Lucy Budge

The phrase “preemptive strike” is as insulting as when we were sold “humanitarian pauses” in the middle of a live-streamed genocide. The powerful looking you straight in the face and telling you your common sense simply doesn’t matter.

you know I would say her matching pink phone case really makes this, gives Goodwin a huge "sad loser man at the end of Legally Blonde" vibe

the "just asking questions" to "legitimate questions about fairness in sports" to "the state doesn't have to consider us as real people" pipeline working exactly as designed.

The pronoun labeler, which was by far the most useful labeler on the site, was deleted by its creator. But thanks to @ripperoni.com there’s a new one available. I highly recommend it. It’s a great way to share your pronouns or see someone else’s pronouns at a glance.

bsky.app/profile/pron...

On one hand, yes, this was last month at a different event and NOT the Olympics but on the other hand I don't care, I have been watching this on a loop and laughing hysterically for ten minutes, this is cinema fr fr

This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter

In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career.

I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters.

Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Comic. [Person with ponytail pointing at diagram while speaking to three other people] PERSON: If the emergency stop is activated, any riders on the waterslide will be diverted into the beam dump, a large graphite block which will safely absorb their momentum. [caption] We regretted hiring an accelerator physicist to design our water park.

Beam Dump

xkcd.com/3168/

Omg I’m dying 😂😂😂…so…So Emily Austin, a right wing 'influencer' who works for Bibi and the GOP, launched 'Hot Girls for Cuomo'.

Guess who didn't bother to register the URL when she did that? What do you think Hot Girls for Cuomo dot com leads to now?... 😄 Enjoy.

[ HotGirlsforCuomo.com ]

Smajo Beso • Follow 3d • © I started school in Newcastle in Year 5 without knowing a word of English. I was nine years old and had arrived as a refugee from Bosnia just a couple of months earlier. I was one of those strangers our politicians often speak about. I missed my grandparents and friends. I was having awful nightmares, and I would wake up screaming every single night. I hated going to school. I would sit in my chair, look out of the window, and spend my day daydreaming about ways to run back to Bosnia. I didn't want to be here. After a couple of weeks at school, my teacher, Miss Webster, and my classmates did something special to help me settle, something that made me feel less of a stranger. That was the first day I went home with a smile on my face. I have shared this story before, but as tomorrow is start of the new school year, I thought I would share it again. **

Miss Webster was amazing, but I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She had this ritual where, at the end of each day, we would all sit on the floor around her, she would play the guitar, and we would all sing a song together. I couldn't understand what they were singing, but I could see she would sing one part of the song, then she would say someone's name or point to them. The next part of the song would be sung with that person's name in it, and they would get to go home first. My classmates loved this, but I hated it. It annoyed me because I couldn't understand what they were singing, but if I am honest, l hated it mainly because of how happy they all were. I definitely wasn't happy. I cried myself to sleep nearly every night. I eventually started having separate English lessons, which I enjoyed more because it took me out of the classroom. It was always daunting coming to school because I felt everyone was looking at me or speaking about me. For months, my dad would stand with me outside the school gates in the morning until it was time to go in.

One day I came back into the classroom from my English lesson. We sat down, and everyone was extra-excited, looking at me more than usual for some reason. Of course, I thought it was because I was a refugee, because I couldn't speak English, or because they couldn't pronounce my name. I was bracing myself for another afternoon of my classmates encouraging me to sing. This was probably the closest I came to running out. So we were all sitting on the floor around Miss Webster. She was holding her guitar, ready to sing. I remember the sun shining through the tall, narrow windows as I slowly drifted into a daydream of being back in Bosnia. She began playing the guitar, my classmates joined in, but this time, everything was different. I froze. I understood what they were signing. Not because I had miraculously learned English in one afternoon, but because they were singing in Bosnian for me. I looked around in shock, and they were all smiling at me, and for a moment I thought I was daydreaming.

While I was having separate English lessons, Miss Webster had taught our entire class to sing this song for me in Bosnian. They sang it terribly, but it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. I skipped home that day with a huge smile on my face. For the first time, I looked forward to going back to school the next day. I have often imagined Miss Webster and my classmates rehearsing, struggling with the strange Bosnian words and laughing at themselves. For me, that effort was the ultimate recognition, an act of peace that felt like the opposite of everything I had known during the war. It was special. I do not know if they realised it then, but that moment helped to give me back my dignity, my belonging, and, for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like I was just a refugee or an outsider. I was home.

With alt:

Labour can't try and appease Reform voters and neo nazis and tell the rest of us that if we vote Green we might let the Tories in.

Mate you're already worse than the Tories.

I wish there was a short, concise term to make clear that I support ‘AI’ when we’re talking about machine learning developed methodically on specific data for a specific purpose. My issue is with genAI, the purpose of which is to mash up language to create the illusion that it’s capable of thinking.

For the overwhelming majority of people who practice it, sports is not about competition. It's about social belonging. Once you understand that, the reason why transphobes want to ban trans women from it even outside of competition and even in disciplines like darts is pretty obvious.

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

Yes I agree. I lived in a very drafty, badly insulated house (renting) and would get people like “oh you’ve already turned your heating on??” And they are living in a modern, insulated, well-fitted house. Very very annoying!!

AP DONATE Signin LIVE: House vote Hakeem Jeffries The Mann Act Stock market tc POLITICS Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender -fffirming care for kids,a - setback for transgender rights

AP DONATE Signin LIVE: House vote Hakeem Jeffries The Mann Act Stock market tc POLITICS Supreme Court throws out appellate rulings in favor of transgender people in 4 states

Supreme Court signals support for Maryland parents who object to LGBTQ books in public schools

AP DONATE Signin / LIVE: Housevote HakeemJeffries The MannAct Stockmarketto POLITICS Supreme Court will takeupanew case about which schoolsports teams transgender students can join

There is only one possible ending to this story, and sports aren't the last chapter. I guarantee that if you haven't lost five decades of rights in two weeks, you have no idea what this feels like, so I'm begging you: protect trans kids right now with everything you've got.

We inhabit a world where Bob Vylan can't visit the United States, but Netanyahu was invited to speak to Congress. There really is no excuse for this.

It’s Disability Pride Month.

Many people can’t understand why we would be proud of our disabilities because ableism is everywhere.

This month we celebrate disabled lives and push back on ableism & eugenics.

We are not less than

We are not expendable

We will keep fighting

Understanding the Design of the Disability Pride Flag Here's what you should know about the flag's symbolism and origin.

Disability Pride Month is here! Here is a surprisingly insightful article from…Good Housekeeping? On the origin, history, and meaning of our Pride flag.

www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a438769...

Happy corporations remove their rainbow logos on social media day to all who celebrate

Migraine: What We Know and Who It Hits Hardest Migraine is one of the most disabling conditions we know of. Here's what the data says about who gets it, who doesn't get help, and why we still don't quite understand it.

I’ve spent 5 months working in a migraine research lab. It’s more common than asthma or diabetes and nearly half go undiagnosed.
This post covers the epidemiology of migraine regarding who it hits hardest and when, and who gets missed.
theedgeofepidemiology.substack.com/p/migraine-w...

no no, Echo Chamber was my father’s name. please, call me Allowed To Have Boundaries chamber

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is the premier particle physics lab in the United States. Founded as the National Accelerator Laboratory in 1967, it was renamed after physicist Enrico Fermi in…

New results of the G-2 experiment are expected to be presented at a Fermilab colloquium later Today. Now, why is this #gminus2 experiment so interesting and gets even jaded particle physicists like me excited? A thread:

(today at 10 am Chicago time, www.youtube.com/@fermilab )

reminder, bsky has a clever way to display pronouns that's built in!

but you only see them if you yourself opt in, so please feel free to here by subscribing and then choosing which applies!!

@pronouns.diy

Aid massacre: Israeli forces kill 31 Palestinians at U.S.-run aid distribution center Another U.S.-run aid center was the site of a massacre in southern Gaza after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians. “The Americans and Israelis set a huge trap for us to lure us here and kill us,”...

Another U.S.-run aid center was the site of a massacre in southern Gaza after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians. “The Americans and Israelis set a huge trap for us to lure us here and kill us,” an eyewitness told Mondoweiss.

mondoweiss.net/2025/06/aid-...

#Palestine #Israel

4 panel comic Panel 1: Pink Guy is attending an interview with the chief exec and CEO of a company. CEO: “Our company does not adhere to DEI hiring practices Panel 2: CEO continues: “We believe in hiring based strictly on qualifications” Panel 3: Pink Guy interjects and says “Actually, DEI is about addressing a systemic imbalance in- CHIEF EXEC butts in: HEY Panel 4: CHIEF EXEC: Don’t talk back to my dad

guys we HAVE to get rid of DEI. it’s about FAIRNESS

on the one hand edi policies improve business and society, but on the other hand racists don't like them, so who is to say whether they are good or not?

sheet music with the instruction "suddenly very gay"

every company from june 1st until june 30th

YouTube video by Kate Nash Kate Nash - GERM (Official Lyric Video)

This is quite something - massive respect to Kate Nash for putting this out into the world. Give it a listen.

Kate Nash - GERM
youtu.be/q2MoQJP-PhA?...

gender-affirming care has regret rates significantly below completely uncontroversial interventions like knee replacement surgery

no study will ever tell you differently

let trans people get the care they need