I've expanded on my thoughts on how the police get away with failing to root out abuse of women by male officers, yet swiftly ejecting a gender-critical female detective for allegedly making offensive remarks about men in a slightly longer piece, here 👇 comment.press/institutiona...

The BBC increasingly just report on what is being said by the billionaire press. They allow them to set the agenda which means our national conversation becomes about same trivial nonsense the Daily Mail are talking about. And it's becoming deadly. novaramedia.com/2026/08/13/b...

"If you were surprised by people using Meta’s smart glasses to harass and covertly film women on the street, then you quite simply haven’t been paying attention. This kind of tech-enabled abuse is commonplace, and it is predominantly aimed at women." www.irishtimes.com/technology/2...

Women continue to bear the brunt of bad tech decisions

Meta’s smart glasses are just the latest example of technology being used in ways developers should have anticipated

irishtimes.com

"High temperatures have meant London Ambulance Service (LAS) was busier in June than it was during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic." www.bbc.co.uk/news/a...

some Good News from the world of vaccinations 💉 "Around 50% fewer infants under 6 months were admitted to intensive care with RSV disease in England... [demonstrating] the annual impact of the NHS RSV maternal vaccination programme for the first time." www.gov.uk/government/n...

Newborn ICU admissions drop 50% in first full year of RSV maternal vaccine programme

While around 60% of women giving birth every month are vaccinated, UKHSA warns many thousands of babies still at risk.

gov.uk

Oh no, this sounds serious.

Sussex@sussexuk.bsky.social · 3h ago

Live updates as emergency services rush to 'derailed train' #Sussex

I was so grateful to get the RSV vaccine with my second baby, and I’m so happy that they’ve finally added chickenpox to the MMR *and* moved the first vaccine forwards to 12 months. Childhood vaccinations are magical.

Hannah@policyhannah.bsky.social · 7h ago

some Good News from the world of vaccinations 💉 "Around 50% fewer infants under 6 months were admitted to intensive care with RSV disease in England... [demonstrating] the annual impact of the NHS RSV maternal vaccination programme for the first time." www.gov.uk/government/n...

"we haven't struggled to see men" 😆

They'Re Everywhere Agnes

ALT: They'Re Everywhere Agnes

static.klipy.com

🏺A new Wetwangle on the Iron Age. What I find interesting is not just the similarities with Winterbounrne Kingston but the differences - two matrilineal systems of burial but with variations in both organisation and especially manner of burial.

Rachel Pope@prehistorian.bsky.social · 3d ago

MUST READ: The Wetwang aDNA pre-print is out | Ancient DNA reveals matrilineal organisation and recurrent unions between dominant matrilines in Iron Age Britain www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (thank you @radicalanthro.bsky.social)

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Met police incapable of change, says mother of murdered sisters after Simon Levy case

Mina Smallman, whose daughters were killed in north London park in 2020, says force ‘decides who matters’

theguardian.com

Britain's "classless" society... Monarchy is such a worn-out confidence trick: a corrupt institution and an acute embarrassment for our so-called democracy. #Alevels #EndMonarchy #CambridgeUniversity #r4today #bbcnews

Arthur Snell@snellarthur.bsky.social · 12h ago

Good luck to everyone getting their A levels today and remember, if you don’t get the grades you’d hoped for, all is not lost. For example, Prince Edward got a C and 2 Ds and was immediately accepted by Cambridge University.

Olive Craddock “Roshanara” Photo by Jean de Strelecki, Craddock portraying “Bird Dance”, 1918

Women's jobs & expertise are hobbies. The misogyny is right there in plain sight.

Greg Algodão@nottocgerg.bsky.social · 5h ago

Ask Sonia and Cathy how many family members still talk to them, how many friends they have outside of their weird little anti-LGBT cult... All just "blocklists" right? I am begging these people get a different hobby. For their own sake.

And look at the SW bumbling along near the bottom of the chart. There is (rightfully) a lot of focus on the north-south UK divide in opportunity and attainment, but the SW really struggles too. Thank god we have excellent unis in the SW that are definitely not closing programmes and firing staff 🙄

Social Market Foundation@smfthinktank.bsky.social · 10h ago

And these regional gaps have widened. Since 2019, the proportion of 18-year-olds entering university has risen by 7.3 percentage points in London, compared with just 1.2 points in the North East. The gap between the two regions has grown from 12 percentage points to 18 points.

On @outfrontcnn.bsky.social, @jreinermd.bsky.social asks a pretty good question here: “Why is it acceptable in this country at this time—in this perilous time—for the president of the United States to have a dramatic problem staying awake?”

Bin Day cometh.

Worth a read. Clacton has the chance to vote for a decent person today.

pygmyshrew.bsky.social@pygmyshrew.bsky.social · last mo.

#RefuseReform Read this 2024 @countbinface.bsky.social interview which recounts the family trauma, loss and grief that inspired him to be a UK political candidate. His real life experience is humbling, while Farage's performative mourning display is sickening. Without a paywall-> archive.ph/61Ecw

"Many of the thousands afflicted each year by criminal driving felt that “the harm they had suffered mattered less” than that from other serious crimes" - this double-standard is exactly what we called out in our work on motonormativity. Road crime is crime www.theguardian.com/law/2026/aug...

Victims of road crime feel ‘forgotten by system’, official review finds

Many of those affected in England and Wales think offences are not treated with the seriousness they deserve, says commissioner

theguardian.com

Okay Clacton. Let’s go.

Car companies and their advertisers WANT car buyers to see themselves as privileged, entitled, anti-social and obnoxious. It’s a specific branding goal. They should be held accountable. #CarBrain

David C B@tzed250.bsky.social · yesterday

From the new WIRED magazine:

We should all do our bit to save water, says an interviewee on BBC Radio 4’s Today. Of course we should. However, people are unlikely to be enthusiastic about helping out the water firms, which have given ~£80 billion to shareholder, built no reservoirs and poisoned our rivers and seas with shit.

I think addressing the climate crisis might need more than this. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

"We'll make sure it's a woman next time," they'll say, completing the ritual.

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · yesterday

Increasingly think it's going to be Marra vs Fagan. People in the party will spend a few days going "it's such a shame there isn't a woman on the ballot, things badly need to change in the party culture, don't they?" and then move on with their lives with no change.

Live stream of the partial solar eclipse from the Royal Observatory on this link of the Royal Museums Greenwich: youtube.com/live/ngUPAl-... Starting in about an hour 🙌

Partial solar eclipse live stream, 12 August 2026 | Quiet feed | Live from the Royal Observatory

YouTube video by Royal Museums Greenwich

youtube.com

This is an encouraging signal. But only if it’s followed by serious action to protect communities from this extreme heat emergency - and the escalating climate crisis driving it. The government can meet this moment, protect the economy and keep people safe 🧵

Politics UK@politicsuk.com · 2d ago

🚨 BREAKING: Andy Burnham will chair a meeting of COBRA this afternoon about the extreme heat

Your daily affirmation: Like antlers, it's time for you to branch out, become sharper, and get more weathered and beautiful with age.

This is such a great series - really looking forward to the new series.

David Olusoga@davidolusoga.bsky.social · yesterday

My latest article, on the new series of A House Through Time, staring tomorrow on BBC Two at 9m. Set in the amazing, beautiful, gothic city of Edinburgh.

For thousands of years, a solar eclipse has been a prophetic harbinger of a spectacular, epoch-making event. Just saying. #VoteBinface #Clacton