Labour MP John McDonnell has urged the UK govt to press Israel for the release of detained Palestinian doctors Mazen al-Rantisi & Hussam Abu Safiya Responding on behalf of the government, Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said both cases had been raised with Israeli authorities

The emperor Elagabalus is said to have suffocated his guests in the extravagant showers of rose petals he scattered at his celebrations. This emperor uses fireworks.

This is happening on Monday! I’d love to see you there!

Summary of the Home Office Impact Assessment for Asylum Bill is hilarious (if it weren't so depressing). HO analysts say "basically no evidence to suggest *any* of these policies will work *even on their own terms*" (but will probably cost money). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a43e1...

Dear Labour faithful in Scotland, he's not the messiah, he's a very ignorant boy.

NEW: Andy Burnham's Scotsman article pitching to Scottish voters is a "tartanised copy and paste job" of yesterday's statement complete with major errors about Scotland, it has been claimed Let's take a look ...

A revived blogpost from a now defunct online journal, on the publishing of poetry, and a love letter to indie publishers: burnedthumb.com

🚨 NEW: Shabana Mahmood has announced members of the public will replace judges in deciding appeals from failed asylum seekers

Social Bite has announced the reopening of its flagship Edinburgh village, with the charity’s founder saying it will provide a 'supportive community that restores hope and dignity'

This is an appalling story.

Without sanction on Home Office for this accurate, excoriating Independent Chief Inspector’s report on asylum casework (10th it seems in 20 years) then impunity and deterioration continues apace. Home Office response ‘accepts’ recommendations, but action is of course inadequate.

-From Quarks to Quasars 1/ Fired government scientists just launched a new site to keep climate data public.The site is called Climate.us & it was created by former staffers behind Climate.gov, the NOAA-run website long used by many for trusted climate information."

Cultural and Ecological Repair On the Other Side of Sorrow by Mairi McFadyen bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/06/27/c...

I am too much of a lady to share my actual opinion of this behaviour.

Low dive remembered – Judith Taylor atriumpoetry.com/2026/06/26/l...

"It is my strong belief that those who have come to the UK on care worker visas who have played by the rules and have genuinely contributed to our care system should not be required to wait longer to apply for settlement." I struggle to find anything controversial in this statement.

Wee update on my website about a meeting of the Uddingston Writers Group, where I'll be chatting about herbs and poetry and writing. www.elizabethrimmer.com/news

midsummer newsletter here - poetry, ethnobotany and birds: buttondown.com/Burnedthumb/...

Someone please mash up Narcissus and the Portrait of Dorian Gray into the tale a demented man who thought to see his own magnificence reflected in, well, a Reflecting Pool and instead saw failure and algae and decay.

I still really like the Return of the King movie, but rereading the book and it probably is just the clearest downgrade of the three from the source material IMO, a bunch of ~eh creative decisions (Not talking about the ending, which is IMO overly criticised)

Scotland Is Not Cossetted – Britain Is Centralised bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/06/18/s...

Come and have a chat, hear some poems, check out the books!

Today is the tenth anniversary of Jo Cox's murder by a white supremacist on her way to a surgery in Birstall in her constituency whose ethnic diversity she praised in her maiden speech to the Commons. Her murderer shouted "Britain first" as he shot and stabbed her to death.

Some of the chat today reminds me of the summer I, aged 11, took eight kids under ten to the swimming pool on my own. I didn't drown anyone, and they all came back fully dressed, but geez, I don't want that childhood back.

Suppose we make changes to enable real world social interactions for our kids - more clubs and playing fields, yes, but a better work-life balance so parents can spend time with families, active encouragement for kids to socialise in public spaces an travel to meet their friends, what about that?

Kids are on their phones too much. I don't know why they don't use the many youth clubs, public swimming pools, community clubs or sports facilities successive governments and skint local authorities have underfunded, closed or sold to property developers.

Again and again and again researchers, activists and people who work to enable communities to live well and peacefully together had warned and offered clear, practical steps. *Last year* I spoke at length of this with @neilmackay.bsky.social It will get worse without action

Me too.

This decision is the most ridiculous, and btw wicked consequence.

Well not in my hearing it can't.

An #Otwituary for graphic novelist and film-maker #MarjaneSatrapi I have mislaid the eyes I wore when I was ten; eyes that would widen at the sight of death and revolution, that would fill at the sight of another person’s pain. Let me read, and see again.

Sad news!

In Sainsbury’s just now, small child riding the trolley, grinning with delight because she’s got crops. Two aisles later she gives me a nod and a satisfied smile. She’s living the dream. She’s got cupcakes!

Repurposing a bit of a poem (about Degas) in support of all my LGBTQ+ friends this week: But oh, Miss Lala, what he didn’t know with all his artist’s malice, is that here you are, with all your grace and strength, your eyes on the sky beyond the canvas, still flying.

c.org/9ZmfHRbN4Q This is a good cause, petition is hosted by Change.

New blogpost but with an old review, because today I needed the encouragement! burnedthumb.com

Not reported by the London Times or Herald press prostitutes, but why not? Sunak’s wife failed to pay *£20m* in tax to HMRC. According to honest Rishi, this tax-dodging was a ‘private’ matter & not something the former PM was involved in…🤔 The media won’t be doing a Sturgeon-style lynching of course

Since Russell Findlay is so concerned about the SNP's finances, perhaps we should remind him of this. Something which barely attracted any political or media attention: news.stv.tv/west-central...

The ‘Colchester Mercury’ - a bronze statue of the god Mercury found during ploughing at Gosbecks Farm, 3 miles south of Colchester on the site of a Romano-Celtic temple. Found just after WW2, the statue is now part of the collections at Colchester Castle. 📸 My own #FindsFriday

The Electoral Commission has issued a statement in response to allegations that Peter Murrell may have embezzled taxpayer money

Radio Scotland this morning, platforming the Tories to spout nonsense, and Russell Findlay was such a annoying little s*** that the presenter laid into him as if he was from the SNP. You love to see it.

A sad day for the majority of Scots who believe in our people’s sovereignty & our inalienable right to an independent future. We have every right to feel scunnered, as the SNP has been duped by a sleekit, selfish man. That’s it though. No one can stop the march to independence.

Today’s #LiftToTheSky is for Mandy Haggith (not on here) a poet, author, lecturer knitter and eco-activist, based in Assynt, in the Scottish Highlands. She has a few collections out, Briny is her most recent, which I love. Check out her website. You can buy her books direct. www.mandyhaggith.net

Knock yourselves out wih this. Most fun I've had on the internet this morning!

I want to mention something nice that happened to me today, in part to document, for my own sake, that good things still happen in this horrible world. It involves the London Underground, an escalator, a small boy and some rubber ducks.

Glasgow was and is a very special place unlike any other city. #punk #anarchy #history www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEpj...

New blogpost with reviews of @vichusband.bsky.social, @trippweavpoet.bsky.social, Karen Solie burnedthumb.com

What nutjob wants to die on the hill of ‘I want to be kaylied when I’m running the country’?

Milk – Jean Atkin @jmatkin.bsky.social atriumpoetry.com/2026/05/19/m...

I am once again begging, praying, weeping for lists of written instructions rather than videos. I do not want to watch your two minute video in the hope of catching the two seconds where you whizz past what goddamn menu the thing is under. Write. It. Down.