Nigel Whitfield

This is just to say

I have taken
the rights
that were in
the constitution
and which
you were probably
using
to live
Forgive me
for being fascist
so cruel
and so cold

Well, honestly, if you're not going to confirm to patriarchal cis white standards of female beauty...

Sadly, to the likes of Stock, this is a price worth paying. As long as they don't pay it themselves, naturally.

And New Labour pretty much as soon as they had a whiff that the Daily Mail might back them; too terrified to tell the truth.

It would be so easy for politicians to say "Look, these are the actual facts," but Labour has been refusing to do that for decades. I remember back in the 90s all the stories about how people on benefits got given DSS cheques to buy cars, etc.

I can't help thinking that, in a way, this is like those occassional scandals in the US where a judge sends people to a private faciilty from which he's getting a backhander.

Here though it's not just a single judge, but the whole apparatus of government.

Especially when they get referred to as "4 star" and people imagine they're getting chocolates on the pillows, room service, and nonsense like that. Rather than crammed into rooms, sometimes with strangers, and a life of enforced boredom, unable to work, unable to do anything on < £8/day

I don't see them as that. I see them as despicable, weak willed pandering to racists and transphobia. And the degree to which they do that is certainly new in UK politics.

Not much difference, I think, between an MP who screams "I see people in a boat, they must be illegal immigrants" and a woman who sees a tall person in a shop and screams "they must be trans."

Right wing idiots, who can't see past their prejudices, and whose first instinct is to spread fear.

Some of the comments I've seen about this M&S story on Facebook are truly deranged.

Weirdo's imagining the shop assistant's presumptive penis, making claims way beyond the basic "They asked if we needed any help" that is about the only established fact in any of this.

It's Texas. They can just say they suspect them of seeking the wrong sort of pre-natal care, and arrest them for that.

When I hear Apple is promising 600bn to appease Trump, I had two thoughts.

1. Imagine what 600bn investment could do for some developing nations

2. Imagine what infrastructure in the US could be replaced/renewed if big corps paid their fare share of taxes

I swear, the only reason services like PayPal became so popular (yet remain so awful) is that the US is so backward that they only have to be slightly better than the mainstream banks for Americans to think they're a massive leap forward.

I can't help wondering if it's all just a massive "under cover with the poors" theme for her socials. #TheArchers

No chance Ruth. She might have a brand new combine harvester, but she's giving Pip the keys.
#TheArchers

I can just imagine the cringe video Amber would make "I took my ex-con husband to his first posh cafe" #TheArchers

Uggh. Amber's talking to them as if they're "content" for her socials.

#TheArchers

"Nightingale Prisons" is a stupid name. Aside from the fact that the Nightingale Hospitals turned out to be a damp squib, and this will too, "Fry Prisons" would be a better name. Or, you know, concentration camps.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever - George Orwell. Image of a boot with the word "legitimate concerns" on the sole. "We have legitimate concerns" - almost every bigot

"Legitimate concerns"

Original image from VectorPortal.com CC-BY. Updated by me.

That boot that Orwell imagined stamping on a human face, forever?

I'm pretty sure that on the bottom, where you'd normally find the maker's logo, it says "Legitimate Concerns"

A tabby cat curled up on a sofa, radiating an air of smugness

Pestered me for my fish supper, ignored the bits I put on the floor for her, then stole my space on the sofa.

#ProofOfCat

I don't, because the law regarding those is that you have a certain number of days to present it at a police station.

Other countries cope, no doubt. I don't trust the police, or their oversight, however.

And what happens if people don't have their ID with them? Is it compulsory? Is there a penalty? And if so, can we be sure the police won't use it as a way to harass people (see, eg, the people who "inexplicably" get stopped multiple times when driving)

I'm sure there'll be a juicy contract for someone like Capita

A phone based solution makes it sound a bit more voluntary, I guess. And, probably a principal consideration, no need to pay for cards, have staff to issue, post, manage lost ones, etc.

It shifts costs to end users and - also important to politicians - sounds new, high tech, futuristic.

Gay media puts a lot of time into telling us that's what we should like - just as the press gives unrealistic visions of female beauty.

But actually, an awful lot of gay men don't find that ripped twink aesthetic appealing. Give me a grown up with a dad-bod and a functional brain.

Cocaine use in Strictly?

But they always all look so placid and in control!

Also, after listening to some callers to Any Answers yesterday, I'd love to know the overlap between the people who whine about how white working class men have so few options, and those who are complaining so loudly about the civil service internship selecting only working class candidates.

Digital ID. What a cracking idea!

I look forward to tales of things like renters losing out on a flat because there was no signal when the agent tried to check their ID. Or people with expensive tickets turned away from venues because their battery went flat.

It is hard to overstate how much my interest in this play on #radio4 is ruined by the repeated outbreaks of Sting warbling in an excessively melancholy tone.

Candidate statements and contact details are available at https://greenparty.org.uk/members/internal-elections/2025-internal-elections/equality-&-diversity-co-ordinator/. • You can drag and drop candidates to reorder them. The order you select them in will be the order they are counted in. • To vote for a candidate, drag them from the left to the right. To remove a candidate from your vote, drag them back to the left. • If you wish to vote for RON (Re-Open Nominations), drag the RON candidate to the right. • When you are ready, click the Vote button at the bottom of the page. • Note that you can only vote once in an election, and you cannot change your vote after submitting it. AVAILABLE [names redacted] YOUR VOTE [1–3. names redacted] 4. RON (Re-Open Nominations)

Just a little #PSA for those voting in the #GreenParty internal elections…

Stack rank your favourite trans-inclusive candidates, then add re-open nominations at the bottom. Leave the TERFs and the 'not prepared to take a side'-ers on the left side of the screen. Don't give them any of your vote.