This is how good historical fiction works. With research!

I know I don't get out much but I have no idea what any of these capitalised nouns signify, in both posts. Media empire? Tyre manufacturing? Cosmetic treatments? I don't need to know, really. I'm just feeling how enormous the world is.

She was running the #spinerace for Afghan women and girls. She was pulled out because of death threats. I’ll put her fundraiser page in the next post. Let’s support if we can. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

There’s a lot of flat out fucking evil in the world and this is some of it.

I'm a harried researcher in an impossibly luxe but mysterious art gallery in upper Manhattan.

This is essential listening if you are boggled by what is happening in Iran. Clear explanation, unpacking the political and social nuance, and not at all boring.

All hail the Lego carnyx.

crazy that the website that I randomly decided to put together at 10AM yesterday has had over 25k unique visitors in 24 hours. please keep sharing with your networks.

Annual pub lunch with husband's siblings. An hour's discussion of cars, travel routes. Then a round table on sharing of household tasks. 'We've got to the point where our neighbours can tell whether Bruce or I hung out the washing that morning.' Oh god, now it's Traitors for the unconverted.

'Reform looks like a care home for bitter Tories'. Such a nice way of putting it. But will they let Jenrick in now he's lost value by losing the Tory whip first? The UK's political psychodramas of 2026 are at least entertaining, rather than terrifying.

Yikes. 👀

Does the UK government know it's granting X these rights too?

Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark, didn't mess about in a letter to Farage explaining Parliamentary procedure...

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open 'just to do quick research'

@everyheron.bsky.social Great Blue Heron in the fog. 📷 Franklin Abbott

We've launched an investigation into X over Grok sexualised imagery. We've opened a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act, to determine whether it has complied with its duties to protect people in the UK from content that is illegal in the UK. 🔗 www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

Its not that the media is not covering what is happening, but it does feel like the military occupation of an American city should be treated as a national crisis.

Ahem. In case anyone is wondering what I did last year because they have a spare slot or two in their short story reading with awards longlisting in mind. 💙📚

Nadhim Zahawi MP: In Farage’s Britain, it would be legal to discriminate against me on the grounds of race conservativehome.com/2015/03/23/n...

Stymied twice this week by weather and train signal failure, so I couldn't get to London and missed my adopted aunt's funeral and a meetup of my writing group. Instead, I gave up trying and made three Roman blinds in three days, taking out my frustrated rage on innocent fabric and thread. 🧵✂️

I chair the acquisitions meeting of @reaktionbooks.bsky.social, an independent publisher. We're open to unsolicited book proposals: history, art, music, film, food, animal studies and any great indefinable non-fiction book ideas you might have. Check out the list and get in touch.

I've seen this account troll three separate conversations this evening, so it's been reported. Do join in.

🔥 happy year of the horse 🔥

We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.

“Emerson does not have a mother today because one of you murdered a woman in cold blood yesterday.”

Probably one of the best road safety adverts from TfL. If you've never seen it before - I can guarantee you will watch it twice.

An associate dean told English faculty “literature with major plot lines that concern gay, lesbian or transgender identities should not be taught in core-curriculum classes…faculty may assign textbooks with chapters that cover transgender identity, so long as they do not talk about the material.”🙃

“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...” A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today. lithub.com/renee-nicole...

use your eyes www.404media.co/dhs-is-lying...

In the UK add that possession of CSAM is a strict liability criminal offence, prison sentence 2-3 years. No proof that you sought the material is required. People can be and have been convicted after receiving unsolicited images. This is a serious risk, using X in the UK now.

“First they came for the romance translators, and I did not speak out …” www.404media.co/harpercollin...

A reminder - before Trump, MAGA, Musk and Fox rewrote history - that this is what the entire country agreed had happened five years ago today:

In which I fail in a submissions race. 💙📚 peachfieldpress.uk/2026/01/05/o...

Who will rebuild the houses in Caracas that the Americans bombed? How many Venezuelans were killed or injured?

Most of the video of manly military heroics as US troops invaded Venezuela was faked. Probably to make Americans watching think that because it looked like a film, it was OK and they should cheer. Because nothing says Might is Right better than a manipulated Hollywood production.

The conversation on Threads

Today I am trying freeze-drying on the laundry.

Chevron donated to Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration fund. Chevron’s CEO publicly praised trump’s energy agenda. Chevron donations: 94% Republican, 6% Democrat. Chevron is the ONLY foreign oil company allowed to operate in Venezuela. Follow the money.

Snowy day? Enjoy my reread of all seven of the Narnia novels, which I began on Christmas Day and finished on New Year's Eve. A critical ride with many picky opinions. 💙📚🦁🧙‍♀️⚔️ katemacdonald.net/2025/12/25/t...

I am happy to support Indy in his ongoing commitment to the people and animals of Ukraine. Thank you, Indy. www.justgiving.com/page/indyave...

This person went on a buying spree over the past 24 hours. Fresh wallet. Only existed since Dec 27th and has only bet on Venezuela-related markets. polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...

British citizens and UK-based folks: please consider signing and sharing this petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75... #RefugeesWelcome

Lovely wee #knitting video from the NYT. Free to see. 🧶https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/opinion/knitting-healing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BVA.lr7Z.vzk7QVIJy_JG&smid=url-share

Watching Mamdani's inauguration on the NYT website. All the pomp, but smaller in scale than a Presidential one, far less rich, and mercifully free of oligarchs and Trumps.

A fine way to spend New Year's Eve, gaming from 3pm jn a local scout hut with our #boardgame group. I dominated at 7 Wonders, won handsomely at Alhambra but was crushed at my first try at Luthier, an excellent game. Other tables were battling Cthulu, Balrogs etc.

I was running down the stairs at a dance centre outside Brussels, trying to catch up with my children, and yelled out, 'Oh hi Joanna,' who I saw at the foot of the stairs, collecting her child too. No, it was her sister Princess Claire of Belgium, who looks just like her. I was stared right through.

Kostiantynivka destroyed by russia. Does this looks like a success?

how all youtube ads sound to me

Getting sick of Epstein files headlines that are like “files reveal Epstein and friends abused girls” etc etc. This is not a reveal. The girls told us. They told police. Partners. Press. Courts. They told it over and over. The victims/survivors revealed everything. People chose not to listen.