Her office said the Office for Students (OfS), which regulates universities, had received reports of speakers and lecturers being harassed and blocked for holding gender-critical or religious views, of foreign interference suppressing academic freedoms, and of ideological belief requirements featuring in job advertisements.

The OfS will be able to use the new complaints scheme from September. From April, it will be able to fine universities the greater of £500,000 or 2 per cent of their income, which would amount to millions of pounds for large institutions, for breaches under the Freedom of Speech Act. Ultimately, universities could be deregistered for egregious cases.

Bridget Phillipson will introduce new laws to make it possible for Universities to be fined millions of pounds if they don't silence students who protest bigots invited onto their campuses. It's like the Tories never left office.

I have my first pair of glasses I actually need and everything is a weird shape

It's not as high profile as all the other failings of the last government, but the total collapse of the court system thanks to Chris Grayling is one of the most damning.

BREAKING: Maryland is about to become the first state in the nation to ban the use of surveillance data and dynamic pricing at grocery stores.

The Maryland House has just passed the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act.

Governor Wes Moore plans to sign the bill.

Let's see how good our national security is when we run out of helium for MRIs and we have food shortages without sufficient fertilizer thanks to Donny Boy's Mideast Mass Murder Adventure(TM).

It is infuriating beyond words to have overwhelming feelings about too many things but not to have the energy to actually focus on them. Every time I start my body just smacks me back down.

Listening to how NASA and other agencies talk has been a stark demonstration of the difference between public good and private enterprise.

The language has not been about conquest or personal glory but love, awe, international cooperation, and constant gratitude for all the steps before this one.

Eye test today. Yet another diagnosis that I look up and EDS is a major risk factor.

I wonder what it would be like to have collagen instead of 20 year old dusty post-it note glue.

8 poems into #NaPoWriMo - usually I've missed a couple by now. Even barely awake I've written a few lines.

So far politics, the moon, Iran, mum.

Am reminded of the scene in 13 Days where Robert MacNamara chews out the Admiral for following procedure during the Cuban Missile Crisis and not appreciating that because of modern communications that each stand off was actually JFK and Khrushchev speaking to each other by another means.

NaPoWriMo gives you the chance to write angry little poems about things you normally wouldn't bother putting into poetry 😂

Pigeon-rescuing hurts the legs and hips, it turns out, especially when you have to go monitor Nazis the next day instead of recovering.

Hobbling about like, well, an injured pigeon tonight. Worth it.

He was very pretty and sweet ❤️

a close up of a pretty pigeon hunched up in a corner

Yes, a bunch of us did spend the best part of 45 minutes catching an injured pigeon to take to New Arc Wildlife Rescue. They said it would be OK with a bit of time to recover. Poor wee thing ❤️

Ah, making myself cry by writing poetry for #NaPoWriMo. Being a poet is weird.

Getting to hear Helen Sharman talking about the Artemis launch took me back to the days I still hoped I'd see space someday ❤️

I'm 45. My mum and dad used to get me out of bed when I was small so I could watch rocket launches. I saw the trail of one in Florida. It still moves me beyond words. I still wish I was flying.

Go Artemis ❤️

Fiona Robertson - Prey, With Apologies To Emily Dickinson || Spoken Word Poetry || YouTube video by I Am Loud Productions

One of my poems from the @iamloudpro.bsky.social showcase - a bit of angry Scot from the Shire, a bit of rage at the people who kill us without ever looking us in the eye, a bit of a reminder that we have other options than this.

youtu.be/BGXrD5QmYxo?...

Tried to vote for a favourite web show in the webby awards but almost every award was either for AI or the nominations were full of AI candidates. Spent five minutes skipping awards before giving up entirely.

Thank you! It means I get to go to the Edinburgh Book festival slam which is wild. No chance of getting out of the first round but will be a lot of fun 🥰

This has been an extremely complicated week and I am drowning in too many emotions. Extreme highs and extreme lows and a lot in between.

Scotland's premiere spoken word night LOUD POETS X ABERDEEN PERFORMING ARTS ABERDEEN HEAT MAE DIANSANGU SACRIFICIAL POET ARON SMITH BILLIE J. SIM EVE MUMFORD FINN MERCHANT FIONA ROBERTSON LUCY BETH MUSHI OCTAVIE DOHERY-HANGH RACHAEL BEEDIE SEUMAS DALE SID OZALID TISHE 27 MARCH LEMON TREE 7PM £5-£12 PAY WHAT YOU CAN ABERDEEN WWW.IAMLOUD.CO/SLAM

I'm competing in the I Am Loud poetry slam tomorrow night at the Lemon Tree - please come along and cheer me on!

It starts at 7pm and tickets start at £5.50 (if you want to pay more you can!)

I'd love to see you ❤️

www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/lou...

God knows there are many, many, many problems with the BBC, but this is why Trump et al are trying to get it shut down.

Jesus fucking christ

I am finally back in my own bed. Everything hurts. I'm in the middle of a very strange rollercoaster week and I have to rest a couple of days before the next ridiculous dichotomy.

I can't talk about a lot of it yet, I'm not just vagueposting. But if I'm very weird if you speak to me, this is why.

Almost all the police were watching us 🙄

A child with a megaphone started chanting 'you can stick your Palestine up your hole'. Someone wore a deus vult top. Someone else hung a crusader cross flag. Someone in the crowd yelled 'kill them all'. Nobody reacted.

They're planning on Glasgow in July.

So are we.

4/

The fascists spoke about ethnic cleansing, keeping Scotland white, men should be protecting women, Jewish/Islamic control, other nonsense. Nazis spoke alongside a child. People sieg heiled. Between speeches they yelled abuse.

3/

There was music, dancing, a dog doing the conga (I'm not even slightly exaggerating - this dog was incredible), solidarity, rage, joy, and a timely reminder that Scotland protects its traditions and our tradition is welcome.

2/

me holding a sign saying Aberdeen apologises for them. In the background are antifascist protestors, the Scottish Parliament and the pentlands.

a brown and white spaniel at the end of a conga line, holding onto the person in front's hips. their tail is wagging.

a group of fascists behind a police barrier. two police stand facing them. on the barrier a black, white and red crusader cross flag hangs. a saltire flies in the back. the fascists are almost all men, mostly masked, some making obscene gestures to the camera.

It was very lovely to be amongst such a huge crowd of anti-fascist protesters today as we showed up in force to oppose the far-right rally at Holyrood.

1/