Campaigner || Investigative journalist II @Amnesty Media manager || @BowieWakeMovie || @TakeOneLeaveOne || @gladetheatre || All views my own || Easily distracte
31 added to My Authors
May 26 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” said Javier Cazares, whose daughter was killed in the 40-minute #RobbElementary school massacre in #Uvalde
This footage shows armed police pinning one man to the ground
The @nytimes reports that the gunman who killed 19 children & 2 teachers at #RobbElementary was rptdly inside the school for “ROUGHLY AN HOUR” hour before police shot him
Children from Goede Hoop primary school in Boksburg, South Africa play a bit of Vivaldi on the marimba (via @AlisonKriel)
In nearby Soweto, the @BuskaidSA String Academy teaches children classical music
Here is their orchestra playing a piece by Joseph Bologne (1745-1799), a black composer & violinist from Guadeloupe who conducted the leading symphony orchestra in Paris.
May 3 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
1/. In 2018, Zak Kostopoulos - a queer activist & human rights defender - was brutally beaten up by 2 men in central Athens
Footage shows 4 policemen violently attempting to arrest Zak while he lay dying on the ground
Today is the last day of the trial amnesty.org/en/latest/camp…
2/. More than three years after #ZakKostopoulos was kicked to death in broad daylight in the middle of Athens, today’s decision will have widespread implications which go far beyond the #LGBTIQ community.
1/. Two hundred years ago, a slab of Purbeck stone was set deep into a hillside on Hampstead Heath
Called the Stone of Free Speech, it’s a place where people would come to hear ‘Radicals’ like Hunt, Cobbett, Cartwright & Burdett give speeches about the struggle for basic rights
2/. The word radical is often associated with extremism but it derives from the Latin “radix” meaning root
To effect real change, it’s essential to go to the root of a problem
So people would gather here to talk about suffrage, ending child labour & extreme inequality & slavery
1/. Tomorrow, voters in #Hungary will go to the polls
#Orban, who installed what he calls “illiberal democracy” is running for his fifth term
He controls public television
His allies dominate private media
Voters are inundated with pro-Orban coverage google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nyti…
2/. Ahead of the European elections, virtually all Hungary's newspapers ran the same front page Orban interview
Research found that 77% of political & public affairs media is financed by sources decided by ruling Fidesz party
These tactics are part of the authoritarian playbook
When you zoom in, you realise that these black horses are actually the shadows of Zebras
The photo by Beverly Joubert - taken above the shallow waters of the Makgadikgadi Pan, a salt pan Botswana - won @NatGeo’s Wildlife Photo of the Year in 2018.
This photo of camels in the deserts of Oman creates a similar optical illusion
Taken from a motorized paraglider by photographer George Steinmetz in 2005, the illusion works because the sun in very low, casting a long shadow.
Feb 18 • 11 tweets • 7 min read
1/. In the face of authoritarian rule, what can you to do?
Some will join the oppressors
Others will keep their heads down, hoping the horrors will pass
A brave few will choose the path of resistance
Libertas Haas-Heye & Harro Schulze-Boysen count amongst those courageous few
2/. There are a handful of well-known Germans who tried to stop Hitler
Claus von Stauffenberg’s attempt to blow up Hitler
Georg Elser, the lone wolf who tried to assassinate the führer
The govt claim this was a ‘working holiday’ but @JCalvertST reported that “aides were told to cut down documents or the PM just wouldn't read them”. #ValentinesDay#valentines
1/. The biggest story I ever “broke” (coverage-wise) was a piece about Malawi’s plan to ban farting in public
I was researching an article about homophobia in Africa & stumbled on the story in the @NyasaTimess
I wrote it up for a tabloid & it went global
2/. The story I wrote for the @DailyMailUK - I was a freelancer...don’t judge me - was packed with fart gags: “The winds of change blowing through Africa” etc
By the end of the week, it was the top story on the BBC website & was EVERYWHERE
Feb 9 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
If you're free this Sunday, I'm doing a free walking tour tracing London's greatest lost waterway - the River Fleet - from it's two sources on Hampstead Heath as it heads towards the Thames (with my dog Mango)
Meet on top of Parliament Hill at 2pm facebook.com/events/1088672…
This 1746 map follows the Fleet from the Thames at Blackfriars along the Fleet Ditch, up Fleet Market (now New Bridge St) along Saffron Hill, past Clerk’s Well (now Clerkenwell) past Black Mary’s Hole & Battle Bridge (now Kings Cross) towards its source on the Heath #FreeTheFleet
In 2020, Denmark changed its laws to recognise the simple fact that sex without consent is rape
This didn't happen by chance
It resulted from years of campaigning & advocacy by survivor groups & campaigners. #LetsTalkAboutYes
2/. Shockingly, in 2020 only 7 out of 31 countries in Europe had laws that recognised sex without consent is rape
That figure has almost doubled to 13...but there is still along way to go
But back to the lessons from Denmark, & their successful campaign for a consent-based law
#BREAKING: #Assange has been refused permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court (SC)
The SC can still decide to grant permission to appeal now that part of the appeal has been certified by the High Court
#JulianAssange has 14 days to request permission to appeal from the SC.
Jan 16 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
Full moon over the Thames in London
The January moon is sometimes called the “Wolf Moon,” appearing when wolves howled near the villages in hunger or the “Old Moon” or in North America the “Snow Moon” #FullMoon#WolfMoon#SnowMoon
This moon is not fully full
The #FullMoon will peak tomorrow (17 January) at about 11.30pm UK time. #WolfMoon