"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas" The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending My popular seasonal post from last year: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni... Now with a couple of footnotes one year on: emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...

How I'm turning up to the Bluesky Christmas party

Yes. We're spending £476m on the militarisation of Calais - where babies are being tear gassed. The fact people are hearing this for the first time is exactly why I made it the subject of the Christmas Day message. We could be spending that money instead on a fair and managed migration system.

"Hey Pinky, do you know what day it is?" "Of course I do Perky. Everybody knows it's Xmas Eve" Playing my favourite Xmas album of all time now www.youtube.com/watch?v=isdD...

The open letter is here and still open, but use the email at the top to do so. tinyurl.com/bbcwaccampaign

The Jewish Bloc for Palestine held a Hannukah service in London's Trafalgar Square, demanding a free Palestine & supporting the hunger strikers #freepalestine #gaza #hungerstrike

I've opened the Quality Street. This is the official start of Xmas

We’re calling on the Prime Minister to make 2026 the year the Government publishes a draft Bill to #BanConversionPractices. We can’t accept another year of inaction. Join the campaign 👉 bit.ly/3LdEsQZ #BanConversionPractices

I wasn't expecting to cry at a Swifty Dads video - but this is lovely antidote to the homophobic Labour voting parents stats doing the rounds today. Parents that love their kids unconditionally and will do anything for them

This is a very simple coordination problem. No one Labour MP can solve it. But No. 10/the government could, tomorrow, with one letter from the Cabinet Secretary. Both in their own self-interest and for the sake of our democracy, they should.

According to gospels the very first thing Joseph and Mary did with Jesus was seek asylum in Egypt because King Herod was threatening their son's life. Welcoming migrants is a Christmas value

How I'm turning up to the Bluesky Christmas party

Love Verner Panton's work. I'm sat on one of his 'S' chairs (1967) as I type

Who knew transphobia led to easily to homophobia? All of us. We all did.

Blindingly obvious and exactly what I said to the New York Times at the time. So the question is, why did the useless British media carry, hysterically, coverage of a UK (Not Very Good) Lawyers for Israel press release? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Life under apartheid and brutal occupation. Part of as report on ethnic cleansing in occupied East Jerusalem

Former BBC employee Jack Murley has posted on Instagram about the repeated homophobic abuse he received while working for the corporation - often from BBC staff. He says the BBC has now formally apologised. www.instagram.com/p/DSaZBd4DO8F/

Was at a Christmas party with a load of clergy last night and as some people were leaving they found a person collapsed on the street outside so the Verger took over and called an ambulance and sent all the clergy away because "if they wake up surrounded by priests that'll just make things worse"

Many Majestic Wine customers will be disappointed to see their comments about their advertising with GB News. Supporting free speech - a basic human right that we all deserve - doesn't entail any obligation to fund media that fuel division & to imply otherwise would be misleading... /1

New Fairytale of New York lyrics just dropped... 😮‍💨 Grace Petrie 👏

The cosplay progressives at the Guardian acting surprised that their decade long hate company against trans women and trans girls has had a depressing effect on corporate support of Pride. Note: The Guardian was rabidly homophobic in the 1980-90's and also had to apologise for a history of racism.

The language being used for people seeking refuge abroad is unacceptable. Asylum seekers must be allowed to work, not demonised. Starmer’s decision to move people in need to military sites in the new year is unacceptable.

I surveyed 12 UK national trans groups about whether they were consulted by the Sullivan Review. All responded that they were not. Whose free speech is being threatened and by whom.

Did you know that in journalism it is surprisingly easy to find people who aren't burning to tell truth to power? Who have no moral and ethical tether. Oligarchs who own media for political influence spot them and put them in charge. They don't work for you, dear reader. They work against you.

It was only in 2017 that a TORY PRIME MINISTER promised to legislate for self-ID. Eight years later, we’re on the verge of banning people from being trans in public. Ask yourself, who’s next?

If you live in the South East of England, you get 2 seconds more daylight today than yesterday. 7:49:17 instead of 7:49:15 Enjoy those extra 2 seconds!

Also screw the BBC for its naked agenda. It refused to carry a hugely expensive first ever YouGov survey we commissioned showing how awful trans lives in the UK have become because it was "not strong enough" but there's no piece of anti-trans hatred too petty for it to platform.

Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

So, just to confirm, the BBC can’t keep Robin Ince on the air because his trans allyship brings the organisation into disrepute, but they can keep David Walliams, who performed Nazi salutes at the recording of this very show, on the air despite him being predatory towards women. Cool. Very normal.

She'll outlast Starmer though

I SCREAMED www.instagram.com/reel/DSaex-X...

Hey, it's Michael, Toby, Dora, David, and Josh. For the past week, we've been documenting our protective presence work in the West Bank on TikTok @naamod1 and on Instagram @naamoduk .

Please share this widely. There have been 13 peer-reviewed critiques of the Cass Review, to the extent that academia regards it as pseudoscience, but so far all have been subject to organised censorship by mainstream media. This is the first time one has broken through. Oz Guardian only still.

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) conducts conversion therapy - don't give to them. You might also want to question Labour's links them in South London www.the-londoner.co.uk/london-cult-...

Cass literally saying there has been no increase in suicide as a result of her ban on puberty-blockers. Tell that to the family of Leia Sampson-Grimbly. She is also ignoring all the other harm her ban is causing, that I have documented here in my peer-reviewed (unlike the Cass Review) research.

I’m not the biggest fan of boxing as a concept, but I do think we’re at the point where the only thing that’s going to prove to some people that they aren’t the main character with pro level skills at anything they want is to be punched in the face repeatedly.

In case you were wondering how that ceasefire was going… Israel bombed a wedding in Gaza today We will never forget.

EXCLUSIVE The Metropolitan police have been using powers they no longer have to crack down on pro-Palestine protests, according to legal experts. Liberty Investigates‘ latest story with @theguardian.com @pscupdates.bsky.social @ijan-us.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Just want to say that I've been doing 'showgirl' for 30 years

If you're not trans, I don't think I can fully explain how important this is. It's so powerful that one of the most circulated science media publications in the world has come out and said "trans children are real and providing transition care improves their lives." That's groundbreaking.

Doesn’t feel good that the head of BBC News Content is instructing reporters to refer to trans people with slurs. If this leak is real it raises questions about who made this decision, who was consulted, and why the BBC chose to ignore its own editorial guidelines on slurs and offensive language

All that needs to be known about the UK is that the company that built bombs to drop on children continues to operate with no consequences. While some people who sprayed paint on a plane to try stop Genocide are locked in prison without a trial. That is UK 'justice'.

As a former editor of Popbitch – and the proud owner of a legal letter sent by HarperCollins, accusing me of being "highly likely to cause serious harm to [their former star client]’s reputation both as an individual and author” – may I just say: GET IT RIGHT UP YE

Plausible worst-case climate futures and extreme events for the UK Paper by Arnell et al.: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... Article: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Kent County Council are Reform’s Flagship Council showing they’re ready for Govern, here’s some achievements👇🏼 1 councillor on trial for threatening to kill wife❌ 9 been suspended or quit❌ Circa £60 million budget deficit❌ 1 councillor faces probe over 'punch' threat❌ Cutting services/raising tax❌ 🤦🏼‍♂️

'We must not replicate Thatcher's cruelty by letting Palestine hunger strikers die' As six unconvicted Palestine Action prisoners enter the deadly phase of the UK's longest hunger strike in decades, Aimee Walsh argues Labour must break its silence to save lives www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Bodily autonomy for me as a trans person, bodily autonomy for cis women, bodily autonomy for men... either we all have a right to govern our own bodies or there will always be a way back to us all losing our rights.

I'm not religious - but the Quakers always impress with their humanity and their empathy

🔴 REVEALED 🔴 The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. 📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇

The "political genius" of Morgan McSweeney in one chart