Josephine Grahl
@woodscolt79.bsky.social
Spinsterdom, socialism, sunsets.
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Josephine Grahl
@woodscolt79.bsky.social
· Aug 19
Boycotting Israeli bulbs
Where do our flower bulbs come from? In June, Instagram poster Vicky Burns Bellman shared her correspondence with bulb supplier Farmer Gracy, and there was a social media flurry when they confirmed…
belledelondres.wordpress.com
I thought I'd investigate where my spring bulbs come from, in order to avoid buying Israeli plants: belledelondres.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/b...
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
Most asylum seekers arrive with their valuables long lost in bombed or abandoned homes, stolen, or sold to afford the dangerous clandestine passage to safety
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Most asylum seekers arrive with their valuables long lost in bombed or abandoned homes, stolen, or sold to afford the dangerous clandestine passage to safety
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
The real thing of value to be snatched from refugees under these proposals is far more painful: their families & futures
Me, for @zeteo.com
Labour could even look back further to the 6 (I think) immigration acts they brought in between 1997 and 2010: restricting asylum appeals, cutting support to asylum seekers and setting up detention centres. It was a Labour minister, Liam Byrne, who first used the term "hostile environment."
Out of curiosity for Labour, how did it go for Conservatives with the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, Illegal Migration Act 2023, or even the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024? Just following the same old tired "let's bash people seeking safety" line has been shown, repeatedly, to fail on every account.
November 17, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Labour could even look back further to the 6 (I think) immigration acts they brought in between 1997 and 2010: restricting asylum appeals, cutting support to asylum seekers and setting up detention centres. It was a Labour minister, Liam Byrne, who first used the term "hostile environment."
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
Lots of Labour MPs asking Mahmood tonight to rule out child detention. She won’t rule it out. That’s because forced removals of families will mean children in detention for periods.
Home Office ruling out deportation of lone minors but the changes will certainly mean more detention of children.
Home Office ruling out deportation of lone minors but the changes will certainly mean more detention of children.
November 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Lots of Labour MPs asking Mahmood tonight to rule out child detention. She won’t rule it out. That’s because forced removals of families will mean children in detention for periods.
Home Office ruling out deportation of lone minors but the changes will certainly mean more detention of children.
Home Office ruling out deportation of lone minors but the changes will certainly mean more detention of children.
The second most annoying thing that people on social media do when they talk about politics, but definitely the most toxic to actually having any kind of exchange of ideas.
A rule a lot of people should follow “You’re not a political strategist, and you don’t need to tweet like one.” It’s okay to just have preferences and argue for them rather than to hallucinate a strategy where there isn’t one. (Particularly a strategy that is as clapped out as this one would be)
Labour is going to introduce safe routes for those claiming refugee status while everybody here is talking about ‘jewellery theft’ proposals. I strongly suspect the latter was meant to divert Sun readers’ attention from clocking the former while you are meant to be welcoming the former. 🫤
November 17, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The second most annoying thing that people on social media do when they talk about politics, but definitely the most toxic to actually having any kind of exchange of ideas.
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
🚨The Home Secretary said "illegal migration is dividing our country."
Let’s be clear: the only thing dividing our country is a politics devoid of humanity and compassion.
The plans announced today are a cruel political choice. It is #NotInOurName.
www.refugeewomen.co.uk/morally-and-...
1/🧵
Let’s be clear: the only thing dividing our country is a politics devoid of humanity and compassion.
The plans announced today are a cruel political choice. It is #NotInOurName.
www.refugeewomen.co.uk/morally-and-...
1/🧵
Women for Refugee Women : Morally and ethically bankrupt: Our response to the Government's announcement 17 November 2026
The Government has announced sweeping plans to overhaul refugee protection in the UK - some of the most hostile we have seen in recent years. We are outraged, saddened, and extremely concerned.
www.refugeewomen.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 1:54 PM
🚨The Home Secretary said "illegal migration is dividing our country."
Let’s be clear: the only thing dividing our country is a politics devoid of humanity and compassion.
The plans announced today are a cruel political choice. It is #NotInOurName.
www.refugeewomen.co.uk/morally-and-...
1/🧵
Let’s be clear: the only thing dividing our country is a politics devoid of humanity and compassion.
The plans announced today are a cruel political choice. It is #NotInOurName.
www.refugeewomen.co.uk/morally-and-...
1/🧵
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
It was very common to be dismissed whenever it was said that Gaza would unravel everything, and this essay really does acutely show how true and poignant that was www.equator.org/articles/ins...
Inside the BBC’s Gaza Fiasco • EQUATOR
How the world’s most trusted media organisation fell apart
www.equator.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:04 PM
It was very common to be dismissed whenever it was said that Gaza would unravel everything, and this essay really does acutely show how true and poignant that was www.equator.org/articles/ins...
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
And when you've done that, follow @4refugeewomen.bsky.social, who conducted this research, for more on how our asylum system harms women - and how to build a system where women can rebuild their lives on their own terms.
November 14, 2025 at 9:55 AM
And when you've done that, follow @4refugeewomen.bsky.social, who conducted this research, for more on how our asylum system harms women - and how to build a system where women can rebuild their lives on their own terms.
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
There are so many reasons the work ban has to end - and this is one of the most important ones.
The good news is, pressure to end this unjust and illogical ban is building. Add your voice now, and tell the Government it's time to let people work:
bit.ly/LTB-act
The good news is, pressure to end this unjust and illogical ban is building. Add your voice now, and tell the Government it's time to let people work:
bit.ly/LTB-act
November 14, 2025 at 9:55 AM
There are so many reasons the work ban has to end - and this is one of the most important ones.
The good news is, pressure to end this unjust and illogical ban is building. Add your voice now, and tell the Government it's time to let people work:
bit.ly/LTB-act
The good news is, pressure to end this unjust and illogical ban is building. Add your voice now, and tell the Government it's time to let people work:
bit.ly/LTB-act
I love 'party privately tells MPs' as though opinion polls weren't published in the national press several times a week.
Half of voters who backed Labour in 2024 have deserted the party, according to internal polling shared with Labour MPs, reports PolHome's Harriet Symonds
The figures suggest Labour's lost vote is broadly split between its left and right flanks, demonstrating the electoral challenge facing the party
The figures suggest Labour's lost vote is broadly split between its left and right flanks, demonstrating the electoral challenge facing the party
Half of 2024 Labour Voters Have Gone Elsewhere, Party Privately Tells MPs
Half of voters who backed Labour at the last general election have deserted the party, according to internal polling shared with Labour MPs.
www.politicshome.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I love 'party privately tells MPs' as though opinion polls weren't published in the national press several times a week.
Discourse on tax in this country is so fucked. What exactly is ominous about this quote, unless you believe that tax is inherently bad:
November 10, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Discourse on tax in this country is so fucked. What exactly is ominous about this quote, unless you believe that tax is inherently bad:
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
open.substack.com/pub/geoffmul...
A lot of very important points in a short post
A lot of very important points in a short post
Hollowed out: can the centre hold?
Can the centre hold and resist the far right?
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:58 PM
open.substack.com/pub/geoffmul...
A lot of very important points in a short post
A lot of very important points in a short post
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
did the sitwells sit well? an investigation
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 AM
did the sitwells sit well? an investigation
Blah blah blah minimum wage rises Rachel Reeves concern worrying blah blah blah... OH PARAGRAPH ELEVEN: "Successive regulators have urged the accounting industry to raise entry-level salaries, but junior pay rises have remained low over the past decade."
www.ft.com/content/b436...
www.ft.com/content/b436...
City bosses warn on pay as minimum wage closes in on graduate salaries
Chief executives voice fears about impact on recruitment ahead of expected rise in Budget
www.ft.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Blah blah blah minimum wage rises Rachel Reeves concern worrying blah blah blah... OH PARAGRAPH ELEVEN: "Successive regulators have urged the accounting industry to raise entry-level salaries, but junior pay rises have remained low over the past decade."
www.ft.com/content/b436...
www.ft.com/content/b436...
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
October 28, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
Keir Starmer should not be allowed to do Private Passions and I am boycotting it in protest. You should have to choose ONE: Desert Island Discs or Private Passions.
October 26, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Keir Starmer should not be allowed to do Private Passions and I am boycotting it in protest. You should have to choose ONE: Desert Island Discs or Private Passions.
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
It’s payday and I’m ordering some spring bulbs for my garden- how wonderfully hopeful!
I’m using @woodscolt79.bsky.social excellent guide to avoid Israeli suppliers.
Part of the Israeli colonial project is replacing native horticulture, violently destroying Palestinian agriculture such as olives.
I’m using @woodscolt79.bsky.social excellent guide to avoid Israeli suppliers.
Part of the Israeli colonial project is replacing native horticulture, violently destroying Palestinian agriculture such as olives.
Boycotting Israeli bulbs
Where do our flower bulbs come from? In June, Instagram poster Vicky Burns Bellman shared her correspondence with bulb supplier Farmer Gracy, and there was a social media flurry when they confirmed…
belledelondres.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:23 AM
It’s payday and I’m ordering some spring bulbs for my garden- how wonderfully hopeful!
I’m using @woodscolt79.bsky.social excellent guide to avoid Israeli suppliers.
Part of the Israeli colonial project is replacing native horticulture, violently destroying Palestinian agriculture such as olives.
I’m using @woodscolt79.bsky.social excellent guide to avoid Israeli suppliers.
Part of the Israeli colonial project is replacing native horticulture, violently destroying Palestinian agriculture such as olives.
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
October 22, 2025 at 11:52 AM
"One Labour MP"..."a senior Labour source"..."a Labour peer"..."a party insider"... Not a single LP representative prepared to put their name to a quote saying 'Racism is wrong, Tory MPs using National Front rhetoric is bad, the Labour party should oppose this.'
These guys are part of the problem.
These guys are part of the problem.
Senior Labour figures have expressed dismay at the Party's "cowardly" and "incompetent" response to Tory shadow minister Katie Lam calling for legal migrants to "go home".
"What’s the point of us saying we’re anti-racist when we fail to call out racism," said one MP.
"What’s the point of us saying we’re anti-racist when we fail to call out racism," said one MP.
Exclusive: Labour Anger Erupts Over Party's Response To Katie Lam Immigration Row
"What’s the point of us saying we’re anti-racist when we fail to call out racism," said one MP.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 9:28 AM
"One Labour MP"..."a senior Labour source"..."a Labour peer"..."a party insider"... Not a single LP representative prepared to put their name to a quote saying 'Racism is wrong, Tory MPs using National Front rhetoric is bad, the Labour party should oppose this.'
These guys are part of the problem.
These guys are part of the problem.
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
Aftonbladet's interview with Greta Thunberg is now available in English - it raises many serious questions, not least about the Swedish govt. effectively abandoning its citizens to torture because it doesn't agree with their politics. A thundering disgrace.
www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/25...
www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/25...
Greta Thunberg: “They kicked me every time the flag touched my face”
– Greta Thunberg on her days in Israeli captivity Beating, kicking, and threats of being gassed in cages. Greta Thunberg and several others from the flotilla ar
www.aftonbladet.se
October 15, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Aftonbladet's interview with Greta Thunberg is now available in English - it raises many serious questions, not least about the Swedish govt. effectively abandoning its citizens to torture because it doesn't agree with their politics. A thundering disgrace.
www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/25...
www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/25...
Last year for Remembrance Sunday a group of us locally read these names as a memorial and a protest against the genocide. We read from 8am until sunset at about 4pm and by that time - after eight hours - we had reached the 7-year-olds.
October 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Last year for Remembrance Sunday a group of us locally read these names as a memorial and a protest against the genocide. We read from 8am until sunset at about 4pm and by that time - after eight hours - we had reached the 7-year-olds.
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
Happy birthday, Julie Andrews.
The Muppet Show - Julie Andrews
YouTube video by Sparklesinbrum
www.youtube.com
October 1, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Happy birthday, Julie Andrews.
Sad news about Tony Harrison, whose poem Long Distance II always makes me cry:
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
Tony Harrison, poet and dramatist, dies aged 88
Known for his outspoken politics, the author was acclaimed for work in theatre, opera, film and TV but wanted to be thought of as a poet above all
www.theguardian.com
September 27, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Sad news about Tony Harrison, whose poem Long Distance II always makes me cry:
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
Reposted by Josephine Grahl
Introducing slightly less cruel/damaging version of Farage's plans would not "outmanoeuvre Reform";would be an economic/ political own goal
Far better to attack Reform/Tories for Powellite ethnonationalism & say migrants who come here, contribute & *choose* to stay are welcome -and become British.
Far better to attack Reform/Tories for Powellite ethnonationalism & say migrants who come here, contribute & *choose* to stay are welcome -and become British.
The current Home Secretary who identifies as 'Blue Labour' was put in place precisely to outmanoeuvre Reform to the right on immigration so we can be fairly certain more costly and lengthy/conditional routes to citizenship will be announced in due course.
This excellent piece by @liamthorp.bsky.social focuses on Farage.
But as it correctly says, the much more immediate threat is that *Labour* will move the goalposts.
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
But as it correctly says, the much more immediate threat is that *Labour* will move the goalposts.
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
September 25, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Introducing slightly less cruel/damaging version of Farage's plans would not "outmanoeuvre Reform";would be an economic/ political own goal
Far better to attack Reform/Tories for Powellite ethnonationalism & say migrants who come here, contribute & *choose* to stay are welcome -and become British.
Far better to attack Reform/Tories for Powellite ethnonationalism & say migrants who come here, contribute & *choose* to stay are welcome -and become British.
Jilly Cooper, Norfolk, and gin.
What’s the most Tory-coded thing you actively love?
Me: Essex. Elgar. Country pubs.
Me: Essex. Elgar. Country pubs.
September 23, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Jilly Cooper, Norfolk, and gin.