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Britain and Ireland’s wildflowers – in pictures

The Eden Project’s National Wildflower Centre is opening entries for its Wildflower Photographer of the Year 2026 competition on 29 May. The contest showcases images of some of Britain and Ireland’s 1,600 wildflower species, and a selection of photos from last year’s competition will be on display at Eden Dock, Canary Wharf, London, during CWG’s Nature Week, from 13 July

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My first thought after having a vasectomy: why aren’t more British men having them? | Tim Burrows

While women continue to toil with the coil, fewer men are prepared to get snipped. The answer why may lie in the rumours and fear that spread online

There I was, lying on the operating table in just my socks and a Steely Dan T-shirt. I had taken the train back to my seaside home town in Essex to have a vasectomy after being on the NHS waiting list for almost two years, since our third child, Sylvia, was born. Three was our magic number. Any more and the car would become a wagon and dinner would turn into feeding time. And now, finally, the contraceptive burden would fall on me. After Hayley’s years of toil with a coil, and the pain of childbirth, I was due a little discomfort.

A vasectomy, as the pre-op letter explained, “is designed to make you sterile”. (You’d hope so.) It would involve “removing a segment of a tube called the vas deferens from each side so that sperm cannot pass through”. There would be an “injection of local anaesthetic to the skin of the scrotum” before “a tiny incision through the painless area of the scrotum, first on one side and then the other”.

Tim Burrows is an author and journalist

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What is a ‘Scientology speedrun’ and why is social media suddenly obsessed with it?

The name is deceptive. It’s not about Tom Cruise in tight shorts, but the craze has racked up 90m views for one content creator

Ima, if someone said “Scientology speedrun” to me I would think about Tom Cruise in tight shorts. But that is not what is happening, is it?

Not quite, Cait. The Scientology speedrun appears to have spawned in March when content creator Swhileyy filmed himself rushing the Church of Scientology on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. That video gained 90m views before it was deleted.

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Hooked Up Seafood

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Hooked Up Seafood

Don't Worry

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Don't Worry

Rijnmond - Nieuws

Het laatste nieuws van vandaag over Rotterdam, Feyenoord, het verkeer en het weer in de regio Rijnmond

Auto achterstevoren op snelweg, meerdere rijstroken dicht

Op de A20 richting Hoek van Holland moeten reizigers rekening houden met oplopende vertraging. Een auto staat door een ongeluk met een vrachtwagen achterstevoren op de snelweg. Twee rijstroken zijn afgesloten.

VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

ME grijpt voor derde dag op rij in bij protest tegen azc in Apeldoorn, explosie bij beoogde opvang Den Bosch

Fleeting - Railton Road

niggyl :) has added a photo to the pool:

Fleeting - Railton Road

Foggy morning heading inland beside the Mersey River on Railton Road, Latrobe, northern Tasmania.

Ricoh GRiii, 18.3mm GR lens, 1/1600th sec at f/10, ISO 400.

Nigella

marikoroid has added a photo to the pool:

Nigella

ニゲラ
キンポウゲ科に属する一年草。花言葉は未来、不屈の精神、ひそかな喜び

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Hantavirus-besmetting in Frankrijk na evacuatie Hondius

PARIJS (ANP/RTR) - Een voormalige Franse opvarende van het Nederlandse cruiseschip m/v Hondius is positief getest op het hantavirus. De gezondheidstoestand van die persoon gaat achteruit, meldde minister van Volksgezondheid Stéphanie Rist.