In a surprise to absolutely no one, the mum she’s describing is not claiming benefits as a “lifestyle choice”. This paywalled article is full of “in my grandparents day, blah blah blah” and nasty sneery comments about latest iPhones for spoilt children🙄 🧵 1/9

BREAKING: Employee who demand a trans-exclusive toilet policy loses employment tribunal. All claims, direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and 1992 Regs, dismissed. Judgment: www.gov.uk/employment-t...

Contact us if you have been affected by the policy changes of Girl Guiding or the Women's Institute. This could be as an individual, or because you lead a local Brownie group who don't want this policy change. We want to help protect trans inclusion. goodlawproject.org/about/contact/

Glued on the final googly eye & was feeling very smug for having finished these with nearly 3 weeks to go, when I realised that since starting them, another student has joined the class, so I'm one short. Crochet yarn out again!

Reform UK went into Durham Council promising to find huge savings. They have managed to GROW the authority's deficit by over £11m *in the last two months*. Grimes recommends “serious consideration” to increasing council tax “by the maximum 5%.” ~AA northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...

No that's not *your* on *our behalf*. Your job is to report the story, presenting all sides fairly and then *we* call it. What Mason is saying here is fundamentally not what the bbc is for! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Create the narrative, be affronted by the narrative, then denounce the narrative - the circular firing squad nature of journalism now.

This sounds like modern slavery to me. I've clients who've been recognised as victims with similar facts. People in authority shouldn't be afraid to make this connection and it will push back on the government's narrative that these people are somehow scamming the system.

Labour isn't opening safe routes as Mahmood claims. Those laid out effectively already exist, and her proposals limit them more than they currently are. What Labour has done though is close and curtail what safe routes there actually are for refugees. #r4today www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Wild how people like this, just like russians, still can’t comprehend that the Revolution of Dignity wasn’t staged. It was Ukrainians choosing freedom over fear. Imperialists and small minds always assume someone else must be pulling the strings, because they’ve never seen a nation with a spine.

As we get ready to ring in a new year, I brought together 25 special books highlighting celebrations from around the world. In this interactive choice board, you can click on each book cover to find the book in @follettcontent.bsky.social Titlewave. buff.ly/UUeA7HO #TLSky #EduSky #tlchat #books

Pressure is mounting on Hegseth over his order to murder victims at sea.

🧵The National are reporting on the terrifying American interference in women’s rights and the huge amounts of American money funding this “ADF International received more than £1 million in US funding in 2024, representing a nearly 300% increase in two years…

“Specifically, it received £1,119,975 from its US parent entity Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), according to Companies House”. Also Southern Poverty Law Centre designate then a homophobic hate group who go after LGBTQ+ people

So disrespectful to the cast & to other audience members. Those professionals onstage have trained for years, rehearsed for weeks & give it their all night after night. And for a lot of people a West End show will be a rare, expensive treat. Go & see a singalong but don't spoil it for everyone else!

Remember when Amazon held a sale during Independent Bookstore Day in an effort to undercut indie bookstores? We didn’t forget. Support local bookstores during Small Business Saturday and beyond.

“Speaking outside his chateau in France…” I kid you not. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Emma Monk has had her calculator out again. Great job!

70% of the additional spending from removing the two-child limit will go to families who are in work. This is targeting support for low-income working households who are being priced out of a decent standard of living despite doing everything asked of them.

Lady on #BBCQT says that we need to build houses, not flats because houses are homes you can grow into. Having lived overseas for 34 years, 29 of those in flats, I disagree and suspect that this might be one of the reasons countries like France build more homes than we do.

Last chance to get a signed copy of Stepfather Christmas before the Advent countdown starts on Monday! www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4...

The number of British citizens emigrating hasn’t increased, btw. Outward migration is up, but the increase is mostly non-EU migrants leaving the UK. The methodology counting emigration of British citizens changed in 2021, which increased the number, and it’s been pretty much flat ever since…

🚨The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 65,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 70,000 tonight. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...

Matt: we need measures to improve fertility - it's one of our biggest problems! Also Matt: No not like that. I meant white people only.

6.45 and this one's still sound asleep.

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way” Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school @itvnewspolitics.bsky.social

This is not a drill! A new Mortal Engines book by @philipreeve.bsky.social is coming out in *three months*, A Bridge of Storms! One of my favorite book series -- instant pre-order! And check out the stunning cover by @ianmcque.bsky.social. bookshop.org/p/books/brid...

Nothing makes a fabulous stocking stuffer like a highly-illustrated Adventuremice book... or a big ribbon around the whole series! My co-author & I recently launched book 7; it's backed up with lots of fun, free activities at Adventuremice.com! @philipreeve.bsky.social @dfbstoryhouse.bsky.social

Video shot by astronaut Zena Cardman, commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, shows a stunning display of the Northern Lights as seen from the International Space Station.

Tusk slips the knife in right at the end.

Moscow's guilty men in the White House are trying to destroy Ukraine and weaken Europe. open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...

Farage is the man that brought us Brexit - his xenophobia appears un quenched - this is his impact now on the NHS, 25% of all nurses may leave - and nurses are almost 25% of the NHS btw - this would be a huge blow. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

#BBLauraK I wish Laura would stop asking Heidi Alexander if she's bought an EV yet. It's not green to buy a new car if your old one is still in good nick.

Durham will scrap full council-tax rebates, forcing 26,000 low-income working-age residents to start paying for the first time | Peter Morris

Hello lovely bluesky #kidlituk if you have read and enjoyed Murder at Christmas, please could you give it a decent score on the river site. Currently struggling against a 2 * review, cos my books are written in present tense. 🤔

Would be great to spread this far and wide so we make as much money as possible in COLCHESTER tomorrow

So in summary, one person complained that the policy allows trans people to attend a female-only pool session, and one complained that someone who may, or may not, be trans used facilities. Clearly something must be done to prevent this rampant misuse of facilities by the hordes of trans people! /s

Trump feuding with Marjorie Taylor Greene but being in love with Zohran Mamdani was not on my November 2025 bingo card

I’m calling on the UK Government to seriously review its presence on X (formerly Twitter) and then leave. It’s not just a communication channel anymore. Read more: www.politicshome.com/news/article... 1/10

Hari Kumar, Ultimate Superstar is in The Bookseller’s list of 10 Titles Not to Miss in February 2026! 🎉 The new Editor’s Choices. So happy! Art by Mamta Singh.

He just tweeted it out

It’s not a “US plan”, it’s Moscow’s plan, dictated to guilty men in the White House. Setting aside the injustices being pushed on Ukraine, this would be a disaster for European security & guarantee a war with 🇷🇺 in a few years, in which, presumably, 🇺🇸 and 🇷🇺 are on the same side. on.ft.com/3LYajoR

7/Portland has reclaimed the frog as a symbol of its resistance to Trump’s efforts to militarize the city. Perhaps women should claim the glamorous, sassy Muppet Miss Piggy, a known diva with a fierce karate chop, as their own symbol

Whoa, this is wild. Either Thune played Johnson or Johnson tried to play us and failed. Either way, Johnson looks like a fool and Trump has lost his grip on Congress. @lawrenceodonnelljr.bsky.social just blew it open 🔥

Legend!

Please note BBC. @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social

There is no evidence that stripping refugees' rights one by one will have any impact on people crossing the channel. Taking jewellery from refugees is akin to painting over murals for refugee children. These repugnant ‘deterrents’ did not work for the Tories, and they won't work for us.

Just wilful performative cruelty that is entirely out of step with the majority of British people. How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?