The BBC is in crisis in the same way that GB News would be if you put Owen Jones on the board armed with a veto and plenty of coffee.

One strange thing about the BBC/Trump row is that the programme in question was actually made by an independent production company. Yes, the BBC producers and Panorama’s editor should have checked everything before it was broadcast. But… 1/3

I’ve written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage urging them to condemn Donald Trump’s attack on the BBC. The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump. We must defend it together.

My very far right American friend has, sadly, broken off contact with me, for fear of my contaminating his views. But in 2021 he told me to listen to Trump on 6 Jan. I did, horror struck, my dinner congealing on my plate. Listening live to a speech in full is a good test for a historian.

When I found out that I'm intersex I knew, statistically, there were lots of other people like me out there, but only about a dozen were publicly visible. It has been a great joy to me to watch this movement grow over the decades and begin to exert real pressure for our human rights to be respected.

My grandmother (born 1875) used to try that argument. My father (born 1910, so much more modern) used to hand her her arse on a plate EVERY TIME. Blimme are we back in 1925??? Or, 1825? Or WHAT!

I’m not especially tolerant and I normally use Facebook to follow some minority interests (titter ye not: wool fibre work, spinning, rug making - which hardly sounds better 🤦🏻‍♀️) and I thought I’d curated out racists and homophobes. Yuck. No. People I’d never have suspected supporting her.

You don’t need to go on line to see hatred and distrust of trans people. It’s everywhere. In books. On telly. On the radio. That is why Brianna Ghey died.

Well I’m probably prejudiced because my family isn’t all white, and I’m absolutely happy that it isn’t. And many many of my friends? The same. The tiny nasty constituency of narrow hearted people Pochin represents? Yuck.

“Looking forward to seeing you around 12.”

I see that we are talking about giant pumpkins and the horrors of their size. Would you, er, like some science with that? Because here's HOW they get so big. www.snexplores.org/article/here...

I most heartily wish I had the ability to run away from the hellscape Lam is proposing. I don’t actually think she can touch my wife because she’s a British citizen, but no country could function in the middle of this. It would be far worse than the ICE raids.

Scotland has the highest proportion of college students - 1.6m in England, 218k in Scotland, 127k in Wales, 37k in N.Ireland. Completion rates for apprenticeships show: England 53%, Wales 66%, N.Ireland 48%, Scotland 70-80 % for much of the last decade. And no tuition fees!

Someone asked me yesterday how the campaign against trans people could possibly affect cis people. Well this is how, for starters. This is how it affects all minorities.

This is why talking about "biological males" is dangerous. Actual biology, and physiological markers change with GAHRT. www.emjreviews.com/cardiology/n...

I apologise to my trans friends. I write as if what is happening to them isn’t enough of an outrage in itself, but needs threats to cis women to validate it. It doesn’t. It’s enough in itself. This endless harassment and humiliation of living people is plenty in and of itself. It’s an outrage.

When someone talks about a "sacred duty" I would like to know which god makes it sacred. To the best of my knowledge there is no deity who instructs us that promises are binding only when given to British nationals, but maybe the scholars of religion could enlighten me on this.

A collared dove looking up mid preen. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

Pa gydlyniad diwylliannol?

I absolutely get that huge inequalities of wealth (amply documented) between the really rich and low paid workers is terribly bad for society. I think we do need fairer contributions from businesses. Until we are willing to let our own taxes rise I don’t think we can solve our problems.

I was brought up short this morning by finding more ‘gender essentialism’ on 🦋 than I expected. Brief reminder. It’s own cousin to ethnicity essentialism, and long-time partner of ‘all our problems are down to’, that is ‘down to anything except a fair and equal society with taxation’.

This is exactly how women become excluded. Powerful men refuse to engage. Less powerful men back them up. So nice men can choose. Put in a male who can get answers or continue exposing women to ridicule. And that is how women get shut out. And it’s not just Trump though he spreads it, encourages it.

'For the triumph of evil, it is only necessary that good people do nothing' (to paraphrase the misquote). Be calm. Be kind. Do not be silent. When politicians and press are pumping lies and hatred into our communities, These are the conversations we need to have 👇🏼 #RejectRacism

This is a brilliant story

A close personal friend asked her work (yet again) for a pay rise. She an Oxford 2:1 who consistently works her socks off and exceeds targets. “Sorry” they said, “no regular rises.” “Well you will have to next year.” “Why?” “Because next year I will dip below the minimum pay threshold.”

Better than good. And too true.

When satire is so spot on, it's uncomfortably good!

Actually Trump’s speech about walking down stairs horrifies me more that the rest of his stuff, because behind it you can hear the advice to the demented ‘hold the rail. It isn’t a race. Yes Barack ran down the stairs, it only takes once to fall and you don’t want to do that.’ He’s parroting advice.

I have a colleague who moved here a few years ago. We asked him to move here because we needed his expertise. He pays a lot of tax, his wife works as a teacher, they’re both “contributing to society”. They don’t (and I think can’t) claim any benefits.

Yows (ewes) went to tups on Friday. Here are the girls put for cross breeding to my beautiful young Icelandic tup Raffles. I’m hoping do do more fiber work. #SmallFarmLife

I’m not It isn’t. It should be, but you’re working very hard to ensure it isn’t.

Do you suppose Mr Starmer wakes up every day and thinks “Not enough people hate me yet! I won’t get a ‘Just Eat’ ad opportunity until everyone hates me more! To work!”

Also frankly I am quite desperate! A party that’s at best ambivalent on the question of whether I’m English and wants to deport my friends is 9 points ahead in the polls and the current leader is floundering and visibly out of his depth!

The richest man on earth owns X. The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok. The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post. See the problem here?

Prof. John Curtis predicting a thumping Indy majority at Holyrood 2026 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💪 SNP the biggest party, with Scottish Greens 2nd (Official Opposition)

Indefinite Leave to Remain is about precisely the kind of immigrants that we are all told that people whose fathers paint roundabouts really like. The kind coming by legal channels and doing good work. But if you ask who the enemies of the UK would like out of our country? Those with ILR.

TLDR: Make racism shameful again. While you’re at it add fascism too.

This thread shows why we'll never be able to rely on AI for answers

An appalling indictment. The UK has wealth. It's just not distributed, remaining in the hands of a few uber-wealthy individuals. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The core problem for Starmer is that what made him Labour leader and prime minister was his ability to judge what the audience in front of him wanted to hear - to work out which narrative would get him to the next step on the board. But you can't run a country on storytelling.

Ten years ago I was in a new relationship with Sophie. It never occurred to me that by now one of my biggest worries would be that the colour of her skin would make her a target. Main-stream politicians talking about people like her creating ‘an island of strangers’.

I have ADHD. I was successful at secondary school. I have a Ph.D. and published a book which was reviewed in the broadsheets and I taught at tertiary level. There is no way on God’s green earth I could consistently comply with the rules this school lays out. They are cruel.

What I find interesting is that Charlie Kirk was one of the VERY vocal MAGA people on transparency and releasing the Epstein files. After a convo with Trump in July he made an about face but then dedicated a podcast later on July calling for the release. Yet, no one is discussing this.

Political violence from any party or any ideology is a direct assault on the foundations of democracy and the rule of law; it seeks not to persuade but to intimidate, not to debate but to destroy.

Hannah Arendt said 'The death of human empathy is one of the earliest & most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism' We saw the recent cruelty of MAGA denying empathy to Melissa Hortman Empathy for Kirk—not because he ever acted like a decent human—but because we are decent humans

“I will kill you, Reacher Gilt. I will kill you in our own special way”. Because if Bansky means it or not, this is hugely effective.

A hilariously ironic and horribly appropriate response. I wonder if it was part of Banksy's intention - I heard that he has never worked on a listed building before, so presumably he would have anticipated this swift response and it's part of the overall piece. I'd like to think so, anyway.

Once Donald Trump gets the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law – what comes next?

The Daily Mail (sadly someone posted it) are running a large article about girls playing football who keep getting abuse from other girls and also parents because they say they are boys - because they have short hair. Transphobia harms all women and girls. And the Daily Mail is part of the problem.

Transphobia - whether from the right or left and whether disguised as feminist or not - will always close down the field of what is acceptable for women and girls. So-called bio essentialism always leads to the boxing in of options for women and girls.