lol I read that completely wrong re: which balls.

A Star Wars-style scroll of their accounts.

My daughter, exactly this.

Oopsy.

Schools already have policies in place. Some kids need their phones not only for eg medical monitoring but also between the school gate and home. For my kids the school rule was ‘confiscated if heard or seen’ which is fair and was enforced.

Civil servants keep receipts.

A few years ago my husband's then boss was idling away the time in the departure lounge when he noticed he was holding his son's passport. As he had already cleared security, it very quickly became the airport's problem. They couriered the correct document to him before his flight departed!

I’ve missed one. Transatlantic, with kids, having allowed a five hour layover because our internal flight didn’t have baggage code share. Scuppered by thunderstorms. Got our hotel paid for. Had to fork out £2k on the spot for new flights (insurance backed) and had an unexpected day at Chicago zoo.

They still have to pay pensions and national insurance in the U.K., but it goes into the national pot not the industry cover. Currently 15% of gross wages for employer NI, plus compulsory pension contributions.

Media did this to the new Archbishop of Canterbury too 🤦‍♀️

What a poser 😻😻😻

A bearded Danny John-Jules, resplendent in a green baseball cap and wild green patterned top. Perched on his shoulder is a small black kitten wearing a Supergirl costume.

A cat and a cat!

My annual SciFi Scarborough trip does not disappoint, although a few more book sales would be good 🙃

💜💔💜

🎯

Oh believe me I came across that attitude as well, in spades, but that’s just the usual bodily autonomy / misogyny stuff that all women deal with, especially in wealthy countries. They are dead right about the corporate attitude parallels.

This is an interesting take. They make a good point about responding to need vs forcing harmful change for the sake of profit.

Sorry!

I don’t think this is what he means. My kids also had to have formula to survive. However, the aggressive push into developing economies was a disaster. I have medical friends who still boycott Nestle for the harms caused. It’s actually a good analogy - if needed, life saving. If forced, not good.

Oh wonderful! Have a safe and fun trip.

Nice piece - didn’t know there was that much mining going on over there but doesn’t surprise me.

Good lord, are you telling me it was the sheriff, I mean misogyny, all the time?

Have a Scooby snack.

Good grief...

I remember visiting Wilton site years ago and IIRC they had built a new CO2 plant in anticipation of the move to E15 because it's a by-product of ethanol, but it hasn't happened. So greener petrol = more pints. You can just hear those anti-woke heads exploding...

I think for me there is no longer a reasonable social platform where I would share day to day stuff with family and old friends - I love BSky, don't get me wrong, but it's a different group of friends. FB is just intrusive ads, Insta is largely broadcast not interaction. LinkedIn is professional.

Ah darn, she’s not active here.

Same! We have printed an annual family photo book for 20 years and we just have fewer photos now. Went out on Easter Monday for a walk and took barely any pictures. And my Instagram has been very neglected.

They need a Fail Whale. Wonder if @yiyinglu.bsky.social has anything along the lines of a sleeping butterfly…?

Haha we are off on a magnificent long haul trip that was originally scuppered by Covid, and keeping everything crossed that it doesn’t get wrecked by jet fuel this time.

Layla was dancing on my keyboard earlier. Maybe she was following instructions from the feline mafia.

Damn, forgot they insist on full address in the email, not just postcode. I’ll copy and paste and resend.