Another reason not to travel to Trump's America
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Amazon wrote to tell me probably a year ago that I could have my novels read by a bot voice I select and released as audiobooks, and I still haven't roused enough interest to do it despite little effort being involved. It just all seems so pointless these days.
On the off chance anyone is remotely interested, this is my author page.
www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Vivie...
Novels, short stories, poetry, essays etc. Fill your boots.
Reform politicians are happy to throw insults from a distance.
But when it comes to debating their ideas? No show.
Richard Tice pulled out.
Farage won’t face me.
Now their candidate in Gorton & Denton has ducked our candidate Hannah Spencer.
Vote Green.
Ooh err, what's up with BlueSky? Prompted to enter date of birth I entered when I signed up and now mega slow.
Me to eye surgeon last July: Do I have macular oedema because there's a distorted area in my eye post surgery? It's been there for over a year.
ES: Certainly not, you knavish fool, you can convince yourself of anything over the internet!
Today (different surgeon): you have cystoid macular oedema. 🤷♀️
Just watched the film 'Anniversary' on Netflix. Hard to come back to reality and think "phew, thank goodness that was just fiction", because that kind of world is getting closer and closer, and not just for the US.
The largest labor strike in history is happening today in Minnesota. Yes they are suppressing the information but if enough of us talk about it off and online they can’t hide it. Tell every person you encounter about Minnesota.
What we hoped would happen in Gaza: Israeli withdrawal, rebuilding by Palestinians with help from agencies. What's proposed: effectively a slave-labour camp for the Palestinians under complete surveillance and control by Israel/US. No freedom, no self-determination. Slavery.
Thank you!
Craven.
Me to Starmer: "Do I have a big bum?"
Starmer: "Big bums are really important."
Me: "You're not going to say whether I have or haven't?"
Starmer: "I'm going to be clear that I believe in big bums. I've long been an advocate of big bums."
I'm writing about the Palestine Action hunger strikers at the moment, any of whom could die at any moment, and the astonishing media and government silence surrounding them. The Establishment seems to have become even crueller than when Thatcher was PM.
Just realized this is the first Christmas when I haven't even heard Fairytale of New York once. My favourite Christmas song, not even played on local radio when I've been driving. I'll have to seek it out just to hear it, I suppose.
Prototaxites lived for 45 million years & became extinct. We don't even know for sure what kind of life it was, but no god saved it and it couldn't save itself. Humans in current form have only existed for 300,000 years. We *can* save ourselves, but won't.
www.livescience.com/animals/gian...
🎄 Clun Castle is the subject of Day 12 in our #Shropshire advent calendar. In the distance is Sowdley Wood, which is part of Black Hill. I waited a long time to get a picture of the castle in snow, and I finally managed to tick it off my to-do list a couple of years ago. 🎅
A month is a very long time to go without food.
So has anyone heard about this hunger strike via the mainstream media?
When will it get a mention, if or when someone dies?
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Not enough money for a decent NHS, not enough money for decent benefits, not enough money for pothole repairs, not enough money for jury trials, but hey, we can shake that magic money tree for digital ID and facial recognition cameras.
Remember the (not so) far-off days when you could just book an appointment and there was no 'triage' to stop you? Your reasons were private and there was no gatekeeping? Hard to believe now that that's how it was until fairly recently. Still is, in a decreasing number of practices.
Really though, Musk deserves massive ridicule for this.
If it weren't for the fact that some people are taking it seriously I'd be rolling on the floor with my legs in the air laughing over the Hobbit story. It's just so comical. Imagine our villages full of idealised tree houses instead of bungalows and new builds and Hobbits instead of commuters...
Almost nobody in the Cons Party or beyond it had noticed that the Shadow Home Secretary with two other frontbenchers and 5 backbenchers tabled a bill in May to deport 3 million people - stripping almost every pensioner, parent or nurse who did not take out citizenship of their right to live here
Yum. Been waiting for them to be available.
Greeted when coming on here with supposedly having to verify my age, but can't be bothered as I can guess it will involve ID at some point. I've signed the petition to repeal the Online Safety Act.