Charlotte in Cheshire

Wow! Like Gregg Wallace except for the fact that Robin is guilty of literally none of the same behaviours and is a person who’s always used his voice to speak up for vulnerable and scapegoated minorities. Why don’t you turn your ire on men who actually hurt women?

Thank you for this, @robinince.bsky.social . I truly believe that in the real world, open-minded, compassionate people are in the majority. Every voice affirming that in the face of the right wing press and distorted social media algorithms is a true beacon of hope and resistance.

@matt-forde.bsky.social Really enjoyed the April Ashley series on British Scandal. Huge thanks to all the team for treating the subject so responsibly - and especially for the thoughtful modern context in episode 4. Joyful to hear an expert talk without being both sided with far right “balance”.

Please sign and share this petition. Children like mine have so much to contribute to society but everyone loses if the education system abandons them.

As the parent of two children with SEND, my experience is that local authorities will do nothing to support them until they are compelled to by law. Even these legal rights have been ignored until a SEND tribunal has enforced them. To weaken the law would be devastating for SEND children.

Thank you @iandunt.bsky.social . We really enjoyed the discussion - will buy the book!

Thanks to Labour’s cowardice, Britain is stumbling into one of the most cruelly anti-trans regimes in the western world. A bathroom ban is neither workable, ethical, popular nor debated by legislators but they’re just waving it through

Wow. “These are life choices people make.” Isn’t needing to live authentically in order to function and thrive a basic human characteristic? I think the only life choice here is deciding to exclude, other and deny human rights to a minority group you don’t personally like.

Finally listening to How They Broke Britain. Highly recommend the audiobook - the distain in @mrjamesob.bsky.social’s voice when discussing the most contemptible of his subjects brings a kind of grim pleasure. Good job with the voices too - his Ann Widdecombe is uncanny.

Flashbacks to my childhood. My big brother was a similar character…

If there’s any need for private, othering third changing spaces to be made available, they should be offered for the bigots who can’t show basic professional respect or refrain from making others uncomfortable - not through their identity or very existence but because of their bitchy behaviour.

Exactly this. All evidence we’ve heard shows Dr Upton was acting appropriately, in line with the workplace policies and agreements with her manager. So the nurse’s objection was her own issue - that she should have raised with her own manager.

I’m in awe of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde - such incredible courage to speak these truths directly to the face of this medieval king and his court.

Thank you for this podcast. I found it genuinely comforting to listen to - in a you’re not going mad kind of way. This is solid, fact-based analysis that should be all over the BBC.

Solidarity with everyone who’s scared today: for themselves, for their loved ones, for humanity, for the planet… Let’s just keep hold of what’s right and what’s true.

So sad to hear that Tony Slattery has died. Watching him on Whose Line is it Anyway in the 90s was one of my favourite ways to avoid homework.

I can’t believe you’ve never mentioned this radical opinion to myself.

An Apple laptop with two deep scratches on the outer casing

Lovely to be able to host a family Christmas stay. Foolishly left my 48-year-old brother @alistairking.bsky.social unsupervised with a bread knife. This happened. He thought it was a bread board. We’ve decided the damage to our laptop is worth it for the pleasure of telling everyone.

Wow! It’s amazing how many different causes of gun violence there are when you’re determined never to mention guns…

Absolutely. I also think some aspects of modern life make it harder for autistic people to thrive - especially sensory wise - so maybe there’s more need for diagnosis & accommodations. Imagine a world without heavy traffic or crowded cities or flickering halogen lights or schools with 2000 pupils.

Image of Sandi Toksvig, sitting on a sofa, smiling. "I won't stand by and let that happen. I will stand up each time and say no. Clearly, if you're anti-trans, it's because you don't have any trans friends. If you did, you wouldn't be able to look yourself in the [mirror] as you say these terrible things. She wants to see "more trans people in the public eye," whether it be in politics or on television. Offering a comforting word to the transgender community, she says: "Please know I understand and I'm here. I don't know for what, for a cuddle? I'm here to be the grandma lesbian who goes, 'Let's just keep going'."

I can’t find the source for this but I’m posting it anyway because this is a sentiment that needs amplifying again and again.

There was that time on a school trip to a Coventry youth hostel when I slept in a cupboard. But that was just to be close to a central heating pipe and to eat direct from my jar of Nutella in peace - so that’s normal, right?

17 years young and she still has the most magnificent whiskers in the house!

“Watch the Mail get upset because someone spilled a drink on its fuchsia wrap dress” 👌🏼 Loving today’s #papercuts @msmirandasawyer.bsky.social

So much - it’s like the more confident and socially at ease someone is, the more they scare me! Also, definitely friends’ boyfriends. Always felt a terror that the slightest hint of friendliness would be perceived as flirting (ha! Like I even know how to flirt!).

Autistics to Boris Johnson: don’t even fucking think about it Autistic people have issued a statement explaining to Boris Johnson that autism does not cause you to become a compulsively lying, law-breaking, nation-wrecking cunt. The statement encourages Johnson ...

thedailytism.com/autistics-to...

So Boris Johnson, Gregg Wallace & now a man who chased and stabbed a girl to death are all claiming autism is the cause of their wrongdoings. I’m pretty sure real autism causes anxiety, sensory overwhelm, sleep problems & a tendency to go on a bit about niche interests. Not criminality or twattery.

Cat ladies, middle class women, women of “a certain age” (so that’ll be literally ALL women)… Yawn. We’re still here. Feeding our cats and calling out the bullshit when we have the energy and power to do so.

Love you for writing this! There’s nothing feminist about this toxic wave of transphobia and it makes me so sad how many supposedly progressive voices have gone quiet on this.

Wonderful. This reminded me of something else Tolkien wrote for his children - the Father Christmas Letters. Rambling tales of Father Christmas’s adventures throughout the year with his well-meaning helper Polar Bear. Funny, personal, surprising. Illustrated by the author.