Somehow things that would have been a background gag in a Verhoeven movie are now just real
Somewhat disgusting to hear Nick Robinson on Today talk about "trans rights" versus "women's right to safe spaces". That ain't it Nick
A terrible day for trans people in Britain and a shameful one for the EHRC and government
Equality and Human Rights Commission@equalityhumanright.bsky.social · 13h agoOur code of practice for services, public functions and associations comes into force today. It provides practical guidance on how the Equality Act 2010 applies to services, public functions and associations. Find out more: https://ow.ly/alIf50Zwrkx
Apologies: I’m not online much, I haven't paid any attention to Rod Liddle for a long time, I didn't really know his extremes. I do now: I wouldn’t have posted if I'd known. I’ve seen death of difficult people up close (and its impact on others): that’s the only reason it was on my mind as an issue.
No mention of anti-Muslim hatred. This isn't mere whataboutery - if the argument is former neo-Nazis should be selected having renounced their antisemitic views, it'd be stronger if it mentioned a form of hate that is as prevalent and dangerous. conservativehome.com/2026/08/05/j...
Joshua Bonehill-Paine: Britain is failing its Jews. I know where this hatred leads | Conservative Home
The Government, police, universities and political parties must stop treating this as a passing controversy. Those who threaten Jews or attack Jewish institutions must face serious consequences, and t...
conservativehome.com
This is what happens when anti-racism norms erode, and elites bear a lot of the responsibility for norm erosion, as they have disproportionate power to set and enforce norms
Charles EP Murphy@cepmurphy.bsky.social · 2d agonews.sky.com/story/nhs-st... stereotypically this has been seen as Old People, but not only would the old people of now have often been born post-Windrush, lot of this will be younger people who've always lived in a diverse Britain. The guy with a pregnant wife likely millennial at oldest
Reminder that the Tories believe any non-British person who commits more than a minor parking or traffic offence should be automatically deported. They “believe in second chances”, apparently, but only for literal Nazis.
Kemi Badenoch defends selection of man jailed for harassing Jewish MP in council election – as it happened
Conservative leader tells press she stands by decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a candidate for local election in Somerset
theguardian.com
A narrow win means the nominee doesnt go into the general election cocky and recognizes that theyll need their primary opponents supporters to win, which is ultimately for the best
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 17h agoEl-Sayed: There is so much more that unites us, however much we might disagree with our democratic opponent, there is so much more that unites us than divides us. And so to all of our supporters here tonight watching on TV—tomorrow, we begin to mend fences.
"Archaeologists have uncovered the full floor of Lithuania’s historic Great Synagogue, revealing treasures nearly erased by Nazi and Soviet occupations." www.jta.org/2026/08/04/g...
Archaeologists uncover treasures of Vilnius' Great Synagogue as Lithuanian Jews dispute its future - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Plans for the recovered ruins have sparked a debate over what should be built on the site, and who gets to decide.
jta.org
Absolutely crackers, extremely self serving as a defence as there is absolutely no chance she'd extend this same benefit of the doubt elsewhere, which becomes obvious in the, factually incorrect, statement on early release she can't resist tagging on at the end.
Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 2d agoKemi Badenoch certainly seems to be advancing with her agenda to turn the Conservatives into Reform.
Republicans senators are as useless as the Musashi and Yamato
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterdayTillis admits Trump is weaponizing the DOJ during his speech announcing he'll vote for Todd Blanche: "Maybe it's a little bit more intense in this administration than the last one ... I'm going to support Mr Blanche's nomination"
this is an interesting interview and if i were clipping it for social media i would have excerpted "We're still a place where we don't downrank links. We love sending traffic to people. We send two million clicks a day to publishers" rather than the part that'll just piss people off lol
The Verge@theverge.com · 2d agoBluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."
i'm a subscriber to the verge but i think the written excerpt posted here is a little unfair here. "we have an open protocol we want anyone to be able to build on" isn't really the same as saying "we want nazis on here". most of his response is actually about their work on live events like sports
DSA-aligned Democrats are now the most pro-free-trade voting bloc in the United States, in an incredible turn of events www.theargumentmag.com/p/who-suppor...
It should, actually. The fact that you are in law and think that Amnesty shouldn't be able to say this says much about the state of English law, especially on "protected beliefs"!
Barbara Rich@barbararich.bsky.social · 4d agoI don’t think the Charity Commission would let Amnesty International UK get away with describing any other charity organised around beliefs which are protected in English law as “anti-rights”, nor should it do so.
2. There *is* an important point here about context! The rise in racism against NHS staff is driven in large part by the simultaneous sharp growth in both non-white NHS staff *and* the growth in explicitly xenophobic/anti-immigrant rhetoric in UK politics. A point worth making!
Appending some further thoughts on this (1/3) 1. Robinson wasn't trying to justify racist behaviour. It's just a sort of knee-jerk cringe/search for "balance"/"context", which ends up doing the opposite...
"There's a real thing going on in the composition of the staff...does that not have to be looked at as well?" Nick Robinson, on Today, discussing this news.sky.com/story/nhs-st...
Patients refusing to be treated by non-white staff as NHS reports shocking rise in racism
Paul Awah, a Bedfordshire-based diagnostic radiographer originally from Nigeria, said: "It's definitely got worse – people are more expressive."
news.sky.com
bring back shame www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
How Can We Live Together?
Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.
bostonreview.net
A.R. Moxon@juliusgoat.bsky.social · yesterdayEverywhere should be a hostile place for Republicans. They should not be able to find a friend anywhere. They should lose all their professional and familial relationships. They should be blocked from signing up to social media platforms, clubs, and yard sales. They should be ejected from fairs.
Actually, we can easily do military socialism, with enough explosives to blast every tyrant into another dimension. There just isn't enough political will to do so.
Terminally von der Leyen@ciaran.operationglad.io · yesterday"we should build an army by creating a society no one would want to defend"
saying this not as a dig to Paul but as a general point, but it does worry me that we've ended up in a world where the two options are seemingly "leftist bubble" or "oh hey the nazis are here" - surely we should be able to have a politically heterogenous platform with tight rules on hate speech etc?
Paul Bernal@paulbernal.bsky.social · 2d agoThe new CEO of Bluesky wants to change Bluesky from being a leftist bubble. The thing is, there’s nothing wrong with being a leftist bubble: the idea that everything has to be all-encompassing and suitable for everyone is a trap. 🧵 1/4
You'd have to read to the thirteenth paragraph to discover the pull quote for the title was from Marcus Siding, a 23-year-old Swedish man living in Sweden that wanted to become a cop, but his ADHD diagnosis at the age of 12 barred him by law from becoming a Swedish cop Seems relevant
Not a big fan of the "sick, elderly and/or disabled people don't count" discourse that appears to follow public health disasters these days.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2d agoBreaking News: Two deaths in Michigan have been linked to cyclospora. Both people who had the parasite also had underlying health issues.
Rod Liddle was a piece of shit in both his private and public life, and it speaks to the state of British media that they're praising the man. He presaged the steep downward decline of British broadsheet print columnists into increasingly open racism, misogyny, and hatred of queer people.
Wrote about the deafening silence on our summer of climate impacts from Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, business leaders, and even some campaign groups. The dominant climate discourse from the past week has been from those who want to ditch net zero targets and trash decarbonisation policies.
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 2d agoWe are in the third drought in five years. We have the National Trust and NFU - those radical types - sounding the alarm on unprecedented temperatures. But so little from any single figure in politics talking about the climate crisis.
Excited that @miattafahnbulleh.bsky.social and @andyburnham.bsky.social are creating 5,000 good jobs with the National Grid. Two reasons this will make life affordable (in next post).
It’s a low bar but I am delighted to see this. The UK has had four widespread instances of extreme heat this year. The national May temperature record was broken at 35.1°C in West London, and June bringing temperatures above 37°C in East Anglia.
We are in the third drought in five years. We have the National Trust and NFU - those radical types - sounding the alarm on unprecedented temperatures. But so little from any single figure in politics talking about the climate crisis.
Find funding and save Jodrell Bank, stars say. 🔭 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Find funding and save Jodrell Bank Observatory, stars say
Astronaut Tim Peake, guitarist Johnny Marr and 150 other public figures have signed an open letter.
bbc.co.uk