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Virginia she/ her

@virtuallyv.bsky.social
1.1K followers 173 following 3.1K posts

Nerd. Loves: books. Hates: right-wing politics. Married.

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Reposted by Virginia she/ her
Rachel Burch @rachelburch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Here’s the final selection of my photos for my 2027 Dartmoor calendar, I chose the December picture, frosty Tavistock not on Dartmoor, but I do live here ..£16 each inc postage available from me direct via PayPal or bank transfer or my Etsy shop. All profits to Tavistock food bank. only 50.
Back of calendar with photos Leat near Princetown coverMeavy page Frosty Tavistock
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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 29/09/2026
🚨 We need to hear from YOU Have you had a problem accessing gendered services since April last year, outside of school and the workplace? Are you a service provider worried about remaining inclusive? PLEASE let us know through this form - and share widely goodlaw.social/mzb3
goodlaw.social
My branded typeform
Turn data collection into an experience with Typeform. Create beautiful online forms, surveys, quizzes, and so much more. Try it for FREE.
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TransActual @transactualuk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
TransActual is working with Dr Kat Gupta, a researcher in Politics, to examine how trans people and our supporters responded to this consultation. Please visit transactual.org.uk/blog/2026/09... for more information.
Text reads: Did you fill out the 2025 EHRC consultation on the revised Code of Practice? 
Are you trans, non-binary or supportive of trans people? 
Are you over 16? 
Do you want to include your consultation response in a research project? 
Visit our website for more details.
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Author Simulator. My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Title: Author Simulator 

Level 1: Get to desk and begin! (Platform video game-style image of an author jumping from a block onto  a cloud with desk and computer) Result: success!

Level 2: Press on despite distractions! (Author typing as the desk/clod moves past a ghost and a spider) ) Result: success!

Level 3: Deliver manuscript to editor! (Author jumping over fire pit onto platform where editor waits) Result: success!

Level 4: Accept minor criticism! (Author lying ded in fronto of editors desk) Result: better luck next time!

Along the bottom are controls for:
 Left right jump crouch read write nap coffee
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Helen 🏳️‍⚧️✊🏻💕 @mimmymum.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Substitute ‘anti-Semite’ for ‘gender critical transphobe’ and Jean-Paul Satre absolutely describes the behaviour of the current wave of TERFs and bigots to a T! 😳 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
66 Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge.
But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
Jean-Paul Sartre
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 27/09/2026
The deadline to renew Palantir's £330m contract is coming up fast. Join us to make ministers stop hiding Palantir's secrets – before it’s too late👇 goodlaw.social/o9zr
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Tea with husband, now writing. Got very little sleep last night because I was editing in my head, which turns out is not very productive as you wake up after a few hours sleep to find nothing is actually edited...
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Brendan Harkin @brendanjharkin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Just to fully underline how spiteful this shit is for those unaware: On the left is the route the Orange Order have been ordered to take for the past 3 decades without trouble. On the right is the route that has brought hundreds of cops to Drumcree. The only motivation is sectarian antagonism.
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Editing tonight. Was sadly deleting a sparkling (but lengthy) conversation, and replacing it with a letter, more in keeping: think the disrespectfulness of breaking up with someone or cancelling plans by text. They can't even be bothered to tell my protagonist to her face. But my conversation... 😭
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“A unique voice, tone and heart.” Everything Will Swallow You has been chosen as one of the top ten paperback releases so far of 2026 by this week’s Bookseller Magazine. Free international delivery here in case you’ve not got yours yet: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
A round up of the year’s best paperbacks, beginning with my latest novel.
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James Tate Hill @jamestatehill.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They say to write the novel you would want to read, but they forget to tell you how many times you'll be reading it.
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 26/09/2026
From proscription laws to terrorism sentences, the state is using every tool at its disposal to criminalise dissent. So we’re supporting people who refuse to be silenced. Will you join us? goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder/help…
goodlawproject.org
Help defend the right to protest on Palestine | Good Law Project
The brutal crackdown on our right to protest is happening right now, with people standing in solidarity with Palestine bearing the brunt – so we’re supporting people who refuse to be silenced
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Today I'm starting a new notebook! Washing is on the line, and husband and son are doing painting, because sunshine - so it's just me. I have no excuse, and must write...
Three notebooks with a teapot, cup and milk jug on a café table
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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
🔭🌙 Just 10cm tall, this little clock-watch in the form of a book includes adjustable sundials, signs of the zodiac, tools to calculate the hours of daylight and the phases of the moon, a lunar wheel-chart, and even an alarm! ⏰
A gilt-brass cased clock-watchA gilt-brass cased clock-watchA gilt-brass cased clock-watch
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Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Feminism doesn't require women to see trans+ people as the enemy. For many of us, feminism has always meant challenging inequality, standing alongside people whose rights are under threat, and refusing to accept that one group's equality must come at another's expense. That's our feminism too.
Woman walking down a street outside, wearing a scarf and shoulder bag. The quote from one of the women who signed our letter reads

“I have grown incredibly exasperated at the portrayal of ‘gender critical’ perspectives as representing all women when my feminism has ALWAYS been inclusive and intersectional.”
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Only 10% of the richest 0.01% of the population paid close to the top 47% (45% income tax marginal rate + 2% NIC) rate on earnings. A quarter of that group paid an effective average tax rate of 20% or less. The tax system appears to be progressive for some but is frequently not so at the very top
bmmagazine.co.uk
Only one in ten top UK earners pay close to top tax rate, says CenTax
CenTax says equalising capital gains tax with income tax could raise £19.7bn by 2030, as HMRC data shows few top earners pay the 47 per cent top rate.
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El @turquoisespiff01.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Husband overhears young girls talking: "Why don't you spell nitch (?) like stitch?" "I think it's just one of those words that old people say wrong, like click" So, that would be niche and clique? #despair
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Introvert Problems @introvertproblems.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Don’t invite me anywhere last minute. I enjoy doing nothing so I need to know ahead of time if my plan to do nothing needs to be changed
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Cold War Steve @coldwarsteve.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 25/09/2026
Instead of keeping hate and misinformation off our airwaves, Ofcom is allowing TalkTV to serve as a megaphone for dangerous, far-right rhetoric. We can’t let this stand, so we’re suing Ofcom. But we can only do it with your help: goodlaw.social/a9im
goodlaw.social
Force Ofcom to stop TalkTV broadcasting misinformation and hate | Good Law Project
Ofcom is letting Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV poison public discourse with transphobic lies and fake climate news, so we're taking the regulator to court
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Natasha Devon @natashadevon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I’m not for one second suggesting that hard right parties are using the funding they get to buy bot farms to try and influence public opinion via social media BUT there are an extraordinary number of obvious-if-you-know-what-to-look-for bots on Instagram churning out Reform and Restore slogans.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
AI psychosis for dummies: the Stephen Collins cartoon
Not everything is fake, it turns out
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
At the hospital, but not for me! Promised I'd walk up with son for his Dexa scan (bone density) so I'm in the coffee shop and he's in radiology.
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Kaitlin Kal Lee @kaitlinkallee.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Men have NO business telling women anything about their bodies or abortion. This woman ATE him up.
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glastomichelle.bsky.social @glastomichelle.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Stirrings of dawn with Orion still visible above Glastonbury Tor. Hand held phone pic.
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 24/09/2026
“Climate change and nature loss have never been issues for climate and environment ministers alone. They are defining challenges for our citizens, our economies, our foreign policy and our national security.” bit.ly/4hn1lO3
bit.ly
UK shares findings of damning climate crisis national security report suppressed under Starmer
El Niño poses critical threat to nations’ defences, says Ed Miliband in presentation to global foreign ministers
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Muskrat 8647 @muskratjohn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's a recalled DORK TOWER THURSDAY! Concerned new strip up now, at the Mothership! www.dorktower.com/2026/09/24/a... Repost/Reblog/Repeat, thanks so much!
Matt, looking at his phone, says "ANOTHER 167,000
POUNDS OF MEATS HAVE JUST BEEN RECALLED, DUE TO MORE SAFETY CONCERNS."
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 24/09/2026
This is going to be interesting when it gets to London. Media going to love this. How many arrests do you think?
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Made 80,000 words typed up. Sadly, as I'm doing some retrofitting editing as I go along, I'll struggle to get it past that milestone for a while...
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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What?! The technology trained on entirely stolen data isn’t playing by the rules?! Surely not!!
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Philippa East (Author) @philippaeast.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Was watching a documentary last night about yet another woman killed by her partner 😢💔 At the end of the show, they provided support details for victims of domestic abuse / violence, which I fully support. But why don’t we also signpost to support for men concerned about their own behaviour? 1/
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Tea with husband. One good thing about feeling under the weather is sleeping VERY well. I went to bed early, and when I got up during the night, I went straight back to sleep afterwards. Stayed away from the gym this morning, and just did a spot of gentle editing. Now to write new words!
Two cups of tea with teapots and milk jugs on a round table
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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
England is a made up thing. It has no basis in the ineluctable laws of nature. Its extent is defined by Edward II getting his arse handed to him. Athelstan conquering York. The Welsh of Cumbria were incorporated, the Welsh of Gwynedd were not. It is a political idea, an aspiration - not taxonomy.
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just Fancy That! Earl Spencer and the Daily Mail. From the new Private Eye, out now.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This chart published by the Economics Laboratory, shows that the UK social spending is 23% of GDP, covers NHS, social security and support services. It is a useful rebutal to neoliberals calling for cuts to the NHS, state pension and other benefits. www.linkedin.com/posts/charto...
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 24/09/2026
Make sure you get down to your local protest next week and join the international day of action to say NO to Palantir ❌ Not able to make it? Take action with our digital tool instead 👇 goodlaw.social/74abab
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon. many more here: www.newscientist.com/author/tom-gauld/
Image: A graph with lots of red dots clustered together in a curve. The are all looking upwards at a single red dot wearing sunglasses. 

Caption: Mike was an outlier and would probably be excluded from the study, but all the other data points secretly thought he was really cool.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#TBT to this from 2012 in honour of Michael Gove starring as an invasion-battling leader in Sky's new show The Wargame. If you don't know what or who this comic is about... just count yourself lucky and scroll on, no worries.
[Opening scene is WESTMINSTER, LONDON. Over Downing Street a huge ALIEN SPACECRAFT hovers, silent, still, filling the whole sky a la Independence Day]. 

[Cut to INSIDE 10 DOWNING STREET. The (then) prime Minister DAVID CAMERON is looking out of his office window at the ship.]

VOICE FROM OFF-SCENE, BEHIND CAMERON:
Prime Minister…

CAMERON [addressing the person behind him, still keeping his eyes fixed ahead in dread at the spaceship]:
Yes?

[We see the speaker is MICHAEL GOVE, then Education Secretary]:

GOVE:
Let me do it.

CAMERON:
For God's sake, Michael, you're the Education Secretary! You've never flown a fighter plane in your life!

GOVE:
But I know I could do it, David. I could fly a fighter plane into the big space- ship...

...and shoot all the aliens.

CAMERON:
But you have no military training!

GOVE:
David

I haven't told you this, but...

I used to be a journalist. For The Times.

[Cameron reacts, turning to look at Gove with awe and respect, as if only now truly seeing him for the first time]. 

GOVE:
I wrote two articles about planes, David.

I've got strong opinions about aliens.

I know I can do this job.

[Cut to a title card panel]:

AND SO:

[Then cut again to Cameron on the roof of Number 10, watching a Michael Gove pilot a fighter jet up towards the spacecraft, and then completely miss it, careering towards Earth, as Cameron buries his face in his hands].

[Ends]
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 23/09/2026
Right hates trans people - most public go "it's the right, they're nuts". So-called left join in - "Well now, what's going on, there must be an issue if they agree!" It's why the Guardian/Labour going anti-trans is, ultimately, more much more harmful than the Times/Telegraph/Tories doing it.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Yes, there are technical, formal legal reasons why terrorism law is applied to protesters carrying placards, but not to political activists slashing boats. But stepping back, there is something wrong with a legal regime which criminalises one more than the other. A triumph of form over function.
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm having a really rubbish day, but little joys - not only my tea being replaced for free in my favourite coffee shop, but fresh bread coming out the oven as I got home. Reader, I ATE that crust with honey! On another note, is it bedtime yet?
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 23/09/2026
A caution! A fucking caution! Take yourself out tonight, grab a stranger and beat them with a metal stick in front of the police. Get a relative to report back tomorrow what happened after that...
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Virginia she/ her @virtuallyv.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today this is the advice I need, but is it advice I can follow? I got my tea, got my notebooks out... And remembered that I was supposed to be in Boots, getting my flu jab. But bless them, they made another tea for me when I dashed back to the coffee shop all hot and bothered later ❤️
Notebooks on a round table with cup, teapot and milk jug
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Natasha Devon @natashadevon.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Just scrolling through my address book to find a woman who gives a single, solitary plop what straight men think of her outfit….
Women, you might think those god awful barrel jeans are
'flattering', but this is what they do to your figure that repels men, says SIMON MILLS
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 23/09/2026
Another day, another cis male coach abusing children [Belfast Telegraph] Don't hold your breath waiting for any of the 'protect our girls' crowd condemning this. They don't even condemn it when it happens to people they know.
Former youth football coach facing prison term for child sex offences
Belfast Telegraph23 Sep 2026CHRISTOPHER WOODHOUSE
A former youth football coach from Co Down has pleaded guilty to a string of child sex offences.

Paul Allen faced 18 charges, including sex assault, attempted sexual assault and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The offences are dated between January 2020 and February 2024 and involve two complainants.

Allen (38), who has an address in Dundonald, stood in the dock of Downpatrick Crown Court where he was formally re-arraigned.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 22/09/2026
Tyrannosaurus xkcd.com/3300/
Comic. [Person with long hair pointing to diagram with Tyrannosaurus Rex standing next to a person.] PERSON: We now believe the primary prey of Tyrannosaurus Rex was these humans who kept standing next to it for scale.
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 22/09/2026
⚖️ NEW ⚖️ The latest High Court judge appointees are all white, and nine out of ten are men – no wonder the legal system fails to deliver justice: goodlaw.social/ac7w
goodlaw.social
The new High Court judges: 90% male, 100% white | Good Law Project
The latest High Court judge appointees are all white, and nine out of ten are men – no wonder the legal system fails to deliver justice
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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 22/09/2026
Why has he not been arrested?
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purr.in.ink @purrinink.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Happy Equinox 🐾🍂🤍
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Helen 🏳️‍⚧️✊🏻💕 @mimmymum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
When ‘gender critical’ transphobic parents go running to the media to claim that their child was “indoctrinated” by the “trans cult” and won’t talk to them any longer… it’s typically something like this! 🤷🏼‍♀️ ‘Gender critical’ transphobic parents are controlling abusers! 😟
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