Sparks

A springtime memory for chilly days. 😊💜🌷

#flowers #sunshine #flowerphotography #bloomscrolling #nature #NaturePhotography #gardening #gardens #beauty #hope #peace 🕊

photo of someone walking a dog in a park on a winter's day, with the sun low in the sky behind bare trees in an urban setting.

Only 3 weeks until the days start getting longer again ⛅

Hang in there, SAD people ❤️

"There was something romantic about it. I don't mean romantic in a kissy sense, but in that 'Ah, I wonder where it's going? Is it travelling somewhere nice?' way." - Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi on the sound of trains in the distance

My daughter, earlier, when I told her there would be school today, gesticulating "no, no, no".
Later on when her breakfast was prepared and I called her: got to the kitchen in no time.
Not all "rigidness" in autism is bad.
We all have ours too. Our rituals, ours schedules, our ways to do things...

😂😂😂 @tobyontv.bsky.social thank you for making me laugh 👌😁

Farm workers are harvesting green onions by hand in Kern County CA.

Farm workers are harvesting green onions by hand in Kern County CA. They bend over for long hours, cutting, bunching, and stacking the onions into crates loaded onto nearby trailers. The work is physically demanding, requiring precision and endurance under the sun. #WeFeedYou

The Davis Downside Dossier David Davis famously said there would be no downsides to Brexit only considerable upsides - so we started recording them.

David Davis said there wouldn't be a single downside to Brexit.

Yorkshire Bylines recorded >2,000 of them from 2021-2024.

Tesla November car registrations drop 58% in France, 49% in Denmark, data shows Tesla 's November registrations in France and Denmark halved from a year ago, as the EV maker struggled to reverse market share losses in Europe despite the launch of a new range of its best-selling M...

Monthly registrations, a proxy for sales, slumped 58% in France to 1,593 vehicles sold, and by 49% to 534 cars in Denmark, where the Model Y was the 23rd most popular vehicle with 206 units sold, official data showed.

Nothing will change in the UK until the press is dealt with
Nothing will change in the UK until the press is dealt with
Nothing will change in the UK until the press is dealt with
Nothing will change in the UK until the press is dealt with
Nothing will change in the UK until the press is dealt with

2014: “I admire Putin as an operator”
2010-14: Appeared on Russia today 17 times
2017: Knighted by a 7 year old girl on RT
2022: blames EU for Russian invasion
2024: “We provoked this war … of course it’s his fault – he’s used what we’ve done as an excuse”

Is this not dodgy?

Told you so! The Telegraph denounces Brexit as 'unmitigated economic disaster' We've now got The Telegraph joining the Brexit resistance, after the formerly pro-leave paper ripped into its 'near-disastrous' consequences.

Alongside declining polls for Reform, the good news about the Telegraph’s volte face on Brexit is that it gives Labour political cover from the far right to reapply to rejoin the EU. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/the...

Tunnock’s suffers £3 million loss despite record sales SCOTTISH biscuit brand Tunnock’s has recorded a £3 million loss in profits due to the global shortage of cocoa beans ...

We are doomed!

#TunnocksTeaCakes
Tunnock’s suffers £3 million loss due to rising cocoa prices | The National share.google/dO08lBQrsrZT...

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree. Ate it.

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

Inside the Bird-Flu Vaccine Trial for Monk Seals

The Hawaiian monk seal is one of two mammals endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. There are only ~1600 in the wild (i.e., fewer than pandas). Now they’re getting vaccinated against bird flu (H5N1). Get ready for autistic monk seals.

The Anti-Abortion Movement Is Projecting And their buzzwords give it away

Kylie Cheung at Abortion, Every Day writes about the future anti-abortion extremists want: "One in which we’re not just stripped of our most basic rights, but also deemed crazy for fighting back—even just for pointing out what’s being done to us."

“Superfétatoire” est l’un de mes mots préférés de la langue française pour une raison fort simple : parce qu’il est un synonyme de “superflu”, le mot “superfétatoire” est, en tant que tel, superfétatoire. 🤯

Oh no! Hackney city farm needs your footfall and your love.
#community
#chickens
#London

My mother has refused getting her dinner because "I'm waiting until he's dead". I was baffled but obviously she's watching a murder mystery. "Death has priority!"

Drawing featuring a lone figure in silhouette on a track in snow with tall trees to the right, under a bleak greyish white sky

Katja Lang, contemporary German artist who focuses on stillness and spaces #WomensArt #December

Is there any inherent benefit in using these things or are they just taking work from humans?
#resist
#trashthefash
#fElon

My dad and I were fascinated by a car next to us at the tip which had gull wing doors. We were watching as the driver opened the doors and then knocked their head on the edge, and then as it drove off it turned out to be a Tesla Model X. We are currently in hysterics

US lawmakers demand answers over Hegseth Venezuela boat strike reports Concern over media reports that the US military carried out a second strike killing survivors on a suspected drug boat prompts a bipartisan inquiry.

1/12 2025

US lawmakers demand answers over #Hegseth #Venezuela #boat #strike claims

#tRumpistan #tRump-regime #DOW #war-crimes

bbc.com/news/article...

TBH across the home off the best pies™ (north South Yorkshire and south West Yorkshire* ) you could fill 24 windows with really good pies just from village butchers and bakers.
*Barnsley-Wakey-Dewsbury area

Me on a candlelit vigil for AIDS in 1987.

Me last week. Looking pretty healthy for 58 (28 years living with HIV).

I was diagnosed with #HIV in 1998, when I was 30.
Many of my friends had died of AIDS. I did not expect to live to 50.
I’m 58 now.
HIV treatment works.
Treatment also makes it impossible for me to pass HIV on during sex.
Ensure HIV treatment for all.
End HIV stigma.
#WorldAIDSDay

An aster flower head with water droplets shining in the light.

#macromonday

A pic in which the Catenary Wires and I have been made to wear Santa hats.

My final gig of 2025 is this Thursday at King’s Hall in Herne Bay, again with the brilliant Catenary Wires.

This time, we’re also joined by young, up and coming indie popsters, Swansea Sound.

WARNING: may contain the occasional Christmas poem and song.

Tickets here: brianbilston.com/events/

Global Black Friday Strikes Against Amazon Target 'Techno-Authoritarian' Assault on Workers | Common Dreams "We are joining Make Amazon Pay to demand the most basic rights: safety, dignity, and the chance to go home alive," said one Amazon worker from India.

Amazon workers go on strike world-wide. “From Germany to Bangladesh, thousands of workers walked off the job on Friday and marched against Amazon’s labor practices to push for better wages, working conditions, and union protections." www.commondreams.org/news/make-am...

Walmart and McDonald’s are among the top employers of workers who rely on food stamps.

McDonald's CEO raked in $18.2M last year — over 1,000x the company's median employee pay.

Walmart's CEO pocketed $27.4M — 930x the company's median employee pay.

See the problem?