kestrus.bsky.social
@kestrus.bsky.social
Lapsed physicist, amateur photographer, humanist. 🏳️⚧️🇺🇦🇬🇧
"Meaning is not something out there waiting to be discovered, but something that we create in our own lives.' - Stephen fry.
"Meaning is not something out there waiting to be discovered, but something that we create in our own lives.' - Stephen fry.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Notice that @aptshadow.bsky.social ’s Children of Time is 99p on kindle in the UK. If you have any interest in SF and haven’t read it, this is a no-brainer.
November 9, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Notice that @aptshadow.bsky.social ’s Children of Time is 99p on kindle in the UK. If you have any interest in SF and haven’t read it, this is a no-brainer.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
You're gonna be unpopular. Be unpopular because you're fixing things, not because you aren't.
November 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
You're gonna be unpopular. Be unpopular because you're fixing things, not because you aren't.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Dear GOD if you want to save money in the asylum system
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
November 7, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Dear GOD if you want to save money in the asylum system
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
"And why at the next election it won't be Conservatives Vs Labour but Reform Vs The Green Party."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A note to politicians hoping to emulate Mamdani’s social media strategy: without the right policies, it’s pointless | Rohan Sathyamoorthy
Forget the medium and focus on the New York City mayor-elect’s message – centrists can’t compete with rent freezes, free buses and support for Palestine, says writer Rohan Sathyamoorthy
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
"And why at the next election it won't be Conservatives Vs Labour but Reform Vs The Green Party."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Can see why Labour waited for Lords stages before adding THIS to the Crime and Policing Bill.
Extending protest suppression to include vague ‘cumulative’ impacts (that could include OTHER protests!) will clearly be misused by police.
Lords must oppose this attack on our rights.
Extending protest suppression to include vague ‘cumulative’ impacts (that could include OTHER protests!) will clearly be misused by police.
Lords must oppose this attack on our rights.
🚨 BREAKING: The government has tabled their plan to restrict repeat protests.
Demonstrations could now banned based on the 'cumulative disruption' that previous protests have caused in the area - regardless of if they have been organised by the same people or not.
This is worse than we feared.
Demonstrations could now banned based on the 'cumulative disruption' that previous protests have caused in the area - regardless of if they have been organised by the same people or not.
This is worse than we feared.
Government's repeat protest restrictions worse than feared - Liberty
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk
November 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Can see why Labour waited for Lords stages before adding THIS to the Crime and Policing Bill.
Extending protest suppression to include vague ‘cumulative’ impacts (that could include OTHER protests!) will clearly be misused by police.
Lords must oppose this attack on our rights.
Extending protest suppression to include vague ‘cumulative’ impacts (that could include OTHER protests!) will clearly be misused by police.
Lords must oppose this attack on our rights.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
If parties want credit for telling hard truths, they need to tell them when they're genuinely hard.
If Labour had told the truth about taxes & the costs of Brexit before the election, its majority would be smaller.
But it would have more real power & the public would put more faith in its judgment
If Labour had told the truth about taxes & the costs of Brexit before the election, its majority would be smaller.
But it would have more real power & the public would put more faith in its judgment
She is telling an accurate story of recent history - the triple punch of austerity, Brexit and covid. It's spot on. But it is terribly strange to say it now in government when you were not prepared to say it in opposition.
November 4, 2025 at 9:49 AM
If parties want credit for telling hard truths, they need to tell them when they're genuinely hard.
If Labour had told the truth about taxes & the costs of Brexit before the election, its majority would be smaller.
But it would have more real power & the public would put more faith in its judgment
If Labour had told the truth about taxes & the costs of Brexit before the election, its majority would be smaller.
But it would have more real power & the public would put more faith in its judgment
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Late period Osborne: interest rates at zero and 50-80bn of headroom: and his priority was “don’t invest”.
November 4, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Late period Osborne: interest rates at zero and 50-80bn of headroom: and his priority was “don’t invest”.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
The government spends £2.7 BILLION a year on TAX BREAKS for oil and gas companies
Those companies pay billions to their shareholders
And then lay off their workers
Think that's unfair?
Tell Rachel Reeves to stop propping up oil and gas companies and back workers instead…
Those companies pay billions to their shareholders
And then lay off their workers
Think that's unfair?
Tell Rachel Reeves to stop propping up oil and gas companies and back workers instead…
November 4, 2025 at 9:09 AM
The government spends £2.7 BILLION a year on TAX BREAKS for oil and gas companies
Those companies pay billions to their shareholders
And then lay off their workers
Think that's unfair?
Tell Rachel Reeves to stop propping up oil and gas companies and back workers instead…
Those companies pay billions to their shareholders
And then lay off their workers
Think that's unfair?
Tell Rachel Reeves to stop propping up oil and gas companies and back workers instead…
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Sultana’s position on Ukraine is not just morally reprehensible but juvenile and trite
There is always money for war, never for the poor.
Every penny spent on bombs, tanks and missiles is stolen from our homes, schools and hospitals.
We are not going to take it anymore.
Every penny spent on bombs, tanks and missiles is stolen from our homes, schools and hospitals.
We are not going to take it anymore.
October 28, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Sultana’s position on Ukraine is not just morally reprehensible but juvenile and trite
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
£20bn sounds like a lot, but just a 2% tax on assets over £10 million would raise £24bn. That’s a tax that would only affect the top 20,000 richest people in the country.
The idea that Rachel Reeves needs to raise taxes on working people to balance the budget is simply false. Tax the ultra-rich.
The idea that Rachel Reeves needs to raise taxes on working people to balance the budget is simply false. Tax the ultra-rich.
October 28, 2025 at 1:06 PM
£20bn sounds like a lot, but just a 2% tax on assets over £10 million would raise £24bn. That’s a tax that would only affect the top 20,000 richest people in the country.
The idea that Rachel Reeves needs to raise taxes on working people to balance the budget is simply false. Tax the ultra-rich.
The idea that Rachel Reeves needs to raise taxes on working people to balance the budget is simply false. Tax the ultra-rich.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Sorry but 💀
Our rivers and seas can’t wait FIFTEEN YEARS, Thames Water.
Our rivers and seas can’t wait FIFTEEN YEARS, Thames Water.
October 12, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Sorry but 💀
Our rivers and seas can’t wait FIFTEEN YEARS, Thames Water.
Our rivers and seas can’t wait FIFTEEN YEARS, Thames Water.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Limited liability is one of our weird silences. It's a massive free gift society makes to plutocrats, seldom remarked upon, let alone contested.
Shareholders should have to buy limited liability, like any other insurance. The insurers would then be liable. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
Shareholders should have to buy limited liability, like any other insurance. The insurers would then be liable. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
Will UK taxpayers get their £122m back from PPE Medpro?
The high court told the company linked to Michelle Mone to pay up over the supply of defective gowns, but there appears no clear route to reclaim the funds
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Limited liability is one of our weird silences. It's a massive free gift society makes to plutocrats, seldom remarked upon, let alone contested.
Shareholders should have to buy limited liability, like any other insurance. The insurers would then be liable. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
Shareholders should have to buy limited liability, like any other insurance. The insurers would then be liable. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Climate goals go up in smoke as US datacenters turn to coal
Climate goals go up in smoke as US datacenters turn to coal
High gas prices and surging AI demand send operators back to the dirtiest fuel in the stack
US datacenters are experiencing a significant shift toward coal-powered energy due to elevated natural gas prices and rapidly growing electricity demand.…
dlvr.it
October 10, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Climate goals go up in smoke as US datacenters turn to coal
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.
October 10, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
The Chancellor says she 'fixed' a problem caused by “some snails or something”.
Comments like this pit nature against growth – it’s the wrong target.
Here, the system has worked: protecting one of UK’s rarest species while allowing 20,000 homes to proceed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Comments like this pit nature against growth – it’s the wrong target.
Here, the system has worked: protecting one of UK’s rarest species while allowing 20,000 homes to proceed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer
Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM
The Chancellor says she 'fixed' a problem caused by “some snails or something”.
Comments like this pit nature against growth – it’s the wrong target.
Here, the system has worked: protecting one of UK’s rarest species while allowing 20,000 homes to proceed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Comments like this pit nature against growth – it’s the wrong target.
Here, the system has worked: protecting one of UK’s rarest species while allowing 20,000 homes to proceed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
20,000 new members have joined the Green Party in the past month.
This is the Green surge.
Want to be part of it? Join the Green Party today ⤵
This is the Green surge.
Want to be part of it? Join the Green Party today ⤵
October 8, 2025 at 10:45 AM
20,000 new members have joined the Green Party in the past month.
This is the Green surge.
Want to be part of it? Join the Green Party today ⤵
This is the Green surge.
Want to be part of it? Join the Green Party today ⤵
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Finally!!! The real scandal of the asylum hotels. Why, instead of shining the light on these parasites, months were spent on demonising vulnerable people at their mercy?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Asylum hotel provider makes £180m profit despite claims of inedible food and rationed loo paper
Asylum seekers and charities tell BBC of
www.bbc.co.uk
October 7, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Finally!!! The real scandal of the asylum hotels. Why, instead of shining the light on these parasites, months were spent on demonising vulnerable people at their mercy?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Here is a thing that I hear from *almost every British Jew I know* but have barely heard expressed in any of these programmes: No single person has done more to make Jewish people globally less safe than Benjamin Netanyahu.
October 5, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Here is a thing that I hear from *almost every British Jew I know* but have barely heard expressed in any of these programmes: No single person has done more to make Jewish people globally less safe than Benjamin Netanyahu.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
I don't know where this revisionism has come from about the suffragettes - people saying "if the suffragettes were around today, they'd be considered terrorists."
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
October 4, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I don't know where this revisionism has come from about the suffragettes - people saying "if the suffragettes were around today, they'd be considered terrorists."
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
The suffragettes were arrested and tortured, sexually assaulted and beaten by the state. They *were* considered terrorists!
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
Green Party membership is soaring — we’re now bigger than the Lib Dems 💚
Real hope. Real change.
Join the Green Party today.
Real hope. Real change.
Join the Green Party today.
October 4, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Green Party membership is soaring — we’re now bigger than the Lib Dems 💚
Real hope. Real change.
Join the Green Party today.
Real hope. Real change.
Join the Green Party today.
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
What a first day of conference!
@greenparty.org.uk is here - and ready to win.
www.channel4.com/news/zack-po...
@greenparty.org.uk is here - and ready to win.
www.channel4.com/news/zack-po...
Zack Polanski delivers first conference speech as Green Party leader
The newly-elected leader of the Green Party in England and Wales has used his party conference speech to attack the Labour Party and Reform UK.
www.channel4.com
October 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
What a first day of conference!
@greenparty.org.uk is here - and ready to win.
www.channel4.com/news/zack-po...
@greenparty.org.uk is here - and ready to win.
www.channel4.com/news/zack-po...
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
“From Russian bribes to Musk beaming onto big screens advocating violence, we can’t go on pretending that this isn’t happening. That there are not powerful interests, state and private, East and West, pouring billions into destabilising our democratic processes and institutions.”
🌹Keir as Crystal: Time to Call Things by Their Names 🐸
Labour Conference
Starmer Speech
Farage Tantrum
BBC Bias
Reform Russian Bribes
Moldova Election
Ukraine Pushback
Wokey Dokey
All this AND @annettedittert.bsky.social!
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/3out...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Labour Conference
Starmer Speech
Farage Tantrum
BBC Bias
Reform Russian Bribes
Moldova Election
Ukraine Pushback
Wokey Dokey
All this AND @annettedittert.bsky.social!
🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/3out...
🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Keir as Crystal - Time to Call Things by Their Names
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 02/10/2025 · 1h 11m
podcasts.apple.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:33 PM
“From Russian bribes to Musk beaming onto big screens advocating violence, we can’t go on pretending that this isn’t happening. That there are not powerful interests, state and private, East and West, pouring billions into destabilising our democratic processes and institutions.”
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
"For the next 15 years, give us a subsidy from public money, and remove the disincentive for us to stop dumping raw sewage, so our creditors are rescued from the consequences of their own greed" is not, I have to say, the world's most appealing pitch. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules
Lenders say a ‘full return to legal, regulatory and environmental compliance’ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM
"For the next 15 years, give us a subsidy from public money, and remove the disincentive for us to stop dumping raw sewage, so our creditors are rescued from the consequences of their own greed" is not, I have to say, the world's most appealing pitch. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Reposted by kestrus.bsky.social
UK, London: Unfolding Futures: Power of Visibility in STEAM. Join Stemettes in celebrating Ada Lovelace Day with the launch of our latest trifold report, showcasing the power and influence of STEAM. 16 Oct, 6-7:30pm, free #ALD25 findingada.com/event...
October 3, 2025 at 11:14 AM
UK, London: Unfolding Futures: Power of Visibility in STEAM. Join Stemettes in celebrating Ada Lovelace Day with the launch of our latest trifold report, showcasing the power and influence of STEAM. 16 Oct, 6-7:30pm, free #ALD25 findingada.com/event...