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Cate Callahan

@catecallahan.bsky.social
294 followers 350 following 75 posts

Science, Political Rage, Disability Advocacy. LGBTQ+. She/Her Occasional creative type: Art, Photography

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Reposted by Cate Callahan
North West Bylines @northwestbylines.co.uk · 08/10/2026
Google and Apple have rules against it - but Reform UK just released a game in the Google and Apple app stores targeting people on small boats. help.care4calais.org/page/201794/...
help.care4calais.org
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
As long as the Tories are threatening to leave the ECHR, they aren’t a serious party. Consider it the ultimate red flag. Any party who’d take this entirely unnecessary and ruinous risk with our rights and our country’s security and wellbeing should never get its hands on power. (Letter, Times)
Value of the
ECHR
Sir, In dangerous times, serious countries do not retreat into splendid isolation. They build alliances, multiply their influence and strengthen institutions. Key among those is the 46-member Council of Europe, at its heart the European Convention on Human Rights.As former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation we have seen at close quarters that the ECHR is not just a human rights instrument. It is a national security asset. Terrorist networks, hostile states, organised crime gangs and people smugglers do not respect borders. Tackling them requires arrangements for the closest possible co-operation with our neighbours, including through joint investigations and police access to European passenger, fingerprint, DNA and vehicle data.These arrangements expressly depend on internationally agreed human rights standards, applied by a supranational court. We detect no political willingness to excuse the UK from compliance with standards to which the rest of Europe already subscribes. As authoritarian powers grow more aggressive and democratic institutions face mounting pressure, Britain should not be abandoning one of its greatest postwar achievements.
The question is not whether we can afford to remain within the ECHR. It is whether, in an increasingly perilous world, we can afford not to.
Lord Carlile of Berriew, Lord Anderson of Ipswich, Sir Max Hill
Independent reviewers of terrorism legislation, 2001-18
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Socialist Worker @socialistworker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Reform UK swings the axe at nurseries as parents face soaring childcare costs ⭐️Reform UK councillors have voted to shut all ten public nurseries in South Tyneside. But parents and campaigners are refusing to let the council have the final word. 👇 socialistworker.co.uk/news/reform-...
socialistworker.co.uk
Reform UK swings the axe at nurseries as parents face soaring childcare costs
Reform UK’s flagship council has voted to shut all 10 public nurseries in South Tyneside, north east England, where a third of children grow up in poverty.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I literally don’t know a single woman who hasn’t been raped, stalked, groped, harassed, or sexually violated in some way at some point in their life. If you choose to doubt and dox survivors, just know every woman in your life is disgusted by you.
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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Meta Muse appears to read your Apple messages and upload them to the cloud even if you explicitly tell it not to: appleinsider.com/articles/26/...
appleinsider.com
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Adam @abrokenbattery.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“We’ve had wasted decades in which huge numbers of patients have been abused, mistreated and their very horrible condition made even worse by medicine.” George Monbiot talking about the PACE trial, graded exercise therapy (GET) and CBT as treatments for #MECFS.
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Paula Knight 🎨✒️♿ @paulaknight.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social was on top form tallking about ME on @natashadevon.bsky.social Packed a lot of important info in: Pace Trial, GET harms, benefit cuts, insurance etc. It was like a potted history and didn't mince words about how awful it is. Listen back! #MEcfs #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis
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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In the wake of this week’s nonsense I’ve seen a few disabled advocates say that anger is not a good way to convert people and not an ideal advocacy tactic. Perhaps this is true. But not everything a disabled person says needs to be advocacy, and the expression of emotion is an end in itself.
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Joel Chan @kjoules.org · 26/09/2026
A heartbreaking story by @samirashackle.bsky.social of Luna Wong, a young Hongkonger whose parents hoped that by sending her to boarding school in the UK she could recover from her mental health problems. She took her own life less than a year later www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
‘They accepted the money but didn’t take care of my child’: what Luna Wong’s death reveals about the treatment of international students in the UK
When her parents waved her off to study in England they hoped it would be a fresh start the 16-year-old needed after struggling with her mental health in Hong Kong. Instead, 10 months later, she was d...
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Deliberately leaving neurodivergent waiting years for a diagnosis is sickening. Imagine if this was other forms of diagnosis, and the uproar it'd cause. Yet again, we are treated as if we don't matter, as if we don't exist. We need more investment into diagnosis. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
NHS bodies in England impose two-year minimum wait for ADHD and autism assessments
Patient groups decry ‘scandalous’ delays as four integrated care boards take step due to soaring demand for diagnoses
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's today's column on the astonishing, ongoing mistreatment of people with #ME/CFS. Please spread it far and wide: the only thing which can break the media's wall of indifference is seeing an article about the issue go viral. Thank you. 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George Monbiot
Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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chiller @chiller.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026
Might have done a bit of a rant at my MP. It's quite a nice feeling actually. Give it a go.
Dear Ms Dollimore,

The recent behaviour of a mob of organised men committing acts of public disorder, crimes, inciting racist violence, and yesterday actually slashing a rubber dinghy in the Channel with two RNLI rescuers still aboard it, needs urgent, visible action from our government, and from the police.

If Palestine Action can be proscribed as a terrorist group for causing property damage, then this gang of thugs has already gone much further. Local news in Gosport (link to the story provided below my signature), reports that a child in just such a mob was singing "let them drown" over a megaphone there, yesterday.

RNLI staff are suffering horrific harassment and assaults, and in some areas no longer feel they can work at all, which endangers everyone at sea. Our ports have been vandalised at Portsmouth and Dover.

Enough is enough. We either take action, or we cede this once inclusive, secular country to the hands of a narrow group of men, the leaders of which claim to be Christian (it is no brand of Christianity I recognise), who want this island to be only for white, violent, straight men in balaclavas to do with as they see fit. This isn't a British ethos: this is the ethos of every Russian mercenary. It has been promoted and pushed and egged and funded and nurtured by social media, where the racism, the hate. the disdain for our country's values is open and constant - and which remains unregulated to the cost of us all; and by the British media, also entirely unregulated (I suppose we could crowd fund some dentures for Ofcom but I remain unconvinced that it would know what to do with them), including those parts of it which are most trusted by the British public (link to BBC article below, where the thugs are referred to as if they are ordinary protesters, and a life-threatening criminal act in the channel aqainst RNLI staff is relegated to a brief mention in paragraph 15).

We used to hear "both sides" from the news. and even then, that was an absurd position, where only one side ever provided facts, and the other only ever provided feelings. We don't hear that any more. Now we only hear one side. it is the racist. hateful side. and it is framed, always, as "legitimate concerns".

They are not legitimate. We saw no village-wide protest from Piddington, when they had 2,600 mostly white young men in those barracks, and endured crimes, including rape, associated with those men. But 1200 brown men? Suddenly that's "legitimate concerns". It isn't. It's racism.We cannot predicate the human rights of a person upon the strong feelings of a group that hates them.

That is not how human rights work ir this country, or it didn't used to be. We have done precisely this to trans people in this country - handed their harmless lives directly to the tiny, well- connected, well-funded group that hates them most. We are now normalising racism in precisely the same way. This is going to destroy our society.

What we need from the government urgently is:-
• Press regulation, sharp-eared enough to identify a dogwhistle and bold enough to call it what it is: with the good of our inclusive society at it's core and meaningful punishments
• Social media regulation: frankly X should be shut down. and the embarrassing fact that we don't want to annoy the chief nazi because he owns Starlink needs to be faced, because X's continued influence or our society must end. Facebook isn't much better: regulate them or end them.• We need clear, unequivocal statements from our PM. and from our MPs, about the fact that this is racism and terrorism. It is not "legitimate concerns".
• We need these Blackshirts and their leaders proscribed as terrorists, and sentenced accordingly
• And we need a concerted public information campaign to offset the colossal, constant untruths the press and social media have propagated: our society has hardly any crime. Refugees aren't disproportionately criminal. And tell people what benefits refugees get because it's shockingly low and people believe utter nonsense they read on Facebook. Educate people! We used to have incredibly effective public information films on prime time TV - I'm old enough to remember when drink driving went from "a bit of a laugh, ho ho ho evervone does it," to "nobody does that now" virtually overniqht, because of such a campaign.

I realise government is hard, and that our current qovernment is tasked with undoing 20 years of utter incompetence. But that must start from the basis of British values. "Respect and dignity" isn't an idea. It's an action, taken every day, it's the courage to stand up against hate, every day, and to call it what it is and to say the uncomfortable thing and sometimes, yes, the unpopular thing.

I hope that our government has this courage. I have not seen it yet,
Yours faithfully,
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Years of discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community, continuing homophobia and transphobia, all coupled with ageism. Older LGBTQIA+ facing ongoing discrimination/ stereotyping/judgment. Things were meant to be better by now. Instead they just seem to go backwards. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Adam Porter, a housing development manager from the LGBT Foundation charity, says he regularly meets older members of the community in exactly that situation.

"It's very common for people to hide things if they have a carer visiting their home, for example hiding their wedding photos or taking down a trans flag," he says.

"In the case of someone moving into a care environment, that means hiding who they are in their own home, for what could be the rest of their life."
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
There has been a noticeable lack of serious reaction over Turkish persecution of LGBTQIA+ community from the global community. As in many other countries, Türkiye tries to mask persecution by claiming being LGBTQIA+ isn't illegal and then using "obscenity laws". www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
Turkey detains dozens in crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists and journalists
Protesters teargassed as minister claims widespread raids and arrests under obscenity laws were to ‘protect families’
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Dan Jagger @auditorynerves.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Patients in England with a specific type of incurable breast cancer can now access a life-extending drug on the NHS, 2 years after it was deemed too expensive. Enhertu can give patients almost 7 extra months to live - with some living up to 3 years longer. 🧪💊 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
New hope for breast cancer patients as life-extending drug now on NHS in England
Enhertu, which can give patients an extra seven months to live on average, has been prescribed in Scotland for more than two years and is available.
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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It’s all just a lie. I get so annoyed when I hear democrats say “well parents have real concerns…” no they don’t. Real concerns are addressed by knowledge and data. Prejudice is not. If knowledge doesn’t change their position, they’re just bigots.
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 08/09/2026
All else aside there is nothing I want or need genAI to do for me. I like reading. I like doing research. I like playing around in spreadsheets. I like interviewing people. I like writing. I like doing these things for myself because I take pleasure in the doing and they make me a better thinker.
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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I am tired, as every disabled person is tired, of being accused of flying off the handle when institutions refuse us access and then act like we’re asking for special treatment. We aren’t. We are asking to be included. And by acting like that’s a huge deal, you’re making it clear we aren’t.
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researchdoom @bananaintherama.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Funny things “legitimate concerns”!Never about functioning health, welfare and education systems, or affordable housing, or supporting R&D or the higher education system, or creating apprenticeships, or tackling climate change, ir investing in local communities. Always about racism,rioting,violence.
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:
channel4news.substack.com
Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation.
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Mari Ness, writer of things @mariness.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
....the ongoing delights of being both a Hugo finalist and a wheelchair user. "The backstage is for walking participants," said directly to my face, as a wheelchair user.
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J. Offir, PhD @joffirphd.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
(Long) Commentrary🧵: Sydney Towle, who recently turned 26, has died of cholangiocarcinoma. 2 lessons to be learned from online responses to this TikTok influencer: 🔺️The public couldn't be worse at discerning fact from fiction. 🔺️Disabled & chronically ill folks... www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/s...
nytimes.com
Sydney Towle, Who Chronicled Her Cancer on TikTok, Dies at 26 (Gift Article)
For an audience that grew to more than a million followers, she challenged assumptions about how people with serious illnesses should look and live.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
The continued political silence over the spread of these anti-migrant, anti-refugee pogroms in the UK is a disgrace. This one has been going on for three nights in a row now and the Home Secretary and Prime Minister haven't said a single word about it www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Norfolk police arrest two men after officers injured during unrest over asylum plans
Homes of people believed to be asylum seekers attacked during two nights of violence in Thetford
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 06/08/2026
Water companies are pouring dangerous chemicals into our waterways, then making us pay for the privilege. It’s time they pick up the bill. www.theguardian.com/environment/202…
theguardian.com
All bodies of water in England polluted with toxic chemicals, official data shows
Environment Agency assessments find just 14.3% of country’s surface waters in good ecological status
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María Ramírez @mariaramirez.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Appalling. The strive for “balance” is not even that because it always goes in the same direction on this issue in the case of Nick and the current Today Programme
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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
It’s really something how people get up in arms about accessibility and equity when the thing in question is pervert glasses or Dark Clippy. I don’t see you folks showing up when Ticketmaster says there’s no way a wheelchair user can come to concerts or that sign language is “too distracting”.
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I join you from the Blaenavon wildfire in Southeast Wales, brought to you by BP, Shell and Equinor. Though it does not look dramatic, the fire has been out of control for days - for a very particular reason. 🧵
A photograph of multiple fire service vehicles parked on moorland. In the background, white smoke from multiple fires is rising.
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Worth adding some numbers to this. The British press decided to make trans rights into an issue. It just wasn’t an issue before. This was a top-down decision. shado-mag.com/articles/opi...
Two striking statistics come to mind.
The first is how the British media decided to obsess over trans people. This is very clear.
Between 2012 and 2022 alone, trans-related articles went from just 60 to over 7,500. By 2022, there were at least 125 times more articles on trans people than in 2012. This has facilitated the rise of a far right narrative vis-a-vis "gender ideology" which is talked about in civilisational terms: In effect, trans people are being portrayed not as individuals but as the products of an ideology that threatens the dominance of 'man' and perceived traditional gender roles.
Fast forward just three years and we see the Daily Mail actively investigate whether any of Tyler Robinson's neighbours or roommates were trans, which would apparently help explain why he shot the white supremacist and Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk.
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Unsplintering.bsky.social @unsplintering.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
"UK Ministry of Defence has finally admitted it ran "extensive" programme of human radiation experiments on troops. A two-year review has confirmed ministers & officials falsely denied that medical data was collected from servicemen & civilians" www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
mirror.co.uk
MoD admits 'extensive' human radiation experiments on nuclear test veterans
EXCLUSIVE: "There's no truth, no justice. We were labrats in a government experiment which they didn't bother to keep the paperwork for. But worse is the cover-up which continues."
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Myself and the team at Penguin aimed to make Who Wants Normal? as accessible as possible. The audiobook is narrated by the legendary Ruth Madeley. The print and Kindle version is in clear font, with small sections made for lower energy. All formats available here: linktr.ee/WhoWantsNormal
A smiling Ruth Madeley sits in a recording studio. She is wearing a light grey hoodie and ear phones and her wheelchair is parked behind her.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
You'd think the intelligence services having to raise the national terror threat level because of a surge in Nazi terrorism might have been a bigger story
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 12/07/2026
Every time I read a story about gynecology it's always something like "doctors discovered women could experience pain in 1989 but decided not to act on this knowledge for 20 years"
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
🔴 NEW: Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Reform UK’s Cambridge University Recruitment Pipeline Project Revealed By @nafeez.bsky.social, @peterjukes.bsky.social and @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social The world-renowned academic institution has nothing to say in response to a six-month investigation…
bylinetimes.com
Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Reform UK's Cambridge University Recruitment Pipeline Project Revealed
The world-renowned academic institution has nothing to say in response to a six-month investigation by Byline Times raising serious concerns about the safeguarding of students and foreign influence at Cambridge University. Why?
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
It's a collective psychopathy, which treats disabled people, elderly people and people with long-term conditions as disposable. We see it in the Covid-19 pandemic. We see it in the heatwaves. Their deaths are inconvenient reminders that a favoured policy is disastrous. So they must be dismissed.
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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
"Under the Oct ceasefire Israel agreed to allow up to 600 aid trucks into Gaza each day, but officials say restrictions are still in place & only about a third of those promised deliveries have been allowed in" Lina Abu Akleh on Israel still restricting the flow of aid into Gaza
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Eb @ebthen.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
So, the thing about ableist language—and slurs in general—is not that it hurts people's feelings. It can do that, sure, and that's bad, but the issue with ableist language—and slurs in general—is about that language's role in a system of oppression. It's about what using that language does.
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Rudy Hellzapoppin' @rudyhellzapop.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Some help required. Daughter lost her very special to her Coraline Cat (pictured) at the Kneecap Crystal Palace gig on Saturday night last. Incredibly long shot but means a lot to her. Any and all help very welcome. Pictured at the gig and previously visiting Big Ben.
Cat visiting Big BenCat enjoying the Mary Wallopers before the separation.
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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Okay, UKsters, the media is useless re: extreme heat, so let’s do this. I’m from Southern California, spent the last ten years living outside Seattle, which has a similar climate to Scotland, where I am now. Here’s what I know. 1. Heat exhaustion and sickness are no fucking joke. Do not tempt them.
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Esheru @esherukweku.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
During the BLM protests, I was asked by a neighbour, if I thought anything would change. I told that neighbour, the world and people are set on a default and nothing would change. I was wrong, it seems to be worse. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Mississippi officer put on leave after killing baby in car outside Walmart
Protests erupt in Senatobia after one-year-old Kohen Wiley killed after police responded to report of shoplifting
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Both the government and the Court of Appeal now treat protesters as terrorists and terrorists as protesters. It's hard to accept that a "Labour" government is imposing rightwing authoritarianism on the UK, but please read this column to see what's happening.+🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Belfast riots, Palestine Action protests. What is terrorism now – and why the hypocrisy? | George Monbiot
The right is obsessed with ‘two-tier policing’. This is indeed a two-tier government – but the real victims are progressives, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 10/06/2026
I remember the bombs. I remember walking past burning cars to get to work. I remember the shootings. I remember the fear. I remember the hope everyone felt as we voted for the Good Friday agreement. I remember us believing that future generations wouldn't have to suffer this.
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
We can't look away from the images of families fleeing burning houses without calling this out as a pogrom, whipped up by influential actors who care nothing for the people of Belfast: www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
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Disability News Service @johnpring.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
TW: Suicide The death of David Panther is the latest tragedy linked with universal credit. Almost nobody appears to be paying attention to these deaths and the growing evidence of harm, particularly to those with mental distress: #UniversalCredit #DWP www.disabilitynewsservice.com/universal-cr...
disabilitynewsservice.com
Universal credit migration and the death of David Panther
An autistic circus skills teacher took his own life after becoming increasingly distressed by the bureaucratic chaos caused by his “migration” to universal credit, which led to him facing a new £50…
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Natasha Devon @natashadevon.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
The people who wanted you to hate immigrants, Muslims and trans people will never be ‘happy’. There’ll never be a point where they say ‘great! The country is a perfect amount of racist and transphobic!’ They always require a scapegoat. It’s disabled ppl and Sikhs today. Tomorrow it could be you.
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Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Such an important statement. Many identified the impact this would have on the disabled community, or people with intersectional needs. It all negates dignity and massively overestimates available facilities. The suggestion trans+ people should “just use” accessible toilets harms both groups
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Deirdre O'Shaughnessy @deshocks.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
"I turned a corner the other day and nearly took out a sandwich board advertising Ireland’s Best Accessibility Award Winning Café. The irony nearly killed me before the kerb did." www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
irishexaminer.com
Tracy Martin: Over a million Irish people have a disability, but nowhere is accessible
Why are people with a disability or long-term condition faced with an obstacle course every time we leave the house, asks a frustrated Tracy Martin
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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 25/05/2026
104. From this follows a simple but compelling consequence: we cannot consider AI to be morally neutral. In reality, every technical tool embodies choices and priorities through what it measures, ignores and optimizes, and how it classifies people and situations. If a system is designed or used in a way that treats some lives as less worthy, or excludes them without the possibility of appeal, then it is not merely a tool “to be used well,” since it has already introduced criteria that contradict the inalienable dignity of the human person. For this reason, ethical discernment cannot be limited to asking whether we are using a system for good or bad purposes; it must also examine how that system is designed and what vision of the human person and society is embedded in the data and models that guide it. [126]
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Matthew Hodson @matthewhodson.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Section 28 was passed on this day in 1988. It didn’t come out of nowhere. It came from a society where 75% of people thought homosexuality was wrong. It came from a society that believed ignorance was better for children than any knowledge of lesbian or gay lives. 🧵 1/16
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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Our ancestors a) had a significant amount of knowledge about how to solve mechanical issues with their bodies b) had a SIGNIFICANT amount of knowledge about how to alter their consciousness and treat pain c) used these things to care for their families and their communities, dammit.
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