fenhuw

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That’s a nap!

Enjoy it. Sounds great. Good luck with sleep.

Is there any point, when you’re threatening to break a judge’s car windows so you can detain the teenage Supreme Court intern he’s driving home for protection, that you’re like huh, maybe I’m the bad guy?

this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself

it is also free to read

youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

Love that expression

That is fabulous

It’s so cold today that there are teenagers wearing coats.

Stripping rights from refugees today endangers us all tomorrow   When I was 13, I visited a Nazi concentration camp for the first time, confronting my country’s dark history always—and rightly—a bedrock in my growing up.    One image from that visit has stayed with me ever since: a display of prisoners’ personal possessions.    It revealed a world in which those imprisoned were stripped not only of their freedom but of the last tangible traces of their humanity. That systematic erasure was the most important precondition for murdering millions.   Now, as a historian, I know that history does not flow into the present in a straight line, and direct comparisons are rarely appropriate. They certainly are not here.   But history is the one compass humanity has. Too often we choose to ignore it.    The Home Secretary’s proposals for changes to the UK’s asylum system represent such a moment of failure.    Yet the most troubling aspect of Labour’s frantic efforts to appear tough on immigration is not even the historical echoes that taking refugees’ possessions invokes. It is that cost recovery is not the real purpose of the rationale behind it.    The true aim is to appeal to a particular audience—those who take satisfaction in seeing people seeking refuge deprived of what little they have.

It is hard to imagine a more troubling approach to policymaking, and that becomes even clearer when we consider the Home Secretary’s proposals in context.   As of June 2025, there were 42.5 million refugees globally. Over 70% are hosted by low- and middle-income countries. The UK hosts 548,000 refugees; that is 0.78% of the UK population. Around 110,000 people are in receipt of asylum support; that is 0.15% of the UK population.   It is unconscionable that such a small and vulnerable population can be targeted with deliberate cruelty and weaponised for assumed political gain.   And that is all this will ever be. The core miscalculation is believing that adopting these positions will neutralise Reform.    Both historical knowledge and current research show the opposite. Mainstreaming extremist policies legitimises them further and aids only the original. Each step towards Reform’s territory simply gives Reform more power.   But our political discourse has been so degraded over the last decade that many no longer even recognise policies—or the language that frames them—as extreme.    That is how the Home Secretary can speak so casually of desperate people seeking sanctuary as recipients of a ‘golden ticket’ as though the context is Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory rather than countries torn apart by war and starved by famine.

Speak of her ‘moral mission’ to withdraw support, alleging that ‘illegal migration is tearing our country apart.’ And warn of ‘dark forces stirring up anger,’ oblivious to her own role: from the use of blurry, dehumanising images of refugees to spread falsehoods about their impact on communities, to the equally false description of refugee movements as illegal migration.    I suggest the Home Secretary find a mirror if she is keen to understand who is helping turn anger into hate.   Because it is the mainstreaming of far-right talking points that the Home Secretary’s proposals represent that is really tearing our country apart.   For when a policy looks like the far right, speaks to the far right and is hailed by the far right as being far right, it is far right. There is a reason Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is jubilant and speaks of ‘the Overton window having been obliterated.’   This makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s recent comments on the urgent need to tackle racism. But it also raises alarming questions about the impact this will have on communities around the country, many of which are already deeply divided.    The proposed policies will do nothing for these struggling communities, because their problems simply do not stem from people seeking sanctuary with us. In fact: for as long as politicians focus on immigrants and refugees as the cause of our problems, they will fail to deliver for the British people.   But it is important to grasp the impact of the Home Secretary’s proposals as they carry broader consequences for all of us.

Suggestions for changes to how the European Convention on Human Rights is applied are particularly concerning. Requiring judges to prioritise ‘public safety’—falsely implying refugees pose a threat—would qualify human rights for a specific group.   And once one accepts that human rights can be qualified for one group, one creates tools that can be used against anyone.   So what these proposals really mean goes far beyond asylum policy. This is about the kind of country we will have in the future. If human rights are no longer universal, they become a means for exclusion and control.    That is why stripping rights from refugees today can only enable a system that endangers all our rights tomorrow.    And that is why our historical compass matters and why we have to use it now. Because that compass tells us without doubt that when first they come for one group that is never where it ends. 

Tried to get this published but no luck, so might as well ‘publish’ it here so it’s not a complete waste!

➡️ Stripping rights from refugees today endangers us all tomorrow

#asylum #Mahmood #history #humanrights

I need to buy my kid a video game. I know what he wants but I don't know if it does what he wants it to do.

Is there a good place to look for this info? I know zero about games.

Specifically he wants NBA2K26 and we only have a Switch not a Switch 2.

And ideally he could play against someone.

A diagonal view of a footstool with gold painted round legs and a botanical velvet fabric.

Now 40% off! A bargain!

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The comic strip is a joke about how people are always looking at their phones, using this modern observation to distinguish between a human and a scarecrow. Two birds spot a figure in a field and wonder if it is a human. One bird identifies it as a scarecrow. The other bird asks how it can tell. The first bird points out that the figure is not looking at its phone, a common human behavior.

🥸

A cat atop a pile of lap mats in various colours.

Lap mats now 20% off
Claw free lap cuddles 😻

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ChatGPT has fallen

millions of students must learn

Big very scary announcement that I never thought I'd have to make so I put nice music and a relaxing nostalgic background on it for you.

Morning,

A request for help:

I recently moved up north (near Bolton) and I’ve been on supply ever since.

I need a permanent job. Science teacher. 20yrs exp.

Schools don’t always advertise on the TES so if anyone knows anyone, please pass this on?

I’d really appreciate it!

Josefina Guerrero - Wikipedia

I had never heard of Josefina Guerrero before and holy shit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josefin...

i will strangle a horse by BRAINMAGE A comedy twine-based choose-your-own-adventure game where it's your first day on The Farm, and you have One Job

I made a game a couple of weeks ago! For the very first time! Nearly 5000 people have played it! It's on the international games database! That's mad! PLUS it's about attempting to strangle a horse and dying in many, many ways! What's not to like!?

AND it's free!

brainmage.itch.io/i-will-stran...

See, that’s the good shit right there

MIDWEEK FLASH SALE.

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Fabulous hashtag. Sending all the hugs 🫂

Will and Fred We’re back! Let’s not make a big thing of it. This week drinking from the poisoned chalice of dating doom that is the Guardian Blind date are: Will, 33, a government officer (left, sans…

In the latest Guardian Blind Date: they go out on a Saturday night, and you know what that means. Plus lots of Jonathan Bailey gifs in my review.

Would anyone be interested in collaborating with me? I’m looking for someone to write 4-panel comics or jokes that I could illustrate. Not for money, sadly, just to put joy into the world. Credit will be shard fully.

DM if interested x

Grid of nine images featuring retro-themed items, including a t-shirt, framed prints, phone case, Christmas gift wrap, cushion, and a mug.

It's been a very quiet week.
As a small business owner that’s a bit scary heading into my busy season.

So, if you're looking for unique #Christmas gifts, I make prints, homewares, cards & accessories inspired by midcentury design, music & architecture.

Have a nosy here gailmyerscough.co.uk

And the winner is… @davemercer.bsky.social 🎉

Lower the maximum wage.

That’s splendid.

Senior illustrator, with 20 years of experience and a specialty in game art.

I haven't been able to find a paying project for months. Can you help? Every share is appreciated.

And here's the link to register for this free webinar

marymyatt.typeform.com/mml-002-merr...