I am sure this Venezuela adventure is just one stage in the plan they’ve had all along which will include Greenland and Canada etc. But I’m equally sure it’s a rushed smash and grab raid before Epstein demolishes the whole house of cards. It’s a race against time.

𝗧𝗲𝘂𝘁𝗮 𝗛𝗼𝘅𝗵𝗮, 𝗛𝗲𝗯𝗮 𝗠𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶, 𝗞𝗮𝗺𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘄𝗶𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 They're the four Palestine Action hunger strikers you 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 be hearing about in the British media. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/...

There's more on these ideas in the thread below 👇 Meanwhile, I'm hugely grateful to @danadelibovi.bsky.social for this excellent start to my reading in 2026. And I look forward to @marrrtha.bsky.social's translation of the poems of Teresa's great contemporary, St John of the Cross

Wow, what an opportunity! #ScottishWriters #IsleOfLewis #OuterHebrides

Once again, Jackie Baillie on STV goes unchallenged, claiming ambulances are routinely sent single‑crewed. If hospitalisation is needed, a fully crewed ambulance will always be dispatched. Since 2017, single‑crewed shifts have averaged 1% - 2% of all ambulance shifts, with last year at 1.6%.

A poem from my book, Slow Now with Clear Skies, on Verse Daily: www.versedaily.org/2025/firesbu...

This is perfect. The DOJ's embarrassing snafu with disappearing redactions was the fault of Elon Musk. Musk cancelled government subscriptions to Adobe programs that would have made the redactions permanent. What a pack of fools.

Oh really? Then separate from the head office, grow some policies of your own and fight for them, and while you're at it, listen to your indy membership.

A.C. Clarke reads 'Stalin's moustache', a winner of the Members' Poetry Competition - Winter 2025: 'A nose loses its face...', judged by Fred D'Aguiar. The next Members' Poetry Competition will be judged by Clare Pollard on the theme of ‘Fairytales’.

2025 has seen scandal after scandal follow Nigel Farage and Reform U.K.. One might call 2025 ‘Nigel Farage’s Annus Horribilis’ May long it continue! 😉

LATEST: A major fire has broken out in Glasgow's city centre tonight According to reports, the Revolver Hotel above the Polo Lounge nightclub is on fire

PLEASE REPOST I first posted this seven years ago, Dumbarton man Jagtar is still being held in an Indian jail without trial, eight years after being arrested. Please KEEP REPOSTING this! @davidlammy @johnswinney.bsky.social @FreeJaggiNow

Reposted as opposition parties post lies – SNP Government initiatives leading to plummeting waiting lists with overall list now 5% shorter than NHS England talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/12/27/r...

Tonight is Christmas Eve, when we in Iceland open presents. All the Yule Lads have already come down from the mountains, but tonight the Yule Cat arrives and he will eat all the children who weren't gifted any new clothes for Christmas. My daughters both got woollen socks so they are safe 🙏

Happy Christmas everyone!

It's important to receive new clothes by Christmas Eve in Iceland, or else you might become prey of the Yule Cat, pet of the vile jotun witch Gryla. The Yule Cat devours those who wander at night without these new clothes, though he can be distracted with food. #FairytaleTuesday

The last newsletter of the year has just gone out, with this year's Christmas poem. You can read it here: buttondown.com/Burnedthumb/...

Well done Dundee keep it coming, scum off our streets, spilling hatred. Seen them Mostly yobs with nothing better to do with the time they have, well I say Get a job and do something productive for society

Believe me, I have some wild ideas about who might have wanted to undermine women in the SNP, and could find people *in the party* to cover for them.

As we look fwd to Christmas dinner, remember the migrant workforce who make it all possible on our farms, picking & processing our food🎄 These workers should be protected from exploitation but restrictive visa conditions make them vulnerable- @focusonlabour.bsky.social looks at solutions:

🔴‘They’ve Ruined Christmas’: Nigerian Student Blocked By Home Office From Visiting UK Family for Holidays British academic and his Nigerian wife repeatedly stopped from hosting family members, including at their own wedding, due to visa restrictions brought in by Keir Starmer’s Government

LATEST: An ambulance has arrived at HMP Bronzefield, the prison where Qesser Zuhrah, 20, is on her 46th day of hunger strike Activists have been outside the prison for 10 hours calling for medical attention for her

Prisoner 4 Palestine Qesser Zuhrah is at imminent risk of death! I've contacted people at HMP Bronzefield They have 2 doctors with them trying to get an ambulance in to take her to hospital The prison has refused to transfer her Justice Secretary David Lammy you must step in. Show humanity

For your collective delectation this holiday season: Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!) loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...

Nice story about NHS Scotland. I got asked about my mental health and mentioned ADHD. I said I hadn’t had a diagnosis, and the nurse wrote it down and asked if they could do anything to make my situation easier. I said to put information in writing (1/2)

We do not believe trans excluding individuals speak for most women. Many of us want inclusion, compassion, and a better way forward. Not In Our Name. Add your voice by signing and sharing our letter: 🔗 notinourname.org.uk/

wrote, a couple of years back, about joy for the third Sunday of Advent: order-disrupting, hierarchy-destroying, world-reordering joy. here it is, now on my own site: bewilderment.ohbara.com/2023/12/17/j...

'Separate from the church'! Oh really? Christianity with NO Christians in it?

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Farage. www.scotsman.com/education/ou...

EXCLUSIVE: The Scotland Office has been accused of 'Pravda-style' attempts to control the media by issuing a rare order blocking journalists from sharing information

The US needs to hold its president to account using the full force of the law. But also the Trump family needs to come and get their Da. He’s old, frail and seriously ill. They should be looking after him better.old, frail and seriously ill.

In the wake of Wes Streeting’s announcement of a review of mental health ‘over-diagnosis’ we have published this new policy paper by Prof Lucy Delap arguing that the government’s priority should be to address the historic stigma against sick & disabled people. historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...

Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.

That would be those schools that the house jock Lab MSPs keep telling us are performing so badly under the SNP 🤔

An important point to come out of the Sandie Peggie case is that 'gender critical' employees can't take matters into their own hands and confront trans employees. If they do that it is likely to be harassment/ bullying/ a hate incident.

Remember when Helen Joyce was called out as "not an expert" by Australian courts - Now Maya Forstater has been told the same in the Peggie judgment! 👏👏👏 The judgement states outright that the evidence submitted by her & Sex Matters was “not skilled evidence.” This is the Tribunal’s exact wording!

Oooft. Sandie Peggie shared highly offensive messages and was then "untruthful" in giving evidence to the Tribunal. This is the 'hero' Gender Critical campaigners have chosen.

'New rules on access to single-sex spaces could pose a significant risk to the mental health of trans and non-binary people, according to 15 of the UK’s most respected mental charities.' 1/2

Well put These ministers must be made to withdraw their erroneous comments by the speaker

I’d want to be paid. The price of a milk shake might do it.

Up now on @literaryhub.bsky.social; an in-depth interview with small press publishers on what they do and how they do it, how they differ from commercial publishing in content & form, on funding, their impact on literary communities, & some excellent book recommends🎄 lithub.com/life-giving-...

And HEEEERE it is!! The REAL solutions to fix immigration for all - for a system we can be proud of! bsky.app/profile/anot...

NEW: John Swinney has responded to Nigel Farage's attack on Glasgow schoolchildren, calling it 'quite simply racist' ⬇️

In November an 18 month investigation into ADHD concluded. It found ADHD is massively underdiagnosed with less than 1 in 20 people over 40 receiving treatment. It said GPs need to be diagnosing it. Instead a review has been launched looking into it being 'overdiagnosed'