“New tax data has allayed fears of a mass non-dom exodus from the UK following Labour’s crackdown on their tax status” Translation: “The right wing trope about rich people fleeing the country if you raise taxes, is horseshit. Stop listening to them and start caring more about our public services”

Should have this all over the UK. People might wake up.

Chat GPT is proving very useful to me in deciding where to site my new Star Jasmine to give it the best chance of surviving the winter as a container specimen in North Yorkshire with our hardiness zone of 7 - 8. Yes, I could spend the afternoon trawling the RHS website, but this is easier.

"Ghislaine Maxwell remains the only child-rapist in history to receive well-wishes from a president of the United States." Lawrence O'Donnell

Dr. Brian Goldman- My plea to the Canadian government: pick up the half a billion dollars in mRNA research defunded by RFK Jr. Make Canada a global player in mRNA vaccine research. #cdnpoli

Another week, another export deal removing trade barriers and opening up new markets for British farmers to sell produce around the world. This time it's British dairy farmers selling to Egypt and removing an expensive cost due to come in to force soon. www.gov.uk/government/n...

BBC Radio 4's hourly news headlines today have been an unrelenting Two Minutes' Hate against immigrants. The UK's national broadcaster is deliberately fomenting hatred against some of the world's most vulnerable people, while license fee payers pick up the tab.

Cream of vegetable soup with garden herbs, made completely out of leftover veggies in my fridge's salad drawer + handful of lentils & a random selection from my container herb garden. Delish 😋 & cost pennies. Loads left over for freezer.

Epstein is never going away.

A video arguing that women shouldn’t be able to vote was just shared by Trump’s Secretary of Defense, the guy in charge of our whole military. And Democratic Party leaders still can’t stand up to this administration?! Our rights are on the line and all our party leaders offer us is silence.

Proof positive that venal thick tw*ts like Lowe are desperately looking for any opportunity to whip up the mob. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The whole country is fucking mad. Labour are held to an infinitely higher level than anyone else. People over look massive wrong doing by Tories and Reform. Labour people do nothing wrong and get attacked. Get a bloody grip! Grow the fuck up!

Excellent news. Round here, we call this putting your money where your mouth is. armyrecognition.com/news/aerospa...

This man is beyond stupid if he thinks he can stop science. The mRNA vaccine research will continue, just not in the USA. Others will reap the benefits including the profits.

apple.news/ANBSFRwGWTg2... The answer is no. Nigel Farage is using distorted figures and anti immigration think tanks. Every news outlet needs to qualify his data with a comment that these figures CANNOT be verified.

I can't bear it when 'experts' being interviewed tell us something is "very complicated" Talk about patronizing. Some of us are highly intelligent people with a scientific education. BBC dumbing down as usual #BBCWomansHour

Zionism is not Judaism Christian Nationalism is not Christianity The first ones are political & the second ones are religions. I hope this clears it up. Personally I’m atheist so I don’t believe in any of them BUT I respect someone’s religion if they aren’t trying to KILL people with it.

The UK is to provide humanitarian support for over 85,000 Syrians affected by recent violence. It will include mobile medical teams, delivery of medicine & trauma care equipment, provide food, clean water, hygiene and sanitation support. It will be delivered via partnerships with UNFPA, IMC & AFS.

If you think FaRage has the answers, you don’t understand the problem. Migrants in boats represent 4% of all migration to UK. You should get some perspective. We need migration. It’s good for our country. Don’t get conned by FaRage.

The headline here should say: "Number of private schools increases by 35 - showing fears of an exodus to be unfounded". (The increase is mentioned way down the article.) www.thetimes.com/article/19ef...

Another big birthday milestone has reminded me that time will not wait for me to start learning an ancient art that has always fascinated me, with its cross-cultural history stretching back millennia. Great gift from my daughter, accompanied by a beautiful tarot deck. 👇

Well, the sky's a bit of a funny colour & it's been raining since the early hours, but it's fairly quiet out there in terms of wind. Maybe the BBC has been overdoing the storm warnings, (not for the first time) although there's time yet. We shall see. Best have a bacon butty.

I read a profile of Jenrick in The New Statesman. Turns out he's changed his views from moderate to far-right just because he saw it would improve his chances of acquiring power. The worst kind of opportunist, disingenuous chancer (my autocorrect tried to make that "cancer"maybe I shouldve left it).

Ready for Storm Floris outside & inside. Taken down hanging baskets, removed window boxes & taken delphinium to a place of safety. Oil lamp & thumb stick/candle aren't just decorative, both fully working. Mobile power bank fully charged.

Che Guevara 'If you tremble with indignation at injustice, then you are a comrade of mine'

Obvious point this, but people need to stop believing what they are told by Farage, GB News, and the general declinist and alarmist media narrative and start paying attention to what is really going on regarding crime in this country. The BBC and mainstream media have a duty to get the truth out.

Would anyone dare to call an Auschwitz survivor antisemitic?

Just planning where the most sheltered little nook is, to protect my hanging baskets & my most treasured flowering containers from Storm Floris on Monday, which will be WSW here. Plenty of time to sort it out tomorrow.

I love the restorative effects of a very simple craft project at the kitchen table. This morning, I turned my most beautiful birthday cards into bookmarks, while waiting for the washing cycle. Now I can continue to enjoy them every time I turn the page.

Excellent timely reflection on the state of the world imo. Never stop trying. Never.

Think I need a duvet day. Might drag myself downstairs for a coffee just to see what happens next.

Celebrating the quarter festival of Lammas today, the time of harvest in-between the summer solstice & the autumn equinox. Image credit Sam Cannon www.samcannonart.co.uk

"Three-fourths of American scientists who responded to a recent poll by the journal 'Nature' said they are considering leaving the country. They don’t lack for suitors. China is aggressively recruiting them, and the European Union has set aside a €500 million slush fund to do the same."

First Friday! I go out for dinner (early doors 6.30 pm) with OH & a group of pals, all of a certain age, every first Friday of the month. Doesn't stretch my socializing abilities too much, only a small group of 8-12 depending on who's around. Looking forward to it!

Palestine is not complicated. It’s colonized land. Its people are occupied, starved, and bombed. And they are fighting back as they have every right to do. You either support liberation or you support apartheid. Pick a side.

"It doesn't affect humans" Bollox from Clarkson. My great grandmother (a farmers wife with 2 young children) died of bovine TB. They had a dairy herd, she would have done milking & drunk unpasturized milk. The Independent via @inkl www.inkl.com/a/jVoyrmUBAao

Another very sound reason to avoid visiting the USA for the foreseeable future.

Vaccination rates for several diseases including measles, diphtheria and polio decreased among U.S. kindergartners in the 2024-25 school year from the year before, according to federal data posted on Thursday.

Just peachy to have Justin Webb on #r4today insinuating that asylum seekers arriving by small boats are largely criminals and sex offenders. Such an irresponsible, Daily Mail-style prejudice in his questions and assertions. This isn’t journalism. It’s scaremongering for the far right. Shameful.

I'm nervous about age verification sites that ask for my facial scan. How secure is this stuff from identity theft? I tend to use a not-quite-accurate date of birth, close enough to be realistic but not exactly right. Hopefully might put a spanner in the works of an id thief.

How far can he isolate the US & still pretend it is the most powerful country in the world? Powerful alliances are what matter more & more.

Guess whose birthday it is? I'm one lucky old bird, here in the bosom of my family in west Wales.

It's not political to think people shouldn't be starved to death.

Heard a woman interviewed on #BBCr4 describing Sarina Wiegman as a superb "man manager". FFS. Am I the only one to hear that and wince like fingernails scratching down a blackboard. Hard to imagine more inappropriate description of a successful talented woman managing successful talented women.

I find that watching a football match at this level far too stressful, so quietly reading, only looking up when OH yells something of interest.

Worked out how this weekend without politics is doing me so much good. Wittering on about test match cricket, garden & family stuff is either ignored (by the majority of people) or gently acknowledged by like-minded folk. Potential for hostility in any sort of political posts is so exhausting.