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Sam

@mct1sam.bsky.social
1.2K followers 265 following 16 posts

Mum to two gorgeous adopted girls and one handsome cat 😺, wife, school librarian, lover of books and live music 🎵

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Reposted by Sam
Mark Hebden @unionlib.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Help please: This is Christine. She has been standing in St George's Square Hebden Bridge for over 17 years in solidarity with the Palestinian people. She has been told she is no longer allowed to do this and is likely to be arrested. Please RT this for awareness. Photo credit: Morning Star.
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Hull Libraries @hulllibraries.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Big Malarkey Young Producers Wednesdays from 16 September 4:00 - 5:00pm / Hull Central Library Aged 10-16 yrs? Would you like to join the Big Malarkey Young Producers Group and help to plan the 2027 festival? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/big-malark...
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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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Elanor @elanorandthearts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
CALLING LONDONERS 📣 My friend has spent FIVE YEARS developing her play—a queer horror story—and she's hardly sold any tickets. She's travelling down from Leeds and I'm devastated 🥺 The Haunting of Verity Evans, The Hope Theatre, 25th–26th August. I hope you'll join me! Please share if you can't!
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Protect the Wild @protectthewild.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Google plans to concrete over land at Arena Essex Raceway, which hosts 530 invertebrate species and has Local Wildlife Site status. Spread across 52 hectares (128 acres), the data centre is expected to emit more than half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
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Martin McKee @martinmckee.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
1. Many school support staff were at very high risk 2. Your argument assumes the virus somehow behaved differently in schools 3. debate should never have been about schools closed/open - as we argued it should have been about making them safe www.independentsage.org/wp-content/u...
independentsage.org
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
🧵On @thenewsagents.co.uk yesterday, school closures and the lab leak theory were offered as two examples of legitimate questions that were hard to ask. Both have in fact been asked constantly since 2020. But here's a thread on why I think they were wrong and dangerous on school closures 1/12
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Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 08/07/2026
£5 million. A by-election. No opposition candidates. The questions haven't gone away. If anything, they've become harder to ignore. Read The Bear’s excoriating analysis ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk @bearlypolitics.co.uk
eastangliabylines.co.uk
Farage, the £5m questions and a by-election
A by-election was meant to reset the debate. Instead, with no major party contesting Clacton, scrutiny has remained fixed on Farage's £5m gift
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 28/06/2026
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has a massive problem with women, and @carolvorders.bsky.social helped expose exactly how deep it runs. No wonder they’re furious - she made them look small, cowardly and contemptuous.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
Sunday Long Read: Carol Vorderman Made Reform Look Small
One by-election exposed a wider pattern: contempt dressed as banter, grievance dressed as common sense, and "protection" offered without rights.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23
Telegraph headiline:

"Heatwave hysterics wouldn't have lasted a day in 1976", overlaid with a bold “MONK DEBUNKED” stamp.
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 23/06/2026
It’s far too hot, far too early, and it’s only getting worse. Thankfully, Jerry on Twitter is on hand to explain that 1976 was hotter, his nan wore a bikini for three months straight, he inhaled fifteen ice lollies and everything was fine. Jerry is, unfortunately, also talking out of his bum.
open.substack.com
“Remember ’76?” Isn’t a Climate Argument
Britain is boiling, but some people still think a hot summer in 1976 disproves climate change. It doesn’t.
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 22/06/2026
What do Andy Burnham, Boris Johnson and Brexit all have in common? Quite a lot, actually. They’re all attempts to solve the same underlying problem. The trouble is that Britain has spent forty years arguing about the treatment while largely ignoring the diagnosis.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
Long Read: Brexit, Burnham and Britain’s Permanent Restlessness
Six Prime Ministers later and we're still no closer to solving the foundational issues in this country
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 03/05/2026
Is everyone else as bone-deep tired of politics in this country at the moment? You are? Funny that. Nigel Farage and all the other right-wing crotchgoblins would quite like you that way. A Sunday long-read.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
Too Much to Follow, Too Little to Stick
A £5 million gift, endless scandals, and the political strategy of exhaustion
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Left: Labour's Steve Reed criticising Zack Polanski for wondering why police officers kicked a armed criminal already on the ground five times in the head Right: Footage of the police officers kicking the armed criminal already on the ground five times in the head
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Left: LibDem's Ed Davey criticising Zack Polanski for wondering why police officers kicked an armed criminal already on the ground five times in the head Right: Footage of the police officers kicking the armed criminal already on the ground five times in the head
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Left: Conservative Kemi Badenoch criticising Zack Polanski for wondering why police officers kicked an armed criminal already on the ground five times in the head Right: Footage of the police officers kicking the armed criminal already on the ground five times in the head
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Curiosity @curiosityhull.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
What Are The James Reckitt Hull Children’s Picture Book Awards? Amy, from the Hull Schools Library Service explains the what, where and why of the popular awards. Supplementals: tinyurl.com/mts6wu9k @hulllibraries.bsky.social @hullsls.bsky.social
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Curiosity @curiosityhull.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
What Are The James Reckitt Hull Children’s Book Awards? Amy, from the Hull Schools Library Service, gives us the lowdown on the best book awards in the country. Supplementals: tinyurl.com/4kb244x4 @hulllibraries.bsky.social @hullsls.bsky.social
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Finally, if you ever wake up from a coma and you aren't sure what time of year it is, here is a helpful calendar👇 We are right on schedule this year!🤣🙄 18/
A colorful calendar lists monthly events labeled as "Manufactured Culture War Outrage," highlighting humorous societal issues.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
🧵 These stories really are coming thick and fast at the moment🙄 Guess what? The Canadian school is NOT 'banning food at lunchtime' during Ramadan🤦‍♀️ Obviously... And if you BELIEVED it to be true, then you need to ask why you would choose to believe such an obviously ludicrous headline? 1/20
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Oh boy! What a headline... Ask yourself: "What am I being asked to believe?" "Who am I being told to blame?" Take a few seconds to imagine what the Daily Mail (And Telegraph, GB News and Express) WANT you to think is going on. Let's see what's ACTUALLY happening...🧵 1/21
Daily Mail Headline:

Pupils' drawings could be blasphemous under Islamic law, Labour councils tell schools - while music and dance classes may go against the teachings of Islam
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Wimborne Against Hopkins is up to 340 signatures if you could take a moment to lend it some support I'm sure it would be worthwhile. Thank you
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Did you see this headline? Did you feel the requisite anger and rage at asylum seekers that The Sun was asking of you? Did you maybe blame Starmer because.... um... it was probably his fault🤷‍♀️ Would you like to know the reality behind the headline? Course you would!😜 Let's take a look 🧵 1/25
Sun headline about £500k compensation for migrants, discussing human rights, and public outcry over payouts.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
OK, the Gorton and Denton by-election, I have some thoughts! Let's take a look at some of the FACTS and burst a few of the more ridiculous takes doing the rounds But first up, can we acknowledge just what bad losers Reform are?!🤣 Right, let's get started... 🧵 1/
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BookTrust @booktrust.org.uk · 26/02/2026
"Books bring us together" 🩵 We're proud to share our new short film Stories That Connect Us, based on real conversations with children in adoption, foster care or kinship care. Thank you so much to all the children and families who took part, and to the wonderful Lemn Sissay for the voiceover!
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
This clip is all over the other place and has made its way onto GB News and Talk TV so I’ll do a bit of an explainer here too! The clip doing the rounds is of a fantastic police officer telling a group of Muslim men that a Christian preacher nearby is entitled to freedom of expression. 🧵 1/19
Screen shot from Paul Embery’s X account:

Respect to this police officer. Confronted by radicals demanding the arrest of a Christian preacher on the grounds that Whitechapel "is a Muslim area" she was calm and professional and
gave them short shrift. Let's see more of this from the police.

Has a video of a woman police officer talking to a group of Muslim men
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𝙽𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝙸𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝙸𝚝 @nashishereforit.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Wow.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Did you see all the “Countryside is too white”, “countryside is racist” hoo ha last week? If you were anywhere near RW media or the hell site, you can’t have missed it! Want to know where it all came from? Why there were over 30 “news” pieces about it in just 4 days? Let’s take a look!👀 🧵1/29
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
🚨The Petition calling for by-elections to be called automatically when MPs defect to another party is now closing on 80,000 signatures! Let’s get it to the 100,000 needed today! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Just saw this and had to share - PS22 Chorus performing The Cure - goodnight m.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtW...
m.youtube.com
PS22 Chorus "Lovesong" The Cure
YouTube video by PS22 Chorus
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
🚨By-elections to be called automatically when MPs defect to another party - lets get this to the 100,000 signatures needed petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
petition.parliament.uk
Petition: By-elections to be called automatically when MPs defect to another party
When an MP decides they want to defect to another party a by-election should be automatically triggered to allow the constituents the opportunity have their democratic right to agree or not with their...
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Matt @mattlibrarian.eurosky.social · 05/01/2026
Hi library friends & colleagues in the UK! Check out @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social on BBC 4 Storyville: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... 📚 📜
bbc.co.uk
BBC Four - Storyville, The Librarians
Documentary about the US librarians who are risking their safety to defend free speech.
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 04/01/2026
I genuinely didn’t think the first piece I was going to write this year was discussing the invasion of Venezuela by the United States and the country’s apparent handover to oil companies, but I suppose we are where we are. Welcome to 2026, I suspect it’s going to be… interesting. 🐻
bearlypolitics.co.uk
The Hostile Takeover of Venezuela
This weekend marked the quiet death of sovereignty and the rise of corporate rule.
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 30/12/2025
I’ve been quieter than usual this week due to a weird mix of work commitments and falling asleep on the sofa at every opportunity. In my defence, I may have overcorrected by writing the mother of all year-end posts. This is fair warning, it is long - but, then again, so was 2025.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
2025: The Year We Got Used To It
A final long read for 2025, charting how we got used to cruelty, incompetence and farce - and how 2026 will need us all to be much noisier.
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Sam @mct1sam.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-tar...
notopalantir.goodlawproject.org
Say no to Palantir in the NHS
NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 19/12/2025
The idea of “imported” violence against women and girls is a deeply comforting fiction - one that allows people to avoid looking at where it actually happens: within our homes and behind closed doors.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
The Violence Isn’t Imported. It’s Domestic.
Kemi Badenoch’s attempt to blame violence against women on migrants doesn’t just collapse under scrutiny - it actively distracts us from where the harm really happens, and who is actually responsible.
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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
I'll be closing my jewellery order book tmrw at 10pm- LAST CHANCE to order my individually handmade silver casts of real flowers & tiny wearable sculptures of birds in time for🌲(I ship to the US too) Designs include blackbird, snowdrop,wild carrot, bluebell, jay feather: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...
My wren design- a tiny wren I've sculpted in recycled silver, with plumage detail hanging on a sterling minibelcher chainAn intricate cast of a real snowdrop I've made in recycled silver, hanging from a sterling minibelcher chainAn intricate cast of a lily of the valley flower I've made in recycled silver hanging from a sterling minibelcher chainAn intricate cast of a jay feather I've made in recycled silver, hanging from a sterling minibelcher chain
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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
It would be so helpful if you could RT my post above about last🌲orders for my casts of real flowers & tiny bird jewellery in my etsy shop. The algorithm isn't so kind to small businesses here & a RT will help me put my Etsy shop in front of more eyes. I'd appreciate it so much, thankyou 🌿
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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
I make each of my flower necklaces by casting real flowers in silver incl snowdrop & bluebells. I also hand-sculpt much-loved bird species to make wearable versions incl wrens & blackbirds 20% off my jewellery atm with code TINYOWL20 Cut off day for🌲orders is Tue 25 Nov: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...
My snowdrop necklace made by casting a real snowdrop in recycled silver My lily of the valley necklace made by casting a real lily of the valley flower in recycled silver My wren necklace, individually handmade like all my jewellery designs, made by sculpting a tiny wren in recycled silverMy bluebell necklace made by casting a real English bluebell from a friend's garden in recycled silver
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Let’s have a look at a crazy Twitter to newspaper pipeline story and debunk as we go! 🔎👍🏼 16th Nov the “Britain is Broken” account shared the following post claiming “Tesco are no longer celebrating Christmas” With a picture of their “Evergreen” Trees 2.2Million views to date🙄 🧵1/26
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 16/11/2025
Sometimes the only thing left to say is “fuck right off.” I think we as a country have reached that point when it comes to the MAGA influence operations that have wormed their way over the Atlantic.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
Trumplethinskin Goes After the BBC - Because Facts Keep Hurting His Feelings
The man who demanded people "fight like hell" now insists the real injury was a slightly compressed quote on Panorama.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
I was tagged and asked to take a look at this claim - cos, well just look at it!🙄 Does it seem plausible that THE Trocadero is going to be turned into a Mosque? It was pretty easy to debunk but I decided to do a deep dive into the reality AND the appalling press coverage 🧵 1/26
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
FFS Daily Mail No - the school classrooms were NOT used to teach “adult migrants” Your own article explains this TWICE - and yet your headline…?🙄 I covered this yesterday in a thread when it was just RW accounts lying on Twitter Now the DM are on it, let’s go again! 🧵 1/12
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BookTrust @booktrust.org.uk · 31/10/2025
It's #Halloween 🎃 But together, we can give this scary story a happy ending. Read our strategy to find out how 👇 www.booktrust.org.uk/about-us/our-o…
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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 30/10/2025
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.
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Huw C. Davies @huwcdavies.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Wikipedia says Shaheen is an academic. BBCQT implies you can’t trust what she says b/c she’s an ‘activist’. Someone who Wikipedia calls ‘a former academic’ who now campaigns for Reform & wants to be its first Home Secretary is an ‘academic & author’ who you can trust. Maybe they use Grokipedia now.
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
This is really poor by BBC researchers and producers. Goodwin hasn't been an active academic for a number of years, yet is described as one (thus legitimating his relentless Reform activism and constant bad faith misrepresentation of evidence). 1/?
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Wow - those are quite phenomenal headlines given the details of the story. Ahh look, he’s just a ‘nerdy’ guy. No harm done. You need to scroll down to paragraph 13 of the Sky piece to find the full story! 🧵 1/9
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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 27/10/2025
Farage: epic grifter
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 27/10/2025
Calling someone racist has become the bigger sin than actually being a racist - in my piece below I discuss this phenomenon of “slurification” and a few ideas of how we can push back.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
How “Racist” Became the Dirtiest Word in Britain
When Xenophobia and Bigotry are Shrugged off but the Label Itself Sparks Outrage, the Conversation is Already Rigged.
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