Darren Townsend

BP to scrap paid rest breaks and most bank holiday bonuses for forecourt staff Exclusive: Plans to offset increase in minimum ‘fair pay’ set by Living Wage Foundation will affect 5,400 employees

BP to scrap paid rest breaks and most bank holiday bonuses for forecourt staff.

Changes to employee benefits would cut take-home pay by at least 6.25%.

Would exec pay and dividends be cut? No chance.

Hard-won rights eroded as corporations rule without ever being elected.

Back to Victorian times.

A stack of signed books. The prize for one lucky person, who enters the raffle.

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE LAUNCH!

I'm doing a raffle.

Tickets are just £2 each!

You can win all these SIGNED books + £50 to spend.

More importantly, every ticket you buy will help buy books for two amazing schools.

TWO POUNDS.

More here.

www.biggreenbookshop.com/big-green-ex...

Please share.

Win books by

@elodieharper.bsky.social

@amateuradam.bsky.social

@watsoncomedian.bsky.social

@niallharbison.bsky.social

@malalayousafzai.bsky.social

@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social

Freddie Flintoff

Susie Dent

AMAZING!

You're also helping two schools get some new books.

tinyurl.com/bd3hecyz

Oh, I thought this was going to be a thread 😏

A large box of unsorted screws, two hands holding a screw and a sorting tool. There is a banana for scale on a green cutting mat.

Today on #MakerAdvent
I bought a cheap metric screw sorter from Temu and now I can finally sort all of those loose screws that everyone says that I have.
youtu.be/Vr9_UkEIs54

a black and white photo of a little girl covering her face with her hands . ALT: a black and white photo of a little girl covering her face with her hands .

Glad to hear it was only temporary 😁

That's really kind of you, thank you 😁

I always encourage the students to type things in fully. I even go so far as, if I give them some code (as a starter, for instance), I give it as an image file instead of text 🤣

I'll email you.

And, yes, I am of the age where I remember listings mags 😳

Expect Three Visitors A game inspired by Scrooge and It's a wonderful life. A story game for 3 to 6 players, and over the course of four hours you investigate of the possibility of redemption, no matter how bad someone is.

I create tabletop games that help people tell heartfelt stories together. At this time of year I like to mention Expect Three Visitors. Inspired by the story of Scrooge (greed), you can play people who are ruining lives with any of the seven deadly sins… And the spirits who attempt to redeem them!

My new series is socialist sword and sorcery set on a moon, featuring a mimic-based ecosystem, millions of gods, carnivorous public transit, prayer-based economies (and prayer bubbles), and an uncontrollable spreading pseudomedieval megastructure arcology!

johnbierce.com/books/the-ci...

The Treehouse at Heart of Scotland Holidays. The unit is made up of three circular rooms connected together, all on different levels.

Interior of the Cat Cabin at Heart of Scotland Holidays. The unit features scratching posts and a rope bridge for cats to play on. Here JL (Cagaran Picard Jean-Luc) demonstrates one of the climbing frames.

The upstairs bedroom in the Boathouse at Heart of Scotland Holidays. All units sleep four people, most units can be made up as either single beds or king-size.

The upstairs snug in the Bothy at Heart of Scotland Holidays. This unit is sunk into the ground, and features a circular living area.

We're a not-for-profit holiday site in Falkirk, Scotland, set up to fund maintenance of a listed building and mental health work. We have six quirky glamping lodges, each sleeping 4. One unit has special features for people travelling with cats, another for dogs.
www.heartofscotlandholidays.com

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with the camouflage and markings of the 7th Armoured Division

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with the camouflage and markings of British Airborne forces.

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with a Progress Pride flag made up of meeples.

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with a Pride flag made up of dice.

Hello! I run two little online shops:

- one for WW2 anoraks, selling mugs and stickers with tank insignia on them: uktankmarkings.redbubble.com

- one for LGBTQ+ nerdy people, selling mugs and stickers with gaming-themed pride flags on them: growsler.redbubble.com

Large purple drop pendant wrapped in wavy silver wire.

Pale green-gold oval pendant netted in silver wire.

I make hand-wrapped wirework jewellery - I work with a range of stones, but my favourite is labradorite:

oishiny.etsy.com

Four hand-illustrated bird-themed christmas cards, featuring sea birds in Christmas hats or carrying presents. There are some terrible puns, like "Peck The Halls".

Picture of a 2026 British Bird Life calendar, with hand-drawn illustrations of common British birds. Limited stock remaining!

Cover of a Christmas Card showing a figgy pudding, candy cane, mulled wine and other seasonal hand-drawn illustrations.

A picture of a packaged figgy pudding tea towel. The tea towel is covered in hand-drawn illustrations of figgy puddings and other seasonal treats.

My wife is an illustrator who does a lovely range of seasonal and nature themed cards, prints, teatowels (sometimes with awful puns I have repeatedly failed to veto). All her illustrations are hand-drawn and coloured. She also does commissions, with custom maps being a speciality: www.coostie.co.uk

Partridge in a swear tree card with lots of FOWL language on the pears! The rude buggers

Sing when you’re winning pebble portrait of a singing Robin on gold leaf disc. See artofnote

Pink Champagne Flamingo print - hand embellished with gold ink - see artofnote

Klimt my buns Klimt’s Kiss pastiche - a reinagining featuring 100% more bunny - see Dippyfishcards

Thanks John!

I do naughty but niche greetings, silly and more serious art, and make a lot of arty things I hope people will treasure.

Cards
Dippyfishcards.etsy.com

Pebble portraits and Art of note
Artofnote.sumupstore.com

Miscellaneous art silliness
ko-fi.com/dippyfish/shop

#bsnm

A wooden brooch in the shape of a fan depicts a wintery river scene by Hiroshige. The brooch rests on fabric printed with an octopus.

An irregularly-shaped wooden brooch depicting a colourful abstract artwork by Kandinsky. The brooch is mounted inside a greetings card that provides some context for the artwork.

Hands with gold-painted fingernails hold a wooden brooch cut to depict a waterlily. The original artist is Ohara Koson.

An enamel pin rests on a background of leather, surrounded by foliage, spanners, and a bottle of Jägermeister. The pin features a clawed red hand gripping a sign with the word 'DEMON' on it.

I continue to sell brooches and pins inspired by historic artworks from public collections!

Each one comes mounted in a greetings card which depicts the original artwork on the front and provides context for the art inside, and I do free first-class postage in the UK.

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Badg...

And...ordered 😁

This looks like a great idea for some of my @codeclub.bsky.social students. I love the idea of listings mags. I believe that typing code (instead of copy/paste) creates muscle memory in the fingers for common keywords.

DOCTYPE magazine cover

Part of page with Meteors program

I’ve brought back the ‘80s BASIC type-in mag, but for HTML!
It’s a glossy, professionally-illustrated thing with 10 genuinely interesting programs, great gift for computer nerds (but you don’t need any coding experience)
vole.wtf/doctype/

Two slim shelves on a kitchen wall. Made from a black steel frame which incorporates a guard rail and a solid oak shelf, they hold herbs, spices, sauces, oils, and vinegar. Beneath, on the counter, are coffee beans, a coffee mug, and a moka espresso pot.

A bright red three tier steel spice rack on a kitchen counter. It has an asymmetric design, with the bottom shelf wider than the top. It holds twelve herb and spice jars. A moka espresso pot, house plant, and coffee mug are adjacent on the counter.

oh John, that'd be lovely

I make steel & oak furniture - predominantly a lot of spice racks - welded by hand in a leaky Cheltenham greenhouse. Lots of different models, some for the countertop, some wall mount

can only ship to UK at present, customsawdustco.etsy.com

A plushie goldfish. It is made of printed velvet fabric with an accurate digitally painted design. It has shining golden eyes.

A plushie Zenaspis - a type of extinct jawless fish from the Devonian period. This one is made of printed soft velvet fabric and is mottled brown with a segmented tail.

Hi I'm Bex! I'm based in the UK and I make "Palaeoplushies" - Palaeontologically Accurate Plushies! I also make other animals (mostly fish).

Check out my work here: www.palaeoplushies.com

I bought one of their Battle Of The Planets t-shirts last year, and not only is it great quality, it's like a siren call to middle-aged geeks who love to explain the back-story 😂

Still can't believe they didn't include 7-Zark-7 though 😏

Hello! I’m an illustrator who prints and produces his own work. I’ve produced a high-quality 2026 Calendar. There’s 139/250 left!

My shop: www.infinitebacon.com

Thank you!

🌲 THE BIG CHRISTMAS GIFT THREAD! 🌲

If you are a creator or small shop/business, reply to this post with:

- pics and a brief description of what you do (don't forget the alt text!)
- a link or details on how people can buy

I will boost you!

Everyone else: buy the cool things! Repost this post! ⛄

Build a miniature fireplace that plays Yule Log video clips using an #Adafruit Qualia ESP32-S3 and a 3.2" rectangle bar TFT display! Guide: learn.adafruit.com/qualia-s3-fireplace #3dprinting youtu.be/VhVh7sbFcZw

Question time fans rage defund the BBC after small boat migrants planted in audience.

The Express is furious about this because the moment you show those who repeat anti-immigration rhetoric the real human stories their narrative collapses.

The “immigrants” are people. Our friends, colleagues and family.

And it’s this nation of neighbours that is what makes Britain great.

I'm sure there are plenty of Oxford students that would sign up for the trials 😁

Seeing as words-of-the-year are seemingly more than one word these days, I feel 'mostly due to Brexit' should be a contender 😏

Or it's the makers of traditional toys trying to deny us our Christmas geeky presents 🤔😏

Oh! 😱