Oh, Happy Birthday to you!

Me too!

The poster for the event described, featuring a painting of an 18th century collector of antiquities surrounded by Greek and Roman scultpures.

📢 THIS THURSDAY! 📢

Join us for our 10th Annual Morse Lecture to hear Professor Josephine Quinn speak about "The Provincialisation of Ancient History, or an Enlightenment Tragedy."

🎟️ www.tickettailor.com/events/thein...
⏰April 23rd 5-6:30PM
📍Peele Lecture Theatre, School of Geographical Sciences

Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy Tales of love and adventure from 1,000 years ago reveal a dazzling range of now-extinct English pronouns. They capture something unique about how people once thought about "two-ness".

We should bring back these lost pronouns, partly because they are cool, and partly to annoy the TERFs (bonus point to the article for mentioning Chaucer’s use of the singular ‘they’).

www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

So important to have facts readily to hand to counter this harmful bullshit, thanks to @gavinyamey.bsky.social
for taking time to set this out so clearly.

When I first read Persuasion and encountered the description of Mr Elliot as “underhung” the first contemporary example I thought of was Jimmy Hill.

While men in suits debate lifting sanctions and re-admitting athletes, Russia goes on exactly as before bombing Ukrainian families to death every night.

Keir Starmer in 2020: "I had 8,000 staff as Director of Public Prosecutions and when they had victories I celebrated on their behalf and when they made mistakes I carried the can.

"I never turn on my staff. You should never turn on your staff"

Not a resident triggered review, full review that followed the urgent (summary) one, allowing anybody to say what they want. The Authority should’ve checked if reps. were relevant & not frivolous or vexatious. Being satisfied they’re from a real person is a basic step officers did routinely IME.

It’s a story about the failure of Westminster Council to properly verify representations made in a full licensing review that as reported followed a summary review brought by Police after a troubling incident. Public bodies have always had to deal with this on receiving petitions & representations

Two comments:
1. Well done Philip Kolvin KC, an excellent licensing barrister who did for free what the council officers should have done; not for the first time acting to make licensing regime better
2. A conditional discharge looks very lenient, it’d be interesting to know mitigation & reasons

Of course there's another area (other than migration) where dodgy advisers coach people on what to say to obtain a benefit: tax. But BBC doesn't run this kind of exposé on them and nor is there the unspoken inference that all taxpayers are dodgy and all those who provide tax advice are criminals

Lelia is a pal’s sister in law and I met her in France last year, not long after she’d marked her 90th birthday with a skydive raising over €30,000 for MSF. What a woman.

This BBC undercover 'sting' alleging a sophisticated conspiracy of fraudulent immigration claims is complete rubbish. Their main story isn't about a lawyer, just 1 unethical creepy woman who brought a stranger into her bedroom to fleece him for a fake claim that would likely have been refused anyway

#JFT97

37 years on from the day that led to the unlawful deaths of 97 Liverpool fans and a year on from when a promised Hillsborough Law should have been in place, the message to the Prime Minister is simple…

A red background with Hillsborough Never Forgotten 97 with two lamps on either side in memorial of those killed in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989

Sons, fathers, daughters, cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. #YNWA #JFT97

It’s fact specific & we don’t have the relevant facts. It’s an interesting question whether EHRC is really making the decision, as statute requires, or is it de facto abrogating role to the SoS? Court wouldn’t nec’y quash decision even if found process was flawed, but scrutiny is warranted in circs

Do we know they didn’t read? As you know the duty is on the human decision maker to take responses conscientiously into account. Human made summaries to guide have long been used, but prudent to also read the whole.
Using AI as was claimed raised a Q in my mind whether that duty would be met.

If so, why overlooked in draft 1? If evidence is changed course due to SoS post consultation commentary, was there a failure to take responses saying essentially the same thing conscientiously into account? If so could argue not lawful consultation even if (?) the process was otherwise sound.

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

Have you ever been criticised in public for using a Blue Badge? I’m looking to gather disabled people’s experiences for The Guardian to explore hostility around the Blue Badge and Motability schemes.

We’ve made a quick form you can fill in here: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a... (Please share.)

Classic Austen humour - Northanger Abbey
“Blaise Castle!” cried Catherine. “What is that?”
“The finest place in England—worth going fifty miles at any time to see.”
“What, is it really a castle, an old castle?”
“The oldest in the kingdom.”
“But is it like what one reads of?”
“Exactly—the very same.”

A glass of beer and a red wine in the foreground, tv above a bar

Please! 🙏
I’m watching in a bar in the South of France. There is no sense of “anybody against PSG” - everybody else here is supporting the team from the French capital. This could be a long night….

In the 1930s, Oswald Mosley claimed to be a patriot, while his British Union of Fascists was secretly funded by the Italian government. We are just beginning to grasp how much of the far right in the UK today has been funded by Viktor Orbán and Russian oil money.
Their "patriotism" is always a con.

So that’s where my focus would be. Does whatever prompted the change require at least further engagement with interested parties before issuing amended/new draft, as it was not something they were able to comment on before? Obv IDK, but they chose a consultation method that gives rise to this risk.

Happy to be wrong, but that feels a high risk challenge. Far from weird, stmt seems considered; if doesn’t relate to existing consultation *that’s* a ground for challenge!
Otherwise seems to me whether it’s “amended” or “new” shouldn’t matter unless, in context, “draft” must be read in the singular.

Do we know enough to say this the *only* thing can be? A power to give a draft code arguably implies a power to withdraw it.
So if the Minister, prior to making a decision, raised issues via comments, it might be EHRC decided to withdraw the draft - leaving nothing for the Minister to decide upon.

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

**CALL OUT** I’m looking to gather experiences of disabled people who have been criticised or harassed by the public about their Blue Badge or Motability car etc when out.

Click on link to fill in our form. Please do share to reach as many people as possible. www.the-guardian.com/world/2026/a...

“As Greater Manchester Police confirm they are reviewing a complaint into the prize draw”
Why the Police when Parliament has established a specialist enforcement body with fit for purpose investigatory powers?
@gamblingcommission.bsky.social are you engaged in this investigation?

Public health and the Licensing Act 2003 The Licensing Act 2003 (the Act) introduced a modern, integrated scheme, administered by local authorities and covering the retail sale of alcohol, the supply of alcohol, the provision of various form...

It occurs I should have mentioned the public health Responsible Authority. In contrast with the similarly structured subsequent Gambling Act there is no specific promotion of public health objective in the LA03 which must be frustrating.The LGA have issued guidance.

www.local.gov.uk/publications...