Ally Lester

Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less." She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards. They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it. This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil. The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option. "We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents. "We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""

The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.

I confess to already spending an interesting half hour searching for pictures of Whitman :)

BookPages 'Best of 2025' flyer for ALL OF US MURDERERS

Eeep! ALL OF US MURDERERS is one of BookPage's Best Mystery and Suspense of 2025!

I just finished it. Very highly recommend.

Interesting, irritating and scary.

. @zackpolanski.bsky.social please meet with the parents of the WellBN patients.

NHS Sussex is forcing dehumanising and abusive conversion practices on them.

Shoutout for teachers who hold a degree and/or QTS, and think anti-trans policies are unethical...

Please comment if you would be interested in taking on some paid online tutoring work for UK trans kids who have been forced out of schooling by policy and/or bullying.

I am really hoping Fire Guy finishes today. He's got to go on the roof and drop the liner down the chimney and it's a. windy as fuck and b. looks like the drizzle might turn to snow later.

I'm hoping he finishes without getting blown off the roof in the process.

This. His racist followers love the fact that he's always been like this. Follow the money instead.

Absolutely livid this morning to discover that the first armoured snails fighting knights appeared in manuscripts around the 13th century. Which means I can't feature them in this book.

*Retreats into shell, seething*

Gotta work with what you've got!

Most excellent thread / rant.

After Hours at Dooryard Books The manager of secondhand bookstore takes in a mysterious drifter. And then his best friend and her newborn move in. Everyone spends a lot of time thinking about Walt Whitman and badly processing t…

After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian is out today so nobody has any excuse for reading anything else.

This romance is like six coping mechanisms in a trench coat and not all of them are healthy, but everyone’s trying their best. I am desperate to hear other people react to it.

All southern resident killer whales gathered into ‘superpod’ south of Vancouver Island The Orca Behavior Institute says it’s “thrilled” to have seen a southern resident killer whale superpod gather in the waters south of Vancouver Island last week.

"On the morning of Nov. 10, researchers say they could hear the gathered excitement of the orcas on a hydrophone in Sunset Bay, Wash."

love that the whales had a family vacation

Think this is going to push a lot, if not most, of voters to the Greens. The right wing appeasement rather than practical improvements show Labour are not a party of serious government. Party before country.

Feel confident in backing the Greens, more moral and genuine with practical solutions.

Ten Books A Reading Journey — Runalong The Shelves Helloooo! This has been on my to do list for quite a few weeks. Earlier this year reviewer Roseanna Pendlebury did a blog on the ten fantasy books that took them on their reading journey. I wondered ...

Something different today ten books and one anti-book that I think are signposts on my own reading journey to make me the Womble I now am www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2025/11...

NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.

Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.

There’s just so much performative cruelty and stupidity in the asylum announcements that it’s hard to know where to start.

But one place to start is that if its aim is to reduce small boats crossings, it won’t work.

We’ve had 5 years of deterrent policies. They don’t work.

Will they be taking people's gold fillings?

Bichon Frise feeling considerably better. She is much cleaner, because she had a shower.

After Frenchie's Exciting Day (tm) yesterday, she also had an exciting evening. We have had to dispose of all our bedding and I have a steam cleaner arriving today because we can't afford a new mattress. Why do I keep pets, even?

(She has had boiled rice for breakfast and is feeling much better)

"Never believe anything until it's officially denied".

Trocadero was one of the most important queer venues in London, once upon a time…

#Booksky #Fridayreads Want to support us and the oldest feminist sf con in the world AND get a deal on great queer books? We’re @wiscon.bsky.social’s Vendor of the Month so this deal ends at the end of November!

We already have our Eel Facts advent calendar, because we loved Crab Facts and Frog Facts. Get your Eel Facts calendar to support @skypeascientist.bsky.social ✨

p.s. Looks like they still have some Frog Facts from last year so get one of those too before they're gone! 🐸

Frenchie the Bichon Frise face-on to the camera with a filthy muzzle and a winsome expression. Sat on sofa among brightly coloured cushions.

Can this really be the face of the dog who just stole the seriously-packaged, high-end fudge from a shelf over my sister's desk, (presumably) buried half in the garden and vomited the rest of it all over a floor cushion?

My favourite part of Miraj's show today was the old fellow who'd got British citizenship like 50 years ago pointing out that the ECHR was specifically set up to stop extreme rightwing parties doing things like, say, turn away Jewish refugees during a holocaust

Like some countries at the time DID DO

To anyone still paying membership fees to the Labour Party.

I'm an immigrant. Please don't talk to me all smiles, friendly and respectful while you're paying for these nasty racists and their nasty racist policies.

You are a hypocrite and my enemy.

Carcassonne About Carcassonne Players choose from tiles that depict cities, roads, monasteries, and fields; each new tile placed creates an ever-expanding board on which players can then add their followers. Play...

I love Carcasson -- it can be as cooperative or confrontational as you like. Also there are very cute pigs in one of the expansion packs.

www.zmangames.com/game/carcass...

Reading.

In addition, did you know you can buy a BUNDLE OF TRAUMA as a treat!!

Give the gift of trauma this holiday season, to either yourself or your loved ones, and save over £30 while you're at it!

shop.ravenswordpress.com/collections/...