Amy Gray
@amygraywrites.bsky.social
Red Duchess, my biog of the Duchess of Atholl MP, OUT NOW from The History Press. Freelance public affairs, small person wrangling, incurable reader, always trying to write. Also on IG.
Pinned
Amy Gray
@amygraywrites.bsky.social
· Aug 28
She’s out today! The remarkable and unfairly forgotten Duchess of Atholl, Scotland’s first woman MP and the Conservatives’ first woman minister, turned the most unlikely rebel in British politics.
Have just horrified my mother by revealing my knowledge of all the words to “Hitler has only got one ball” was acquired at prep school when I was 9. My father, who acquired the same knowledge at the same school 40 years earlier, was delighted 😂
November 15, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Have just horrified my mother by revealing my knowledge of all the words to “Hitler has only got one ball” was acquired at prep school when I was 9. My father, who acquired the same knowledge at the same school 40 years earlier, was delighted 😂
Listening to a current student talking about “people who graduated 20-30 years ago” having it easier and thinking “yeah, it probably was easier for graduates in the 80s.”
Nope.
*I* graduated 20 years ago. He’s talking about my generation as if we’re ancient history.
I’m only 42.
Nope.
*I* graduated 20 years ago. He’s talking about my generation as if we’re ancient history.
I’m only 42.
November 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Listening to a current student talking about “people who graduated 20-30 years ago” having it easier and thinking “yeah, it probably was easier for graduates in the 80s.”
Nope.
*I* graduated 20 years ago. He’s talking about my generation as if we’re ancient history.
I’m only 42.
Nope.
*I* graduated 20 years ago. He’s talking about my generation as if we’re ancient history.
I’m only 42.
Reposted by Amy Gray
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
Put a message on a local WA group asking if anyone wanted 6 back issues of BBC History magazine. At least 8 replies within 2 hours saying yes please. Never throwing them out again.
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Put a message on a local WA group asking if anyone wanted 6 back issues of BBC History magazine. At least 8 replies within 2 hours saying yes please. Never throwing them out again.
It is not a sign of strength for a world leader to be this bothered by a programme watched by around a million people who can’t vote for him in a foreign country.
November 10, 2025 at 10:11 PM
It is not a sign of strength for a world leader to be this bothered by a programme watched by around a million people who can’t vote for him in a foreign country.
Reposted by Amy Gray
In other words, US politicians and pressure groups can pipe the party line directly into millions of households unchallenged, in a way that is much harder in the UK.
This has a huge impact both on trust and cohesion, and on whether politicians feel the need to appeal to moderates or just partisans.
This has a huge impact both on trust and cohesion, and on whether politicians feel the need to appeal to moderates or just partisans.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
In other words, US politicians and pressure groups can pipe the party line directly into millions of households unchallenged, in a way that is much harder in the UK.
This has a huge impact both on trust and cohesion, and on whether politicians feel the need to appeal to moderates or just partisans.
This has a huge impact both on trust and cohesion, and on whether politicians feel the need to appeal to moderates or just partisans.
Reposted by Amy Gray
No single US news source is consumed by more than 25% of Americans, whereas 60% of Brits regularly watch/read/listen to the BBC.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
No single US news source is consumed by more than 25% of Americans, whereas 60% of Brits regularly watch/read/listen to the BBC.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
"Since Labour came into office, we’ve essentially had in Lisa Nandy a culture secretary who might as well be doing the job from witness protection"- @stephenkb.bsky.social today. She's been almost entirely absent from the debate on AI & copyright (*the* issue for many in the creative industries).
November 10, 2025 at 8:46 PM
"Since Labour came into office, we’ve essentially had in Lisa Nandy a culture secretary who might as well be doing the job from witness protection"- @stephenkb.bsky.social today. She's been almost entirely absent from the debate on AI & copyright (*the* issue for many in the creative industries).
I love the BBC. I would pay the licence fee for access just to CBeebies, CBBC & Radio 2/3/4.
It is a national broadcaster, not a state broadcaster, & its editorial decisions should not be made by politicians.
Its journalists make 1000s of editorial decisions every week & get most of them right.
It is a national broadcaster, not a state broadcaster, & its editorial decisions should not be made by politicians.
Its journalists make 1000s of editorial decisions every week & get most of them right.
November 10, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I love the BBC. I would pay the licence fee for access just to CBeebies, CBBC & Radio 2/3/4.
It is a national broadcaster, not a state broadcaster, & its editorial decisions should not be made by politicians.
Its journalists make 1000s of editorial decisions every week & get most of them right.
It is a national broadcaster, not a state broadcaster, & its editorial decisions should not be made by politicians.
Its journalists make 1000s of editorial decisions every week & get most of them right.
When you have an autistic child who really likes the things they like, it is very annoying when brands do this. He’s been asking for weeks if I can get some more Just Right and I’ve only just seen that Kellogg’s have discontinued it.
www.thesun.co.uk/money/367130...
www.thesun.co.uk/money/367130...
Kellogg's axes breakfast cereal hailed ‘humanities greatest achievement’
KELLOGG’S has discontinued a breakfast cereal once branded “humanity’s greatest achievement” in a blow to fans. The cereal giant has confirmed to The Sun that its Just Right…
www.thesun.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
When you have an autistic child who really likes the things they like, it is very annoying when brands do this. He’s been asking for weeks if I can get some more Just Right and I’ve only just seen that Kellogg’s have discontinued it.
www.thesun.co.uk/money/367130...
www.thesun.co.uk/money/367130...
The then Katharine Ramsay was awarded a piano scholarship in her second year at the Royal College of Music. Since she didn’t actually need the financial support, she gave it up so that fellow student Samuel Coleridge Taylor could continue his studies. Read Red Duchess for more.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was a British composer and conductor. His most famous work is "The Song of Hiawatha", a setting of poems by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He named his son Hiawatha. 1/
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
The then Katharine Ramsay was awarded a piano scholarship in her second year at the Royal College of Music. Since she didn’t actually need the financial support, she gave it up so that fellow student Samuel Coleridge Taylor could continue his studies. Read Red Duchess for more.
New review of Red Duchess!
This time in Parliament’s in house magazine, with a readership of people I hope will enjoy a story of rebellion on a matter of principle…
This time in Parliament’s in house magazine, with a readership of people I hope will enjoy a story of rebellion on a matter of principle…
"Gray’s compelling narrative brings this fascinating lady to life"
📚 Baroness Eleanor Laing reviews @amygraywrites.bsky.social 'Red Duchess: Kitty Atholl, A Rebel in Westminster'
bit.ly/43eQUWN
📚 Baroness Eleanor Laing reviews @amygraywrites.bsky.social 'Red Duchess: Kitty Atholl, A Rebel in Westminster'
bit.ly/43eQUWN
'Gray brings a fascinating lady to life': Baroness Laing reviews 'Red Duchess'
Amy Gray tells a compelling story in this inspirational new biography of Scotland's first female MP
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New review of Red Duchess!
This time in Parliament’s in house magazine, with a readership of people I hope will enjoy a story of rebellion on a matter of principle…
This time in Parliament’s in house magazine, with a readership of people I hope will enjoy a story of rebellion on a matter of principle…
Yet another maternity scandal. The NHS is failing pregnant women every day and *not enough* is being done to change it.
EXPOSED: BRITAIN'S NEXT MATERNITY SCANDAL BY @hannahsbee.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Yet another maternity scandal. The NHS is failing pregnant women every day and *not enough* is being done to change it.
This is fascinating. Until reading Katy Balls's piece last week I hadn't appreciated the more moderate Dems campaigning from the centre as so much coverage here has been of Mamdani.
Abby Spanberger will now be governor of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill governor of NJ. I wrote about both of them, and their friend group, last year
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Democrats’ Patriotic Vanguard
A small group of lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds prefigured Harris’s overtly patriotic campaign.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:02 AM
This is fascinating. Until reading Katy Balls's piece last week I hadn't appreciated the more moderate Dems campaigning from the centre as so much coverage here has been of Mamdani.
Reposted by Amy Gray
Abby Spanberger will now be governor of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill governor of NJ. I wrote about both of them, and their friend group, last year
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Democrats’ Patriotic Vanguard
A small group of lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds prefigured Harris’s overtly patriotic campaign.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Abby Spanberger will now be governor of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill governor of NJ. I wrote about both of them, and their friend group, last year
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Top diplomatic gifting right there
November 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Top diplomatic gifting right there
That we should live to see such times
November 1, 2025 at 9:02 PM
That we should live to see such times
Actual size ---> 🎻
The owner of adult websites such as Pornhub told the Financial Times that traffic to the site dropped by more than three-quarters after tougher checks were put in place on.ft.com/3WSAoIa
October 23, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Actual size ---> 🎻
The infantile posturing of students playing at being politicians shouldn't be national news. 20 yrs ago the Oxford Union was home to the most objectionable of my contemporaries & it seems nothing has changed.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Oxford Union president-elect loses vote after Charlie Kirk posts
The Oxford Union announces George Abaraonye loses a no-confidence motion by 1,228 votes to 501.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The infantile posturing of students playing at being politicians shouldn't be national news. 20 yrs ago the Oxford Union was home to the most objectionable of my contemporaries & it seems nothing has changed.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
“More than 600k women are on the NHS waiting list for hospital gynaecology treatment & the gender health gap costs the UK economy *£36bn* a year, through lost productivity from women who are unable to work.”
Women’s healthcare stuck in the Nineties, says health tsar
“We’ve got so complacent about the importance of women’s health that we’ve really let girls and women down.”
www.thetimes.com/article/00d2...
“We’ve got so complacent about the importance of women’s health that we’ve really let girls and women down.”
www.thetimes.com/article/00d2...
Women’s healthcare stuck in the Nineties, says health tsar
Dame Lesley Regan wants to have an open door policy to make it easier for developers of treatments, tests and technology to navigate NHS and government red tape
www.thetimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:31 AM
“More than 600k women are on the NHS waiting list for hospital gynaecology treatment & the gender health gap costs the UK economy *£36bn* a year, through lost productivity from women who are unable to work.”
How will this ambition join up with schools? How are they going to equip teachers to promote these careers?
October 19, 2025 at 7:11 PM
How will this ambition join up with schools? How are they going to equip teachers to promote these careers?
Inc me. But labour wards are not great for recovery - too noisy to sleep properly, long way to the loo, not enough food & not frequent enough pain relief. I was desperate to be discharged both times.
October 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Inc me. But labour wards are not great for recovery - too noisy to sleep properly, long way to the loo, not enough food & not frequent enough pain relief. I was desperate to be discharged both times.
Frees up a Garter spot for someone who actually deserves it
Prince Andrew gives up royal titles including Duke of York after ‘discussion with king’
Prince Andrew gives up royal titles including Duke of York after ‘discussion with king’
In statement released by Buckingham Palace, Andrew says he will give up titles and honours including the Duke of York
*
Virginia Giuffre book extract: ‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’
Prince Andrew has agreed to give up his title as the Duke of York, he said in a statement released through Buckingham Palace.
He said: “In discussion with the king, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Frees up a Garter spot for someone who actually deserves it