Ben Spencer
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ben-spencer.bsky.social
Ben Spencer
@ben-spencer.bsky.social
4.2K followers 170 following 120 posts
Science Editor at The Sunday Times
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Ben Spencer @ben-spencer.bsky.social · Jun 29
Patrick Vallance always insisted politics wasn’t for him. So why, a year ago this week, did he accept a job as Labour’s science minister? “If you say no, then you should shut up - and I didn’t feel like shutting up.”

My interview with Lord Vallance @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...
Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance
The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser
www.thetimes.com
ben-spencer.bsky.social
The Times and Sunday Times science/environment books of the year are out! By @masudhusain.bsky.social @adamweymouth.bsky.social Tim Gregory Liam Shaw @hannahritchie.bsky.social Suzanne O'Sullivan and Bollore/Bonnassies.

List here (click science/environment)
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
December 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
An “axis of obstruction” emerges at #Cop30. Roadmap away from fossil fuels kicked down the track after it was blocked by Saudi Arabia, Russia and China.

In tomorrow’s Sunday Times and online now @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/5b14...
Cop30: Oil-rich nations scupper deal to phase out fossil fuels
The ‘axis of obstruction’ — Saudi Arabia, Russia and China — blocked the Belém road map as climate experts fear the growth of an anti-action consensus
www.thetimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:24 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Labour ministers accused of abandoning nature in the pursuit of net zero, as row escalates at #Cop30 over UK failure to back fund to save the rainforests.

edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dyn...
November 16, 2025 at 6:40 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Anyone want to go in on a woodland with me? Slightly obsessed by this idea.

www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
‘I bought a £90k woodland for my sons. The return has been priceless’
Investing in alternative assets can have some unexpected rewards — and could even help with your inheritance tax bill
www.thetimes.com
October 6, 2025 at 12:20 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
"Until recently I was City Minister, but in truth I'm more of a country girl than a city girl," new environment secretary Emma Reynolds tells the Labour Party Conference. "A walk in the woods, a hike over the hills, a dip in the sea: these are things that make life worthwhile."
October 1, 2025 at 9:52 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
One of the great privileges of my job is going to places few others can. This was one of those trips, 433m below the earth in Finland, down tunnels which will soon be used to dispose of nuclear waste. With amazing photos by Richard Pohle

@thetimes.com

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nucl...
Secrets of the deep, deep tunnels where nuclear waste is buried
Almost half a kilometre underground, engineers in Finland are about to seal radioactive material safely for ever. Britain wants to do the same
www.thetimes.co.uk
September 28, 2025 at 9:59 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Fascinating to speak to Chris Van Tulleken about vaccine hesitancy, how to stop the next pandemic, ultra-processed food and his new BBC documentary Disease X. Oh, and the physics of fart diffusion.

In today's Sunday Times @thetimes.com 👇🏻

thetimes.com/article/e9441f…
https://thetimes.com/article/e9441f…
September 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Why can't Defra hang on to an environment secretary for a decent stretch of time? I've looked at this in today's environment newsletter and examined what we know about the new secretary of state, Emma Reynolds, and what her first challenges will be.

link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...
September 9, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Ben Spencer
skepchick.org
me, to the judge: “Well if THAT’s what they meant, they should have used punctuation.”
a sign that reads “NO LOITERING VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED”
September 7, 2025 at 3:27 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
BREAKING: Zack Polanski has been elected as the new leader of the Green Party. This is what I wrote about the impact it will have on the party last week

link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...
September 2, 2025 at 10:23 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Britain's nuclear fleet limps on. Heysham 1 in Lancashire and Hartlepool in Teesside have been given one-year extensions and are now expected to generate electricity until March 2028.
September 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Excl: US pharma giant Gilead is withholding a breast cancer drug from Nice assessment, blaming the UK for undervaluing medicines. It's a marker of the disintegrating relationship between the biosciences industry and government in a war over prices 👇🏻

@thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/article/2b11...
‘Precious’ breast cancer drug withheld from NHS in price row
The pharma giant Gilead Sciences will not send Trodelvy for assessment by the UK drugs watchdog, claiming it can’t make enough profit in Britain
www.thetimes.com
August 24, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Ben Spencer
waspwoman.bsky.social
Wasps (and me!) in @thesundaytimes.bsky.social today. Thanks @ben-spencer.bsky.social for championing wasps!

Get involved with #WaspPicnicSurvey and #BigWaspSurvey!
#SummerOfWaspLove
Links below!
@uclcber.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social
@adamhartscience.bsky.social
August 3, 2025 at 8:48 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
In today’s Sunday Times: why 70-year-olds look (and feel) better today than they ever have. And why the rest of us may never have it so good.

⁦@thetimes⁩.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/d5c1...
Why 70-year-olds look better today than they ever have
Remarkable advances in health and wealth mean baby boomers could be the healthiest generation yet. Younger cohorts may not be so lucky
www.thetimes.com
August 3, 2025 at 7:56 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Beavers, bison and osprey: an ode to species reintroductions in today’s Sunday Times Magazine.

@thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/magazines/th...
12 amazing wild animals that are thriving again in Britain
It’s a conservation success story. Ben Spencer spies the ospreys, bison, beavers and other rare species recently reintroduced to our shores
www.thetimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 7:26 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
This is such a great piece by @astrojonny.bsky.social about the chaos at Nasa right now, including the impact it is having on the moon missions and European space projects.

👇🏻 @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/article/9a65...
‘Nasa is being savaged’ — budget cuts and politics put space exploration in jeopardy
The reignited space race may be over almost as soon as it started, with the US and European space agencies at the mercy of the White House
www.thetimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Ben Spencer
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Patrick Vallance always insisted politics wasn’t for him. So why, a year ago this week, did he accept a job as Labour’s science minister? “If you say no, then you should shut up - and I didn’t feel like shutting up.”

My interview with Lord Vallance @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...
Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance
The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser
www.thetimes.com
June 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Patrick Vallance always insisted politics wasn’t for him. So why, a year ago this week, did he accept a job as Labour’s science minister? “If you say no, then you should shut up - and I didn’t feel like shutting up.”

My interview with Lord Vallance @thetimes.com 👇

www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...
Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance
The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser
www.thetimes.com
June 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Ben Spencer
drjoepajak.bsky.social
In the UK, 'vaccination rates are falling because parents have forgotten the devastating impact of childhood diseases' - and in particular, 'that measles kills.' Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation ‪ @ben-spencer.bsky.social @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/article/7e18...
Parents have forgotten that measles kills, says Lord Vallance
The falling rate of vaccination shows people no longer understand the danger of not immunising children, warns the Covid-era chief scientific adviser
www.thetimes.com
June 29, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Ben Spencer
ben-spencer.bsky.social
If you've seen Attenborough's Ocean, you will have seen the unnamed diver from Arran describing the horror of bottom trawling. This is his story: a 35-yr fight to save the seas around his island and how his cause is now taken up by princes and presidents

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
A revolution that started in a Scottish pub could save the world’s oceans
Pioneered by worried locals, the success of a no-bottom trawling zone off the island of Arran has raised hopes that similar schemes can revive seas globally
www.thetimes.com
June 17, 2025 at 9:13 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
If you've seen Attenborough's Ocean, you will have seen the unnamed diver from Arran describing the horror of bottom trawling. This is his story: a 35-yr fight to save the seas around his island and how his cause is now taken up by princes and presidents

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
A revolution that started in a Scottish pub could save the world’s oceans
Pioneered by worried locals, the success of a no-bottom trawling zone off the island of Arran has raised hopes that similar schemes can revive seas globally
www.thetimes.com
June 17, 2025 at 9:13 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Next week Ed Miliband will relaunch UK nuclear power with a commitment for Sizewell C and a new fleet of SMRs. But it’s not the first time politicians have attempted to revive nuclear. I delve into a history of false starts for the Sunday Times

www.thetimes.com/article/4440...
Nuclear power is back. Will it work out this time?
Britain used to lead the world but lost its way over decades of false starts. The planet’s first small reactors could win us energy independence — at a price
www.thetimes.com
June 2, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Ben Spencer
shaunlintern.bsky.social
With a new space race hotting up, Belfast-born Rosemary Coogan, 34, is boldly going where only two UK astronauts have gone before: into orbit. Could she make it to the Moon?

Great piece from @ben-spencer.bsky.social who was lucky enough to go inside mission control: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Behind the scenes at Nasa with the UK’s newest astronaut
With a new space race hotting up, Belfast-born Rosemary Coogan, 34, is boldly going where only two UK astronauts have gone before: into orbit. Next step, the moon? Ben Spencer meets her in training in...
www.thetimes.com
May 22, 2025 at 11:08 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
Last month I spent two days at Nasa HQ in Houston with UK astronaut Rosemary Coogan as she trained for a mission to the International Space Station.

My piece is online now @thetimes.com and will be in the Sunday Times Magazine this weekend 👇

A career highlight.

www.thetimes.com/article/8e90...
Behind the scenes at Nasa with the UK’s newest astronaut
With a new space race hotting up, Belfast-born Rosemary Coogan, 34, is boldly going where only two UK astronauts have gone before: into orbit. Next step, the moon? Ben Spencer meets her in training in...
www.thetimes.com
May 22, 2025 at 9:06 AM
ben-spencer.bsky.social
The tragic story of seven deaths and a village washed away in Malawi - and the British company which is fighting accusations it is to blame for the disaster. With incredible reporting on the ground from Jack Denton.

Online now @thetimes.com
May 3, 2025 at 9:29 PM