Iraq's population was around 43 million. Iran's is around 93 million, and their military has been preparing for literally this for decades, whilst America's has been bleeding morale and resources.

With the Gorton and Denton win, our opponents have been working overtime to misrepresent Green Party drugs policy. Heroin in corner shops? Crack for kids? Let's clear this up. 🧵

To bomb a primary school full of little girls is beyond shameful!

The news swings from hope to horror in a day-so why do we keep subjecting ourselves? Is it duty, habit, or the fear of missing something vital? Or is the real cost of tuning out even higher than the daily whiplash? Who’s still finding a way to stay informed without the exhaustion.

Another way in which Trump closely resembles Putin and other dictators is that when he is scared, he is dangerous. With public support in freefall, and with heat from the Epstein Files increasing despite his attempts to obstruct their release, Trump has started a needless war with Iran.

Well done to the Greens in Gorton and Denton-proving that even in Labour’s backyard, a well-timed climate nudge and a dash of local grit can shift the ground. Now, let’s see if Westminster notices, or just blames the weather.

Testing image uploads-does this post appear with the attached visual? Let me know if you can see it. Efficiency meets clarity.

Off on the bus with @loveyogacrew.com to have a look at Brown's Lane in Paisley. It's our first chance to try out scottravel.purecontrasttools.com in the wild and it did everything it was supposed to.

Sometimes the best projects start with “I’ll just fix this one thing for someone I love.” #a11y #buildinpublic

We should also kick out London's neuclar weapons. We don't need that massive target 25 miles from biggest city.

I went looking for relaxing housework music on Tidal and stumbled into a bizarre rabbit hole: Gregorian monks covering pop songs. Remember that brief, weird 90s chant craze? It turns out it evolved. Monks singing John Lennon and Robbie Williams is the genre I didn’t know I needed.⤵️ #90sNostalgia

A few days after I started building accessible tools for my partner, I lost vision in one eye (MS). Kept building from hospital. It’s all personal now. #accessibility #MultipleSclerosis #privacy

The Supreme Court thinks we are all confused by "oat milk" but somehow cope with "baby oil" and "fish fingers". 🙄 My latest post on why the Oatly trademark ruling is a win for Big Dairy and a loss for common sense. Read here: ⤵️ #Oatly #PlantBased #DairyFree #UKSupremeCourt

GGC executives are getting £20k extra to set up "Subnational Planning Committees". While staff work through breaks for zero extra pay, it is heartening to know executive salary stagnation is being tackled with such urgency. Truly, the system is healing. #NHSGGC #Scotland #PayRise #Frontline

I spent three weeks blocking a bed. My consultant knew it was the only way to get my scans done in time. My latest blog post is a thank you to the marvellous staff of Ward 27, and a critical look at an NHS forced to work around its own bureaucracy.⤵️ #SaveOurNHS #BedBlocking #NHS #Scotland #Health

Now that I am home, I find myself visiting my own websites just to stare at the pages. I am not checking for bugs. I am simply admiring the finished product and how well the design holds together. It is vanity, but digital vanity. #WebDesign #Home #DigitalLove #SmallVictories #CreativeDirector

Culture shock report: The room service here is terrible. I have been sitting in the living room for an hour and nobody has offered me a biscuit or checked my observations. On the plus side, nobody has woken me up at 6am to ask for a blood sample. I suppose it is a fair exchange. #Home #Recovery

Vote Dr Emma Sheppard #1 for better buses 🚌 Scottish Greens have already been involved in saving our local no.15 route, let's keep up the pressure and vote in East Dunbartonshire's first Green councillor 💚 Bearsden South by-election 29th January 🗳️✅ #VoteScottishGreens

They made it harder to opt out of data sharing in Scotland, so I made it easier. My latest post explains why the "Tech Bros" are coming for NHS data and what you can do about it. Includes a free template letter to exercise your "Right to Object" and lock the gate on your medical records. ⤵️ #NHS

Hospital data proves rudeness is dangerous. 80% of recipients lose time worrying. 38% reduce work quality. In the NHS, that means poorer care. I wrote about why "being nice" is actually a critical safety mechanism. ⤵️ douglasireland.com/the-high-cos... #CivilitySavesLives #NHS #Kindness #Scotland

Relocated to the Beatson. I am starting plasma exchange today. ​It feels less like medical treatment and more like a hard reset. They are essentially clearing the cache, flushing the DNS, and hoping the system reboot clears the error logs. #PlasmaExchange #TheBeatson #SystemReset #NHS

Trump wants to tariff the UK because he can't buy Greenland. I am formally offering to sell him "The Sovereign Territory of Bed 4, Ward 27, RAH". Includes strategic access to the tea trolley & a view of a rainy car park. Price: immediate discharge papers. #Greenland #Trump #NHS #ArtOfTheDeal

Now more than ever, it is important to stand with our European neighbours and friends. A new poll reveals that a vast majority of Scots would back rejoining the EU. Every vote for the Scottish Greens is a vote for independence in the EU.🇪🇺

The £11.00 price tag isn't for non-members. It is a fine for refusing to hand over your identity. I wrote about the "Privacy Premium" and the extreme measures needed to avoid being tracked at the till. ⤵️ #Privacy #DataSovereignty #Tesco #SelfHosting #Scotland

This is what happens when you leave me with a laptop and hospital Wi-Fi for two weeks. I built a high-vis, zero-tracking weather station. It supports Kelvin. Because knowing it is 279.15K in Paisley is the exact data I need to decide on a coat. ⬇️ #Dev #WeatherStation #Kelvin #Privacy #Paisley

The diagnostics are finally complete. It turns out this isn't a temporary bug; it is a permanent feature. I am now running on a "Long Term Support" (LTS) version of Douglas. It requires constant management and daily patches, but the system stays online. Now, can I please go home? #LTS #NHS #Vision

Stuck in hospital, but the digital infrastructure is thriving. Upgraded the server to 8GB RAM. Nextcloud is finally churning through video thumbnails & faces without crashing. If only my recovery was as simple as a reboot. BTCPay Server next. #SelfHosting #Nextcloud #HospitalLife #Tech #Upgrade

Day 9 on the ward. The doctors keep dangling the "discharge" carrot, only to snatch it away again. It is mentally exhausting. I am prescribing myself some aggressive optimism to counter the low mood. I intend to be out of here before this song finishes (metaphorically speaking). #NHS #KeepGoing

​Scheduled for a lumbar puncture today. It sounds like something that happens to a radiator, not a person. ​I am hoping they can just bleed the system, repressurise the boiler, and get things running efficiently again. #NHS #Hospital #DomesticEngineer #Plumbing

Sunday morning update. I am accepting auditions for the role of "Misunderstood Bond Villain" or "Pirate Captain in a Low-Budget Panto". Applications should be sent via nurse carrier pigeon. 1/2 #HospitalLife #SundayMorning #NewLook #PirateLife #NHS

Five nights in hospital, and it looks like three more at least. A spinal tap is on the menu. Last night was rough: snores, erratic noises, and a brain that refused to quit. Not a great combo. 1/3 #HospitalLife #SleeplessNights

​Still in hospital. I suspect that by now, Chipshop has assumed I am never returning and has legally claimed the entire sofa. ​I will have to apply for a visitor pass to my own lounge when I finally get out. I do miss the Wee Chook though. #Chipshop #DogLife #HospitalLife #NHS #Cutie

​I asked the NHS for a quick software update. They took it literally and gave me a patch. ​I am now running on Douglas v2.1. The release notes are vague, but I believe it fixes a few bugs in the visual rendering engine. #Patch #NHS #SoftwareUpdate #Cyborg #HospitalLife

Good morning from the ward. I am still a guest of the NHS, but I refused to stare at the ceiling all night. ​Instead, I wrote a new blog post between nurse rounds. It turns out that hospital insomnia is actually quite productive. Link below👇 #NHS #HospitalLife #Blogging

Currently at the hospital with a wonky eye. NHS staff are absolute stars, as ever. Waiting rooms: not fun, but great for finishing blog posts. Latest one’s up now. Give it a read if you’re also stuck killing time. #NHS #WaitingRoomWisdom

Trump’s Donroe Doctrine is a threat to global stability. NATO’s silence on Greenland shows alliances crumbling under US imperialism. Scotland must stand on its own. Read why independence and green politics are key: 👇 #Scotland #Independence #GreenPolitics #NATO

Logging on

My quest for a self-hosted "Google Photos" alternative hit a snag. Turns out, asking 4GB of RAM to recognise faces is like asking a hamster to calculate the national debt. ​The app has been evicted for bad behaviour. We are back to "The Slow Way" of manual sorting. #SelfHosted #Nextcloud #Degoogle

I have just launched two ad-free, high-contrast games: Sudoku and Spell Well. I originally built these for my partner to make gaming accessible for those with sight impairments. They are free to play, but please consider a donation to Sight Scotland if you enjoy them!👇 #A11y #Sudoku #Accessibility

Watched Perfect Days last night. It’s a film that understands the quiet dignity of routine. No grand gestures, no dramatic arcs, just a man, his work, and the small, unspoken rhythms of a life well-lived. It’s refreshing to see something that doesn’t scream for attention. #PerfectDays #SlowCinema

Another illegal war for oil. Trump has launched strikes on Venezuela and 'captured' a sovereign head of state to force regime change. The Venezuelan government warns this is a resource grab for their oil reserves. This isn't 'law enforcement'; it is naked imperialism and an act of aggression.

​I have escaped to Beamish for the New Year. I am currently walking around a town that is permanently stuck in 1913. ​The Wi-Fi is non-existent, everything is mechanical, and people wear flat caps. I have never felt more at home. I might just resign from 2026 and stay here. ​ #TimeTravel #Hogmanay

Chipshop is entirely unaware that the calendar has flipped. To him, this is just a Thursday with excellent sofa availability. ​I am adopting his strategy. I will ignore the "New Year" hype and focus entirely on the nap schedule. ​ #NewYear #DogLife

The postman just walked past my window. Rain or shine, he’s there every day, delivering letters and parcels with the same efficiency. No fanfare, no updates, just a steady, reliable presence. It’s the kind of consistency I admire. #Postman #Paisley #Routine #Stoicism

I am 18 years deep into a digital archaeology project, migrating my life from Google to my own VPS backup system. Digging through old directories is a trip. I have just found a short clip saved in January 2009. 1/2 #Degoogle #SelfHosted #TheSlowWay

John Maynard Keynes predicted a 15-hour work week by 2030. Instead, we got AI-driven data extraction. If we want the leisure Keynes promised, we have to own the data that fuels the future. Read more on the new digital enclosures ⬇️: #FutureOfWork #AI #Keynes #SelfHosting

Critical logistical failure. We have officially missed the paper bin collection due to a "holiday schedule" calculation error. I am now the custodian of a cardboard mountain until mid-January. The boxes are no longer waste; they are now structural, load-bearing members of the household. #Recycling

​I have exchanged currency for goods, wrapped them, then swapped them for other wrapped goods. The ritual is complete. ​Now we enter the phase of "radical non-participation." I plan to contribute absolutely nothing to the economy for the next 12 hours. #TheSlowWay #AnitConsumerism

​Sending emails today is a dangerous game. ​You are hoping for a quick "Done," but you risk triggering the "Bored Employee" trap card. This results in an immediate three-paragraph reply and a Teams call because they have absolutely nothing else to do. Tread carefully. ​ #ChristmasEve #Email

​I finished the wrapping paper. ​I am a grown up with a mortgage, a VPS, and a storage box in Germany. Yet, holding this empty tube, the urge to hit Stephanie and make lightsaber noises is primal. It cannot be unlearned. tidal.com/browse/track... ​ #ChristmasEve #Silly #StarWars