@scribblerpen
Writer, editor, analyst. Disability employment rights advocate. Trade union disability rep. Arts, science and languages nerd, internationalist, hiker, nature lover. Could really do without Long Covid
Those who wanted to "Take our country back" in 2016 have won. We've been regressing every year since: economically, socially, on freedoms, fairness, rights, democracy, compassion, tolerance, the quality of our services, the quality of our media, our health. And nobody is coping well with that "win".
Curious to read, but here is your regular reminder that in the UK, if you get Covid, you can't even get Paxlovid.
No access to any antivirals at all, even if you have Long Covid, which puts you at a higher risk from reinfection.
Framing benefit cuts as a “moral” duty is not morality; it’s cruelty.
For those who cannot realistically work, the proposals would trap many in deep poverty. Society must recognise that people’s value is not determined by their ability to work.
Fiona McCulloch CAB
www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/2591533...
Disclaimer: the above is a pipe dream, — in reality, an attempt to try to get the Lords to mirror the Commons is more likely from any government that leans heavily on the whip system and doesn't like its bills to be scrutinised.
I wonder if cultural Lords is something people would get behind who object to religious lords in isolation. To an extent, we have them through peerages, but as a formal group from the arts, literature, social sciences that, along with faith, involve ethics and make up the cultural fabric of society.
This could be improved on — big gaps, like law, the economy, foreign relations, etc. Not sure where law and religious lords (can disagree, but it matters) fit, how to ensure inclusion (disability etc.). A gradual change might be better. Very important that it doesn't politically mirror the Commons.
It's very hard to celebrate the abolition of hereditary peers as a win for democracy, when PMs can hand peerages to friends and financiers, and when the government is introducing dangerous bills, knowing it has the majority to ram them through the Commons and hoping the Lords won't get in the way.
Inquiry into childhood vaccinations opened by the Lords Committee. Call for evidence open until 22 April 2026 👇
committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evi...
@longcovidkids.bsky.social @cvcev.bsky.social
committees.parliament.uk/committee/83...
"A Guardian review of Levi’s record found that more than a dozen experts have criticized research papers he has authored on the topic for being misleading."
The House of Commons gave David Lammy’s courts and tribunals bill a second reading by a majority of 101 yesterday. Just 10 Labour MPs voted against the government, though dozens abstained on principle.
rozenberg.substack.com/p/juries-the...
Maybe I am being naive, but if this is really about speeding up VAWG cases, why not pause jury trials in these cases only as a pilot and see if that works? As it is, a sweeping abolition of juries will catch women accused in its net too, with no equality impact assessment in place before it happens.
Lammy's plans smack of desperation after a jury acquitted some protestors. This isn't about justice for women. Women accused, often victims of abuse, will be denied juries too. And they may be up against a judge who lets off sex offenders for being "of good standing".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Access to Work in Crisis as Delays and Cuts Push Disabled Workers Out of Jobs, New Evidence Warns
www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/access-...
Via @disrightsuk.bsky.social
The more I read this, the worse it looks. This sentence particularly.
"To rebuild a broken economy, one needs the “social glue” that conservatism provides"
Conservatism in this form means racism and xenophobia. That isn't 'social glue'. It's the opposite.
In this 2021 blog, Heritage Consultant Rachel Howse Binnington explains how to sort through family papers you may have found in a clear-out, how best to take care of them and where to find help.
Read it here: celebratingjewisharchives.org/blog/what-to...
#FamilyArchives #SpringCleaning #Archives
Why, why, why 💔 Do cruel and pointless, and unforgivably destructive when bird populations are crashing.
Water Security Atlas - showing incidents of water related conflict in Jordan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Oman
We loaded Pacific Institute data on water conflict onto our Water Security map, so you can explore incidents of water-related violence around the world:
share.google/81jYfWd7n1zu...
As we witness the horror of attacks on desalination plants, we need to be aware, on a warming planet, conflict over water, using water as a weapon of war, & targeting people seeking water is on the rise
- in the past 4 years, it's nearly doubled:
share.google/p0PrSGiLMdz0...
‘But it’s not just about the most powerful people in the world. It’s about the people who are the most powerful in your neighbourhood, your school… if people can join the dots between, say, Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Jimmy Savile, the Rotherham & Rochdale gangs, they might stop it when they see it’
Three older white men holding papers marked with doctoral letters: DPhil, DLitt and DPsych respectively, stand over a darker skinned woman lying on a hospital trolley, the coversheet over her market with multiple physical sequelae of Covid, including mitochondrial and vascular. Captioned with conversation text: 'This is a clear case of Health anxiety...Neurasthenia... an attack of the Vapours... definitely Hysteria"
Eminent Victorians
#MedicalMisogyny #LongCovid
#InternationalWomensDay
#CovidDayOfReflection
Still this, today.
'Bylines Network has the privilege of having a high proportion of women who are, or share the job of, Editors-in-Chief across all 10 of our publications – standing at an amazing 83%, while the industry standard is 46% in the UK.'
An #InternationalWomensDay thread from those Editors-in-Chiefs
1/
Today is the Day of Reflection.
A day to remember the lives lost since the pandemic began.
In their name, we will keep fighting for justice.
This is a question directly to @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social: Why, after all the #CovidInquiry evidence, are patients going into hospital for treatment and dying of Covid contracted *in* hospital? Why isn't basic PPE worn to protect NHS staff and patients? Why are classrooms infection pits in 2026?
Today is National Covid #DayOfReflection. By mid 2022, when society decided that "Covid is over" 180,000 people had died of Covid in the UK. Late last year, this number passed 250,000, it keeps growing. Today,as we remember each of these lives, we should also ask why lives are not protected now.
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
Thank you for presevering, great news! Congratulations @ellarobertafdn.bsky.social
Image shows Sian Berry stood to the left of campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, and surrounded by a group of clean air campaigners. All of them are smiling and holding a copy of Ella's Law - the Clean Air (Human Rights Bill).
Image shows Rosamund Adoo-Kiss-Debrah sat next to Sian with a copy of Ella's Law on the table in front of them. They are both reading the Bill that is named in memory of Rosamund's daughter Ella who died aged nine due to exposure to air pollution.
Ella’s Law has been published 👏
No child should have the growth of their lungs stunted because of dirty air where they live and play, yet this is the reality of air pollution in England. Ella’s Law would change this.
My thanks to Rosamund and all the hard-working campaigners demanding change.
Now, will "We shall fight Motability and RNLI on the beaches" continue to be the editorial line, or will Axel Springer find a better business model? www.ft.com/content/e5cb...
But who could have imagined that this week's moral panic about UK #welfare "spiralling out of control" would be as groundless as it was this time last year, and the year before, because the percentage of GDP spent on welfare stays flat and is set to stay flat until 2030.
OBR: obr.uk/efo/economic...
