Jill Rutter

I've also been captivated by Punch, but there has been very little comment on his horrible, bare concrete enclosure. Ichikawa Zoo don't your macaque monkeys need trees, greenery and more stimulation?

There are plenty of businesses where I don't agree with the politics of their owners of investors. I can choose not to buy some things because of this. But vandalism and harassment aren't good ways to achieve changd or build support for your cauase.

First vandalism then harassment at Gail's bakery in Archway, London. Two of Gail's founders were Israeli, but they have had nothing to do with the business for a long time. Gail's is largely owned by private equity. This type of stunt is naked antisemitism and does nothing to help the Palestinians.

A little known fact about #GortonAndDenton - it is centre of bowler hat making.

George Galloway wears a Fedora, but few politicians wear hats these days. However, in 2011 Jacob Rees-Mogg said that council officials should wear bowler hats to identify them as public servants. #BringBackHats.

It's staggering that Craig Guildgord hasn't resigned. He fabricated evidence and lied to Parliament, which doesn't create confidence in the police. Interesting to see what the Home Affairs Committee will recommend.

Thanks for sharing the book title. Long live Mercia!

We’re delighted that our @jakepuddle.bsky.social &
@heather-rolfe.bsky.social, together with @jillyrutter.bsky.social of Belong, won the MRS Presidents Medal last night at the Market Research Society & Research Live Awards 2025, for the ‘The State of Us’ report.
www.mrs.org.uk/awards/mrs-a...

'Powder keg' of tensions and grievances remain, one year on from UK riots – new report - British Future A new report on the state of cohesion and community strength in the UK finds a worrying combination of social tensions and grievances.

The new report, ‘The State of Us’, by @BritishFuture + @BelongNetwork, offers an authoritative picture of cohesion and community strength in the UK.
www.britishfuture.org/state-of-us-...

Evidently the people who write YouGov's polling questions are not from the Midlands, or the 'Neither Lands' using their terminology. I was born in Warwickshire, grew up near Banbury and I do think there are English Midlands identities.

Ex President of Iraq & ex PM of the Kurdistan Region. Barham Salih was a refugee in the UK & was educated at Liverpool & Cardiff universities. He is the second UN High Commissioner for Refugees who has been a refugee with Gerrit Goedhart (1951-56), a Dutchman who fled the Nazis being the first

“The social media history that has emerged from Alaa abd El-Fattah is of profound concern... The cross-party campaign for such a person, and the warm welcome issued by the Government, demonstrate a broken system with an astonishing lack of due diligence by the authorities.”

– Adrian Cohen, SVP

But also some quite large differences in trust and perceptions of inter-group relations between different local authority areas.

All great charities, but the work of @thelinkingnetwork.bsky.social & Who is Your Neighbour are particularly close to my heart. The Linking Network links schools across ethnic & class divides, and undertakes intergenerational linking. Who is Your Neighbour undertakes community dialogue in Yorkshire

At @britishfuture team meetings in the dark days of COVID we used to wear hats to keep up morale. A legacy of those days - for me - is an interest in millinery and I've just made my first hat. Lots of steam & stretching is involved; the process has barely changed in hundreds of years #BringBackHats

In July 2025, the UK government announced that the voting age would be lowered to 16. This reform, among others, aims to broaden the country’s democratic base and modernize the political system. Yet… Votes at 16: Is Citizenship Education up to Scratch?

Is citizenship education up to scratch?

Last week we and @uclspp.bsky.social hosted Hattie Andrews @politicsproject.bsky.social, Emma Connolly @uclspeechlab.bsky.social and Hans Svennevig @citizenshippgceioe.bsky.social @ioe.bsky.social to discuss how the subject can be strengthened.

Watch 👇

The Home Office has released refugee employment statistics today, too. Important data, as the proposed Protection and Work and Study visa will reduce wait prior to settlement being granted. But employment rates for refugees are low and better employment support is needed.

We mustn't forget the capacity of football to bridge divides in Israel. There are many sports-based peace initiatives in Israel eg Football for Peace. Hapoel Tel Aviv has had Israeli Arab players throughout its history & has a large Israeli Arab fanbase
This doesn't deny racism in Israeli football

Two years after 7 October and the kidnap of my parents, hate is in fashion. For all our sakes, we need compassion | Sharone Lifschitz So many were killed – yet on her release, my mother said ‘shalom’ to her captors. Let’s learn from that moment of grace, says Sharone Lifschitz, London-based film-maker and academic

Two years after 7 October and the kidnap of my parents, hate is in fashion. For all our sakes, we need compassion | Sharone Lifschitz

"I'm here as a Mancunian – that's what I'm representing" - British Future British Future's Avaes Mohammad reports from Friday's vigil in Manchester following the appalling Synagogue attack.

"Are you representing an organisation here?", I asked a Muslim attendee. “I’m here as a Mancunian mate,’ he replied. “That’s what I’m representing.”
Our Avaes Mohammad's reflections from Friday's vigil in Manchester following the appalling Synagogue attack.
www.britishfuture.org/im-here-as-a...

Labour's post-conference bounce benefits Reform and the Greens

Hollow words when almost every weekend in London protestors shout 'globalise the intifada' and 'Khaybar, Khaybar ya yahud' and nothing is done by your police to address antisemitism and extremism.

Great to see Lisa Nandy announce a new ‘Town of culture’ competition - something British Future’s been calling for since our 2019 ‘Crossing Divides’ report by @sundersays.bsky.social @jillyrutter.bsky.social.
Culture’s not just for cities!
www.britishfuture.org/publication/...
#LPC25

I also think the Government has made a big mistake in pushing this through when trust in democratic institutions is so low. As of 10.40 this morning 1.7 million people have now signed the parliamentary petition opposing digital ID card.

Arguments for digital ID include faster, streamlined verification. But the Government's main argument is that it reduces unauthorised migration. Yet there's no evidence from outside the UK that it does this. This false promise means I DON'T support digital ID
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

In 2009 IPPR's @ippr.org own research suggested that largescale migration depressed the earnings of the lowest paid in the short term, but had less of an impact in the long-term.
ippr-org.files.svdcdn.com/production/D...

Labour propose increasing the time to get ILR from 5 years to 10 years, so it's not just Reform who are looking at settlement and citizenship

After years of making the running on immigration, Farage may this week have handed the initiative back to his opponents'. @robfordmancs.bsky.social for @ukandeu.bsky.social on the unpopularity of Reform's proposals on ILR ukandeu.ac.uk/reforms-radi...

A vintage black-and-white portrait of a young girl with curly hair tied up with a bow, wearing a checkered shirt.

18 September 1932 | A French Jewish girl, Rosa Farber, was born in Paris.

On her 10th birthday, she was deported from #Drancy to #Auschwitz. She was murdered in a gas chamber after the selection.
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The first two gas chambers of Birkenau - Bunkers I & II: https://youtu.be/Rr6lF75fDmU

Yes, it's about marking territory and control. But surely better first to focus on the murals of masked men with guns than more ambivalent symbols like flags.

Most councils are taking a sensible approach to flags. They ate discouraging painting on roundabouts and building on grounds of safety/vandalism but keeping up the flags. Councils are also talking to residents on this issue.