Katy (she/her)

Please take a moment to appreciate this very, very small water sausage!

“All Fungi are edible.
Some fungi are only edible once.”

#GNUTerryPratchett

Reply to a post about the incident in Huntingdon from a US account: “ I cannot stress this enough to people. Carry a small canister of pepper spray and keep it accessible when you’re out in public especially trapped in a train. It’s an easy protective measure we can all take.” Reply from me: “I cannot stress enough to you that pepper spray is illegal to possess, buy, or carry in the UK under the Firearms Act 1968. I strongly recommend anyone reading does not do this under any circumstances.”

Well-meaning Americans in my mentions: kindly do not recommend extremely illegal actions that could land people in the UK with a ten year prison sentence

Ah, yes, as Jesus famously said: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will hold you accountable." Good grief.

SNJ & IPSEA yesterday met SEND Minister Georgia Gould. We restated the law must be retained & fully implemented in deed, culture ➕ sustainable funding. Getting more disabled adults into work starts with being fully included in education. The Minister said she’s keen to work with us

📣 SNJ & IPSEA yesterday met SEND Minister Georgia Gould. We restated the law must be retained & fully implemented in deed, culture ➕ sustainable funding. Getting more disabled adults into work starts with being fully included in education. The Minister said she’s keen to work with us

Thursday 30 Oct From 12noon Booklove Lounge, Brixton Meet the author event £2.50 tickets from www.thisisbooklove.com

If you're in Brixton tomorrow def come to this. I'll be talking about comedy, history and making it work for kids. Will be a brilliant half term event for all ages. Tickets from

www.thisisbooklove.com

Another point against the clock change - first dark commute of the year takes you by surprise!

Same! And my childhood best friends are now my kids' aunties and their husbands are their uncles. Not blood related at all.

Yes, very much so (9yo). Would your daughter wear an oodie? They're incredibly soft. Not waterproof, but better than nothing 😂 You can get heated gilets (Ororo) too for warmth without sleeves but I don't think they're suitable for children.

So satisfying. I've tried and failed to get my kids quite as excited about clearing the storm drains on our street as I am!

Reform council in Nottingham decide that the best way to save money is to spend £75,000 on... flags. Still, I'm sure they can cut social care of children's services to make up for it.

Four images showing vividly coloured knitwear with texts and cartoon like scenes with figures and objects

The work of hand knitting fiber artist Kendal Ross #WomensArt

Worth saying that despite asking for more than 12 hours we’ve had nothing back from Labour on this

Oh, the grand old duke of york
He ██████████████████
He ██████████████████
And he ██████████████████

I've signed the National Autistic Society's open letter because I won’t let baseless claims distract me from the real issues autistic people are facing. Will you join the #TruthItMatters campaign and sign it too?

act.autism.org.uk/page/178427/...

Energy requirements for AI mean that the only way for the bubble not to burst would require companies to multiply their carbon footprint to an unimaginable degree. Right now, while AI is barely functional and mostly a novelty for the lazy, it requires so much energy that data centers rival cities.

Today marks the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week.

This year, it comes as the UK is about to pass a law guaranteeing the right to bereavement leave for miscarriage, making us one of only 4 countries in the world to offer it.

My heart is with everyone who experiences the heartbreak of baby loss.

Today is the last chance to sign the petition to protect the rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Over 130,000 have signed. Will you help us with one final push before it closes at 23.59? #SEND #Disability

petition.parliament.uk/petit...

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Gender Clinic Files: Some people in Scotland will never get a gender clinic appointment on a 224-year waitlist.

This system is failing to support people to transition not because it is broken, but by design. The frustrating thing is that this would not be a difficult problem to solve under a different political paradigm. Trans+ people do not need to be assessed by gender clinics or diagnosed by psychiatrists to tell us what we already know: we are trans. The healthcare we need, especially when it comes to hormones, is already available to cis people through making an appointment with their GP. Gender clinics are unnecessary and exist to segregate healthcare for Trans+ people. Abolishing this system and providing Trans+ healthcare in primary care, at the GP through an informed consent model, would solve many of the issues this data reveals. GPs already prescribe hormones to cis adults. Trans+ adults simply need the same access to this healthcare.

In Glasgow, there is a 224-year waiting list for gender clinic appointments.

224 YEARS.

This is institutionalised discrimination. It's unacceptable, it's ruining people's lives and it needs to change.

We have the solution. Time for politicians to act.

Ohhhhh how had I forgotten about this?! I used to make it all the time. Recipe for school bake sale tomorrow sorted.

Imagine showing up for a job interview and proudly announcing that you have an accuracy rate of 57.2% at editing spreadsheets. You’d be escorted out.

The PM was right to call Reform's plans to scrap Indefinite Leave to Remain racist.

But if we force migrants to meet standards far beyond those who were born here, that is discriminatory too.

Migrants shouldn't have to do a Duke of Edinburgh award to be able to stay in the UK.

One ironic thing here is that I know of several cases where asylum seekers were punished for volunteering because that was too close to "work" and the Home Office wasn't having it.

fuck off fuck off fuck off fuck OFF with this bullshit

Krishnan Guru Murthy, "Isn't it a bit insulting to say to an Indian doctor who is working 60-70 hours a week that in order to get settled status he's got to volunteer?"

Rachel Reeves, "We want people to contribute if they come to our country"

Labour have gone utterly bonkers

I am a doctor.

Take the fucking paracetamol.

Jesus.

“why is the birth rate falling”

because you hate women you absolutely rabid squirrels. this is your own fault

H.G.WELLS, THE ENGLISH NOVELIST PLAYING AN INDOOR WARGAME (From a Drawing by S. Begg in the Illustrated London News) "Mr. Wells has developed his game so that the country over which the campaign is to be fought is laid out in any desired manner, with the aid of branches of shrubs as trees, with cardboard bridges, rocks, chalked-out rivers, streams and fords, cardboard forts, barracks, houses, and what not; there are employed leaden infantrymen and cavalrymen, and guns firing wooden cylinders about an inch long, capable of hitting a toy soldiers nine times out of ten at a distance of nine yards, and having a screw adjustment for elevation and depression. There are strict rules governing the combat. Before the battle begins, the country is divided by the drawing of a curtain across it for a short time, so that the general of each opposing army may dispose of his forces without the enemy's being aware of that disposition. Then the curtains are drawn back and the campaign begins. All moves of men and guns are timed. An infantryman moves not more than a foot at a time, a cavalryman not more than two feet, and a gun, according to whether cavalry or infantry are with it, from one to two feet. Mr. Wells is seen on the left of the drawing, taking a measurement with a length of string, to determine the distance some of his forces may move. On the right and left are seen the curtains for dividing the country before beginning the game."

"i never heard of autism growing up"