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caitlin

@caitlinmc.bsky.social
580 followers 808 following 56 posts

Poet. Activist. Queer Feminist. VAWG Comms & Campaigns Specialist. She/Her, views my own.

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Reposted by caitlin
RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Only 1 day to go until the #BigGardenBirdwatch! Chirpy House Sparrows took 1st place as 2024's most spotted BGBW bird. Will they stay on top? 🏆 Get involved: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
A House Sparrow hovers mid-air, wings fully outstretched as it gracefully prepares to land. Its small, confident frame and steady gaze give it a determined yet charming appearance. The blurred green backdrop adds to the sense of motion, making this tiny bird look ready for action.
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Civil Society @civilsociety.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Major charities including @rspb.bsky.social, Women’s Aid and @refugecharity.bsky.social have stopped posting on social media platform X due to controversy surrounding Grok’s image-creating function
civilsociety.co.uk
Major charities leave X after AI images controversy
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Liberty @libertyhq.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
🚨 NEW FROM LIBERTY INVESTIGATES Palantir wants to become the ‘default operating system for data across the US government’. It now appears to be pursuing the same ambition in the UK. Read the full story on @prospectmagazine.co.uk ⤵️ www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/dem...
prospectmagazine.co.uk
How Palantir infiltrated the state
At a moment of national emergency, the government handed our data to Peter Thiel’s controversial company
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Cranstoun @cranstoun.org · 11/03/2025
We have an incredible line-up of speakers for our upcoming Domestic Abuse Conference! 😁 With topics including vicarious trauma, coercive control and law enforcement’s role in ending domestic abuse, this event is not to be missed 🙌 Join us & get your ticket now👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cranstoun-...
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Positive @davidgauke.bsky.social led review will confront 'penal populism' - longer & longer sentences, doing less & less good. Better sentencing = less crime. That's the goal. Not the political sugar rush of ramping up sentences every time there's a row. www.theguardian.com/law/2025/feb...
theguardian.com
Prison system crisis due to overreliance on long sentences, says Gauke review
Successive governments’ ‘penal populism’ has driven England and Wales justice system to brink of collapse, report finds
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
"The reason they’re getting bailed out is because they ran out of other people’s money to line their pockets with. It’s only a matter of time before they end up on the edge of bankruptcy again."
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Stella Creasy MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
This should be changed asap. If we give someone refugee status, it can't be right to then refuse them route to become a British Citizen. To say they can have a home in our country, but never a place in our society and be forever second class. freemovement.org.uk/good-charact...
freemovement.org.uk
Good character guidance amended to block refugees from naturalisation - Free Movement
There have been some important additions to pages 50 and 51 of the Good Character guidance (a comparison of the new and old versions is here) that have the
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
On 22 January, GB News presenter Josh Howie repeated a homophobic slur linking the LGBTQ+ community to paedophilia. This is offensive, wrong and unlawful. Join me and @goodlawproject.bsky.social in filing a complaint to Ofcom: action.goodlawproject.org/ofcom-stop-g...
action.goodlawproject.org
Ofcom, stop GB News broadcasting hate
*CW: Homophobia, hate speech GB News is no stranger to spouting hatred and toxic lies. They take pride in it, and pretend the rules don’t matter. But they do. And they must be enforced. On 22 January,...
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
I'm still processing how incredibly significant yesterday's event was. Listening to the Survivor Ambassador Panel & to Yasmin, Fawziyah Javed's mother, was deeply moving. The call to act was heard clearly - I am sure everyone who attended will have left a fierce advocate for a statutory definition.
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Natalie Haynes @nataliehaynes.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Fantastic! If you buy any children’s or YA book from Bookshop.org UK this month, 10% goes to BookTrust and Scottish Book Trust, to give more children access to books 💜 🏛️ Here are my classics-themed suggestions to make the most of this scheme…
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Jo Todd CBE @jotodd.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Reading NAO report & brilliant @lexytopping.bsky.social Discovered that "the Home Office underspent on its own VAWG budget by an average of 15% between 2021-22 and 2023-24". Utterly bewildering and rage-making when the whole VAWG sector is on its knees. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
‘Epidemic’ of violence against women and girls in UK is getting worse – report
National Audit Office says government attempts to tackle misogynistic violence are hampered by poor coordination
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 21/01/2025
Nazis: "that's a nazi salute" Historians: "that's a nazi salute" Average person: "that's a nazi salute" The Media: "Elon Musk makes odd gesture throwing his heart to the crowd."
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 22/01/2025
"The last Conservative government issued an “awful, inconsequential, insubstantial” response to a seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse, according to its chair." [Guardian]
Tory response to child sexual abuse inquiry was ‘awful’, says chair
The Guardian22 Jan 2025Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

▲ Prof Jay said ministers ‘committed to nothing’ on the recommendations
The last Conservative government issued an “awful, inconsequential, insubstantial” response to a sevenyear national inquiry into child sexual abuse, according to its chair.

Prof Alexis Jay, who led the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), told MPs the response from the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, to the 20 recommendations had “committed to nothing”.

Jay’s condemnation came after the current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the prime minister, Keir Starmer, for resisting calls to launch another national inquiry into grooming and rape gangs.

The IICSA report, which included an examination of child sexual exploitation by organised networks, was released in October 2022, in the final days of Liz Truss’s administration.

Jay told MPs the initial response from Grant Shapps, home secretary at the time, had left her feeling “much encouraged”. But after the collapse of Truss’s government, Braverman returned as home secretary and her written response to the report, in May 2023, had been “awful”, Jay said.

Jay told MPs: “I cannot tell you how it felt to constantly read the response, when we got the final printed version … It was inconsequential, insubstantial, committed to nothing. And the wording used very often amongst the 20 recommendations was ‘we accept the need for’ whatever it was, but made no specific commitment. The reaction of all of us, but mostly victims and survivors, was such huge disappointment and anger.”

Jay said she had been criticised by a Home Office special adviser after she had written to the Times describing the government’s response to her inquiry as weak. She told the home affairs select committee yesterday that she had received a call from the Home Office while on holiday.
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Disability Rights UK @disrightsuk.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Sign the petition! Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts 👇 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts
Sir Keir Starmer is pushing plans we defeated under the Conservative Government - to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of dealing with welfare fraud and error. It will force banks to fla...
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Disability Rights UK @disrightsuk.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
🚨NEWS: Government Announces Bank Spying Powers in New Bill. We know this will disproportionately punish people left on the poverty line by the social security system - for the Government's own mistakes. Read Big Brother Watch's full statement: bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-releas...
bigbrotherwatch.org.uk
Big Brother Watch response to intrusive powers in the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error & Recovery) Bill — Big Brother Watch
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 21/01/2025
Wow. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde fearlessly calls out Trump and Vance to their faces. This is heroic. (posting in 3 parts due to Bluesky's 1 minute limit)
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Every “journalist” using the transphobic phrase “lying about her gender” is encouraging another attack. This is undeniable stochastic terrorism in UK mainstream media.
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helen, gender goblin @gendergoblinhelen.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Fellow cis people, I'm talking to you: This. We do not need 'both sides.' We do not need 'balance everyone's concerns.' We do not need stupid thought experiments. All any trans person needs to hear from any cis person is 'we support you unconditionally against the people who want you dead.'
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Katy Montgomerie 🦗 @katymontgomerie.com · 16/01/2025
"Lie" is absolutely disgusting framing. She had sex with a guy who turned out to be such a violent "Gender Critical" that he tried to kill after learning she was trans. I wonder why she had to keep her personal medical history from him huh?! As if you would tell a potential murderer your info. Sick
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Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera @pantibliss.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
So concerned about women in sport and an entirely made up threat to women in sport that they’ve decided to inspect the genitals of all women in sport
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Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
A year ago, when Suella Braverman wrongly said grooming is mainly undertaken by Pakistanis there was at least some outrage, some pushback, some degree of people standing up & reacting. Now it is totally normal for politicians across the right to say it. www.theguardian.com/society/2023...
theguardian.com
‘Inaccurate’ grooming gang claims putting children at risk, Sunak and Braverman told
Exclusive: Joint letter from organisations and experts says singling out British-Pakistani men draws attention away from other sources of sexual abuse
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
I think the Birds feed is my favourite thing about Bluesky. It's so calming and lovely. Also look at this silly little round creature, how can that not make you smile?
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Coming back to this framing today, as so many point out the date of the fire in Parables & say she saw the future. Octavia followed the 'what next' thought process and had the wisdom to get much of it right. It's not magic, it's a skill she should be praised for honing that we can all learn from.
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phil @philjamesson.com · 06/01/2025
love how google ai goes into detail for all the men, and then for the women, it just goes "eh, some broad"
google's ai overview going into detail on what thomas edison, alexander graham bell, and benjamin franklin invented, then saying "A famous female inventor." for five women, then back to describing several more men's inventions
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Ivy @askylitocean.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Lucy Grossmith, Mumurations over Fields
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William C. @williamcson.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Can’t put enough emphasis on what the words “last medical facility” mean in the context of this genocide. It’s pretty simple to understand what happens when there’s no hospital available.
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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 24/12/2024
All of the rhetoric around Imane Khelif and "beating women" etc was inevitably feeding into this. This is a politics of confining women to the domestic sphere and removing us from the public one. It was never just about trans or intersex people - though if it were, that should have been bad enough.
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Absolutely hateful.
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Wrote up some thoughts on the Gisèle Pelicot case and "monstrous men" over on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/posts/charit...
linkedin.com
Caitlin McCullough on LinkedIn: Who are the men convicted in the Gisèle Pelicot rape trial
I cannot accept a world where we see all men as monstrous - a trap it is all too easy to fall into if you are exposed on a daily basis to men's violence…
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Didn't expect a sanitary towel advert to have me in tears (and I'm not even on my period! lol) This is a surprisingly beautiful film. If it moves you, and you want to do something useful about it, donating to Bloody Good Period isn't a bad way to start. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpFY...
youtube.com
Bodyform | Never Just a Period
YouTube video by Bodyform UK
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
A gorgeous short story for the end of your Monday - give it a read. It made me smile, and feel a little hopeful too. clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/
clarkesworldmagazine.com
Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy
Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast. This page: Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer
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Ruth Pearce @notrightruth.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
This *and* - don't leave this up to politicians. We can build power in our communities by connecting with parents, families, and schools, sharing knowledge and resources, and standing up for one another in everyday conversations and practices.
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Couldn't have picked a better week to escape to Scotland. It's been the perfect reset.
Photo of mountains cloaked in frosty mist, across Loch Lomond and some little cabins and cars closer to the photographer.
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
The real person of the year.
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Euan @euan.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
a Labour Health Secretary is voluntarily targeting trans healthcare in the UK in the same way that it’s taking a Trump-appointed Supreme Court to accomplish in the US
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Sara Gibbs @sararoseg.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Trans kids just want to be themselves and live their lives. Today Wes Streeting said no to that. No to options. No to buying time. No to safely exploring their identity. No to life-saving gender-affirming care for children. I hope he rots in hell.
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
I have spent most of my adult life building my career and social life around activism - joyful but so heavy, too. This year, I joined a show tunes choir. And it is just for the sheer delight of singing together. I cannot recommend it strongly enough, a hobby that's just about fun is so liberating.
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Ro 📷 @roshn.me · 02/12/2024
📷 🪶 🌿 time to post another White-Throated Kingfisher.
A white-throated kingfisher, a colorful bird with a large bill, sits alert on a wooden pole. Background is out of focus blur of foliage.
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Katy Montgomerie 🦗 @katymontgomerie.com · 02/12/2024
Having only cis people making laws and policies about trans people is exactly the same as having only men doing it for laws and policies about women. Bullshit at even a surface level and should be completely unacceptable to any rational person
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Kit de Waal @kitdewaal.com · 01/12/2024
While we are watching the terrible situation in the US, let’s prepare, organise, strategise and educate ourselves about a Musk/Farage coalition and be ready to fight for democracy. It’s no joke and it’s coming our way.
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
A collection of free books for #ReadPalestineWeek - poetry, short stories, full novels and lots of non fiction to get stuck into here: publishersforpalestine.org/2024/11/29/f... #BookSky
publishersforpalestine.org
Free Palestine Reading List for November 29 – December 5, 2024
Publishers are offering more than 20 ebooks from around the world, including several award-winners and many books that are new in 2024, free during READ PALESTINE WEEK (November 29 – December…
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Social Movement Technologies @socialmovetech.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Join us December 2 for a training on Bluesky, with lots of tips and guidance for social change groups and activists. The training is free for those who need free access to join. #Bluesky #endX community.socialmovementtechnologies.org/courses/blue...
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
‘What does it mean that the earth is so beautiful? And what shall I do about it? What is the gift that I should bring to the world? What is the life that I should live?’ – from Mary Oliver’s 'Long Life'
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
A good article that links abortion to trans rights. The @theguardian.com actually making the connection with bodily autonomy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
I thought Britain was worlds away from Trump’s America – until I needed to get an abortion | Anonymous
I quickly learned that the decision to terminate a pregnancy wasn’t purely a matter of ‘my body, my choice’, says an anonymous writer
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What The Trans?! 🏳️‍⚧️ @whatthetrans.com · 27/11/2024
Leaflet from the protest.
The image shows a hand holding a pamphlet with a light pink and blue design. The text prominently states, "KIDS CAN'T BE KIDS IF THEY'RE DEAD..." Below this, it mentions the extension of a ban on puberty blockers that has come into effect. The pamphlet discusses a decision made by a health secretary regarding healthcare access for youth, emphasizing the detrimental impact of such policies on transgender youth across the country.The image shows a hand holding a pamphlet with a light pink and blue design. The text reads, "At the moment, we are still alive." Below, it discusses government access to healthcare and the rising number of young people facing challenges. A QR code is located in the corner, and the bottom of the pamphlet states, "TRANS KIDS DESERVE BETTER." The overall message emphasizes support for young individuals and the importance of healthcare access.
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Dr Robert Bohan @robertbohan.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Really brave protest by Trans Kids, at one of England’s biggest train stations. The UK govt has removed trans healthcare, in breach of international best practice & expert opinion. Hate crimes against trans ppl have risen 186% in 5y*
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caitlin @caitlinmc.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
It's Reclaim the Night Brighton tomorrow. First time in years I haven't organised it, which feels strange/liberating - it's lovely to see a new gen of activists take it on, and odd to let it go. I might be too sick to attend, but I hope any Brighton followers will be at the station at 6pm tomorrow!
Photo of a placard from reclaim the night. It reads "Men are scared women will laugh at them. Women are scared men will kill them"
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
You hear a gentle splash and... How delightful! A Dipper is taking a paddle through your feed.
A charming Dipper stands poised in a shallow stream, surrounded by golden autumn leaves that float like tiny boats. With its crisp white chest and confident stance, it looks ready to paddle on through the chilly November water. The colourful hues of the season create a perfect backdrop for this riverside resident.
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Anna Carruthers @annaecarruthers.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Nails celebrating the British Library's exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words. Never visited the library before but could not pass up on the opportunity to see these stunning manuscripts up close. @britishlibrary.bsky.social
A photo of a hand with nails painted. On the thumbnail is a beige background with 'For I am a woman' written in brown calligraphy. On the index fingernail is a blue background with a white female figure wearing a crown. On the middle fingernail is a blue background with a white female figure wearing a habit. On the ring fingernail is a pink background with a woman wearing a habit and holding a gold book. On the little fingernail is a blue background with MW in white.
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