#not related to Whitehall

[tonix3]

Larry 2024

(my recap of the most important moments plus a few comments here & there - for clothing stuff & everything music related I made separate categories & I tried to make the connections between some stuff obvious & also I included some of the things their familys/team/inner circle has done when I found it to be important/interesting - sources at the end)

Explanation: cursive = for other people,

{} = my thoughts/comments

January

- H is in Anguilla + pap shots on yacht (with Louis Shirt) + pics with stunt TR -> pap pic release 04.01.

- 06.01. Hs Mum on IG story writes on her pics 'This too shall pass..' + 'Force the smile take the photo ... Remind yourself you're ok'

- 06.01. Mirror posts article saying L and Eleanor are getting close again - Es actual boyfriend posts hot swimwear pic with her {lol}

- no mention of Fs birthday 21.01.

- 23.01. L tweets/answers his favorite snack is Chicken (and an ask about Fs bday 'it was lovely')

February

- H&L listed as partners on Google for the 3rd time

- 18.02 H doesn't attend TR stunts important event to watch football & it's a whole talk online about it

March

- 10.03. L likes post about Lime Bikes {LOL}

- 11.03 Lou Teasdale posts on IG story a meme of Ls Beatbox/Horsenoise Buzzcut interview {LOL LOL LOL}

- 17.03. Liam replies with heart to a comment on IG from @LarryStylinson_favtweets

- 19.03. L is in London with friends at John Mayer concert + H sighted at a flight to London

20.03. H (in L) papped with James Cordon/L MIA

21.03. L (in L) at sisters birthday party/H MIA

22.-25. both MIA

26./27. H in London (pap pics)

{-> TIME TOGETHER?! Pattern of one of them popping up while the other one goes MIA}

April

- 08.04. L non-denial interview using Total eclipse of the heart lyrics posted on Eclipse day -> Larry trends again, everyone falls down the Larry rabbithole, every news outlet reports about it {he also mentions for the first time in a denial that people are being unfair to his son F - OK}

- 10.04 Shania Twain posts TB from Hs Still The One (+ Anne reposts in her IG story)

- 10.04 Jack Whitehall (friend of H) posts a Tiktok in a teens room with H&L posters and says it 'looks like his bedroom at home'

- 10.04. Pleasing ad with white, orange, blue, green nails -> 'simple but effective' caption {baby boyfriends}

- 28.04. Anne on her IG story pic 'Kindness is my go to but fuck off is my wingman' {on the 28th how funny 😆}

May

- 13.05 Mark Tomlinson posts a pic 'My grandchildren' without F

- 15.05 Phoebe IG Story Chicken meal 'such a simple but effective meal' {OK GIRL WE SEE YOU}

- 19.05. after Tayrry BU articles drop Anne posts IG story pics with 'saturday night toast', 'off to the cinema' & happy sunday + H's photographer post champagne bottle in pool + Helen Seamons posts champagne & strawberries + Phoebe posts bathtub pic with 'End to a perfect sunday'

- 27.05 Anne on Podcast says 'my kid was happy as Larry' {what??? even if it's a saying in the UK}

June

- 11.06. Steve Aoki IG story selfie with streetmarket Art of queer legends/famous people H&L next to ea + tags L in the story

- 16.06 Daisy includes L in father's day collage + L posts about England & Jude Bellingham not even liking the post of Daisy

July

- 14.07 final of the euros in Berlin - both H&L attend -> pic with Ed, Lou & most likely H in the background photographed within reaching distance in the same room! For the first time in years! (+ Tumblr anon seeing them in VIP area talking about them meeting up, talking & splitting a few times!) -> media & fandom goes crazy {personally I find the pic of them a bit underwhelming because it's debatable if it's H}

August

- 03.08 L signs a fans midnight memories CD at a M&G on Harry {possessive much? Lol}

- 04.08 Charlie LeClerc (F1 driver) follows H on IG

- 09.08 in Lotties Book she talks about Lucky being her moms only grandchild wishing she could have met him (-> fandom & media goes nuts over excluding F/'confirming' F isn't a grandchild)

+ media article Lottie wrote herself confirms her wording

- Poster shows Homes Chapel 'Pride Street Party' is on 28 Sep🌈

- 28.08. 28clothing posts socks with 28 and a hand showing a rose ring on IG story

- 28.08 Team Ferrari posts Tiktok of Charles LeClerc with Harry's XFactor Audio 'I work in a bakery. I like .. serve'

- 29.08 L follows Charles LeClerc on IG {the following day of the Tiktok? LOL}

- 30.08 F1 makes Out Of My System Song of the weekend on their official Playlist

- 31.08 L attends F1 Grand Prix in Monza Italy & is photographed at Team Ferraris suite + commentator referred to L being in a band with H and mentions not being allowed to talk about Ls boyfriend {What the actual f#ck}

September

- 01.09. Charles LeClerc follows L on IG

- 01.09 L takes official pics with Author Tara Ramos whose book is named 'F1 Behind Closed Doors: Clown of the circus' {While smiling like a madman OK LOU}

- 17.09 Pleasing ad (with @elisasudara) same girl L was pictured in fanpic on beach in Spain {Wtf?}

October

- 12.10 Mark Tomlinson posts he misses Lucky and Olive no F

- 16.10 💔🕊️

- 27.10 Daisy includes F in a collage of Lucky's and Olives Halloweens

- 31.10. Mark Tomlinson posts only Lucky and Olive Trick or treating no F

November

- 01.11. Gemma posts a pic to her IG story with Lous 'It is what it is' (in the same font)

- 13.11. Harry Lambert/Helen Seamons (H stylist/L stylist) post the same Manet Shirt on IG storys

- 20.11 funeral ☁️ all boys attend, arrive separately & manage not being photographed together

December

- 05.12. Pleasing collab announcement ft. dick key chains (inverted colors are blue and green)

- H Fine Line anniversary video includes 3 clips of Harry's Kiwi performances (associated with bbg) Kiwi being a song on HS1 not fine line {🤔}

- 27.12. L in the background of Phoebes Snapchat

- 28.12. Daisy posts a pic from a bowling alley to her Snapchat including the name Freddi (people speculate if her and Phoebe babysit F because L isn't on the list of names) {is it even F? Where are the twins bowling - London? Doncaster?}

- 28.12. L is photographed + video in Doncaster restaurant/bar with different fans at least 5 times

~Clothing stuff 2024~

~ 03.01. H wears 'Louis' (Bode) Shirt in Anguilla

~ 25.01. H papped with LT Jacket and Tennis hat + 27.01. L attends Tennis event as a guest of queer friendly brand Piper Hideseick Champagne {supportive husbandsss}

~ L Melbourne Merch is babyblue advertised with pink background then merch color changes to green for BNE, SYD is pink & displayed on babyblue background {Fine Line is associated with pink&blue - supportive husbandsss 2.0}

(~ 02.02 L wears orange shirt with laurels to SYD FitF)

~ 29.02 L wears Boyfriend Jacket 🫶🏻 at F1 event and concert

~ 20.03 H & James Cordon pap pics - blue greening with their sneakers (+ H carries flower on 'national flower day')

~ 21.03 L wears Jeans Jacket with big lettering to Twins Birthday Party -> 'you can tell me what to do, I just probably won't do it' {so sassy Lou, love it}

(- 03.04. L wears Burberry Laurels Shirt)

~ 06.04. L says in interview 'Clothes tell his story'

~ 11.04. - (first sighting of) H (after Ls non denial) he wears a dark blue shirt with a little L 💙

~ 02.05. L wears Tanktop from gay brand BDXY called 'The Stunt'

~ 04.05 H Umbro shirt over a hoodie being papped on a lime bike in London (wearing Sneakers called Halo - coincidentally like the Shipname Halo which came before Larry Stylinson)

~ 12.05. L wears blue green (back)GAP/PAL(front) Hoodie at airport

~ 04.06. H pink Shirt with 'TOP' {okay Harold}

~ 08.06 + 29.06. L Casablanca Rainbow Outfit {best fit of the year!}

~ 12.07. H sings as surprise guest with Stevie Nicks at Hyde Park (first show after a whole year) & wears a green shirt & bluegreen birdie pin

~ 21.07 first gig L plays after Euros he wears blue green Casablanca Jacket {Come on Lou!}

~ 10.08 (after Lottie/F Book thingy) H being papped with hat 'I am the eldest boy' + L on stage with black and yellow fit {bee reference for larries associating bees with bbg?}

~ 04.09. H takes pics with fans wearing Grand Prix sunglasses while also bluegreening (also 28 days before AIMH tweet anniversary) {after L was at F1 Grand Prix - I see what you did there H}

~ 10.09 H pic with fan wearing LT Hoodie

~ 13.09. H wears white strawberries pin (white strawberries have sexual meanings ranging from c*mming on someones butthole to other things) {Harold, oh my god! LMAO 🤣}

~ 15.09. H papped and fan pics with cardigan in babyblue & shirt underneath looks like it says 'H L paradise' (Japanese designer)

~ 28.12 L pics/vids with fans out in Doncaster wearing his Pleasures Skull Cardigan (backside says 'What happend to you? What happend to me? Pleasures is PAIN' sentences divided by green lines {of course green 😂}

~ L&H are seen multiple times with the same adidas sneakers (on stunt/pap pics) for example camel Adidas sneakers (L's insides are green Hs blue) but also other matching adidas shoe modells

×Music stuff 2024×

× 02.02. WMYB is played after Ls concert

× L Love him/hate it during festivals/concerts:

*30.01 (and mouthed 'that's right'? after)

*22.06 (at pinkpop)

*several other clips/vids of mouthing 'him'

× 28.03. L Away from home festival poster drops (without dates)- with aqueduct like Homes Chapel

× 29.03. L Away from home festival poster looks like door with starry sky & starts on the day (8th of June) of the pride festival in Merida, Mexico (Merida as in the Disney princess from BRAVE)

× 30.03. L has a 1h set but decides to include 3 1D songs + covers 7 (during 7 all lights were red except one single green spotlight), rainbows on screen during JHO, pointed to 🏳️‍🌈 flag with 'Always You Larry' written on, during BTY big HIM on screen with the lyrics of the song

× April - hotspot puzzle for Ls Live Album promo were all Hospitals or Helipads = giant H's

× 12.04. {few days after non denial} Dylan is announced as opener for Ls festival (famous song 'You're not Harry Styles' & covers Kiwi)

× 15.05. during 'Silver Tongues' after 'no one understands me like you do' L says ✨oBviOusLy ✨ + during Saturdays one single green spot on him (again 3 days later)

× 24.05. L (first show after Trarry BU) on screens giant H and S + he sings Lucky Again (after 236days)

× 03.08. Ls big screen showing his 28 tattoo covered with a rainbow🌈 + during Silver Tongues after 'no one understands me like you do' he says 'no truer lyric.'

(× 18.08 L skips Walls but covers 7 nonetheless (&WDBHG))

× 06.09. L has giant H's on screen during 7 cover + L says 'Thats real' after 'Larry called a lot of smoke in' (fandom debates what he meant) {kings of plausible deniability}

- 16/19 festivals L has done he covered 7 - Catfish & The Bottlemen 🎶

{16 times? 1+6=7 we love a good 7 moment}

- L singing Where Do Broken Hearts Go (1D song written by H) at every festival {Why this song Lou?}

___

Many crossovers with their stylists, photographers, friends & family mentioning each other, liking/sharing each others posts or attending events together = same circles

___

SOURCES:

Twitter: @BKatie167 & her awesome GoogleDoc (which should include everything I mentioned & more!)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15mUV3fMuiBfz4zl1TziMeGQKmBYt7s6dyMneHA2c7RE/edit?usp=drivesdk

Also everything mentioned was/is discussed by @skepticalarrie @twopoppies and shout-out to my Larry friend @fookinhellcurly

Tumblr/Twitter: @hldailyupdate @fashionlouist

You should find vids/clips & discussions for everything I mentioned with a quick Tumblr or YT search 🔍

[ukrfeminism]

A lawyer and the government department she works with are being sued after she made gender-critical statements at work, including expressing the belief that only women menstruate. 

Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley works at an arm’s-length body affiliated to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and is a chairwoman of a civil service network that represents staff with gender-critical views. 

She is one of three key signatories of an explosive letter sent in October to the cabinet secretary warning the impartiality of the civil service was under threat because anyone with gender-critical views was “openly and unlawfully bullied and harassed”. 

The confidential letter, seen by The Times, makes serious claims about a “small number of active gender ideologues” embedded in the civil service who brief against ministers and seek to alter official documents.

Duemmer Wrigley will appear at an employment tribunal next week accused of harassment for several comments and posts shared in the workplace. An employee of another body affiliated to Defra is suing the government department for allowing the network to exist and Duemmer Wrigley personally for her views. 

These include a statement made during a seminar on female autism that “only women menstruate” and a link to My Body is Me!, a book that encourages young children to understand and accept their bodies. A post in which she celebrates “diversity of belief” and explains that being gender-critical is a protected belief has also been penalised.

The Sex Equality and Equity Network (Seen) is an official civil service network with more than 700 members in 50 government departments who support the belief that biological sex is binary and immutable. Duemmer Wrigley is chairwoman of Defra’s Seen network and believes she is being targeted as a figurehead.

The claimant, who has not been named, has accused Defra bosses of creating a “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and/or offensive environment” and is calling for a disbanding of the departmental SEEN network and, potentially, the cross-governmental network as well. 

Duemmer Wrigley warns that if successful, the case would have a “chilling effect” that could silence all gender criticism in the civil service.

“[It] would effectively preclude any public gender-critical discourse in the workplace,” she writes in a statement. 

“It has been brought at a time when employees with gender-critical beliefs in many organisations, both in the civil service and beyond, are already facing vexatious, chilling or bullying attacks. I believe if this case succeeds, these attacks are likely to escalate. I believe if this case succeeds there will be no place in the civil service for those with sex realist views.”

It comes months after the letter to Simon Case, the head of the civil service, called for “urgent action to ensure that civil service impartiality is upheld, and freedom of belief is respected”.

It warns that unchallenged bias in relation to gender is having a direct impact on policy, based on interviews and evidence from SEEN members across government.

The letter cites efforts from some staff to “remove contributions to government consultations that relate to sex instead of gender” and “quietly briefing external organisations on how to circumnavigate ministerial direction”. 

It alleges there is an “active obfuscation of facts” among some trans activist civil servants to “prevent ministers seeing the impact of trans-inclusive policies” and evidence of internal policy being leaked to “partisan organisations”. 

Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, a human rights organisation that campaigns for clarity on sex in law, policy and language, said: “This is a shocking case, which follows revelations by civil servant whistleblowers about a ‘culture of fear’ among gender-critical civil servants across Whitehall. 

“It is not reasonable to view the existence of a network of gender-critical colleagues as ‘harassment’. 

“The civil service needs to have a robust culture of integrity, objectivity and accountability, and treat all its employees fairly. Civil servants should not expect to be kept “safe” from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with.”

A government spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

[occasionallynotwatchingroger]

OH MY GOD, HAVE YOU WATCHED EPISODE 10?? I NEED TO ASK

ok yes I'm sorry I needed to revisit the Hewlett scenes because I got distracted by how much I didn't like so much of that episode

but that's not why we're here

THIS is why we're here

I love that he's so aloof with Abigail up until the moment she gets upset, and then he suddenly remembers he's actually a compassionate man

Also, Burn has such pretty eyelashes, see related:

(I don't know what that second GIF is from I just typed in Burn Gorman eyelashes and whoever was the director here clearly knows what I'm on about)

I love that Abe was being melodramatic and childish and ridiculous when he offered to give Whitehall to Hewlett and he held him to it

I love that it's Hewlett who tells Abe to seek payment from Washington. In a round-about sort of way Washington ends up paying for the retirement of loyal(ish) royalist major Edmund Hewlett.

And of course, I'm glad he got his happy ending

[saintmeghanmarkle]

The Hill: In Colombia Harry and Meghans harmful smoke and mirrors faux-statecraft by u/Von_und_zu_

The Hill: In Colombia, Harry and Meghan’s harmful ‘smoke and mirrors’ faux-statecraft Serious political criticism of Harold and his wife's faux royal tours.​https://ift.tt/54nCxIt is a bit of it.Their four-day holiday in Colombia might have served the business and public relations interests of the Montecito couple well. But it risked doing great disservice to the foreign policy of the United Kingdom — and by extension that of the national security of the U.S. Official royal tours, like U.S. presidential visits abroad, are intended to advance the foreign policy interests of the UK. Beyond high-level meetings and glitzy receptions, these high-stake diplomatic undertakings are measured by the bi-lateral nation-to-nation deliverables expected of them — and of their lasting positive impact.Harry and Meghan could not deliver that.Other than D-list celebrity, the oft-whinging duo had nothing to offer Bogotá long-term. Photo-ops, media hype and sugary goodwill are fleeting. Absent Whitehall purpose and oversight, there is little to be gained by either Colombia or the UK.Sussex Inc., however, arguably had a lot to gain, and therein lies the rub. Not-so-private worldwide tours masquerading as royal tours are undoubtedly valuable from a business branding and marketing standpoint.Cashing in on faux-statecraft really should be beyond the pale for the son and daughter-in-law of the reigning king of England and head of the Commonwealth of Nations. Harry, especially, knows better. His grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, set the global gold-standard for duty, country and public service.https://ift.tt/dIDgOXq post link: https://ift.tt/QTXa1n0 author: Von_und_zu_ submitted: August 20, 2024 at 02:11PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The need to reduce the advertising of harmful products had already been acknowledged officially, if briefly, by some within the UK government.  The Behavioural Insights Team became known as the ‘nudge’ unit in honour of the popular economic notion that much could be done to achieve change with small actions that the public would barely notice, and then within a government department.  It published a report - Net Zero: principles for successful behaviour change initiatives - that concluded, “We do not have time to nudge our way to net zero…”.  Extraordinarily, the nudge unit was questioning its very purpose and existence, saying nudging was not enough to win a safe climate.  It went on to say: “Looking at past government-led initiatives, significant societal behaviour changes related to, for instance, reductions in harm from smoking, increasing worker or motor vehicle safety or uptake of vaccinations have all involved taxes, bans, mandates and other regulatory measures beyond soft persuasion.” The report was published as part of a bundle of policy documents surrounding the launch of the government’s landmark Net Zero Strategy, the grand plan setting out how it expected to achieve the new, more challenging climate change targets which it had just signed into law.  But it seemed that some members of the conservative government were reading the ‘behaviour change’ part of the plan for the first time, and were horrified.  Within hours the report was ‘unpublished’ and an official statement was issued disavowing its contents. The nudge unit itself was removed from Whitehall and put at a more safe distance from decision makers under the aegis of a research body. Its message, however, has since grown clearer and stronger.  In 2023 in a new report on ‘How to Build a Net Zero Society’ from the relocated Behavioural Insights Team recommended the regulation of advertising and greenwash. This new report said the UK should, “in addition to cracking down on all forms of greenwashing, follow other countries’ lead by restricting advertising of high-emitting sectors: explore the benefits of banning fossil fuels ads and, in time, advertising from firms within key sectors (e.g. air travel) who fail to meet decarbonisation targets compatible with UK carbon budgets.” They are not the only ones. By then, in response to the kind of call being made by the Badvertising campaign, the UK House of Lords Environment Committee had already concluded, in a 2022 report into behaviour change, that the “Government should introduce measures to regulate advertising of high-carbon and environmentally damaging products.” 

[coquetteladyofthedeadmensworld]

One day at Whitehall Palace, the York Girlies are talking about what Disney Princesses they relate to:

Anne: I relate to Cinderella because she was a commoner who married a prince.

Maria: I relate to Snow White because she sees the good in everyone and despite being faced with extreme opposition from someone meant to care for her, is a kind and caring person.

Mary: I relate to Belle because she loves books and reading and also fell in love with someone for who he was as a person.

Anne 2.0: I relate to Elsa, Anna and Merida because Anna and Merida are very strong-willed and stubborn which sometimes causes problems but they manage to set things right and learn from their mistakes. And Elsa tries to do the right thing but goes about it the wrong way which she manages to fix the help of Anna.

Louisa: I relate to both Aurora and Snow White because they care about everyone regardless of who they are.

*The door opens and James enters with little to no warning*

Anne, Maria, Mary, Anne 2.0 and Louisa: ???

Louisa: Dad, what are you doing?

James: *deep breath*

Anne: Oh Lord -

James:

I RELATE TO TINKERBELL BECAUSE SHE CANNOT SURVIVE THIS FUCKENING CRUEL WORLD WITHOUT ATTENTION OR SHE DIES!

[master-john-uk]

I hope to be able to have a personal chat with this chap tomorrow. Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office... and permanent resident of 10 Downing Street has kept me informed about recent events involving his new lodger, Sir Keir Starmer. Larry is not happy!

I arrived at my Dorset farm for my summer sojournment on Wednesday afternoon. I had a business appointment on Thursday, so I did not really start my holiday until Friday.

I have since been summoned to attend meetings in Whitehall on Monday 5th August, relating to numerous incidents which you may have heard about in the news.

Rather than driving, I investigated the possibility of hiring a helicopter and flying myself to London... but, the cost was exorbitant! I will now be on a chartered flight to London City Airport, where one of my London team will collect me.

Hopefully I will return to the farm tomorrow evening... but, there is a possibility that I will have to attend follow-up meetings on Tuesday.

I am beginning to think it is time for me to retire!

[mariacallous]

Why Trump is wrong about crime

In Tuesday night’s debate, former President Donald Trump reprised a frequent campaign talking point, asserting that “crime here is up and through the roof.” When ABC News moderator David Muir cited FBI evidence that overall violent crime had declined, Trump countered, “They didn’t include the cities with the worst crime! It was fraud!”

This was classic Trump. Over the last eight years, Trump has fanned fears of violence in America by conflating crime, immigration and cities. In his 2016 inaugural address, Trump painted an apocalyptic picture of “American carnage” with “mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities,” denouncing “the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives.”

At the Republican convention in July, Trump called the nation’s capital “a horrible killing field.” His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, proclaimed Chicago, the site of the Democratic National Convention, a “combat zone.” Yet data from police chiefs of major U.S. cities shows violent crime declined significantly this year in 69 large cities, including in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

Trump’s rhetoric about “inner cities” and “blighted communities” is suffused with a long history of racial and ethnic prejudice. It also ignores that crime is not just an urban problem, but affects families and businesses in suburbs and rural areas too, across red and blue America. Yet the city versus “rest of America” rhetoric makes it hard to achieve effective, bipartisan solutions that improve safety across all communities.

In 2020, for example, the murder rate rose roughly equally in cities run by Republicans and Democrats, with Republican-led states reporting some of the nation’s highest murder rates. The same year, rural areas reported 40% higher gun deaths per capita than in metropolitan areas. Crimes related to substance abuse have also long been higher in rural communities.

To compare crime across cities, suburbs and rural areas, we looked at three states: North Carolina, West Virginia and Ohio, analyzing FBI data from 2019 through 2022, the most recent full year for which data is available for rural areas. FBI crime data isn’t perfect, but it’s the best measure we have for comparing crime trends between urban and rural areas. What it shows is that some suburbs and rural towns had significantly higher per capita crime rates than in nearby cities.

Take violent crime: In 2022 in North Carolina, the suburb of Wadesboro and the rural town of Laurinburg had higher per capita violent crime rates than the nearby city of Charlotte. Some suburbs and rural towns across the three states had higher violent crime rates than Chicago, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., which have been the target of Republican criticism.

Property crime in Laurinburg exceeded the rate in nearby Charlotte. In the same period in West Virginia, property crime rate skyrocketed in the suburb of Nitro, while it fell 27% in the city of Huntington. In Ohio, suburban Whitehall had a higher property crime rate in 2022 than the city of Columbus. In short, crime isn’t just a “city problem.”

Despite partisan rhetoric about “defunding the police,” spending on police has increased in the overwhelming majority of U.S. cities since President Joe Biden took office, and blue states that voted for Biden in 2020 spent 33% more per capita on police than red states that voted for Trump. Policies that decrease income inequality, reduce evictions and improve living conditions in high-poverty neighborhoods have been shown to reduce crime by reducing some factors that cause it.

Unfortunately, “tough on crime” rhetoric has shut down bipartisan conversations about criminal justice reform and stymied solutions. Some Republican-led states are seeking to control cities rather than support cities. Mississippi’s governor last year extended state control to criminal justice in a majority Black city, Alabama lawmakers have proposed a law allowing state officials to appoint local police chiefs and Missouri mandated that Kansas City spend at least 25% of its budget on police funding.

Rather than dictate policy to cities, state and local leaders should cooperate across urban and rural regions. In rural West Virginia – a region hit hard by the opioid epidemic – leaders have been working to help find employment for residents affected by the drug crisis. In Detroit, local leaders are focusing on public health programs to reduce violence, and last year the city experienced its lowest murder rate in 57 years.

The reality is that investing in economic, social and civic well-being of communities reduces crime. Safe streets and social cohesion, in turn, fuel economic growth and private investment that nurture secure, vibrant communities.

Whoever wins in November, our leaders must work together across parties so all American communities can be safe and prosperous.

[boleynqueenes]

thank you so much for whitehall uni, i was so grateful to have that pdf this week. i’ve been comfort re reading as well 💛

I’m so humbled to have written something that can give comfort and escapism. I have weirdly been thinking about WU too this week, mainly because I was writing snippets in 2014, and then actually taking a deep breath and posting it 2015, and then… 2016, still pretty frequently updating , and then… 2016 election happened, and it was my longest plateau in my update schedule ever. I felt broken.

And the story was always meant to be escapism, university setting as fantasy/magic realism, this pretend world where the most prestigious university of the Ivy League was in LA. So when that happened I wondered if I should AU the AU, I avoided even mentioning the election on the timeline of the story at 1st but ultimately… idk, I kept it in, I thought it might be, relatable in some way. I wrote the characters reminiscing , contrasting how electric and full of potential Summer 2016 felt versus the actual outcome of the end of the year…mentioning politics more in their conversations… in this fic, Anne’s father was a politico, CB’s mother was an immigrant, Blount/Boleyn was in full sail, they would all have had thoughts, I was eventually going to integrate it more , I really just brushed against it …

If I ever return, idk what the hell I’d do, lol (I have written some flash forward scenes, H&A post grad, post break up, all that).

I have thought about either making the as yet not Kindle published chapters public again, since I had to take an anticipated hiatus from that planned publishing schedule, and making a podfic of WU or something … or even BU, but it’d have to be on the hush cus of copyright (password protected blog, maybe? And I gave those that messaged with interest the password? Patreon? Again, just for privacy, I wouldn’t really want to charge for a podfic/audiobook, because it wouldn’t be professionally done… it’d just be a fun, extra treat… I do have some experience voice acting, it would be really fun to do the characters’ voices as I’ve imagined them, I think) , and I’d probably keep the revisions but keep the same names as WU. I did that as the twist, and sometimes I’m still wondering if I should have done the reverse (change the names of the historic counterparts as I did in WU, not the modern character names)…

But idk if anybody would be interested. I might give a scene or two a try. Like some of the parallel scenes I have ? Idk. Any requests for particular scenes/chapters, I would be open to giving a shot, feel free to DM me 💖

Anyway, thanks for sending this. Take care 🫶

[houseofbrat]

Rules banning scrutiny of the royal family in parliament must be changed in light of the continuing scandals about Prince Andrew, a Labour peer has said. Lord Foulkes is seeking a meeting this week with the clerk of the ­parliaments Simon Burton, who is head of the House of Lords administration, to discuss what Foulkes says is a growing list of concerns about the activities of the royal family. Foulkes, a junior minister under Tony Blair, said he has been refused permission to table a question ­proposing a ­public register of royal interests. Calls have been increasing for greater scrutiny of the royal family and their finances after a series of scandals involving Andrew. [...]

Foulkes said that parliament’s clerks have vetoed every attempt to raise concerns about Andrew and other royals. They have argued that parliament’s standing orders and Erskine May, the authority on ­parliamentary procedure, prevent discussion of the monarchy and of any matters that reflect on the sovereign or royal family. Foulkes believes there should be changes to the rules to allow ­discussion beyond the current limit of questions about the cost to the taxpayer of royal palaces and events attended by the royals. Taxpayer funding to King Charles is set to increase by 53% this year to £132m. Foulkes said there were concerns, particularly among newly elected Labour MPs, about the amount of public money spent by the king and members of the royal family. Andrew received taxpayers’ money until he was forced to stand down from his official royal duties in November 2019 after Newsnight. “It’s about wider accountability,” Foulkes said. “I was particularly ­concerned about where public money is spent. That’s why the Andrew issue is something that’s interested me particularly.” He added: “There is very great ­sensitivity in parliament and ­particularly in the House of Lords, as you would expect, and a lot of ­deference to the monarch, which is understandable in many ways. “But I think one of the things is to separate the monarch or head of state from the royal family, the rest of them. “Where does the royal family stop? All the grandchildren, the cousins, the nieces, the nephews … It’s not defined. The restriction can be used in relation to any of them. “Do the rules apply to Andrew, who is no longer a working member of the family?” Despite the fact that the number of working royals has fallen in recent years, as part of King Charles’s vision for a “slimmed-down monarchy”, Whitehall retains a wide definition of the royal family. The information ­commissioner’s guidelines on exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act, for example, includes a large ­number of the extended family, ­including Princess Anne’s children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, who have never had a royal title or undertaken official duties.

How many times have I mentioned "parliament" recently in regards to Will & Kate?

05 October 2024

20 January 2025

29 January 2025

Three times.

And yet it's always amazing how certain people keep on concentrating inconsequential things and can't understand where things are going.

I have been trying to do a reading on the relationship between The King and Prince William, and the cards I am drawing are appalling (as an example, I asked what The King thought of Prince William and I pulled the Ten of Swords - betrayal - as the first card). I refuse to believe that their relationship is that bad so I am going to leave it for 24 hours and then try again.

Uh...yes! Why do you people think Charles isn't answering Kate's letters? Or are you so far down your own rabbit hole that you don't even realize Kate has been reduced to writing letters, just like Meghan.

The King wants to turn things around and heal the damage done to someone’s or something’s reputation. I asked if this card was about the BRF and The Hierophant flew out of the deck as I was shuffling, which is again a big Yes as The Hierophant is the card for institutions and for the BRF as an institution, The King wants to heal the BRF, he wants to restore people’s faith in the monarchy, he wants the BRF to once again represent a stable institution which is both reliable and a beacon of hope in troubled times.

It's so obvious where this is going, but as usual, the Charles haters are always stuck on the wrong questions.

I guess reality is going to have punch you guys in the face instead.

[collapsedsquid]

Two of the longest-running pieces of research in medicine are the Whitehall studies, the first of which began before Stafford Beer ever set foot in Chile. Whitehall I, from 1967 to 1977, recorded the general health outcomes of 17,500 male British civil servants; Whitehall II, ongoing since 1985, widened the remit to include women; both cohorts have been followed up and re-examined over the years. Michael Marmot, who led the first study and initiated the second one, made an extremely interesting discovery. One of the strongest predictors of serious mortality outcomes – heart attacks, strokes, cancer – was the civil service grade that someone occupied. The very large sample size allows you to eliminate the effects of income, smoking, family history and a lot of other things and be sure that this is a separate effect. And social status (as represented by the civil service grade) is itself highly correlated with unhealthy behaviours, in a way that doesn’t appear to be related to education, intelligence or any other variables that might be associated with self-control. This ‘social gradient’ seems to be there in data from other countries, too. Marmot ended up concluding that the psychic feeling of being in control of your life is extremely important as a source of well-being, and that conversely, being out of control is physiologically harmful as well as emotionally intolerable.

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend!

This weekend we turn to one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Othello, the twenty-seventh volume of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. Othello was likely written sometime between 1603 and 1604, first acted in November of 1604 at court in Whitehall for King James I, and was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on October 6, 1621. It was first published in quarto by Thomas Walkley in 1622. The next year, the play was included among the plays in the First Folio.

This edition of Othello was illustrated by Irish author and artist Robert Gibbings (1889–1958). Gibbings was a founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers, ran the Golden Cockerel Press between 1924 and 1933, and was renowned as a major force in the twentieth century revival of wood engraving. He was drawn to illustrating Othello in its rich and textural Mediterranean setting and said of the frontispiece that he “tried to portray the quiet dignity of the Moor standing out against a picture in which are represented the chief events in his life.” Gibbings' wood engravings bring to life the action of Othello through stark contrast in lines and tones propelling the illustrations to pop off the page.

Of particular note to our copy of Othello is a friendly inscription from acclaimed actor Paul Robeson (1989 – 1976) “All best wishes. It was a swell afternoon”.  It seems that LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter hosted Robeson in some of his free time while in Milwaukee performing Othello during its 1944 run at the now defunct Davidson Theatre. 

The volume was printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish. Each of the LEC volumes of Shakespeare’s works are illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin. 

View another post on this edition.

View other posts relating to Robert Gibbings.

View more Limited Edition Club posts. 

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[stephensmithuk]

Raffles' "telephone call"

Edit 25/08/2024: Correction on the current state of the Gerrard Street exchange.

When this story is set, there was no such thing as automatic telephone dialling. In fact, rotary dials weren't even in very wide use.

Basically, if you wanted to call someone on the 'phone (the apostrophe later disappearing), you had to pick it up and physically ask someone to connect you to the other number. She would then physically plug your connection into the slot for the other person's number. If you wanted to call long-distance, you might have to wait for a long to become available. To call internationally - there was a connection to Paris - it was a case of booking a three-minute slot in advance for 8 shillings, maximum of two calls consecutively.

Limited numbers of lines would be a thing well into the 20th century; East Berlin cut its telephone connections to West Berlin in 1952 and only restored ten lines in 1971 via Potsdam as inter-German relations improved; they were swiftly booked up.

Note that I said "she". The vast majority of telephone exchange operators were women. You could legally pay them less and they were felt to be more professional then the men. Although, I imagine that they probably had to leave if they got married:

Of course privacy was a concern; there was a chance that someone might be listening in on your call. Something that was a concern even in 1952 when George VI died - the phrase"Hyde Park Corner" was used to inform government officials of his death ahead of the official announcment. In 2022, the code phrase for Elizabeth II's death was "London Bridge".

Raffles' has pretended to ask for a number at the Gerrard Street telephone exchange in Soho, now a pedestrianised street in Chinatown, which moved there in the 1960s. This would be rebuilt in 1908 and remains active to this day;' the building also contains an events venue called the China Exchange. Weirdly, I went to a gaming thing there in 2018.

The Gerrard Street exchange, like the others in London, would form part of the new London Director Area in 1927, where you could directly dial another exchange using a three letter/digit code, with letters grouped by the numbers on the dial, although this took some years to implement. This area did not match any county boundaries and still does not; outer areas like Romford retain their own codes.

Gerrard Street was GER, so the lawyer's number would be 437 9233, just listed as GER 9233. WHI 1212 or Whitehall 1212 was the number for New Scotland Yard.

We moved to all figure dialling in 1965 (mainly to eliminate confusion and for making international calls easier); by this time area codes were coming in and London's would be 01. So the number became 01 473 9233. However, many of the area codes would be based on place names and still retain this today.

In 1990, the London area code was split into two, with the Inner London area being 071 and 081 being used for Outer London. In 1995, PhONEday (that's what they called it) made all landline codes start with 01 to increase capacity; 07 is now used for mobile phones. So Howson, Anstruther and Martin would now be 0171 473 233.

In 2000, the Big Number Change combined 0171 and 0181 to a new 020 single code, to increase capacity in London by five times. 0171 numbers became 020 7, 0181 were now 020 8. This meant the number would be 020 7473 9233.

But many people still would write it as 0207 473 9233, which would cause me mild annoyance if I saw it.

As a final note, we have our own version of 555 here;

I shall hang up there, so to speak.

[bigassbowlingballhead]

As a gift to celebrate the new year of 1617, the king sent George a miniature of himself with his heart in his hand - a declaration of love as romantic as any by an ardent suitor: A few days later, Viscount Villiers became Earl of Buckingham at Whitehall. The following month, the relentless promotion continued when George was introduced to the Privy Council as its latest member, at twenty-four years of age the youngest. When James's ministers objected to someone so callow having such seniority, the king delivered a speech choked with emotion: I James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man like any other. Therefore I act like a man, and confess to loving those dear to me more than other men. You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf, and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had His John and I have my George.

Don’t think you can be more obsessed with someone than James was with George.

Also sorry for spamming so much.

how relatable though, you see this gorgeous little twink who's giving it to you good, you're going to do any and everything in your (as king absolute) power to keep him near you at all time. You don't let that get away.

Also, Tony's gonna eat up those speech performances. I'm very excited for that.

please never stop spamming, i was so happy to wake up to all of your asks this morning.

[my-deer-history]

In general, sexual adventures were enjoyed with far greater frequency by Englishmen in India than by their women. Eliza Draper's uncle, to whose house she fled after she left the protection of Sir John Clerke, is a good example. John Whitehall [sic, Whitehill] was an eccentric character whose life was even more irregular than his niece's. Not only did he have at least one, if not more, Indian concubines, he also seems to have had a taste for young men. When his niece first went to live with him, he was involved in a passionate affair with another man, Mr Sulivan, a 'sweet Character of whom Whitehall was inordinately jealous. My Uncle doats on him with all the Extravagances of violent passion,' Eliza Draper wrote to her cousin at home. 'He cannot live without Him. He cannot even bear Him out of his Sight. He cannot like to have him sleep in any apartment but his own.' But there was no moralising about his male lover, nor about the brood of natural children he had produced with his bibis.

Katie Hickman, She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen: British Women in India (2019)

A fascinating glimpse of queer relations from 1770s colonial India.