Last post on Blue Sky. Tried to make this work but anyone I follow I rarely if ever see their posts again. The feed is invariably mostly US focused. So I have to use search to find people I follow. Book and film all over the place, nobody goes to theatre or concerts. Sadly it hasn't broken through.

It came back on Reform's face and has made them look stupid. Even GBnews ducked out of it. Unfortunately BlueSky not being updated and X is where a lot happened which many of us aren't on. Which defeats the point of an alternative channel. Ho hum.

Angry backlash at Kent council ruling on trans literature LGBTQ+ rights campaigners have joined a chorus of outrage at a decision not to display trans literature in the children’s sections of libraries.

Reform beginning to discover opposition still exists in Kent. The book ban is going well.
share.google/zaHK2sWIpKwS...

Reform's Darren Grimes Accused of Lying After Police Deny Telling Him Not to Hold Council Surgeries for 'Security' Reasons EXCLUSIVE: Local police have rejected the Reform UK deputy council leader's claim that they advised him not to meet his constituents

Reform UK's Darren Grimes tells constituents he can't hold surgeries with them because he's been advised by the police not to do so for "security reasons".

The only problem? Police spokesperson says this is entirely untrue and they gave no such advice

bylinetimes.com/2025/07/03/r...

Syria had an alternative. That's the difference.

So why don't we know this? (I do but I'm a policy wonk). The NHS relaunch looked good but the headlines were Rachel's tears and climb downs. All Labour issues.

You haven't been alive in the Seventies then. No difference. Blair got the same BUT the public were behind him. Starmer has lost that support by his own actions

He was a Tory!
Pie in the sky ideas don't pay the rent. Pragmatic solutions that deliver are not forgotten. A decade or so later my mother recalled it and the impact. Who is going to recall anything positive about the past year?

That's the poverty trap. It can be fixed as Heath and subsequent gifts have done.

That's what's happening. It's a line in the sand moment.

Except it won't win anything except allow Reform to run the country. Corbyn is a busted flush who has had his day. Where's the young leaders to inspire us, not has-beens. Same issue as the Democrats have. Too many time servers

Way back in the army Sixties a poverty trap developed where people in work were taxed so they were worse off in benefits. Ted Heath brought in the Family Income Supplement. My mum, staunch socialist and single mother, said it transformed her (and our) lives. What a few extra quid can deliver.

New DWP statistics: 1 in 9 children now hit by two-child limit Survey of 560 affected families reveals acute hardship. Charities and Church of England call on new government to commit to abolishing the policy this year – ‘...children can’t wait for government to ...

What analysts? Find that hard to believe.
cpag.org.uk/news/new-dwp...

Banned Books List 2025 - PEN America What books are banned in 2025? These are the 11 most banned books of the 2023-2024 school year. The banned books list for 2025 includes "Nineteen Minutes," by Jodi Picoult.

The fact that one 'complaint' triggered a virtual victory dance effectively launches open season on libraries. There will be a deluge of complaints which won't stop at 'safe' targets like LGBT+

16000 in the US since 2021. It will happen here.
pen.org/banned-books...

That should have been the presentation. Remove the cap and means test the Christmas Fuel payment. It's quite simple. You give with one hand and take something with the other but not enough to obscure the give.

If you keep giving own goals what do you expect? New Labour far better at thinking through consequences. Nobody around Starmer has a clue. Christmas bonus was an utter disaster as your first policy. It's got worse since.

GBNews very quiet.

Not unless we accept political control over what goes in the library. And schools are next.

It's demanding where it's placed initially. Once that's won, it's removal. Either tackle them early doors or end up with an onslaught of complaints about books.

No difference to the past 100 years. But the messages got through under Atlee, Wilson and Blair. We are back to Callaghan, Brown and sadly Starmer.

Reform UK council leader under fire over trans library book The new Reform UK leadership at Kent County Council (KCC) is under fire for removing trans books from a library’s children’s section.

Kent Reform book banning begins. One complaint ..
www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourn...

Reform UK council leader under fire over trans library book The new Reform UK leadership at Kent County Council (KCC) is under fire for removing trans books from a library’s children’s section.

But more here
www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourn...

They caught a moment, the last time this country felt optimistic in the mid 1990s when the Tories were disintegrating and New Labour promised change (which it delivered).
Like the Beatles and the Sixties, Sex Pistols in the Seventies. You had to be there.

I'm not sure they can. No organisation as such to oppose and on what ground? Apparently one complaint was sufficient so you can see what happens next.

Reform county councillors order removal of transgender guide ‘from children’s section’ in all Kent libraries By Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay The new Reform UK leadership at Kent County Council (KCC) is under fire after claiming to have removed transgender books from a library’s children’s section…

Reform have started banning books in Kent. Can't run a meeting so using X instead. This is the start.
theisleofthanetnews.com/2025/07/03/r...

Reform UK lost both of their first seat defences.

And wasted the tax payer ~£50k in the process.

The inability to sell the improvements is baffling. One year in and it's the Christmas bonus and PIP that are the only breakthrough announcements. The ham fisted press management is the worst I've ever experienced and I'm going back to 1970...

Reform county councillors order removal of transgender guide ‘from children’s section’ in all Kent libraries By Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay The new Reform UK leadership at Kent County Council (KCC) is under fire after claiming to have removed transgender books from a library’s children’s section…

Reform in Kent have started banning books.
Can't have a meeting...
theisleofthanetnews.com/2025/07/03/r...

Reform county councillors order removal of transgender guide ‘from children’s section’ in all Kent libraries By Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay The new Reform UK leadership at Kent County Council (KCC) is under fire after claiming to have removed transgender books from a library’s children’s section…

They have started.
theisleofthanetnews.com/2025/07/03/r...

Probably joining Reform.