Woman smiles under a Trans Day of Visibility banner. Writer, campaigner, artist and founder of trans+ History Week May 4th - 10th

For Trans Day of Visibility, we have chosen to lift up the work and voices from the trans+ community. First up, the excellent @smartypantsmarty.com

Trans History Week runs 4-10th May, and there is an excellent, free workbook packed full of resources to help you

www.wearequeeraf.com/dotheworkbook/

Whisper it, but the populist right are showing signs of global decline. Perhaps the Trump effect. All eyes on the upcoming Hungarian election in April and our local elections in May.

Weirdly watching as well, the news has gone really downhill in like 5 years!

Not to go all Luddite on main but I could totally see a position now where companies / brands / shops / software have no AI as a policy. Could be part of the ethical shopping genre. Some brands already promise their marketing and photos are "human made".

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

‘We feel kinda bad when a solo bird shows up’: Canada sees its first European robin – but how did it get there? Birdwatchers flock to Montréal for rare sighting of ‘vagrant’ bird that has made its home during a bitterly cold winter

This was my fave story from last week 🐦‍⬛ European Robin spotted in Canada

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Shirley Raines, Viral Activist Known for Helping Homeless on Skid Row, Dies at 58 Shirley Raines — the activist known for distributing food, hygiene products and other resources to Skid Row's homeless community — died at age 58.

Shirley Raines was a lovely neighbor who saw beauty in so many people.

I remember watching a news report about her here during COVID and then followed her work online. Her service to community, feeding homeless people and her tireless advocacy. What a loss, RIP

a happy new year 2026 poster with fireworks behind it Alt: a happy new year 2026 poster with fireworks behind it

Glad to see the back of 2025 honestly but optimistic about 2026!

Wishing you happiness for the New Year ahead 🥂🎉

Wishing you a wonderful festive season and Merry Christmas, whatever you are doing and however you are celebrating. Hope you have a good one ❤️🎉🎄🎅🌲

I know I hate to share his words and give him attention but it's important to the point being made

I've been thinking recently about how there is so little empathy to others and compassion left in the world. We are in severe empathy decline and it causes statements like this to happen, classless and low.

All we can do is fight against this tide

Amazon is loosening its grip on Kindle book downloads, if only slightly Amazon will soon allow EPUB and PDF downloads for DRM-free Kindle books, giving readers limited flexibility back.

From 20 Jan 2026, Amazon are allowing publishers who opt out of DRM "protection" for their titles to have their books downloadable as PDF or epub files >>

Amazon is loosening its grip on Kindle book downloads, if only slightly
www.androidauthority.com/amazon-is-lo...

Is it “flu like symptoms”?

Madonna has a long-standing relationship with World AIDS Day, honoring her friend and flatmate, artist Martin Burgoyne, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1986 at age 23. She wrote two songs in his memory, "In this life" and "This used to be my playground" ❤️

#WorldAidsDay

On World AIDS Day, we remember all those we've lost to HIV/AIDS related illness and unite in our battle against the virus.

We’ve committed to zero new transmission of HIV in the capital by 2030. We’ll continue to work with partners to tackle the stigma of getting tested and treated.

Parts of the internet just stopped working Outage comes around a month after Amazon Web Services outage also took much of the internet offline

Parts of the web appear to have stopped working amid a technical problem at Cloudflare.

www.independent.co.uk/tech/cloudfl...

Happy Halloween 🎃 Happy Samhain 👻🎉❤️

The French always do the most French things

TLDR, we need to be more fucking woke!!!

The ballad of Ricky Hatton After the champion’s death, we must change how we treat the vulnerable

My first article for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social is about what Ricky Hatton’s death meant to me personally

www.newstatesman.com/culture/spor...

No Good Art Comes From Greed | Defector The packages arrived square and thin and carefully wrapped on Saturday afternoon. There were three of them, but only one was mine. If I could have rejected my package, sent it back from whence it came...

“We don’t have to approach and criticize this album as art, because it isn’t art. The Life of a Showgirl is made of Shein quality rip-offs of other people’s songs that are constructed shoddily and sold in ginormous quantities. Art takes time and care. This is profit. It’s content.”

WHEW.

Hollywood stars erupt with outrage after ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel off air The move drew praise from President Donald Trump. But Hollywood, where Kimmel is popular as a frequent host of the Oscars and Emmys, leapt to to his defense Thursday.

Hollywood stars, unions and fans criticize Disney's ABC for indefinitely pulling "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air after pressure from the FCC over his comments about the death of Charlie Kirk.

‘Censoring you in real time’: suspension of Jimmy Kimmel show sparks shock and fears for free speech ABC decision over Kimmel comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing comes hours after Trump-appointed chair of US media regulator threatened broadcaster’s license

Trump Administration going for a true "Free speech for me but not for thee" policy

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Record numbers of Americans have applied for UK citizenship because of London’s values, says Khan Ahead of Donald Trump’s state visit, the mayor of London hit back at US critics of the capital’s crime rates and diverse population The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said a record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship following the election of Donald Trump, which he attributed to the city’s “liberal values”. In an opening salvo ahead of the US president’s state visit, Sadiq Khan said he wanted to challenge the idea that London was in turmoil and said that more Americans than ever were seeking to make it their home. Continue reading...

Record numbers of Americans have applied for UK citizenship because of London’s values, says Khan

Wishing you a wonderful Carnival weekend if you are going to the Notting Hill Carnival this weekend ❤️☀️💃
nhcarnival.org

Thanks 🙏

The BBC is showing Chappell Roan's headlining set at Reading Festival at 10:40pm on BBC ONE.

Anyone who belongs to any minority group needs to be aware that what is being done to trans people can and will be done to them. In a decade we have been stripped of our rights to exist in public spaces by a press campaign and a well funded lobby.