Well this certainly seems to go against the assumption by most UK political parties that you have to endorse punitive law and order politics to win public support

Blue badge holders: how are you treated by other members of the public when out? Have you experienced reactions from other people when using your blue badge? We’d like to hear from you

#BlueBadge

@francesryan.bsky.social from @theguardian.com is asking blue badge holders how are you treated by members of the public when you’re out?
Deadline to share your experiences is Thursday 16th April 2026

Link here

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Order your Stop Reform campaign pack We can stop Reform UK in the May elections. Order your campaign pack now.

Order your Stop Reform campaign pack here: actionnetwork.org/fundraising/...

‘I see it as trafficking’: the brutal reality of life as a foreign student in the UK The long read: Universities in Britain rely on overseas applicants paying full fees, which has given rise to some unscrupulous recruiters and left many hopefuls and their families deep in debt

if you work in a UK uni, drop everything and read this (not news to many of us, but sobering to have the dots joined up; the stories are outrageous and heartbreaking)

This is one of the worst things I have ever read and I study frontier genocide as a profession.

We’ve got just 13 days left on our crowdfunder to establish a radical bookshop in Newcastle for the first time in decades! If you can, please donate: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/booksfromb...

And share this post as widely as you can - that would be a big help!!

Gramsci still bang on with this one

Cover of Blue Power with Red Emma's detail badge: 4/14 7pm

BLUE POWER: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves is out TODAY from @basicbooksgroup.bsky.social! Pick it up from your favorite infoshop, like @redemmas.org, where I'll be speaking about it tonight at 7pm.

It's not just that Orbán losing inspires hope in other competitive-autocratic countries ruled by right-wing nationalist authoritarians. It's that his loss materially changes things in those other countries, because he's been operating as a headquarters and funding source...

Leaflet of three candidates, white blokes with limited hair, all in glasses. --- **GATESHEAD IS BROKEN. VOTE REFORM UK TO FIX IT** Introducing your Reform UK candidates for Low Fell leaflet text: **ATKINSON, John** Reform UK John has lived in Low Fell for 30+ years. His background is in civil engineering, policing, teaching and transport. He wants to bring back a sense of community, listen to residents' concerns and focus on local issues such as crime, roads and streets, and better services. --- **HENDERSON, Iain** Reform UK Iain has lived and worked in Gateshead all his life. Now retired, he wants to give something back to the borough. With a positive outlook, Iain is looking forward to making a real difference to the lives of the residents of Low Fell and to working closely with them. --- **MURRAY, Arthur** Reform UK Arthur has owned several businesses for many years. He has lived locally for 50 years and employs local staff, servicing the northeast and Scotland. His priorities are to see the ward and area prospering once again, caring for the old and infirm and maintaining our parks and open spaces. ---

This Reform leaflet from three Gateshead candidates looks like a timelapse of the same person

What the last few years of watching some scholars and professors defend GAI universalization in academia has taught me is that way too many of us actually don’t like to do the work. ‘It finds sources for you’ ‘it writes for you’ ‘it comes up with teaching plans’.
Sir, I actually like doing all this

Donate to Crips for eSIMs for Gaza (UK)

I'll keep trying...because we still have a duty to Palestinians, and internet is a core way for the world to know what's happening in Gaza. Help Crips for eSIMs continue to connect thousands of people a day to internet!

Just a five sponsors one eSIM for a month! Make it monthly! bit.ly/esimsUK

Tapping the sign

This is Apartheid.

It's morally disgusting - and comes at the same time as Israel is committing an ongoing genocide.

To see the Labour Government defend Israel repeatedly will horrify the British public - it cannot go on like this.

It's my own fault for using ChatGPT as a search tool, but this really made me laugh. "...with an important nuance..." is sublime 🤌

I'm happy to announce this new paper — we compile evidence on the extraordinary harms caused by IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programmes in the global South since the 1980s.

gh.bmj.com/content/11/S...

the hardest part about separating the art from the artist is how i seem to have glued myself to this macaroni picture

Manchester Political Theatre — Take Back

If you’re near Manchester this is a ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️production of My Name Is Rachel Corrie.
Performed by the fabulous Harriet Bibby (Coronation Street)
Directed by Ian Kershaw
Edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner.
www.takebacktheatre.com/my-name-is-r...

@zackpolanski.bsky.social
Now-22nd March only!

The HEPI white paper waffles, doesn’t clarify what ‘populism’ means in this context, insists universities must listen to concerns of a nebulous ‘the public’ (via elected politicians) but reading between the lines it subtly advocates universities comply in advance of a possible Reform government

Let's talk about the "you should have just obeyed the law" response to police violence.

A study several years ago found that police are the sixth leading cause of death for Black men in the United States. But it is, if you can imagine, worse than that.

Outlines of Abolition Democracy This study traces the outlines of democratic theories and practices as they took shape among African American leftists in the 1930s who wrote about the unfinished nature of abolition. Drawing on W.E.B...

Out now: @aobst.bsky.social Anthony Obst's fantastic "Outlines of Abolition Democracies". It's open access!

www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Trump asked about putting troops on the ground in Iran❗️

Reporter:
"If you put boots on the ground in Iran, it could be another Vietnam.
Are you afraid of that?"

Trump:
"I'm not afraid of anything."

Fact:
Donald Trump received a total of 5 military draft deferments during the Vietnam War.

It turns out that even if you don’t work with archival materials, “doing research” does not mean “summarizing books that have already been written.” In fact it requires the production of novel ideas by your uniquely human brain! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Outside my flat, I hear a voice say “Alan, you are being so fucking obstreperous right now.”
A woman appears, walking backwards, holding a taut thrumming leash, straining hard against her.
Then, seemingly minutes later Alan finally appears: the smallest, lowest, muscliest sausage dog in all creation

From the Point of View of a Cat This is my Man. I am not afraid of him. He is very strong, for he eats a great deal; he is an Eater of All Things. What are you eating? Give me some! He is not beautiful, for he has no fur. Not having enough saliva, he has to wash himself with water. He meows in a harsh voice and a great deal more than necessary. Sometimes in his sleep he purrs. Let me out! I don’t know how he has made himself Master; perhaps he has eaten something sublime. He keeps my rooms clean for me. In his paws he carries a sharp black claw and he scratches with it on white sheets of paper. That is the only game he plays. He sleeps at night instead of by day, he cannot see in the dark, he has no pleasures. He never thinks of blood, never dreams of hunting or fighting; he never sings songs of love. Often at night when I can hear mysterious and magic voices, when I can see that the darkness is all alive, he sits at the table with his head bent and goes on and on, scratching with his black claw on the white papers. Don’t imagine that I am at all interested in you. I am only listening to the soft whispering of your claw. Sometimes the whispering is silent, the poor dull head does not know how to go on playing, and then I am sorry for him and I meow softly in sweet and sharp discord. Then my Man picks me up and buries his hot face in my fur. At those times he divines for an instant a glimpse of a higher life, and he sighs with happiness and purrs something which can almost be understood. But don’t think that I am at all interested in you. You have warmed me, and now I will go out again and listen to the dark voices. Translated by Dora Round; revised by the editor. Originally published in Intimate Things, 1935.

A friend just sent me this perfect piece by Karel Čapek, trans. Dora Round, ‘From the Point of View of a Cat’.

It is *fascinating* to me how quickly some people have gone completely from “we all must work in the office! human collaboration is vital and only happens in person!” to “I can replace all these pesky people with chatbots!” Definitely some commentary there about our society and who gets to choose.

I'm happy to hear that! My experience was trying to get the BCG, and several GPs just shrugged and insisted everyone had it in their teens. This was a few years ago now, hopefully it's improved since.

I've said this before, but the Uni of Kent meningitis cases remind me that more needs to be done to make sure people whose parents didn't get them vaccinated as children can access vaccines once they're adults. Often there's no system in place for this and GPs aren't much help (ask me how I know...)

Two people die after University of Kent meningitis outbreak Eleven people in the Canterbury area are also seriously ill in hospital, the BBC understands.

Please for the love of everything check that you and your kids are up to date on their vaccinations. No matter how old they are.

A thing I really, REALLY need nondisabled people collaborating with disabled people to understand is that time is really, really important.

You might be able to spontaneously get together for a meeting. I can’t. If it’s in person, travel takes arrangement and may not always work out.

Online…