New Stewart Lee column. '“President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. To be honest, I preferred Jesus when he just healed lepers, made a small amount of fish feed more people....'

AA & Ors, In the Matter Of [2026] EWHC 317 (Fam): 15 applications for declarations that it is lawful for gametes or embryos to continue to be stored and to be used where written consent to storage has expired. Declarations made in 14 cases. www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

Surrogacy laws in the UK need to be updated to better protect all those involved in the process. New report by Professor @khorsey.bsky.social for SurrogacyUK... Read more: 👇 bit.ly/4a5EzYH

🔊 “Children born through surrogacy should not begin life in legal uncertainty. The law must reflect their lived reality and protect their welfare from birth.” 📖 Professor Kirsty Horsey (@khorsey.bsky.social) co-authors new report on surrogacy law reform. 🔗 Read more surrogacyuk.org/2026/02/09/s...

Prof Nicky Hudson shares eight films in which egg donors discuss different aspects of egg donation in their own words. Watch here: www.progress.org.uk/the-edna-fil... Image: Courtesy of NIAIDRyan Kissinger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons #EggDonation #donorconception #Fertility

Devastatingly sad. Every Labour MP should be forced to read this. In fact, every MP, who rushed back to Parliament to vote to save one steel mill, whilst hastening the collapse of dozens of universities - and harming the students, staff, communities and economies universities sustain and support

These films (as discussed by my colleague Nicky Hudson at Loughborough from whose research project they came) are really interesting and certainly cut across some of the (negative and misinformative) narrative that is out there about donation and what it entails www.progress.org.uk/the-edna-fil...

In the 2010s, the Icelandic tv station Channel 2 accidentally added subtitles from a gritty crime drama to an episode of Teletubbies. I have translated some of the highlights

I am very happy to announce a job opening for a 3-year Postdoctoral Research Associate position @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social. The postdoc will work with me on a qualitative research project examining the politics of contraception and abortion. Apply here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...

Congratulations to my nephew for getting this through 🤩

📣Come join our successful, dynamic law school! These two wonderful roles for Lecturer in Law are closing soon on the 17 January 2026. Check out the Candidate Brief and apply below! 👇

I love this every year - but even better featuring cats!!

@thatsmytwin.bsky.social @cupiedoll.bsky.social

Bookings for this year's PET Annual Conference close tomorrow at 5PM! It's your last chance to book, if you haven't already ⬇️ progress.org.uk/event/genomi... #PETconf25

This is nice and shows it’s not all horror stories and predictable tropes: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@thatsmytwin.bsky.social @cupiedoll.bsky.social lols

Researchers and healthcare professionals at @ucl.ac.uk are looking for people with lived experience to help shape research on pregnancy, birth and long-term outcomes after pregnancy for survivors of gender-based violence. See below for more details on participation.

10 years on and we’re doing it again! If you are/have been a surrogate, or are/intend to become a parent through surrogacy, or you support people in/through surrogacy arrangements, please take 10-15 mins to fill out this survey (& share widely!) 👀 link in next post

I think you’ll enjoy this whole thread @cupiedoll.bsky.social and @thatsmytwin.bsky.social 😂

Today at the UN General Assembly the Special Rapporteur on violence against women @unsrvaw.bsky.social will present her problematic report on surrogacy. I wrote about it here: www.progress.org.uk/the-un-speci.... Shame the UN doesn’t get to hear other voices & evidence of surrogacy working well 👎🏻

Conference alert! Thursday 18th-Friday 19th June, 2026, London campus of Loughborough University. Online day: Monday 22nd June, 2026. Please see Call for Papers here: feministmiscarriageproject.org/conference

10 years on and we’re doing it again! If you are/have been a surrogate, or are/intend to become a parent through surrogacy, or you support people in/through surrogacy arrangements, please take 10-15 mins to fill out this survey (& share widely!) 👀 link in next post

Great and incredibly timely piece by Conor Gearty on the UK Supreme Court’s role in ‘Erasing Human Rights’ www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I have launched a new Perspectives on Surrogacy 2025 survey, with SurrogacyUK’s Working Group on Law Reform! It follows-up another survey, conducted 10 years ago, which led to the report Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform (informed the Law Commissions’ consultation on #surrogacy law)…

Then timings get interesting…. Farage quits UKIP 4th Dec 2018 Gill follows him on the 6th Dec 5 other UKIP MEPs follow Farage within days, including Nuttall (former UKIP leader, now deputy chairman of Reform) All 6 join the Brexit party in Feb with Farage By April, another 7 have switched 9/14

What is the impact of online platforms, such as websites, social media groups and apps, that facilitate sperm donation outside of fertility clinics? Read more in BioNews: www.progress.org.uk/a-deep-dive-... #SpermDonation #Fertility #Infertility #donorconception #Family

Prof @khorsey.bsky.social reflects on the content of the report, especially its recommendation to prohibit surrogacy on a global level. Read more in BioNews: www.progress.org.uk/the-un-speci... #Surrogacy #UN #UNReport #Children #IntendedParents #Family #Reproduction @stephen-page-law.bsky.social

The Labour MP for East Thanet, Polly Billington MP, has written to the Reform Leader of Kent County Council to express her concern about Reform in Kent’s "continued endorsement of anti-science organisations and conspiracy theories" in a new motion on climate change (🧵)

Time is running out to submit your application! The BioNews writing scheme for @ucl.ac.uk grad students closes this Thursday 18 September @ 5pm!!! ⏰ For full details: www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resour...

Kim Cotton has made the decision to close her surrogacy organisation after 37 years. Vanessa Burns writes about this news and the impact of existing surrogacy law in BioNews: www.progress.org.uk/kim-cotton-t... #Surrogacy #KimCotton #COTS #SurrogacyLaw #LawCommission #Fertility #Family #Children

I wrote this comment piece for BioNews (@pet-bionews.bsky.social) critiquing the problematic report on #surrogacy from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, which is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next month www.progress.org.uk/the-un-speci...

Lovely review by Bethan Carr (aka @thesurrogacysolicitor on other platforms) of our recent co-edited (with @zainamahmoud.bsky.social & Dr Katherine Wade) @brisunipress.bsky.social book “Future Directions in Surrogacy Law - Law & policy reform in the UK and beyond” www.progress.org.uk/book-review-...

📑 Criminalizing surrogacy drives it underground, heightens risks of exploitation, and leaves parents and children in legal limbo. Our new briefing urges rights-based regulation to safeguard the dignity and safety of all involved. Read the full briefing: bit.ly/45Vv8sK

A pleasure to be at Westminster today with the two Sarahs from SurrogacyUK and @pet-bionews.bsky.social as well as other surrogates and intended parents, meeting with MPs, researchers and others to highlight the positives of surrogacy and the benefits of law reform to increase safeguards for all

A colleague has just shared this with me - it's a really good article from @davehitchcock.bsky.social about the crisis in UK Universities. The situation is more dire than the public realise. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/education/a-... #AcademicSky

“A network of US-based organisations and a coordinated rise in funding from across the Atlantic to push back on British abortion rights.” Conservative groups are funding attacks on abortion, trans health, sex education, etc. This cultivates authoritarianism. We need greater solidarity to resist it.

This is one of the best things I have ever seen. And I’m now moving to Massachusetts with my cats 🐈 🐈 🐈‍⬛

ThisIsFine.gif

Just 3 days left to contribute to this research - please share within surrogacy communities!! 😻

Who Are UK Surrogates Really? There are many myths surrounding UK surrogates, often painting a picture that is far from reality. Common misconceptions include the idea that surrogates are poor, uneducated, or coerced into surrogacy … but see this from SurrogacyUk last year…

Two postdoc positions are available on the Wellcome-funded project "Between Deception and Dissent: regulating unproven, disproven and misleading health-related claims". www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/118725-...

Join me and others at the free online event “40 Years of the Surrogacy Arrangements Act: What Next for Surrogacy?” on 16 July at 5.30pm!! Registration via link #surrogacy40 www.progress.org.uk/event/surrog...

The best cat of the morning so far🥰

⭐️ Research Opportunity ⭐️ I’m looking for surrogates who’ve had at least 1 surrogate baby, or parents with at least 1 child through surrogacy to complete a survey. This research will help develop best practices & influence national conversations on surrogacy. Link here: forms.office.com/e/r19D79Aj6J

Jobs at all levels at the new Loughborough Law department. Here is the prof. advertisement. Reader/SL/L all on jobs.ac.uk.

An excellent case note on Re C / Re Z #surrogacy cases by Rob Marsh - Non‐Traditional Families and the Tenacity of Motherhood: Re C (Surrogacy: Consent) and Re Z (Surrogacy: Step‐Parent Adoption) - 2025 - The Modern Law Review - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Section 28 didn’t come out of nowhere. It came from a society where 75% thought homosexuality was wrong. From a society that feared the sight of a man in drag would corrupt. From a society that believed ignorance was better for children than any knowledge of gay lives. 🧵 1/16

‘Future Directions in Surrogacy Law’ brings together a range of experts on #Surrogacy, at a time when the law in the UK has been fully reconsidered for the first time in generations.