Bernadette Meaden
@ducklings.bsky.social
Reading, writing, pictures, and ducks.
created October 28, 2023
316 followers 470 following 191 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Disillusioned With Conservatives (@neverevertory.bsky.social) reposted
Parents of children with special educational needs, are using council SEND initiatives but this is parents abusing the system according to Tice. If racism, violence & riots aren’t enough, let’s throw disabled people under the bus too. #NeverVoteReform #NeverFarage
JuneSim63 (@junesim63.bsky.social) reposted
The BBC uncritically platforming fascists is a growing problem in the UK. This article allows Reform UK's Tice to spout his unevidenced claims with no attempt at balance. #ReformUK #SEND #UKPolitics www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
David Sword (@david-sword.bsky.social) reposted
We should never forget that people of the far right like Tice are motivated by hatred of the vulnerable. That's why they come up with statements that provoke cruelty against children with SEND and their parents.
Jacob Öberg (@profjacob.bsky.social) reposted
🚨🚨‘Wasted time, effort and money’: Britain’s £800M Brexit border debacle". If anyone forgot about it, this is a reminder of the still disastrous effects of #brexit that still brings misery and pain to Britain. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/brex...
George Monbiot (@georgemonbiot.bsky.social) reposted
I see people bleating yet again that "elections are won from the centre". Let's examine this claim. 1. Not long ago, the current Labour government, with its grovelling to corporations and oligarchs, extreme deregulation, island of strangers rhetoric etc, would have been classed as radical right. 🧵
Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) (@bookjockeyalex.bsky.social) reposted
LLM companies are beta testing experimental products our children, and educators are facilitating it.
Prem Sikka (@premnsikka.bsky.social) reposted
To appease bankers Reeves says Thames Water should find ‘market-based solution’. Not possible. It is a monopoly, no competition, no choice. Since 1989 TW paid £10.4bn in dividends, £13.68bn interest payments. Rocketing bills, sewage in rivers. We can't afford more of the same. Nationalise water.
Ben Ansell (@benansell.bsky.social) reposted
Speaking as someone who studied and taught at US universities for over a decade, that KB has been telling this story for so long, without anyone in the UK previously questioning it is kind of amazing. It reflects total credulity about how the US works from the Spectator/Ashcroft etc.
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social) reply parent
😊
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social) reply parent
I don't know how anyone would get that impression.
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social) reply parent
And nor is Africa.
Sarah Richards (@sarahrichards.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Because climate change now plays a vital role in The Sovereign Individual’s path to utopia: “Those who are saved, in the end, will be those who can afford the premium of salvation….” (See also the film “Mountainhead” for this deluded idiocy in action.) www.theguardian.com/news/2018/fe...
digifuzzy 🍁🌐🧭⚛️ (@digifuzzy.bsky.social) reposted
During Covid pandemic, someone got clever and came up with a DIY box filter to help with air quality in classrooms. Smoke from fires? Bad air quality in home? Another pandemic? Corsi-Rosenthal Box Filters: corsirosenthalfoundation.org/instructions/ Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi%E...
Gravel Influencer (@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social) reposted
The average American simply has no idea how quickly the infrastructure that keeps us safe and healthy is collapsing. These systems run in the background thanks to government employees who quietly do critical work. Those employees are being purged and systems are being destroyed.
Natasha Devon (@natashadevon.bsky.social) reposted
www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
Martin Calladine (@uglygame.bsky.social) reposted
Amazing story: one of the organisers of the group putting Union Flags up around Manchester previously did time for being part of a people smuggling gang. manchestermill.co.uk/manchester-f...
Mark Goodrich (@markgoodrich.bsky.social) reposted
This is just a lovely positive story for your weekend. Meet the three-year-olds helping anxious teens spend more time in school www.bbc.com/news/article...
Adam Schwarz (@adamjschwarz.bsky.social) reposted
High Court rules that asylum seekers can remain at Bell Hotel in Epping. Justice Bean: "If an outbreak of protests enhances a case for a planning injunction, this runs the risk of acting as an impetus or incentive for further protests, some of which may be disorderly, around asylum accommodation."
Giles Paley-Phillips (@eliistender10.bsky.social) reposted
Kindness, compassion, and empathy are the things we should be spreading right now. The world is full of division. Let's all please give less time and energy to those promoting hate and shame and more time helping those who truly need it. 🙏🏻❤️
Quakers in Britain (@quaker.org.uk) reposted
We are filled with anguish to see human beings seeking refuge facing the threat of further violence and intimidation. Too many politicians are fanning the flames of division when they should be voices for peace. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
goldmartin (@gillmartin.bsky.social) reposted
The reason MagaAmerica wants to ban one of USA's finest writers #fascism #censorship
Rev Peter W Nimmo (@peternimmo.bsky.social) reposted
Most of the Old Course at St Andrews is a long way from the buildings of the town, most of which are only a few stories high. Also, there are six courses on the links, so I suspect it wouldn't make much difference if you covered one of them in solar panels!
Robert Fessler (@professler.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan.com) reposted
Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!
Adil Ray (@adilray.bsky.social) reposted
Imagine the conversation among Taliban HQ. “Briton is offering to pay millions for us to accept the people running away from us”.
Sabine Goodwin (@sabinegoodwin.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
More on the dangerous conflation of the food waste and food poverty problems in this piece for The Grocer www.thegrocer.co.uk/comment-and-... (www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/_files/ugd/c...) following the publication of the Used By report www.feedbackglobal.org/used-by #CashFirst @foodrise.bsky.social
Roland Smith (@rolandmcs.bsky.social) reposted
'Immigration doesn't bother me but it seems to bother everyone else' – Everyone. This is what happens when the media runs away with Hard Right narratives.
Sathnam Sanghera (@sathnam.bsky.social) reposted
"Are asylum seekers the biggest political issue in Britain?" Asks radio 4. "We interview man who is determined to make it the biggest issue in Britain. And make it a headline every morning until it definitely is"
Inequality News (@inequalitynews.bsky.social) reposted
A rare good news story... 🙂 www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Kev Adams (@kevadams.bsky.social) reposted
The Shropshire Star imagining “love all stop hate” is vandalism but the red lines are “a flag debate” 😳🙃😆
Sara Sheridan (@sarasheridan.bsky.social) reposted
Quick thread of Golden Age crime writing ladies. My tips. First up, Margery Allingham. My fave of hers: Tiger in the Smoke also a class black and white movie about a serial killer. Her first novel was based on something told to her at a seance. She rocks. Obviously. /1
Equality Trust (@equalitytrust.bsky.social) reposted
The 2,850 council homes built in England last year will be wiped out 6 times over by the 18,500 council homes sold off through right to buy. 41% of these homes end up as private rentals, handing huge sums to landlords at the expense of the rest of us.
George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) reposted
They want us fighting so we never notice who is stealing from us all. Don’t get lost in the circus.
struggle6457.bsky.social (@struggle6457.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
"This alliance between the working poor and a load of rich rightwing toffs has been the basis of fascism for a century. How can we still be living it out? I find it really upsetting." 100%
Guy Shrubsole (@guyshrubsole.bsky.social) reposted
Not many farmers would tell you that we need to eat less meat; that wealthy landowners shouldn’t moan about inheritance tax but should “pay the whole fucking lot”; & that Reform UK are “a load of rich rightwing toffs” 😂 But Devon farmer Guy Singh-Watson does: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Clara W (@claraw.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Fantastic. Bristol also did us proud: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Liam Thorp (@liamthorp.bsky.social) reposted
The far right wanted to march across Liverpool today… Liverpool had other ideas 👊 www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
Saul Staniforth (@saulstaniforth.bsky.social) reposted
Hani Mahmoud reports that people injured in Israeli bombardments are left to bleed to death because IDF drones target & kill anyone who tries to rescue them.
Raider (@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social) reposted
My name is Captain Dylan Blaha, and this message is for members of the National Guard across the USA. I've served in the Illinois Army National Guard for over 12 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan and three years on active duty in Europe. What's going on right now is not normal.
Ed Wilson (@eddwilson.bsky.social) reposted
Perhaps the BBC might wonder how so many of their listeners who ring Any Answers come to be so uninformed about the subjects they ring up about. #InformEducateEntertain #bbcaq
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) (@sundersays.bsky.social) reposted
The story of the weekend looks like about 3000+ people protesting asylum, 2000+ counterprotestors while 210k people do parkrun
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) (@sundersays.bsky.social) reposted
Times: "Asylum protests swell across the UK " headline, reporting an underwhelming wave. Leeds "draws 70" Cardiff "disorganised + small" Altrincham "*swelled* to around 200" Cheshunt about 250 Chichester: about 100 Portsmouth: about 70 v 70 on each side www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Daniel Weissmann (@danweiss.bsky.social) reposted
Gaza City is 3,500 years old. The point of a genocide is not only the annihilation of a people as a group but the destruction of any evidence they ever existed. In that sense it isn’t only the destruction of everything living but the destruction of everything that came before.
HK (@hkesvani.bsky.social) reposted
Worth thinking about how journalism schools in the UK are scrapping and reducing traditional reporting courses in favour of social media and content creation, when we try and figure out why the abundance of ‘citizen’ journalism rarely achieves any sort of material change
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you for doing this, just what we need. 👏
Laura Webster (@lauraewebster.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
You can read our coverage all of next week in print and online www.thenational.scot/news/2540775...
Laura Webster (@lauraewebster.bsky.social) reposted
NEW: The National is launching a new series highlighting positive stories of refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland. The increasingly hostile political commentary and media coverage is appalling. We have a duty to correct misinformation and stand up for those without a voice
MSF Sea (@msfsea.bsky.social) reposted
A Somali infant girl and her father were buried after they had died in the shipwreck that occurred on 13 August off the coast of Lampedusa. www.infomigrants.net/en/post/6651...
Phil McDuff (@mcduff.bsky.social) reposted
As I say: the political media elite in this country are frothing for this to be a mass popular movement, but it is mostly *them*, the journalists and politicians, who are baying for blood and death here.
Farrukh (@implausibleblog.bsky.social) reposted
Lady commenting on the anti asylum seeker protests speaking to Sky News, "It makes me feel really sad actually. I'd like to see people be welcomed in our country and looked after" "And if they're not meant to be here and they're here for the wrong reason, ok, don't grant them asylum"
Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed.bsky.social) reposted
Reform UK ‘looking after our own!? Don’t count on it. Homeless charity closes following funding dispute With Reform UK council www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...?
New Economics Foundation (@neweconomics.bsky.social) reposted
Our fiscal framework guarantees the UK economy is in a never-ending doom loop of rising debt and austerity proposed to fix it. As long as the OBR remains the arbiter of govt fiscal policy decisions, this will continue. Our research in @thetimes.com today: thetimes.com/business-mon...
Josiah Mortimer (@josiah.writes.news) reposted
Some excellent news. "More than 16.1 GW of new renewable energy capacity spread across 323 projects was given permission to start building during the second quarter of this year - 195% rise on the same quarter last year." www.ft.com/content/926a...
Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation.bsky.social) reposted
"It would always be better for people to be in a position where they have enough income to be able to pay for their essential costs." Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, spoke to us about the impact of the rising cost of essentials on low-income households ⤵️
CarolineJMolloy (@carolinejmolloy.bsky.social) reposted
Like the Greens, Labour want to build Neighbourhood Health Centres. Unlike the Greens, Labour’s version would not be community-owned NHS assets, but hedge fund & private equity owned investment “opportunities”. Have we not learned from water, PFI 1, etc? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
66snafu (@66snafu.bsky.social) reposted
Think I'll read this once a week forever. Patricia Routledge, I love you.
Robert Saunders (@robertsaunders.bsky.social) reposted
The Cameron-Osborne years offer an important reminder that it is possible to excel at the theatre of politics - to "look prime ministerial", to dominate the "media narrative", to project "competence" and to communicate a clear political "story" - while being strikingly inept at governing.
Alex Andreou (@sturdyalex.bsky.social) reposted
I keep the receipts.
Scottish Refugee Council (@scotrefugeecouncil.bsky.social) reposted
Last week, we were out & about talking to the public in Glasgow! At a time when hostility can feel overwhelming, it was deeply heartwarming to hear how much love, compassion & solidarity is out there. The message was resoundingly clear: Refugees are welcome here! 🧡 #partofthebiggerpicture🧩
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) (@sundersays.bsky.social) reposted
I have not heard anything at all from government ministers nor the opposition nor many media outlets about the dangers of this epidemic of sweeping casual racism. It is sometimes seen as comical - as with Rupert Lowe and the rowers - but it is dangerous and dehumanising
Rick Lane (@ricklane.bsky.social) reposted
Every tech update now is like: "Great news, the word processor you've relied on for twenty years has learned to juggle! Is it good at it? No! Does it help in any way? Of course not! Has it made it insufferable to use? Oh, absolutely."
nohostages.bsky.social (@nohostages.bsky.social) reposted
The UN has described the UK definition of terrorism as "disturbing" and not in-line with international norms. www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel... @lewisgoodall.com @lbc.co.uk #lbc
Ned Hartley (@nedhartley.com) reposted
Reminder that in Bananaman we gave the bad guy an AI machine that sucked in art and spat out crap
Bylines Network (@bylinesnetwork.co.uk) reposted
A foreign coal firm is suing UK taxpayers in a secretive ‘corporate court’ – with a Tory MP as their lawyer. All to overturn a climate ruling that stopped a Cumbria coal mine. This is democracy & climate action held to ransom Tommy Green writing for DeSmog Read here ⤵️ @northwestbylines.co.uk
Trades Union Congress (@tuc.org.uk) reposted
Reform Mayor Andrea Jenkyns doesn't like workers having more rights.
Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation.bsky.social) reposted
Rising food and energy bills have hit the pockets of poorer families hardest over the last few years. Because lower income households spend more of their budgets on essentials, they have faced significantly higher inflation than richer households. @lalithatry.bsky.social explains ⤵️
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social)
If you're chronically ill or disabled, it's worth asking your energy supplier to put you on their Priority Services Register. You get priority for help in a power cut, and could get other help like benefit checks etc. #Disability #ChronicIllness
The Unhurried Reader 📚🦊🇺🇦 (@theunhurriedreader.bsky.social) reposted
Please remember to put out #WaterForWildlife. Thank you. 💧
Otto English (@ottoenglish.bsky.social) reposted
Here's a fact for you all. Prior to 2017 there was not a single documented case of any individual travelling by small boats across the English Channel to caim asylum in the UK. Not ONE. This current 'boats' crisis has been largely caused by Brexit. But for some reason NOBODY is saying that.
shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) reposted
this is so wonderfully weird, give her all the golds 🥇
Working Class History (@workingclasshistory.com) reposted
#OtD 18 Aug 1936 the gay socialist poet Federico García Lorca was most likely executed, during the Spanish civil war. "I will always be on the side of those who have nothing and who are not even allowed to enjoy the nothing they have in peace." workingclasshistory.com/2020/06/17/e...
Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) reposted
I’m kind of speechless with this one. I can’t imagine the kind of person who continues to make the argument that it doesn’t count as real starvation if the kids were already sick.
Dr Steve Taylor (@drstevetaylor.bsky.social) reposted
A pad of FP10s Prescriptions for medications are written on them Drs in hospitals don’t seem to have access to them or electronic versions straight to pharmacy Providing 1month of a new medication, or enough post-op, saving hrs of patient & GP time Fix it @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social simple
Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn.bsky.social) reposted
We will never descend into the gutter of blaming minorities for the problems in our society. It is the unity of all communities that can take on the rich and powerful — and win. My piece for @islingtontrib.bsky.social. www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/corb...
Alex A. Pagliuca (@alexpagliuca.bsky.social) reposted
If there are kids in your life, do the world a favor, hug em a lot. Then, give them books about things they’re interested in Too many people wandering around who very clearly did not get enough hugs as children, and never read a book in their damn lives.
Zack Polanski (@zackpolanski.bsky.social) reposted
Outside Downing Street: We'll keep raising our voices for Palestine. End the Genocide.
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you, for such an interesting read.
Tom Calver (@tomcalver.bsky.social) reposted
NEW: Are migrants more likely to commit crimes than non-migrants? Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show. 1/8 @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social)
Fascinating thread.
Gregk Foley (@gregk.co.uk) reposted reply parent
The thread between Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson is not nearly as complex as our commentariat and correspondent class would have us believe. Sometimes there are genealogical threads that must be traced to see how phenomenon 𝑥 became 𝑦; other times it's just two articulations of the same thing.
Sue Wilson MBE (@suewilson91.bsky.social) reposted
"Bathing waters in England are five times more likely to be polluted than those in the EU, according to new research." leftfootforward.org/2025/08/brit...
Prof Sam Illingworth (@samillingworth.com) reposted
📰 Media exposure and extreme views A new study found that uncritical TV interviews with extreme right activists increase agreement with their views and the belief that more people support them. 🔗 www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #SciComm 🧪 #MediaBias
Bernadette Meaden (@ducklings.bsky.social)
Important thread. When will *these* views get proportionate media attention. 👏 Thank you Neil.
Andy Brown (@andybrown1951.bsky.social) reposted
Collective punishment is a war crime.
Michael (@therightarticle.bsky.social) reposted
Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) reposted
Grangetown (Cardiff) Council By-Election Result: 🌍 GRN: 24.0% (+5.5)* 🌹 LAB: 22.7% (-24.8) 🌼 PLC: 18.7% (+0.2)* ➡️ RFM: 14.5% (New) 🐉 PRO: 9.6% (+0.1) 🙋 Ind: 4.6% (-2.1) 🌳 CON: 4.1% (-8.4) 🔶 LDM: 1.8% (-2.1) No Ind (-1.4) as previous. *joint cand. in 2024. Green GAIN from Labour. Changes w/ 2024.
Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation.bsky.social) reposted
At our event on public investment earlier this year, Andy Burnham described the housing crisis as Britain's 'single biggest problem' ⬇️
elia ayoub 🌱 (@ayoub.bsky.social) reposted
“The man Meta has appointed to help address "ideological and political bias" in artificial intelligence is a conservative influencer who believes that pesticide turns children LGBTQ+ and that the COVID-19 vaccine caused Matthew Perry's death.” www.advocate.com/news/meta-ro...
George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) reposted
As the kids say today, “Clock it.”
Health Equity North (@healthequitynorth.bsky.social) reposted
Today, students all over the UK are receiving their A-Level results, with average grades having rise - however, there are still regional inequalities in exam results. Our Academic Co-Directors have issued a statement on the North-South results divide: www.healthequitynorth.co.uk/health-equit...
Ed Wilson (@eddwilson.bsky.social) reposted
So the BBC Sounds version has had the hard bits edited out. #bbcpm
Vivian Jenna Wilson (@thevivllainous.bsky.social) reposted
For the love of god can we stop airing articles about "X tech bro says this is gonna happen in X years clearly just in service of a publicity stunt". No. It's not going to happen. Obviously. Why are we indulging this?
James O’Brien (@mrjamesob.bsky.social) reposted
'Honest Bob' Jenrick, a politician obviously & deliberately embracing xenophobia, does some weapons grade xenophobia & the BBC *apologises* for a Thought For The Day contributor calling it xenophobic. Licence fee payers need to know who makes these decisions & why. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Zack Polanski (@zackpolanski.bsky.social) reposted
Reform just tell people whatever they think you want to hear. And of course that includes former Tory Ministers turned Reform. We must hold them to account. Every. Single. Time.
Max Colbert (@mc00.bsky.social) reposted
Hugely irresponsible 1) For your own safety, as someone who's worked in retail, do not confront shoplifters. Ever. 2) Perhaps instead of an alleged "shoplifting epidemic", maybe address the fact that 1/4 of the UK population are living in poverty? Seems related! www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08...
Jen (@ladyjenpool.bsky.social) reposted
Hey, as a librarian I need to tell you: Our funding depends on usage. So go ahead and check out that book even if you don't think you'll finish it. No one will know. Check out that DVD even though you might not like it. Get ambitious in your quest for knowledge.
Zack Polanski (@zackpolanski.bsky.social) reposted
We tax earned income more than unearned wealth. That means if you work really hard with your hands or your brain- you're being taxed more than someone who happens to own an asset. A cleaner of a building could be paying more tax than the owner! We must reduce inequality. youtu.be/iIAuR7-h4ZY?...
Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation.bsky.social) reposted
Workers in London and in less deprived areas are more likely to work in air-conditioned offices There is currently no maximum working temperature law to protect workers, and many workers are unable to change working patterns to avoid the hottest parts of the day. Read more: buff.ly/OKjK2ww
Natalie Bennett (@nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social) reposted
On the #IngloriousTwelfth, sharing a speech from nine years ago. The good news is that #DrivenGrouseShooting is clearly on the way out - the #ClimateEmergency to which it contributes, and the diseases its overpopulation model spreads, are seeing to that www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZpF...