More common sense from Zack Polanski, don't think there are any credible arguments left against moving to a public health approach www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Green leader Zack Polanski backs legalisation of all drugs

Zack Polanski speaks to BBC South East on the party's new approach ahead of the party's conference.

bbc.co.uk

Audrey has been a fixture at the Liverpool Sunday demos. A hero and shameful she's been treated in this way. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Woman, 74, tells of pain and fear after arrest at Liverpool pro-Palestine rally

Exclusive: Video shows veteran campaigner being dragged and handcuffed and she says bail conditions effectively confine her to her house

theguardian.com

Bus stop in Liverpool today #PalestineAction

For anyone still doubting the gravity of the Labour Government's move to proscribe Palestine Action, here's the statement of concern from the UN. This is what Starmer's Government has become. #PalestineAction #Starmer #UN www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

UN experts urge United Kingdom not to misuse terrorism laws against protest group Palestine Action

GENEVA – UN experts* today urged the United Kingdom not to ban the “direct action” group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.“We are concerned at the unjustified ...

ohchr.org

Happy to share this, the more people do the more it highlights the madness of this ban.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · last yr.

Today, the UK government intends to ban the non-violent protesters Palestine Action as a "terrorist" group, exposing anyone supporting them to terrorism charges. In 2 days, 380,000 people have watched this video on YT alone. You're going to need a bigger prison. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECkV...

Exactly this. A nuclear armed state, with no inspections ever because they don’t declare them, bombs a country without them and constant inspections.

Zarah Sultana MP@zarahsultana.bsky.social · last yr.

The Iraq playbook is back & the media won’t question it. Iran has no nuclear weapons. Israel — on trial for genocide — does. Iran signed the NPT & allows IAEA inspections. Israel hasn’t — & its leaders face ICC arrest warrants. Beware of politicians beating the drums of war.

Remember, everything Netanyahu does is to keep himself out of prison. For the sake of one crook's liberty, tens of thousands of people have been murdered, and now a possible full-scale war has been provoked. Israel must rise up and unseat him.

Speaking today at #ISSDP2025 on the LJMU model of reviewing drug related deaths and the socioeconomic learnings from our panels

Trump wants the rich to be richer, unions to be weaker, and everyone else to be easier to exploit. He's not ushering in a New Golden Age. He's taking us back to the Gilded Age.

Exactly this.

Yanis Varoufakis@yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social · last yr.

On 19/4/1943, the world had one duty: to defend the Jews who were being pulverised by the Nazi war machine crushing the Warsaw ghetto. Today the world has one duty: to defend the Palestinians who are being pulverised by the Israeli army in the Gaza ghetto www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...

Can't help thinking the Gary Lineker thing was always going to end this way. If you're a public figure and speak up on Palestine they will probe and dig until they find something. Your only defence is if the organisation you work for isn't supine, which sadly his is 🙁

It's a great term "hostage politics" because it describes Labour at the moment exactly, although being literally held hostage by Starmer would be comical more than anything

Nesrine Malik@nesrinemalik.bsky.social · last yr.

This week’s column is on what increasingly defines western democracy, being held hostage by centrist governments with threats of a worse alternative www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A fantastic piece well worth reading. Bizarre state of affairs when you have to turn to Wetherspoons to find an ally.

We’re at #HR25 Bogotá, come and see us in the Exhibition Zone 🙌 And view our work in the Posters Space or here: ims.ljmu.ac.uk/posters

Which other leader with a global audience said this so clearly?

The Nation Magazine@thenation.com · last yr.

Just months after he became the head of the Catholic Church in 2013, Pope Francis condemned the “new tyranny” of unfettered capitalism and the “idolatry of money.”

Exactly this. I always admired Francis for being one of the lone voices with an international platform who spoke out against war and capitalism more broadly. Compassion is such an underrated trait in leaders these days as we are seeing to our cost. What a loss.

Jeremy Corbyn@jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · last yr.

Pope Francis dedicated his life to the marginalised, displaced and dispossessed. A rare voice for humanity, he spent his final days on this earth calling for peace. Let his enduring legacy — of empathy, courage and kindness — inspire us to build a more humane world for all.

The war on drugs - a war on women and any group which already experiences oppression as a useful tool to beat them with. It all connects.

International Journal of Drug Policy@ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social · last yr.

“The War on Drugs is a war on women: Louisiana's Abortion Law” by Maryanne Alderson Diaz & Dina Perrone (2025) via @ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social…how can they schedule these abortion pills? It should be criminal! Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Another magnificent volume, made me laugh a lot but well up in parts too Thanks Chris! @chrismullinexmp.bsky.social

Mine too. I remember when I worked in Liverpool’s DDU in early 2000s and was trying to get tickets to see him speak at the Phil. He didn’t know me but still phoned me in work to let me know there were none left. The person on reception was like “I have Tony Benn on the phone for you!” A lovely man.

Jeremy Corbyn@jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · 2y ago

Tony Benn would have turned 100 today. A rare, courageous and continuous voice for peace, Tony was driven by the radical idea that all human life had equal value. We all have our inspirations – and he was mine. Happy birthday Tony.

Some very sad details to this story and some lessons for the UK in how not to do things (despite some brilliant examples of community-led harm reduction work) www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Oregon abandoned its radical drug law. Then came the mass arrests

Last year, the state ended a trailblazing law decriminalizing possession. Drug users in some counties are now in and out of jail, without lawyers, struggling to get treatment

theguardian.com

Imagine the outrage if this was literally any other country in the world.

Jason Hickel@jasonhickel.bsky.social · 2y ago

Every day that this barbarism is committed, and let to pass, further destroys our collective humanity.

Not hugely helpful reporting from the Liverpool Echo today. “As easy to access as crisps” apparently.

We heard more about the fantastic work The Thistle do at our drug related deaths conference on Friday, people are alive now who probably wouldn’t be had it not existed.

Zoë Garbett@zoegarbett.bsky.social · 2y ago

Saving lives & getting people the help they need. Read David's story 👇 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Predictable but awful stuff today from Rachel Reeves 🙁

Owen Jones@owenjones.bsky.social · 2y ago

Did anyone vote for this? @meadwaj.bsky.social tears apart Rachel Reeves' #Budget2025

Another terrifying story from the US for academics who Trump wants to deport for their opposition to US-Israel policy www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Judge bars Trump administration from deporting Indian academic over political views

Badar Khan Suri, who teaches at Georgetown University, being held incommunicado in Louisiana ‘staging center’

theguardian.com

Beautiful piece from one of the Just Stop Oil protestors who was incarcerated, written from prison on the eve of his release. As he notes, Mandela and the suffragettes were vilified once. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘The prison system is insanely broken’: a climate activist on his experience in jail

George Simonson says you learn about society by seeing how it treats its prisoners – and jail has strengthened his belief that change is crucial

theguardian.com

Remembering this wonderful man today

Could not be happier to see this scoundrel arrested. Netanyahu next please 🙏

Mehdi Hasan@mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 2y ago

"Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine Ex-President, Is Arrested on I.C.C. Warrant. The International Criminal Court has been investigating the deadly crackdown that Mr. Duterte, who was detained in Manila on Tuesday, oversaw while in power."

We may not have Trump but UK universities need to be wary of government over-reach in this area, we should be protecting our students first and foremost.

Jack Mirkinson@jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 2y ago

Really important piece in @thenation.com today from Palestine Legal director Dima Khalidi about how universities like Columbia laid the groundwork for the abduction of Mahmoud Khalil and all the other persecutions that are coming www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Horrific story from the Guardian this week, reporting not perfect and accommodation providers are often in an impossible situation but still. Makes grim reading. search.app/auAY5gVcNGXJ...

‘It’s hell on earth for me’: how did Joe Black overdose in a homeless hostel with zero tolerance for drugs?

Joe was a gifted musician who struggled with addiction and poor mental health. When he got a place at an award-winning ‘sanctuary’ in London, it sounded perfect. The reality was shockingly different

search.app