Lorraine Meehan

Also complete amnesia about the fact that it’s the animals at Esme’s farm that are being cared for, not Esme! Are the cows supposed to milk themselves? Grrrr #theArchers

Imagine this, and places just like it all across Ireland, once again covered in its natural habitat of *wildly* species-rich, spellbinding, rainforests.

By simply making it worth farmers' while to remove their few sheep, we could so easily magic wand them back into existence.

Voters’ anger is largely focused on asylum, and perhaps on low-skilled immigration.

The government response seems to be focused on making sure no high-skilled immigrant will ever pick the UK in future, and the ones currently here will rapidly rethink their decision.

This will not end well.

Opinion: A-level English, voluntary work, delayed citizenship: it’s Labour’s Orwellian Two Minutes Hate for immigrants Nesrine Malik

This article is well worth a read.

www.theguardian.com/world/commen...

Amazing story in The Times. Reform UK failed to pay VAT to HMRC on its sales (tickets, merchandise). About £400k in all.

Not tax avoidance. Not tax evasion. They just didn't realise when you sell stuff you have to charge VAT.

And, per @jdportes.bsky.social, the more friction/uncertainty you put into the immigration system the higher the likelihood that you dissuade higher skilled migrants from coming/staying because they have options. It’s self-defeating and doesn’t work as signal cause the rhetoric ratchet goes one way.

🆘 🛟 Brexit is a disaster even for big business!

M&S boss Stuart Machin says 6 out of 19 lorries from GB👉NI are stopped daily for Brexit checks: each one carrying up to 650 pages of paperwork.

Taking back control translates as wasting time, money, energy on pointless bureaucracy that helps no one.

Golden autumn leaves

Brexit Will Damage The UK Economy 'For The Foreseeable Future', Says Bank Of England Chief Andrew Bailey confirms what we've all known for years.

Brexit Will Damage The UK Economy 'For The Foreseeable Future', Says Bank Of England Chief

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/brexit...

An autumn morning in our local park

A male swan is floating on calm waters in the cove. Behind him are trees that are changing color.

My friend Jerry came by for a visit 🥰 #CTShoreline #swans #FallFoliage

🇬🇧 The charm of October in the Babolovo Park of Tsarskoe Selo
📷 Tsarskoe Selo, Katerina Novak
🇷🇺 Очарование октября в Баболовском парке Царского Села
#photohour #stormhour #worldheritagesite

“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” ~Laura Ingalls Wilder~
Today, find some time to do something you really enjoy. Happy Wednesday everyone.🦋

I bang on about this a lot: I think the combination of a global pandemic, underregulated internet/SM, collapse/corruption of trustworthy media, plus now unregulated genAI, is a wildly toxic environment for radicalisation & mental health. We see the results of that in our politics & lives every day

A close cropped b/w photo of a cygnet mute swan swimming towards the camera in a park lake.

The awkward teenage years.

A Cygnet growing up fast at our local park.

#nature #photography #EastCoastKin #BirdOfTheDay #ColorADay #BWFri #Ireland

Results showing a LibDem win with 787 votes. Reform were second with 391, and 65 for Greens and 39 for Labour.

Local by election in my town council ward yesterday… we have had Reform chucking money at it, and the “Sussex Patriots” group putting flags everywhere…and…too many for Reform, but no Tory candidate, so it’s been tense! 🎉🎉

Happy Saturday! #BirdOfTheDay #ukbirds #ukwildlife #EastCoastKin

Injured runaway horse retires from military service Quaker, 15, was one of five Household Cavalry horses spooked while on an exercise in Belgravia.

Lovely story about Quaker the horse on #r4today

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Multiple reports from Israeli, Arab and US sources that a ceasefire deal in Gaza could be imminent, with the hope that Phase 1 is signed today or tomorrow and hostage releases would begin almost immediately.

Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus): This is a 20cm (7.9in) species of sparrow that has a chestnut brown head and nape, white cheeks and collar with a contrasting black cheek spot. Nice photo taken by Paul Morton in the UK. #sparrow #treesparrow #bird #birds #wildlife #nature #tweet #uk #bsky

Yellow Labrador wearing a red harness jumping up a bank of grass and ferns

Action Janie! #dog #dogs #labrador #lab #labradorsofbluesky #yellowlabrador #yellowlabsofbluesky #labradorretriever
#dogsofbluesky

We flounced out of the EU on the say-so of politicians who lied to us. And what a total shitshow that’s turned out to be. The polar opposite of what they promised. Now the call to flounce out of the ECHR. By the same people. Telling the same lies. Has the country been kicked in the head by a horse?

‘Thick as Thieves’: Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage’s Putin Problem Far from being distant from the Reform UK Leader, insiders told Byline Times that the former MEP convicted of bribery was one of Farage’s closest aides, while we reveal how Gill worked on the Kremlin’...

🔴NEW🔴

Thread 🧵

@bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12

Fellow creatures: the new GCSE in natural history The new GCSE in natural history is a vital step toward restoring our knowledge of and respect for the natural world

🔥 Britain is about to launch a new GCSE in natural history – a vital step toward restoring our knowledge of and respect for the natural world.

The end of due process for immigrants is the end of due process for citizens.

Few understand this.

Sadly, I must agree. “What is done is done and will not be undone anytime soon. The UK is outside the European Union and will stay outside, probably until the end of time.”

🙏 💚

Final caveat - I don’t think that asylum seeking people’s & refugees’ rights should be contingent on the “value” they bring especially if that value is an arbitrary annual wage figure.

Value manifests in all sorts of ways. But also, everyone has a right to safety & sanctuary.