I suppose I'm meant to sit in silence while a woman scoffs at Russian propaganda about Nazis in Ukraine, and the others present all nod along. But it's me, so I don't, so when I say "But there are Nazis, and Britain is pumping out propaganda too" it becomes very uncomfortable... ...It's not true to say you can't talk about politics in polite company in this country. As long as you're parroting the acceptable line, politics chat is fine & dandy. The others left soon after & I had the sauna to myself which was nice. I forgot to mention we were in a sauna😄

When I 1st was on twitter "solidarity is for white women" was trending. I knew f*ck all about anything but jumped to defend a white woman being attacked for tweeting something like "women should stop attacking each other". Unsurprisingly she & I got our arses handed to us... ...it wasn't an easy experience to be so roundly schooled - especially for someone who'd always considered herself an anti racist, a feminist, & reasonably clued up & enlightened. My ego took a bit of a battering. But reading the messages and links I was sent was an education...

Just went down a Wikipedia wormhole about the problem of warning far, far future generations about our nuclear waste. Never knew about this before. Fascinating.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-time…

"This place is a message... and part of a system of messages...pay attention to it!... Sending this message was important to us.We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.This place is not a place of honor..no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here..nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous & repulsive to us.This message is a warning about danger

@DrAdrianHeald @foggybrain This is a really unfair and sadly rather ignorant response to the thoughtful, carefully explained messages you're getting, none of which you're engaging with. 😟 @DrAdrianHeald @foggybrain I was a member for ten years, campaigned hard in three elections, fundraised, leafletted, door knocked, donated my own money. Am on the left but was ready to support Starmer based on his ten promises. But since he became leader....

I've always been an activist. I've got an extensive criminal record across several counties & two countries to prove it. 10 yrs ago as a "respectable" parent & teacher I thought my direct activist days were over, so I joined the Labour party as a place to channel my energy(1) I knew it wasn't really my bag but I can't stand doing nothing, so I thought this was better than nothing. It was something. I felt bad for Gordon Brown. I didn't share his politics, but could see he was never judged dispassionately, fairly. Obvs that got worse for Miliband (2)

Does Owen Jones ever stop to wonder why the media has permitted him to become the "voice of the UK left"? I'll give him a little hint, it's because he's a nice, safe pair of hands. If the best hearing the left can hope for is Jones popping up on newsnight to respectfully disagree with Caroline Flint then we're fucking doomed.

So journalists like Owen Jones, & to some extent Michael Walker, have, undeniably helpfully, carved themselves a place in the mainstream media & are working hard to try to make left politics respectable after the concerted right wing & liberal project to delegitemise socialism(1) Their politics are largely actually not radically different from the vast majority of the so-called "crank left" (anti imperialist, anti war, pro public ownership, etc.) but it helps them to be able to fabricate & perpetuate the existence of so-called "disreputable" leftists (2)

So has the Labour south west regional office just stitched up the West of England Mayoral ballot? Left wing candidate got most CLP nominations by mile but interview board of REC, NEC & Shadow Cabinet put only 2 most right wing candidates onto the ballot. Labour party democracy?💩 Mhairi Threlfall was deemed good enough to be a PPC & Lesley Mansell good enough to be mayor candidate before. They're experienced, got lots of CLP noms, are popular/well known across SW CLPs. I conclude they were left off ballot cos they're Left & would have won members' vote.