In which I discover that politicians really love using Alice in Wonderland as an example. Also top marks to Ed Miliband for getting the Moomins into Hansard.

Speaking to the Unsung Britain conference yesterday, @claremoriarty.bsky.social from @citizensadvice.bsky.social emphasised the importance of joined up policy making ⤵️

Fascinating rural/urban contrast in Parkrun demographics. I’m VW60-64, my son is SM25-29. Today at Hogmoor in Hampshire there were 11 in my age category and 12 in his, of a total 200 runners. Last week at Clapham Common there were 8 in my category and 99 in his, of 785 total.

The Hidden Costs of Homelessness: how the cost of living in temporary accommodation is pushing families deeper into poverty It looks like you have JavaScript turned off. You need it to accept or reject cookies on our site.

We welcome the Government’s new funding to tackle homelessness, especially the support for households in temporary accommodation - an issue we highlighted last month.

We look forward to further action through the Homelessness and Child Poverty strategies.

Read our report here: bit.ly/4ohqiwo

📣📣📣
Reasons to come to our @elysiansingers.bsky.social concert this evening:
- cracking tunes from Mr Handel
- fab performances from choir & orchestra
- it's in a cool church 😎
Do come along!
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

If the UCPIP Bill becomes law it will cut PIP for over 400k disabled people & UC for over 700k people who are disabled or have a long-term health condition by 2030. Government’s own impact assessment says the cuts will plunge 150k people into poverty by the end of this Parliament

If Parliament votes in favour of the UCPIP Bill it will enshrine an arbitrary cut in law. We welcome the Timms Review but once again the government is doing things in the wrong order. @CitizensAdvice is asking MPs to vote against these proposals and calling on government to step back and think again

Speaking at our event @claremoriarty.bsky.social says we need to have a more coherent set of social tariffs across a range of areas (energy, other utilities, transport etc), and a range of localities. They are need to be automatic so they don't get in the way of everyday life.

Graphic for event 'The price is tight' How are the cots of essentials affecting low to middle income families? The event is on Monday 30th June at 10am

How are the cost of essentials affecting low-to-middle-income families across Britain?

On Monday, join our discussion with @claremoriarty.bsky.social @peterlevell.bsky.social and @lalithatry.bsky.social chaired by @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social

Sign up here ➡️ buff.ly/3NYLh0r

These benefits are a vital support for millions of disabled people - major change should not be rushed through. MPs have a choice: be on the side of disabled people or vote for cuts that will cause real suffering in the future 2/2

Proposed changes to disability benefits will create a two-tier system. If this goes ahead, from Nov 2026, new claimants who need help to cut up food, dress, wash, or use the toilet will be denied the lifeline that PIP provides 1/2

We started this glorious #SummerSolstice day with a sunrise swim at the ever-lovely Petersfield Open Air Pool and ended it watching the sunset from Butser Hill, the highest point of the South Downs

Completely endorse your view @joeoharadcu.bsky.social but I should point out that the author is not me but my brilliant namesake @quiteclare.bsky.social. Honoured as ever to be mistaken for her!

Oh, I so agree. If there’s a way of getting definitive answers I haven’t found it yet. I don’t want to know whether something could happen, I want to know whether it has happened!

Carnivorous plants were much in evidence in Connemara last week. So for this week’s #WildflowerHour, here is round-leaved and oblong-leaved sundew, and delicate flowers of butterwort

Risk and Responsibility Dame Clare Moriarty DCB, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, reflects on the Committee’s Early Warning Signs report.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life has published a fascinating report on early warning signs of major failures. It got me thinking about times in my career when things went wrong, and what I learned. Mostly a lot about risk.
cspl.blog.gov.uk/2025/05/02/r...

Late entry for last Sunday’s #WildflowerHour #HighUpPlants challenge. St Patrick’s Cabbage just coming into flower close to the summit of Binn Idir an Dá Log, at 702m the highest of Connemara’s Maum Turk mountains

Absolutely!

I love sanicle! We saw some in Clonbur Woods on Saturday but it was in the middle of a parkrun and I was phone-less so couldn’t even try to take a photo …

Beautiful! I don’t know if it’s a particularly good year for sea pinks but they are certainly very striking round here

Closest I can offer to a #HighUpPlant foot #WildflowerHour are these from a Connemara hillside: milkwort & tormentil

Plus some other beauties in shades of white, pink & purple: lousewort, sea campion, marsh orchid, green-veined orchid #WildflowerHour #Connemara

It’s all about the sea pinks on the Connemara shoreline this week - masses of clumps in varying colours #WildflowerHour

Missed #WildflowerHour but these beauties were crying out to be shared. Green-winged orchids locally abundant on an outcrop at Trá An Dóilín (Coral Beach) in Connemara

📈 Child poverty is rising.

Ahead of the govt’s Child Poverty Strategy, join us to explore the root causes and the policy shifts needed to reverse the trend.

Speakers incl. Baroness Ruth Lister @claremoriarty.bsky.social & @tommacinnes.bsky.social

💙 #CADataInsights
Register⤵️ tinyurl.com/yrvh5d3n

Benefit cuts will push more people into poverty, warns Citizens Advice boss Exclusive: Clare Moriarty hits out at Labour’s plan as ‘short-term action’ with ‘long-term consequences’ in rare intervention

Useful intervention from @claremoriarty.bsky.social CEO @citizensadvice.bsky.social:

“if you’re cutting benefits without a clear path to how people can receive income through other means, that’s not going to be raising their living standards or tackling poverty.”
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Meanwhile in the Dublin mountains, which got more of the week’s sunshine, gorgeous gorse & coltsfoot brightening forest tracks verges #YellowFlowers #WildflowerHour

Spring is still barely arriving in Connemara, and flowers few and far between. But the rare ones I found last week did have the good grace to be #YellowFlowers - almost-out celandine, catkins & some slightly bedraggled primroses #WildflowerHour

At first glance, this is a pile of shells in a rockpool. Keep watching and you’ll see it’s a hermit crab colony. Look out for the one that falls on its shell and flips back over, and the one that triumphantly pulls out a shell from underneath it.
#Connemara #AnDóilín

🤣🤣 I’d love to claim such expertise but sadly it would be fraudulent!