The children have been given a karaoke machine. I have been given fancy ear plugs. This is symbiotic gifting at its finest.

Amazing story in The Times. Reform UK failed to pay VAT to HMRC on its sales (tickets, merchandise). About £400k in all. Not tax avoidance. Not tax evasion. They just didn't realise when you sell stuff you have to charge VAT.

First day of school holidays. The kids have invented a complicated game involving jobs, shopping, a postal service and apparently fiscal policy. My son is currently running around shouting "Twenty minutes until taxes! We need to pay for things!" Strong early preparation for next month's budget.

Nigel Farage is “endangering women’s health” by failing to condemn l claims that using paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism, Bridget Phillipson has said in an interview with the Guardian. She had used the painkiller throughout her second pregnancy. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Found this in an old notebook. Surely always an instruction worth following. Unclear why I felt I needed to write this down for future me though.

Delighted to be welcoming Baroness Mary Bousted as guest speaker at our online FEPG meeting Monday 29th September 7.00-9.00pm. Members will receive the zoom link. Anyone else wishing to join see the contact emails below. @brianhudson.bsky.social @debouthwaite.bsky.social @joedromey.bsky.social

Online retailers : if you're selling storage containers with multiple internal compartments, an interior photo would probably be really helpful...

I may be slightly biased (having contributed slightly to the early stages) but this research on Reform voters is well worth reading

2006 : when academic feedback arrived by post, on headed notepaper, written by fountain pen. Found this amongst some old papers and can't decide if it's charming or wildly anachronistic...

Who wants to tell @decathlonfrance.bsky.social what's wrong with this picture....?

Reading about the history of parental surveillance of children in a chair deliberately positioned so I can still see both my children's tennis lessons...

I've seen this view in all weathers, at more life stages than I care to think about and yet it still makes me pause and appreciate it.

Me : I'm going to take my summer reading very seriously Also me :

Think there is a danger in basing too much strategy off this. For all parties. The battleground isn't the 14.3% who voted Reform in 2024. It's the 15% or so that didn't and are now telling voters they might.

You know you've spent too long thinking about research design when your first thought seeing this chart is "oooh I wonder if you could use this for a random discontinuity design...."

In a week when the 'mum guilt' has kicked in heavily, excited to have received a copy of @hzeavin.bsky.social 's new book Mother Media. Now to wrestle some time to myself to actually read it...

Request that after the local elections this week we retire the phrase "x-colour wall". No one has a wall anymore. It's just a massive pile of bricks that all parties are scrabbling for.

🎶You took me for a joke You took me for a child You made the world's stock markets crash And then played golf for a while🎶

Stella Creasy, a Labour MP, says the legislation should give new fathers protected leave or risk reinforcing the idea that ‘it’s ladies who do babies’

A particularly good, if surreal, way to spend a Monday evening.

Me to the Student Union : can we do more to support student parents? Them : Yup, great idea. Please come and propose this policy at 7pm. Because no parent is ever busy at 7pm...

Why does 25% AfD among young men spark a thousand "what is going on with young men?" posts yet Die Linke 34% among young women generates...nothing at all? Yes, young men voting for the radical right is an important phenomenon. But so is young women going rad left *at even higher rates*.

Watching the post German election leaders roundtable with the 8 year old. He's suggested that once it's obvious a party hasn't got 5% they're forcibly removed from the studio.

Interesting article on the state/private school divide in men's rugby from the BBC, but would be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out on the women's team. My instinct is the women's game is far less private school dominated. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-...

If you want to win an election against far right opposition you need to bring together two groups. The activated liberals outraged by the other side and the more moderate groups who want govt to make their lives less difficult. Not by trying to win the enthusiastic supporters of the other side.

Marry someone who knows that the only appropriate anniversary present for "tin" is some baked beans. Happy 10 years @gbulmer.bsky.social

So if anyone wants to know how seriously social media is actually taking the removal of children's accounts, I just tried to report an account to Instagram that belongs to a 9 year old. I know this because it's a classmate of my son....(1/2)

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1988 Rosslyn Park 0 Leicester 15 (Thornley 1t, Hare 1c 3p) Third round Roehampton, 23 January The cup brought the Tigers to Roehampton for three consecutive years, and against a 40 year-old Superstar in the Park second row.

Love that the @electoralreform.bsky.social include Eurovision as one of their example electoral systems

Or what about how the BBC found 7 Premier League clubs have had players or bosses investigated for sexual offences since 2020. Or how the Archbishop of Canterbury just resigned over a huge child abuse cover up in the Church of England. But it's definitely just a "grooming gangs" problem.

Having extracted my undergrad essays from my parents house I am slightly in awe of 21 year old me confidently asserting that "..there is no longer the perception of having to choose between being a successful wife and mother and being successful outside the home..."

Well I've written essays in worse places... Also feel slightly happy that I'm writing about Habermas whilst in ein Kaffeehaus.

Cat (Mildred) and teddy cat (Cisalas) enjoying a Christmas nap together

Very happy with my Christmas book haul. Even more happy that children were marshalled out of the house to church so I can start reading one in peace.

My 8 year old keeps sending me this Duolingo reminder and it feels quite judgmental given the answer is usually "tidying up after him" or "making him food"

Feuerzangebowle is another reason why German friends at Christmas are the best kind of friends

Have been remiss with my running schedule of late so this morning was my first chance to run along the new stretch of riverside path under the new stand at Craven Cottage. An excellent addition to an already excellent stretch of river.

My to do list today involves reading a lot of Hannah Arendt and making a complicated Gantt chart of all my Christmas cooking prep and i think it's fair to say I've never been happier.

The fishmongers I order from have started using fish-based puns in their promotional emails and I am 100% here for it

My husband has just suggested buying theatre tickets for the day of our wedding anniversary to a play called 'Second Best'. Hoping his Christmas Gift Buying Guide drops soon.

Not sure I need this kind of judgemental feedback Duo

Today’s poem is called ‘The Good Old Days’.

Some exceptional Christmas decorations at Standen House @nationaltrust.bsky.social

The contributions of all the medical professionals have been exceptional. Just imagine what debates would be like if a) MPs had this much latitude normally to make up their own minds rather than being whipped and b) we had more MPs with expertise in non-political fields prior to entering parliament

Similarly surprised myself for finding Malthouse's speech to be the one that's resonated with me the most so far

Well I'm live streaming a debate from the Commons chamber for the first time since 2004. I think it's fair to say my politics geek phase is back

Tell me your friend have different views about green energy without telling me your friends have different views about green energy...

The best thing about having friends who do fun, interesting things is you can fill your weekend watching them doing those things. In this case, the wonderful She Shanties singing beneath the Cutty Sark

Easily my favourite decision making of the year - which Christmas biscuits to make. Shortlist is down to 12.

Another excellent piece of reporting from @londoncentric.media . Excited to see proper investigative local journalism making a comeback. More of this please!