Another unmissable episode of @empirepoduk.bsky.social

William Dalrymple@willdalrymple.bsky.social · 4h ago

In Episode 1 of this new series, @anitaanand.bsky.social and I are joined by Professor Ronald Hutton, author of Pagan Britain, The Druids, and Blood and Mistletoe, to discuss the ancient spiritual practices of the British Isles. linktr.ee/empirepoduk

But they seemed like such nice, patriotic, community-minded chaps. (Except the ones currently facing murder, child abuse & assault charges, obviously.)

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterday

Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.

Labour cllr quits in Brighton (on today of all days) saying Labour are not transphobic enough! 😮 I had a strong sense Milla was not an ally when I stood against her in 2024. This is 8th B&H Labour resignation this term (and 3rd in Queen's Park ward!) www.brightonandhovenews.org/2026/08/05/l...

Labour councillor quits, saying council is failing kids on trans issues

A Labour councillor has resigned this morning, saying the council is not doing enough to safeguard gender confused children. Councillor

brightonandhovenews.org

It's OK for criminal ex-neo Nazis to run your bins is a hell of a line.

Sharks are now using drones. We are cooked.

Fantastic news out of Harris this morning, where a huge swathe of the isle (as well as numerous others and hundreds of crofts) are set to come under community ownership Story: Locals win £1m to buy 27,000-acre Scottish island estate after 14-year campaign

Locals win £1m to buy 27,000-acre Scottish island estate after 14-year campaign

A HUGE Scottish estate with its own private island is set to be purchased by the local community after a £1 million grant was secured ...

thenational.scot

I guess we’re about to find out how much some media commentators and certain politicians actually care about antisemitism….

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2d ago

Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election

The story here is even more alarming than the headline suggests, not least because this does not seem to be a vetting failure. His local party seems to have selected him in full knowledge that he was a very active neo-Nazi. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Former neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate for Somerset council election

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, creator of satirical Crewkerne Gazette, has convictions including for harassing a Jewish MP

theguardian.com

the onion ass headline

Israeli court halts crocodile transfer to Palestinian prison over animal welfare concerns

LONDON: An Israeli court on Sunday temporarily blocked plans by the national security minister to install crocodile-filled moats around Ketziot Prison, following a legal challenge centered on the rept...

arabnews.com

Glad that our city's brilliant cultural heritage workers have won this dispute, but lessons need to be learned. Brighton & Hove's Labour-run council set up a new trust to run the city's museums, then broke their promise that staff pay and conditions would be protected www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Brighton and Hove Museums staff end contract dispute, unions say

Spokespeople for GMB Union and Unison say Brighton and Hove Museums staff have ended their dispute.

bbc.co.uk

Today university fees rise again, while thousands of academics across the country face job cuts, crushing workloads and shattered morale. Students deserve better than this broken system of unfair repayment that widens inequality. Abolish fees and fund universities properly!

The Pope of Greenwich Village

Christopher Hale@christopherjhale.bsky.social · 5d ago

The godmother of punk Patti Smith met Pope Leo XIV this morning.

First quoting from a very obscure early Bob Dylan song, then meeting Patti Smith! Whatever your views on the Catholic Church, you've gotta love Pope Leo's (counter)cultural taste.

Rich Raho@richraho.bsky.social · 5d ago

Pope Leo received singer and songwriter Patti Smith in private audience this morning. The Pope and Smith are both Chicago natives. She was accompanied by @antoniospadaro.bsky.social, undersecretary for the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education.

As we've been saying: the economy has increasingly shifted away from rewarding Doing Stuff to Owning Stuff, and this has been happening at a steady clip since the Thatcher experiment went boom in 2008. Not really a surprising thing, which is why it's weird when people say it's fine.

Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 6d ago

very interesting from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com - cross-over in graph on left coincides precisely with Global Financial Crisis www.ft.com/content/6a35...

This is so disappointing from Amnesty. Having already taken down their excellent report on UK anti-trans organisations, they have now issued a grovelling apology and taken down their more restrained version too. You can still read the archived full report here: web.archive.org/web/20260709...

Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · 6d ago

Amnesty have issued an apology to JK Rowling and the rest. Adjust your expectations, and donations, accordingly www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/an-ap...

Glad that our city's brilliant cultural heritage workers have won this dispute, but lessons need to be learned. Brighton & Hove's Labour-run council set up a new trust to run the city's museums, then broke their promise that staff pay and conditions would be protected www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Brighton and Hove Museums staff end contract dispute, unions say

Spokespeople for GMB Union and Unison say Brighton and Hove Museums staff have ended their dispute.

bbc.co.uk

Oh wow, I just stumbled across this one. Don’t know how this snuck past me www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mandelson offered to help Epstein get Russian visa, documents suggest

Emails released by the US government suggest the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein planned to use the visa to meet young women in Moscow.

bbc.co.uk

flyingrodent@flyingrodent.bsky.social · 6d ago

and as it turned out, Peter Mandelson was the guy you had to pay if you were British and wanted to set up a business in Moscow. www.theguardian.com/news/2022/ju... Although strangely, there was never a big fuss about that

The sec of state who has seen at least 15000 academics lose their jobs just said this. Out loud. Mercy me. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotion

Exclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities

theguardian.com

Do the police generally warn people not to commit terrorism because they’ll be arrested if they do? And if they don’t, would we say this is different because it’s deeply idiotic, as well as insulting and insanely authoritarian

An underreported part of UK Transphobe Lawfare™ is that when they lose, they just... say they won. For all the regrettable sway they do have in courts/govt etc, their real power is in the press. So if they lose, they just pretend they didn't and their press friends print the lie. It's ubiquitous.

Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · last wk.

Women's Rights Network/Sex Matters took Feile to court to have their event reinstated. It was not reinstated. The two statements released after an agreement was reached give two very different impressions of what happened today in Belfast's High Court.

UCU are not affiliated to the Labour Party (and therefore does not attend women’s conference) but if we were then we would be supporting this stance by our brilliant sister unions. Solidarity to them and the whole trans and non binary community.

Buy this and we will give £20 to the person kicking trans people in the face but don't worry, we're also giving the people being kicked in the face 50p

Shrek@spocksbrian.worstpossible.world · last wk.

Oohhh that is nasty stuff. These people are disgusting

I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10

paradox para = beyond, outside of dokein = to think oxymoron oxys = sharp, keen mōros = foolish Happy Birthday, John Ashbery!

one of the most frustrating things about what Rowling has turned into is how hard it is to explain to offline people that she’s not just another author who has turned out to have shitty views - her entire life and fortune is dedicated to destroying trans people

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · last wk.

Projection so powerful, you could screen the Odyssey in 70MM IMAX from it.

Spring 1960: As they fly from one campaign stop to another, Jackie Kennedy reading Jack Kerouac's 'The Dharma Bums' while JFK is enjoying a bowl of chowder.

Home Office used ‘AI hallucinated’ information to refuse asylum claim, judge suggests

Home Office used ‘AI hallucinated’ information to refuse asylum claim, judge suggests

Upper tribunal unable to find document cited in case and claims it is ‘analogous to relying on bogus evidence’ * UK politics live – latest updates A senior judge has accused the Home Office of relying on “AI hallucinated” information to refuse an asylum claim. The case relates to a Moroccan woman and her child who fled her country after experiencing forced underage marriage and extreme violence, including rape. The woman claimed asylum on the basis of fears that she would be killed by her husband: a powerful, previously convicted criminal. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

So sad to hear what Ecuador has become. I spent nearly a year there in 2001-2. As this article mentions, it was then one of the safest countries in the region. But there's no acknowledgement that this is all a consequence of a counterproductive global 'war on drugs'. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On the front line of Ecuador's drugs war, police fight deadly gangs

The BBC goes on patrol with Ecuador's police, who are grappling with a huge surge in drug crime.

bbc.co.uk

This seems like an incredibly stupid government decision. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

bbc.co.uk

If you are a @theguardian.com reader you wouldn’t know that the largest ever gathering of trans people in history yesterday was protesting against the Burnham government’s transphobic hate-policies. It had an article about making an omelette though.

Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · 2w ago

150,000 marched yesterday in London for trans rights. Opened the Sky News app. Scrolled and scrolled. Nothing. BBC News app. Nothing. Guardian app. Nothing. This is what actual silencing looks like.