absolutely the fuck not

A parable for our times:

On the same day in the Telegraph:

"Bolton" (1937) by Julian Trevelyan. Collage shows mills and chimneys of Bolton, with the Pennines behind. Incorporated are newspaper and magazine cuttings of Spanish Civil War and rise of fascism across Europe, warning it could come to this Lancashire town. Bolton Art Gallery

Here follows a thread of 24 carat bangers from our grate frend @anarchoshanties.bsky.social - many I know and love, some I am not yet familiar with, but I’m just off to rectify that:

This, from the Quakers, is a pretty good example of how to resist pressure from bigot lobbying groups. Effectively “we legally can allow trans people to use the loo, we morally should, and we tried it and nothing bad happened”

'Immigration doesn't bother me but it seems to bother everyone else' – Everyone. This is what happens when the media runs away with Hard Right narratives.

The Lackfield family of Blackley, Manchester, set off on a day trip in the rain, August 1942 (Daily Express/SSPL/Getty).

Possible causes of your problems. It’s a diagram that (sadly) still seems relevant in 2025, so reposting a year and a bit on.

🎶 “Community service? I do it with ease Suspended sentence? Oh Your Honour, yes please Before you know it, I’ll be down the deep freeze Nicking cod from the freezers in Iceland” 🎶 (RIP Garry)

Now that’s what I call a Popular Front…

NEED

331) Oddsockbot. Patrols the house, inhaling any odd socks it finds. When you later turn up an odd sock of your own, just open the hatch to retrieve its mate. #SmallRobotsRemastered

BREAKING: One of the most important and prominent reporters on the ground in Gaza has been Anas Al Sharif. He - and several other Al Jazeera journalists - have just been assassinated by Israelis forces whilst in their press tent in central Gaza. Speechless.

But I, despite expert advice, Keep doing things I think are nice

Well, that’ll get confusing…it’s like choosing “Berwick Green” as one of your Desert Island Discs…

29. Birdwatching is a great hobby and you can do it anywhere.

Chris Osuh for @theguardian.com explores the links between the Exchange and slavery: www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ju... It’s a shame they’ve used stock photos of the building - it’s currently a riot of colour with the flags of African and Caribbean nations…only a few more days to see ‘Liberation’!

Not lying about the age verification thing in the alt text - I can guarantee a whole load of people involuntarily started singing the theme tune to this street art

[Googles] Rites for exorcism Windows 11 Common Worship 64 bit version

…and familiar to many from the works of @rosemarysutcliff.bsky.social

I don't believe anyone should have to be brave to ride a bicycle.

Who would *you* have host Masterchef?

Doing my camp admin in a cool kitchen with this as the perfect soothing soundtrack - #NowPlaying: Talk To Me Of Mendocino, Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan, m.youtube.com/watch?v=NpAy...

TBF I don’t usually wait for all else to fail…

And the Universal Credit bill has passed. Some of the sickest people in the country will suffer needlessly more now. There is no justification, no excuse. Just ugly, cruel choices by ministers too cowardly to tax the wealthy rather than cut the poor. A shameful day for Starmer’s Labour.

40 years ago tonight in Auckland, New Zealand (July 10, local time), French secret agents—in an elaborate covert operation codenamed Satanique—used two limpet mines to sink the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior before it could return to Mururoa Atoll to protest French nuclear testing there.

But…”load of Pollocks” was RIGHT THERE

Lucky enough to spot one of our local #BarnOwl family hunting over the Ees this evening

Another lovely afternoon singing with the Manchester Sacred Harp in the beautiful surroundings (and acoustics) of the Whitworth Gallery’s Grand Hall. We’re here the first Sunday of the month, from 2:00 to 4:30.

I didn’t know this anniversary was today, and yet I had a dream last night featuring both the Mallard, and the A4 loco that bears Gresley’s name…

I do think I should be paying a bit more in tax, actually. I mean, obviously nobody likes to see their pay packet shrink a bit, but I could afford to (unlike people losing their PIP), and - well, look at the state of the country. I don’t *like* living somewhere where things are visibly falling apart

Also, I may have said this before, but mass communal singing is one of the most incredible, odd, brilliant things that humans do.

Incredible night out at @rxtheatre.bsky.social on Friday for the first performance of ‘Liberation’: Monique Touko directs Zodwa Nyoni’s story of the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester. Press night isn’t until Tuesday, so you’ll just have to take my word for it until then…

Kingdom: food Phylum: frozen food Order: ice cream Family: ice cream on a stick Genus: magnum Species: mint magnum

In 2003, anti-war activists broke into RAF Fairford to stop US bombers heading to Iraq. Keir Starmer defended their actions and said it was justified to prevent war crimes. Now his government is banning Palestine Action for doing the same. The Prime Minister is a hypocrite.

What a great drawing: "Ten messages for a man who thinks children should stay off the roads and stick to the park." @davewalker.bsky.social drew this. I like it.

I grew up about 200 yards from this bridge, and can confidently say (a) this is the most Mill Road thing that has ever happened, (b) more horses on Mill Road would improve it still further, and (c) somewhere my dad and Allan Brigham are watching from a cloud and absolutely pissing themselves.

He's not driving and polluting so it is working then👍 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Allowing assisted dying while savagely cutting PIP is telling disabled people they're allowed to die with dignity but not to live with dignity

I have a great fondness for Bilbao, the city from which my partner’s family fled to England in 1937 - I defy you to find a more impressive bit railway decoration anywhere:

For reasons of domestic efficiency, my alarm is set for 06.55, so I wake to the reassuring sound of Bach Before 7, much as a submarine commander surfaces and checks the Greenwich Time Signal to verify civilisation hasn’t been wiped out overnight. The SJP this morning was an absolute joy:

According to Plant-lore.com, the fritillary goes by a variety of names, including the snake's-head lily, leper's bell, frawcups, and Oaksey lilies.

Up and out despite the rain to join a community cycle ride to #LoveTheLanes - almost 100 riders making the best use of our local infrastructure

Ack! No, outlook, I do not want AI “coaching” on how to write emails. In the immortal words of Douglas Adams, go stick your head in a pig.

A spot of baking with the boy this afternoon - banana bread with the best political pedigree: the 1985 ILEA cookbook, an incredible compendium of multicultural recipes from school dining halls and home economics departments across London (submitted for the approval of @lccmunicipal.bsky.social)

This has made me think back to one of my best summer jobs in the library service years ago, including several very enjoyable days on a peripatetic bibliotheque. Sea views. The borrowers at each stop who would let you fill the kettle and use their loo. Being dropped back home in the van after work…

American nurse Salaria Kea was rejected as a flood relief volunteer in the US MidWest in 1936 because she was black. Not an issue in Republican Spain. Here she is working at Villa Paz. IB Hospital, Saelices SE of Madrid, where she was head nurse over 5 white American nurs

This is going to sound incredibly earnest and preachy but fuck it. Support creative people. Buy their stuff. Share it on here. Music, art, words, whatever. Things made by humans for humans.

Every time I look at this I think about how awkward it would be, like *deep sigh, picks up semaphore flags* I AM GOING TO THE SHOP DO U WANT ANYTHING