There are many, many things I would like to say about civil service HR and disciplinary processes which would get me into trouble, so let me just say that I am so, so heartbroken for her family and I hope (but don’t expect) that this will lead to real change.

Tom Roberts@tpgroberts.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Actually said "fucking hell" out loud when they explained why they hadn't allowed her the opportunity to have a friend, TU representative or colleague in the meeting. Christ, they are going to lose any lawsuit badly. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

We should never have left Egypt

Members of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) were removed by police during the organization's annual meeting on Friday as they handed out copies of an editorial criticizing Trump administration changes to U.S. biomedical research. www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...

Video: Police Tussle With Diabetes Experts at ADA Meeting

Researchers told they could no longer attend the annual scientific sessions

medpagetoday.com

This story - rockin’ down the crypt

Czech police release Russian bishop after ‘white powder’ found in his car

Russia says arrest of Bishop Hilarion, who heads Orthodox congregation in Karlovy Vary, was politically motivated ‘setup’

theguardian.com

@graysky.app why is my app frozen on a specific post?

@lutheblue.bsky.social I hope you will be following up the suspected explosive device in the Lansdowne Estate as their is local concern as this was only one mile from the local synagogue.

Instructive piece from 2024 that may explain some of the political shift in SCOTUS seen in the wildly different interpretations of the Justices (on every side!) in the Tariff case. https://llso.uchicago.edu/llso-review/ardy-major-questions-doctrine

The Major Questions Doctrine: An Inquiry Into Doctrinal Shifts and Supreme Court Power

By Annemarie Colette Ardy

llso.uchicago.edu

Well there is *drive* and missing the last letter off.

David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God by Peter Ormerod review – the making of a modern saint

An exhilarating account of Bowie’s spirituality and the quasi-religious nature of his work, from Space Oddity to Blackstar

theguardian.com

In solidarity with today's ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA blackout, MinnMax is donating $1 to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for every share of this Bluesky post for the next hour.

We really don't say often enough... THIS FUCKER IS TOTALLY BATSHIT INSANE

WARNING! Carers, don't trust ur council's info on Carer's Council Tax Discount, more than 1 in 5 councils' online info is wrong. They miss crucial eligibility criteria which makes many who are eligible for 25% discount think they aren't FULL INFO: www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2026/01...

No mention of pavement parking in the new Road Safety Strategy 😞 This is a key safety issue for many yet there has been no government response since the consultation on it closed in November 2020!! transportactionnetwork.org.uk/road-safety-...

Road safety strategy leaves vulnerable road users exposed

Road safety strategy leaves vulnerable road users exposed Transport Action Network (TAN)1 has welcomed today’s publication of the government’s Road Safety Strategy2. The strategy, long overdue, contai...

transportactionnetwork.org.uk

I guess the FO lawyers recognised as real-politik Thatcher’s 1989 embrace of George HW Bush and subsequent veto of the Nicaragua UNSC resolution. But they still advised the action was unlawful. Today embrace and veto look risky forward positions.

Important letter from an actual expert

Limbering up for the meal with vinyl - Song X (Ornette/Metheny) and Let my Children Hear Music (Mingus). The Mingus is possibly the best orchestral music I have listened to all year and very Christmassy!

LOL... Pentagon released a new AI military chatbot and it immediately pointed out that Pete Hegseth is a war criminal. abovethelaw.com/2025/12/pent...

Pentagon Unveils New GenAI Platform, It Immediately Starts Flagging Pete Hegseth's War Crimes - Above the Law

The Defense Department's new ChatJAG turned out to be better than the human chain of command.

abovethelaw.com

Did Badenoch really say we don’t want a welfare state but a safety net? The term "welfare state" itself was coined by William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1941 to contrast Britain's goals with Nazi Germany's. Yet again Badenoch demonstrates she doesn’t put the work in to understand Britain.

“The censures are deemed necessary” seemed like something out of historical fiction or Henry V dismissing Falstaff. Does the phrase have any precedent in legal or monarchical convention?

You don’t actually have to both sides this. The Jewish community in the UK is not the Israeli government. You can just condemn the murder of two British Jews killed in their place of worship and you don’t have to say a single other thing.

The @torstenbell.bsky.social joke about Ed Davey was surely “Wet bloke in a fat suit” ???

If you want a nuanced, fact-based, human and honest analysis of the Israel-Hamas war and the state of the Israeli democracy read this piece by Fania Oz-Salzberger.

Fania Oz-Salzberger@faniaoz-salzberger.bsky.social · last yr.

Paywall-free access to my FT article on Israel and Palestine.

One of the Dem leaders has commented that Trump “folded like a cheap suit”. This expression has never worked for me (grandson of tailors and booky) - I assumed it came from pulp fiction or Runyon but see this https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/04/fold.html

The Grammarphobia Blog: Fold like a cheap X

Why do people fold like a cheap whatever?

grammarphobia.com

It is raining. I often think category mistakes are just a philosophical parlour game but have just learned a biscuit museum has received a lawyer’s cease and desist letter for including Jaffa Cakes.

One of the mysteries of online journalism is the *helpful* graphic - which in this story is a map showing a town in Hampshire and (why?) Swallownest https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2025/07/orgreave-locatormap/giv-32554nmIqQe7Rvo2g/Orgreave_map-mobileLandscape_460.png

“And now, after a piece of soundless straw blowing ….. architecture!” BBC premier talk programme plumbs the depths.

If I am hearing the debate on UC and PIP correctly, then Marie Tidball is wringing another concession from government. I am waiting with baited breath for the winding up @stephenkb.bsky.social

Worth a look https://m.facebook.com/groups/2309602429294792/permalink/3982824358639249/?

Absolute classic cycling end of stage in Tour of Britain on Friday - a circuit of East Cleveland featuring Saltburn Bank twice. I walked up that bank every day for nearly ten years … https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/tourofbritain/women/stagetwo

Big Lie institutionalizes itself through the children.

Scott Horton@robertscotthorton.bsky.social · last yr.

Oklahoma Education Commissar Ryan Walters announces new academic standards for the coming school year. Among other things, all students will be required to learn Trump's version of the 2020 election.

"There's a real risk of looking at it in isolation and thinking we can crack down on costs here and make savings." @pollardtom.bsky.social speaking to the DWP select committee today about why making benefit cuts to meet specific government savings targets just won't work