sasha baker
@sasha98.bsky.social
freelance investigative journalist, 2024 British Journalism Awards nominee
fact-checker & subeditor @tbij.bsky.social
they/them
fact-checker & subeditor @tbij.bsky.social
they/them
Pinned
sasha baker
@sasha98.bsky.social
· Jul 22
transsafety.network/posts/my-par...
@sasha98.bsky.social and Valeria Rocca spoke to several children of Bayswater members who highlighted the harm the group do to young trans people and the gateway into broader far-right politics that they provide.
Content warning: discusses conversion abuse
@sasha98.bsky.social and Valeria Rocca spoke to several children of Bayswater members who highlighted the harm the group do to young trans people and the gateway into broader far-right politics that they provide.
Content warning: discusses conversion abuse
“My parents very clearly do not love me”: Children of Bayswater Speak Out
We speak to several children of Bayswater Support Group members. Their experiences highlight the harm groups like Bayswater do to young trans people, and the gateway they provide to broader far-right ...
transsafety.network
As the political influence of pro-conversion therapy parents continues unabated, @vrocca.bsky.social and I spoke to some of the children and young adults who have been victimised by Bayswater members. CW: child abuse.
An unwillingness to piss off America is at the core of everything wrong with Britain
January 5, 2026 at 3:47 PM
An unwillingness to piss off America is at the core of everything wrong with Britain
Reposted by sasha baker
A functional country would shut Grok down permanently. Like, immediately. Right now. Last week. Whatever. Just flip the switch. Obviously.
January 4, 2026 at 10:52 PM
A functional country would shut Grok down permanently. Like, immediately. Right now. Last week. Whatever. Just flip the switch. Obviously.
Reposted by sasha baker
I have a new piece in the latest @nymag.com about the crisis at Mubi www.vulture.com/article/mubi...
Who Is Mubi For?
The art-house movie streamer had a cultlike following. Then it started to expand.
www.vulture.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I have a new piece in the latest @nymag.com about the crisis at Mubi www.vulture.com/article/mubi...
Reposted by sasha baker
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 2/5
December 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 2/5
Reposted by sasha baker
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
December 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
Reposted by sasha baker
Alice Sullivan tells universities to suppress pro-trans research to protect GC staff. However, HER OWN DATA shows pro-trans research is already more suppressed.
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
Corrections and Clarifications
The BBC's responses to editorial, technical and corporate issues.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Alice Sullivan tells universities to suppress pro-trans research to protect GC staff. However, HER OWN DATA shows pro-trans research is already more suppressed.
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
Reposted by sasha baker
The UK government shouldn't be using US companies due the security risk they pose with UK citizens and governmental sensitive data.
It's about time this reliance on US tech solutions is stopped.
Palantir is a threat.
It's about time this reliance on US tech solutions is stopped.
Palantir is a threat.
MPs question UK Palantir contracts after investigation reveals security concerns
Journalists find Swiss government rejected company over fears US intelligence might gain access to sensitive data
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:48 PM
The UK government shouldn't be using US companies due the security risk they pose with UK citizens and governmental sensitive data.
It's about time this reliance on US tech solutions is stopped.
Palantir is a threat.
It's about time this reliance on US tech solutions is stopped.
Palantir is a threat.
Reposted by sasha baker
Presented without comment.
December 22, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Presented without comment.
Reposted by sasha baker
Total gaslighting. Anti-trans activist; chooses to speak in person, provoking students who want to protect trans rights; they exercise their freedom of speech to tell her she isn't wanted; she gets to speak anyway; the BBC dutifully platforms her again; and now she threatens to sue everyone.
University threatened with legal action after protest at event
Prof Alice Sullivan says her talk at the University of Bristol became like a
www.bbc.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Total gaslighting. Anti-trans activist; chooses to speak in person, provoking students who want to protect trans rights; they exercise their freedom of speech to tell her she isn't wanted; she gets to speak anyway; the BBC dutifully platforms her again; and now she threatens to sue everyone.
Reposted by sasha baker
if you are interested in trans liberation, you should be amplifying the voices of the trans activists striking for prisoners and for Palestine. you should be amplifying the voices of the Muslim activists striking for prisoners and for Palestine. this is where our energy should be going
covered the UK prison hunger strike, looking both at vital info about responding to the strike & wider analysis of how it brings together different forms of liberation struggle. the media blackout is cracking a little but time is very limited. please share widely
www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik...
www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik...
The hunger strikers are in mortal danger. But the conditions they’re being kept in are already critical.
How the government and its prisons ignore strikers' basic rights and demands.
www.vashtimedia.com
December 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
if you are interested in trans liberation, you should be amplifying the voices of the trans activists striking for prisoners and for Palestine. you should be amplifying the voices of the Muslim activists striking for prisoners and for Palestine. this is where our energy should be going
Reposted by sasha baker
Eight people are on hunger strike, several apparently at imminent risk of dying, because our law punishes more harshly those opposing genocide than those supporting it. (And under a so-called Labour Government.)
How on earth did we get here? www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik...
How on earth did we get here? www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik...
The hunger strikers are in mortal danger. But the conditions they’re being kept in are already critical.
How the government and its prisons ignore strikers' basic rights and demands.
www.vashtimedia.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Eight people are on hunger strike, several apparently at imminent risk of dying, because our law punishes more harshly those opposing genocide than those supporting it. (And under a so-called Labour Government.)
How on earth did we get here? www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik...
How on earth did we get here? www.vashtimedia.com/hunger-strik...
Reposted by sasha baker
By this standard which nobody actually adheres to Jews would be precluded from identifying as Zionist because of what Zionism means to every Palestinian on the planet. Is this standard reciprocal or do are there competing claims on the basis of standpoint which need to be independently interrogated?
I'll say it again: if any other ethnic or religious minority said "please don't use this particular term or chant, you might not have bad intentions but it is deeply racist and threatening to us", the reaction would be mortified apology.
And that's without a mass terror event four days ago
And that's without a mass terror event four days ago
December 18, 2025 at 2:39 PM
By this standard which nobody actually adheres to Jews would be precluded from identifying as Zionist because of what Zionism means to every Palestinian on the planet. Is this standard reciprocal or do are there competing claims on the basis of standpoint which need to be independently interrogated?
Reposted by sasha baker
For too long, trans people have languished on dangerously long waiting lists which, in some cases, now involve more than a decade of waiting for care. Things don’t have to be this way.
Read our full statement: tinyurl.com/Levy-initial...
Read our full statement: tinyurl.com/Levy-initial...
December 18, 2025 at 4:04 PM
For too long, trans people have languished on dangerously long waiting lists which, in some cases, now involve more than a decade of waiting for care. Things don’t have to be this way.
Read our full statement: tinyurl.com/Levy-initial...
Read our full statement: tinyurl.com/Levy-initial...
Reposted by sasha baker
Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence
December 18, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence
Reposted by sasha baker
It is a sign of how fundamentally abused and traumatised trans communities are in the UK that many folks are responding to Levy with relief and cautious welcome.
It could have been a lot worse.
But it fundamentally fails to deliver meaningful improvements to trans healthcare. 1/4
It could have been a lot worse.
But it fundamentally fails to deliver meaningful improvements to trans healthcare. 1/4
December 18, 2025 at 3:08 PM
It is a sign of how fundamentally abused and traumatised trans communities are in the UK that many folks are responding to Levy with relief and cautious welcome.
It could have been a lot worse.
But it fundamentally fails to deliver meaningful improvements to trans healthcare. 1/4
It could have been a lot worse.
But it fundamentally fails to deliver meaningful improvements to trans healthcare. 1/4
Reposted by sasha baker
The prison which reportedly denied an ambulance to hunger striker Qesser Zurhah, HMP Bronzefield, is fully privatised (Sodexo runs prison & medical) & has had a string of scandals including 2 recent deaths & an earlier baby death metro.co.uk/2025/08/04/t... & www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
Two prisoners die in UK women's jail within days of each other
The jail is holding both Lucy Letby and Constance Marten.
metro.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The prison which reportedly denied an ambulance to hunger striker Qesser Zurhah, HMP Bronzefield, is fully privatised (Sodexo runs prison & medical) & has had a string of scandals including 2 recent deaths & an earlier baby death metro.co.uk/2025/08/04/t... & www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
They continue to refuse to mention Alice Sullivan's relevant history of nasty comments an academic who disagrees with her, who she's called "a loony grad student, best ignored" and “a Twitter-troll primarily known for her obsessive interest in Stock". Is this bullying? Who can say.
Alice Sullivan tells universities to suppress pro-trans research to protect GC staff. However, HER OWN DATA shows pro-trans research is already more suppressed.
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
Corrections and Clarifications
The BBC's responses to editorial, technical and corporate issues.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 1:54 PM
They continue to refuse to mention Alice Sullivan's relevant history of nasty comments an academic who disagrees with her, who she's called "a loony grad student, best ignored" and “a Twitter-troll primarily known for her obsessive interest in Stock". Is this bullying? Who can say.
Reposted by sasha baker
Arrests for terrorism-related offences are up 660% from last year after Palestine Action was banned
news.sky.com/story/terror...
news.sky.com/story/terror...
Terrorism arrests soar by 660% after Palestine Action ban
Official figures show 1,630, or 86%, of the 1,886 arrests for terrorism-related activity in the year to the end of September 2025 were linked to supporting the group.
news.sky.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Arrests for terrorism-related offences are up 660% from last year after Palestine Action was banned
news.sky.com/story/terror...
news.sky.com/story/terror...
Reposted by sasha baker
Because of course they include immigration. It's getting harder and harder for Labour to go further on being anti-immigration without actively copying Reform's mass deportations ideas, but we get to see how they try and walk that fine line while claiming they are "combatting the far right".
NEW - Keir Starmer is planning a King’s speech in the week after the May local elections.
Will be reset moment at a time when his leadership may be under threat.
Bills could include AI, immigration, planning and electoral reform.
@jessicaelgot.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Will be reset moment at a time when his leadership may be under threat.
Bills could include AI, immigration, planning and electoral reform.
@jessicaelgot.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Keir Starmer planning new king’s speech after May elections
Timing seen as reset moment after potential loss of hundreds of council seats in England and defeat in Wales and Scotland
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Because of course they include immigration. It's getting harder and harder for Labour to go further on being anti-immigration without actively copying Reform's mass deportations ideas, but we get to see how they try and walk that fine line while claiming they are "combatting the far right".
Reposted by sasha baker
Looks like Levy may be dropping at 2pm.
1) Dont panic
2) Itll take some careful analysis so beware people jumping the gun
3) put your own mental health first.
If youre posting stuff, be responsible and mind other mental health. Use warnings etc as appropriate.
Looks like a busy weekend for me.
1) Dont panic
2) Itll take some careful analysis so beware people jumping the gun
3) put your own mental health first.
If youre posting stuff, be responsible and mind other mental health. Use warnings etc as appropriate.
Looks like a busy weekend for me.
December 18, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Looks like Levy may be dropping at 2pm.
1) Dont panic
2) Itll take some careful analysis so beware people jumping the gun
3) put your own mental health first.
If youre posting stuff, be responsible and mind other mental health. Use warnings etc as appropriate.
Looks like a busy weekend for me.
1) Dont panic
2) Itll take some careful analysis so beware people jumping the gun
3) put your own mental health first.
If youre posting stuff, be responsible and mind other mental health. Use warnings etc as appropriate.
Looks like a busy weekend for me.
Reposted by sasha baker
Nigel Farage said that the 'Raise the Colours' campaign was a "grassroots movement driven by ordinary people”.
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Nigel Farage-Backed 'Raise the Colours' Campaign Pivots to Racially Abusing Migrants and Harassing Aid Workers on French Beaches
Far-right activists were seen stabbing dinghies and releasing dogs to intimidate migrants and aid workers
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Nigel Farage said that the 'Raise the Colours' campaign was a "grassroots movement driven by ordinary people”.
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Kemi Badenoch said they should be "welcomed" as a symbol of "unity"
Now the campaign has pivoted to racially abusing migrants and intimidating charity workers on the beaches of France
Reposted by sasha baker
From 2am, in freezing temperatures, we were forced to protest for more than 12 hours before an ambulance was finally dispatched to HMP Bronzefield so that Qesser Zuhrah could receive the urgent medical care she needs.
We demand immediate bail for all remand political prisoners.
We demand immediate bail for all remand political prisoners.
December 18, 2025 at 1:15 PM
From 2am, in freezing temperatures, we were forced to protest for more than 12 hours before an ambulance was finally dispatched to HMP Bronzefield so that Qesser Zuhrah could receive the urgent medical care she needs.
We demand immediate bail for all remand political prisoners.
We demand immediate bail for all remand political prisoners.
I'm so disgusted by the way the government and press continually use antisemitic attacks to crack down on civil liberties and suppress peaceful protest.
December 18, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I'm so disgusted by the way the government and press continually use antisemitic attacks to crack down on civil liberties and suppress peaceful protest.
Alice Sullivan tells universities to suppress pro-trans research to protect GC staff. However, HER OWN DATA shows pro-trans research is already more suppressed.
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
Corrections and Clarifications
The BBC's responses to editorial, technical and corporate issues.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Alice Sullivan tells universities to suppress pro-trans research to protect GC staff. However, HER OWN DATA shows pro-trans research is already more suppressed.
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
When I told the BBC this, they edited out any reference to the data. They have now corrected the record.
www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedb...
Reposted by sasha baker
Pleased to be interviewed for this much needed piece on the rising transphobia in higher education.
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/trans-s...
(Archive link: archive.is/oYqXS)
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/trans-s...
(Archive link: archive.is/oYqXS)
Trans scholars being ‘pushed out of academia’, researchers warn
Universities ‘afraid to be trans inclusive’ after Supreme Court ruling and OfS Sussex fine, leaving staff fearing ‘hostile environment’
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Pleased to be interviewed for this much needed piece on the rising transphobia in higher education.
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/trans-s...
(Archive link: archive.is/oYqXS)
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/trans-s...
(Archive link: archive.is/oYqXS)