, rain and hail of North Wales.
![Selfie of the author, smiling, in a restaurant. Embedded in the picture is the text
PETER BROMMER
[Logo of Marathon Eryri]
Finish Time
03:31:29
Preliminary: Times and Places may change](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:va2mlgyf6hdoycqe6r3volzt/bafkreihtdrnelh7fzhrypppqp5ig66g2mbwio3pej5hycfb6z5ebvkgnyi@jpeg)
October 26, 2025 at 7:13 AM
So I did something in the sun, winds, rain and hail of North Wales.
Reposted by Peter Brommer
On this one, the only party I have seen come with a sensible set of proposals regarding the Home Office are the @greenparty.org.uk with @carladenyer.bsky.social's report, written by @zoejardiniere.bsky.social, on options for breaking the Home Office up.
2/
carladenyer.co.uk/no-way-home/
2/
carladenyer.co.uk/no-way-home/
No Way Home: It is time to remove management of immigration from the Home Office - Carla Denyer
Carla Denyer: Your Bristol West Green Party MP Candidate. Tackling the Climate Emergency - An End to the Housing Crisis - A Fairer and More Equal City
carladenyer.co.uk
October 23, 2025 at 6:57 AM
On this one, the only party I have seen come with a sensible set of proposals regarding the Home Office are the @greenparty.org.uk with @carladenyer.bsky.social's report, written by @zoejardiniere.bsky.social, on options for breaking the Home Office up.
2/
carladenyer.co.uk/no-way-home/
2/
carladenyer.co.uk/no-way-home/
Reposted by Peter Brommer
A publicly owned firm that does finance ministry's job for it, and cuts services before that is even demanded, is a problem for everyone.
There should be a tension between publicly owned rail company and finance ministry.
Railway: how many trains can we run?
Ministry: here's the financial limit
There should be a tension between publicly owned rail company and finance ministry.
Railway: how many trains can we run?
Ministry: here's the financial limit
October 14, 2025 at 2:13 PM
A publicly owned firm that does finance ministry's job for it, and cuts services before that is even demanded, is a problem for everyone.
There should be a tension between publicly owned rail company and finance ministry.
Railway: how many trains can we run?
Ministry: here's the financial limit
There should be a tension between publicly owned rail company and finance ministry.
Railway: how many trains can we run?
Ministry: here's the financial limit