Did you guys know “grandma hobbies” like knitting, quilting, embroidery, big cooking projects, etc get more popular during times of strife? We all just try to focus on making a small beautiful thing because it’s the only power we have, and that’s sadly lovely. Anyway I’m making all day tomato sauce.

"it's giving war crime" in a southern accent is just going to play on loop in my head the rest of the day

Sound thesis advice And ‘use’ is always better than ‘utilise’ 😏 Though ‘fatuous numbskull’ has its uses too

One of the best jobs in UK social science, research & policy.

Someone needs to explain why rules of origin and chemicals regulation are easier to understand than the baby seat/pram market. Not only that, someone should be held accountable. There should be someone I can invoice for hours spent trying to make an appropriate choice in this capitalist labyrinth.

Warm. Funny. Space-y. Top film for this moment.

It's worse than that. It's because they try to do too much in the immediate term for their constituents that they then pursue bad policies, like opposing development, freezing prices, playing along to fear of change and outsiders

A Bank Holiday worth aspiring to:

"when a local café becomes too expensive to visit, when travel costs make it harder to see friends, when long hours leave little time for community.." The Belonging Barometer does a good job of centering the erosion of the ordinary things that make life worthwhile belongingforum.org/wp-content/u...

"When you stop believing there’s a right way to be a woman if you just tried hard enough then you can settle back into your life and start to entertain the thought: maybe I have done it all fine. Actually, maybe I have done it really, truly brilliantly."

The good feelings and connections made at a protest makes it more likely they'll show up to a community meeting or sign up for a volunteer program

Gardens ground us in our histories. I, like many others, can tell you the story of my plants: “I planted that one when my father died.” “My mother-in-law gave me a clump from her garden.” “I got that one from my neighbour, Liz, before she moved away.” Lovely Saturday morning read.

The words ‘third places’ are absolute catnip to me, no way I’m scrolling past

Give your children a healthy mistrust of technology AND the biological world by letting them read Crichton's non-dinosaur works at 12. Prepare them properly.

Sure, normally playing music without headphones on a bus is a crime. But so far we’ve had Grease, Mama Mia, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, and Living on a Prayer, so I’m inclined to let it slide.

It's so irritating.

I, personally, would love to be freed from introspection around 3am.

I’m gonna start using this excuse. I was designed for sunny conditions and cannot be deployed outside of summer

Brilliant leadership from Sadiq Khan. The rapid growth of SUVs present a risk to pedestrians, especially children and the vulnerable. Read more via the link below! 👇 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

This is a love song to all the women who made us, across oceans and generations. It was also so specifically crafted to speak to me at this moment that I’m going to have to get a restraining order on the algorithm that first advertised it to me.

Nice to see everyone in UK BlueSky up so early for the big news today: India’s updated GDP series! Maybe the Indian economy is already bigger than Japan.

Once again, I'm left feeling despaired that the debate around falling birth rates is not focussed on those with workable economic solutions, rebalancing still outdated gender/parenting roles, leaning into modern working practices - but instead by weirdos with deeply misogynistic & often racist views

Were I a male gynaecologist. And - for some reason - I had decided to join the “European Society for Aesthetic Gynaecology” (🤮) And I wanted to put my majority-female patients at ease. THIS IS NOT THE PICTURE OF MYSELF I WOULD USE

"I don't feel I should have to explain to you why you're not putting that mouse on my bed" is also a phrase I don't feel I should have to say at 1.30am.

Ripley and Jones have discovered the heated airer! #catsofbluesky #catsky

Great report by @rhistorer.bsky.social on yet another bit of the state in tatters because of short-termist sensiblism: bsky.app/profile/rhis...

The Dutch as outspoken outriders saying blunt things that would be aggressive from Macron or Merz is very funny, everyone leaning into their bit

Of course. Why would you invest in soft power? It just helps in the kind of warfare that: a) Russia has shown it's actually good at; b) Russia is waging on the West already; c) The UK/NATO nuclear deterrent is useless in preventing; d) Costs a fraction to fund compared to military hardware.

this is the description of life in a cult

The grim tragedy of inclusive communities of WI women disbanded due to the destructive power of transphobia promoted so widely and unquestioningly by broadcast and print media. Organisations like the WI have been undermined and attacked under a banner of divisive hate directed at trans people.

What a graph

Just back from the launch of the LPP. Great to hear @sadiqkhanlondon.bsky.social and Ed Miliband extolling the virtues of community energy. Particularly pleased that Ed emphasised that "this is the glimpse of a new economy". And a government asserting that ownership matters.

Vidhya is well known in the communities sector, well respected for her intelligence and competence, and well liked.

GM: Charisma check. Mamdani: [rolls natural 20] GM: that’s a d6 how did you Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊

‘Many of these new groups want their communities to own, manage and profit from enterprises far larger than the pubs and post offices once associated with community control. They want to take on the town.’ www.ft.com/content/a604...

The change happening in Plymouth is - rightly - inspiring people across the country.

Mamdani wandering through a darkened dungeon, hidden away in the bowels of a forgotten library, pulls an ancient crumbling tome off a forgotten shelf, blows the dust off the cracked cover to reveal the words "How To Do Retail Politics"

The truth is not enough for justice. Systems are designed by those with power, for those with power. Solidarity fuels strength. Not exactly wild that the themes of this play were a series of gut punches tonight. Feels like a gift to have watched Comer’s final London performance of Prima Facie.

Faraaz has got the numbers wrong. He clearly wasn’t in Labour Srudents. #thetraitors

Oof. Quite the video.

I am loath to the idea that progress is a fool's ambition when my parents marriage was illegal in large parts of the US within their own lifetimes. Every day we live lives that our own parents and grandparents considered impossible

Thanks to @york.ac.uk publishing my blog, based on the speech I gave at graduation last year. 3 lessons to drive change for social justice. Read it here: blogs.york.ac.uk/social-chang...

1. Pick your battles. 2. You can disagree passionately with people, without thinking they’re evil or seeing them as the enemy. 3. To achieve change you can’t just talk to the people who already agree with you.

This is probably the most accurate description. Someone in their mid-50s today told me that this is the first time he had thought about or been affected by politics. And that guy is actively guarding buildings and his coworkers from ICE.

People shouldn't have to enter a high profile reality show just to get on the housing ladder!!!

Stephen is turning from the colour of one stripe on his jumper to another #TheTraitors #TheTraitorsUK

Roxy has this incredibly irritating pattern of presenting her accusations in a way that attempts to recuse her of all responsibility of having an opinion. Own. Your. Views. #TheTraitors

Vikings are back, baby.

Should say as well it’s exactly the same in the qual, you can’t do a general focus group on politics (and other stuff) without cost of living coming up in first five minutes, and the stories are so grim - sense life is about surviving not living, all the fun stuff has to be sacrificed.

Would like to know how significantly NOW's subscriptions spiked this weekend.