RE: https://aus.social/@andyjennings/115578623147362476 Interesting article here. I can see some of my own evolution of behaviour over the last few years in this as well.

Income from work and benefits too often falls far short of what's needed to live with dignity. 🏘️ Many families are also being hit hard by the two-child limit, trapping hundreds of thousands of children in poverty. The government must take action at the Budget next week. @chrisbelfield.bsky.social

I was already done wit the shrivelled husk that still calls itself the #labour Manifesto and will be voting #green in future — a party that actually stands for something. But if I'd not yet given up on them, yesterday's vile anti-refugee rhetoric would have put the lid on it. The UK has not had […]

Does anyone know of an #opera club in English or German? I'm looking for my mother. Opera is her rock and roll. She dreams of opera. She understands major events in her life through opera. She is 96 but in full possession of her faculties and would love to listen in on or take part in […]

So Labour has just kicked reform of the House of Lords into the long grass again. Interesting fact that the Chinese Parliament can be seen as being more democratic than the HoL. Also that every nominally Scottish member of the HoLs is a Unionist and very few actually live in Scotland. So yes […]

Interesting place in #copenhagen. Bastards Cafe. Thousands of board games. People reserve tables and play for hours. Not my thing, but looks nice if into board games. #boardgames

Lazy Sunday morning with tea in bed. Also displayed is our solution to having chocolate biscuits (when you live with a teenager who will demolish an entire packet of normal ones - plain Digestives appear to be safe from his biscuit radar!)

Just doing a bit of googling research to see who might be seen as competitors to my wife's fabric business. Found "Just Fabrics' which sells lots of (related) things beyond fabric such as sewing machines, haberdashery items, homewares etc. They certainly do not sell not "just" fabrics!

One of the revelations about moving to Scotland in 2013 was businesses that trusted customers. Such as the garage we now use. A family own and run business that still operate on an account basis rather than holding the car keys ransom until you settle the bill. They are also a brilliant garage […]

Tempting new book for those interested in Art Deco and Scottish architecture. https://stor.scot/collections/new-in/products/art-deco-scotland-design-and-architecture-in-the-jazz-age

Time for the occasional reminder about one of the most delightfully useful little sites on the Web, myNoise: https://mynoise.net It's a no-spyware, no-ads background-sound generator, done Just Right. The sounds are generated in your browser window, so it needs relatively little bandwidth. Each […]

Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design. news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

Kathi & I are running ceilidh dancing sessions for the next four Saturdays at Cranshaws village hall in Berwickshire, 18.30 - 20:00. All welcome! #Ceilidh #Dancing #FolkDancing #berwickshire

Here is DunsPlayFest's youngest playwright and trustee in conversation with this year's winner of the Hugo Burge Award. #DunsPlayFest #theatre #emergingArtists #newwriting#emergingartists#theatre#dunsplayfestttps://youtu.be/WspWq7xlP0o

Heartedly recommended the series of pocket-sized walk books from Pocket Mountains, a small business just outside Moffat in Dumfries. #Walking #hiking #hillwalking#hiking#walkinghttps://pocketmountains.com/

The men who raised the flags https://manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-raised-the-flags/ Farage says this summer’s movement was led by ‘ordinary people’ expressing their patriotism. That’s not what we found. Wherever we looked for the prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found […]

Just found and used this free online hearing assessment test provided by the RNID. Result is the advice to get a full hearing assessment done as I show signs of hearing loss (something that my family has been telling me for a while...) #RNIB #HearingLoss #HealthCheck #pardon#healthcheck#hearingloss…]

Edinburgh e-bike component manufacturer, Intradrive, are hiring. They are looking for a junior to mid-level engineer with a hands-on approach and a passion for bikes and electronics. Find out more about Intradrive on their website www.intradrive.co.uk

I'm currently ill and bored with not having the energy to do what I should be doing. Result is that I'm finding amusement I don't usually have time for. This "I'm a Barbie girl" played in the style of six composers was quite diverting. https://youtu.be/WRfsibwR5x4?

Just listened to Skotia Media's interview of Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana. Refreshing to hear that they are open-minded about Scottish Independence, but saddened that she misrepresented policy positions of the Scottish Greens. Overall, I'm afraid that the interview rather reminded me of […]

Eminently sensible idea here to tackle the blight caused by land banking - businesses buying up land or buildings to jest let it fester. https://greens.scot/news/were-taking-on-rich-land-hoarders

So I live on a #boat now and everything gets organised through one Meta product or another - seemingly mostly Facebook and WhatsApp. I have grudgingly joined some WhatsApp groups, but I refuse to book face. So I’m trying some hashtags. Is #fediboat is a thing or maybe #boatstodon? #boatlife? […]

Anyone found an effective way of searching for suppliers and manufacturers based in Scotland? When buying online I'd like to support the economy more local to me if possible.

Do a bad job for the Fascists.

Firebrand premièred this new radio play at this year's DunsPlayFest. Presented on stage as a radio play it was remarkably spell binding. Great to see them touring it. #newWriting #DunsPlayFest #Hawick #Theatre #RadioPlay #firebrand

Joint pain or osteoarthritis? Why exercise should be your first line of treatment https://theconversation.com/joint-pain-or-osteoarthritis-why-exercise-should-be-your-first-line-of-treatment-260638 Stiff knees, aching hips and the slow grind of chronic joint pain are often accepted as an […]

Firebrand premièred this new radio play at this year's DunsPlayFest. Presented on stage as a radio play it was remarkably spell binding. Great to see them touring it. #newWriting #DunsPlayFest #Hawick #Theatre #RadioPlay #firebrand

For those who don’t seem to quite get it yet. 🆘🇺🇸

Looks like Putin's attempt to bully Moldova has failed. With 90% of votes counted, the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has a 20 point lead over the Russian-funded Patriotic Bloc open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...

A new, independent source of news launches tomorrow. “We are a group of former Guardian and Observer journalists who think our turbulent times call for a different kind of media title: courageous, independent, diverse and built around a community of readers and journalists. “Our beat will be […]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1825/sep/24/transport.uk I love that info on the top: THIS ARTICLE IS MORE THAN 200 YEARS OLD :) #Railway200 #railway #trains #media

Shot from one of the new plays that premiered at this year's DunsPlayFest. Ollipops a dark comedy written & directed by Eilidh Macdonald, which went on to a successful run at the Fringe. #ScottishTheatre #emergingArtists #newWriting #theatre #dunsplayfest

The Stockton & Darlington Railway is 200 this week. Here is an overview of its significance written by yous truly... #Rail200 #Railway #history #sdr#history#railway#rail200ttps://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/research/a-brief-overview-of-the-stockton-and-darlington-railway/

Shot from one of the new plays that premiered at this year's DunsPlayFest. Ollipops a dark comedy written & directed by Eilidh Macdonald, which went on to a successful run at the Fringe. #ScottishTheatre #emergingArtists #newWriting #theatre #dunsplayfest

Special edition Railway themed magazine showcasing Historic England research has just landed, including a couple of articles by me. #RailwayHistory #Railway200 #Rail200 #Railway #history#railway#rail200#railway200#railwayhistorytps://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/historic-england-research-29/

I'm going to introduce a new to me concept: #enfascisisation, to rhyme, rather bitterly, with @pluralistic's #enshittification. Enfascisisation is the process of making a society more vulnerable to #fascism#enshittification#enfascisisationespecially by spreading the belief that the triumph of fascism is inevitable. Thus when […]

Our high school in Duns has an excellent music department. One of the things they do is to host a different top-rated brass band every year for a concert, giving youngsters (from S1-S6) the chance of playing alongside some of the pieces and giving senior […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Scarborough beach getting some banksy inspired sand art. By Fred Brown.

“I might be the only person who has been to every Edinburgh Festival since it began in 1947 but I think the true spirit of the festival now resides… in Duns... DunsPlayFest is all about love.” Said by Richard Demarco,, patron of DunsPlayFest in 2024. Photo is […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

This was one of the home-grown new plays at this year's DunsPlayFest 'Doom and Dread'. A young woman's battle with negative male-expressed thoughts of doom & dread. Amusingly written and brilliantly acted. #DunsPlayFest #NewWriting #Theatre #ScottishBorders

@waldo.net Nuclear waste disposal not withstanding, the reason I think it makes no sense to build nuclear power plants is that wind & solar with batteries can be deployed at scale in a fraction of the time at lower cost (that's still decreasing) with far lower maintenance costs. There's no […]

Have a look at North Yell, Shetland. A small community that owns its own wind farm and are now ploughing the profits into supporting and developing their small community which is thriving. They are now starting to explore the idea of tunnels to replace ferrys. https://www.northyell.co.uk […]

Interesting video here of a police officer assuring a chap with a sign in his window that has been the cause of hundreds of arrests when displayed in public is perfectly fine because it is on private property and thus falls outside the scope of the Terrorism Act... #defendourjuries […]

Explain!! 😻😆 OK! Here it is: The Japanese text (ネコ飛出し注意) translates to “Watch out for jumping cats” or more literally “Caution: Cats dashing out”. It’s a local road sign sometimes put up in Japanese neighborhoods where there are many stray or outdoor cats […] [Original post on mastodon.online]

A blog post by the chair of Duns Playfest, a brilliant 9 day festival of new theatrical writing every May in Berwickshire. #DunsPlayFest #Duns #NewWriting #Theatre #CommunityTheatre #ScottishBorders#communitytheatre#theatre#newwriting#duns#dunsplayfestps://www.dunsplayfest.org.uk/post/dunsplayfest-at-the-heart-of-the-community

Scots, as a language, is rich in insults; and an ancient one is 'toom (empty) tabard' for a worthless person -- an epithet most notably applied to John de Balliol, who served as King of Scots during the middle period of the wars of independence. It's interesting to see Grauniad cartoonist Ben […]

“I was kidnapped. The conditions are inhumane. Packed like sardines. A man dropped dead and they just moved us aside… It’s not just criminals. I had all my papers in order. They’re just looking for numbers.” Watch. Share.

"Britain is not just complicit in #Israel’s breaches of humanitarian law in Gaza but a participant that has repeatedly ignored its legal obligation to prevent a genocide, witnesses have told the independent Gaza tribunal. The two-day tribunal in London... is seeking to amass evidence of […]