Helene
@forwantofanail.bsky.social
🔶’So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past’. European. Anti-fascist. Friend 🇺🇦 District Councillor
Reposted by Helene
Don't suppose I have any Cambridge ancient history/archaeology aficionados who follow me here? I have made an odd discovery in the layout of the city and I need someone to tell me if its stupid.
December 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Don't suppose I have any Cambridge ancient history/archaeology aficionados who follow me here? I have made an odd discovery in the layout of the city and I need someone to tell me if its stupid.
Reposted by Helene
The number of global deaths of children under-5 is projected to increase this year (from 4.6m to 4.8m) for the first time this century. (FT)
The price of aid cuts.
The price of aid cuts.
December 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM
The number of global deaths of children under-5 is projected to increase this year (from 4.6m to 4.8m) for the first time this century. (FT)
The price of aid cuts.
The price of aid cuts.
Reposted by Helene
I don't really post anymore, but I would like to carry on writing books at some point in the future.
Hate to be annoying, but any chance you could retweet so old twitter followers can find me if they want to? Going to delete my twitter, or at least abandon it on lock and let it die a slow death.
Hate to be annoying, but any chance you could retweet so old twitter followers can find me if they want to? Going to delete my twitter, or at least abandon it on lock and let it die a slow death.
December 11, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I don't really post anymore, but I would like to carry on writing books at some point in the future.
Hate to be annoying, but any chance you could retweet so old twitter followers can find me if they want to? Going to delete my twitter, or at least abandon it on lock and let it die a slow death.
Hate to be annoying, but any chance you could retweet so old twitter followers can find me if they want to? Going to delete my twitter, or at least abandon it on lock and let it die a slow death.
Reposted by Helene
I can’t help thinking that when, in future, people ask what UK political leaders said as it became undeniable that US saw European liberal democracy as its no1 strategic foe, Starmer and others will regret that the answer is “not much, shuffled awkwardly, looked at their feet”.
December 10, 2025 at 9:38 AM
I can’t help thinking that when, in future, people ask what UK political leaders said as it became undeniable that US saw European liberal democracy as its no1 strategic foe, Starmer and others will regret that the answer is “not much, shuffled awkwardly, looked at their feet”.
Reposted by Helene
Six weeks since the PM said Britain faced a choice between decency or division and our bad, obviously, for not understanding that he was in fact Team Division
November 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Six weeks since the PM said Britain faced a choice between decency or division and our bad, obviously, for not understanding that he was in fact Team Division
Reposted by Helene
If a Prime Minister is brought down by being too cruel on asylum policy - which is not the most likely option but feels plausible right now, which is new - what does that do the debate? Is it too much to hope that draws some kind of line?
November 17, 2025 at 12:46 PM
If a Prime Minister is brought down by being too cruel on asylum policy - which is not the most likely option but feels plausible right now, which is new - what does that do the debate? Is it too much to hope that draws some kind of line?
Reposted by Helene
How big a piece of shit would you have to be to buy the confiscated jewelry of asylum seekers at a government auction?
November 17, 2025 at 10:35 AM
How big a piece of shit would you have to be to buy the confiscated jewelry of asylum seekers at a government auction?
Reposted by Helene
Today is not the day to argue "oh so you want Reform to win then" as an argument for Labour's indefensible and inhumane anti-asylum policies. At least be honest and own that you're defending racist policies promoted with genuinely far right talking points. Don't try and pretend this is "progressive"
November 16, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Today is not the day to argue "oh so you want Reform to win then" as an argument for Labour's indefensible and inhumane anti-asylum policies. At least be honest and own that you're defending racist policies promoted with genuinely far right talking points. Don't try and pretend this is "progressive"
Reposted by Helene
We have chaos and Ed Miliband, they're just not evenly distributed.
November 13, 2025 at 1:15 PM
We have chaos and Ed Miliband, they're just not evenly distributed.
Reposted by Helene
Reading about the rapid collapse of Eastern European governments in 1989 as completely rotten and corrupt leaderships disintegrated when people realised fear was all that was holding them up. Apropos of nothing.
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reading about the rapid collapse of Eastern European governments in 1989 as completely rotten and corrupt leaderships disintegrated when people realised fear was all that was holding them up. Apropos of nothing.
Reposted by Helene
Absolutely right. I criticise BBC News, because we need it to be as good as we know it can be. People like Farage criticise the BBC, because they work for its competitors and don't want it to exist.
🎯 Davey is spot on. "We can have criticism of the BBC, but within that, we need to recognise how valuable an institution it is [and how] precious to our country. And that's one of the reasons why people like President Trump and Nigel Farage, want to undermine the BBC." 👏🏽~AA
November 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Absolutely right. I criticise BBC News, because we need it to be as good as we know it can be. People like Farage criticise the BBC, because they work for its competitors and don't want it to exist.
Reposted by Helene
This morning, alongside local veterans and Town Council workers, Cllr Helene Leeming helped plant the new memorial garden for Cambourne.
South Cambs District Council awarded £20,000 to fund the project, so Cambourne can finally get a war memorial after 25 years.
South Cambs District Council awarded £20,000 to fund the project, so Cambourne can finally get a war memorial after 25 years.
October 22, 2025 at 1:31 PM
This morning, alongside local veterans and Town Council workers, Cllr Helene Leeming helped plant the new memorial garden for Cambourne.
South Cambs District Council awarded £20,000 to fund the project, so Cambourne can finally get a war memorial after 25 years.
South Cambs District Council awarded £20,000 to fund the project, so Cambourne can finally get a war memorial after 25 years.
Reposted by Helene
This, this, this. If journalists don’t scrutinize this and explain it properly now then they have failed on their duty and will bear a share of the blame if such policies are enacted (most of the public oppose them and don’t I think realise what is being proposed yet).
Apropos of nothing, I really do think UK journalists and politicians need some reminding that mass deportation of LEGAL immigrants, particularly those with permanent status, is far more extreme than even Trump's America and would basically place Britain completely on its own among democracies.
October 19, 2025 at 12:25 PM
This, this, this. If journalists don’t scrutinize this and explain it properly now then they have failed on their duty and will bear a share of the blame if such policies are enacted (most of the public oppose them and don’t I think realise what is being proposed yet).
Wondering how a country that responded so definitively to a tea tax will react to coffee tariffs.
August 7, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Wondering how a country that responded so definitively to a tea tax will react to coffee tariffs.
Reposted by Helene
🚨BREAKING🚨
Liberal Democrats have GAINED Cambridgeshire for the first time ever. 🔶
11 GAINS to elect 31 Councillors!
Liberal Democrats have GAINED Cambridgeshire for the first time ever. 🔶
11 GAINS to elect 31 Councillors!
May 2, 2025 at 4:25 PM
🚨BREAKING🚨
Liberal Democrats have GAINED Cambridgeshire for the first time ever. 🔶
11 GAINS to elect 31 Councillors!
Liberal Democrats have GAINED Cambridgeshire for the first time ever. 🔶
11 GAINS to elect 31 Councillors!
Reposted by Helene
We can’t even *convict* foreign criminals. Nor homegrown ones.
Because - and I know ministers like to pretend this isn’t true, but we will keep saying it - the criminal justice system is in absolute meltdown.
So maybe address that before making little league tables of which foreign is the baddest.
Because - and I know ministers like to pretend this isn’t true, but we will keep saying it - the criminal justice system is in absolute meltdown.
So maybe address that before making little league tables of which foreign is the baddest.
Home Office to publish nationalities of foreign criminals in UK
Home Office to publish nationalities of foreign criminals in UK
Government wants public to be better informed about foreign criminals but critics say it could reinforce prejudices
The nationalities of foreign criminals in the UK are due to be published for the first time, under plans to be disclosed by the Home Office.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is understood to have ordered officials to publish the data, including crimes that have been committed, by the end of the year. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
April 22, 2025 at 10:23 AM
We can’t even *convict* foreign criminals. Nor homegrown ones.
Because - and I know ministers like to pretend this isn’t true, but we will keep saying it - the criminal justice system is in absolute meltdown.
So maybe address that before making little league tables of which foreign is the baddest.
Because - and I know ministers like to pretend this isn’t true, but we will keep saying it - the criminal justice system is in absolute meltdown.
So maybe address that before making little league tables of which foreign is the baddest.
Watching the fiscal news as though it is the British weather forecast. Yesterday was bond markets, today is the $⬇️. Something different every day.
But none of it is temperate.
But none of it is temperate.
April 11, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Watching the fiscal news as though it is the British weather forecast. Yesterday was bond markets, today is the $⬇️. Something different every day.
But none of it is temperate.
But none of it is temperate.
Reposted by Helene
Why would you move your manufacturing to America when next week the tariffs might half, or disappear, or double, or grow wings and fly, or be turned into a goblin, or become an emotion, or
April 9, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Why would you move your manufacturing to America when next week the tariffs might half, or disappear, or double, or grow wings and fly, or be turned into a goblin, or become an emotion, or
Opened my pension app. Shut it again quickly.
April 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Opened my pension app. Shut it again quickly.
Reposted by Helene
6. The silence of corporations in response to Trump's ruinous tariffs is evidence that the country is sliding toward autocracy. There is a widespread belief that government power will be used to punish critics.
popular.info/p/trump-tari...
popular.info/p/trump-tari...
Trump tariffs, corporations cower
During the Biden administration, corporate executives regularly expressed their displeasure with policies they opposed.
popular.info
April 7, 2025 at 12:55 PM
6. The silence of corporations in response to Trump's ruinous tariffs is evidence that the country is sliding toward autocracy. There is a widespread belief that government power will be used to punish critics.
popular.info/p/trump-tari...
popular.info/p/trump-tari...
Reposted by Helene
You may be fearing your 401k is no longer enough for you to retire. But with all the cuts to NIH and Medicare you also won't live as long. So the policies are integrated.
April 7, 2025 at 1:20 AM
You may be fearing your 401k is no longer enough for you to retire. But with all the cuts to NIH and Medicare you also won't live as long. So the policies are integrated.
Last time I looked, the Dow was down 3.6%.
There is something quite disconcerting about trying to measure this global chaos and vandalism with maths or even words.
There is something quite disconcerting about trying to measure this global chaos and vandalism with maths or even words.
April 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Last time I looked, the Dow was down 3.6%.
There is something quite disconcerting about trying to measure this global chaos and vandalism with maths or even words.
There is something quite disconcerting about trying to measure this global chaos and vandalism with maths or even words.
Listening to Sky News saying this 10% tariff is as good as it can get.
So we must celebrate only being smacked half as hard as our neighbours, whose economies are intertwined with ours?
And incidentally, there is one significant country with no tariffs - Russia.
Incoherent.
So we must celebrate only being smacked half as hard as our neighbours, whose economies are intertwined with ours?
And incidentally, there is one significant country with no tariffs - Russia.
Incoherent.
April 3, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Listening to Sky News saying this 10% tariff is as good as it can get.
So we must celebrate only being smacked half as hard as our neighbours, whose economies are intertwined with ours?
And incidentally, there is one significant country with no tariffs - Russia.
Incoherent.
So we must celebrate only being smacked half as hard as our neighbours, whose economies are intertwined with ours?
And incidentally, there is one significant country with no tariffs - Russia.
Incoherent.
Reposted by Helene
The former ambassador to Denmark for the United States, Rufus Gifford, posted this video on his Facebook account:
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
March 29, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The former ambassador to Denmark for the United States, Rufus Gifford, posted this video on his Facebook account:
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
Reposted by Helene
It might not seem like the major issue, but the historical illiteracy of an American administration complaining that freeloading Europeans haven't done enough to militarily control the Suez Canal is quite the thing, eh?
March 25, 2025 at 8:17 AM
It might not seem like the major issue, but the historical illiteracy of an American administration complaining that freeloading Europeans haven't done enough to militarily control the Suez Canal is quite the thing, eh?