"Hamish saw boys punched in the head during fights or whipped with belts during initiation rituals... staff said they didnt need to know about such incidents, encouraging them to physically fight it out." How the army treats teenagers, by @sianushka.bsky.social www.opendemocracy.net/en/british-a...

9 Novels That Find Comic Truth in Disability. "In these stories, disabled people and caregivers are complex, flawed human beings…who are often hilarious." Interested in whether folks have read any of these books, and what your takes were: electricliterature.com/10-novels-th... #disability

Letter from ONS's new Permanent Secretary setting out swingeing cuts to statistical programmes www.ons.gov.uk/news/stateme... (UK) ONS pledges "quality over quantity" with key statistics prioritised www.ons.gov.uk/news/news/on... #opendata #datapolicy

Fascinating short thread. You may think you don’t need to know about the relationship between whales and krill. But you’re wrong. This 2 minute read will expand your thinking.

Ok British folk; I love trifle. Hhit me with your most amazing trifle recipes. #trifle #love I’ll start…

Torquay - Paignton - Torbay folk Recommend me a great cafe / place to grab lunch #torbay #food #eat #paignton #torquay

The Chair of the Independent Review, Sir Brian Leveson, will today give evidence to the Justice Committee’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts inquiry

This is where British public service is utterly awful. No major private company would accept this without the manufacturer giving major indemnity and liability guarantees. It’s endemic in the public sector, awful procurement contracting gives substandard products. www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...

Want to include everyone in your high quality awesome and hilarious Bluesky content that has images? Want to stay faithful and not forget? Settings > Accessibility > Require alt text before posting Then, when you add an image, you'll see the warning and the post button will be greyed out...

Coasters or challenge coins (giant, if so!)? 🤷🏻‍♂️

The job adverts for EHRC Commissioners (4 posts) are finally out. Deadline: 1st December. If you, or anyone you know, feels brave enough to apply, please do consider putting in an application! apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9026?b...

If you are in the UCL /Euston area & you have a calculator that I can borrow this morning, please get in touch urgently!!! I have a maths exam (10am), and my two have both just died! Needs to be NOT internet connected; just old simple one. Oh my life....

A glorious thread on, well, the joys, fury and utter ridiculousness of the law. Loved it. 🙏🏻

A glorious thread on, well, the joys, fury and utter ridiculousness of the law. Loved it. 🙏🏻

Just watched the John Lewis Christmas advert. Yep, crying my heart out, on multiple levels. Wonderful work JL. 🙏🏻 youtu.be/dc5S4IV_NeA

Fully agree with this from @ivancouronne.bsky.social. If you want a report to recieve media coverage, releasing it during or in the run-up to a major event is one of those ideas that seems good but is actually terrible!

ReformUK are relying on people remaining ignorant & resentful towards ppl on benefits. There's plenty of that going on. Here's some info for you ... • The govt do not "dish out" cars. The cars are paid for by the disabled person, from their disability benefits. Around 5% of Motability....

Interesting article on the impact of post-Twitter social media fragmentation: “This strain is not just a personal well-being issue — it shapes the health of scholarly communication. If fatigue pushes people away from informal networks, the ecosystem loses diversity, vibrancy, and reach.”

"Platforms like Twitter (X) offered a vibrant, informal commons: a single, global space where researchers could build reputations, collaborate across borders & participate in real-time scholarly debate ... that clarity has gone. The digital landscape for academics is fragmented, tiring & uncertain."

Lord Neuberger: "Ordinary people caught up in the criminal, civil or family justice systems are in a much less satisfactory situation and we ought to be doing much better. The plight of ordinary people with ordinary problems in civil and family cases is disturbing".

Lord Neuberger, former president of the Supreme Court, has criticised the failure of successive governments to increase legal aid rates in line with inflation. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/neuberg...

Lord Neuberger: "We live in a world where law is increasingly complex; access to independent properly trained lawyers is an ever more essential ingredient. If access to lawyers for advice and representation is restricted to the rich or few, you do not really have the rule of law".

The buses bill also became law this week, allowing councils in England to finally take control of local services used by millions of people. Almost nothing from No 10 or Govt Comms as a whole. It's beyond woeful. Meanwhile Reform are holding multiple press conferences a week.

Professor Anthony King, Director of the @exeter.ac.uk Strategy and Security Institute, has been commenting on the need for organisational transformations to the Army www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term www.gov.uk/government/p...

Protected species legislation question: A wood manager uses a squirrel trap to control grey squirrel population. No pine martens recorded on site or within 5 miles, but one killed by trap. (A pine marten falling under Schedule 6 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981) What is the offence?

David Feldman, "Key Ideas in Constitutional Law" has just been published.... www.bloomsbury.com/uk/key-ideas...

Who the hell are the 8% of law firms that wouldn’t identify an expressly stated formal written complaint as a complaint? 🤷‍♂️😤

Some powerful statements in this article “Taking money from families with three or more children does not increase their employment rate nor its intensity, neither does it reduce fertility among poorer households” #twochildlimit 1/n

“The House of Lords Select Committee for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has just announced its final oral witnesses, and it will not hear from terminally ill individuals or those who have assisted loved ones to die.” 😬😟😤

Anyone have any ideas for why Pension Creidt uptake is lowest in the South West? 🤷‍♂️ Article says: “new analysis showing large regional disparities, with uptake lowest in the South West.”

“Can the Courts Hold the Government to the Word of a Policy?” Cassandra Somers-Joce, The Constitution Society, 24 Jan 2025 consoc.org.uk/courts-gover... - Some pondering -

“While the tribunal would no doubt prefer for there to be more appeal decisions made on the papers, it will rarely be in an appellant’s best interests to request that their appeal decision is made on the papers without a hearing.”

While I applaud any MP helping 12,000 constituents a year It is also far too many people for one MP + team to assist (46 cases per working day) Other duties must be suffering, most notably the passing of legislation

“Therefore, in a political context, a degree of immoderate, offensive, shocking or provocative expression, is acceptable." What excitement lies ahead… 🤦‍♂️ or they want to bump up council meeting viewing numbers?

Delighted that the Veterans Mobility Fund #VMF has awarded me a grant to get a RMA / ROMA Sport wheelchair for wheelchair rugby

When reading a book and trying to zoom in on an image by sliding two fingers apart… …too much tech use in life! 😂

If you’re trying to jump start your car, right next to the pump on a petrol station forecourt, using a tatty old car battery you happened to have in your boot… 🤔 Then please don’t shout at the Sainsbury’s staff member telling you to stop doing so. And then recognise that you’re an idiot. Thanks.

Delighted that the Veterans Mobility Fund #VMF has awarded me a grant to get a RMA / ROMA Sport wheelchair for wheelchair rugby

Stand by for rocketing Motability sales this week, before the budget and its changes come into force (whenever that may be)!

Campaigning researchers celebrate law change on parental access to their children after domestic or sexual abuse abuse convictions northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/lab...

If anyone works for Stena Line #StenaLine please check your SSL/Cloudfare settings for booking.stenaline.co.uk I've been getting this warning message for the last half hour on two different computers, across three browsers, while trying to access my Stena - My account page.

This looks like interesting research. Anyone out there who can offer up some examples of public inquiries in the UK for Charlie?

Can someone explain to me how the US holy grail (to many) of “free enterprise” fits in with Trump’s tariffs? The libertarian side of me winces at the contradiction.

Public inquiries: Which ones led to positive change? • identified significant failings that needed to be learnt from • well run inquiry • recommendations implemented • led to improved services / gov processes I’m looking to learn from past examples that went well. #publicinquiry

Catching an overnight ferry from the UK to the Netherlands on the same night the clocks go back Have I found the perfect hack to solve the ridiculous confusion I feel every year at this time?! 🤷‍♂️😂

This remains the funniest way to hear about an internet outage, though.

“It simply means we stop lying to ourselves that we can cut our way back to the capacity we need.” It’s time to be bold & invest in what our country needs, rather than cutting services ever closer to the bone The failure to do so demonstrates, to me, a lack of confidence in our nation’s potential

"No matter how hard you engineer something, nature filters everything much better than anything else." Nature-based solutions - a lot more #biodiversity - are vital on this #PoisonedPlanet www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Concerns have been growing for Eddie Albington, 45, ever since he was the only member of his crew not recovered within hours of the wreckage – but despite his family’s fears, Albington was reportedly “not just surviving, but thriving.”