iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 4h

Over in the other place, they are trying to community note the Pope for being Catholic

Tweet on X from the verified account of Pope Leo XIV from on Sunday 10th October with text that says 'The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty'. The post is accompanied underneath it by a proposed community note.

Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

WARNING⚠️If you get a social media message from a connection that asks you to vote for them to host a Spotify & Google or whatever podcast, DON'T click on ANY link. *Report the message as spam* (it's phishing) That should stop the sender (who has been hacked) messaging you again. Also delete. E.g.

Screenshot of X message text that says: 'Hey! Hope you're doing well. I've been nominated to co-host a podcast series with CBC and Spotify, and the financial decision is based on a public note. If you've got a minute, I'd really appreciate your vote it only takes a few seconds: (url link follows). Thanks a bunch'. Next text message says 'The voting's still open the podcast it's about health and care, and I 'd really appreciate your support. If you're able to vote, I'd be grateful if you could send me a screenshot once you've done it. Cheers!'.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Reactionary politics always tries to co-opt people to divide and rule. A race minority I'm-alright-Jack to tell others to shut up about racism. A woman to tell others to get back in the kitchen. A disabled person to tell others to shut up about disability. Nobody owes them to shut up about anything.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Unbelievably, the rationale for the #TimmsReview concluding that PIP "can create barriers to work, physical activity and community life" is this👇🏻 person, henceforth known as "a small number", talking about people *working* 🤦🏻, albeit cash in hand. #DisabilityBenefits Thanks @lurgeelife.bsky.social

An excerpt from the interim report of the Timms Review into the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions on 9 July 2026. Text says: '156. A small number of respondents also see PIP as discouraging employment specifically due to the money it provides removing incentives for paid work:

"I have worked with or been friends with a number of people that are on PIP and don’t need to be: in fact, that they are receiving PIP means they have no incentive to find formal work and are able to get work cash in hand and not declare it"

An individual responding to the Timms Review call for evidence.'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Department of Culture, Media and Sport is leaving X (but without regulating it first).

X post by Lisa Nandy MP, UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Text says: 'I've decided to leave this platform and my Department will too.

A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate.

It isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it.'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Half of UK welfare is pensions, 1 in 3 people on Universal Credit are in work, disabled people are disabled, more of them since Covid hit, but the welfare bill as % of GDP is stable (lower than most developed countries) and is forecast to stay stable and below OECD average for the next 5 years.

Chart from the Resolution Foundation of Social security spending as a proportion of GDP by category, Great Britain. The chart from 2007-2008 shows social security spending falling since 2013 from a peak in 2008-2009, pensions rising to account for the biggest share, and disability and incapacity spending rising in the post-Covid years from 2023.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Meet the new boss, who's just like the old boss? Three letters: CSJ. When they wreck the social net and fuel anti-disability prejudice, what exactly do politicians think they're "defending"?

The Times headline illustrated with aress photo of Greater Manchester mayor, Labour leadership and PM hopeful Andy Burnham, a dark haired man in black with black rimmed glasses, reclining on a high backed leather seat, clasping his hands. Headline and subheader text says: 'Andy Burnham: I'll cut welfare bill to fund defence. The Greater Manchester mayor reveals his two-stage plan to 'change politics' and says the Makerfield by-election will be a "focus group for the country".'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

You are here⬇ Don't expect anyone at the table to change this picture. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” George Orwell, Animal Farm, 1948 Illustration: Ralph Steadman, 1995

Illustration by Ralph Steadman to the 1995 edition of George Orwell's book The Animal Farm, showing pigs and humans, indistinguishable from each other, playing cards inside the manor house, while farm animals look in through the window from the darkness outside, struggling to tell the pigs and men apart.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

The DWP claims its #fitnote reform, #WorkWell trial is voluntary and "designed with GPs, patients and employers". ow.ly/grrJ50Z3cwg Except they lied to every GP and organisation they roped into the "call for evidence" that pre-empted it. This is the real motivation, spelled out by Pat McFadden here:

Comment by Pat McFadden, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Independent newspaper. Headline and subheader text says: 'I’m sick of people taking advantage of fit notes who should be at work.
That’s why we are launching pilots in four NHS areas – in order to fix a broken system and keep people connected to their careers from day one of sickness, says Pat McFadden'. Date and time: Thursday 21 May 2026 16:50 BST.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Happy Friday! This is medlar blossom

Large white medlar flowers with five petals and prominent yellow and red-tinged stamens, surrounded by clusters of long oblong lime-green leaves on a branch.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

The Times today. On health and disability, what is the difference between Starmer's "Labour" government and Sunak's "Conservatives"? Starmer and Streeting are delivering what Sunak started, the misnamed "Centre for Social Justice" (Burnham on its board) policy of attacking sickness leave and welfare

The Times headline from 20 March 2026 with subheader. Text says 'Sick notes ‘scrapped’ under plans to reduce benefit claimants.
Social prescribers will be brought in to help those struggling with their health to stay in work in an attempt to reduce spiralling costs'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Favourite time of year. Happy Monday!

Tree crowns in waves of green leaves in sunlight.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Political Genius 💡Thought of the day for #LocalElections

Poem titled 'Political Genius' by Pen Scrivener. Text says
'You thought it worked, and it did work Until at last we knew:
You need them, all those hateful folk, Much more than they need you. You big them up, year in, year out, Let hate proliferate, Then say: “Vote us to keep them out, Stop politics of hate!" Till then you say: “But we must court The disenchanted vote, The poor, the sick can do without. Let’s trot that ghastly vision out, In her Gestapo coat. And every crook and every lout, We'll let them rave and let them shout, Let's put them always on TV, So their mugs is all you see, Until you either buy their trick, Of vote for us when you feel sick." I tell you what, my dear friend, I know a lovely pier, Please walk its length until the end, And quickly disappear. It is a very gentle swim, Though it might soon be over, And somewhat sewage-filled and grim,By those White Cliffs of Dover. Perhaps, without you, life will be No better and no worse: The sun will rise, the busy bee Will zoom, the flowers bloom, we’ll see The same old universe, The birds will sing, the sun will set, And very quickly we'll forget, The folk will work and get things wrong, And put them right, and get along. In fact, we’ll get along just great, Without your cultivated hate. Somehow we’ll muddle through,
Just fine. Without you.'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Would HMRC failing to collect £46.8bn in #tax last year have anything to do with the hate fest against #disability #welfare (which cost £46.3bn in 2025 — by collecting this tax, there'd be £0.5bn to spare)? Oddly, the the same people who don't like to pay taxes lead these hate fests.

Chart from the HMRC Tax Gap report, 2025, showing uncollected taxes of £46.8 bn in 2023/24, up from £32.5bn in 2005/6 and steadily from £32.8bn in 2014/15. The tax gap is estimated at 5.3%.
Headline text says: 'Figure 1.1: Tax gap value and as a percentage of theoretical total tax liabilities, 2025 ti 2026 up to 2023 to 2024.'

Expended chart from the 2025 National Audit Office report on spending by the Department for Work and Pensions, showing disability welfare in 2024/5 costing £46.8bn in total out of the total welfare spending on £298 billion, the bulk of which, at £143.3 billion is pension benefits including the state pension.
Headline text says: 'Department for Work &Pensions (DWP) spending 2024-25. In 2024-25 almost half of DWP's spending was paid to pensioners'.

Chart from the HMRC Tax Gap Report shoring types of taxes uncollected. The largest one, 16 percent is corporation tax. Text says: 'Figure 2.3 Tax gap by tax type as a percentage of total theoretical tax liabilities'.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

A tax-averse, extremely wealthy politician hires a bunch of first-jobbers and calls them a think-tank. They put out a report for him demanding cuts to disability welfare. When told disability is dwarfed by pensions, they put out a report attacking pensions. Media duly parrots it. Twice in one week.

Headline from the Daily Telegraph, 1 May 2026, with a photo of former British prime minister Tony Blair. Text says: 'Tony Blair: ‘Outdated and unaffordable’ state pension must go. Ex-PM proposes overhaul to save £66bn by 2070, but critics warn it is ‘complex and highly intrusive’.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Well, this is the verdict (via @politicsjoe.bsky.social) Who on Earth does Labour comms? Someone created that "Save our Subsidised Booze" synchronised swimming in the other place yesterday. They must really want Labour to lose.

Photo from PoliticsJoe of Hannah Spencer, Green Party MP for Gorton and Denton in northwest England, a woman with strawberry blonde hair dressed in a white shirt and a dark jumper. With text that says '76%if Brits believe it is unacceptable for MPs to drink alcohol before voting. Source: YouGov'.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

How did the Guardian manage to take the Health Foundation saying falling UK healthy life expectancy "cannot simply be explained by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic" as "Covid is not behind the fall"from a set of factors into not being a factor at all? www.theguardian.com/society/2026... Look 👇

Chart in a Guardian article taken from The Health Foundation report based on OnS data, showing healthy life expectancy at birth in the UK drop sharply in both males and females of various age groups since 2020 after a briefly rising or stabilising for most groups in 2017-2019.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

One of the very few Long Covid doctors, Dr Claire Taylor, who's been a ray of light in the darkness, has apparently been harassed out of running her clinic. NHS clinics have shut or have nothing to offer. The government just wants to bury Covid and its victims with it. Don't get ill in the UK.

Extract from letter to patients from Dr Claire Taylor's clinic explaining that she has not been able to run it for the past six weeks because of harassment and advising patients that the clinic is now closing and she won't be able to prescribe without a clinic.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The #CovidInquiry isn't in the past @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social @sharonhodgsonmp.bsky.social @england.nhs.uk It's the present. NHS workers and patients are still exposed to Covid-19 daily in hospitals now without the correct (or any) PPE😷 As the Report says, they need FFP masks, not baggy blue👇

Extract from the Covid Inquiry Report Module 3: Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on healthcare, showing two types of protective equipment (PPE) appropriate to contain aerosol viruses: an FFP2 or FFP3 mask, white, moulded from dense material, with round the head straps, and an air-purifying hood, a plastic moulded respirator with a visor and a filter.

Extract from The UK Covid Inquiry Report, Module 3: 'The UK’s approach to infection prevention and control in healthcare settings during the Covid-19 pandemic suffered from three fundamental flaws:
Assumptions about respiratory viruses: There was an over-reliance on historical assumptions about how to distinguish between modes of transmission for respiratory viruses. This led to an initial misunderstanding of the level of risk posed by aerosol transmission and a failure to recommend sufficient protections against it.
Insufficient caution: Alternative routes of transmission other than droplet or contact were prematurely ruled out. This meant that pre-existing assumptions that Covid-19 was not ordinarily spread by aerosols became the received wisdom until the contrary was proved.
Lack of structure and expertise of the UK IPC Cell... The combined effect of these interconnected flaws led to a failure to properly protect patients and healthcare workers against the risks posed by Covid-19.'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Meningitis spreads by aerosols and droplets, i.e. breath, cough, contact with spittle. Usually close or prolonged contact. cks.nice.org.uk/topics/menin... Surgical masks catch droplets, FFP3 masks (N95) catch aerosol particles. Mask chart courtesy of Moldex www.moldex-europe.com/en/moldex-go...

Chart with three types of masks and checks. 1. Surgical mask: protects the wearer (no), protects the environment (yes), tested according to EN 14683 ( yes). 2. FFP3 mask without valve: protects the wearer (yea), protects the environment (yes), tested according to EN 14683 ( yes). 3. FFP3 mask with valve: protects the wearer (yea), protects the environment (no), tested according to EN 14683 ( no). FFP3 masks have two straps that go around the head. A surgical mask has straps that loop behind the ears. Chart source: Moldex

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Meningitis spreads by aerosols and droplets, i.e. breath, cough, contact with spittle. Usually close or prolonged contact. cks.nice.org.uk/topics/menin... Surgical masks only catch droplets, FFP3 masks (N95) catch aerosol particles. Mask chart courtesy of Moldex www.moldex-europe.com/en/moldex-go...

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Today is #LongCovidAwarenessDay. Sunday — will @uklabourparty.bsky.social Govt @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social ignore it or show awareness that millions live with Long Covid? This time in 2020 a decision was taken to deny and downgrade #Covid's risk. t.co/cOH4af9r73 That risk remains today. Be Aware.

Press release, 13 March 2026, from Covid Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), witnesses to the UK Covid Inquiry, about a government coverup of evidence to the enquiry regarding decisions taken by public health officials to deny that Covid is airborne and to downgrade it from a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) due to the shortage of FFP3 masks, the appropriate personal protective equipment for an airborne pathogen in the NHS. Link to the original press release PDF document in the post.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

On this day, 13 March 2020, six years ago, the UK government made a "pragmatic" decision to downgrade Covid from High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) due to the shortage of FFP3 masks. This left NHS workers unprotected from Covid since. Thanks to @catinthehat.bsky.social for the reminder & 👇

Letter by Prof. Tom Evans, chair of the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) to the UK Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van Tamm on 13 March 2020 recommending that Covid-19 should NOT be classified as a high consequence infectious disease (HCID). The letter is juxtaposed with an extract from 6 February 2021 article by the BBC science editor David Shukman about the consequences of that decision. The subheader says 'A "pragmatic" decision. Highlighted text reads: 'A member of ACDP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision was indeed "pragmatic", not because of pressure from government but because everyone knew the stockpile of PPE was limited'. Images from an X thread by Cat In The Hat @Catinthehat, 13 March 2026.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Mendelssohn on the radio as I work, and I think "All you awful Mahmoods-Badenochs-Farages-Lowes and other Powells who want to "take the country back" to Victorian times, here is Queen Victoria's favourite composer, a Jewish #immigrant from Germany, you'd have hated him. He *is* your British culture.

A letter from the British Conservatives' leader Kemi Badenoch to the Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to push through his Home Secretary's Shabana Mahmood's hardline anti-immigration policies despite protests from his own MPs.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

This is more insidious coming from self-avowed progressives. When this is what the health component of Universal Credit will look like in 3 weeks' time for new and reassessed claimants too disabled to work (a.k.a. LCWRA). Most of whom are over 50, not "young". They won't suddenly become fit to work.

A snapshot from the Department of Work and Pensions reforms announcement of Universal Credit reforms from April 2026: Universal Credit Health rate. Text says: 'Limited Capability for Work Related Activity amount. Rates 2025/26 £423.27. Rates 2026/27 £217.26'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

This week we have this asylum crackdown messaging from the Home Office. This time last year we had this Get Britain Working messaging from the DWP. Visual messaging is never accidental. If you read one thing today, read this history lesson from 100 years ago. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood standing outside a red brick asylum holding facility, with its cage-style high metal fence behind her. She is wearing a double breasted black wool greatcoat with a black leather belt and grey stitching along the edges, reminiscent of a World War II era SS Rottenfuhrer regulation greatcoat without the insignia.

Opening shot from the Department for Work and Pensions video, part of its Get Britain Working campaign in 2025, ahead of the budget announcing welfare cuts for disabled people. It shows people walking towards a job centre housed in a Victorian-era factory yard, with a wrought iron arch mounted over its red brick gateway.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I missed the moment McSweeney's resigned as I was doing a lunchtime course on fruit tree pruning. Some learning 1. Clear out the whole mess of rotten apples around the tree 2. Cut out dead wood and crossing branches that stifle each other 3. You can lop off the whole top if the roots are OK #Labour

Rotten apples and dead branches lying in the grass

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Reform: Ready to Rule? Why did the #BBC give a primetime slot on PMQ day, during a by-election framed as a referendum on the PM, to an hour-long Reform party political broadcast? No Q on Farage or Nick Candy in Epstein files. I don't mind the licence fee - I mind it being used for #Reform's campaign

Screenshot pf BBC IPlayer programme page for 'Reform: Ready to Rule?' Featuring a face picture of UK Reform party leader Nigel Farage, programme title next to the play button and text: 'With Reform UK consistently leading in the polls, Laura Kuenssberg examines the party’s ambitions, organisation and efforts to professionalise.

From its origins on the political fringes to representation on local councils and in Westminster, she asks whether Reform UK is ready to be a party of government. Featuring interviews with leading members of the party, the film explores how voter dissatisfaction is reshaping Britain’s political landscape. 59 mins. First shown 9pm 4 Feb 2026 Available for 11 months. Audio Described. Sign language.' Warning 'Contains some strong language'. Page include an add to watchlist button.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, a girl accuses her women neighbours in Salem of witchcraft, out of spite. "I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil!" Etc., a rant, just like the one below👇 RIP Renee Nicole Good, killed yesterday by ICE. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

President Donald J Trump's Truth Social post referring to the video of an ICE agent shooting a woman driver in Minneapolis at point blank range through her car window, accusing the woman shot of being "a professional agitator" adding that "the woman was driving the car very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defence". The post further claims the officer was injured. There is no evidence of this in the video or otherwise. It concludes that "We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers fro this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!"

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Happy New Year, friends! May the approaching year be kinder, more generous and peaceful than the departing one. May you have the best health possible, and all the good days and joys, and the best friendships waiting for you in the year ahead. 🥂🧡

Advertising sign with white text on blue with a white border that says 'TAKE COURAGE' painted on a side of a brown brick London Victorian terraced house.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Open letter by COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission Alliance (CATA) to Baroness Hallett, #CovidInquiry chair. 29 November 2025 Full text: archive.org/details/2025...

CATA Open Letter to Baroness Hallett, chair of the Covid Inquiry, page one. Contains text. Link in the original post.

CATA Open Letter to Baroness Hallett, chair of the Covid Inquiry, page two. Contains text. Link in the original post.

CATA Open Letter to Baroness Hallett, chair of the Covid Inquiry, page three. Contains text. Link in the original post.

CATA Open Letter to Baroness Hallett, chair of the Covid Inquiry, page four. Contains a table of references with text. Link in the original post.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Looking forward to next week's piece by Boris Johnson, Columnist on "The woke myth of Marital Fidelity" and the Daily Mail's new weekly food column on "London's best Pizza Places to take the sweat out of planning a family meal", by Mr. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor #CovidInquiry

Daily Mail headline illustrated with pictures of masked people coming out of a hospital with a sign saying 'How To Avoid... Lockdown' and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking at a Covid briefing with text 'Stay Home, Protect the Vulnerable' on a lectern. Headline text reads 'BORIS JOHNSON: On Covid there are two big questions: Where did the virus come from - and were the lockdowns worth the terrible price we paid? Baroness Hallett's hopelessly incoherent £200m inquiry failed to answer either' Author: Boris Johnson, Columnist. Date 22 November 2025, updated 01.20, 22 November 2025.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This "sympathetic to Carl Heneghan" Nick Triggle Courtesy of #HARTLeaks @karambales.bsky.social The Great Barrington Declaration Carl Heneghan, that Carl H

Chat extract from 2February 2021 from HARTLeaks by Counterdisinformation Project showing an example Covid-sceptic influence planning. Text reads:
'Paul Wood @paul: I though we were doing that and the scientific evaluation of there claims
Paul Wood @paul: we are getting the ear if MPs too
Will Jones @willjones1982: Tge Sun, Express eyc regularly go to Carl H for comment. Deborah Cohen and Nick Triggle at the BBC are sympathetic. We have to find them and give them something ti work with
Paul Wood: but we need to be in those places in both Gov and msm to be able to try and stop being silenced so easily when we have all our ships in a row'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This perplexed in October 2025 Nick Triggle

Headline from BBC News that says 'Cold, flu, Covid: Why is everyone sick right now?' illustrated with an Istock/Ghetty Images stock photo of a woman blowing her nose.
Author: Nick Triggle, Health correspondent, @nicktriggle. Article date: 12 October 2025

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This Nick Triggle (October 2023)

Headline from BBC news illustrated with Ghetty Images stock photo of a woman blowing her nose into a tissue. Text reads:

'Changing nature of Covid: Is it just a regular winter bug now?

Image source,Getty Images

Image caption, : A host of respiratory viruses circulate in the winter months, when the conditions make it easier for them to spread
Nick Triggle
Health correspondent @nicktriggle
15 October 2023 Updated 31 October 2023'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This Nick Triggle (February 2021)

Headline from BBC News dated 16 February 2021 that says 'Covid: Why goal is to live with the virus - not fight it' illustrated with a Ghetty Images stick photo of a woman in a baggy blue mask staring sadly out of the window. Author: Nick Triggle, Health correspondent. Text extract reads: 'The government says it hopes to make Covid a manageable disease like flu.

Vaccination and new treatments, ministers and their scientific advisers argue, will reduce the death rate and allow us to live with the virus rather than constantly trying to fight it. Why are they doing this? And is it even possible?'
Sub-header says 'Eradicating viruses is nigh on impossible'.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This Nick Triggle (September 2020)

BBC News headline illustrated with a Ghetty Images stock photo of two women in antiviral masks bumping elbows. Text says: 'Covid: Is it time we learned to live with the virus?
Nick Triggle, Health correspondent @nicktriggle, 21 September 2020'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

The "died WITH Covid" Nick Triggle (16 April 2020) Of the "pre-existing conditions" = death sentence period of UK Covid history.

Extract from BBC article on 16 April 2020 by Nick Triggle on 'Understanding Covid Deaths' with a chart by the Department of Health and Social of UK daily reported deaths of patients in hospital with coronavirus, with deaths recorded up to 15 Apr 2029 17:00 BST, titled 'More than 850 new UK coronavirus deaths' and showing a rapid daily rise since mid-March 2020. Extract text says 'But what the figures do not tell us is to what extent the virus is causing the death.

It could be the major cause, a contributory factor or simply present when they are dying of something else.'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Thank you, the 63 Labour MPs who pushed back against instructions not to vote and helped defeat Farage's bill to leave the #ECHR. No matter if some see the bill and the vote as symbolic. It was symbolic of an attack on human rights — you had the courage of conviction to help stop it in its tracks.

Votes by party for and against Nigel Farage's bill for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. Ayes (for: 95), mostly Conservatives with Reform, DUP and Traditional Unionist Voice defeated by Noes (against: 155) mostly Lib Dems and Labour, with SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, Ulster Unionist, others. Source: UK Parliament, 29 October 2025.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Lest any unreasonable expectations arise of the government learning anything from Caerphilly byelection and deciding that perhaps attacking disabled people and every scapegoat they could find wasn't a vote winner, rest assured it has not. Brace. Brace. We are "going further and faster" again. ⚠️

Extract from The Guardian coverage of the Caerphilly byelection in Wales won by Plaid Cymru on 24th October, ending a century of Labour majority which has dropped to an 11% of the vote. Text says 'Downing Street: government understands 'people are disappointed with the pace of change'
The prime minister’s press secretary has responded to the Caerphilly Senedd constituency byelection, which saw a huge swing away from Labour, by saying that “Byelections are always difficult for incumbent governments,” PA Media reports.

It quotes them saying:

This one is no different, but we are determined to show the people of Caerphilly and working people across Wales the change the UK Government is delivering hand in hand with the Labour government in Wales.

(We are) determined to go further and faster, understand people are disappointed with the pace of change, and that is what the Government is relentlessly focused on delivering for working people in Wales and across the UK.'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

After Liz Kendall failed to deploy DWP job coaches to mental health wards to hassle patients, Pat McFadden is deploying them to GP surgeries to hassle patients instead. How about: 1. Cut Covid spread 2. Invest in public health, not harebrained DWP schemes 3. Let ill people see the doctor in peace?

Headline text 'JOB ADVISERS to be embedded in GP surgeries as more people offered help into work'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

#Flu v #Covid #vaccine eligibility. 1. Which is hospitalising more people now? 2. Which is leaving more people long-term sick & disabled (2m+ #LongCovid, UK)? 3. Just as the government is punishing people for being sick and disabled? Private vaccine: £100 Logic? Thanks to @catinthehat.bsky.social

Comparison of UK 2025 eligibility for flu vaccine (all types of clinically vulnerable people) vs Covid-19 vaccine (only over 75s, living in an old people's care home or immunocompromised due to specific illness e.g. HIV, AIDS or treatment, e.g. cancer. Most people with organ diseases, blood diseases, e.g. sickle cell anaemia, illnesses such as COPD, diabetes, or learning disabilities are not eligible for Covid-19 booster vaccination.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

The evolution of this story is a story in itself. An accident, much speculation, a bit of self-promotion, the usual experts on "mass hysteria"... And then, as Occam's razor has it, the simplest explanation — a can of noxious gas. The story is a cautionary tale not to take big egoes at face value.

A Guardian headline with a photo of people with luggage standing outside an airport terminal. Headline text says '"Mass psychogenic illness" plausible cause of toxic substance alert at Heathrow, says scientist'. Subheader text says 'Patt of airport was evacuated and 21 people fell ill but police found no sign on any hazardous material'. Below it, an update in red text says 'Update: Man arrested on suspicion of bringing teargas to Heathrow'.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Don't give up. ❤️‍🩹 We are very much not done.

Statue of suffragette Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square in London holding a banner with a slogan attribute to her that says 'Courage calls to courage everywhere'

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

UK Govt snuck out an impact assessment last night showing £2.1 bn cuts to Universal Credit health, with 750,000 claimants to lose £3,000 a year on average by 2029/30. via @richardburgon.bsky.social The Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) and SREL (terminal illness) are limited, protect barely 1 in 10.

Chart showing the impact on UC health claimants after Severe Conditions Criteria and SREL (terminal illness) protection, with 750,000 claimants on lower rate bearing a £2.1 billion cut by 2029/30

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

The UN letter to the UK government

Page 1 of the letter to the UK government requesting information on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill and welfare reform Green Paper, legislation that may breach disabled people's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, 8th July 2025 Source: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:d09dc26a-18a3-4eee-906c-c646278c403f

Page 2 of the letter to the UK government requesting information on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill and welfare reform Green Paper, legislation that may breach disabled people's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, 8th July 2025 Source: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:d09dc26a-18a3-4eee-906c-c646278c403f

Page 3 of the letter to the UK government requesting information on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill and welfare reform Green Paper, legislation that may breach disabled people's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, 8th July 2025 Source: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:d09dc26a-18a3-4eee-906c-c646278c403f

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

The #Labour front bench, one year in, listening to Rachael Maskell MP pleading with them not to impoverish disabled people. #UniversalCreditBill

Labour backbench MP Rachael Maskell, a woman with blond hair in a plait, wearing a green blazer, speaking in the UK House of Commons in opposition to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill at its second reading on 1st July 2025, facing the Labour government front bench, on which the work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall, a dark haired woman in a navy suit, sits flanked by work and pensions ministers Sir Stephen Timms and Andrew Westers and another author of the bill, Treasury minister Torsten Bell, all men in dark suits, all four of them wearing grim expressions.

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Scribbler Pen @scribblerpen.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Before it vanishes, the Telegraph @telegraphnews.bsky.social correction on #Motability 30 Jun: An article ‘Some towns have 20pc on disability benefits/One in five claims disability benefits in towns across Britain’ referred to people on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) claiming ‘free’ cars...

The Telegraph Corrections & Clarifications page, June 30, 2025.
Correction text says 'An article ‘Some towns have 20pc on disability benefits/One in five claims disability benefits in towns across Britain’ referred to people on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) claiming ‘free’ cars. This was inaccurate. The Motability scheme allows people on the highest rate of mobility PIP to use their PIP mobility payments to lease a car. In some cases, individuals on the Motability scheme will also need to make advance payments from their own funds which are non-refundable. We are happy to correct the record.'

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