This is how the government justifies harming trans kids. It isn't looking at evidence or peer-reviewed scientific publications, it is asking transphobes their opinions.
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This is how the government justifies harming trans kids. It isn't looking at evidence or peer-reviewed scientific publications, it is asking transphobes their opinions.
It felt like from the beginning they were editing it to make him look bad. I guess knowing the result. But it felt like he was shown differently from previous episodes.
Congratulations!
@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Look what just arrived! Can't wait to dive in.
"why does restaurant food taste better than food cooked at home" The cook does not care if you live or die and uses salt and butter accordingly
😐
Congratulations!
Would be nice if a journalist pulled him up on this while reporting how much he desperately cares about women's rights.
Have never come across Forvo before! Though it seems to think my name is both male and female in Welsh (it can be a male name in other cultures, but in Welsh it literally means maiden), and then only gets the pronunciation right for the supposed male name. Still v cool though.
every person in that room is clapping because, deep down, they agree that asylum seekers should be burned alive, and people should be free to say so. it's unbelievably sick and twisted to lionise this woman. this is who reform are.
Read the book a while back and... yep.
Re: Linehan, very much this.
THANK YOU!
I mean, I have an easily stressed dog for this.
Would you look at that, new rules about gender testing female athletes has already had a negative impact on women placing sports! Who’d have predicted this?!?
If you tell your followers to physically attack trans women in bathrooms and changing rooms, you're directly inciting violence. That seems straightforward. If you tell your followers to burn down hotels with migrants inside, you are directly inciting violence. There should be serious consequences.
When I was announced as the lead in a Doctor Who spinoff in 2023 Graham Linehan tweeted about me for TWO DAYS, tagging the BBC and others to say that I am pro-child abuse and they shouldn't work with me.
Dear God! Linehan was NOT arrested for “gender critical” tweets, or tweets about “trans issues”! He was arrested for tweets calling on people to violently attack trans people in public bathrooms, or (cos he’s a feminist 🙄) if the police won’t help to find the nearest “big strapping bloke” to do it
Random channel hopping to Yes Minister on BBC4. Line after line of perfect quotes, as always.
That feels like when they do random changes to Agatha Christie adaptations. Modernising is one thing, but do you really think you can do a murder mystery plot better than Christie? (Or horror better than King!)
I feel like the first is potentially what funds the second?
Actually, my partner did an MBA and I feel a lot about motivation and work is actually understood at expensive business schools around the world! But it's ignored by managers who work on vibes and what they think people should be doing and how they should be proving themselves.
Freelance publishing person. Mostly a sub editor, regular writer and knitting/crochet designer, occasional magazine editor. Not what I thought I'd do at 20, but younger teenage me would be overjoyed at the idea.
Flipping burgers in a burger bar in an amusement arcade on the promenade, when I was 15 (I grew up in a seaside resort). £1.50 an hour, in 1997.
Am a journalist and that rate seems very normal to me! Different parts of the publishing world I guess… Sorry you're getting piled on.
I mean, it was slightly performative given that most of my followers are British...
Bus Stop by The Hollies might be the most British love song ever written.
Did Not Happen.
Toys. People living in a tiny hotel room aren't allowed to save and buy a toy to help entertain their child.
In lockdown we watched all the MI films in reverse order (I have no idea why) and our biggest takeaway was the way his hair changed.
Have had an absolute Week, would now like to sleep for the next 60 hours please.
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset. In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia. In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
@pollyrowena.bsky.social on nature writing, chronic illness, and the controversy surrounding Raynor Winn’s memoir, The Salt Path.
God that's awful, I'm so sorry.
One last thought on this - the reason I have this choice to make is that people almost always take a moment to ask me how it's pronounced. Because that's the polite and reasonable thing to do with a name from a different language to your own!
(I did insist on people getting it right in my wedding ceremony though, because - as current events make clear - at significant occasions you really want it to be *your* name that's said)
And I will always just introduce myself with an English pronunciation, because otherwise it becomes a while thing of attempting that "rh" sound.
It is entirely unlike the awful experiences recounted, but current name pronunciation discourse does make me think of the weirdness of the way no one in my day to day life pronounces my name correctly - because really only Welsh speakers do, and I live in England.
Highly amused by how much people seem to think journalists are paid.
Something very very weird happened during the Hugos award ceremony... It's been on my mind for days, and so I wrote this blog: "When People Giggle at Your Name, or the 2025 Hugo Awards Incident" grigorylukin.com/2025/08/21/w... #Worldcon
And again!
Yeah, need a permanent one really, no urgent rush.
I do have a backup! I guess it's stuff I don't use all the time, but want to be able to search and access when I need to without too much faff or digging around.
Moving to a new laptop with half the storage of current one (and I use most of the storage of the current one). Extra hard drive or Cloud for the overmatter? And any recommendations for either? (Mostly old work docs and photos, I think)
Everyone else with a dog scritches them goodnight and mentally says "OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!" right?
16yo sending me pics of toys I knit him when he was younger.
Perhaps, one day, schoolkids will study this squalid little chapter in British terror-panic history. When they do, I hope these two headlines from today are printed side by side, with clear annotation of which individual faced more outrage and condemnation.
“Well it never ceases to amaze me that these things are still somehow regarded as ‘cult’ when they’re literally the predominant popular art form in the whole fucking world.” thebeemagazine.com/mark-gatiss-...
Interesting piece on trends in fantasy.
Oh god.
Very good thread. Terrible framing by The Guardian on this.
Freelance wordy person here and feeling this.
In hot weather like this, remember to keep an eye on your freelancers. Move them to a shaded spot, indoors if possible, away from ‘people’. Distract them with a computer or some unrealistic deadline. Do check on them, by email, but don’t forget to set yours to out of office in case they reply 🙏
Finished, really enjoyed. Recommend.
🔴NEW🔴 On Saturday, the far right attempted to protest outside a hotel housing asylum seeking people. I spoke to people on both sides of the police barrier. What I found was a far right full of glee that it is winning Read now, on @opendemocracy.net www.opendemocracy.net/en/bristol-f...
Picked up Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg in town today, loving it so far.
X marks the spot, where "spot" means "excellent book you should buy immediately, ideally from your local queer bookshop".
The Observer takes on the collapse of Unbound - some truly shocking allegations, almost all of which I have seen compelling evidence of as a member of the Unbound author WhatsApp group and through my own experience of being published by them observer.co.uk/news/busines...
Oh boo. Urgh why is this everywhere?!
Similar here – thought it would be great, switched to it, couldn't get decent search results. Back to Google (generally with -ai)
quick reminder: if someone refers to people as "illegals," they're probably incredibly racist
Of course, if the Supreme Court "clarifies" that the law as written demands a horribly-intrusive curtain-twitching enforcement environment that results in people afraid to go out in public, then the correct response is to _change the law_, not to shrug and say, "Well glad that's clear now."
I am so sick and tired of seeing MPs and the media shit themselves over refugees arriving in small boats over the channel. If your initial reaction to seeing these boats is anything other than “those poor bastards, I hope they make it across” then you have failed as a human being.
The employee asked the girl and her mother if they needed help shopping. That’s it. That’s all. The misinformation, the insinuations (because the facts are inconveniently benign) are EXACTLY what was done to lesbians in the 80s. This is the product of hate and fear, not reality.
I feel ashamed of myself for even posting this and asking, but I need the help to take some of the stress and pressure away - me and my husband, and our three beautiful dogs, are hoping that you can help raise emergency funds to try and find a new house. gofund.me/061cd1b4
For some reason I'd assumed that seaglass was naturally made if lightning struck and fused sand - wonder if author thought same and never checked?
I grew up in a seaside resort playing most of these through childhood. My first boyfriend was the only person I've known who could win the crane grabber almost every time – I had a massive collection of soft toys he won me as a teen.
Every so often we rewatch The Nice Guys and it's always great.
Today!
Happy Birthday! 🎂
The last Kubrick film we saw in the cinema together was A Clockwork Orange, and we fell asleep. In fairness we were both hungover.
Am going out tonight to watch Barry Lyndon (3hr 5min) and feeling this.
Teenage me would absolutely not have believed 43-year-old me sitting and cheering for England. And yet here we are.
The only way I can focus in Zoom meetings is by knitting. I used to think I was using it as an excuse because I wanted to knit, but have learned that without it I absolutely cannot stay focused on what people are saying.
I was told I had a very strong blink reflex when I first tried to wear them. Went on to wear for years though – you've just got to get through that initial struggle!
1995 BBC mini series with Colin Firth as Darcy…
I have a Bagpuss mug that says "Happy 21st Birthday from a saggy old cloth cat". I am 43.
Anyone enjoying Live Aid - I've just subbed a bookazine on it full of interesting features, pics and anecdotes. Do take a look! shop.anthem.co.uk/store/produc...
Yeah I thought that was pretty standard now.
And I don't think anyone previously tried to argue that meant you had actually read the books.
Then I should let you know I pre-ordered it yesterday!
Absolutely this. I'm a sub editor – real human writers make stupid mistakes all the time, hopefully we catch them.
My public transport commute went up by more than 10% between last year & this. If this were happening to drivers, it would be presented by media as a national crisis. Instead, it is happening to people making a choice we should be encouraging and disproportionately to those least able to afford it.
Here's my dog showing off her collection.
I get it on PDF books of crochet patterns 🙄
Also the pictured macaroni cheese looked awful!
I don't eat meat so could barely pick anything!
Looking through them but can't find this one, annoyingly!
(Spent the last week subbing stuff about actual Buddy Holly, all I had running around my head was the Weezer song the whole time)
Is there an easy way to see the Weezer set we missed this afternoon?
I had this exact same thing after being measured at GP a few years ago. Felt like it shook up everything I knew about myself!
Delighted to be a juror again for the British Fantasy Awards, this time for Best Fantasy Novel!
Does anyone have any recommendations (or places to avoid) for getting prescription swimming goggles? (I swim v v rarely but being near blind while doing so is pretty horrid)
Go tell her, surely?!
People who abstained from voting to decriminalise abortion: -Wes Streeting (health secretary) -Bridget Phillipson (women and equalities minister) -Rosie Duffield (top feminist and woman defender)
I don't know but am hoping someone that does answers as I also wonder this!
Did you also buy Surfacing because Full Of Grace was used in Buffy?
Said socks, now finished.
Have to admit at first glance was quite excited by the idea of a Stainless Steel Rat themed yarn.