And he’s equally right the only route to defeating populism runs through properly tackling the climate crisis. Climate breakdown, food insecurity, and rolling disasters will be weaponised by nationalists and authoritarians everywhere.

"However, because of aid cuts, FCDO officials chose the 'least ambitious' plan to protect Sudanese civilians" www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Another horrific genocide facilitated by UK arms exports. Government should revoke weapons export licenses for UAE immediately, and put in place stronger (or just actually use existing?) controls. www.lbc.co.uk/article/suda...

Back on Bluesky for Halloween to share the latest fungi finds with less-than-accurate alt text identifications #FungiFriends

Reality is still a thing.

Paid a visit to the London arms fair today... Found a component for cluster munitions, banned under international law, on full display. Confirmed by staff, and removed swiftly by event organisers. But what else remains? These vile weapons should never be peddled in the UK.

This is absolutely the quote and ethos to live by. Also, I don't have kids so mentally I'm substituting in "the neighbourhood cat, who sleeps on my bins" - If anything, he's more judgemental.

"If you were in Gaza, watching your babies wither away from engineered starvation, would you want someone to speak up for you?" The posts feel hopeless, the emails and donations insufficient. Not nearly enough, but not nothing.

Dire. The Labour Party is being led by a moral vacuum

‘They slaughtered us like animals’: the inside story of how one of the biggest atrocities of the Sudan war unfolded in Zamzam

Israel's siege is starving the people of Gaza. The IPC has said “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.” 88 children have reportedly died due to malnutrition and starvation since October 2023.

This is the blog. A plea for nuance and context, which is solely lacking in short-form posting and is weaponised by fascists - but is essential to creating a more empathetic world.

Biggest harvest of the season, and after terrible growing in 2024 the best for a couple of years. This #allotment is a wonderful place for reflection, so I can't add this to my timeline without thinking of #Gaza; how even this simple harvest would be withheld in the Israeli government's genocide.

🚨EMERGENCY ACTIONS THIS FRIDAY 🇵🇸 We will be laying a pot outside Downing Street for every Palestinian killed while queuing for aid in Gaza. Across the country similar actions will be taking place. Tell Starmer: Stop Starving Gaza! Find your local action: palestinecampaign.org/events/emerg...

Bird sounds.

So so close. It's right there. Nothing more metal than a European rail link that makes Birmingham a low-carbon holiday hub. Some kind of crazy train...?

I crave a moment where someone in a powerful position will explain, like a normal person, why we should chill the fuck out and extend some empathy and basic decency to everyone else. That's it, that's the low bar that UK politics has apparently set. What a miserable fucking world to live in.

See also: Labour might support a Palestinian state by continuing a policy of powerful weapons exports (and writing some letters).

You don’t have to know a single thing about Gaza or Palestine to know that Israel is starving children to death. It shouldn’t require much for that to be the reddest of red lines. Please speak up

🚨 A genocide is happening, but the Labour government is supplying weapons, intelligence and diplomatic cover to the perpetrator. Protesting this is not terrorism.

The Home Secretary calls the Israeli govt’s actions in Gaza ‘intolerable.’ But he is tolerating it. I asked when he will take real action: a full arms embargo, widespread sanctions, a ban on the import of settlement goods, and funding for evidence collection for prosecutions.

The Met Office State of the UK Climate Report for 2024 shows that record breaking and extreme weather has become increasingly commonplace in the UK as our climate has changed over the last few decades Published today by @wiley.com in @rmets.org Learn more 👇

I just voted against proscribing Palestine Action, a civil disobedience group, as a terrorist organisation. But I'm furious that in doing so, the government forced me and others to vote against proscribing two other clearly terrorist groups. Cynical and dangerous from govt.

The proscription of Palestine Action sets a dangerous precedent. I voted against the order today. In similar cases, juries found activists not guilty based on a belief that activists were acting from a desire to prevent war crimes. The Government must draw the same proportionate line.

My first thought during all heatwaves- closely followed by a minor panic attack, because that chapter goes hard.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reports that soldiers operating near food aid sites have deliberately fired on Palestinians.

If this has the desired effect, that's great. But a question: how do you govern this badly & expect to blithely carry on? The govt's short/medium-term programme feels like it's falling apart. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This looks like a good thing? Is it naive to hope this could stir a much less callous approach to welfare and disability from the Labour government?

Israel has crossed red line after red line against the people of #Gaza. And now, an entire population is facing erasure. In our masses, let's build our own red line and demand our government takes action now. Start by tapping SHARE #RedLineForGaza

Signs of spring, ranked.

Today we join If Not Now, Voices against War and Refuser Solidarity Network to demand an immediate arms embargo on Israel. The UK government must stop arming Israel NOW: www.gaza.refuser.org?utm_source=x...

At the heart of every attack on disability benefits is the myth disabled people “get perks”: a free car, loads of cash, a life off work. It misrepresents the reality of disability, whilst exploiting low wages and high living costs to make the public envy people in daily pain.

Busy campaign day for @savechildrenuk.bsky.social. Important statement here about the UK government's immoral welfare cuts. Unbelievable (well, maybe not...) that a Labour govt are trying to balance the budget at the expense of sick and disabled people.

We are horrified by reports that more than 50 children have been killed by Israeli forces in strikes across Gaza overnight. By refusing to suspend all arms sales to Israel, the UK Government is complicit in these horrors. We urge them to act now or history will judge them.

📢 The UK government has failed to act despite overwhelming evidence of atrocities in Gaza. We demand an end to UK complicity! 🚨 Ministers: We demand an end to UK complicity. 👉 allytoatrocities.com #AllyToAtrocities #EndUKComplicity #JusticeForPalestine

NEW – Factcheck: Why Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is wrong about UK’s net-zero goal | @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org Read here: bit.ly/440gAr0

If you want more money, try a wealth tax.

Mycelium network. A fungus inspired artwork in St Paul's square, part of the Birmingham Light Festival: www.birminghamlightfestival.co.uk/artworks/myc...

TLDR: It's time for the government to spend. On defence, on public services, on infrastructure, on industry. And move closer to the EU. Oh, and tell the right-wing papers, gently, to f off

I apologise to my past self and my teenage friend group. The Black Parade is an excellent album. Fall Out Boy do great melodies. I really like Bloc Party. Turns out being a metal elitist in the 2000s made me miss out on loads of great music! Nine Inch Nails were always a good choice though.

"Reform voters won’t have watched and thought: “Ah! Labour are serious about immigration. We no longer have to vote Reform.” They will have just realised they had been right to switch to Reform all along. Why vote Labour when you can have the real thing?" 7 months in, and we're back here.

The United States has declared economic war on some of its closest allies and Silicon Valley is itching to use the power of the state to defend its interests at all costs. It’s time for an alliance not just to combat US belligerence, but to build a different vision for tech.

I very much like Ted Chiang's fiction ("Stories of Your Life" is one of the best short stories writte, sci-fi or otherwise), and every interview I read with him is fascinating - he has a way of exploring ideas that is sorely lacking in many parts of our media lareviewofbooks.org/article/life...

Latest from me: what a post-industrial town in Staffordshire told me about Donald Trump & the politics of the populist right www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Feeling the political panic on the left increase with the shitshow in the US and as Labour's ambitions stagnate by the hour. I'm of the @johnharris1969.bsky.social school of thought: pessimistic, but convinced that a left politics that actually improves working class lives can beat the new right.

Reform UK is growing faster than anyone expected. We are building a movement of thousands to bring people together, expose Reform UK’s tactics and push back in communities across the country. But we need you! ✍️ Sign up today and join the campaign: hopenothate.org.uk/stop-reform/

This got me listening to Poison the Well for the first time in years. New single is awesome, forgot how good the 2000s albums are. The rage of 2000s metalcore is also an excellent cathartic soundtrack for resisting the tech-fascists and their friends, if that's your kind of thing.

Exactly. Airport expansion is not compatible with our climate goals, so will undermine our prosperity in the long term too. How about growth through massive retrofit and insulation programmes instead?

"we can already describe this moment as the most self-confident the far right has been in the West since the peak of the Third Reich."

The best bit about grow you own mushroom kits is seeing how fast the mycelium fruits - this is progress over two days