If Artemis is going up then it gives me an excuse to once again post this photo, the only one to contain every human being in the universe but one.

Annnnd breathe. Good luck guys on your little jaunt round our planetary system Right now a reminder of how incredible humans can be and what we can achieve when we focus on using science and tech to do something positive is very appreciated

I’ve laid out a small taster of what makes our Twin Towns such a compelling place in this piece

Today was the deadline for towns across the UK to submit their initial pitch for the 2028 Town of Culture Loads of great places have put in a bid, but not many bridge two islands of the British Isles The Twin Towns Sheerness & Sittingbourne bid highlights our unique contribution to Britain’s story

After YouGov retracted their poll on young people going to church more, I wrote about why polling young people, especially young men, has become increasingly challenging. It's a growing problem, and the market research industry needs to respond. chriscurtismk.substack.com/p/young-men-...

Kemi Badenoch was forced this morning to reveal the truth - she knows more North Sea licenses won't take a penny off bills. A pragmatic energy policy continues to use the North Sea while going faster on the clean energy transition. That's what this government is doing.

Revealed: Farage’s farming adviser calls for wheat prices to double - despite cost of living crisis Coupled with Reform’s policies to import US chlorinated chicken & frack rural areas, it’s clear that Farage would be a disaster for the countryside: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

@oliviabailey.bsky.social hits the nail on the head here, identifying the weird disconnect between Reform’s imported culture-war rhetoric and the beautifully complex reality of family lives lived by people in my constituency

Jordan is great and has done so much to support LGBT+ representation Sheppey, in Sittingbourne, across Swale and more widely. Great to see him get recognition here from @kentcurrent.news

After this exceptionally grey winter, I am very, very ready for some longer, sunnier evenings. If it takes stopping Big Ben for a while to get there I am all for it

Parliament’s clock mechanics will be busy changing over 3000 clocks across the estate this weekend.

You can find out more on the webpage below, or email the team at Swale Borough Council here: [email protected] Or reach out to me directly by email here: [email protected]

We are looking for a fabulous chair of our East Sheppey Pride in Place Neighbourhood Board With £20 million to spend over the next ten years, this volunteer position needs someone passionate about tackling deep seated inequalities, working with me and local residents to transform our amazing island

New chicken heavy metal album cover just dropped

Despite what the naysayers and bad faith commentators assert, this Labour government is progressing the most ambitious overhaul of property law in over a century, if not longer. We can't end the leasehold system overnight, but we will finish the job in this Parliament.

I confirmed that as a government we remain firmly committed to honouring each and every one of the commitments we made in our manifesto 👇🏻

On Tuesday, I gave evidence to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee as part of their pre-legislative scrutiny of our draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill 🧵

We are looking for a fabulous chair of our East Sheppey Pride in Place Neighbourhood Board With £20 million to spend over the next ten years, this volunteer position needs someone passionate about tackling deep seated inequalities, working with me and local residents to transform our amazing island

Tuesday's debate, where Tories and Reform argued for increasing reliance on gas and oil, and the current crisis, show just how right we have been to push for clean energy as fast as we can (to naturally decouple) and to look at other measures to see if this can be pushed quicker.

Labour MP James Naish presents a petition to Parliament calling for the assisted dying Bill to be enacted without delay, despite having voted against the Bill at Third Reading in the Commons.

Labour is delivering the biggest funding injection to create specialist places for children with SEND – part of over £3bn of investment. Councils must prove it will be spent building nurseries, schools & colleges where every child can achieve and thrive. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Labour has halved the cost of childcare, and now we’re doing even more to make high-quality early years education more accessible and affordable. We’re cutting the cost of living and giving children the best start in life. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Our Renters’ Rights Act will see Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions abolished on 1 May in 37 days’ time. It would be utterly shameful for any landlord to attempt to use it to evict tenants en masse before that date. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

There are too many harms online that are targeted at men and boys, which damage them directly and then hurt and harm women and wider society as well So I was more than up for signing this letter alongside other colleagues, organised by @alistrathern.bsky.social who has done so much work on this

Good. This isn’t about one party or one individual. It’s about safeguarding our democracy from those who would wish to harm it. There’s a lot more to do though, including around spending limits, company donations, risk assessment requirements, donation caps - the list goes on.

Imagine if in your weekly shop, you could pick up plug-in solar panels that help save on your energy bills? Well, in some parts of Europe you can do just that. We’re working with industry to bring plug-in solar to UK shops within months.

Oh absolutely. I've regularly banged the drum about making better use of the river here for transport. Would love to hear more as you make progress.

Today one of Sheppey’s primary schools, www.halfwayhouses.kent.sch.uk secured some of the government’s Best Start funding for a great new nursery Was really good to catch up with @oliviabailey.bsky.social so she could explain way better than I can, what these new school based nurseries are about

The number of child and family social workers in post has reached a record high, seeing the biggest drops in agency use, vacancies and turnover rates on record. Josh MacAlister is right - we're moving in the right direction 📈 www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...

An arson attack on a Jewish ambulance service isn’t about Israel. It isn’t about Zionism, or American imperialism, or capitalism, or war in the Middle East. It’s about Jews. It’s about making British Jews feel fearful in their own homes. Just like Bondi Beach, and Heaton Park, all over again.

I grew up in this community and I have a few thoughts I want to share. A short thread. www.jewishnews.co.uk/breaking-hat...

Tax Wealth, Get Growth

The Health Secretary has written exclusively for KentOnline about the meningitis outbreak... Read more here: www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/n...

Been loving this since it came out last month. Such a good mix of pieces and confident performance A nicely robust version of Lark Ascending which can so often be criminally hackneyed in lesser hands Caroline Shaw’s Plan & Elevation is beautiful and leads nicely to the folk Good wind down album

🧵And we're off, ladies and gentlemen! It's "they're banning the word EASTER" week. Regular as clockwork... So here comes a history lesson and media lesson all rolled into one thread! PS, I can't believe there's no easter egg emoji? This was the best I could do - 🗿🥚 🤣 I digress! 1/19

Slightly odd that James is seemingly unaware of the first of the Ten Commandments. I’m pretty sure that’s not an optional extra or debatable point in Christianity or Judaism

This is exactly why so many transparency campaigners are calling for crypto donations to be banned

Bluesky’s finally made it guys! Maybe not in a good way. One government is paying attention to it. Sadly it’s Iran Not surprising It’s been a huge part of their strategy for years The strong block mechanism here and low shame for blocking culture is a big difference to X, other platforms take note

Worth watching. Yet more indicators that a simple age-restriction for social media would fail to address the problems it is supposed to fix As well online harms continuing, by enabling social media companies to push the claim ‘mission accomplished’ it could embed those harms for even longer

I have repeatedly had this arguement with people who are supposedly green and climate concious. 'No transition until just transition, do it right, its a little extra time and expense.' No. A climate emergency means something. We need to move quick and at huge scale. Thats what a emergency requires

No please, tell me again about the very real and principled local objections that it is so important our planning system accommodate at the expense of everything else

Well I hate to report that they appear to have failed in their reputational aspiration

We’ve got one of the massive illegal waste dumps in my constituency, near Iwade. Lots of smaller scale but just as malign flytipping too. In the country & the towns I’ve spoken to residents, businesses, experts + agencies to work out how to stop it, given it’s been a problem for more than a decade

“Security reasons” being code for being caught red-handed monetising hate? No shock to see Nigel recklessly exploiting this, but it exposes yet another individually & socially harmful online business model It’s urgent the UK public decides what online harms we won’t accept + make tech firms comply

The volunteers at www.raybelcharters.com couldn’t ignore the signs of pollution in Milton Creek Sittingbourne, while they restored the Thames Barge Raybel there Chris & the team have done their own citizen science and come up with a great plan, laid out here… www.raybelcharters.com/journal/what...

Just had this flagged with me. This is disgusting. If Kemi Badenoch had one ounce of leadership in her, she would condemn this. I don’t want any faux sadness from her or Nick Timothy when one of us is hurt or worse. This is how low the Conservative Party have sunk.

Within just 48 hours of the Tories refusing to sack Nick Timothy for his Islamophobic comments, the far-right is circulating a list of MPs “of foreign descent” trying to “silence” him. [1/2]

The volunteers at www.raybelcharters.com couldn’t ignore the signs of pollution in Milton Creek Sittingbourne, while they restored the Thames Barge Raybel there Chris & the team have done their own citizen science and come up with a great plan, laid out here… www.raybelcharters.com/journal/what...

It’s great to see Victim Support start delivering help for every witness in all criminal courts across England and Wales.   Part of our record £550m to support victims & deliver swifter justice.   www.victimsupport.org.uk/support-for-...

Hundreds of vaccine & antibiotic doses have been administered in Kent now thanks to clinical colleagues But any signs of meningitis must still always be taken seriously Matthew’s death, that I raised in the House the other day, tragically highlights this & the BBC talked to his amazing Mum here…