Ageing and Protein Production (the homeostasis of transcription)A really interesting new preprint was published in August by Nicholas Stroustrup's lab in Barcelona, Spain. Declines in mRNA synthesis set the rate of organismal aging looks at the way an enzyme called RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) changes as worms get older. This particular enzyme is used by a wide range of species to read DNA and create mRNA. That process is called transcription. The paper is (more) |
Church could get first toilet in more than 700 yearsTo the great relief of the parishioners of St Giles's at Hartington in Derbyshire, BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award. (more) |
Adrianne Lenker: Real HouseMatt Mitchell wrote on Paste in 2024: As soon as I finished listening to Real House, the opening track from Adrianne Lenker's new album Bright Future, for the first time, I paused the music and immediately called my mother—not to say "I love you" but to hear her voice and remember the gift of connection we hold together even in distance. The song, easily Lenker's rawest and intimate yet, rebels against mystery, refusing to be enshrouded by opaqueness. It's a plainspoken, minimal and articulated collection of reflective vignettes - an archival of 22 years of Lenker's life as she remembers ... (more) |
Tom Arms' World ReviewTexas Watch Texas. Especially watch the Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton. Texas is a bright-red Republican state. Its Stetson-wearing inhabitants openly carry guns on their hips and year after year return a far-right Republican governor and legislature. A Democrat has not won a Senate seat since 1988. For that reason, the prestigious election-watching Cook Report has consistently classed Texas as "lean Republican." It has recently, however, changed its classification to a "toss-up." A big part of the change is cash. In America advertising wins votes. Advertising costs money so elections usually go to the ... (more) |
Sleaze, scandal and dodgy fundingThe Independent reports that an embattled Nigel Farage is fighting for his political survival as a major donations scandal completely overshadowed what Reform UK hoped would be a major comeback speech at its party conference in Birmingham. The paper says that allegations that the party arranged illegal donations led to the resignation on Friday of Farage's chief of staff and longtime aide Dan Jukes, as well as policy director James Orr, effectively knocking the party off-course from its planned agenda, and forcing Farage to answer questions on whether he could bounce back from another scandal: Metropolitan Police confirmed they are ... (more) |
Dangerous Exile (1957): Richard O'Sullivan and Vaughan WilkinsThe death of Richard O'Sullivan gives me an excuse to mention one of this blog's more obscure heroes, the mid 20th century historical novelist Vaughan Wilkins. Because, as a boy, O'Sullivan appeared in the only film to be made from one of Wilkins's novels. Dangerous Exile, which was directed by Desmond Hurst and released in 1957, was based on the novel A King Reluctant. It tells the story of the escape of the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from France to Wales and the attempts of the Revolutionary government to recapture him. The boy is played by ... (more) |
Why Holborn and St Pancras deserves our allIt is no secret that Liberal Democrats have become one of the first and foremost Parties in Local Government, having consistently made gains for the last seven years of Local Elections and this strategy was successful in giving us 72 MPs in 2024. But one place where we have suffered a great absence of success has been in Parliamentary by-elections, where we haven't made a gain since 2023. This is obviously bad for a few reasons, by-elections often indicate loudly and clearly to the public who has momentum, and seeing a major victory can translate into added strength, for example, ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1572"How did a former lawyer-turned theologian become Reform UK's lead ideologue and political heavyweight on so many issues? To understand that, you have to follow a covert combination of faith and finance, of evangelical doom-mongering and disruptive tech and media, from the two real kingmakers in right-wing British and American politics - the deeply religious and deeply wealthy owners of GB News and Palantir: Sir Paul Marshall and Peter Thiel." Peter Jukes and Nafeez Ahmed map the strange rise of James Orr. Elaine Craig has researched family carers' attitude to the use of restraint in mental hospitals: "A mother discovered ... (more) |
Observations of an Expat: Bonds and the WorldThis week's G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville ended amid unusually bitter divisions. Behind the arguments over China, tariffs, Iran and Russia lurked another problem which affects every country represented around the table: the world's bond markets are in turmoil. The practicality of funding the business of governments is an excellent demonstration of the interconnectability of the world. The fact is that no matter how high a tariff wall is built, the bond holders will find a way to scale it and their demands are based on global conditions. At the moment, the global bond market is in tumult. This ... (more) |
Why Ofcom and the government need to up their game on parcel deliveriesThe latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords. This time it's back to parcel delivery services, as well as a quick update on a political finance loophole. The regulation of parcel delivery firms is not up to scratch [IMG: An Amazon parcel in a letterbox] Photo by Olivier Rouge ... (more) |