Scribbler Pen

Stop the Surge of Hate Speech Against Disabled People in the UK Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?

Please join me in supporting @atlantarey.bsky.social petition for action to curb #disability hate speech in the UK. It couldn't be more timely.
chng.it/s9fTpcmgD2

Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

Exclusive: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication.

My latest.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

From Long Flu to Long COVID: A Brief History of Postviral Illness | Think Global Health Despite centuries of examples, long-term maladies after flu and other viruses remain absent from mainstream policy

www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/long...

There is something deeply ironic in the Lords debate on the Universal Credit bill #UCBill being preceded by the debate over who gets to own the Telegraph.
But when it gets to it, you can see it here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/86

Coming up on 6th August, free, for charity sector professionals:
Bullying at work: What to do if you are on the receiving end
Date: 6 aug • 11:00

www.eventbrite.com/e/bullying-a...

Labour suspends four rebel MPs for breaching party discipline Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell all voted against welfare reforms.

Those suspended or demoted are all that Labour MPs should be.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Brazilian neuroscientist reveals how viral infections transform the brain through microscopic detective work Dr. Danielle Beckman's innovative research at the California National Primate Research Center demonstrates how viral infections disrupt brain homeostasis, leading to neuroinflammation and cognitiv...

Very honored to have given this Rising Star interview, where I could talk a bit about myself, my research, my passion for microscopy, and my dream to help find a cure for #LongCovid one day 💔

Link for the full interview: short-link.me/123uR
Press release:
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

@bsky.app Please can you consider an edit button that allows changes for one minute after posting. This will allow better quality tweets from those of us who suffer from fatigue/dyslexia. This should be an adaption. If it locks down after a minute it protects the integrity of the post.

Environment Agency insider alleges ‘cover-up’ over sewage sludge on farmland Regulator and government accused of colluding with water industry to dump potentially toxic waste without oversight

The more we discover, the worse it gets. Now we learn the water companies wrote the guidance ensuring sewage sludge is not tested for the vast majority of contaminants before being spread on farmland. They gave themselves a free licence to dump hazardous waste. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Statue of suffragette Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square in London holding a banner with a slogan attribute to her that says 'Courage calls to courage everywhere'

Don't give up. ❤️‍🩹 We are very much not done.

So there we have it, the #UCBill passed, just losing the #PIP part, but with no meaningful amendment to protect #UniversalCredit claimants including LCWRA group too disabled to work. That's £2.1bn cuts by the end of the decade from 750,000 people, and that's all that this bill is for.

Thank you @rachaelmaskell.bsky.social for amendment 38 to #UCBill to protect UC health payments for LCWRA with remitting/relapsing health conditions. I am sorry it didn't pass, and that there wasn't the moral courage and the ethics to pass it. But thank you for trying and for your speech today. 💜🙏

Thank you @johnmcdonnellmp.bsky.social for your NC8 amendment to #UCBill. It didn't pass. What caused more than 400 MPs to object to the government having to publish the outcome of the review into PIP assessment and to have the right to scrutinise it?
They've just removed that right from themselves?

It's unlikely that in response to the Green Paper consultation disabled people and DDPOs called for face-to-face assessments, when DWP sites are inaccessible and not Covid-safe esp. for those with impaired health.
Is the DWP ignoring the consultation responses? What happened to "co-production"?

Stephen Timms: despite removing Clause 5 (PIP reforms) from the #UCBill DWP will "get on with more face to face assessments" as "should have been done after the pandemic".
Has Stephen Timms decided this without consulting disabled people's groups?
@longcovidsupport.bsky.social @cvcev.bsky.social

Thank you @vickyfoxcroftmp.bsky.social for asking for co-production on #UCHealth as there is now meant to be on #PIP.
S. Timms replies this would be "considered" after the PIP review concludes. That's not until late 2026, but UC health is being cut for 2026claimants from 2026. There isn't time?

Thank you @kimjohnsonmp.bsky.social for saying what needs to be said, the UC Bill needs to be scrapped.
"It's a sadistically cruel cost cutting exercise."

There's been no consultation, nothing in the bill except punitive cuts to disabled, no support, just discrimination.
#BinTheBill

"The government needs to stop making policy about #disabled people without them"
@adamjamesdance.bsky.social
👏👏👏
#BinUCBill

Scientific norms shape the behavior of researchers working for the greater good While rarely explicitly taught to scientists in training, a set of common values guides science in the quest to advance knowledge while being ethical and trustworthy.

Why trust science?

One answer to that question is because good scientists stick to certain ethical norms as they do their research and publish their results 🧪

❗️Severe Conditional Criteria (SCC) in the #UCBill protects very few: it excludes fluctuating symptoms and relies on diagnosis in NHS provision that might not be there. Most people too disabled to work face UC cuts.
Please vote for amendments 17, 44 by @graemedowniemp.bsky.social and 33 to fix this ❗️

URGENT ACTION: letter to send to MPs re UC bill - DPAC Subject line: UC bill: crucial amendments

Last minute push to write to your MP before tonight's vote on the #UCBill
You can use the letter here
dpac.uk.net/2025/07/urge...
and send it via Write to Them www.writetothem.com
Or quickly generate and send your letter here:
takingthepip.co.uk/write-to-you...

#BInUCBill #TakingThePIP

Thank you so much for your clarity, hard work, compassion and decency. All the best today.
So many people owe you a debt of gratitude and stand with you, as you stand with them.

Most in the LCWRA category, too disabled to work/seek work are unprotected, i.e. people who can't get income through work will be losing income from their disability benefits.
UC increase applies to non-health UC rates only, while disabled claimants get cuts.
That's disability discrimination.

Thank you , Richard, @richardburgon.bsky.social for all your hard work, compassion and decency, and good luck today!

Chart showing the impact on UC health claimants after Severe Conditions Criteria and SREL (terminal illness) protection, with 750,000 claimants on lower rate bearing a £2.1 billion cut by 2029/30

UK Govt snuck out an impact assessment last night showing £2.1 bn cuts to Universal Credit health, with 750,000 claimants to lose £3,000 a year on average by 2029/30. via @richardburgon.bsky.social
The Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) and SREL (terminal illness) are limited, protect barely 1 in 10.

Welfare reforms breach international law, says new expert legal opinion New expert legal opinion says the government’s welfare reforms “result in very serious breaches” of international human rights law and constitute “human rights violations for disabled people” and desc...

Uk Government's #WelfareReforms breach international law, according to expert legal opinion by Jamie Burton KC, Doughty Street Chambers, commissioned by Equity @equityuk.bsky.social
www.equity.org.uk/news/2025/we...

Full legal opinion www.equity.org.uk/media/254d4q...

Thinking of those lost in the past months, to exacerbated illness and to loss of hope. Of the tears that weren't splashed across the front pages.
Please don't ever give up hope. You are not alone ❤️‍🩹💚
There are many of us, holding each other up, we have your back. We'll see this through.
#BinUCBill

UC & PIP Bill amendments A Flourish data visualization by Ayaz Manji

Visual guide to #UCBill amendments:
public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...
#WelfareBill

Given UN concerns, you should #BinUCBill tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/...
❗If you can't, amendments to support:
On UC: 2a or 14 and 17, 33, 38 (to protect severely disabiled)
On PIP: NC8, NC11
On consultation: NC7
On UN CRPD compliance: NC10, NC4
On impact/equality assessment: NC2, NC3, NC5