Thanks, Ian. My comment was a general observation. But I very much appreciate the particular insight you bring from your experience.

For Spain’s Sánchez, the fight against tech billionaires is personal The prime minister has endured years of abuse on the social media platforms he now seeks to regulate.

“Do we want a technology that normalizes and amplifies deception? That transforms privacy into a commodity? A society where a techno-oligarch can interfere, as one of them did yesterday, in the…phones of millions of citizens to tell them lies? The answer must be a clear no, and we will not give in.”

But it's a pity for vocabulary to shrink, since that's a key part of how we express ourselves!

Children’s vocabulary shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, says Susie Dent Exclusive: Countdown lexicographer urges families to read, talk and play word games to help language development Children’s vocabulary is shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, according to the lexicographer Susie Dent, who is urging families to read, talk and play word games to boost language development. The Countdown star’s warning comes as the government prepares to issue advice to parents for the first time on how to manage screen use in under-fives, amid concerns that excessive screen time is damaging children’s language development. Continue reading...

Children’s vocabulary shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, says Susie Dent

Gordon Brown speaking at CPAG event

'You've got to treat children equally… You don't tell a child who's the third child, you're gonna have half the time at school. You don't tell them that the fourth child is going to have a third of the time.'

- Gordon Brown on scrapping the two-child limit for all kids.

Lying awake YouTube video by Aaron Reeves

It’s just over two weeks now till the budget. Every night, parents in poverty are lying in bed, unable to sleep, worrying about how to pay essential bills. This can and must be changed. Ending the two-child limit & benefit cap is the right (indeed only) place to start m.youtube.com/watch?v=94fq...

Ridiculous indeed!

🙏

Why does this absurdity not surprise me (even though, simultaneously, it horrifies me)?

‘Should we care about AI welfare?'

Really?!

Sounds like a pretty surreal question. But the fact it’s a question at all suggests something it should be considered, if not for AI, for ourselves.

I look forward to listening …

Here's a fact for you all.

Prior to 2017 there was not a single documented case of any individual travelling by small boats across the English Channel to caim asylum in the UK.

Not ONE.

This current 'boats' crisis has been largely caused by Brexit.

But for some reason NOBODY is saying that.

"It would always be better for people to be in a position where they have enough income to be able to pay for their essential costs."

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, spoke to us about the impact of the rising cost of essentials on low-income households ⤵️

‘All the individual stories point us to Jesus …’

Wonder at each one, in turn.

Screegrab of thread on X, by Lib Dem Councillor Tom Astell: "Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell Something very concerning is happening in Hull & East Yorkshire. The new Reform UK Mayor has launched a website for a “£1m Community Fund.” Here’s why residents should be worried 👇 1/10 1:06 PM · Aug 17, 2025 · 57.7K Views Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h The site (http://lukeasksyou.com) carries the Combined Authority logo & privacy policy, making it look like an official consultation and that the Combine Authority will be the ones handling your data. 2/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h But when you complete the survey, you’re told it’s “promoted by Reform UK.” Your personal data goes to the party — not the Authority. 3/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h And the £1m fund? It doesn’t exist. It has never been through the Combined Authority Executive Board. No decision. No approval. It’s not even clear if the Combined Authority actually has the ability or monies available for such a fund. 4/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h The Constitution is clear: any spending over £250,000 is a Key Decision. It must be formally approved. That hasn’t happened. 5/10"

Screegrab of thread on X, by Lib Dem Councillor Tom Astell: " Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h So residents are being invited to pitch ideas for a fund that hasn’t been agreed — while handing their data to a political party. 6/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h This is a serious breach of trust. Public branding. Party data collection. A non-existent fund. Residents deserve honesty. 7/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h I’ve written to the Combined Authority Chief Exec demanding answers: 🔹 Has this fund been authorised? 🔹 Who approved use of CA branding? 🔹 Is this an official consultation — or a party campaign tool? 8/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell · 20h I’ve also raised this with the Monitoring Officer, Chief Finance Officer and the ICO. Governance and transparency matter. 9/10 Cllr Tom Astell @tomastell Public office is a public trust. Hull & East Yorkshire deserves honesty, not smoke and mirrors. 10/10 1:06 PM · Aug 17, 2025 · 5,987 Views"

An important thread. What is Reform UK up to? ~AA

Imagine if "combating homelessness" meant housing people, not brutalizing and disappearing them.

May the Lord awaken his church and rescue us from our self-centered self-preservation. May we know again fear and trembling before the God who "administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing." (Deuteronomy 10:18)

Well that's a fair reply. And I guess I asked the question because I'm a UK Christian; and, though not formally a pastor, I care a lot about issues concerning humanity and work.

"Morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible."

- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1972)

I agree with you. But, why limit the criticism to US Christians?

I ‘liked’ this to show solidarity. Actually though, I don't *like* any of it: Primarily, therefore, my considerable sympathy to you (+ your family) for, and re, your father. I've been there and I know it's so hard. 2nd-arily I'm really sorry you're experiencing Twitter-grief into the bargain. 🙏

Not good enough: this proposal merely amounts to kicking the can down the road.

Starmer offers ‘massive concessions’ on welfare bill to Labour rebels Exclusive: Leading rebels say they have been promised significant changes to planned cuts which could help bill avoid defeat

If a change is unjust for current claimants, it is unjust for future claimants. This is not a concession, it is a delay of the pain. If the "rebels" actually hold a fair welfare system as a value then they will stand firm and refuse to back Starmer's austerity.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Labour's message to Britain today; Don't be young Don't get sick Don't grow old They're still taking the PIP

To paraphrase a former Labour leader.
(Courtesy of Richard Murphy)

The fundamental problem with the welfare bill is that it's not about reform it's about cuts, and arbitrary ones at that. It's fundamentally irreconcilable with who Labour ought to be.

The concession made by the government are welcome but don’t go far enough

When I tell people how bad the disability benefit cuts will be, sometimes I encounter a bit of disbelief... "It surely can't be that bad?"

Check out @victoria-anns.bsky.social on the impact for 'Anita' - and believe it 👇

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

For most media the audience aren't the customers: they are the product that is delivered to the customers.

Email in from water supplier earlier reads:

“💧Let’s protect our most precious resource.”

I guess I’m expected to think they mean “water.” But the supplier is Thames Water, so my first thought was that it’d be “money”!

It is bracing to remember how easy it is for comfortable people to fall in with ruffians out of greed and how much it costs to overthrow a kleptocracy (which is always the doorway to a more harrowing evil) and rebuild—even when people wake up.

(2/4)