Excellent, though deeply depressing, article on the inadequacy of American society in the face of the Covid crisis. bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…

Today's target for unfollowing: people who use Covid to score partisan points against the UK government. They're doing pretty well in an extremely hard situation, and it is partisanship that got the USA into the dreadful mess they're in.

Inside the new Nightingale Hospital in London’s Excel centre - created from standing start a week ago

These Are The Hands by Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 & Tony Ross #MichaelRosen ❤ #NHSheroes 💙

Presumably, once antibody testing comes along, people who test positive will be exempt from social distancing. A little badge, perhaps. Those of us with pre-existing conditions will have to remain indoors until the vaccine comes along, maybe autumn or winter. Annoying.

I block for fake news, any day of the year. Quit the Transit of Saturn garbage. It's not new, and it's not funny.

Interesting to see another writer who thinks it's OK to write from the point of view of a different gender. My books nearly all have a female main character - one is first-person female. Seems to work for me. bbc.co.uk/news/entertain… PS - not claiming to the stature of this lady

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard flight 2020. A couple of points to note: 1) we are unable to leave the airport this year due to global health concerns. 2) you will be unable to leave the plane due to the quarantine. The captain has assured me there is plenty of toilet paper.

New ideas in the night. I have a tentative outline for a new novel in the Asteroid Police series, working title 'Rings of Mars.' It will carry on some of the thinking I've been doing for 'Stations at Mars,' but in novel form.

Chest pain? Severe abdominal pain? leg weakness? PLEASE still come to A&E. We are seeing very ill patients who have delayed coming because of fears of Covid or not wanting to burden us. NHS is set up to help all - covid & non covid patients. Please retweet so people know.

Seeing the figures on national origin of NHS workers, nearly half of doctors are from overseas, a third of nurses. Great to have them here, but I wonder about the ethics of our taking the best and brightest from all over the world. What's the impact on their home countries?

I love how all the news websites still have a big Sports section, even though there is literally nothing to report on. Maybe it was never news in the first place?

Due to my illness, I'm tending to think about story ideas at night while trying to sleep. As a result they come out more disjointed and fantastical. I shall have trouble nailing them together into a story.

If you're asked to light a sky latern in support of the wonderful @NHS & key workers pls say no-show your support another way. Sky lanterns are a fire hazard,a danger to wildlife & pollute the natural world #banfirelanterns #ClapForCarers #stopfires Phil Garrigan National Fire Chiefs Council

Dear America. Your problem is not that your president is a corrupt, ignorant, clueless fucktard. It's that you're unwilling to set aside your partisanism to do something about it. This is why America is fucked.

Fake news has been circulating on social media that the first volunteer in the Oxford vaccine trial has died. This is not true! I spent several minutes this morning chatting with Elisa Granato via Skype. She is very much alive and told me she is feeling “absolutely fine”

Continuing to work on 'Rings of Mars,' about three chapters in. Instead of thinking about the next steps, my mind insists on elaborating a scene about six chapters ahead. It's so unimaginably geeky, it'd never get into a published book. Similar to the Morse code scene in Mutiny.

Another big fossil-fuel project has been halted by the courts today, taking the government's zero-carbon by 2050 pledge seriously. Great to see their "binding commitment" coming back to bite them. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

Stock markets explained in 15 secs. x.com/figen1907/stat…

Buttons withe tiny labels are hardly any better than a screen. Use switches, handwheels, sliders, things that will allow the user to recognised controls by touch. Lay them out on different surfaces, like a posh camera, so the labels become redundant to a skilled user.