"...Congo isn't just war...we too are capable of achieving great things despite the conflicts." Cyclist Miguel Masaisai

"Grave concern for the safety and well-being of human rights activists Saif Abu Kishek and Thiago Ávila, who were abducted by Israeli commandos" while taking part in a nonviolent Global Sumud Flotilla mission. freedomflotilla.org/2026/05/02/f...

"How lovly now are lanes and balks For toils and lovers sunday walks The daisey and the buttercup For which the laughing childern stoop A hundred times throughout the day." John Clare Meadow buttercups for #ButtercupChallenge #WildflowerHour

Thinking about mutuality this May Day.

Palantir has contracts with multiple UK government bodies including the NHS, we should all be worried. When systems used in public services are linked to technologies deployed in defence and surveillance, it raises questions about where the boundaries between health, security & warfare sit.

Deeply shocked to learn of the unexpected death of Bana Gora. Co-founder of the Muslim Women's Council with the late, dear Nuzhat Ali. As Ishtiaq Ahmed reflects, "She was always visionary, often controversial, but above all, driven by a determination to create lasting change."

A young British neo-Nazi has been convicted of planning a terror attack Alfie Coleman, now 21, was arrested in September 2023 after exchanging £3,500 for what he thought was a gun and ammunition in a car park in Stratford, which he'd actually bought from an undercover MI5 officer

yesterday i sat through a 45 minute presentation about how to develop students 'ai fluency' in order to *ethically* make students 'career ready' 10 minutes before a discussion about how we're probably going to lay people off, then asked us to share some joys. nobody had any if you were wondering!!!

1/3🧵A year ago, I joined other UN experts to raise the alarm on #Tanzania: arbitrary detentions, an enforced disappearance, and social media blocked ahead of elections. I also requested a country visit. Today I ask: what has changed? 🔗 spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBas... #HumanRights

"In the Pacific Islands, a group of students turned their frustration into legal firepower, demanding justice for their vulnerable nations and challenging the biggest polluters in court." www.unep.org/news-and-sto...

Sharp rise in European spending amid war and new #NATO spending target: The main contributor to the global increase in military spending in 2025 was a 14% rise in Europe to $864 billion. New #SIPRI data out now ➡️ bit.ly/3QWVcOW #MilitaryExpenditure #GDAMS #GDAMS2026

"Three Reform election candidates appear on leaked BNP list." (Candidates are standing in Gateshead; Fleet Town & Hart District Council; & Blackburn.) www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

"The decline in Britons’ health in recent years is so significant that, in more than 90% of the UK, people now start suffering from illness before the state pension age of 66..." www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Orange-tip butterfly on cuckooflowers at the local wetlands (Brearley Fields, Calder Valley). #WildflowerHour

Despite years of intense research it seems that we're no closer to understanding what war is good for.

"These pressures are layering onto pre-existing vulnerabilities – from high food insecurity to economic fragility – leaving millions of households and already overstretched response systems with little capacity to absorb further shocks." news.un.org/en/story/202...

"The Conviction of Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham Is an Unprecedented Attack on Civil Society." Joint statement from Human Rights Watch & others on criminal conviction & more for laying flowers. Flowers. www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...

"The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and more recently Lebanon has been closed because of cuts within the department..." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

literally every day my wife or I go outside with our daughter people go out of their way to be friendly, offer aid or a kind word, no matter where we've traveled. it's nice to remember that hostility as default mode of interaction is not destiny, much as it benefits some to pretend it is

Just peace not unjust war. www.commondreams.org/opinion/iran...

3 years of conflict. 3 years of atrocities. The war in Sudan has upended millions of lives. You only need to read these 5 stories to grasp its human cost: https://bit.ly/4sxXtNI #3YearsTooLong

How do you show hope, compassion and kindness in the face of deep division in society? Rebecca Bellamy from our Peacebuilding in Britain team shares a new campaign to celebrate positive action in our communities. https://www.quaker.org.uk/blog/a-million-acts-of-hope

Another meander. It widens on the turn and the water is turbid. What happens here at high tide. Almost a meadow between the Ouse and the embankment. The flood plain is pocked with ephemeral ponds. See the birds in the shallows. Black-headed gulls. Or goosanders. Gone before you know it. 104/

Trump is reported close to a "deal" with himself under which US taxpayers would pay him $10 billion. I served in multiple communist and authoritarian dictatorships, but I never witnessed corruption on this scale or this blatant.

Little can rival an old Scots pine for sheer force of personality and presence. One of the earlier tree species to colonise Ireland after the last Ice Age, pine was thought to have completely died out due to deforestation, until a small residual population was confirmed in the Burren, Co. Clare.

The US are deporting people to a country where long-running & active armed conflict persists. www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...

Unsurprising yet horrific this is needed. And speaking as one of so many whose relative died of Covid in a care home, alongside seeing the lives of dear friends ravaged by long Covid. Thanks to @cbffjuk.bsky.social for speaking truth to those in & seeking power.

Experiencing racism - having racism block your opportunities, security, health, housing, income and your children's - is not a personal 'identity' issue

brilliant -- Morning Joe put together clips of Pete Hegseth reciting a fake Bible quote from Pulp Fiction, along with the Samuel L. Jackson scene from the movie

"Every scalable solution has to start somewhere small. With a spark of an idea, an anomaly during an experiment or, perhaps, an empty seashell on an Irish beach." theconversation.com/eight-wonder...

The PM either knew about Mandelson's vetting failure & lied or didn't know and should have. Most crucially, Mandelson should never have been considered. Hard to see this as anything other than acting without integrity to not, it turns out, satiate Nero.

Also trying to imagine my late mum's confusion if she could see I was quoting the Pope. (She was a very lapsed Catholic on grounds of power, wealth, Scottish sectarianism & more.)

Good words & the Pope appears to be a Dylan fan too. www.france24.com/en/africa/20...

People in England’s most deprived areas spend less than 50 years of their lives in good health, a 20-year gap compared with those in the richest areas www.ft.com/content/85de...

"...as Pope Francis exhorts, the Christian ethics of war and peace should prioritize the theory of just peace and the cultivation of peacebuilding dispositions, practices, and institutions." Just War as a Theory, Just Peace as a Virtue Lisa Sowle Cahill journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

MPs voted yesterday evening to approve new protest restrictions in the Crime and Policing Bill 😠 Leaders from across the UK’s faith spectrum had urged MPs to remove the new clause on ‘cumulative impact’ because they feared it could shut down lawful, conscience-led protest. Find out more 👇

“Civilians in South Kivu’s highlands are facing a dire humanitarian crisis and live in fear of abuses by all parties...More attention is needed for this vastly underreported conflict or this bad situation will get even worse.” www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...

Hmm... www.icrc.org/en/community...

Update to the update: sometime late this morning ET, the image of Trump as a Jesus-like figure was removed from the president's Truth Social page.

NEW from Cardinal Tobin of Newark — one of the papal electors at the conclave that ultimately chose Pope Leo — regarding Trump's recent posts about Leo and the Jesus-like image: Says POTUS shows a "lack of respect for the faith of millions," and calls the Jesus-like image "deeply offensive."

Uh, whoa: *Sean Feucht* — a conservative and controversial Christian activist who has long been a part of the broader MAGA religious coalition and lead worship music at the White House — comes out against the image Trump posted. This…is rare.

Very battered by hail. #WildflowerHour #WoodlandPlants

I have signed this and hope other British Jews will as well.

Orbán concedes. #Hungary

“The children remember the good times – spring and summer evenings, going out to the fields, collecting flowers and herbs, having dinner outdoors, making tea over a fire,” he said. “For the children, it was a beautiful place to grow up.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

So, let’s game this out. A Chinese flagged tanker pays the toll and transits the strait. We interdict it? What if the tanker is escorted by a Chinese warship?

Hotlines for US soldiers thinking of leaving the armed forces as "conscientious objectors" are being overwhelmed. Almost all the calls mention the bombing of the girls' school in Iran that killed more than 100 school children. www.npr.org/2026/04/10/n...

Less than 24 hours and an ultimatum is not a negotiation

"I can't be a part of something that's doing that" www.npr.org/2026/04/10/n...

"The exercise of terrorism legislation to peaceful protesters is the mark of authoritarian decline." Important observations & concerns from the UN special rapporteur for Freedom of Assembly and of Association 🧵