There is an air of defeatism in progressive circles today, the day Donald Trump will be sworn in for a second term as President of the United States of America.

With a handful of notable exceptions, my book reading in the past year has not been an altogether happy experience. Micro reviews on Twitter – click for a larger image on Flickr I worked my way through 18 titles in all, work being the operative verb in many cases. That low tally is about average for me, a cyclically unimpressive feat. My excuses are two-fold this year.

Barcelona is color As is my habit my favourite photographs from the year just past can now be found on an album on Flickr . There are sixty-three in all, selected from a total of about 1800 which is quite a drop from my usual tally of around 2500. The dip in activity reflects my changed circumstances.

Apologies, this will be obvious to some, but I have seen enough so-so images on social media to convince me there are others who could post much better pictures if they took just a little bit more care. Smartphone cameras are so good these days that everyone is a photographer. But clearly, everyone isn’t a photographer.

Today is my last day at Imperial College London. It marks the completion of exactly 29 years as a member of staff. Two talks, about 30 years apart.

On Tuesday evening I was asked by Research Professional News for my views on a new report from think tank UKDayOne, which is calling for the abolition of the Research Excellence Framework, unlovingly known as the REF. The report is provocative and interesting. It has won loud support from one Dominic Cummings.

This is a repost of an article that was originally published on the Research on Research Institute website. Comments welcome! It is a truth universally acknowledged that scientists who take greater risks are more likely to make important discoveries.

“The Ruffian” is great title for Ian Leslie’s Substack given his predilection for roughing up lazy thinking.

A combination of life’s distractions, ill discipline and slow reading mean that I have only managed to finish 11 books this year. I am almost embarrassed to admit to such a paltry tally. There are people who can rip through that many titles in less than a month. I envy them their capacity. But it is what it is. Eleven. As is now my habit, there is a tweet thread of brief reviews of each book – summarised in the image below.

I took over 2800 photos in 2023. Actually, I took a lot more because we went on safari in the summer and I have worked hard to cull as many shots that I could from that trip. Even so, that left me with nearly 1000 pictures of wildlife that I want to keep. Building and body beautiful (Bologna) My selected favourites bear witness to the fact that this has very much been a year of travel – mostly to cities and mostly for work.