Pinned
Tom Parsons
@tomparsons.bsky.social
· Feb 25
I'm Tom.
I used to be a writer and a musician.
Now I am 95% bedbound and struggle to compose a few paragraphs or strum a simple chord progression.
I used to have mild #ME/CFS, but my functioning became much worse after being told to exercise and keep pushing myself to do more by clinicians.
I used to be a writer and a musician.
Now I am 95% bedbound and struggle to compose a few paragraphs or strum a simple chord progression.
I used to have mild #ME/CFS, but my functioning became much worse after being told to exercise and keep pushing myself to do more by clinicians.
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Tip for the Labour Party. If you have to clarify asylum seekers’ wedding rings won’t be seized, your policy is horrific. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum seekers’ jewellery could be seized to pay for processing costs, says Home Office minister
Idea borrowed from Denmark is latest attempt to reduce number of people seeking asylum in UK
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Tip for the Labour Party. If you have to clarify asylum seekers’ wedding rings won’t be seized, your policy is horrific. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Available to buy now: One Red Leaf at a Time Greetings Cards.
All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social.
Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor!
theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le...
#oneredleafatatime
All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social.
Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor!
theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le...
#oneredleafatatime
One Red Leaf at a Time Greetings Cards - Raising funds for research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Since so many of you have asked, greetings cards featuring images from the Red Leaf Creative Collaborative are now available to purchase.
theredtreeandme.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Available to buy now: One Red Leaf at a Time Greetings Cards.
All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social.
Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor!
theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le...
#oneredleafatatime
All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social.
Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor!
theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le...
#oneredleafatatime
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Well deserved strategic funding - €50 million *per year* for a decade - on ME/CFS and Long Covid research. Spent wisely this could be a game changer. Germany now leads & other countries need to follow. Goal to “decipher the causes and mechanisms and develop new treatments”. #MEcfs #longcovid
November 14, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Well deserved strategic funding - €50 million *per year* for a decade - on ME/CFS and Long Covid research. Spent wisely this could be a game changer. Germany now leads & other countries need to follow. Goal to “decipher the causes and mechanisms and develop new treatments”. #MEcfs #longcovid
Reposted by Tom Parsons
1) 🇩🇪 Some really good news! Germany plans to invest half a billion euros in research on diseases such as ME/CFS and Long Covid.
They are calling it "The National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases"
They are calling it "The National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases"
November 14, 2025 at 8:30 AM
1) 🇩🇪 Some really good news! Germany plans to invest half a billion euros in research on diseases such as ME/CFS and Long Covid.
They are calling it "The National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases"
They are calling it "The National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases"
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Germany pledges €500 million for research through the “National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases” (2026-2036), including #MECFS and #LongCOVID.
Addressing what they call “one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century.”
www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
Addressing what they call “one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century.”
www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Bundesregierung will Erforschung von ME/CFS stärker fördern
Die Zahl der Long-Covid- und ME/CFS-Erkrankungen hat seit der Pandemie stark zugenommen. Bis 2036 sollen deswegen 500 Millionen Euro in die Forschung investiert werden.
www.zeit.de
November 14, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Germany pledges €500 million for research through the “National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases” (2026-2036), including #MECFS and #LongCOVID.
Addressing what they call “one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century.”
www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
Addressing what they call “one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century.”
www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Given that the far right hates Black and Brown people, hates women, hates immigrants, hates liberals, leftists and greens, hates students and universities, hates civil servants, hates disabled people, hates gay and trans people and hates Jews and Muslims, what is this country it claims to love?
November 12, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Given that the far right hates Black and Brown people, hates women, hates immigrants, hates liberals, leftists and greens, hates students and universities, hates civil servants, hates disabled people, hates gay and trans people and hates Jews and Muslims, what is this country it claims to love?
Reposted by Tom Parsons
“Here’s the bias of politics: leftwing policies are portrayed as unrealistic and childish, while the centre and right’s ideas are framed as sensible and all that’s possible.”
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Labour’s rebuttal to the Green party this week sums up the double standard that dogs our politics | Frances Ryan
Why is it that the politics of hope offered up by the left is dismissed as naive, while the policies of the centre and right are portrayed as all that is possible? asks Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:57 PM
“Here’s the bias of politics: leftwing policies are portrayed as unrealistic and childish, while the centre and right’s ideas are framed as sensible and all that’s possible.”
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Boris Johnson says the idea that criticism of the BBC is being organised by the right is ‘complete and utter bollocks’, which makes me think there might be something in it.
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Boris Johnson says the idea that criticism of the BBC is being organised by the right is ‘complete and utter bollocks’, which makes me think there might be something in it.
Reposted by Tom Parsons
This was a diagram illustrating a piece I wrote in @prospectmagazine.co.uk in January 2024. Some faces have since changed but you get the general gist …
November 10, 2025 at 10:44 AM
This was a diagram illustrating a piece I wrote in @prospectmagazine.co.uk in January 2024. Some faces have since changed but you get the general gist …
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
November 10, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
Reposted by Tom Parsons
We are living in an unreal world.
I stopped appearing on BBC television because of very obvious govt interference in the output.
Was told before one broadcast that 'Downing Street' was unhappy with a particular story, so I shouldn't talk about it.
BBC is fundamentally right-wing in its output /1
I stopped appearing on BBC television because of very obvious govt interference in the output.
Was told before one broadcast that 'Downing Street' was unhappy with a particular story, so I shouldn't talk about it.
BBC is fundamentally right-wing in its output /1
Tim Davie, whose BBC cancelled The Mash Report and went after Lineker as part of a 'war on woke', going for not being right-wing enough speaks volumes about where the BBC will go next.
(Don't remember the DG going when they used the wrong footage to make Johnson look better at the Cenotaph)
(Don't remember the DG going when they used the wrong footage to make Johnson look better at the Cenotaph)
Tim Davie: BBC director general embroiled in Gary Lineker controversy
Critics claim former marketing man at centre of row over impartiality is too close to the government
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:23 PM
We are living in an unreal world.
I stopped appearing on BBC television because of very obvious govt interference in the output.
Was told before one broadcast that 'Downing Street' was unhappy with a particular story, so I shouldn't talk about it.
BBC is fundamentally right-wing in its output /1
I stopped appearing on BBC television because of very obvious govt interference in the output.
Was told before one broadcast that 'Downing Street' was unhappy with a particular story, so I shouldn't talk about it.
BBC is fundamentally right-wing in its output /1
No one is talking about the aggressive and obviously trauma based responses a lot of doctors and other healthcare workers display when they see a mask or are asked to put one on.
November 7, 2025 at 12:14 PM
No one is talking about the aggressive and obviously trauma based responses a lot of doctors and other healthcare workers display when they see a mask or are asked to put one on.
Reposted by Tom Parsons
1) Interesting figure showing where immune cells are located in the human body (mostly in the bone marrow and lymphatic system).
November 7, 2025 at 8:31 AM
1) Interesting figure showing where immune cells are located in the human body (mostly in the bone marrow and lymphatic system).
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Did you see they announced PRIME recently, under Ponting's watch, which is very very exciting: megenetics.org.uk/our-projects...
PRIME - ME Genetics Centre of Excellence
PRIME Action for ME, the University of Edinburgh and the ME Genetics Centre of Excellence have brought in over £800,000 […]
megenetics.org.uk
November 6, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Did you see they announced PRIME recently, under Ponting's watch, which is very very exciting: megenetics.org.uk/our-projects...
Reposted by Tom Parsons
It's delusional if he thinks the market employment model is willing to support disabled people in any way. They discriminate and then lie, to skirt any anti-discrimination laws because it's all performative, they don't care about disabled people, only saving money regardless of harm.
November 6, 2025 at 11:12 AM
It's delusional if he thinks the market employment model is willing to support disabled people in any way. They discriminate and then lie, to skirt any anti-discrimination laws because it's all performative, they don't care about disabled people, only saving money regardless of harm.
Reposted by Tom Parsons
‘If you’re disabled, you’re not ill.’
Sir Charlie Mayfield (author of the Keep Britain Working review)
This is who’s shaping UK disability employment policy. Shocking, he doesn’t even understand the basics.
I’m disabled because I’m chronically ill with #MECFS.
Sir Charlie Mayfield (author of the Keep Britain Working review)
This is who’s shaping UK disability employment policy. Shocking, he doesn’t even understand the basics.
I’m disabled because I’m chronically ill with #MECFS.
November 6, 2025 at 9:35 AM
‘If you’re disabled, you’re not ill.’
Sir Charlie Mayfield (author of the Keep Britain Working review)
This is who’s shaping UK disability employment policy. Shocking, he doesn’t even understand the basics.
I’m disabled because I’m chronically ill with #MECFS.
Sir Charlie Mayfield (author of the Keep Britain Working review)
This is who’s shaping UK disability employment policy. Shocking, he doesn’t even understand the basics.
I’m disabled because I’m chronically ill with #MECFS.
Today is my 35th birthday, and my fifth birthday with severe ME/CFS. I am grieving my healthy self and my mild ME/CFS self. I wonder where I would be now if I never got ill. And where I would be if I had not been gaslit by doctors and subsequently deterioated.
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Today is my 35th birthday, and my fifth birthday with severe ME/CFS. I am grieving my healthy self and my mild ME/CFS self. I wonder where I would be now if I never got ill. And where I would be if I had not been gaslit by doctors and subsequently deterioated.
Reposted by Tom Parsons
The Government needs to get serious about climate change. And it hasn't so we're suing. But this is the longest and most expensive legal letter Good Law Project has ever sent - and it involves a huge team of specialist lawyers. And we really could use your help. goodlaw.social/4cqi
Make Keir Starmer step up on climate
The government is failing to tackle global heating – so we’re forcing it to take action
goodlaw.social
November 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The Government needs to get serious about climate change. And it hasn't so we're suing. But this is the longest and most expensive legal letter Good Law Project has ever sent - and it involves a huge team of specialist lawyers. And we really could use your help. goodlaw.social/4cqi
Reposted by Tom Parsons
This clip from 2018 perfectly captures just how passionate @davetuller1.bsky.social is and how shocked he was by the way the PACE trial was defended.
His crowd funding has just 1 day to go and he’s ~$10k from his target. I’ve just donated again so he can carry on doing his important work
His crowd funding has just 1 day to go and he’s ~$10k from his target. I’ve just donated again so he can carry on doing his important work
November 6, 2025 at 10:15 AM
This clip from 2018 perfectly captures just how passionate @davetuller1.bsky.social is and how shocked he was by the way the PACE trial was defended.
His crowd funding has just 1 day to go and he’s ~$10k from his target. I’ve just donated again so he can carry on doing his important work
His crowd funding has just 1 day to go and he’s ~$10k from his target. I’ve just donated again so he can carry on doing his important work
Reposted by Tom Parsons
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 5, 2025 at 7:58 AM
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
Reposted by Tom Parsons
If two people can’t walk side by side without stepping into traffic, something has gone badly wrong.
Aidan Baker reports
Aidan Baker reports
Why walking our street is now dangerous
A street in Cambridge has problems. Community groups are presenting a petition to their local authority. They live in interesting times.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM
If two people can’t walk side by side without stepping into traffic, something has gone badly wrong.
Aidan Baker reports
Aidan Baker reports
Reposted by Tom Parsons
So Nigel Farage, who spent a huge chunk of his speech today attacking plans to raise even the slightest of taxes on the wealthy, thinks one of the biggest problems facing the UK is that young people on the minimum wage are being paid too much
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People
The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy
bylinetimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:44 PM
So Nigel Farage, who spent a huge chunk of his speech today attacking plans to raise even the slightest of taxes on the wealthy, thinks one of the biggest problems facing the UK is that young people on the minimum wage are being paid too much
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Reposted by Tom Parsons
So either Labour need to ask candidates to step aside for the Greens to take on Reform....
Or actually bring in a fair democratic process where everyone's votes count equally.
It's time for Proportional Representation.
www.thenational.scot/news/2558507...
Or actually bring in a fair democratic process where everyone's votes count equally.
It's time for Proportional Representation.
www.thenational.scot/news/2558507...
'Just getting started': Zack Polanski reacts as Greens SECOND in new poll
ZACK Polanski has welcomed a new poll putting his party in second place at Westminster.
www.thenational.scot
October 30, 2025 at 5:50 PM
So either Labour need to ask candidates to step aside for the Greens to take on Reform....
Or actually bring in a fair democratic process where everyone's votes count equally.
It's time for Proportional Representation.
www.thenational.scot/news/2558507...
Or actually bring in a fair democratic process where everyone's votes count equally.
It's time for Proportional Representation.
www.thenational.scot/news/2558507...
Reposted by Tom Parsons
Hi all
I'm doing a birthday fundraiser (big birthday coming up next week). It's for the Daratumumab trial which is really exciting, via Joan Crawfords just giving page.
I think this has huge potential and needs a proper clinic trial.
Please share #mecfs
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...
I'm doing a birthday fundraiser (big birthday coming up next week). It's for the Daratumumab trial which is really exciting, via Joan Crawfords just giving page.
I think this has huge potential and needs a proper clinic trial.
Please share #mecfs
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...
Help raise £2500 to support promising medical research into ME – JustGiving Crowdfunding
Iʼm raising money to support promising medical research into ME. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.
www.justgiving.com
October 25, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Hi all
I'm doing a birthday fundraiser (big birthday coming up next week). It's for the Daratumumab trial which is really exciting, via Joan Crawfords just giving page.
I think this has huge potential and needs a proper clinic trial.
Please share #mecfs
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...
I'm doing a birthday fundraiser (big birthday coming up next week). It's for the Daratumumab trial which is really exciting, via Joan Crawfords just giving page.
I think this has huge potential and needs a proper clinic trial.
Please share #mecfs
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...