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Helen Mackness

@helenmackness.bsky.social
110 followers 168 following 206 posts

eurasian tea drinking book dragon // obstinate, headstrong girl // half agony, half hope // sacrificing sleep for rugby, cricket, hockey, and romance novels she/her 加油!

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Reposted by Helen Mackness
Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Zelensky: "When our strikes reached Yandex’s data centers, it suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social media platforms. A lot of people noticed it. There was less hate, less division, and fewer provocations... It’s pretty clear where those bots were coming from."
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Luke McGee @lukemcgee.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Two most important facts: 1) since Trump became President, attacks on Ukraine have grown substantially in volume and scale. 2) Since Trump became President the US has committed zero (yes, zero) new dollars to support Ukraine.
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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)
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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This should be so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said, but given what kind of weekend it’s been on here, apparently it does: If you don’t want old rapists running the world, in office, in the board room, making decisions for all of us get comfortable with “ruining” young rapists’ lives
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Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Having seen the Joyce Carol Oates very bad, not good tweet about romance and AI, I can't help thinking about the way that romance has been treated as a punching bag for so long and always by people who are completely unwilling to engage with the genre and know little about it.
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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody &everything.

Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Barliman worked for Evri
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National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 28/09/2026
Today marks three years since the iconic Sycamore Gap tree was illegally felled. We're pleased to bring you new images which reveal how the stump is growing, a sure sign that the tree is in recovery.
A close-up of sycamore shootsThe stump is hidden by a thick ring of green shootsThick, green shoots surround the stumpShowing tall shoots, growing above the stump
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Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A list of things to do today: Wake Up Eat Breakfast Get dressed Go to Frog’s house Take walk with Frog Eat lunch Take nap Play game with Frog Eat supper Go to sleep
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Emma Yeomans @yeomans.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hampshire police say man was arrested on suspicion of destroying ships or endangering their safety under the Aviation & Maritime Security Act 1990, criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life, & conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals under Merchant Shipping Act 1995
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
DYING of cute on the bus on my way to work. Tiny toddler in reins and tinier chihuahua on leash fascinated with each other, each straining against their respective restraints to get closer, unnoticed by human Dad juggling phone, coffee, keys and reins and dog owner having a chat with shopworker.
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Tom Freeman @tomfreeman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I mean, any time now would be good. If it's not too much trouble
Headline: "‘Outright racist’ Daniel Thomas will face full force of law over any crimes, says home secretary"
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🔴 NEW Royal British Legion Says It Wants ‘No Association’ With Anti-Migrant Group Behind Poppy Fundraisers By @josiahmortimer.bsky.social Read below. ↓
bylinetimes.com
Royal British Legion Says It Wants ‘No Association’ With Anti-Migrant Group Behind Poppy Fundraisers
The charity says it never authorised a Hampshire group's 'Raise the Poppies' appeal, as crowdfunding sites take pages down
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Over the last few months these guys made me proud to be British: kind, practical, profoundly moral, a testament to this island. Now they're targeted by the very worst of us. I just gave them a bunch of money. You should too. Show those fascist clowns what's what. rnli.org/support-us/g...
rnli.org
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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Emma Yeomans @yeomans.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Worrying scenes in the Channel today, for all interested in asylum policy and maritime tactics. A small boat from Normandy spent more than 30 hours at sea. Those on board now on their 2nd rescue vessel as Border Force forced to play cat and mouse with far-right activists who have their own boat.
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
You can see from the photo that boat's tipped too far right
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
YES
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Sorrowscopes @sorrowscopes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Capricorn: One skill that will help this week is hibernation. Seriously. Try to figure out how to turn into a bear.
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Tal Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
wow its amazing how much lighter i feel after completing an extremely daunting task that's been weighing on me for months. i guess procrastination really does lead to more stress. good thing i'll definitely remember this for all future daunting tasks
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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026
I’ve worn a grubby RNLI cap for decades. I sound London, but I was born in Truro and I was a basically feral (Gen X) kid wandering the coast path with a dog until sunset for a lot of my early life. The lifeboats are in the fabric like trawlers and farms and pasties and fish and chips.
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Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Every year on 19 December, the famous Christmas lights at Mousehole in Cornwall are dimmed between 8 and 9pm, leaving just the Cross and Angels shining down across the village and out to sea.
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Hugh Brechin @hughrbrechin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
'Canada is in the EU and we're not' would be an incredibly funny long term outcome of Brexit
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Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I picked up a copy of the collected letters of JRR Tolkien for reasons, and this is the most bullshit table of contents I've ever seen. I'm actively angry that it exists
Contents

Introduction - vii

Foreword to the Revised and Expanded Edition - xi

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - 1

Notes - 607

Index - 637
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The horrors persist, but so do we.
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I had two weeks off, was back at work as of Tuesday, and have felt like I have been drowning ever since. Time off was lovely, but dear God, at what cost?!
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
never surrender
neil degrasse tyson: you are not a planet

pluto:: you are not carl sagan

neil: middle finger

pluto: two middle fingers
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 02/09/2026
Even aside from Rowling being an insane monster, Jesus fuck I am sick of hearing about Harry Potter
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Roses are red Women are from Venus
Stupid Daily Mail headline: Taittinger boss's ex-mistress makes astonishing allegations about their hedonistic champagne-fuelled sex lives as she is convicted for chasing him down the street with a knife and threatening to cut off his penis (plus photos of two posh people and a posh house)
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The horrors (being on the bus to work after 17 days off) persist. But so do I.
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Alas, most of my work clothes and at least half of my summer weight dresses require ironing, and as I had been on annual leave from work, I had been flouncing around in the latter, and ignoring the former.
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Just ironed for almost 4 hours straight. Why do I even own that many clothes, let alone ones that require ironing?! Ugh.
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
So just to confirm: - Dissatisfied royal claimant to the UK throne returning from abroad. - A new king rises in Norway. - Heir to the Jacobite pretender consolidating power on the continent. cool cool. cool cool cool cool. cool cool. Hope everyone's been keeping up with their longbow practice.
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The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Tim Curry was not the 80-year-old Home Alone 2 cast member we were asking for.
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William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 25/08/2026
[Exit Queen.]
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Joel @itsjoels.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is the letter kids got at the end of Dolly’s Imagination Library. I defy you to read this and not cry.
Sorry, I can’t type that.
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Jennifer Prokop @jenreadsromance.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
No one cared more about literacy than Dolly Parton. Truly one of the greatest American philanthropists of all time.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I appreciate that Dolly Parton refused to participate in "dress respectability" and, by her own account, modeled her aesthetic after a town "tramp," who she thought was beautiful. She separated aesthetics from character and understood "classiness" to be about how you treat people, not how you dress.
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Functioning airconditioning on this train, my beloved.
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Ghoulothy @landbeforetim.myatproto.social · 16/08/2026
I’ll die on the hill that digital purchases shouldn’t be legally allowed to be deleted, removed from user access, etc because at that point that isn’t purchasing a game or product but rather renting it Once you digitally buy a game or media you should get to forever own your copy no matter what
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Helen Mackness @helenmackness.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
East Coast Main Line, mon amour.
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Lucy Betteridge-Dyson @lmbd1418.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
VJ Day is still vastly over shadowed by VE Day in our cultural memory of the war - but why? I discuss the complexities of remembering the Burma campaign with Rob in this VJ Day special.
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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 12/08/2026
"I never thought relentless global heating and drought would fry MY farm" sobs man who voted etc etc
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
"doesn't understand the appeal of patina" feels like neat summation of American aesthetics
A BBC story headline reads: "Worth $5M? Visitors react to renovated Washington horse statues." There are two photos. One from 2013 that shows the horse statues in their older, patina state. And one from 2026 that shows them covered in 23.75-karat gold leaf.
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Squeezy John @johnspiers.co.uk · 10/08/2026
I still absolutely think that the English rugby team should learn how to morris dance properly and do it in response to the Haka against New Zealand.
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Jennifer Prokop @jenreadsromance.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
stop assuming all fantasy written by women is romantasy or YA. stop assuming all women are writing romance. stop assuming any books with sex scenes (or "spice" god make it stop) are romance. WHAT ARE WE DOING.
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Steffen Rayburn-Maarup @rayburnmaarup.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I don't think people are ready for this kind of joke yet.
A town sign seen through a train window.
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Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
That "men should be allowed, without judgement or consequence, to do an amount of harm to women and girls that I personally deem acceptable" seems to be a genuine opinion still held by too many people in the year two thousand and twenty six is incredibly grim
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Image: In a childrens library, a small boy contentedly reads a small picture book, while an angry-looking small girl storms past, carrying a very heavy book.

Caption:
Unfortunately for Charlotte, the adjudication committee decides that, for the purposes of the under-nines summer reading challenge, the six volumes of proust's 'in search of lost time' is considered to be one single narrative, whereas each of Roger hargreaves' mister men' books is a distinct work, thereby awarding the library's 'top reader' sticker to her brother Toby.
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Monday? Shan't. Won't. Can't make me. #MondayMotivation 📷️ Paul Browning
A tiny Goldcrest perches on a wooden rail, tilting its head up towards the camera with a determined, slightly defiant expression. Its fluffy grey face, bright yellow crown stripe and olive-green wings stand out against a softly blurred background, making it look as though it's politely refusing to budge.
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