Hugh Morris

it is perhaps worth noting the standard applied here - that it's legitimate, or even required, to exclude minority groups if their mere presence might cause "alarm or distress" to anybody else - and to ponder how else that standard might be applied

Just gonna state for the record that this is appalling, and the tell it's rooted in bigotry rather than women's safety is that it risks preventing trans men - a group assigned female at birth - from accessing using toilets. It's an unworkable bloody mess, and those pushing it should be ashamed.

no beef whatsoever with OP but I think this shows that we all use social media differently; Twitter becoming evil made it this much harder for me to actually keep having a job and paying my rent, reckon I'd be even more stuffed if this website went too, and I'm obv not the only one in this situation

Telegraph showed 'lack of care' with headline: 'Quarter of UK sex crimes carried out by foreigners' The Telegraph found in breach of Editors’ Code with headline claiming a quarter of sex crimes in UK are carried out by “foreigners”.

Telegraph rapped for headline 'Quarter of UK sex crimes carried out by foreigners'

Turns out the figure was actually 15%, with a further 8% recorded by unknown nationalities - with the Telegraph said 'was likely to largely include non-British nationals'

Not quite how the headline put it, is it?

This one came out today www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
And there are numerous examples of AI companies actively collaborating with the Israeli government in the genocide and ICE in domestic repression. Just about every head of every major AI company has bent the knee to trump.

I hope other companies are paying attention to the M&S situation. They bring a vexatious complaint with no substance at all, you issue a cowardly apology and completely sell out your employee, they reject your apology and call for a boycott anyway. You can't reason with unreasonable people.

Assault on Sudan’s Zamzam refugee camp may have killed more than 1,500 civilians Guardian investigation finds number killed in April attack by Rapid Support Forces far greater than current estimates

War and slaughter goes on - this time in Sudan as true facts about April massacre emerge bit.ly/4lkcYW5

• deeply shocked, but not enough to say anything about it until this point
• “challenging circumstances”
• nothing says dialogue like telling Palestine-advocating performers that they will never work for the company again :-)

while I’m on a posting relapse, this has just gone out to rbo friends and patrons - where to start…

this is a banging hed/dek combo for a VAN op-ed if anyone wants it

sitcom editors would reject this story arc because it's too on the nose

mason bates is the future! the future fucking sucks!

royal ballet & opera: we are politically impartial! (unless it's about ukraine)
the met opera (but only about ukraine): www.youtube.com/watch?v=U06j...

fascism (1919—2025)

well yes

one of my favourite types of drive-by is the academic drive-by

quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mp/9460447...

the met opera defeats fascism with a score by *checks notes* mason bates

Dispelling harmful misinformation about M&S 'trans' bra fitting row Dangerous misinformation over an M&S 'trans' bra fitting story is spreading online; here's what we actually know.

The moment I saw that "trans bra" M & S story I sensed it was nonsense.

Seconds later, having read the Telegraph piece I knew it was worse than that. It was deliberate hate mongering completely devoid of evidence, names and facts.

Superb job of debunking it here
www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/06/m...

hi! this is very much not what happened.

Hello. After 11 years @theguardian.com & @theobserveruk.bsky.social I am now freelance and available for commissions. I do features, profiles, interviews, reviews, comment pieces, editing and more

Here are 10 pieces I'm proud of:

Chant du ménestrel For this album, Narek Hakhnazaryan has selected works that showcase the characteristics of cello playing: its tonal warmth, emotional depth and versatility. The interplay of original works and arrange...

radio 3 album of the week on essential classics is a shorworld classic, great stuff

www.highresaudio.com/en/album/vie...

a sign of just how far the UK press has sunk that the Telegraph and the Spectator are *still* publishing Nina Power a year after comments like this were exposed

Well, there goes my vote, lads.

Thinking about this again

I’ve written about TV’s best and worst historical epics

Olivia Giovetti | Against Consensus During the curtain call for the closing performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Royal Opera House on 19 July, one...

The great Olivia Giovetti on the Royal Opera House’s incoherent combination of embracing Ukraine solidarity while shutting down Palestine solidarity: “claiming political impartiality in relation to a Verdi opera is like calling Guernica a painting of a horse.”

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...

ah yeah, conditional statehood - what a bunch of clowns

A key line here:

"The world is failing the Palestinian people — a failure that will haunt western nations in particular for years to come."

Tolerating ethnic cleansing is a deep blow to European claims of wanting a rules-based international order.

Starmer v Starmer: why is the former human rights lawyer so cautious about defending human rights? The long read: Given his career as a human rights barrister, it was hoped Keir Starmer would be the PM to restore the UK’s commitment to international law. The reality tells a different story

Good morning, I've written a piece about the prime minister. I spoke to several dozen sources, including government insiders, former legal colleagues and campaigners to ask: what happened to Keir Starmer the heroic human rights lawyer? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Henley & Partners’ wealth migration reports have been reported all over the world, both to prove both that there's a massive exodus of wealth from the UK and that there isn't.

Our forensic review finds the data riddled with anomalies - and in key places looks fabricated: