And so it was that throughout the lands, as news readers named Watson and Crick as the discoverers of the DNA helix, a rousing chorus of “Rosalind Franklin” was directed towards the news.

Tonight I went to Inferno Hot Pilates, first since 2nd hip replacement 10.5 wks ago. & for first time in maybe a decade NOTHING hurt (1st hip is 2yo, knee is 1yo). insane combo of Pilates & HIIT & hot room hurt. But I didn’t. I’m v osteoarthritic & it can’t last, but just now it’s very lovely.

NEXT WEEK! How to Reframe the Transition to Postmenopause as a Creative Turning Point - LIVE event with Dr Stella Duffy and Prof Digby Tantam You can join in LIVE or purchase the recording. Use the link below to choose. buff.ly/YJdvmQT #therapistsConnect #training4therapists #counselling

Writing about #menopause & that it's NOT ALL BAD, though the ageism, misogyny and pronatalism of the marketeers leaves a lot to be desired. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#worldmenopauseday tomorrow & my disappointment (though not surprise) at the paucity of research into #menopause & #disability ... stelladuffy.blog/2025/10/17/w...

Workshop 6pm Monday 27th Oct (recording also available) in #postmenopause as a time of creative possibility. An existential, psychotherapeutic and creative look at #menopause as turning point, opening towards our vital third act. All welcome. onlinevents.co.uk/event/how-to...

Sending love to our Jewish friends in and from Manchester, especially those whose shul suffered this horrible attack, and the many who will now be even more worried about being attacked for their faith.

Ah, October, time for my annual share of this piece about how breast cancer is not pink, not pretty, & not helped by infantilising or anthropomorphising the disease. Be aware, raise funds (check where you're sending them!), but ffs, please stop pretending it's cute. stelladuffy.blog/2017/10/01/t...

This Wednesday 24th evening I'll be joining Welldoing to share some research and thinking and perhaps a creative writing exercise or two on finding the value and possibility in #postmenopause (that's right, #menopause is definitely NOT the end!) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-stell...

What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power. This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out. Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats.

I love London so much. So much. Did you know that London has the lowest level of ethnic violence of any city of comparable size in the world? Multiculturalism has in fact worked here. They just don’t want it to be true because we happen to have a Muslim mayor.

The media making out like the Robinson Rally was huge. 150,000 is tiny! Compare it to the 'Free Palestine' march (up to 800,000), the anti-Brexit march (650,000) or the Iraq war demo (1.5 Million) Disproportionate attention given to the gammon, as always.

A working class hero is something to be. But NOT if you’re a working class woman. Yes the whole Rayner thing is messy and yes Starmer’s tenure so far has been very disappointing but ffs, after the absolute SHITSHOW of Tory lies and cronyism for years sure, the working class woman has to go. Aaargh.

trump can issue as many executive orders as he wants, perhaps coverage should reflect the fact that a lot of these have the legal force of a child's wishlist for santa

So I imagine that folks who insisted it wasn’t ethnic cleansing, land theft, forced removal are lined up to apologize for insisting that this was just about defeating Hamas fighters and the return of the hostages.

For anyone who loves reading, loves books, loves INDEPENDENT bookshops (whether you're in south London or not), if you have a book you plan to buy this weekend - you might want to buy it via @booksellercrow.bsky.social - see this thread and support an indy that needs your love and custom just now. x

Deeply concerned that changes to trans rights could be approved without MPs or the public seeing details. This risks undermining accountability on issues affecting lives and freedoms. Proposals must face scrutiny before approval. Everyone deserves to know what’s being decided in their name.

Quick question - Trixie or Nancy?

Take a moment to appreciate Harry Truman‘s negotiating skills. He got Hitler to surrender everything, agree to Germany’s occupation and then shoot himself in the head.

This was a great listen, especially re problems with the relentlessly negative #menopause narrative contributing to #genderedageism in the workplace. Also v helpful thinking on ACE & socioeconomic factors contribution to difficulties in the menopause transition. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

#RWC2025 loving the #England team 🌹 🌹 beautiful passing, great tries. Obviously I’ll be shouting for #BlackFerns on Sunday. It’s only right.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Listening to a (v good) BBC Woman's Hour on Women's Rugby World Cup & realising I'm going to have to spend the next month shouting at radio & TV "hah-ka not hacker!!" (haka) "Sah-more (ish!) not S-mower" (Samoa). Sigh.

I’m sure Elodie Harper’s book about Boudicca’s daughter is great, but I was stunned to hear a long discussion about it on BBC Front Row and NO mention of Manda Scott’s enormously successful Boudicca books.

President Macron, "President Trump was the first to propose a ceasefire in February, in March President Zelenskyy accepted the ceasefire. The one who always refuses a ceasefire is President Putin" "If you make a peace deal without a security guarantee, Russia will not comply with any peace deal"

In the past fortnight, while recovering from my 2nd hip replacement, two organisations with which my work means I engage - BACP and the Polari Prize - have been involved in issues that are painfully messy and upsetting for all concerned. 1/3

Years ago I was office dogsbody @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social so low in pecking order that I was reception only at lunchtime, the rest in the basement. One day I saw this beauty standing before me, he said, ‘Hello, I’m Terence Stamp, please tell Liz I’m here’. I knew who he was. RIP lovely man.

Not a doubt in my mind.

This is a thoughtful thread on the Polari Prize. It’s unfortunate that articles covering it have not also bothered with nuance or reported the difficulty for ALL involved. Anyone who thinks withdrawing wld be easy for these authors has no idea how difficult publishing is. 🙏🏿 @sachacoward.bsky.social

I’m finding all of this ‘gay marriage’ thing really frustrating. Yes I appreciate it’s being stirred up in the USA by some homophobe, but my wife & I don’t have a ‘gay marriage’ any more than my parents had a ‘straight marriage’. We are married. It’s legal, it’s real. One word, one term, one love.

Yay for this side of surgery. Recovery-pain way better than pain-pain. 🙏🏿 brilliant staff & whoever invented titanium (2 hips now & ruptured brain aneurysm), 🙏🏿 painkillers!, grateful for prehab & new exercises just started. My 8th big surgery, I know a dip is likely, enjoying the up while it lasts!

When I was a kid, I spent hours lying on my back looking at the sky feeling the earth beneath me. Doing that now. Still got it.

Today’s #poem was not written on the bus because I walked @lothianbuses.bsky.social @kitdewaal.com @garwboy.bsky.social @stellduffy.bsky.social @georgetakei.bsky.social

“The ‘grown women’ of Ireland remember very well what erasure and control and lack of bodily autonomy feel like and it’s for this very reason that we stand so passionately with the trans community today” #TransRightsAreHumanRights @independent.ie

Took old hip for last sea swim, thanked it for all the running, jumping, dancing, jetés, pliés, cartwheels, walkovers, splits, swims, handstands, headstands, asanas, biking & walks.This time next week, 🤞, I’ll be made of even more titanium (other hip & knee & brain already metalled) and healing. 🙏🏿✨

On long-term relationships, relationship therapy, making it work, finding laughs in the crap stuff - and swimming, obv. stelladuffy.blog/2025/08/01/o...

Aaaaargh!!

Football ready in our house @shelleysilas.bsky.social #lionesses

#transpride ready #LwiththeT then, now, always.

Yes, it's a long way off (October) but summer will definitely turn to autumn, and so I'm excited to share this workshop for the Soc of Psychotherapy with Online Events - #postmenopause as creative possibility, not the dead end all too many would have us believe! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-ref...

Ukraine takes first small step towards same-sex partnership recognition. Russia goes backward, criminalising all public expressions of LGBT+ identity. Another reason Ukraine must win & Russia must be defeated. FOLLOW @ukrainesol.bsky.social @ukrainesolidarity.bsky.social @ukrainesolidus.bsky.social

Holy shit, just saw Alan Cumming’s monologue standing in for Jim’ll Kimmel “why on earth would a rapist go to the bother of pretending to be trans in a country that actually treats rapists better than trans people?” It’s a point we’ve made a lot but to put that out on network TV is a new level.

The government has just introduced a new Section 28 that will harm a generation of gender-nonconforming kids. New column by me (below). I grew up under Section 28. I know the damage it caused. This will be a new darkness, with more silence and fear. Another blackout. inews.co.uk/opinion/new-...

Go Agyemang!! (Also, fuck off, stupid racists!) #lionesses

@vinaypatel.bsky.social @stellduffy.bsky.social @danrebellato.bsky.social Pls could you give this a share? Thank you!

It’s been a busy few weeks with a busy few to come but today I have a morning off and am in bed with a pot of tea & @nataliehaynes.bsky.social is teaching me stuff on the radio. Winning.

The absolute joy of swimming in the rain, silent beach, no noise but the sound of tiny droplets falling on the larger body of water. Glorious.

Whoah! #lionesses!!!! (Also though, that’s so hard on Sweden).

Fucking bollocking fucking penalties. Aaargh. #thefootball #lionesses

Said in other countries, this would be labelled as religious fanaticism.