Nicole Sykes
@nicolesykes.bsky.social
Charities, charts, cats. Director of Strategy, Impact and Innovation at Lloyds Bank Foundation. She/her🏳️🌈
Topics of essays/blogs I have written in my head in the middle of the night while feeding a baby: - The maternity leave research vacuum - The life changing joy of community as a solo mother - The icy shock of post-natal care - Amos barely scratched the surface Words I have written:
The Answer Is Zero!
Alt: The Answer Is Zero!
static.klipy.com
Presumably there’s a Bug BlueSky that wants to tell me what these are and whether I should be worried that there are a million of them in my garden 🌱?
Love how this dude discovered the cheat codes of "what if I listened to constituents" and "what if I modeled good behavior" and "maybe I behave like a normal person should." These are apparently dark secrets that have been hidden from other politicians.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 2mo agoI'm listening, I'm learning. Safety first, NYC.
My son has never known the touch of rain on his skin. Never had the smell of petrichor explained to him. Never had a chance to have “it’s raining, it’s pouring” sung to him. Not once in his entire life. He’s three days old mind. www.bbc.co.uk/weather/arti...
Summer 2026 on course to be hottest on record, says Met Office
Only average conditions are needed for the remainder of August to break the record, which was set just last year.
bbc.co.uk
Great and great-great grandparents 100 years ago but... Working in a mill in Yorkshire, a textile factory in Ireland, or raising the ten children of a Dutch priest.
Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 2mo agoEnough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?
Seen a few people saying rough sleeping policy isn’t aimed at median public concern. Quite apart from any policy/moral imperative it really is - rough sleeping comes up time again in focus groups as one of the most visible signs of Broken Britain and community decline!
Excellent research today from @jrf-uk.bsky.social shows how PM's promise to reduce welfare spending by tackling drivers can work: - Every 100,000 extra people in work reduces UC spend by £700m/year. - Hit 80% employment rate target & reduce UC spend by £10bn/year www.jrf.org.uk/social-secur...
How to reduce pressure on welfare spend in a popular and lasting way
The new prime minister wants to reduce social security spend by tackling underlying causes of need, not with blunt cuts. This would be popular and effective.
jrf.org.uk
Completely missed that Burnham stopped off at homelessness charity The Passage this morning. That’s a bigger choice than whether or not to use a lectern IMO.
If I were viewing the Odyssey in the cinema, and trying to work out at what point to nip out for a strategic loo break, I would stand up about 90 seconds after Circe says her name. That’s your top tip for the day.
Are they going to keep the signs up anyway? Because local kids have been writing cute 'The GOAT!' messages on them, and it's quite lovely. southwarknews.co.uk/news/communi...
South London station renamed ‘Jude Bellingham’ to keep new name after England win
A station in Catford temporarily renamed 'Jude Bellingham' will keep its new name after England's win against Mexico, writes Alex
southwarknews.co.uk
Every time I read a story about gynecology it's always something like "doctors discovered women could experience pain in 1989 but decided not to act on this knowledge for 20 years"
19thnews@19thnews.org · 3mo agoTrials found that Carevix — a portmanteau of “care” and “cervix" — reduced pain during IUD insertion by up to 73 percent and bleeding by 78 percent, compared to the tenaculum.
This is the kind of fearmongering that gets pushed at new and expecting mums online. This is advertising a £70 cooling pad from what’s almost certainly a scam website.
Why it matters that @andyburnham.bsky.social is an English Lit graduate. Thoughtful piece from @tanjilrashid.bsky.social magazine.newstatesman.com/2026/07/01/a...
Do we know who we are? Ian McKellen reads James Graham's love letter to England www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
‘Hello, I’d like to talk about neighbourhood governance.’ ‘Great, are those NHS neighbourhoods, police neighbourhoods, local government neighbourhoods or Pride in Place neighbourhoods?’
Lots to think about here. First I'll admit it's always a relief with these articles to get to the bottom without finding a quote from someone at UCL or wherever.
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 4mo agoHartlepool has had the most regeneration funding per head of anywhere in England. But the response from residents, still struggling with the cost of living, can feel muted. Read more: ft.trib.al/t7R6cMm
The basic problem with a lot of MPs' video clips is that they're mimicking news pieces-to-camera. Start walking, say stats. One reason the better ones work, & why Mamdani's are brilliant, is that they don't do that. They have a visual conceit or a gag or a twist. (Just like the best news clips.)
The great thing about these room thermometers they’ve made it feel essential for new parents to buy is that the colour scheme really helps you feel more calm and able to prevent your newborn from dying of overheating. So empowering. So non-threatening. 😶
Drafting a polite letter to the storm inviting it over to South East London, where it’s welcome to deposit some rain also.
David Ogden 🇬🇧🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️@daveosw16.bsky.social · 4mo agoI guess not many are sleeping tonight in NW London and Harrow in Middlesex as a line of intense thunderstorms march slowly East towards the Thames Estuary. Stay safe!
You can prepare all you like for the heatwave, but some members of the household will still be completely furious about it.
Always grateful for proper research to confirm a hunch but you would expect that if you think less you would get worse at thinking
Michael Nabert@sustainablesong.bsky.social · 4mo agoResearch confirms that the more skilled professionals like doctors and software engineers rely on AI, the more their skills degrade. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The first question school children asked Martin Lewis at the National Money Assembly was ‘does money make you happy’. The assembly was filmed at St Charles 6th form college London and live streamed to over 300 schools and sixth forms by @youngenterprise.bsky.social
Got to love British election declarations. A Prime Minister-in-waiting launching his bid for the leadership of the country from between a man with a bin on his head and a man in a fox costume.
Nevermind the Germans having a word for everything. This is lovely.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 4mo agoDutch children are unusually happy and healthy. Is it because of the Avondvierdaagse?
A policy billed as banning social media for under-16s in practice means requiring ID for all over-16s to use social media.
Parents: is YOUR child staying up late at night arguing about the costs of HS2?
David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social · 4mo agoEverything's a conspiracy
If you're gonna pick a group to compensate for their treatment by government why not pick one that did acrually face financial disadvantage without notice, like Plan 2 graduates? As opposed to "some people who had many years' notice but didn't open some letters"
