Possibility models 🏳️‍⚧️ ‘Every time I spoke at an event, or attended a conference, or hung out with other queers at the pub, I showed that another world was possible … But coming out is just the first step’ Essential reading from @notrightruth.bsky.social ⬇️

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth.bsky.social · 4h ago

A new essay for all my trans siblings and our allies. "As the UK enters a new era of state-mandated segregation, I find myself asking: was it all worth it?"

This article asks a simple question: what makes an anti-rights movement? Looking at history, human rights law, case law and evidence, it explores whether today's anti-trans campaigns follow the same patterns seen in past attacks on minority rights. And how they affect everyone's rights

Is Anti-Trans Campaigning an Anti-Rights Movement?

The publication of Amnesty International UK's "A Growing Threat: The Anti-rights Movement in the UK" sparked a significant public debate about the meaning of "anti-rights" and whether that label could...

tacc.org.uk

'Disability history largely remains a missing part of the UK's story. Understanding it helps explain why contemporary debates often feel so fraught' New article by me in The Conversation theconversation.com/todays-argum...

Today’s arguments about disability benefits have been raging for 500 years

From Tudor welfare claims to modern PIP assessments, disabled people have long faced suspicion and bureaucracy.

theconversation.com

As an on-paper woman who looks like a chap in a low light/on a good day, I give some thought and care to using single-sex facilities. From today (UK), the thoughts and cares multiplied: transactual.org.uk/know-your-ri... (5000+ words and I'm very grateful for it but what the hell.)

‘Once, across much of the the world’s temperate zones, we looked forward to summer as a time of delights … Now many of us dread it. Summer was the sweet season celebrated in poetry and song, often pictured as a gentle goddess; now it is too often a threat and a misery’

Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · yesterday

My editor asked me to write about what happened to summer:

Constance Markievicz was accompanied everywhere, including while fighting in the Easter Rising, by a black cocker spaniel called Poppet. I think this detail adds to one’s knowledge of her in a way that simply talking about her ideology and class background does not.

Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 6d ago

"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2

‘The war leaked into every lesson’: learning Ukrainian in a country under siege 🖊️ Charlotte Higgins Soon after my first visit to #Ukraine four years ago, I began language lessons. It taught me more than I ever expected www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

‘The war leaked into every lesson’: learning Ukrainian in a country under siege

The long read: Soon after my first visit to Ukraine four years ago, I began language lessons. It taught me more than I ever expected

theguardian.com

Today in nation branding through cultural heritage:

Jennie Kermode@jenniekermode.bsky.social · 2d ago

The Netherlands is making a bid for Pride to be formally recognised by UNESCO as cultural heritage, which would give it enhanced status under international law, making it less likely to be banned or retricted. Will you sign a pledge to support this? campaigns.allout.org/pride 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

This is what it looks like when a charity which has correctly pointed out that "gender critical" organisations are anti-rights is faced with a litigation threat from those anti-rights groups backed by the bottomless pockets of an anti-rights millionaire in a legal system which says the richest wins.

An Apology for A Growing Threat briefing, published on 8 July 2026

Amnesty International UK has made a public apology for the publication of the briefing “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK”. Click here to read it in full.

amnesty.org.uk

This has all moved *massively* faster than anything to do with Eurovision reform between broadcasters in the European Broadcasting Union ever will, because all these organisations have to do is put football tournaments on.

John Bull@garius.bsky.social · 6d ago

So Concacaf sides with Uefa. FIFA's financial power grab is done. What's funny is Infantino would probably have just about got away with this if it wasn't for the Balogun thing. As i said at the time, that scared the absolute shit out of the European FAs. So they instantly closed ranks on this.

Would be more than a bit awkward if two hosts of the 2030 men's World Cup—Portugal & Spain—boycotted the event. And it would be a downright crime against joy if the 2027 women's World Cup was sacrificed on the altar of FIFA greed.

Nathan Kalman-Lamb@nkalamb.bsky.social · 6d ago

UEFA has just unanimously decided to boycott both men's and women's World Cups over FIFA's attempt to sell the global game to private equity. Damn.

First senior event to be affected if UEFA has to follow through on World Cip boycott: next year’s Women’s World Cup in 🇧🇷 www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Uefa agrees to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell-off plans proceed

Uefa nations have agreed to boycott all Fifa tournaments if the global governing body continues with its plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup

theguardian.com

Some historical background to the fires in southwestern France, drawing on reading I did for my 2019 book about the moorlands, and lamenting the deeply depressing reality that we have known many of the causes of this ecological disaster for 150years 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/u...

Unintentional Arson

The fires in southwestern France are an appalling demonstration of the reality of climate change in 2026. But this is not the first ecological devastation in the region, and the role of human actio…

williamgpooley.wordpress.com

Now we just need a big Olympic walkout and 2026 will have hit the mega-event disarray trifecta…

Philippe Auclair@philippeauclair.bsky.social · last wk.

New UEFA statement. "UEFA knows there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA’s scheme. FIFA cannot continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends. We can grow the game correctly. It’s time to prioritise associations, clubs, leagues, players and fans"

Please read and read again this stunning reflection on what’s happening at Exeter — and on the personal cost (for far too many and for far too long) of struggling to uphold the humanities within a system bent on grinding them down and squeezing them out. #DefendExeterUni

Lizzy Williamson@lizzywilliamson.bsky.social · last wk.

open.substack.com/pub/lizzywil...

People have long memories when it comes to atrocity crimes. Might be relevant to current events. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Pinochet-era soldier jailed for killing folk singer Víctor Jara 53 years ago

Nelson Haase Mazzei was sentenced for murdering Jara in 2023, but fled from authorities in Chile

theguardian.com

“The famine is over! The curse be damned!! Hit the nuclear button! Mayo have won the All-Ireland!!” An all-time great sports commentary moment from Stephen Grealis and Martin McHugh on Mayo’s Midwest Radio. #gaa

🎶 Oh the green and red of Mayo 🎵 goes what a few more of you might have as a resident earworm now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9_r...

Green & Red of Mayo - The Saw Doctors

YouTube video by sawdoctorsofficial

youtube.com

Dr. Sandra Duffy Golden@sandraduffy.bsky.social · last wk.

If anyone's wondering why their Irish moots have exploded in the past half hour: County Mayo, the perennial underdogs rumoured/known to be under a curse for many years, have just won the All-Ireland Gaelic Football final for the first time in 75 years. Everyone is delighted for them.

they way the opening shot of the trailer nails the opening line of the novel has me feeling hopeful about the new 'Neuromancer' series 📽️

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.

whatever happened we are Not going to let political parties that scaremonger about drag queens and “gender language” pretend they’re here to defend us

Ben Miller@benwritesthings.bsky.social · 2w ago

Horror.

So happy to share this piece by @ashifakassam.bsky.social for The Guardian on my work on Spain's first trans political org! www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Revealed: history of Spain’s fearless 1970s trans-rights political collective

Pioneering activists risked arrest and imprisonment amid lingering persecution after Franco dictatorship

theguardian.com

Lambeth Council to refuse to implement the “Draft Code of Practice on Services, public functions and associations”, if the council’s legal team confirms the move would be lawful. love.lambeth.gov.uk/lambeth-to-c...

Tend to remember the plays much more than the books, because of how much time we spent reading them in class. Will still go to any Twelfth Night or House of Bernarda Alba that comes my way. The least said the better about the View From The Bridge term.

Tenebrous Press@tenebrouspress.bsky.social · 2y ago

US and UK friends, I'm curious: What books were part of your required reading for highschool literature class? Which of them do you remember loving, and which did you loathe?

When a major strategic victory in war is achieved by drone attacks on e-commerce hubs then you know the 20th century is well in the rear-view mirror

Igor Sushko@igorsushko.bsky.social · 2w ago

💥 Ukraine has destroyed both the Wildberries and Ozon e-commerce fulfillment centers that serve Saint Petersburg in Russia. Damage should exceed $2 billion.

Last week, about a third of the History department were able to gather together on graduation day. Rather than lend our intellectual authority to the official procession and ceremony we invited our students to come and celebrate their achievements with us in a shady courtyard. They came. 1/

‘If she had looked at somebody and said, “I’m just a girl,” the room would almost certainly have fallen silent... Instead, she sang the same sentence, wrapped inside a melody that everybody already knew, and nobody questioned it for a moment’

GeekOnALeash 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️[✊🏳️‍⚧️ I WILL NOT COMPLY]@geekonaleash.co.uk · 2w ago

A few days ago, No Doubt - Just a Girl started playing from one of my playlists, and it got me remembering how singing this song made me feel within my closet: medium.com/@geekonaleas...

Didn’t we have this already last time with Paddington Bear…?

Doctor Who Production News@doctorwhopn.bsky.social · 2w ago

King Charles and Queen Camilla opened the Commonwealth Games by stepping out of the TARDIS.

occasionally it leads to a secondhand bookshop with a suspiciously eclectic inventory.

Dave Gilbert@wadjeteyegames.com · 2w ago

Found this gate in York. It had a standard lock, plus a padlock and a chain holding it shut. It was very very securely closed. The only thing on the other side is a blank wall. The only conclusion I can make is that this is a magic portal to hell.

The final crowns a winner. Yet the World Cup’s real legacy lies off the pitch: at borders, on policed streets, in Fifa’s opaque governance, betting markets, authoritarian states, and among those its spectacle pushed aside. Op-ed for @josimarfootball.bsky.social josimarfootball.com/2026/07/17/t...

The World Cup Legacy Fifa Does Not Want to Talk About - josimarfootball.com

The final will crown a champion, but the 2026 World Cup's true legacy lies far from the pitch.

josimarfootball.com