Joanna Rial
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joriro.bsky.social
Joanna Rial
@joriro.bsky.social
London Blue Badge Tourist Guide. EastEndish, Spanish and now a bit Kentish. N.B… bringing God to my door/selling me business ops/crypto/dodgy selfies & ya muscles/endless list of only-female follows = immediate BLOCK⛔️☺️✌️
Proof in all the alt texts that Tom Cox is rapidly becoming GOAT himself on Bluesky. 🐐
THREAD.

A collection of photographs of excellent goats I have met during walks in the British countryside.

You will find the captions to each photo in the alt text.
December 7, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
"From Republican soldiers to ‘Tommies’: The Spaniards who wore British uniforms to fight in #WW2" by @almasylaszlo in @elpaisinenglish An excellent article on #ChurchillsSpaniards 👇🏽
english.elpais.com/culture/2024...
November 25, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
Selling some haunted paintings (in #Nottingham) to raise funds for my cat shelter, please spread the word among your arty / under-ghouled friends

www.facebook.com/marketplace/...
Facebook
www.facebook.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
The Liberal Democrats hold 72 parliamentary seats, yet the media have sidelined Ed Davey while Reform UK Ltd hogs column inches and airtime | P.S.
Liberal Democrats vs Reform UK Ltd: who’s really the underdog?
The Liberal Democrats hold 72 parliamentary seats, yet the media have sidelined Ed Davey while Reform UK Ltd hogs column inches and airtime
centralbylines.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
This ⬇️
November 19, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
A Map Of Britain After The 2029 Technology Crash, by me and my dad.
November 5, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
I tend to agree with this. If AI works like its cheerleaders claim/hope it will - replacing whole swathes of human labour - then they need a real economic plan for dealing with the consequences of that. This can only mean heavily redistributing the profits.
you either need universal basic income for humans or you must limit the use of Gen AI in such a way that humans aren’t radically impoverished as a result.

you cannot have both, both for morality reasons and also because this is the kind of thing that can result in globally-nightmarish conflict.
This seems more like an argument for universal basic income than for limiting technology. (I think both are probably futile in the current political environment, but I’d prefer the latter.)
November 2, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
Any shares of this much appreciated! When my ex-publishers collapsed, taking over £20,000 of my earnings with them into the void, all my books suffered but none more than 1983. This is me trying to repair that. It’s about:
Childhood
Education
Aliens
Alpacas
The East Midlands
The old future we lost
Hello! My CEO Roscoe and I are giving away TWO signed copies of my novel 1983 to two randomly selected people who repost this & pop a reply below. You also get a free postcard of this illustration of Roscoe by my mum.

It’s been called “Stranger Things rewritten by Kurt Vonnegut & Sue Townsend”…
November 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
Honey, who was sold for £400 in a car park and turned out to be both pregnant and epileptic, has single-pawedly spent our whole operations fund. Help please? 😬
Our operations fund disappeared overnight
We recently took in a beautiful British shorthair called Honey who was sold for £400 in a car park. Her new owner quickly found that she was a) pregnant and b) epileptic. She gave birth to 10 kittens, of which 8 survived. When they'd all been sold, her new owner decided she didn't want her anymore because of her (untreated!) seizures. And so she came to us. We took her to the vets and ordered some phenobarbital, which we've used with great success on two other epileptic cats. However, before it came in, poor Honey had a severe seizure and then two more in the space of a day. Our fosterer took her to the emergency vet, where she had to be kept in on an IV to get her phenobarbital level up quickly to stop the seizures. She's recovering beautifully, but her treatment has completely emptied our bank account, and we had quite a few operations planned that we still need to do: - Lemon, an old lady found on the street needs a full dental and a scan to find out why she's so wheezy - Thomasina, another golden oldie stray, needs a full dental now she's stable on her thyroid meds - Lenny, who spent 2 years wobbling on the streets, needs his neuter and jabs - Sabrina, who survived the panleukopenia that killed her kittens, needs her spay and jabs - Kirby, a sweet grey wobbler, needs his neuter and jabs - Boots, a handsome orange boy who recently spent his 14th birthday outside as his owners didn't want him anymore, needs a fair bit of treatment, plus a birthday party! If you can help with any of this, we would hugely appreciate it. I'm taking some of my jewellery to be sold at the weekend but I don't think it's worth very much unfortunately. I'm really glad we could help stop Honey's constant scary, debilitating seizures, so I know we did the right thing. It's just that the others have been waiting so patiently for their treatment so they can find wonderful new homes, and I don't want to let them down. Thank you. Love Holly and the moggies x
www.paypal.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Hey lovely Bluesky folk, would you mind signing this? Get the penguins out of that cruddy basement!
act.38degrees.org.uk/act/save-our...
Save the penguins! Free them from Sea Life aquarium!
Right now, penguins at Sea Life London are suffering terrible conditions. I’ve just signed the petition demanding they’re moved from their underground basement to a more natural environment NOW. Will ...
act.38degrees.org.uk
October 20, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Some fodder sent and now reposting xxxx
It's apparently Amazon Prime Big Deals Day, or something?! If you've finished buying shiny things and would like to treat some homeless moggies to a meal, here's our wishlist. Thank you 🫶
Check out my list on Amazon
www.amazon.co.uk
October 7, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
We've had an incredibly anxious night with wobbly baby Squiggle, but she's still with us & tentatively a bit better -- vet described her as "one hell of a fighter."

Please help us keep her fighting ❤️

gofund.me/662b94d7e
Donate to Giving little Squiggle the very best chance, organized by Holly Brockwell
In August, a tiny, fluffy powerhouse arrived at our rescue. Found in a fie… Holly Brockwell needs your support for Giving little Squiggle the very best chance
gofund.me
September 25, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
The people marching in London today are very obviously the ideological descendants of the Mosleyite BUF fascists of the 1930s.

The mainstream news and media are too timid to point it out, but that's what they are - and we normalise it at our peril.
September 13, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
RIGHT.

That's 10k. So you're getting a month of history threads.

If it hits 12k I'll FINALLY sit down and do the proper series on Military Holy Orders on YouTube people keep asking for.

Knights Hospitallers defending Protestants against the Pope! The Leper Order! The full works!
August 9, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
Many thanks to anyone who chooses to share this. These are the last of the 53000+ books I bought from my ex-publisher Unbound earlier this year, after they stopped paying me and I took my rights back. We have 200-300 left and Jim would love to clear a bit of space in his room (he is very large).
If anyone would like one of these solely for the price of postage (& a bit extra of your choice but no problem if not), please email me and Jim at hello@tom-cox.com and let us know your address.

Stephen Fry called this book "hilarious" but what does he know? Don't trust him. Give it a go yourself.
July 24, 2025 at 8:22 PM
I had no idea that I needed this in my life 😍 I am immediately soothed. Thank you @garius.bsky.social
I'll take any excuse to post the Pokemons dancing to Orinoco Flow again.
April 3, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
You're not even wearing a suit
March 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
Ukraine: Some disparate thoughts on a horrifying day...

This is basically a scream of hatred and anguish, which gradually develops into something marginally more positive.

I'm going to have a drink. It's not too early.

iandunt.substack.com/p/some-dispa...
Some disparate thoughts on a horrifying day
American leadership is over. Ukraine has been betrayed. What happens next is up to us.
iandunt.substack.com
March 1, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
About as succinct as it gets
January 14, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
I'm Katie, I'm in the UK, and I sell history-themed goodies including cards, badges and magnets (and vintage books and postcards) through my website creativehistorian.co.uk/ourshop/
December 3, 2024 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
The ecosystem of writers, editors, copyeditors, illustrators, book cover artists, and agents that AI could harm is mind-boggling. Please continue to buy books by real authors, and art by real artists. We are going to need your support.
Why? Who is this meant to be good for? Nobody wants your shit AI books, never mind 8,000 in a year. Just a terrible idea and a horrible road the publishing industry is heading down.
November 26, 2024 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
All in my book CHURCHILL’S SPANIARDS. Get a signed copy...
coles-books.co.uk/churchill-s-...
Churchill's Spaniards by Séan F Scullion - Signed Edition
Hand Signed by Séan F Scullion to a Book Specific BookplateHardback Edition
coles-books.co.uk
November 17, 2024 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
A great story this! Reminds me of the story of Dr Josep Trueta...he fled into exile to England after the #SCW, having been the chief of trauma services for the main hospital in Barcelona during the war. A short 🧵
November 17, 2024 at 8:48 PM
Not allowed cats in my rental but I have emergency cats - Grimalkin and Piewacket - for solace #ProofOfCat
November 6, 2024 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Joanna Rial
I'm doing everything I can but I'm kind of out of options here. This year is worse than I've ever seen it. I so want to say yes to the cats that have nowhere else to turn -- but I need your help to do it.

Can you help us?
gofund.me/1fff68e4
Donate to Help us save cats & kittens from the cold this winter, organized by Holly Brockwell
Thank you for considering our winter appeal. I'm Holly Brockwell… Holly Brockwell needs your support for Help us save cats & kittens from the cold this winter
gofund.me
October 30, 2024 at 11:44 PM