well would you look at that. being trans is a protected characteristic and being a bigot is not.

My husband’s current special interest is tracking energy prices so we can ‘download’ it at cheaper times to the storage battery we got as part of our solar panel system. He says it’s cheapest when it’s windy. Why aren’t we talking about this more? People love cheaper energy.

This is why I’m on my soapbox everyday at work and being loud about AI and academic integrity “LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).”

Martin Parr RIP You could do a lot worse today than binge-watch Signs of the Times, you know. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Fact check: 🛡️Green policy is to stay in NATO and push for internal reforms. 💊The war on drugs has failed; a legalised, regulated and health-based approach is the only viable option. 🟢The fact the Prime Minister is spending time here to bash the Greens proves that we're doing the right thing.

Netflix Confirms Cancel Membership Button Will Be Leaving Streaming Service Next Month

When there’s an article about reading, the author often focuses on the C20th as if they too don’t understand the link between not reading and not feeling represented. Thankfully, @tygertale.bsky.social put this list together Tell me what you agree/disagree with tygertale.com/2025/11/28/t...

There’s a Rotary Club Santa that comes round the streets in the evenings in our town. Every time they post on the local Facebook page someone comments ‘why do you never come to xx Road?’ and people reply ‘well we know why, don’t we?’. I don’t! I want to know, but also don’t want to get involved…

10/10 to VR Rail in Finland for their website where you can track your train on a map. On a Pendolino train there are three classes - Eko, Ekstra Relaxed (which the 13yo has chosen) and Ekstra Calm (quiet coach at the end). En route to Rovaniemi now, the final stop.

I read about this when it was happening, had not realised the Duchy of Cornwall’s involvement in it!

Them: “25 years ago” Me: *nods sagely* “1986”

Last year Sky News was rending its garments over Starmer's free eyeglasses: WHAT INFLUENCE DID LORD ALLI BUY? Now, RefUK get £9m from a crypto bro, they have not one word about the donor's interests; just BRAVO NIGEL, barely concealed glee, and "what a huge boost... money goes where momentum is". 🤡

Enjoying a Christmassy day in Stockholm (but also pausing to read the latest stats on station usage from the Office of Rail and Road released today) before sailing overnight to Helsinki is today’s plan.

Yessssssss!!!

Thanks for everyone who's bid on the #Creatives4Sudan auction so far. In amazing news, we're at 12k. We have TWO DAYS LEFT though. If everyone places lots of little bids, I think we could get to 15k easy. The money is going to Sudanese-run Emergency Response Rooms. 💗🇸🇩 app.galabid.com/creatives4su...

a load-bearing component of “the magic of Christmas” is the invisible domestic labor of moms you are now realizing how much she was doing for you and instead of just thanking her you’ve decided it’s about the decline of civilization

With anti-trans news every day, we're on a mission to bring festive joy to trans+ youth 🎄 We have just closed sign ups for this year's Trans Secret Santa with hundreds and hundreds of registrations. 🎅 Now we we need your help making the gifts as magical as possible ✨ www.transsecretsanta.co.uk

🌲 THE BIG CHRISTMAS GIFT THREAD! 🌲 If you are a creator or small shop/business, reply to this post with: - pics and a brief description of what you do (don't forget the alt text!) - a link or details on how people can buy I will boost you! Everyone else: buy the cool things! Repost this post! ⛄

Only first instance but this feels quite significant - it was lawful, post For Some Women Scotland, to offer trans inclusive workplace toilets.

Both the WI and Girl Guiding had been steadfast in their support for trans members and in making sure every child was included. This is forced suppression. Presumably the Alliance Defending Freedom is the coffers behind this, too?

You want there to be a legal challenge to this? Support the one that's already in progress that, if successful, will remove the risk of legal action against Guides and WI, or other organisations, for being trans inclusive goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder/...

He’s aiming to get to Stockholm today, currently using Zugfinder to track the train.

Guides, WI, these seemed to have been organisations that had previously said they welcomed trans women? Is the person in the mouldy castle throwing their money around or something?

16yo me wants to order it all.

New! Boulean! Logic!

Rest day today, or rather ‘experiencing German Christmas markets’ before resuming travel tomorrow. Probably not restful at all 😂. Anyway, pick a city and there will be many, many YouTube videos on its Christmas markets.

He’s made it to Köln and plans on enjoying the Christmas markets tomorrow.

13yo is doing his virtual trip to Finland again. He has worked out the trains and boat needed to get there and is tracking them in real time over the next few days, and if any part of the journey appears on Train Sim World, he’ll do it on there too. He’s currently en route to London from Torquay.

Over the next week I'll be flagging ace items in the #Creatives4Sudan auction raising money for people fleeing genocide in El-Fasher. While our news is wall to wall about budget nonsense, Sudan is ignored. Help #KeepEyesOnSudan and raise funds by sharing and bidding. app.galabid.com/creatives4su...

Omfg the 6 Music newsreader just pronounced Gaelic the Irish way on a piece about Gaelic and Scots being recognised as official languages in Scotland. This stuff should not be hard to get right on this kind of story.

The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste

I mean honestly ’Mega Robo Mum and Dad Feel Sad Because Alex and Freddy are Growing Up And Kind Of Don’t Need Them, Or At Least Not In The Same Way, Any More’ is kind of the comic I want make most in the *world*.

There is no evidence linking COVID-19 vaccines to deaths in children. There is evidence that COVID causes serious harm — including long COVID, MIS-C, cardiac complications & diabetes. This administration’s actions are dangerous, and the damage to the public and children may be irreversible

And this one is more hopeful, also I had that book about Rome and had totally forgotten about it until I saw it again in this thread.

Two extremely interesting and related threads popped up next to each other in my feed, this one is pretty depressing:

The fact that this stuff is routine in schools across England should be a national crisis. I meet kids all the time who've been pushed to such extreme anxiety and self-hatred that they're self-harming and suffering suicidal ideation. But even people with progressive values won't take on schools.

I'm old. If you're not, listen to this. Get a guitar or some drums, or a trumpet. Pick up a brush, a pencil, some clay or a welder. Just make shit. It doesn't have to be good (eventually it will be) just make music, art or write or whatever. It's literally never been more important.

I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…

I spent most of Tuesday following the "Singing Street" around to take photos of the filming locations. It was very hard not to be struck by streets that were once playgrounds now being car parks. In other places there is still a bustle of life, but it is now tourists playing, not skipping girls

And here it is! Beautiful train.

We do this too and it’s much appreciated.

We were talking about Blue Peter, the only LNER A2 steam train still running, at dinner last night. This morning I asked the 13yo if he wanted to go for a frosty walk on the moor, he said he’d just check Real Time Trains for any interesting trains coming through our station today. Blue Peter is.

Good morning, while everyone is waiting for the budget to be announced it’s a good time to say that immigration is a source of prosperity for the UK and painting Britain as a hostile state is sabotaging the country. Thanks!

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.

Waiting for Snufkin to settle down into a deep sleep as I have to mend the 13yo’s blanket and she can snuff out a craft activity involving something sharp a mile off and always wants to Get Involved. Cats and sewing needles, great combination…

The Chancellor has announced that regulated rail fares will be frozen next year. A huge win for passengers and the economy, and one of our Budget asks!

Powerful piece by @drrachelclarke.com on the COVID inquiry. Those who say it’s easy to be wise in hindsight are being utterly disingenuous. Many of us spoke out at the time, and it’s in the public record. @independentsage.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

No single person, especially someone with zero expertise, should be able to just change the CDC website on a whim. The fact that federal health and science pages are no longer trustable is a catastrophe for public health and democracy.