Reposted by Catherine BakerNancy Kelley @nancymk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026This government has made life dramatically harder for trans children and their families. The human costs are enormous. Cal is not the first parent I know that has made the gut wrenching decision to leave the country. Read this then start fighting for a world where trans kids can live and thrive. 214256
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 02/10/2026There is a microgeneration of baby millennial sapphics whose lives were never the same after this came out. 090
Reposted by Catherine BakerLarisa Aitch @llarisah.bsky.social · 01/10/2026“What’s perhaps most striking about these pictures of trans people is just how mundane they are. The person looking at them, cis or trans, sees these images and realizes, however much they didn’t before, that trans people are not mythical creatures, or monsters, but people.” 084
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026As expected, 🇸🇮‘s new right-wing government is strategising to take political control of RTVSLO - which would remove leadership who have backed #Eurovision boycott, as well as everything else balkaninsight.com/2026/10/01/w...balkaninsight.comWith Jansa’s Return, Slovenia’s Media Landscape Is Being ReshapedA free press in Slovenia is at risk from the return to office of the populist Janez Jansa and media ownership changes that are shaking up the sector. 033
Reposted by Catherine Baker__________ @jenbren.bsky.social · 30/09/2026September 30 October 1st 08611
Reposted by Catherine BakerESC Discord @escdiscord.com · 30/09/2026🇮🇸 RÚV's board wants Iceland to continue its #Eurovision boycott. In a board meeting today, 6 of the 9 members signed a statement urging RÚV's Director General "to notify the EBU that RÚV will not participate in Eurovision 2027 unless Israel is barred from the Contest". 2305
Reposted by Catherine BakerKatherine Alejandra Cross @quinnae.com · 30/09/2026Recently, I did a wonderful interview with the indefatigable @emilystjams.bsky.social about trans people's online information environment and why there are very strong incentives to spread panic. It was a wide-ranging discussion that I think is more relevant than ever.episodes.ghost.ioWhat's the matter with trans panic media?Scholar Katherine Alejandra Cross on why it's so profitable to "sell panic to trans people." 6590168
Reposted by Catherine BakerMark Watson @watsoncomedian.bsky.social · 29/09/2026My son's history course this year includes a paper called 'Britain Transformed, 1913-1997' which means the events of 'history' for him include 'me doing history GCSE'. 2131121
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026‘This is a footballer with a future, and in a climate where billionaire stadium owners notify artists that they won’t perform if they say “Free Palestine,” taking such a stand puts that future at risk’ 041
Reposted by Catherine BakerJuliane Fürst @jcaf.bsky.social · 28/09/2026This much for academia being somehow above or outside the war: this is the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and these are our colleagues, engaged in the same work we do. This is also late punishment for the instrumental role the Academy played in the late 1980s in the struggle for independence. 24021
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 27/09/2026‘It almost sounds absurd to even have to say it - in the context of all that's wrong in world right now - but we will not report on the sporting action this time around’ www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-n... Mainstream 🇮🇪 sport media now working through same decisions as #Eurovision fan media 3 yrs agoirishmirror.ieIsrael v Ireland - the Irish Mirror's coverage will be different... here's whyThe big decisions can sometimes be the most straightforward 2135
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 26/09/2026‘Laibach insist they have “always been a pop group — even if we have not always looked or sounded like one.” Which is a bit like a Dalek saying it has always been a warm and approachable presence at children’s parties’ morningstaronline.co.uk/article/popa...morningstaronline.co.ukPopaganda 130
Reposted by Catherine BakerLee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 26/09/2026The Ireland game v Israel looks like it will be going ahead with the Irish players wearing black armbands in memory of the victims. Players have also asked to be excused from any further media duties. Donations will be made. Just one player is refusing to play. The majority voted to play. 43610
Reposted by Catherine BakerRobin Hayward 🌳 🏳️⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/ 15605454
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 26/09/2026🇮🇪 men’s ⚽️ team drawn vs 🇮🇱 in Nations League, may be deciding now whether to take field: www.theguardian.com/football/202... 🔹🇮🇪 FA wants 🇮🇱 suspended from international competition 🔹Team’s 🇮🇸 coach has said they’d be ‘playing against genocide’ 🔹Irish Sport For Palestine calling on team not to playtheguardian.comIsrael’s match with Republic of Ireland will be an eerie occasion as political debate rages onDespite fierce opposition to the Nations League encounters across Irish society, a boycott has not materialised 1154
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 25/09/2026‘We’re not sending the right songs and we’re not giving young artists the chance to develop them. The small venues they ought to be performing at, where they can test out their songs on an audience, are closing down. Smaller or up and coming artists can’t afford to tour’ 110
Reposted by Catherine BakerDuncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The second attack in two weeks on an LGBT+ bookshop in Glasgow. STV posted this story on Facebook and there is an endless stream of comments underneath suggesting the answer is for them to stop using the word "queer", stop supporting trans rights, and stop being so visible. Mainstreamed hate.news.stv.tvQueer bookshop vandalised again two weeks after targeted attackCategory Is Books in Govanhill has been targeted twice within two weeks 511864
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Today in unexpected impacts of city-based arena events. 111
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 24/09/2026‘The values everyone’s referring to today are the ones the Contest accepts. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are the ones its audience believes. For that to be at the centre, there needs to be a wider conversation between those 2 sides as to what Eurovision really is, & what it could & should be’ 020
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Our headmistress quoted from Penelope Lively’s autobiography about growing up among British colonial community in Egypt so often that ‘oleander, jacaranda’ became school-wide 1990s equivalent of a meme. 020
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026‘Many readers, I suspect, will have a sense of just how dangerous the modern right has become. What I think is less understood is the enormous harm center-left elites can do when they adopt the wrong strategy for dealing with this unprecedented threat’ 043
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Promises more decision-making power about #Eurovision governance will shift to EBU members (broadcasters) rather than contest management seem to have persuaded 🇧🇪’s VRT to return. 🇪🇸’s RTVE, in contrast, still unconvinced enough that its president is proposing staying out again. 020
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Announced on the same day a different 🇳🇱 public broadcaster, NPO, has taken over Dutch #Eurovision participation from AVROTROS. 010
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 20/09/2026‘For many young people, part of the pain they have felt in the past few years has been in witnessing the events in Gaza … why would they not increasingly expect artists to draw connections between their personal pain and what is causing it?’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comEd Sheeran thought fans didn’t want artists to be politically engaged. He’s finding out how wrong he was | Jason OkundayeTwenty years ago, even Madonna faced radio blacklisting for being overtly political. But in our age of streaming, there’s less excuse for not speaking out, says Guardian columnist Jason Okundaye 000
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 19/09/2026‘The difference, said @dorianlynskey.bsky.social, is that Ukraine reads in the west as a “consensus position” – “like Chris Martin wearing the pride flag, subtly progressive without risk of a massive backlash”’ Again very like what #Eurovision faced in 2024 070
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026‘As sports owners transform their stadiums into concert venues and more artists use big stadiums for their shows, we are increasingly entering a world where the most powerful billionaires in sports will be inclined to take more blatantly political stances’ 0113
Reposted by Catherine BakerKJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 18/09/2026in more writing-y skeets: I have a chunk in Think Write Edit Romance, talking about how you can't just slap a job title on an MC: to make a convincing mafioso/hairdresser/sculptor, you need to show what they know and do informing their general behaviour. re which, check out this delightful post!askamanager.orgthe very efficient Thanksgiving dinner, the threat assessments, and other ways our jobs follow us homeLast month we talked about what habits have followed you home from work, and here are some of the most delightful habits you shared. • My husband is a captioner and uses a specialized voice-to-text s... 1413225
Reposted by Catherine BakerJohn B @johnbc74.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Look. This is really simple. Whilst the RNLI is a charity, it forms part of the basic infrastructure of the country (whether this is a suitable arrangement is another matter). Due to intimidation parts of this infrastructure are unable to function. 43713
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026From a creative industries perspective this makes more sense than the media want to suggest it does, especially since #Eurovision got bumped up the cultural policy agenda after 🇬🇧 hosting for 🇺🇦 in 2023. 020
Reposted by Catherine BakerMaria W. Norris @mariawnorris.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Lookie here, the UK legal definition of terrorism! I'd say this falls under 1b, 1c, 2c, 2d. Again, this is the same definition used to proscribe Palestine Action. 15636
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026‘Now the 90s are far enough away for us to understand them, it’s clear that there was a hidden architecture to those times, one that supported this burst of creativity. It wasn’t just the party venues that were easy to find’ www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...theguardian.comHard parties, cheap rents and horrible flats: how 90s art and fashion redefined British cultureAn evocative new Tate Britain show captures an era when the UK’s newly flush creative industries teamed up with a generation of skint dreamers to bring the decade into vivid colour 043
Reposted by Catherine BakerRachel Moss @menysnoweballes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026CFP: Far-Right Archives in the Digital Age, a collaboration between @wienerlibrary.bsky.social and me (via my @britishacademy.bsky.social grant): 27 November, London: www.northampton.ac.uk/research-blo... Travel funds are available (probably only within UK)!! Please share. 🗃️northampton.ac.ukCFP: Far-Right Archives in the Digital Age | UONWiener Holocaust Library, London. Friday 27 November 2026, 10.30am-4pm Improved digital access to far-right material at archives, libraries, and beyond... 02120
Reposted by Catherine BakerCal Horton (they/them) @fiercemum.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I know GLP are up against a very hostile legal context but this is absolutely a depressing read. Highlighting minor ways in which schools can flex that still leave trans kids in a horrendous & harmful position. These flexes are no where near enough to protect trans kids. 17212
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Ed Sheeran’s tour now that venues have dropped Macklemore appears to be speedrunning Eurovision 2024, except with 🇮🇪 support acts able to use stronger language and actually drop out. 1175
Reposted by Catherine BakerSenthorun S. Raj @senthorun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026“The organisation said 50 activists had been detained, more than 10 taken after police raids on their homes. It said that authorities had blocked several websites and social media accounts linked to LGBTQ+ organisations.” Chilling to see Turkish authorities escalate their attacks against LGBT folk.bbc.co.ukTurkish police detain dozens in raids on gay bars and homes of LGBTQ+ activistsHuman rights groups in Turkey have accused the government of using a family- values campaign to target the LGBTQ+ community. 23015
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 15/09/2026‘At no point would a group on the left be given the levels of understanding or implicit praise that the black-shorted boot boys are getting. We’ve seen it happen enough times to know exactly what’s going on here’s 0208
Reposted by Catherine BakerMass Observation Archive @massobsarchive.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Exciting news (well we think so)! We are looking for new people to regularly contribute to our archive! We accept applications from anyone based in the UK who has an interest in sending us their thoughts and opinions about life in the UK. #Skystorians massobs.org.uk/write-for-th...massobs.org.ukWrite for the archive - Mass Observation ArchiveWriting for Mass Observation You can apply to write for the archive here. Current Observers If you are one of our current Observers you may find our handbook for new Observers helpful. This has all th... 15862
Reposted by Catherine BakerEuropean Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 14/09/2026🛡️ What does the Viking legacy look like today? Tom Birkett and his team have launched a project exploring how ideas and narratives about the #Vikings have evolved across Europe over the past 200 years. 👉 t.co/0L4WD9EsLL 📸 ©️Clare Keogh @norsemap.bsky.social @norseincork.bsky.social @ucc.ie 01511
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 13/09/2026‘Joan, like her literary knightly kin, was reverted back to womanhood in spite of the known fact of her short hair … Artists gave her back her long hair, turning her into a woman, not a warrior’ 043
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Kateryna Pavlenko (ex Go_A, 🇺🇦 #Eurovision 2021) was on another evacuated train a few hours ahead in opposite direction, returning from a Ukrainian content creators’ visit to the European Commission 020
Catherine Baker @richmondbridge.bsky.social · 12/09/2026‘The year is doing a lot of work before the plot has even bought its popcorn. … In 1994, culture could travel fast enough to become a rumour, but not fast enough to become a fact before bedtime. That is a lovely place for horror to live’ 123
Reposted by Catherine BakerKieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Great thread on the opening of YA. I can't think of a book where we nailed what we wanted to do as well from the off. The only downside is that I'm not sure we ever bettered it later. Still - to some, this opening says nothing, to others, it leaves nothing to be said. It seems this is Larkin week. 410618
Reposted by Catherine BakerNeil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Just re-read this great piece by @anildash.com "The constructed cultural narrative around the day bears almost no resemblance to the actual lived experience of anyone I know who was here that day. So maybe it’s worth telling a little bit of what I actually saw." www.anildash.com/2024/09/11/2...anildash.com23: What was 9/11? - Anil DashA blog about making culture. Since 1999. 29348
Reposted by Catherine BakerHistory Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 10/09/2026"Designed to provide access to public toilets for disabled people, the Radar Key reflects more than a material tool: it showcases wider debates around access, design, and spatial politics in modern Britain." Kirstie Stage on the radical nature of the Radar Key.historyworkshop.org.ukRadical Object: The Radar KeyThe Radar Key is a small but crucial part of the history of disabled people demanding rights and independence in modern Britain. Kirstie Stage explores the little-known history of this radical object. 1148
Reposted by Catherine BakerEric Gordy @ericgordy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026This place is now the gym that I go to (if I am being good) 3 times a week. But the mirrored disco ball is still hanging from the ceiling. notchesblog.com/2026/02/17/a...notchesblog.comA Love Letter to Bolts NightclubBolts was one of the most vibrant LGBTQ nightclubs in 1980s London, renowned for its Hi-NRG music and its weekly shows that were at the vanguard of gay culture. 022
Reposted by Catherine BakerScott Bryan @scottygb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Drag Race UK leaving the BBC Financial challenges to blame, but boy has a lot of queer content come to an end all of a sudden. variety.com/2026/tv/glob...variety.com‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: All Stars’ Set to Premiere on WOW Presents Plus (EXCLUSIVE)'RuPaul's Drag Race UK: All Stars' is set to premiere on WOW Presents Plus in 2027. 814849
Reposted by Catherine BakerSam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026My latest post: On the deindustrialisation of the university. And on being "in defence of history" at a time of extinction. thehistoryfactory.substack.com/p/the-histor...thehistoryfactory.substack.comThe History Factory 2: The Deindustrialisation of the UniversityA few years ago, my employer, the University of York, commissioned a civil engineering firm named Tilbury Douglas to build a new nursery for the children of its employees and students. 42622
Reposted by Catherine BakerSelina Chen @minkfossa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Wake up to US tech as a weapon. 14225