sjcp

Loophole exempts 355 landowners in England from inheritance tax, data shows Chancellor urged to cancel tax break that uses scheme to register land as heritage asset and worth at least £68m

If the Chancellor wants to reform Inheritance Tax, she could start by reforming this 'heritage asset' tax loophole being exploited by grouse moors and wealthy landowners, which I investigated last year: www.theguardian.com/money/2024/o...

Ex-Army Colonel Arrested at Gaza Protest: ‘Holding a Cardboard Sign Is Not Terrorism’ Retired colonel Chris Romberg, 75, tells Josiah Mortimer that the Government is criminalising peaceful dissent after being arrested under anti-terror laws at Palestine Action demonstration

Ex-Army Colonel Arrested at Gaza Protest: ‘Holding a Cardboard Sign Is Not Terrorism’

"the Government is criminalising peaceful dissent"

Josiah Mortimer
Aug 12, 2025
www.bylinesupplement.com/p/ex-army-co...

Scottish heatwave sparks tenth wildfire warning The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is urging the public to avoid using naked flames outdoors from August 13 to August 19.

❗ High risk of wildfire for nearly all of Scotland during much of the coming week.

It should barely need saying but still, please shout it from the rooftops...

📣 It is simply not responsible to have a campfire when the wildfire risk is high.

Merlin tells me they are around here a lot of the time, which I’m delighted by! As OH isn’t as able to do gardening now we are mostly encouraging it to be a wild garden so there are lots of seeds for them to pick at (including dandelions which they love so get left now too!)

Morning 😊 Goldfinch family outside my window yesterday morning, lovely little birds.

GOOD NEWS! Researchers have revealed a synthetic glycosystem -a sugar-coated polymer nanoparticle- that can BLOCK SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells, REDUCING infection rates by NEARLY 99%. Acting as a decoy, the molecule BINDS to the spike protein, PREVENTING it from attaching to real cells.

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

It costs a lot less to house people.

Important update from ScoutsCymru regarding CRAI Scout Activity Park CRAI Scout Activity Park is an inclusive and welcoming campsite and activity centre in the South Wales Valleys offering a range of outdoor activities for youth and community groups. We are aware of a racially aggravated incident targeting under-18s who were leaving after visiting our activity centre and are working closely with the South Wales Police to address this situation. We are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of everyone on site and will continue to take immediate and robust action against any behaviour that threatens this. END

Village idiots verbally abusing an influx of "illegal immigrants" at a campsite in Newbridge, Wales

They were a group of Scouts from Scotland

Anti-immigrant rhetoric has consequences

Statement from Scouts Cymru

"We are aware of a racially aggravated incident targeting under-18s"

Morning 😊 Due to be warmer here, but around 22 they say, 14 at night, so shouldn’t be too bad. Misty and pleasantly cool just now. Hope everyone has a good day.

In light of *everything* it’s probably time for another semi-regular roundup of privacy tools I use and recommend.🧵

📌

Trump is invoking Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act, which authorizes him to seize control of the entire DC police department for a maximum of 30 days.

This is insane stuff. D.C. is not in the grip of a crime wave. Crime has been falling for three years now. Violent crime is at a 30-year low.

RFK Jr has slashed vaccine research. You need to know how perilous that is for the world | Devi Sridhar The avian flu virus is now just one mutation away from easier transmission among humans. Trump’s health chief is a grave risk to world health, says Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at ...

What Devi said.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Letter of the day (in the Times)

🤞🏻 for a good week for you this week 🫂

Fingers crossed! When the one that broke down was delivered it was one female delivery driver who just dumped it at the gate and meant I had to organise someone else to come and move it into the house 🤦🏻‍♀️

Morning 😊 Quite cool here so far 🤞🏻 When placing order for new large fridge was advised I would get an email with questions re delivery; have had one saying they have passed my order to their ‘local delivery partner’ so have replied asking them to advise partner will need to be 2 person delivery.

Car air conditioning is such a blessing, isn’t it! It didn’t work for the last couple of years in my old car, and even in Scotland I had some pretty uncomfortable journeys.

A photo of Anas Al-Sharif and his Al Jazeera colleague Mohammad Qrere in their press bullet proof vests looking at their phones. Both are reported killed. Photo credit to Motassem A Dalloul.

BREAKING: One of the most important and prominent reporters on the ground in Gaza has been Anas Al Sharif.

He - and several other Al Jazeera journalists - have just been assassinated by Israelis forces whilst in their press tent in central Gaza.

Speechless.

Families pay tax to build the country they live in.

They pay for schools, hospitals, roads, safety.

They do it without tricks, without loopholes.

Meanwhile, the richest hide their money offshore.

If you believe in Britain, you pay your share.

No exceptions.

That looks interesting! Not one I have seen before.

Morning 😊 Reboot of fridge freezer didn’t work, fridge compartment still freezing everything, so new fridge ordered (just a large fridge this time rather than a fridge freezer in the hope there will be fewer things to go wrong with it, my current one only lasted five years which doesn’t seem long)

That sounds a lovely start to your day! What are you reading?

I did too 🤦🏻‍♀️😆

I had more non-fiction on my Kindle than I thought I had, clearly they had been 99p deals 🙈 I’m trying to ban myself from buying proper non-fiction books for a while as I read more fiction and my unread non-fiction book pile is a bit too big! 📚📚📚

Morning 😊 Unsurprisingly, I will be doing lots of laundry all weekend! So pleased to have the washing machine working again.

Fridge freezer was switched back on yesterday evening after its 48 hour enforced rest and pipe-clearing, will check later if the fridge is still freezing everything.

Hope you’re feeling better soon, a rest sounds very sensible 🫂

Great letter in today's Irish Times. We have watched politicians and media enable apartheid Israel's genocide of Palestinians for almost two years. #GazaGenocide

GMC makes submission to court over Leng - Anaesthetists United GMC makes submission to court over Leng

The GMC and UMAPs are both using legal moves to complicate the implementation of Leng and our verdict being delivered 👇👇

anaesthetistsunited.com/gmc-makes-su...

Blood-Brain barrier disruption in long COVID and cognitive correlates: A cross-sectional MRI study Disruption of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) may contribute to neuropsychiatric symptoms observed in Long COVID (LC). Using a non-contrast magnetic res…

🧠 Daily Feed of Brain Damage 🧠

Extra early edition.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...