there's so much bad in the world but there's also people who lift up and carry an elderly bat around every day so he can pretend he's flying again, and that's the part of the world I think is worth fighting for
Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …
Dear Shabana,
Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.
I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it.
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
Sub-zero resistance: Minnesotans standing tall against ICE.
A raku fired vase with an industrial look. Coloured in metallics, gold, purples, reds and blue greens.
A raku fired dolphin with iridescent blues, coppers and purple.
A three tiered raku vase with brilliant blues, reds, purples and some black.
A raku fired bear named 'Espresso', coloured in metallics, browns, golds, silvers.
It's been a chaotic time to be an artist. Now that Canada has a trade agreement with China, it's only a matter of time before Trump ends free trade.
If you're American and been eyeing a piece, now's probably the time.
I know times are tough, but if you could help with a share, it'd mean so much.
This place really is the best of all worlds, sometimes.
And can help, when - like me - you're recovering from a cruel and personally expensive publishing industry disaster, and you write quiet, niche books which are published by an indie publisher.
A thread, with a few more thoughts about that...
An update: there IS an opt-out email, you should check if your site/merch is in this "feature" and use it. If it's not there now, you should likely set a reminder to check back, since it's new. bsky.app/profile/monk...
As if artists don't have enough to deal with, Amazon has a "Buy For Me" program in beta which is scraping indie shops for their items and putting them up on Amazon (often incorrectly), for their "AI agent" to buy from the other site. It is NOT opt in, and there is no opt out.
The Room Next Door - Donald Trump McDonald's Special.
Only on YouTube.
youtu.be/zdUaw4QMTWg
2025 advent calendar. Day one.
You run downstairs, excited to open the first door. A voice in the back of your mind tries to tell you that you didn't actually buy an advent calendar this year—and this wasn't in the house when you went to bed last night—but you push that aside.
As you can see here, right from the very first day he entered our house, Jim found great difficulty in getting settled and making the environment his own.
THREAD.
3 years ago, with no warning, a brilliant orange farm cat wandered over from the draughty barn where he had been living, in rural Cornwall, and decided he wanted to live with us instead.
We decided to call him Jim.
This is the first photo I took of him, on that night: December 1st, 2022.
Part of our 2025 Advent Calendar, a black and white line drawing showing my version of Bigfoots wearing wintery clothes and bearing various wrapped Christmas presents.
Every year we make a free-to-download-and-print-off-yourself colouring-in Advent Calendar. This year’s heavily features Bigfoots. Please share!
Download it for free here… www.worldofmoose.com/pages/2025-b...
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
Pope Leo absolutely cooking
Illegal migration isn't tearing this country apart, but our obsession with it is. It's an obsession fuelled by our media and politicians. Both profit from blowing the problem out of all proportion. It's been happening for decades, but never more so than now
🇨🇦 Canada is sending out agents into the streets of Toronto to deal with foreigners
Brilliant.
New Bearly Newsworthy is out!
From Plaid Cymru’s historic win and the White House’s sneering to Nadine Dorries proving gravity affects both IQ and policy - it’s all here.
Oh, and @monkemma.bsky.social dismantles another nonsense headline from The Express. Beautifully.
Posted by Block Club Chicago: "Cycling x Solidarity's latest mutual aid effort takes cyclists on group rides through Pilsen and other neighborhoods to buy out tamale vendors so they can stay home as ICE swarm the city. They pass out to food to people in need."
Forgive me, Chicago, I was not aware of your game
UPDATE: More donors funding the demolition of the East Wing for Trump's $250M ballroom have been identified
They literally demolished part
of the White House to build Trump’s
$250 million ballroom. I’m not even
shocked. Just tired. And heartbroken.
How did we get here?
Just receieved this today from Florida Blue. This is for a Bronze plan. Our monthly premiums are going from $333 (2025) to $2300 in 2026.
This…Trump’s behaviour is now so obscene that mainstream media in the US - and I might add the UK - have decided it must be hushed up.
White House being destroyed
Trump is destroying the White House. Another step in Trump’s attempt to demolish the United States.
This photo accompanying a news story about the heist at the Louvre is perfection.
ZERO arrests at No Kings in NYC. (And the NYPD isn’t notorious for being sympathetic with people anti-Trump.)
This proves what shameless liars Speaker Mike Johnson & Karoline Leavitt are to slander the participants as violent anarchists.
South Koreans held their government accountable earlier this year. And now they’re protesting for American’s rights and democracy on No Kings too!
Thank you South Korea! #NoKings ❌👑
