Simon Juden

Snoot-first picture of a lurcher resting her head on a cheap leatherette sofa.

Apparently - and I have this on very good authority - woof.

Woof, woof, woof, woof.

Also: woof.

I interpret this as Liquorice the Ludicrous Lurcher wishing everyone here a restful and happy Christmas and a peaceful and joyful 2025 - as, indeed, do I.

I look after two of my kids who are “adults with serious challenges” 24/7/365. This prevents me doing much else though I have picked up a gig training NHS and others on the issues my kids face; the trainings are co-presented precisely so if one of us has an issue to deal with the other can step in.

Had mine in October (as a carer I get them free, one of very few perks!). Heavy arm was the only side effect; hope your experience is similar/better!

I’m being very polite to Siri, just in case I ever need her to put in a good word for me.

I know people who hate the PD label and others who’ve found it helpful. Diagnostic confusion is a real issue: the overlap between PD/CPTSD/Bipolar/etc means two people with the same attributes might get two different labels and thus entirely different treatment pathways/attitudes from services.

No “maybe” about it.

For me it’s one of the best features here. No fuss no flame wars just block and move on.

Just so. I'm single Dad/carer to two severely disabled adults (my kids) which is 24/7/365. Like you I've easily saved the public purse seven figures and I get £81.90 each week, no clinical supervision/reflective space/training/time off. Officially well below the poverty line.

Amen. Spent two years in bed staying alive. Now a single Dad caring for two adult kids with serious challenges. This is 24/7/365 w/frequent hospital trips. Can't work regularly as I can't reliably be in anyone's office at any given time, cos kids. I used to earn six figures; this is (much) harder.

For what they're charging, an aspiring author could do much better. Or maybe the next iteration is that AI analyses Nielsen, identifies Peak Marketing Opportunity and writes the work as well. There's probably a decent novel in the idea that that happens to all media, if Orwell hasn't already done it

What does "publishing" mean in this context? Push e-books/POD physical copies into Amazon, no bookshop presence, zero marketing, no editing or proofing or working with an author? Self-publishing is already a Thing, how would sending works to this differ from that in practical terms?

Something that's hard is the never-ending political focus on "efficiency". What does that mean in this context? Seeing 80 people once a fortnight each (as someone I recently trained does) - how can that not compromise quality of care? What metrics can surface patient outcomes and staff wellbeing?

This is so important. Supervision, supportive teams and relational working are critical parts of helping folk with complex emotional/relational needs. We're all human, with our own schemas/attachment styles/ACEs/etc and triggering is inevitable. We need to understand, accept and manage that.

After looking around, I've ventured the odd opinion on comments here and discussed with people who disagree. It's just as if we were in a coffee shop or a pub; no-one's calling anyone anything unspeakable, and we're just exchanging views, agreeing sometimes and not other times. Very refreshing!

The power of the hard right in the UK is far less than in many other European nations (cf FR, DE and the seven with far right govts). Even sensible Tories don't want to leave EHCR and that's not a mainstream position in our politics. Like everywhere else we do have our idiots, sadly; some as MPs.

At the time BG, PL, CZ, HU, RO were pushing back and Merkel held the ring. Maybe she could have found something, maybe it wouldn't have changed things if she had. We can agree on Cameron's idiocy! Both sides ended up poorer, and Russia and Trump surely give impetus to closer working now.

I would disagree that the EU didn't make any mistakes, both sides did though obviously the UK's/Cameron's was the biggie (prior to the referendum few Brits really cared about the EU). On route back I suspect you're right, and Schengen and € will be major issues. Won't happen for decades though.

…or to exist. On a RAG assessment, Green will typically get you SSRI/SNRIs and CBT and 60+% of the time that works. Red will get you access to more developed support. There is a whole cohort of people at Amber for whom there is literally nothing on offer. Not “at risk”; just avoidably miserable.

I’ve always wondered if it would have made a difference if she’d given Cameron something tangible when he asked. An amusing headline in Bild didn’t, in the end, prove enough.

Who could possibly have foreseen this outcome? Next week: you won't BELIEVE what bears do in the woods...

Sky Follower Bridge Instantly find and follow the same users from your 𝕏 followers on Bluesky

Top tip to everyone pilling over from Twitter, use the Sky Follower Bridge to rebuild your network here on BlueSky, but keep running it every few days as more and more come over.

Please share and help everyone re-connect and keep re-connecting.

Unequivocally, yes. Haven't updated my profile there in many years (it shows). In the old days I made some meaningful connections on Twitter; I stopped using that some years ago as it was simply toxic. So far this seems much nicer with the right blend of serious and silly people and content.

What odds on an X/TS merger which completes roughly three hours before the inevitable Musk-Trump fall-out?

I'll admit that I haven't read the Irving. But Le Carré was one of the great English novellists and A Perfect Spy, for me, his best work. He eschewed literary prizes or he would have won a hatful. Tinker Tailor was the introduction to his world for me and I suspect many others; I remember it fondly.

Picture of a black Lurcher in a red coat with a white furry collar walking through frosty Norfolk woodlands

Having disengaged from social media for some years I found it oddly difficult to describe myself on my profile. So why don't I introduce you instead to Liquorice the Ludicrous Lurcher, the world's silliest dog and sworn enemy of any cat, squirrel or muntjac (lots here in Norfolk).

Hi ☺️ It seems much nicer over here.