John L @JohnLowe56.bsky.social

Local band, some members used to drink at the Coach and Horses in Ickenham.

Statement made by Wes Streeting Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Labour Ilford North Commons Statement Today, I am updating the House that the preliminary work to establish the PATHWAYS clinical trial into the prescription of puberty suppressants for children and young people with gender incongruence has been paused. The MHRA, the agency authorising the clinical trial, has written to the trial sponsors, King’s College London, to raise concerns regarding the trial which will now be discussed with clinicians. On Friday, DHSC published a copy of the MHRA letter, which is available here: Sponsor-letter110226.pdf(opens in a new tab). Discussions between the MHRA and King’s College London will begin this week to address these new concerns. I will review the outcome of those discussions, taking clinical advice. I have always been clear about the red lines regarding this trial and the prescription of puberty blockers – the safety and wellbeing of the children and young people and always being led by the expert clinical evidence. Those have been - and will remain - the driving considerations in every decision being made. The clinical trial will not start to recruit until the issues the MHRA raised have been resolved. It will only be allowed to go ahead if the expert scientific and clinical evidence and advice conclude it is safe to do so.

Dr Hilary Cass has criticised the medicines regulator for blocking a clinical trial into puberty suppressors for children, saying it had made “completely bizarre” claims, hadn’t produced any new evidence and seemed to be responding to “political pressure”, not science. The Pathways trial was paused after the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published a letter to the research team on Friday, raising fresh concerns about potential long-term harms to children. The MHRA had previously approved the study, which aims to examine the impact of puberty suppressing hormones on about 220 children aged from 11 to 15 who clinicians believed might benefit from the drugs. But in its letter, which came after threats of legal action from parents and criticism of the trial from gender-critical campaigners such as JK Rowling, the regulator said children should only be allowed to take part after the age of 14. Cass told The Observer she was “disappointed” by the MHRA’s intervention. “There are no new research findings and the MHRA hasn’t presented any new evidence,” she said. “It feels to me like they are responding to political pressure rather than to science.”

Wes Streeting: on cancelling the puberty blockers trial, my decisions are "always being led by the expert clinical evidence."

Hilary Cass, his expert clinician of choice*: "It feels to me like they are responding to political pressure rather than to science... completely bizarre."

*Until today.

About time. Absolutely right that Mandelson is arrested for questioning. We owe so much to the bravery of the women who fought to get the Epstein files released.

We must have full accountability now from Mandelson and Mountbatten-Windsor.

I expect that will be forthcoming.

Don’t wait for more clarity on single-sex spaces, bosses told Geraldine Scott - Assistant Political Editor Employers do not need to wait for longdelayed guidance on single-sex spaces before implementing the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex, Bridget Phillipson has said. The women and equalities minister said the judgment last year had been “crystal clear” and insisted that organisations should already understand their legal obligations, despite an updated code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) remaining unpublished more than five months after it was submitted to ministers. Phillipson told Sky News she hoped to move “as fast as I can” to lay the guidance before parliament but said it was still going through the required processes, including consultation with devolved administrations. Bosses have said they are waiting for the updated guidance before implementing new rules on changing rooms and other sex-segregated facilities, but Phillipson said there was a difference between employers’ duties and those covered by the code of practice.

But I thought the FWS verdict brought nothing but clarity?

"Employers do not need to wait for longdelayed guidance on single-sex spaces before implementing the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex, Bridget Phillipson has said."

[Times]

Remigration by stealth? The government’s earned settlement proposals - UK in a changing Europe James Bowes analyses the potential impact of the UK government's proposed changes to its settlement schemes to both new migrants and migrants already in the UK.

The extremism and racism of Reform (and the Conservatives) should not obscure that the most immediate issue is the vindictive, retrospective and entirely unnecessary/self-defeating nature of the government's own proposals.

More details here.

ukandeu.ac.uk/remigration-...

"An incredible turn out [on Sunday]!
We are powered by the people, and you can really tell at our action days.
We have groups leafleting, door knocking, and litter picking today.
Want to join?
Sign up for an action day via Linktr.ee/ManchesterGreenPart

New York mayor orders citywide shutdown as snowstorm hits northeast US The city's entire traffic network is shut down except for emergency travel as a severe snowstorm hits northeast US.

The city’s entire traffic network is shut down except for emergency travel as a severe snowstorm hits northeast US.

Short thread. Cogent.

UK Wind Power has rallied to 21.8GW this morning. With 1.7GW of Solar we are burning 4.4GW of Gas as well as importing 4.6GW. Hydro is 0.4GW. Nuclear is 4GW and the awful Biomass 1.1GW The price of wholesale electricity over the past 24 hours was £44 per MWh. #renewables

'mature moderate anti visionary politics'....

don't give labour a single vote under any circumstances

GOOD NEWS: The world’s largest steam-producing heat pump is now online in Finland, delivering 12 MW of superheated steam from waste heat and CO₂-free electricity.

Proof that industrial heat can be electrified at scale.

www.pv-magazine.com/2026/02/19/w...

Thread.

YouTube video by chromestar100 Alexei Sayle - 1983 - Comic Roots (Full)

BBC2 off-air of the Alexei Sayle episode from "Comic Roots". Aired 26th Aug 1983 and repeated twice more since (far as I can tell, once in 1984 and again in 1991). This seems to be a betamax transfer from the original broadcast. Lovely! www.youtube.com/watch?v=rstb...

You cannot understand the origins of antisemitism in Britain, still less how to tackle it today, if you purport to believe that the heritage or experience of Jews and Christians has been a shared and mutual identity across the centuries

BBC Sport: Team GB face uphill task for four-man bobsleigh medal.

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how bobsleigh works.

Lancaster police launch search for person who sprayed dog faeces with pink paint Police are investigating after dog faeces were sprayed pink in a Lancaster alleyway.

With all crime solved, police in Lancaster turn their steely glare toward the criminal mastermind who is [checks notes] spray-painting dog poo pink like they’re some sort of faeces-driven Banksy.

Things could be worse - imagine Red Ed in No 10 Once Keir Starmer is gone we must ensure the likes of Ed Miliband never become PM, he was a failed Labour leader which the country rejected. Labour are communists, our freedoms gone and our culture and history. The Greens are even worse. Socialism has never worked, we must rid ourselves of the quangos, left-wing judiciary, diversity and net zero and get back to common sense. Tim Sayer, Bristol

“…sir, this is a Nandos.”

Obama, the adult, vs. Trump, the petulant child.

Old fashioned working class kitchen

How Labour MPs think a working class person's front room should look:

That was an MP? LoL...

This would be funny but I fear real people will be hurt badly. Lets just get it out there as a warning!

Imagine if HEALTHCARE WAS FREE in America, as it is in Greenland. Just imagine. 🇺🇸🇬🇱

The distinct possibility of coming third in the Gorton and Denton by-election is making Labour lose their minds. It's the offended sense of entitlement that's making them shit the bed.

Inverted snobbery about Hannah's living room.
Wild fearmongering about crack den playgrounds.

Looks desperate.

Greenland: ‘Uhhh….nobody is sick…”

Landry: “I have boats???”

#RadioFreeAmerica

He said drugs generally should be legalised per his party's policy. I don't know where you live but e.g smoking weed is ubiquitous here on the outskirts of London. I know no one who (ab)uses crack cocaine.

The more I read and hear about this story and the people involved, the more it calls into question the people around Starmer and how he became Labour leader and PM. This should be a much bigger story