Winter sun putting on a lovely little show in my study today.

Christmas has arrived in Leicester 😍

Amazing 😍

The catastrophic illegal waste dumping in Oxfordshire (see next post) is a direct result of the deregulation-by-stealth I wrote about in 2021, when my dead goldfish became a registered waste disposer. I warned it would let the mafia in. And here we are.🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Wes Streeting branded the doctors BMA a cartel, while getting a lot richer via real cartels ... "A quick but helpful chart breaking down who owns Wes Streeting. Unsurprisingly a large amount appears to be owned by private health companies." via David Dwyer #SocialistSunday

Next up: (And yes, I know we should all be boycotting the absolute nonsense mainstream publishing industry and their obsession with 'famous' people right now. But in my defence my mum got this out of the library for me).

A lovely little shimmery, disco sunlight situation in my current living room/study today 😍✨🪩

Since when was UK Royal Mail American? 'Write us'?! 🤮 Youse are missing a word there, lads.

God. A heart wrenching read. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...

Five UN Special Rapporteurs condemn Palestine Action ban as "not justified", "unnecessary" and a move associated with authoritarian states. Will this be raised in #PMQs? Will it be covered by @BBCNews? tinyurl.com/2s4cyzar

When you have friends who work in hospitality you have to get your Christmas celebrations in early 🎄🤣

Who had "biology is destiny, after all" on their feminist bingo card? The answer is "no one," because it's the complete antithesis of everything feminism stands for. And if that isn't obvious enough, just look at who's pushing it: every authoritarian fascist in the world, without exception.

This is long overdue. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"She doesn’t sit with the other mums, never takes her eyes from her daughter on the play park." Love how the title hangs over this piece from @drhannahstevens.bsky.social in @fictivedream.bsky.social; and brilliant juxtaposition between present and past fictivedream.com/2025/10/13/m...

What’s at stake for the NHS this Budget? 💸 Decisions behind closed doors could mean more private deals, more debt, more harm. EveryDoctor is uncovering the truth, but we need your help. 💥 Donate today to protect the NHS 💔

My current house mate Buddy is cute and he knows it 😍

Today's front page 📰 National security threat 2025: The Scottish Government

84% of trans people polled by YouGov said Britain is “fairly unsafe” or “very unsafe” for trans people. A terrifying story - founded on actual data - which the BBC still refused to carry. Link to polling in the blog. goodlawproject.org/abject-terro...

As the BBC carries anecdotal claims from a disgruntled former BBC staffer that it has a pro trans bias here is *actual* polling about trans people's level of trust in the BBC. (The BBC refused to carry the polling, the first of what it is like to live in Britain as trans, because it is "too weak".)

David Lammy is the third senior Labour Gov figure to call the Scottish Government a national security risk this week Given this government isn't prepared to say this about China .... this is pretty dreadful. What happened to the "family of nations"? www.thenational.scot/news/2559871...

Joy number... lost count... of being in Leicester: the gaffer in Snutch newsagents is delighted at news of Mamdani's victory because his family are from the same village as Mr Snutch News himself.

Great #fiction from our Oct. authors so our thanks to Lindsay Hill @jennystalter.bsky.social Helen Harradine @kdiannerule.bsky.social @katehollingswrites.bsky.social @drhannahstevens.bsky.social @karenschauber.bsky.social Brian Kirk and @bsherm36.bsky.social

More good news for Scotland We can manage just fine www.thenational.scot/news/2559012...

"further inquiries suggested the university was “explicitly trading my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market,” Murphy said, which was “really shocking” 👀 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I'm enjoying these autumn sun patches in England so much 🥰

Mum and dad out at a wedding reception last night (and home wayyy before midnight 🤣🥱).

A little overview of his reign for anyone who might be unfamiliar with this particular chapter of De Montfort University's history: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

I wonder where this toe in a suit is now? 🤔 Former Vice chancellor of De Montfort University (my alma mater) Dominic Shellard. Ahh, makes me so proud 👀

In a Taiwanese temple, a saliva goddess vanishes without trace... and a Hogmanay party is disrupted by an unexpected guest... 👇 books.windandbones.com/product/taigael-stories-from-taiwanese-and-gaelic

Sunshine and shadows from the autumn sun ☀️😍

All of these runners I keep seeing going past my study window... like, what are you running from guys? 👀

Honestly my Burmese students are just so brilliant. Not only super-smart and diligent but when I asked what they got upto over the mid semester break they sent pictures of themselves all drinking whisky 😂

Today's editing noise: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUNl...

I'm always unimpressed when the clocks go back in the UK. But it's especially annoying when you have work meetings and lectures in different timezones and sensible countries that do not do this annoying thing 😑

Meeting two of my favourite small people at Milton Keynes museum: toasting bread, looking at flowers, dreaming of stuffing my home with such old wonders 😍🤣

I spent the day looking at lots of old English things yesterday. This sign was a definite highlight:

“The problem is that Ofcom is now allowing some TV and radio stations to flout the rules and on an issue like climate change the stakes could not be higher.” Ofcom is letting GB News off the hook for climate misinformation: https://bit.ly/4o6RGNI

Today, England's water companies received their worst pollution ratings since records began. Rising bills. Soaring profits. Sewage in our rivers and seas. Enough is enough. Bring water back into public ownership, now.

Some of today's writing noise: www.youtube.com/watch?v=73qf...

I'm so sick of discourse from supposed allies about where trans people went wrong. Where we "went wrong" is that billionaires spent unimaginably large sums to attack us repeatedly and major media outlets have spent a decade piling on.

Scenes in Scotland! www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/5355...

The government still won’t tell us what its promise to “train thousands more GPs” actually means. When the health minister Stephen Kinnock was asked about it last month, his answer sounded like the last government’s plan. (And seemed to contain a mistake about the figures.)

"One of Austin’s meetings was with Rafael... [which] develops Spike missiles that appear to have been used by the Israel Defense Forces against targets including a convoy of ambulances." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I am absolutely dying 😂😂 This is so incredibly British. And if someone had told me that these were lines from a Jarvis Cocker song, I would absolutely have believed it.

I was in a meeting yesterday warning that if we lose the ECHR we are Royally Fucked. I think people think it could never happen - but remember everyone said that about Brexit. Let’s not be as stupid as then.

We are delighted that Wind&Bones co-director Dr Hannah Stevens' micro-story has been published on the superb @fictivedream.bsky.social! This story was inspired by Hannah's time living in Taiwan. You can read it here: fictivedream.com/2025/10/13/m...

A great pleasure to be featuring A Micro-Second of Silence @windandbones.com @drhannahstevens.bsky.social #microfiction #MicroMonday

Tomorrow's front page 📰 Palestine Action 'not close to being a terror group'

EXCLUSIVE: Nigel Farage’s links to an influential US anti-abortion group have been branded 'deeply concerning' It comes after an investigation by The New York Times detailed how the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has been quietly cultivating ties with Farage and his party

ICYMI today in #MicroMonday we're featuring A Micro-Second of Silence by Hannah Stevens @drhannahstevens.bsky.social #microfiction #MicroMonday. Please click on the link and enjoy fictivedream.com/2025/10/13/m...