Vaughan Roberts

Behind every draconian decision, there's secret evidence ("detailed security assessments") we're not allowed to see. We should just suck it up and believe them.
Sorry, Yvette Cooper, that's not how democracy should work. When you make a decision of such consequence, we need to see the basis for it.

#BookSky

A *third* of the Commons has called on the PM to recognise Palestine as a state. Never seen anything quite like this.

More than 100 arrested across UK at protests related to Palestine Action Police in London detain scores of people and confiscate placards under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000

It's utterly mad.
These people are the opposite of terrorists.
THEY WANT PEACE.
The police know they're not terrorists.
The government knows they're not terrorists.
Yet, on the Home Secretary's orders, they're being arrested under the Terrorism Act.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Worth noting the Grand Jury testimony he's talking about won't have any details of clients or guests, and will take quite some time to be released, so this is just an attempt at kicking the can down the road.

Summer Sale Now On - a banner in yellow

It's that time again - yep, the SUMMER SALE! 🎉

Check out many bargains on our books at scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/features/sum...
while stocks last 😎

a herring gull looks displeased with the selection of sale books on the trolley outside Shetland library

Is there nothing on the trolley that takes your fancy, sir?

Mark T Mulder and Gerardo Marti's exploration of Robert H Schuller's life and ministry has arrived for me to review. My recent review of Richard N Pitt's "Church Planters: Inside the World of Religion Entrepreneurs" is available here:
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/F4NGP...

Wednesday evening and it was off to “Marie and Rosetta” at the #MinervaTheatre with Beverley Knight as Rosetta Tharpe and Ntombizodwa Ndlovu as Marie Knight. A tour de force on the stage plus lots of fascinating reflections on God, church and music.

Cartoon showing two rectangular boxes running horizontally that almost fill the page and overlap very slightly in the middle. The upper box is labelled SKY, the lower box LAND and squeezed into the overlap is the word HORIZON. Caption: Fen Diagram

Fen Diagram

A cartoon for the mathematically-minded lovers of flatlands, a particular Venn diagram in itself.

www.worldofmoose.com/products/fen...

Surprised to see that the Telegraph, Times and Mail don't seem to have written up the study about LTNs cutting deaths and injuries by more than a third. I guess the PR email must have got lost or something. They're normally all so interested in the subject.

As a historian who uses Hansard, this censorship of proceedings is absolutely terrifying.

Enormous fun to see #Oasis in #Cardiff on the second date of their #oasislive25 tour at the weekend. Lots of singing and lots of bucket hats!

Where is the moral panic?

Where are @lisanandy and @Keir_Starmer?

Or are we saying Rod Liddle can use his national platform to call for state violence and it’s fine

But if Bob Vylan chants about actual state violence it’s “incitement”?

At least try to be consistent.

To lose 40 per cent of your MPs returned at the election is quite impressive

A map showing South West England and Wales, labelled "Graph of British Rivers". Two river courses are shown, labelled 'Wye axis' and 'Exe axis'. Does anyone read these descriptions, or am I wasting my time?

Graph of British Rivers

Met police arrest activists holding signs referring to Palestine Action Officers arrest protesters day after direct action group banned as terrorist organisation

I don’t understand why British people aren’t more grateful that they’re being protected from terrorists like… [checks notes] …this entirely peaceful older lady.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

"The most important lesson emerging from this awful episode is not about Glastonbury or the BBC. It is about the moral test that our society faces."

The Chief Rabbi is right.

His endorsement of Israel's ongoing atrocities shows he's already failed that test. Up to the rest of us.

archive.ph/Oz7ME

Renowned composer heads north to share the gift of music Next week, the University of Glasgow will announce the launch of its new Children’s Choir, an initiative that will provide free, high-quality…

Great from Kevin McKenna & @heraldscotland.bsky.social.
Congrats to all my @uofglasgow.bsky.social
colleagues associated with it, esp @roisincoll.bsky.social
Impossible too without the personal support of @uofgvc.bsky.social & @douglashutchison.bsky.social
www.heraldscotland.com/news/educati...

Hmm, I wonder if Rod Liddle will be investigated by the police for literally calling for the murder of civilians

Tareq Baconi · Short Cuts: Gaza under Siege Humanitarian aid has long served as cover for Israeli crimes. Under the Geneva Conventions, an occupying force is...

‘Even as Palestinians in Gaza starve, the discussion around the delivery of aid remains limited to the possible and pragmatic.’

Tareq Baconi on Israel’s systematic denial of food and aid to Gaza:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Traffic lights on green where the usual "green man" has been replaced with a woman kicking a football.

I love this. In Basel they've changed some of the green traffic lights to women footballers for the Euros

Israeli military used 500lb bomb in strike on Gaza cafe, fragments reveal Exclusive: Experts say use of heavy munition in Monday’s strike that killed dozens may constitute a war crime

Israeli military used 500lb bomb in strike on Gaza cafe, fragments reveal www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Who decides what’s ‘hate speech’ and what’s dissent? A single Glastonbury chant shattered the illusion of free speech, exposing Britain's fragile moral panic machine

Why did one chant ignite fury while another was ignored? The Bear delivers powerful insight and analysis into the double standards shaping public discourse. Read why this matters.

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @bearlypolitics.co.uk

Bob Vylan statement on the fallout from their Glastonbury performance

On point and should put all the monetised right wing shitpilots to shame… sadly they don’t do shame

#FreePalestine

Another highlight from #glastonbury was seeing Patchwork (aka #Pulp) on the Pyramid Stage with other ‘common people’!

John Fogerty’s Bad Moon Rising over @glastonbury.bsky.social on Saturday evening 🌒

Enormous fun today seeing the bands Wet Leg & @franzferdinandhq.bsky.social on the Other Stage @glastonbury.bsky.social

Couldn’t have summed it up better myself. #brexithasfailed

Quakers speak out against proposed terrorist proscription of Palestine Action Quakers in Britain have voiced deep concerns about the government’s plan to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.

We have deep concerns about government plans to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

Nonviolent protest, and even acts of vandalism, should not be labelled as terrorism. Civil disobedience has been a powerful force for positive social change.

www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...