It’s really giving the tree of Gondor vibes
10.02.2026 08:32 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0It’s really giving the tree of Gondor vibes
10.02.2026 08:32 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A promotional graphic for a podcast or audio series with a blue, starry night background. At the top, yellow text reads "SPARE A THOUGHT," followed by large, bold white text that says "JESUS WAS A REFUGEE." Below this is the phrase "Now streaming" above the icons for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. At the bottom, a black silhouette depicts a traditional nativity scene with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in a stable under a bright star, set against a dark, hilly landscape.
In this Christmas special, I explore what the nativity story teaches us about welcoming refugees and asylum seekers today with @welshrefcouncil.bsky.social & chaplains from Cardiff University.
Listen here: spareathought.podbean.com/e/jesus-was-...
Nation of Sanctuary Awards 2026 nominations are now OPEN 🌟
Every day, incredible individuals and groups work tirelessly to create welcoming spaces. And now is your chance to give them the recognition they deserve!
✅ Everything you need to nominate is right here: wrc.wales/nation-of-sa...
When someone is recognised as a refugee but only offered a short-term status, what follows isn’t safety: it’s limbo.
Read our full statement to hear why the UK Government's proposals will lead to insecurity without solving any of the real issues ⬇️
wrc.wales/our-response...
Professor Karen Jacobsen discusses her new book, "Host Cities: How Refugees Are Transforming the World's Urban Settings," and her career as a scholar of forced migration. @tomspare.bsky.social@yalebooks.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/6g3o...
The gap between electricity and gas prices in Jan will now be 20% larger than a year before, pushing up bills for a typical household using electric storage heating by £100, compared to typical dual fuel billpayer seeing bills rise by just £2.50 www.nesta.org.uk/press-releas...
22.11.2025 09:48 — 👍 8 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
On 4th November it will be a year since the US went to the polls to re-elect Donald Trump. In the lead-up to voting day I crisscrossed the US before spending voting day in Washington DC. Over the next couple of days I’ll be reflecting on my trip via Substack.
29.10.2025 08:42 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
What lessons can we draw from future? Let's time-travel and find out.
In the latest episode of Spare a Thought, author and activist Rob Hopkins takes us in his time machine to the year 2030 so we can fall in love with the future. 🌍🔮🎉
Listen here: spareathought.podbean.com/e/how-to-fal...
I know that there are a lot of Welsh politics folks out there missing the @hiraethpod.bsky.social while it is on hiatus.
While I would ofc point anyone needing a fix either to ‘For Wales, See Wales’ by the ever excellent Will Hayward and BBC Wales’s #WalesCast I’m happy to say that I have *news*
Happy to confirm that our new Welsh politics pod is on the way filled with informative, astute, and what I would euphemistically refer to as “robust“ debate between Lee Waters MS, Prof Laura McAllister and former Conservative Special adviser Lauren McEvatt.
We’ll be ready to share soon! #Senedd26
New pod alert. Coming soon...
28.09.2025 08:01 — 👍 10 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 0Big thank you to @jaychard.bsky.social for coming on the show - we worth a listen
17.09.2025 18:27 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
🗞️ New analysis by Nesta, featured in @the-independent.com, shows the high cost of reducing obesity rates in the UK with weight-loss medication alone, compared to a strategy that includes prevention policies ⤵️
08.09.2025 11:00 — 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1What’s it like to find yourself at a Trump rally? Well you can find out today! I’m releasing a mini series focused on the my travels to the US during last year’s Presidential Election. Here’s a video taster of what’s in store, listen now: spareathought.podbean.com
06.08.2025 11:29 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0To all the people having Roast dinner today, god bless you, but aren’t you a tad hot? To all the people making Roast dinner in this heat, there should be a law prohibiting you from doing so.
13.07.2025 15:12 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The NHS is in the news a lot right now! If you’d like to know what’s going on, from someone who worked as a doctor for 10 years+is now an NHS campaigner, sign up to my newsletter. I’ll give you important info (plus there’s no trolls, it’s lovely!🤣🥰💙)
jujuliagrace.substack.com
I learned so much from my conversation Dr Julia Patterson, CEO of @everydoctor.org.uk we talk NHS privitsation, the state of healthcare in the UK and the welfare of NHS staff
20.06.2025 14:31 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Image of cover of Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.
Govt just published the Bill to cut disability benefits for > 3 million people, revealing that mitigations for those with the most severe conditions ministers have been telling MPs about will protect only up to 10% of new claimants from a halving of UC's health element 1/5
18.06.2025 14:58 — 👍 51 🔁 52 💬 7 📌 31 or 2 depending on the way things go. I work in comms and policy in the third sector. I think there’ll always be a need for gatekeepers, storytellers etc but in my work world it’ll mean smaller teams, more specialism.
12.06.2025 09:40 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Text: Spare a Thought Saving the NHS with Dr Julia Grace Patterson on a blue background with a black and white image of Dr Patterson on the left side.
Can we save NHS? I spoke to @jujuliagrace.bsky.social of @everydoctor.org.uk to discuss government reforms, the role of private providers in NHS services, the wellbeing of staff and patients & her own journey from Doctor to campaigner.
Listen here: spareathought.podbean.com
Well, electricity levies and heat pumps are in the news this morning…
… and we have a brand new Nesta report out on levy reform.
We’ve looked closely at all the options, and this is what we think the best approach is…
www.nesta.org.uk/report/how-t...
Today Nesta publishes recommendations on how to make energy bills fairer & greener ⬇️
Levies are driving up the price of electricity bills, making it harder for people to switch to low-carbon heating.
We’re proposing to rebalance levies in a way that is easy & fair, using new Nesta modelling.
Two images, one of a Birds Eye view of Gaza buildings destroyed and rubble, the second children clambering for food holding empty containers. Text over the top reading: The Political Dispatch Gaza Starves
I’ve interviewed Zoe Daniels from the International Rescue Committee to discuss Gaza. You can listen here: thepoliticaldispatch.podbean.com
26.05.2025 17:53 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Bruce Springsteen and Donald Trump are “two opposing faces of modern America as it was built and performed by their generation,” Eric Alterman writes in a guest essay. “They offer their fan bases a promise of entirely different futures.”
Today marks five years since George Floyd was killed by police. Our June 22, 2020 cover “Say Their Names,” by Kadir Nelson, illustrated how Floyd’s murder embodies the history of violence inflicted upon Black people in America. nyer.cm/UmfefJw
25.05.2025 22:40 — 👍 15545 🔁 3947 💬 334 📌 163
Give yourself a real treat on this glorious Sunday and read my latest newsletter.
willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/why-cuts-d...
Image of Will Hayward on the right with text reading: Spare a Thought Wales and the media with Will Hayward
Had the pleasure of speaking to @willhaycardiff.bsky.social about Wales and the media. You can listen to our conversation wherever to you get your podcasts from or follow the link: spareathought.podbean.com
22.05.2025 13:34 — 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
With all this talk about wasted money, and inefficiency in the NHS, can we please start asking the government how much money has been spent by politicians in the name of ‘NHS reforms’?
These ICBs were only created in 2022!
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Racism called out by @maitlis.bsky.social lots of other interviewers would have let it slide. Great journalism speaking truth to power.
16.05.2025 09:04 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
