Mark Rowland
@markrowland.bsky.social
Husband, Methodist minister, theologian.
Music, queer theology, liturgy, ranty politics, frustrating transport and other mumblings.
#LGBT #ActuallyAutistic
He/him
Views are my own
Music, queer theology, liturgy, ranty politics, frustrating transport and other mumblings.
#LGBT #ActuallyAutistic
He/him
Views are my own
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Relief for rail passengers as fare freeze in England announced for 2026
Relief for rail passengers as fare freeze in England announced for 2026
Chancellor will confirm the measure, intended to help commuters on expensive routes, in her budget speech
Rail fares in England will not be increased in 2026, the government has announced, surprising passengers with the first fare freeze in 30 years.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will confirm a freeze on fares in this week’s budget, a move designed to limit inflation, ease the cost of living and support economic growth. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Relief for rail passengers as fare freeze in England announced for 2026
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Will the RW media remember the driver and conductor of the Huntingdon attack, and how many lives they saved, the next time train companies try to eliminate staff and they strike, citing passenger safety?
November 3, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Will the RW media remember the driver and conductor of the Huntingdon attack, and how many lives they saved, the next time train companies try to eliminate staff and they strike, citing passenger safety?
Reposted by Mark Rowland
BREAK 🔥 Starmer on Pochin comments via BBC: "It’s shocking racism and it’s the sort of thing that’ll tear our country apart. And tells you everything about Reform. Nigel Farage either doesn’t consider it racist which I think is shocking in itself or he does and shows absolutely no leadership.” ~AA
October 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
BREAK 🔥 Starmer on Pochin comments via BBC: "It’s shocking racism and it’s the sort of thing that’ll tear our country apart. And tells you everything about Reform. Nigel Farage either doesn’t consider it racist which I think is shocking in itself or he does and shows absolutely no leadership.” ~AA
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Equality is a garden that needs constant tending, because the weeds never stop growing.
"We don't want to forget, we want to remember."
25 years from the end of the LGBT+ ban in the military, a monument to their courage is being unveiled. It could not have arrived at a more relevant moment. Everywhere we look today, we can see that progress can be undone all too easily. ~AA
25 years from the end of the LGBT+ ban in the military, a monument to their courage is being unveiled. It could not have arrived at a more relevant moment. Everywhere we look today, we can see that progress can be undone all too easily. ~AA
October 27, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Equality is a garden that needs constant tending, because the weeds never stop growing.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Farage absent. Reform candidate opts not to deliver speech after result.
New Plaid Cymru MS pays heartfelt tribute to his predecessor, speaks movingly and thrilled to be serving his nation in the Senedd.
Democracy is always best served in the hands of the decent.
Da iawn, Caerphilly.
New Plaid Cymru MS pays heartfelt tribute to his predecessor, speaks movingly and thrilled to be serving his nation in the Senedd.
Democracy is always best served in the hands of the decent.
Da iawn, Caerphilly.
Caerphilly, Senedd constituency by-election result:
PC: 47.4% (+19.0)
REF: 36.0% (+34.2)
LAB: 11.0% (-34.9)
CON: 2.0% (-15.3)
GRN: 1.5% (+1.5)
LDEM: 1.5% (-1.2)
GWL: 0.3% (+0.3)
UKIP: 0.2% (+0.2)
Plaid Cymru GAIN from Labour.
PC: 47.4% (+19.0)
REF: 36.0% (+34.2)
LAB: 11.0% (-34.9)
CON: 2.0% (-15.3)
GRN: 1.5% (+1.5)
LDEM: 1.5% (-1.2)
GWL: 0.3% (+0.3)
UKIP: 0.2% (+0.2)
Plaid Cymru GAIN from Labour.
October 24, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Farage absent. Reform candidate opts not to deliver speech after result.
New Plaid Cymru MS pays heartfelt tribute to his predecessor, speaks movingly and thrilled to be serving his nation in the Senedd.
Democracy is always best served in the hands of the decent.
Da iawn, Caerphilly.
New Plaid Cymru MS pays heartfelt tribute to his predecessor, speaks movingly and thrilled to be serving his nation in the Senedd.
Democracy is always best served in the hands of the decent.
Da iawn, Caerphilly.
Very good news to see a big turnout and Reform clearly defeated in Caerffili. Llongyfarchiadau to Lindsay Whittle on his election to the Senedd.
Caerphilly, Senedd constituency by-election result:
PC: 47.4% (+19.0)
REF: 36.0% (+34.2)
LAB: 11.0% (-34.9)
CON: 2.0% (-15.3)
GRN: 1.5% (+1.5)
LDEM: 1.5% (-1.2)
GWL: 0.3% (+0.3)
UKIP: 0.2% (+0.2)
Plaid Cymru GAIN from Labour.
PC: 47.4% (+19.0)
REF: 36.0% (+34.2)
LAB: 11.0% (-34.9)
CON: 2.0% (-15.3)
GRN: 1.5% (+1.5)
LDEM: 1.5% (-1.2)
GWL: 0.3% (+0.3)
UKIP: 0.2% (+0.2)
Plaid Cymru GAIN from Labour.
October 24, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Very good news to see a big turnout and Reform clearly defeated in Caerffili. Llongyfarchiadau to Lindsay Whittle on his election to the Senedd.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
I’ll be speaking at Oxford Brookes on 12th Nov about trauma and forgiveness. All welcome - just book a free place
www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brooke...
www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brooke...
Unforgiving? The paradox of forgiveness after trauma - Oxford Brookes University
Join us for the annual Multifaith Chaplaincy Lecture, presented by Dr Karen O'Donnell.
www.brookes.ac.uk
October 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I’ll be speaking at Oxford Brookes on 12th Nov about trauma and forgiveness. All welcome - just book a free place
www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brooke...
www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brooke...
Reposted by Mark Rowland
My experience is that there was a an absolutely huge gap between people’s beliefs about how their immigration systems work and how they actually work, and if you’ve had experience of the immigration system in the US or UK, you’ll spend a lot of time with one raised eyebrow when the topic comes up!
my in-laws were genuinely shocked that I, an English person, could not simply come and work in the United States at will.
Believe it or not, this is only the second most naive and clueless thing I've been told about the immigration system. Number one belongs to my own mother, who was so insulated by my dad that she actually asked me "can't I just bring a relative from Brazil to help me care for the house?"
October 6, 2025 at 8:14 AM
My experience is that there was a an absolutely huge gap between people’s beliefs about how their immigration systems work and how they actually work, and if you’ve had experience of the immigration system in the US or UK, you’ll spend a lot of time with one raised eyebrow when the topic comes up!
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Saw a lot of progressive Christians saying, “the Rapture is a recent fundy invention” which is true
But they thought it ALSO meant “the Second Coming of Christ is a recent fundy invention”
And I’m gonna need more churches (including mine) to recite the Creed more often 🤦🏼♀️
⚓️
But they thought it ALSO meant “the Second Coming of Christ is a recent fundy invention”
And I’m gonna need more churches (including mine) to recite the Creed more often 🤦🏼♀️
⚓️
September 27, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Saw a lot of progressive Christians saying, “the Rapture is a recent fundy invention” which is true
But they thought it ALSO meant “the Second Coming of Christ is a recent fundy invention”
And I’m gonna need more churches (including mine) to recite the Creed more often 🤦🏼♀️
⚓️
But they thought it ALSO meant “the Second Coming of Christ is a recent fundy invention”
And I’m gonna need more churches (including mine) to recite the Creed more often 🤦🏼♀️
⚓️
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Hey a thing I really don’t want to get lost here is that while Tylenol doesn’t cause autism, IT’S FINE TO BE AUTISTIC. Let’s not grant them the premise that autism should be eradicated in our way to correct the science, okay? Okay.
September 22, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Hey a thing I really don’t want to get lost here is that while Tylenol doesn’t cause autism, IT’S FINE TO BE AUTISTIC. Let’s not grant them the premise that autism should be eradicated in our way to correct the science, okay? Okay.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
First Past the Post cannot handle this level of fragmentation. It will produce completely freak results.
We can grasp this problem now, or wait for the train to crash.
We can grasp this problem now, or wait for the train to crash.
5 parties on more than 12%, winner gains seat with under 30%. Results like this used to be rare, freak outliers. Now they are routine (there was a second just like this yesterday). Electoral chaos.
Newmarket East (West Suffolk) Council By-Election Result:
➡️ RFM: 29.7% (New)
🌳 CON: 25.0% (+4.1)
🔶 LDM: 17.2% (-3.1)
🌹 LAB: 15.3% (-8.3)
🌍 GRN: 12.8% (New)
No WSI (-19.2) or Ind (-16.1) as previous.
Reform GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2023.
➡️ RFM: 29.7% (New)
🌳 CON: 25.0% (+4.1)
🔶 LDM: 17.2% (-3.1)
🌹 LAB: 15.3% (-8.3)
🌍 GRN: 12.8% (New)
No WSI (-19.2) or Ind (-16.1) as previous.
Reform GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ 2023.
September 12, 2025 at 8:07 AM
First Past the Post cannot handle this level of fragmentation. It will produce completely freak results.
We can grasp this problem now, or wait for the train to crash.
We can grasp this problem now, or wait for the train to crash.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
On the same day in the Telegraph:
![The Telegraph
Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement
Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty
Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence
[Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday]
Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent
29 August 2025 8:57am BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreihe5mm7nwmwvzhtgadmsafyvsaxhrufuai2d2j2rju5zt6g2lytea@jpeg)
![The Telegraph
Money > Property > Second homes
How to avoid tax on your second home
From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net
[Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto]
Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer
29 August 2025 1:21pm BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreieuwgc2vsmyfcctmf4cnpcqckij2pqdk2gmzajpnihrsqyqmzyr5e@jpeg)
September 5, 2025 at 7:55 AM
On the same day in the Telegraph:
Reposted by Mark Rowland
"Worship through the lens of Autism" www.sarum.ac.uk/short-course... Join @sarumcollege.bsky.social online to learn with autism theologian, Dr Leon van Ommen about autistic and neurodivergent experiences of worship and becoming more inclusive and enabling. With @autismtheology.bsky.social
Worship through the Lens of Autism - Sarum College
What makes autistic (and other neurodivergent) people feel excluded from worship? What is a good theological response? Practical tips for ministers and autistic people.
www.sarum.ac.uk
September 3, 2025 at 10:22 AM
"Worship through the lens of Autism" www.sarum.ac.uk/short-course... Join @sarumcollege.bsky.social online to learn with autism theologian, Dr Leon van Ommen about autistic and neurodivergent experiences of worship and becoming more inclusive and enabling. With @autismtheology.bsky.social
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Forthcoming statutory guidance could have a profound impact on trans people's lives.
I've written to the Women and Equalities Minister to urge her to reject anything that undermines trans people's rights, inclusion, privacy or safety, and for Parliament to have proper oversight.
I've written to the Women and Equalities Minister to urge her to reject anything that undermines trans people's rights, inclusion, privacy or safety, and for Parliament to have proper oversight.
August 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Forthcoming statutory guidance could have a profound impact on trans people's lives.
I've written to the Women and Equalities Minister to urge her to reject anything that undermines trans people's rights, inclusion, privacy or safety, and for Parliament to have proper oversight.
I've written to the Women and Equalities Minister to urge her to reject anything that undermines trans people's rights, inclusion, privacy or safety, and for Parliament to have proper oversight.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Official summary of the Court of Appeal decision in the Epping hotel case: www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...
Full judgment will not be handed down until later.
Full judgment will not be handed down until later.
August 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Official summary of the Court of Appeal decision in the Epping hotel case: www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...
Full judgment will not be handed down until later.
Full judgment will not be handed down until later.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
I basically think we should only be using our remaining fossil reserves for:
- medically useful plastics (until we can phase them out)
- powered, human-scale tools for ecological remediation (ditto)
- building renewable energy sources
I'm fairly relaxed about the order in which these happen.
- medically useful plastics (until we can phase them out)
- powered, human-scale tools for ecological remediation (ditto)
- building renewable energy sources
I'm fairly relaxed about the order in which these happen.
August 25, 2025 at 8:46 AM
I basically think we should only be using our remaining fossil reserves for:
- medically useful plastics (until we can phase them out)
- powered, human-scale tools for ecological remediation (ditto)
- building renewable energy sources
I'm fairly relaxed about the order in which these happen.
- medically useful plastics (until we can phase them out)
- powered, human-scale tools for ecological remediation (ditto)
- building renewable energy sources
I'm fairly relaxed about the order in which these happen.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Sickening. Shameful. And in the end, useless.
Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.
Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.
Editorial: That meeting was sickening. Putin loved it
Sickening. Shameful. And in the end, useless.
Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.
On our screens, a blood-soaked dictator and war criminal received a roy...
kyivindependent.com
August 16, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Sickening. Shameful. And in the end, useless.
Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.
Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Buried in The Observer yesterday was this: UK police knocking on doors demanding details of social media accounts of people, to pass to a foreign government, simply because they happen to live near where a US politician wanted to have a holiday observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
August 11, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Buried in The Observer yesterday was this: UK police knocking on doors demanding details of social media accounts of people, to pass to a foreign government, simply because they happen to live near where a US politician wanted to have a holiday observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Just a reminder that this is still very much accurate and relevant. Even when the EHRC publish the Code of Practice, which does not change the actual law.
Trans people in the UK can still use the toilets that match their gender. Yes, even after the Supreme Court ruling. Here's why:
tacc.org.uk/2025/04/23/t...
tacc.org.uk/2025/04/23/t...
Toilet Hysteria Isn’t Law: Why Trans People in the UK Can Still Pee in Peace - Trans Advocacy and Complaints Collective
(Yes, Even After the Supreme Court Ruling) Let’s clear something up before another MP starts frothing at the mouth on GB News: in the UK, there is still no law that stops transgender people from…
tacc.org.uk
August 8, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Just a reminder that this is still very much accurate and relevant. Even when the EHRC publish the Code of Practice, which does not change the actual law.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
LGB Alliance has sent surveys to its subscribers and donors (mostly heterosexual people)
They have then used this "data" as if it's an actual poll
Now they and sexmatters are reporting it as "Views of LGB people"
It's being sent to businesses
The Scottish Conservatives have just endorsed it
They have then used this "data" as if it's an actual poll
Now they and sexmatters are reporting it as "Views of LGB people"
It's being sent to businesses
The Scottish Conservatives have just endorsed it
August 8, 2025 at 7:42 PM
LGB Alliance has sent surveys to its subscribers and donors (mostly heterosexual people)
They have then used this "data" as if it's an actual poll
Now they and sexmatters are reporting it as "Views of LGB people"
It's being sent to businesses
The Scottish Conservatives have just endorsed it
They have then used this "data" as if it's an actual poll
Now they and sexmatters are reporting it as "Views of LGB people"
It's being sent to businesses
The Scottish Conservatives have just endorsed it
Written up (with others who've done the same) in Pink News: www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/08/m...
August 8, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Written up (with others who've done the same) in Pink News: www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/08/m...
Directed my outrage towards M&S customer services... storeservice@customer-support.marksandspencer.com if you want to do similarly.
August 6, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Directed my outrage towards M&S customer services... storeservice@customer-support.marksandspencer.com if you want to do similarly.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
I think it really should be emphasised that what happened here is a tall woman approached a 14 year old to ask if she needed help, and the mother, not the girl, freaked out and is now calling for a ban on trans people being allowed to work with kids.
The employee asked the girl and her mother if they needed help shopping. That’s it. That’s all. The misinformation, the insinuations (because the facts are inconveniently benign) are EXACTLY what was done to lesbians in the 80s. This is the product of hate and fear, not reality.
August 6, 2025 at 10:54 AM
I think it really should be emphasised that what happened here is a tall woman approached a 14 year old to ask if she needed help, and the mother, not the girl, freaked out and is now calling for a ban on trans people being allowed to work with kids.
Reposted by Mark Rowland
Legally, there isn't the slightest basis to the complaint, even on the most extreme possible interpretation of the Supreme Court judgement. A shop floor is not a single sex space, regardless of whether they sell bras or not. This is just hatred and spite, unleashed.
The employee asked the girl and her mother if they needed help shopping. That’s it. That’s all. The misinformation, the insinuations (because the facts are inconveniently benign) are EXACTLY what was done to lesbians in the 80s. This is the product of hate and fear, not reality.
August 6, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Legally, there isn't the slightest basis to the complaint, even on the most extreme possible interpretation of the Supreme Court judgement. A shop floor is not a single sex space, regardless of whether they sell bras or not. This is just hatred and spite, unleashed.