Bridget McKenzie

It would be good if you could point out your sponsors Adani and BP are causing the problem in this exhibition too.

It’s like kicking open a vast termites nest except that to use an ecological metaphor feels in bad taste. Maybe like exploring a dictator’s palace after liberation, while the world is still captured by his cronies. It exposes the sufferings of violent patriarchy, racism, power grabbing & ecocide.

I keep seeing people diminish Epstein, like “we’re focusing on a single sex offender but it’s a distraction.” He trafficked 1000+, ran a kompromat factory likely trading to Israel & Russia. It’s a lens onto a conspiracy of extreme colonisation of bodies & lands with devastating impacts on all life.

People get hung up (reasonably) on the "walkable" cities frame because many people cannot walk or have problems walking

I propose: human scale cities

as in: a city where the spaces I am in are built for human bodies, and not two ton high speed murder machines

YouTube video by GreenAllianceUK Nature loss is risk to UK security and prosperity | Ruth Chambers

⚠️🐦 Nature loss is risk to our security and prosperity, and a new government report has confirmed it.

Published after a Green Alliance FOI request, the report must now prompt action.

As @ruthchambers.bsky.social sets out below, the government and parliament must urgently address its findings.

Thanks! I’m co-organising a NEB event in Norwich with the second part being about imagining what it means and how we can apply creativity to the NEB challenge locally. (Reimagine Norwich, Norwich Writers Rebel). I’ll share that idea with Culture Declares for wider take-up.

I mean MP Watch members can take up with MPs using your points. I’ve shared with them on our chat. Also, people are asking me how the Cultural sector - arts, design, heritage - can support the NEB. I’d welcome any ideas to feed to my networks.

Totally agree. This is something @mpwatchnesh.bsky.social could McCarthy & other relevant MPs. The last bit ‘we’re already doing this’ implies messaging by stealth to consumers not strategic engagement with civil agencies/local govt/business. It treats it like tooth-brushing or speed limit driving.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/glenn-vowles-a6b61a388_see-the-reply-from-my-mp-in-bristol-activity-7416987108285947904-_yYD/

A friend pointed me to a post on social media of a letter by Kerry McCarthy MP (Labour, Bristol East) about a request for a televised emergency briefing on the #ClimateEmergency

I was stunned by how casually the idea & its urgency were dismissed. Let’s unpack why this response is so wrong-headed 🧵

I was a White House ethics lawyer.

I used to advise people not to even accept a free cup of coffee from someone who had interests before them. And staff followed those rules.

I can’t even find the words to describe the scale of Trump’s corruption here.

Pleased to join @rupertread.bsky.social @bridgetmck.bsky.social @npjbrooks.bsky.social calling for an international protectorate for #Greenland to address defence and climate risks; and to restart international cooperation in the Guardian today
👇👇

Black & White, and the Colour of Coral Links in time and space, between Nazi propaganda, underwater photography and coral reef bleaching, as a way to understand representation…

A prose-poem & collage exploring links in time & space, between Nazi propaganda, underwater photography & coral reef bleaching, to understand representation, complicity in and denial of great harms. bridgetmck.medium.com/black-white-...

Britain is planning nuclear-powered ships. Will they be safe? Inside the plan to build merchant ships powered by a new generation of atomic reactors

Oh, pleassseee! What could possibly go wrong if you were sailing nuclear reactors around increasingly stormy, little regulated, politically unstable seas? Has anyone thought about pirates? 🤦

#NoNewNuclear
www.thetimes.com/business/com...

“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.” 🧪

IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors. 🌍

“Most of the time” 🤣 What an enormous navel, a kind of kangaroo tail, and a stance like the Tories starting doing on stages to make themselves look like Henry VIII.

Billionaires added record $2.2tn in wealth in 2025 Just eight billionaires accounted for a quarter of the gains, led by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Larry Page

The world’s 500 richest people have total wealth of $11.9tn.

Their wealth up by $2.2tn in 2025. 8 billionaires accounting for a 25% of the gains.

No one becomes this rich by working.

They fund right-wing parties, oppose worker/human rights, cause more pollution than normal people.

Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying Mark Zuckerberg and current and former Meta executives agreed on Thursday to settle a $8 billion shareholder lawsuit alleging the company’s directors failed to prevent billions of dollars in fines and...

Mark Zuckerberg settles $8bn lawsuit to avoid testifying under oath over Cambridge Analytica and walks away without public accountability

This is surveillance capitalism in action: law-breaking treated as cost of doing business, executives shielded, power untouched.
www.france24.com/en/americas/...

The Green party is becoming known for hope, for climate justice, for people and planet. But we haven't lost sight of the emergency, the Green surge is a surge to tackle the most important issues, to make sure that we get a government for the real world, not for billionaires' fantasies.
It matters

I think it’s general, referring to any kinds of sponsors or individual donors that have raised alarm bells. The attention in the report is focused on the alarm-bell-ringers and their behaviour not those that profit from harms.

That is one of the factors, yes. In general, I’m not handwringing about problems within ACE. I’m looking at bigger systems. My issue with the Hodge review is that it doesn’t recognise the extractive systemic harms that have caused ecological overshoot & social shortfall.

You can read more in this piece in @artsprofessional.co.uk archive.ph/2025.12.17-1...

The recommendation for this point is: 3.11: ACE should work with the sector to develop a better capability in philanthropic giving.

Better wording would be: ACE listen to the sector to establish clear parameters on unethical sponsors, and to support cultural workers in freedom of expression.

ACE, other funders & professional bodies can provide moral and practical clarity on appropriate terms of sponsorship deals. For example, they can give guidance on not allowing sponsors too much influence and on allowing artists to speak out without censure.

It can’t refer to ACE taking a lead on setting parameters for acceptable actions by corporate & individual sponsors because they have no power to arbitrate what in goes on in companies that are plundering the planet or financing genocide. However, they do have some agency.

The suggestion that ACE should be an arbiter of ‘acceptable behaviour’ raises questions. This is focused on the behaviour of anyone speaking out, boycotting or refusing sponsorship. The word ‘behaviour’ implies individuals whereas ‘actions’, ‘harms’ or ‘ethics’ would be used if this meant sponsors.

There is only the emphasis on the point that refusing or boycotting sponsors can cause more harm. This is ill-evidenced, sweeping, & goes against current opinion by cultural workers & audiences. We do have evidence of how unethical sponsors cause reputational harm & internal strife for organisations

There’s no mention of how unethical and manipulative sponsorships cause harm to the cultural sector (including its audiences, communities, and the stressed ecosystems and planet we depend upon).

…Boycotting sponsors of arts & culture will often be more damaging to the arts than to the sponsor. Challenging boycotts can be difficult, but ACE has a leadership role to play in setting the parameters of what is and is not acceptable behaviour.”
I’ll outline why this problematic.

The Hodge review for Arts Council England is welcomed. But there’s a problem in the section on tackling the funding crisis.
“ACE also has an important role to play in ensuring that prevailing attitudes & practices in arts orgs do not discourage corporations & individuals from donating to the arts…

Cinema city, norwich WED 19 nov 6pm £10-£14 Panellists Pete knapp director Helen benyon author RUPERT READ climate majority project BRIDGET MCKENZIE climate museum uk

My film Fires and Fascism at Norwich (Cinema City) on Wed 19 Nov with a great panel to discuss the far right afterwards:
@rupertread.bsky.social @helenb92.bsky.social @bridgetmck.bsky.social

Get your tickets from Picturehouse: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...

Trailer: fires-and-fascism.co.uk