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Gail Parker

@gailp.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.6K following 609 posts

💙💛 Climate, law, politics, health, dogs, cats, science. Failed raindancer. Wivenhoe, Essex

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Reposted by Gail Parker
✄---Rob--Ives--- @robives.bsky.social · 6h
Make your own Stretch Horse 🐎 ❤️ #horse #zigzag #STEAM 1 d www.robives.com/project/stre...
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 6h
Public executions were not abolished out of tenderness towards the criminal. They were abolished because of the effect on the people watching, and the dangers of making human death a source of commercial entertainment. Here's Charles Dickens in The Times, after witnessing an execution in 1849.
"I have seen, habitually, some of the worst sources of general contamination and corruption in this country, and I think there are not many phases of London life that could surprise me. I am solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done in this city, in the same compass of time, could work such ruin as one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits. I do not believe that any community can prosper where such a scene of horror and demoralization as was enacted this morning outside Horsemonger Lane Gaol is presented at the very doors of good citizens, and is passed by, unknown or forgotten. And when in our prayers and thanksgivings for the season we are humbly expressing before God our desire to remove the moral evils of the land, I would ask your readers to consider whether it is not a time to think of this one, and to root it out.

I am, Sir, your faithful Servant.
Charles Dickens".
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James Oswald @sirbenfro.bsky.social · 9h
A great resource for trans people trying to negotiate the world in these difficult and hostile times. Please spread far and wide so everyone can see it.
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Dave Borthwick @borthwickdave.bsky.social · 9h
out to watch a river run backwards with tidal bore, 1/2
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Dave Borthwick @borthwickdave.bsky.social · 9h
wading birds driven ahead of its bow wave which bulged & runkled the placid downflow & continued upstream waves of pinkfooted geese rowing overhead obliviously against the tide 2/2
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Dave Borthwick @borthwickdave.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
wide skies full of the chatter of svalbard barnacle geese, newly in & finding memory by grazing - the yin/yang of them jangly & easily spooked (a sudden roe deer caused ripples of alarmcall) - sun's full liquid light pouring & showers rolling in, soaked & drying & soaked all afternoon
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Rick @flipchartrick.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
When I was at school, we knew my friend’s dad as a slightly eccentric Polish geezer. Little did we know…. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Codebreaker, 103, kept his WW2 heroics a secret for decades
Fred Vanke was sworn to secrecy but has now been honoured by Bletchley Park.
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Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
there is minimal evidence that inheritors in their 50s and 60s are desperate to move into their parents' former home. My @instituteforgovernment.org.uk on why Kemi Badenoch's policies are for the world of Downton Abbey - not the one we live in now www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/kemi...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax proposals are myth-based policy making at its worst | Institute for Government
The leader of the opposition’s conference announcement was not well thought through.
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David Steel @steelyseabirder.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
We've got our first Grey Seal pup of the year on the Isle of May as the blog explains: isleofmaynnr.wordpress.com Photo Bex Outram
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BTO Garden BirdWatch @bto-gbw.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
🐦💚 It's World Mental Health Day! Did you know that watching and listening to birds may support your mental wellbeing? We've rounded up 3 scientific studies exploring how birds can help us feel better. 🧵👇
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
But, in the Cam, this is MUCH more remarkable
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Trisha Elliott @trishaelliott.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I liked this piece from @johnlauner.bsky.social on the concert of General Practice as “mosaic care”. #MedSky
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The Bjg Time Chatlie account seeking to identify & incite vs RNLI staff as traitors was run by a recruitment consultant in Worcestershire who is a Restore donor & Cromwell Club member. He hss now deactivated the anon troll account after being publicly identifird www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Recruitment boss accused of being behind ‘doxxing’ campaign against RNLI and anti-racism activists
Tom Watson, of Worcester, alleged to be behind Big Time Charlie X account that created so-called Traitorbase
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Having grown up in Wales, I can testify that if you are actually worried about your culture and history being under threat, the thing to do is write poetry and songs, perform plays, tell stories and organise festivals, not just sit around whining.
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Anand Menon @anandmenon.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
An announcement. There will be plenty of time to reflect on what we've achieved, and on the fantastic colleagues who have helped us achieve it. But for now, sad news ukandeu.ac.uk/announcement... 1/2
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is absolutely damning. A must-read.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
And they also didn't take account of the opposite effect. The proposal creates a massive incentive for people to shift cash from investments into a larger home.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Today, selling a £1m house and moving to a £400,000 flat won’t change your children’s IHT. The estate is the same size. Under the Tory proposal, the £1m house was exempt from IHT, but the £600,000 you released is fully subject to IHT. Your house move caused £240,000 IHT.
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
it's roughly a standstill result for the Greens when including Feinstein's vote, which would be fine given the Burnham bounce - except they decided to stand their party leader in it, who's meant to be a big draw. It's a poor result given they played supposedly their strongest card
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Gail Parker @gailp.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
'A CCC spokesperson said: “We don’t recognise this number. The committee has previously offered to meet with Ms Badenoch and talk her through our advice. That offer is, of course, still open.”' www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet error
Exclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"I have to tell you know that no such declaration has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with hedgehogs"
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"It isn’t point scoring that has delayed care reform, but disagreements on how to find the money and what to spend it on... What’s been missing is a leader willing to lead." I look at 20 years of failed adult care reform - and what Labour's proposals could miss By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social
national.thelead.uk
Death tax, dementia tax, no tax at all: Why England hasn’t fixed social care
Fifteen years after Dilnot called adult care "not fit for purpose", reform still hasn't come. As Andy Burnham and Louise Casey try again, Chaminda Jayanetti traces three decades of false starts.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
God. We wasted an entire season of Origin Story telling the story of this word, when we could've just checked in with James here.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"Thames Valley police had conceded that it obtained the search powers under the wrong statutory provision" One would think that police would get something like this right. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Search warrants used in Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor raids were unlawful, court rules
Judge makes ruling after former prince brought judicial review of operation linked to Jeffrey Epstein investigation
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I wrote yesterday that the BBC was complicit in the country's dumbing down. Today, it cuts Thinking Allowed & Free Thinking. There was a time when the ruling class at least tried to prove us Marxists wrong; now, it has given up.
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"In Latin America and the Caribbean, wildlife populations fell by 95% [in 52 years, and] 80% in Africa..." How do you even compute such whirlwind annihilation of nature? *THE* best thing we can do to alter such trends? Shift towards more plant-based diets. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Comebacks for wild tigers, tuna and sea turtles prove nature loss can be reversed, scientists say
A landmark report reveals that the world must change the way it produces food to avoid a biodiversity collapse
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
How (not) to remove an honour Is this the end of no-go areas for judicial review? How a case about removing a gong points to an expansion of public law By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
The judge made a distinction between an honour being granted and an honour being removed. She said “the decision has significant detrimental consequences for the individual. The revocation of an honour is a highly public decision, which by its nature is likely to attract wide ranging comment and real consequences for the individual. In my view it is not the same as the decision not to award an honour in the first place.”

She added, “No person has a right to an honour and there is no legitimate expectation either of the substantive right, or that any particular process will be followed. Importantly, the decision-making process is undertaken in private, and no public opprobrium follows from the failure to be granted an honour. Therefore, there will be no reputational damage from not being granted an honour. That position is entirely different if an honour is revoked.”

This is an important practical distinction. And it is in accordance with the traditional approach of English law to the removal of licences, permissions and privileges. A court will always be more likely to intervene when a thing is being deprived unfairly and detrimentally, than when a thing has not been granted in the first place, however unfairly.

But it is a practical difference with no real basis in law. If the removal of an honour is justiciable then, in principle, so must be the granting of an honour. The courts may well be unlikely to intervene, but that hesitation only goes to the standard of review and to judicial deference, and not to the very non-justiciability of the subject matter.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Absolutely wonderful preview of the by-election by @andrewteale.me.uk: really conveys so much of what makes the seat very unusual and I learnt a lot I didn’t know:
andrewspreviews.substack.com
Previewing the Holborn and St Pancras by-election and the four local by-elections of 8th October 2026
“All the right votes, but not necessarily in the right order”
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Perfectly put.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I think this is often driven by media class overcompensation for fear of metropolitan bias: a lack of proper engagement across geography, social class lines leads to a weird caricature of public opinion, as if the radicalised online group must be speaking up for authentic public opinion
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Gail Parker @gailp.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oh my goodness, what a gorgeous wee fella
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Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 07/10/2026
Still baffled that George Osborne is not in prison www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Over 330,000 excess deaths in Great Britain linked to austerity, finds study
Research comes as government signals fresh round of public spending cuts
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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Column on Greens, anti-Zionism and why the people who pathologically hate something are not the most reliable people to define it accurately www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Zack Polanski had the chance to show real leadership. He blew it | Rafael Behr
A toxic debate over anti-Zionism leaves the Green leader looking like a passenger in the movement that carried him to the top, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
How tribology makes the economic world go round - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Utterly fascinating on a field of study I doubt any of us had heard of, from @anjahuja.bsky.social
giftarticle.ft.com
How tribology makes the economic world go round
The science of friction and wear plays a central role in making industry run more smoothly
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you. The prime directive of the Conservative Party is to get and hold power. The idea that it would risk throwing away the opportunity merely because it involved an albeit uncomfortable arrangement with another right-wing party is clearly for the birds.
bbc.co.uk
Kemi Badenoch: I'd rather have another election than do a deal with Reform UK
The Conservative Party leader also pledged to cut the cost of hiring 21 to 24 year olds.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
To be clear, we're going straight back to Brexit chaos if the Conservatives or Reform are in power, and that is because of their commitment to withdraw from the ECHR, which would almost certainly mean parts of the TCA suspended and huge US diplomatic pressure. www.ft.com/content/f923...
ft.com
Tory plan to rip up UK-EU food deal risks ‘huge uncertainty’, producers warn
Food and drink industry fears it may be forced to comply with different regulatory regimes every few years
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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · 06/10/2026
More than half of private family cases are completed with neither party represented by a lawyer. Now a free Norfolk website aims to help families facing court alone understand the process – from forms and hearings to domestic abuse support.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
New guide helps Norfolk families facing court without a lawyer
A new Norfolk website helps families navigate court as legal aid cuts leave growing numbers without representation
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Very helpful points from Georgina who knows the EU well.
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Barbara Nadel @barbaranadel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Oh rules don't apply to THEM. No. They're better than us and so they 'deserve' things like second homes. Typical Reform bullshit.
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Gail Parker @gailp.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
In a similar vein... bsky.app/profile/chri...
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Cathy Cooke @cathycooke.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Interesting. I wonder if patients are reporting through the yellow card system?
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Gail Parker @gailp.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I hope the toddler is ok now and that you are too. 🤞🤞for Wednesday
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This talk of a bucket shop interceptor defence for the UK sent me hunting for GIFs of a stomp rocket....
static.klipy.com
Cute Girl Plays with Toy Rocket Launcher
ALT: Cute Girl Plays with Toy Rocket Launcher
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Nigel Hester @holnicotenh.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Autumn on Exmoor.
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The thing is, this isn't some gotcha memory test about "what precise amount of money will this cost/raise" of the type beloved by interviewers in election campaigns. It's the most basic question imaginable - "how will this thing work?" She has no idea.
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Don't speak ill of the dead" they say. But if you do, don't hold back: anwilson.substack.com/p/jeffrey-ar...
anwilson.substack.com
Jeffrey Archer
Fraudulence on a criminal scale
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I went to see the Bayeux Tapestry and was lucky enough to avoid the queues and the crowds on a press viewing. I tried to put aside a hundred preconceptions from history books, illustrated plates and internet pics, and to look at it afresh as work of sequential art. >
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A key point which few have noticed yet... Tory voters have already shifted a lot. Polling shows they back Burnham's pledge to consider closer relations. And a third back joining again. This is a major problem for Badenoch's supposed "recapture the centre" strategy.
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Gail Parker @gailp.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
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Dave Borthwick @borthwickdave.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
& the gateway is an eye that reflects & gathers leaves, copper beeches tarnishing heavy & shabby - jackdaws are revisiting roosts & bewildered pheasants worldbuild by cloking from cover: a single robin enacts a map the dunnock trespasses
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