"True fulfillment is not achieved by eliminating weakness, but through harmonious growth. It is found where freedom and responsibility are intertwined with mutual care and true solidarity, and where progress is measured by the dignity of each person and the good of all peoples."

Tolkien would be absolutely thrilled about this lol

Charm itself youtu.be/loDMRzPiCic?...

If you were to, hypothetically, ask a woman in the 7th month of pregnancy about the weather she would like to be experiencing... It. Would. Not. Be. This.

👮 "The beagle we spent thousands of pounds training is alerting! What could it be? Drugs? Exotic pets? Weapons?" 🐶 "Illegal sammies."

I think Labour thinking here has gone backwards since 2015. The Ed M ‘responsible capitalism’ agenda was a genuinely interesting engagement with the varieties of capitalism literature and how to change institutions to get different outcomes. The agenda since 2024 has been “make companies do things”.

Back pain management advice in pregnancy is insane. "Reduce sitting or standing" - Those are the main options. "Keep up exercise" - I just had to crawl up the stairs. "Maintain a healthy weight" - This child's weight will triple. "It will probs go away when you give birth" - That's 3 months away.

Astonishing, given the ward’s makeup. Given that (and appreciate they’ve only announced 8 of 52 councillors), huge Green majority in Lewisham absolutely nailed on by my reckoning.

Nice voting system you've got there. Definitely able to cope with electoral landscape. No issues whatsoever

So it happened. 40% of the vote to Labour's 35%. Blimey.

In much-more-wholesome-news-than-the-news, a gleeful small boy just yelled “GOOD MORNING BUS DRIVER” at the top of his delighted lungs as he boarded the 54. Ah to have that verve for the simple things in life.

One thing I do think the U.K. inclusive does well wrt elections is the widespread access to polling locations. they’re everywhere. they’ll turn anything into a polling station. I’ve never had to go further than my neighbourhood

This quote really struck a chord: “Nothing good can happen democratically if people have nothing to leave their homes for, and no places to meet when they do.”

Finding it quite difficult to stop myself solely buying baby clothes based on what I find the most inexplicable. Dinosaurs and ballet dancers on babygrows have nothing on A SCHOOL FOR EELS, A STARWARS FEVER DREAM, or DOGS IN THE NAVY - let alone the feral need to dress your 2mo as a highland cow.

Not a single person standing for election in my ward lives in my ward.

In addition, the “shit shit, gonna make the OBR light go green: cur welfare!” stuff hurts, not helps, working out how to reform “UK spends roughly the same as it did in 2008 to get more destitution”/“rising number of Neets”.

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? 😊