Brendan Paddy

Start of election hustings article... Spokes/CUK Election Hustings #Holyrood2026 Spokes and Cycling UK are holding a joint election hustings, on Monday 16 March, for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, to hear from Holyrood candidates on cycling and related policies. Rather than the usual hustings approach, which can be rather boring, our meeting will comprise several sections, with speakers undertaking Initiation, Interrogation, Combination, Clarification and Education, as in the agenda below.

#Hustings #Holyrood2026
#SpokesMtg ✔️🚲🚲

March 16 --> www.spokes.org.uk/2026/02/spok...

@edi.bike @edfoc.bsky.social @kate-c.bsky.social @chasbooth.bsky.social @ianmurraymp.bsky.social @edcriticalmass.bsky.social @sw20.info @keithirving.bsky.social @edinreporter.bsky.social @jennycooper.bsky.social

26:40 into the race the 3 runners still on loop 2 are over the time limit and will be tapped out when they return to camp. The 5 runners still on loop 1 are now also over the time limit for loop 2. The key to success at the Barkley is to go faster than one mile per hour. #BM100

26 hours into the #BM100 4 runners are on loop 3, 3 runners are on loop 2, and 5 runners are in loop 1. Runners currently on loop 2 must begin loop 3 by 26:40 in order to continue. #BM100

It was less than two hours ago that Damian Hall started loop 3 barefoot to prevent his shoes from getting soaked in the stream. Max King covered his feet in plastic bags. Barkley runners evolve. #BM100

The Electoral Commission's verdict is frank: "These provisions would not reduce the risk of foreign money entering British politics through companies."

From - www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/defaul...

Important story that begs difficult questions of the Starmer project (to the extent that it was ever a coherent project and that any of it yet survives), sadly cheapened by the decision to quote Nick Timothy, but then who in the shadow cabinet could speak with credibility & authority on this?

Labour activists paid for smear campaign against journalists Labour Together, the group that helped make Keir Starmer leader, hired lobbyists who falsely suggested reporters were linked to Russia

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Swinney: Timing of Murrell embezzlement hearing is matter for the courts The First Minister spoke after a hearing for former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was moved until after the election

This is obviously an extraordinary case but remember "Contempt of court provisions are active in relation to the case, with the Crown Office saying material published about the case must not be 'commentary or analysis of evidence, witnesses or accused'."
news.stv.tv/politics/swi...

The Barkley Marathons where each year elite athletes from around the world come to suffer in return for a DNF

New Scottish Parliament poll, Norstat 10-13 Feb (vs 13-16 Jan):

List:
SNP ~ 30% (+1)
RUK ~ 19% (+3)
Lab ~ 17% (nc)
Grn ~ 11% (nc)
Con ~ 11% (-1)
LD ~ 7% (-2)
Alba ~ 3% (-1)

Constituency:
SNP ~ 35% (nc)
RUK ~ 19% (+2)
Lab ~ 17% (-2)
Con ~ 10% (-1)
LD ~ 8% (-1)
Grn ~ 8% (+1)

Third post lucky...

Josh Simons has refused to answer a single question from Democracy for Sale for 10 days

Now he is saying that the ‘PRCA is investigating’ so nothing else to see here

If he was so ‘distressed’ by the reports he commissioned why is he ok with a voluntary PR trade body being the only accountability?

There was a protest outside the RNLI today and I would post the 'there are dozens of us' meme but that would be to overstate the case somewhat

X: Why are so many organisations leaving? Many organisation have recently announced that they will no longer be posting on their X accounts.

Why are so many NI organisations leaving X?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

After a brief memorial, laz lit the cigarette at 6:00am. The 2026 Barkley Marathons has begun. #BM100

Two rows of hills the first green, the second snowy, under a clear blue sky

The minimum possible effort to qualify as an outing - a walk up Blackford Hill - offering its usual disproportionate rewards, including today a closer view of the snowy Pentlands

Snowy hills under a clear blue sky at dawn

If, like me, you've recently been engaged in some near catatonic goblining and using the weather as an excuse, your bluff has been called

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

STUDY: “Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter.”
Follow great scientists here like @michaelemann.bsky.social @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social @katharinehayhoe.com

Reform candidate calls for ‘young girls’ to be given ‘biological reality’ check Exclusive: Matt Goodwin issues warning over Britain’s ‘fertility crisis’, arguing that ‘many women in Britain are having children much too late in life’

Oh, it's telling other people what to do with their bodies day again already? That came around fast. Ok, Matt, why not turn your scrotum into a set of decorative maracas?
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

One year on from dismantling of USAID, study projects that global aid cuts could lead to 9.4 million deaths by 2030 | CNN It’s been one year since the Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with aid cuts leading to the closure of HIV clinics in South Africa, the termination o...

As a direct result of the obscene actions of Russell Vought and Elon Musk in destroying USAID, we can expect “at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030, if the current funding trend continues.

About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.”

There's a reason why you should always be *very* sceptical of anyone who wraps themselves in a flag and claims to be 'protecting women and children'

Self-styled nightwatchmen patrol a Scottish village. Their leader is a Nazi John Carroll says his nighttime rounds are protecting the community. Critics say his “abhorrent” views on Hitler, the Holocaust and race are incompatible with his adopted role.

www.theferret.scot/self-styled-...

Snowy hills over historic city rooftops under white-grey cloud

Looks like some of yesterday's Edinburgh sleet fell as a snow on the Pentlands

UK ban on Palestine Action ruled unlawful Ministers argued the direct action group engaged in a campaign of criminal damage and violence

UK ban on Palestine Action ruled unlawful ft.trib.al/TKbvf6A

Manchester United distance themselves from their co-owner saying he believes Britain has been colonised by immigrants.

"Our diverse group of players, staff and global community of supporters, reflect the history and heritage of Manchester; a city that anyone can call home"

Courting capercaillies up 50% on Cairngorms reserve Conservationists counted 30 lekking males on the RSPB's Abernethy nature reserve last year.

Courting capercaillies up 50% on Cairngorms reserve
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Icelandic mountains in the background shrouded in cloud and a glacier in the lower third.

It’s been good to scroll through some of my Iceland photos again. I liked this one mainly because of the contrast in textures, ice and rock. I printed this one for an exhibition and it works a lot better on paper than a wee screen. The glacier looks like it could be an etching.

#photographers

Guidance for responding to 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement' consultation We are Amnesty International UK. We are ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights.

The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...

Olympic body criticised for selling Nazi-era Games T-shirt The International Olympic Committee defends the T-shirt as being part of its Heritage Collection, celebrating styles from all editions of the Games.

What better way for the IOC to warm up for Los Angeles 2028 than celebrating the Nazi Olympics of 1936
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Small Prophets (TV Series 2026– ) ⭐ 8.6 | Comedy, Drama Small Prophets: With Michael Palin, Kathryn Drysdale, Rhiannon Clements, Charlotte Mills. Eccentric Michael Sleep whose darling partner Clea disappeared seven years ago, sets out to create Homunculi -...

Bless the BBC because, let's be honest, who else would pay a wonky-eyed pirate to make a dryly humorous show about a disaffected & bereft DIY superstore worker growing a divining homunculus under a pile of shit his garden?

www.imdb.com/title/tt3850...

Farage's stinking personal ratings are massively overlooked