#with lockdown getting worse in the uk

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I discovered my best friend is following ARO on Instagram. When I confronted her over this horrific betrayal, she said, “I think I like her now!” My devastation knows no bounds.

I was discussing this with my boss, a fellow royal watcher, and we decided I need to make a PowerPoint presentation, complete with citations (we are lawyers, after all), “shining a light” on MM’s numerous atrocities and proven lies over the years. I thought you would be invaluable in such a venture. Any suggestions to include would be very much appreciated!

Old ask from March 18th

Ok, so I didn't mean to sit on this one for (checks calendar) 6 MONTHS. ohhh, that's worse than I thought. Sorry, anon. Your ask got completely buried.

Anyway. I actually have been keeping a list of Meghan's lies and falsities. I don't remember when I compiled it (I feel like it might've been a 2022 thing) and I forgot I had it for a very long time. We'll probably need to crowd-source some updates to this list.

So buckle up, y'all.

Grew up an only child

Never had relationships with Sam or Tom

Grew up poor eating Sizzler buffets for splurge dinners

Didn't know who Diana was

Didn't know that Diana did Panorama interview

Lied about having a SAG card to be cast in Suits

That she was being written off Suits because she was marrying Harry

Doesn't have any family except Doria

Paid for college herself with student loans

International relations and theatre degrees from Northwestern

Merch tour of Aussie with Jess

Didn't want to serve Archie on a silver platter

Couldn't do a photo call at the hospital after Archie's birth

Wasn't in contact with Oprah

Wasn't working with UK Vogue

Lilac blazers

Couldn't wear the same color as anyone else

Could only wear neutral clothes

Wasn't dressing her child like a Victorian ghost doll

Going to get her UK citizenship

Gave up her Hollywood team

Spectacle wedding for the public

Eloped three days before with the Archbishop of Canterbury

Loves her engagement ring

Received permission from Queen to name her Lilibet

Loves Africa

Loves charity work and philanthropy

Red carpet for wedding

No tabloids in the US

All Americans have a 5am work ethic

Paparazzi chases

Plagiarism

Korean spas as a kid

Collaboration with Scobie on FF

People letter

Archewell donations and income

Family she never had

Gave up everything

IVF twins

Pregnancy announcement not at Eugenie's wedding

Loves kids

Dog too old to fly

Dog hit by car

Couldn't decorate with royal collection

Kate made Meghan cry

Warm friendly relationship with Queen

Best boss ever

She made her own banana bread

Suicidal thoughts night of Cirque du Soleil

Advised by Obamas

Children refused titles because of racism

She refuses children's titles

Pen pals with Hillary Clinton

Witnessed the LA riots

Independent grassroots journalism

Hit the ground running

5'5

worked at the embassy when she only attended a study program

Didn't know she had to curtsy to the Queen

Didn't know how to curtsy

BRF took her passport, car keys

Not allowed to go out unless just for work

Climate change/private jets

Evicted from Frogmore

Royal Family refused to help Meghan with her mental health

That Meghan was silenced

Privacy in LA

Archie was denied 24/7 protection because he wasn't a prince

Family gossip about Archie's skin color

Palace forced Meghan to take her name off Archie's birth certificate

Egg in wedding food

Not allowed to have scents in church

Meghan said the palace was locking up the birth certificate

Angela refused hair trials

Bond girl

Fire in Archie's nursery

Linked, not ranked

Archie too young to fly (summer after his birth)

Lied about her age (to work in Hollywood, narrative since corrected since marrying in)

Belly padding

Bot farms on social media

Miscarriage

Zoom calls with Cambridges during lockdown

Zoom calls with the Queen during lockdown

Flowers on Philip's casket at funeral were from Sussexes

Sussexes were invited to the Beckham wedding

Royal christening for Lili

Lili baptized

Invited to the diplomatic reception before The Queen's funeral

BFF/dog-walking buddies with Jennifer Aniston

Photoshops the children's appearances

Jimmy Fallon interview in Dec 2022

Time 100th Anniversary coverage

Bodyguard 2

she’d have 40 photographers taking pictures when she did Archie’s school run.

Sussexes declined invitation to Westminster wedding

She made the strawberry jam herself

50 jars of jam

"The Bench" was a bestseller

Visiting/staying with Oprah (Oprah was across the country at her father's bedside)

All the times she said she'd be a secret presenter at Hollywood award shows

Uvalde

Can't tailor her clothes to fit because they're from small brands/labels.

[aintgonnatakethis]

Fun Line Tag Game

Thank you @lancedoncrimsonwings for tagging me!

Rules: Post a line that you're tremendously pleased by and a line that’s just out-of-context ridiculous

I'm taking massive creative licence with what the word 'line' means, but cut me a break 😂 Both these excerpts are from the untitled 450k SGU story I was working on during lockdown and have recently been rereading, setting aside bits that I like and think I can use in other stories.

Pleased by - Telford is the one to recruit Rush, Rush bonds in strange ways:

"Do you have any--" He paused to inhale more smoke because he was still feeling twitchy and he needed to focus. "Good stories?" "About aliens I've killed," Telford replied casually. It wasn't a question but Rush shrugged anyway. "That's really what you want to know." "In for a penny," Rush muttered. His cigarette had burned down and he ground it into the ashtray and lit another. Telford shook his head and Rush was weighing up his options on how to get him to talk when he shrugged carelessly. "Before we practically wiped the Goa'uld out, they used to camp down in lakes when there weren't any hosts around. Pretty much impossible to see them if they didn't surface and we couldn't avoid every body of water we came across. Kid called Murray was washing dirt off his hands when one of them came out of the water and burrowed straight into him." The detached, impersonal way Telford was recounting the memory made Rush feel sick, even though he had asked for it. He wanted to know this. He did. "One of the other guys held him down and I tried to pull it out. It was young and hadn't aimed quite right; got more of his shoulder than his neck, so it couldn't wrap around his spine. We'd gotten to him quick and I managed to pull it free." Telford took a last drag and flicked the stub out of the window. "It brought his shoulder blade with it. But hey. He lived." Rush felt cold and shivery, but he deserved this. He’d asked for it. "What did it feel like?" From the corner of his eye he saw Telford look at him but refused to turn himself. There was a long silence and he thought he wouldn't get an answer. "Like… a baby eel," Telford said finally, "before they get their tough skin. Too soft for what it was." Have you killed a lot of baby eels, Rush wanted to ask. He couldn't seem to get his tongue to work though, which was probably a blessing. He imagined smooth skin beneath his hands, slimy and slightly wet from a lake. He imagined the blood, the screaming, having to pull a man's bones out through his skin; because it was to save him, from something worse, from walking around in his own skin a prisoner. He imagined dropping the alien on the ground and crushing it beneath his boot. He imagined never being able to relax around water again.

Ridiculous - completely normal and safe things to say when you're being "interviewed" by the US military:

The first man hummed irritably and shuffled his papers again. "You are not a US citizen. Who did you vote for when you were based in the UK?" The sudden change of gears made Rush laugh. "You’re asking me about my political opinions?" They all looked at him expectantly. The ice still hadn’t worn off and Rush didn’t know what to say, so he said the first thing that came into his head. "I’ve always thought communism was quite good."

Tagging: @fortunatetragedy @the-golden-comet @moltenwrites @viscerawrites @aggsh-shs + OPEN

[fiveredlights]

I need to know the process of max and daniel telling people in glitter. I mean, obviously there were 80 billion people who found out based on everyone being at their wedding, them casually mentioning it at f1 shoots, obviously the teams knowing, etc, but the key first reveals? Who knew, how they told them, how they took, etc, I want to know all! Also, I want all the insight of them in 2022 that you’re up for sharing with how they navigated the emotional minefield there, because the snippet you shared about the two shows such a interesting glimpse into max being in the peak of his career while his boyfriend is falling and suffering and barely eating and forcing smiles when he’s never had to before. Sorry, two very broad questions in one ask, but since we as outsiders don’t have the details, I definitely have some curiosities around these bigger topics.

Final, actually more specific question: how is Daniel with the cats?

yes, i will say that this socmed format def has one downfall and it's not being able to share the deeper details but i am very happy to just dump all of this here, hope this satisfies some of your curiosities anon!

how max and daniel tell everyone:

charles is absolutely the first person max and daniel tell, and that's just because he was the first person to catch an inkling that they may want to be more than friends. that's done with a facetime with max and daniel (which is in ch 3, charles' post). he was basically the driving force to getting maxiel together-- they got together after daniel invited max to stay in his house in perth during COVID, there’s a kookaburra called gary that taunts max to make the first move, it’s a whole thing--charles basically forced daniel to invite him over. but also, there are definitely drivers who thought they were already dating, here's a snippet from the new year's day fic, a conversation between daniel and nico hulkenburg during singapore, 2019.

Are you two okay?  We’re fine I know you don’t like talking about him but you’re okay right?  It’s awful when you fight with your partner, but I guess it’s worse for you cause you have to race him the next day.  Nico What We’re not dating Oh Did you think I was dating Max this whole time?! Does Max know that 

i don’t think they tell the rest of the drivers, probably just the ones they’re close with. if charles knows, pierre knows. when max told alex he was going to stay in australia, he laughed really loudly, gave a pat on the back to max and said “charles told me you two were always weird about each other” and walks away. so make of that what you will. they don’t tell george, he finds out from someone and feels instantly betrayed as leader of the daniel ricciardo fanclub but gets over it quickly. no one tells sebastian but they both get a “Congratulations. — Sebastian” text one random day.

max’s sister instantly finds out when he doesn’t come back to europe for lockdown. daniel doesn’t tell his mum till max has left to go back to the UK before the season starts again, but she already knew (he wore a red bull shirt with 33 on it whilst they socially distanced exchanged food with each other).

the red bull team find out during a meeting where daniel walks through the living room with a basket of laundry. they don't say anything there, but daniel receives a vague message from a number he doesn't recognise basically being like treat him right etc etc (it's GP.) the renault team were under the impression that they were dating the whole time, so no shock from them.

but i think for the first two years (2020-2022) they try and keep it as much as a secret as they can, especially because of how turbulent their careers were at that time. when daniel has his pseudo 6 month sabbatical and is back with red bull, that’s when they slowly start to talk about their relationship around everyone more. (with the help of some very strong NDAs i imagine to stop stuff from leaking. but people probably respect them enough to not leak. it’s a fictional universe, people are nicer here.)

2022:

2022 is a real turning point for them. as you put very nicely, max is at the peak of his career, daniel has never been lower. i think for both of them it's a do or die point of their relationship--i think they were kind of stuck in this honeymoon period during the first year of the relationship, but daniel going through a depressive period snaps them both out of it. obviously, i can only speak for my own fictionalised daniel ricciardo and my own experiences, but i think he just slowly stops trying. like here's what i wrote, and i think it just encapsulates what daniel feel internally throughout the year:

“Sometimes I think you are not angry enough about it. You used to fight back everything you did not like at Red Bull and now Lando says you just sit there in meetings and accept all the bad things they’ve thrown at you.”

he’s tried being nice about it, he’s tried being angry about it and none of it works, so why try anymore? but also this is when max realises that daniel needs something tangible for him to realise that max is in it for the long run, which is how the tattoo is born. it doesn’t fix all their problems, time will help, but it’s a nice thing. he doesn’t tell max but max getting a no.3 tattoo is basically a marriage proposal in his eyes and frankly it is—if someone came up to me and was like hey i got a tattoo of your racing number 3 next to where you always place your hand on me and when they’re together it reads 33 which is my racing number, i would’ve dragged their ass to the nearest government office and got married right there, but that’s just me—the actual proposal is probably in early 2023, and it’s max who proposes whilst they go on a bushwalk, he knew that daniel has bought a ring recently and wanted to catch him off guard. (proposal pic is daniel’s post on august 5th in ch3)

daniel and the cats:

the cats definitely hate him at first (i have genuinely never heard a nice, calm story from jimmy and sassy). they destroy his shoes by playing with the shoelaces, only sit on daniel’s clean laundry, sleep on his side of the bed (cats are vindictive like that) but after a couple weeks of this behaviour they probably realise that daniel’s not going anywhere. they like him more when he buys some super duper expensive cat treat and max comes to the conclusion his boyfriend has stolen the hearts of his cats.

[upsettingandunfortunateclasshate]

I've been having a pop at private schools on Tumblr for around 10 years and honestly the PS domination in the UK has got worse and worse to the point where it's quite fucking staggering

The children of the wealthy aka the only ones that can afford the fees disproportionately dominate countless industries from media, politics, sport, arts etc. They have industries on lockdown.

To the point where it's affected people's mindset / culture of the country. There are people giving testimonies over how their bosses, colleagues gawp in disbelief if they're say in publishing and went to a comp like 93% of the population

Apparently all they talk about in Russell group unis is what school you went to

It must be mad for outsiders seeing the British class system as strong as ever. But if we're honest some people settle here for that very reason; to get into the middle class, the bourgeois. Sunak and Braverman for example. They want the Thatcherism, the cruelty, the class system essentially - the same way American consumerism appeals to so many around the world.

Studies show we're at the point were grades, knowledge, talent and ability doesn't matter. What school you went to does, and what social networks you can access there. Also your parents income, their professions and family assets eg own a home in London. If you tick these boxes you can become a surgeon, prime minister, editor, publisher, indie musician even if you're incompetent, thick or deeply fucked up due to generational inbreeding.

It's what happens when you don't fight back. Like ivy, they've taken over the entire garden. You have to cut the roots and destroy the stump for it to not grow back

I've really noticed the consolidation of power and cultural shift in those 10 or so years

[spaceyqueer]

it's trans day of visibility and I used to post selfies of myself on trans day of visibility, but while my face is still probably easy to find I'm not going to share my face today because even if you can see the image of me, the reality of my life right now is that I and many other trans people are invisible. our concerns are invisible, our pain is invisible, our struggles are invisible, while cis people who actively discriminate against us get every camera facing them.

I was referred to the NHS gender identity services in early 2017. I was on the waiting list for gender affirming care until September 2021, which is when I received my first appointment close to five years after I was first referred. After my first appointment, which was an assessment (of which you have to have two, usually, before you receive any medical treatment). I was then booked in for my second appointment with a psychologist in January 2022, but was never actually sent the appointment email (and since this was during the lockdown period, all apointmnets were online) thus I missed the appointment. I called on the day and I called multiple times afterwards before I was finally told that since I'd missed the appointment I would have to wait for when they could fit me in. This turned out to be another six months later, in July 2022, nearly a year after my first appointment. During this appointment, I expressed an interest in hormone therapy and was encouraged away from it and instead got an appointment with a speech therapist. Except, yet again, I never got the appointment email, despite me checking multiple times that they had both my correct home address and my correct email, which they did. Another appointment missed, without even a hint it ever existed. I contacted them, and got told I would have a new one, as well as an appointment with the psychologist from before. I finally got a new appointment with speech therapy in February this year, and an appointment with a different psychologist. That means over a span of about a year and a half I've had a grand total of four appointments. And I've just been confirmed that if I want testosterone, the earliest they'll be able to get any support for me, pending blood tests, is November. Which will be over two years since I initially got off the waiting list.

I'm lucky. My sister, who is also trans, was referred to a brand new gender identity clinic by the NHS and informed she was off the waiting list, expecting her first appointment only to then be left in limbo, as she was told she would be waiting for her first appointment indefinitely. We have no explanation as to why, only guesses that the clinic wasn't fully prepared for the waiting list they received as other people were referred to the sudden new availability. Meanwhile, other trans people I know have been denied referrals, denied hormones, or been waiting so long their mental health declined severely. A few have lost their lives to the long wait, caught in limbo. All this while our government talks about the 'concern' for trans children, and Rishi Sunak publicly agrees with outing trans children to their parents, irrespective of how dangerous it is because 'keeping parents in the dark' is obviously much worse then exposing children to potential abuse, homelessness, conversion therapy (which is still legal in the UK for trans people) or even death. All of this without consulting trans children at all. Pop-culture figures like J K Rowling talk about how women are being neglected as a result of trans rights, while conveniently ignoring the high rates of transphobic and misogynistic hate crimes directed at trans women. 'TERF' Island is a recurring joke about the UK but I find it harder and harder to laugh, even at my own expense

I am 'lucky'. My family (mostly) supports me, I have had appointments with the gender services, and pass enough as a cis woman (despite that making me very uncomfortable, as a non-binary person) that I don't get much harassment on a regular basis. And yet I am still invisible. My coworkers talk about their criticisms of 'trans ideology'. 'Friends' have made jokes about bottom surgery, and how I'd be attractive if I did have it. I've had to ask HR for more training on trans folks, because we've faced abuse from the public for our company being supportive of trans people. I long for a day when this is better. And perhaps on this day I should be sharing a happy story but I couldn't. I really couldn't, and I apologise for that.

I am invisible, and with that I am safe, but I hope for a day when we are visible AND safe.

[totallyhussein-blog]

After clapping for the carers during lockdown, what now for the NHS?

As Keir Starmer is set to warn that "things will get worse" in the UK before they get better, Channel 4 have highlighted reports of care workers being ripped off, abused and exploited here in the UK.

The Royal College of Nursing is calling on the government to launch a full and urgent investigation, and to work on policy solutions to eradicate these practices. Here is the report.

And despite paying income tax and national insurance, NHS nurses from overseas are being “pushed into poverty” because of rules that deprive many people coming to work in the UK of welfare benefits for five years after they arrive.

A Royal College of Nursing report, based on a survey of more than 3,000 foreign nurses, warns that the policy “punishes” people for coming to work in the UK and is “risking a mass exodus of international nursing staff” from the NHS.

[lochtayboatsong]

Day 1700 (9 November 2024)

Something I finally noticed about myself this week, is the fact that times of stress and trauma are when I do the most knitting. I knitted a fuckton of stuff during Covid Lockdown, and today I’ve spent 12+ almost continuous hours working on an afghan.

In this liminal space between the election and the inauguration, I’m going to have to make some very big decisions regarding the days ahead. First off I think it’s important to note down that I have decided to live. There was a 3-4 hour period on Wednesday morning during which the only two things keeping me from driving to Annapolis and jumping off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge were 1) the knowledge that it would destroy my parents and 2) the knowledge that my cats would never understand where I had gone and why I wasn’t coming back. I’m past that particular dark night of the soul, but next comes the hard work of living.

The way I see it I have three choices as far as what to do next. The first is to stay where I am and fight the good fight as best I can. I live and work in a red area of a blue state. I work in healthcare, at a Federally Qualified Health Center. Many of my patients are going to be directly harmed by the outcome of this election. Many of those who will be harmed, voted for this outcome. I treat people in MAGA hats every goddamn day. But I also treat people who are undocumented, people with crap insurance or no insurance at all, people who are trans, people who are in recovery from drugs and alcohol, and people who are in the process of escaping from toxic family situations and intimate partner violence. My work is rewarding but GOD it is hard sometimes. And it is going to get harder, and I am going to have to continue to look at Trump signs on my way to and from work every day.

The second is to move to the nearest major city. This is something I was already contemplating before this week, and I actually have a job interview coming up soon. I have many friends in that city, it will be closer to my family (a 3-hour drive away rather than a 5-hour drive), and there will be more to do on the weekends to distract myself from The Horrors. But it will mean building up a patient panel from scratch all over again, moving again (this time with two highly-strung cats in tow), and dealing with a higher cost of living. But I will be somewhere where I don’t feel like I have to hide my political affiliation at the risk of getting my tires slashed or worse.

The third is to leave the country altogether. This was my first impulse in 2016. I could try to move back to the UK, but the UK is drifting to the far right as well. I could try to move elsewhere in the anglophone world, somewhere that would recognize my American PA credential. Some preliminary research tells me that New Zealand would, for a start. But I’ve never been there - would I like it?

As of this moment I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do. A lot is going to depend on how this job interview goes. But I am very much aware that this is going to be one of the most significant Sliding Doors moments of my life, and a lot is going to depend on me making the right choice.

[dancing-out-in-space]

Get to Know Me Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @dimplesandfierceeyes

do you make your bed? 

I guess so, at least I straighten out my duvet.

what's your favourite number?

I don't have one, should I? Is it odd that I don't?

what is your job?

Application Admin/Developer. Which is a lot less fancy than it sounds

if you could go back to school, would you?

I mean I wouldn't go back to secondary school but if money was no object there's lots of things I'd like to study.

can you parallel park?

Theoretically yes, but I've never needed to since I passed my test in 2017

a job you had that would surprise people?

I'm afraid all my jobs have been pretty normal.

do you think aliens are real?

I definitely think life exists on other planets. The universe is too vast for there not to be.

can you drive a manual car?

Yes, it's pretty standard in the UK

what's your guilty pleasure?

I don't believe in guilty pleasures. I'm too old for other people's nonsense

tattoos?

I love the idea of getting a tattoo but settling on something is proving trickier.

favourite colour?

I'm a purple person. I'm also very fond of teal. My couch is teal.

do you like puzzles?

Yes, anything that keeps me out of mischief is good

any phobias?

Not really.

favourite childhood sport?

I was never any good at sports at school and hated PE. I did love horse riding and would help out at my local stables during holidays

do you talk to yourself?

I'm afraid so. It comes from living on my own and definitely got worse over lockdown. I was a feral child when we eventually went back to the office.

what movies do you adore?

Probably the films from my childhood - Labyrinth, The Princess Bide and The Dark Crystal.

coffee or tea?

Both, even though I've recently cut down the amount of caffeine I'm drinking. I enjoy my cup of tea in the morning.

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

I'm not sure, though for a while I did want to be a physio therapist

I suspect everyone else has done this but if you haven't and you see this. Tag you're it!

[thoughtlessarse]

The “15-minute city” has become a toxic phrase in the UK, so controversial that the city of Oxford has stopped using it and the transport minister has spread discredited conspiracy theories about the urban planning scheme. But while fake news spreads about officials enacting “climate lockdowns” to “imprison” people in their neighbourhoods, across the Channel, Parisians are enjoying their new 15-minute neighbourhoods. The French are stereotyped for their love of protest, so the lack of uproar around the redesign of their capital is in stark contrast to the frenzied response in Oxford. Carlos Moreno, a jovial and owlish professor at the Sorbonne University, came up with the phrase “15-minute cities” and has been quietly getting on setting them up in Paris. He has a bemused air when asked about how his modest proposal for a more enjoyable urban life has caused such vile conspiracy theories, and takes it all in good humour despite the death threats and other abuse he has received. Moreno says: “We don’t have the conspiracy mongers, because it is impossible to say in Paris that Moreno wants to create a new Paris lockdown. This is impossible to say that I am Pol Pot or that I am Stalin – because we live in Paris, I can invite guests to visit me and they see this is impossible. “We have created a lot of new districts and they have been popular. The opposition in Paris is not the same that you have in the UK, because nobody can say in Paris we want to create an open jail – this is evident that it is not the case. We have beautiful new green spaces and areas to live.”

continue reading

In the UK, the Tories, increasingly desperate, seized upon one issue from the one by-election they only just scrapped a win from, i.e. opposition to the Labour Mayor Khan's ULEZ expansion, and applied it to the whole country and all green issues automatically became political ammunition for the Tories. Bojo the Clown, whose one good idea was the introduction of the low emissions zone in London during his tenure as Mayor, joined in. After that, Sunak started rowing back on green and climate plans in the hope that it will rescue Tory fortunes. It hasn't. The polls are, if anything, getting worse for them.

Meanwhile, the Socialist Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has transformed the city. It has become a much more liveable city. The President and government generally are in favour of the changes and have not interfered. They don't have ministers promoting conspiracy theories.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

But, just keep international travel restrictions in mind when thinking of stuff.// just think of all that travelling from Boston to LA, to LV to Lisbon and Finland when covid was still rampant. Yes Borders were open but looking at Maddys timeline about that teacher video Josh states someone in the family had covid, so if Chris was in that vicinity of anyone who had it he might have even been a carrier and not had it, I can't believe this whole thing just gets worse by the day. Bear in mind too, he couldn't care about covid because twice he flew to the UK during lockdowns for fun with LJ.

And he and his crew were partying it up over Labor Day weekend 2020 in Lenox. Way before any kind of vaccine.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Shortages

So very briefly before I attempt sleep: the UK is currently having a fresh fruit and veg shortage, and the government is blaming weather and “transport problems” in Europe and Africa (apparently we’re not allowed to talk about Brexit in all this, even though Europe doesn’t seem to be suffering this level of shortage) and trying to flag up the benefits of seasonal eating. We’re supposed to cherish turnips, apparently.

The thing no one seems to get about ‘seasonal eating’ is this: THIS IS FEBRUARY.

Yes, in the days before we became a global economy, we would eat seasonally. The thing we did then that we do not do now is preserve all the fruit and veg so that we’d have enough variety to last us through the winter. We don’t do that anymore. We also don’t grow pineapples etc in greenhouses anymore, like we did in the Victorian era. Also, seasonal eating and “supporting our British farmers” is one thing, but unfortunately it doesn’t work because that shit gets expensive. We don’t do a lot of cash crops here, and we’re doing fewer all the time, because some things just aren’t selling. This means that the only farmers who do very much that’s not ... like, sugar beets or oats for oat milk are the small independent farmers, who are fighting inflation like the rest of us and have to price things according to how much more it’s costing to produce. With the way the economy’s been stacked, cash crops are the only way that the average person isn’t priced right the hell out of eating fresh fruit and veg at all. So most of us can’t “support our British farmers” because inflation’s got so bad.

So now we’re basically having fresh fruit and veg rationed the way toilet paper and hand sanitiser was during the worst of the pandemic, and this is expected to last for 2-4 weeks. This just keeps getting worse and I don’t know where it stops. I mean, hell, what are restaurants going to do? Most of them already took a heavy hit during the lockdowns; four weeks of produce shortages is going to break them.

People keep saying that the UK’s one of the richest countries in the world. However, that’s a) lying with statistics, and b) not going to be even close to true for much longer. I am so tired of these monsters in government that just keep expecting us to grin and bear it through everything they keep throwing at us to enrich themselves at our expense. I’m tired of looking at the news and having some weird mash-up of panic attack and abject despair, wondering what the hell I’m going to do now and having no answer. This isn’t something I can necessarily fix with more money anyway - not this time. Even small independent farmers aren’t going to have a lot of interest to sell in February, and even if they did, I’d have to go find a farmer’s market to get anything, and I am disabled.

I have no options here. I couldn’t live without the support I’m getting from my parentals in any country, and don’t have the funds to move anyway. The only issue is, I don’t know if I can live here even with support. I’m tired of feeling like this ... but there’s nothing to do but try not to think about it too hard and carry on as best I can. But fuck, it’s hard.

Also, I am not going to cherish turnips. I don’t even like turnips.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I know it’s too soon and it sounds like they have everything under control, but let’s say the worst happens and we suddenly have King William and Queen Catherine….

Yes, it would be sad yada yada, but how delicious to see the Harkles forced to bow/ curtsey to the new King and Queen in public. 

Markle would brave the humiliation to help her brand, but how humiliating for them to bow/ curtsey to their hated rivals. 

***

Seeing Meghan have to grovel to William and Kate would be better than a free dessert with Costco-sized portions.

The humiliation she felt at the Queen’s funeral is going to pale in comparison to the humiliation she will feel at the King’s funeral. And when you think about it, The Queen’s funeral was three times the humiliation Meghan was expecting:

1. She (and Harry) were already in the UK which meant she was on a kind of lockdown that kept her from orchestrating the usual PR shenanigans she has become accustomed to when the BRF has major ceremonial events like this. She not only had ‘the firm’ watching her, but Harry was also there with her, in the same house, and she couldn’t just send him away so she could scheme in private (as she did every other time Harry went back to London without her, and notably for Philip’s funeral).

2. This “lockdown” also meant that she couldn’t go anywhere. No traveling, no parties, no nothing because of tightened security protocols, which means she couldn’t escape any of the criticism being said about her and Harry and she also couldn’t escape any of the praise Kate was getting...whom everyone was now calling The Princess of Wales while she was just ‘Meghan.’

3. It was made very clear that she and Harry were not welcome around the family, neither the main “branch” of Charles and Waleses nor the extended family. Harry wasn’t invited on the plane with William, but Andrew was. Harry wasn’t invited to Birkhall with Charles the night The Queen died to discuss transition. Hardman’s book all but says no one talked to Harry that night at Balmoral over dinner. Harry didn’t do the “family” walkabout at Balmoral with the rest of the grandchildren. The Sussexes didn’t get their own “meet the public and view the tributes” walkabout like the rest of the titled family members (minus the Yorkies). Charles called them ‘Harry and Meghan’ (no titles) and wished them well overseas in his first speech after The Queen’s passing. Harry wasn’t part of the Accession Council. Members of the public visibly and audibly refused to give greetings to Meghan at the Windsor walkabout. Harry had his ER revoked from his military uniform the one time he did get to wear it. Meghan was rejected by Camilla, Kate, and Sophie at the funeral - look at the gulf between them after the service when they were curtsying the cortege. No one spoke to them after The Queen’s commital service when they were waiting to leave but the staff.

It’s going to be so, so much worse when Charles passes. Especially if they’re in California (like when Philip passed) and all these negotiations are happening over much longer distances with much more time zones.

(And I do think Harry has some regret over The Queen and Philip’s passing - he “wasn’t told” they were dying so he didn’t get to see them one last time, which which probably made the trauma from Diana’s passing fresh again, and that’s why we see Harry making urgent plans to see Charles. This isn’t a knock against Harry; I missed seeing my own grandfather before he passed, the only cousin/grandchild who did, and the woulda/coulda/shoulda is very real so I completely understand. I do, however, side-eye his claims that he wasn’t told, because the signs were very, very obvious in both situations.)

[emmashouldbewriting]

“The UK’s economy didn’t take a turn for the worse overnight, it’s been happening well over a year.”

I am not at all sure the economy is actually as badly off as is being reported, or rather written about in incendiary language most often by non economist journalists.

1 - Growth declined in 2020 under covid/lockdown but has rebounded:

“The UK had the largest decline in GDP among the G7 in 2020 (-11.0%) and its relatively strong performances in 2021 (+7.6%) and 2022 (+4.0%) were largely a recovery from the weakness in 2020 and early 2021.” - via Commons Library Parliament

We have skirted recession:

2 - “The flat GDP helped the UK to avert a technical recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.”

Inflation is a problem. We measure it differently from EU countries so stat comparisons aren’t straightforward.

On food inflation at the end of last year “UK (16.4%) - Germany has seen a rise of 20.3%” in part this is down to the Ukraine war with the rising price of fertiliser.

But it’s heating and LNG that are the problem with average households paying x2 what they were paying in 2021. Prices are predicted to fall in summer, but imho that will depend on Putin/Ukraine.

And importantly the issue is Europe wide so it’s a global problem that can’t be fixed by a national solution.

That said the Chancellor barmy to be raising taxes, corporate and business, because that will further contribute to job losses and wage depression.

But the solution isn’t a change of government or monarchy v republicanism imho.

It’s time intensive things like fuel storage capacity and farming methods and lower corporate taxes, which is why Ireland currently benefits.

Anyway just thinking aloud this Saturday lunchtime.

Feel free to post, or not. 🇬🇧😉

I'm happy to post it because I am a block-friendly person, so if anyone wants to argue, they'll get blocked LOL especially since this isn't political as such.

Heating costs are a huge issue, especially for those of us in rural areas who need oil. We're only just now having our payments rolled out, and it's only £200, meaning we're still approx £700 worse off than those on the gas grid. (Personally, I'm thankful I was in a position in 2021 to put a LOT of oil in my very big tank before the prices really rocketed.)

[englishindubellay]

ecg 1

From coffee to microchips – how the supply chain crisis is disrupting the UK economy

Adapted from The Guardian, 7 th October 2021

Fast food chains are running out of chicken. Hauliers’ wage bills are going through the roof. Crops are rotting in the fields. The scale of Britain’s supply chain meltdown is the worst since the 1970s, when the three-day week, power cuts and industrial disputes saw rubbish pile up in the streets.

A global lack of microchips is hurting manufacturers and slashing car production, while a surge in international demand as the planet emerges from lockdown has pushed up the price of various raw materials.

The number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers, who would typically fill lower-paid logistics and food production roles, has plunged by almost 90,000, or 24%, since the end of 2019. Stock levels have hit the lowest since 1983 as the HGV driver shortage prevents goods from getting to supermarket shelves. Retailers have urged parents to buy Christmas presents early to avoid disappointment; that’s tougher for festive food such as pigs in blankets and turkeys, with a short shelf life, risking discontented diners.

A boom in demand for online shopping during lockdown has added to the problem, while Britain’s lack of lorry drivers has led retailers such as Tesco and Ocado to offer bonuses of up to £1,000 to lure new recruits. There are similar perks for warehouse jobs, including at Amazon and Pets at Home.

The Road Haulage Association estimates Britain is short of about 100,000 drivers to keep goods flowing smoothly. It said inadequate staff numbers pre-pandemic were made worse as migrant drivers left the country during the crisis, while training and licensing of new recruits hit the skids.

From coffee to microchips – how the supply chain crisis is disrupting the UK economy

Du café aux semi-conducteurs : comment la chaîne d'approvisionnement met à mal l'économie britannique

Adapted from The Guardian, 7 th October 2021

Fast food chains are running out of chicken.

Les chaînes de restauration rapide manquent de poulet.

Hauliers’ wage bills are going through the roof.

Les salaires des transporteurs routiers fond un bond gigantesque.

Crops are rotting in the fields.

Les récoltes pourrissent dans les champs.

The scale of Britain’s supply chain meltdown is the worst since the 1970s, when the three-day week, power cuts and industrial disputes saw rubbish pile up in the streets.

L'ampleur du dysfonctionnement de la chaîne d'approvisionnement britannique est sans pareil depuis les années 70 quand la semaine de trois jours de travail, les coupures de courant et les grèves avaient pour cons��quence des montagnes d'ordures dans les rues.

A global lack of microchips is hurting manufacturers and slashing car production, while a surge in international demand as the planet emerges from lockdown has pushed up the price of various raw materials.

Une pénurie mondiale de semi-conducteurs touche les usines et réduit la production automobile, tandis que l'augmentation de la demande mondiale au sortir du confinement a fait augmenter le prix de nombreuses matières premières.

The number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers, who would typically fill lower-paid logistics and food production roles, has plunged by almost 90,000, or 24%, since the end of 2019.

Le nombre de travailleurs roumains et bulgares qui, traditionnellement occupent des emplois faiblement rémunérés dans les secteurs de la logistique et de l'alimentaire a plongé de près de 90000, soit 24% depuis fin 2019.

Stock levels have hit the lowest since 1983 as the HGV driver shortage prevents goods from getting to supermarket shelves.

Les stocks sont au plus bas depuis 1983 car la pénurie de chauffeurs routiers fait que les marchandises ne peuvent atteindre les rayons des supermarchés.

Retailers have urged parents to buy Christmas presents early to avoid disappointment; that’s tougher for festive food such as pigs in blankets and turkeys, with a short shelf life, risking discontented diners.

Les commerçants ont incité les parents à acheter leurs cadeaux de Noël en avance afin d'éviter des déconvenues ; ceci est plus difficile à faire pour les mets de fin d'année, ce qui risque de mécontenter les convives friands de dinde et de feuilletés à la saucisse de porc que l'on ne peut pas garder en rayon très longtemps.

A boom in demand for online shopping during lockdown has added to the problem, while Britain’s lack of lorry drivers has led retailers such as Tesco and Ocado to offer bonuses of up to £1,000 to lure new recruits.

Une explosion du commerce en ligne pendant le confinement a accentué le problème, cependant que la pénurie de chauffeurs routiers en Grande-bretagne a conduit les chaînes comme Tesco et Ocado à proposer des primes allant jusqu'à 1000 livres afin d'attirer de nouvelles recrues.

There are similar perks for warehouse jobs, including at Amazon and Pets at Home.

Chez Amazon et Pets at Home, des avantages identiques ont été mis en place pour les emplois de magasiniers.

The Road Haulage Association estimates Britain is short of about 100,000 drivers to keep goods flowing smoothly.

La Road Haulage Association (fédération de transporteurs routiers) estime que la Grande-Bretagne manque d'environ 100000 chauffeurs pour que les marchandises soient acheminées correctement.

It said inadequate staff numbers pre-pandemic were made worse as migrant drivers left the country during the crisis, while training and licensing of new recruits hit the skids.

Son porte-parole a déclaré que le manque de personnel qui existait déjà avant la pandémie a empiré du fait du départ du pays pendant la crise des chauffeurs étrangers alors que la formation et l'attribution de licences pour de nouveaux chauffeurs a dégringolé.

[australianwomensnews]

WARNING: Contains offensive language and descriptions of sexual violence

In the spring of 2021, Jodie (not her real name) was sent a link to a porn website from an anonymous email account.

Clicking through, she found explicit images and a video of what appeared to be her having sex with various men. Jodie's face had been digitally added onto another woman's body - known as a "deepfake". 

Someone had posted photos of Jodie's face on a porn site saying she made them feel "so horny" and asking if other users on the site could make fake pornography of her. In exchange for the fakes, the user offered to share more photos of Jodie and details about her.

Speaking for the first time about her experience, Jodie, who is now in her mid-20s, says, "I was screaming and crying and violently scrolling through my phone to work out what I was reading and what I was looking at."

She adds: "I knew that this could genuinely ruin my life."

Forcing herself to scroll through the porn site, Jodie said she felt her "whole world fall away".

Then she came across one particular image and she made a horrible realisation.

An unnerving series of events

It was not the first time Jodie had been targeted.

In fact, it was the culmination of years of anonymous online abuse.

When Jodie was a teenager, she discovered that her name and photos were being used on dating apps without her consent.

This went on for years and she even received a Facebook message from a stranger in 2019 who said he was due to meet her at Liverpool Street station in London for a date. 

She told the man that it wasn't her who he had been speaking to. She says she felt "unnerved" because he knew all about who she was and had managed to find her online. He'd found her on Facebook after the "Jodie" on the dating app had stopped responding. 

In May 2020, during the UK's lockdown, Jodie was also alerted by a friend to a number of Twitter accounts that were posting pictures of her, with captions implying she was a sex worker. 

"What would you like to do with little teen Jodie?" read one caption next to an image of Jodie in a bikini, which had been taken from her private social media account.

The Twitter handles posting these images had names like "slut exposer," and "chief perv."

All of the images being used were ones she'd been happy to share on her social media with close friends and family - but no one else.

Then she found that these accounts were also posting images of other women she knew from university, as well as from her hometown of Cambridge.

"In that moment, I feel a very strong sense [that] I'm at the centre of this and this person is looking to hurt me," she said.

Fighting back

Jodie began to contact the other women in the pictures to warn them, including a close friend we are calling Daisy.

"I just felt sick," said Daisy.

Together the friends discovered many other Twitter accounts posting their images.

"The more we looked, the worse it got," said Daisy.

She messaged the Twitter users and asked where they had got their pictures. The reply was that the photos were "submissions" from anonymous senders who wanted them shared.

"It's either an ex or someone who gets off on you," one user replied.

Daisy and Jodie drew up a list of all the men who followed both of them on social media, and who could access both sets of their pictures.

The friends concluded it must be Jodie's ex-boyfriend. Jodie confronted him and blocked him. 

For a few months, the posts stopped - but then an anonymous emailer got in touch.

"Sorry to remain anonymous," the email read, "but I saw this guy was posting pics of you on creepy subreddits. I know this must be really scary."

Jodie clicked on the link and was taken through to the online forum, Reddit, where a user had posted photos of Jodie and two of her friends, numbering them 1, 2 and 3.

Others online were invited to take part in a game - which of these women would you have sex with, marry or kill.

Beneath the post, 55 people had already commented.

The photos used on the site were recent, and had been posted after Jodie blocked her ex. The women realised they had blamed the wrong person.

Six weeks later, the same emailer got in touch again - this time about the deepfakes.

'The ultimate betrayal'

When drawing up their list, Jodie and Daisy had ruled out a handful of men who they completely trusted, such as family - and Jodie's best friend, Alex Woolf.

Jodie and Alex had struck up a firm friendship as teenagers, bonding over their shared love of classical music.

Jodie had sought comfort from Woolf when she discovered that her name and photos were being used on dating apps without her consent.

Woolf went on to get a double first in music from Cambridge University and won BBC Young Composer of the Year 2012, as well as appearing on Mastermind in 2021.

"He [Woolf] was very aware of the issues that faced women, especially on the internet," says Jodie.

"I really felt that he was an advocate." 

However, when she saw the deepfake porn photos, there was a picture of her in profile with the image of King's College, Cambridge, behind her.

She clearly remembered it being taken - and that Woolf had also been in the photo. He was also the only other person she had shared the image with. 

It was Woolf who had been offering to share more original pictures of Jodie in exchange for them being turned into deepfakes.

"He knew the impact that it was having on my life so profoundly," says Jodie. "And yet he still did it."

'Utterly ashamed'

In August 2021, Woolf, 26, was convicted of taking images of 15 women, including Jodie, from social media and uploading them to pornographic websites.

He was given a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to pay each of his victims £100 in compensation.

Woolf has told the BBC he is "utterly ashamed" of the behaviour which led to his conviction and he is "deeply sorry" for his actions.

"I think about the suffering I caused every day, and have no doubt that I will continue to do so for the rest of my life," he says.

"There are no excuses for what I did, nor can I adequately explain why I acted on these impulses so despicably at that time."

Woolf denies having anything to do with the harassment of Jodie which took place before the events he was charged with.

For Jodie, finding out what her friend had done was the "ultimate betrayal and humiliation".

She says: "I re-lived every conversation that we had, where he had comforted me and supported me and been kind to me. It was all a lie."

We contacted X, formerly Twitter, and Reddit about the posts. X did not respond, but a spokesperson from Reddit said: "Non-consensual intimate media (NCIM) has no place on the Reddit platform. The subreddit in question has been banned." The porn site has also been taken down.

In October 2023, sharing deepfake porn became a criminal offence as part of the Online Safety Bill. 

There are tens of thousands of deepfake videos online. Recent research found that 98% are pornographic.

However, Jodie feels very angry that the new law does not criminalise a person who asks others to create deepfakes, which is what Alex Woolf did.  It is also not illegal to create a deepfake.

"This is affecting thousands of women and we need to have the proper laws and tools in place to stop people from doing this," she says. 

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, information and support is available via the BBC Action Line

[monstruous-pictures-present-blog]

📆 15 Nov 2023 📰 Superbugs timebomb as deaths rise and future surgery 'could be at risk'

Deaths from superbugs spiked last year due to a rise in antibiotic use, amid warnings the situation may get worse.

Prescriptions rose by 8.4% compared to 2021 and 2,202 people died from drug-resistant infections, up from 2,110. The UK Health Security Agency said a post-pandemic bounce back in illnesses due to lower immunity in lockdown and fears about Strep A in children are behind the rise.

Viral infections such as the common cold can lead to secondary bacterial infections such as those affecting the ears or sinuses that may need to be treated with antibiotics. Parents were also demanding antibiotics after 122 people died from outbreaks of invasive Strep A including at least 30 children.

England’s previous chief medical officer Sally Davies warned “the world is facing an antibiotic apocalypse” if the drugs were not stopped being overused and new versions developed.

Experts warn that if we do not develop new antibiotics now in 10 to 15 years many routine operations could be fatal. Only two new classes of antibiotics have been introduced in the last 40 years Many large pharmaceutical companies have closed down their antibiotic research divisions because the drugs are less profitable than others.

They need to be used sparingly to prevent resistance - meaning less are sold. Drug-resistant infections kill an estimated 700,000 people a year globally and this figure is projected to rise to 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken.