Ruth A+
@ruthea.bsky.social
Junior doctor (starting 01/01/2026), dog enthusiast, aspiring runner. Also interested in right to repair, various crafts (mostly fibre/textile related), and improving public transit.
Reposted by Ruth A+
“The US government has decided to sanction — or, essentially, de-person — a European judge for carrying out his official duties in Europe while working in an institution established by Europe’s elected representatives …”
~Yanis Varoufakis
Irish Examiner
☕️🥐
~Yanis Varoufakis
Irish Examiner
☕️🥐
December 3, 2025 at 7:39 AM
“The US government has decided to sanction — or, essentially, de-person — a European judge for carrying out his official duties in Europe while working in an institution established by Europe’s elected representatives …”
~Yanis Varoufakis
Irish Examiner
☕️🥐
~Yanis Varoufakis
Irish Examiner
☕️🥐
Reposted by Ruth A+
You're not seeing the defense and international conflict experts disagreeing because if the facts are true, it's one of the most basic things in the law of armed conflict: You cannot kill people who are "hors de combat," taken out of the game by injury or attack. This is Geneva 101 stuff.
I follower a few defense experts.
Seeing them all straight-up declare this a war crime without any him-and-hawing is uhm
Disconcerting.
Pete Hegseth must resign, as does Stephen Miller. Donald Trump should be subpoenaed before Congress to answer for HIS policy.
Seeing them all straight-up declare this a war crime without any him-and-hawing is uhm
Disconcerting.
Pete Hegseth must resign, as does Stephen Miller. Donald Trump should be subpoenaed before Congress to answer for HIS policy.
November 29, 2025 at 2:01 AM
You're not seeing the defense and international conflict experts disagreeing because if the facts are true, it's one of the most basic things in the law of armed conflict: You cannot kill people who are "hors de combat," taken out of the game by injury or attack. This is Geneva 101 stuff.
Reposted by Ruth A+
Reposted by Ruth A+
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
@bhekisisa.org do incredible reporting and this profile of some of the staff who keep Groote Schuur going js no exception.
Porters are often the first hospital staff patients meet. They're also counsellors, translators and peacekeepers when gang violence follows gunshot victims into emergency rooms. Meet Groote Schuur's frontline workers. #HealthEquity bhekisisa.org/article/prof...
Anatomy of a hospital: Groote Schuur in a time of budget and staffing cuts - Bhekisisa
From porters to engineers, hospital staff navigate chronic underfunding and staffing shortages while maintaining world-class care at one of South Africa's most storied medical institutions.
bhekisisa.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
@bhekisisa.org do incredible reporting and this profile of some of the staff who keep Groote Schuur going js no exception.
Reposted by Ruth A+
Let’s never forget rationing ventilators and Zoom funerals. Boris Johnson and his cronies partied while our loved ones lay dying alone. COVID-19 was the worst public health crisis in a century. We should have locked down earlier. To some of us, PPE was not a get-rich-quick commodity.
November 23, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Let’s never forget rationing ventilators and Zoom funerals. Boris Johnson and his cronies partied while our loved ones lay dying alone. COVID-19 was the worst public health crisis in a century. We should have locked down earlier. To some of us, PPE was not a get-rich-quick commodity.
Reposted by Ruth A+
Free Birth Society shows how disordered discourse fills gaps left by institutional failure. When people feel harmed or unseen by formal systems, parallel worlds of knowledge become compelling, even when dangerous.
November 22, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Free Birth Society shows how disordered discourse fills gaps left by institutional failure. When people feel harmed or unseen by formal systems, parallel worlds of knowledge become compelling, even when dangerous.
Reposted by Ruth A+
Cape Town Repair Cafe is tomorrow!
November 21, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Cape Town Repair Cafe is tomorrow!
I have not (and will not) ever bought clothing from Shein. It’s true that to some extent “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” there are clearly levels of harm within that. Harm reduction seems like a good approach here - avoid (at minimum) the worst offenders.
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
![Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less."
She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards.
They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it.
This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil.
The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option.
"We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents.
"We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreiber7g4o5pujmzmjjzsp5dkz7blfexburuwjispfpv6dki7akjb7a@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM
I have not (and will not) ever bought clothing from Shein. It’s true that to some extent “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” there are clearly levels of harm within that. Harm reduction seems like a good approach here - avoid (at minimum) the worst offenders.
It feels surreal to be able to say this but I’ve finished my medical degree and am now a Doctor! I have the rest of the year to rest and recharge (and move) before starting as an intern on 1 January 2026. It’s been a journey to get to this point with some real highs and some very low lows.
November 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM
It feels surreal to be able to say this but I’ve finished my medical degree and am now a Doctor! I have the rest of the year to rest and recharge (and move) before starting as an intern on 1 January 2026. It’s been a journey to get to this point with some real highs and some very low lows.
The next Cape Town Repair Cafe is just over a week away!
November 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
The next Cape Town Repair Cafe is just over a week away!
Reposted by Ruth A+
The identity of Sarah Kendzior, researcher on authoritarian states, and Sarah Kendzior's content discussing authoritarian states are...not really easy to separate.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
False attribution. If a person is suspended it is because of their identity? Could it not be because of their content? I wrote about it here aaron.leaflet.pub/3m52nqqmk322v
Moderating With Humans, For Humans - Trust Issues
aaron.leaflet.pub
November 11, 2025 at 7:33 PM
The identity of Sarah Kendzior, researcher on authoritarian states, and Sarah Kendzior's content discussing authoritarian states are...not really easy to separate.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
So I'm struggling to see this as a response.
Reposted by Ruth A+
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Ruth A+
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
November 7, 2025 at 7:39 AM
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
So glad to see/find one of my favourite knitwear designers/mending extraordinaire here on Bluesky! She has an incredible book on mending knitwear and also sells the most adorable mini skeins of wool and cashmere specifically for mending!
Learn to mend your knitwear with me in the new year, either in person or online:
www.collingwoodnorrisdesign.com/visible-mend...
I’m really excited to share my skills, and empower you to repair your clothes in style!
#visiblemending #repair #darning #makedoandmend #reducewaste
www.collingwoodnorrisdesign.com/visible-mend...
I’m really excited to share my skills, and empower you to repair your clothes in style!
#visiblemending #repair #darning #makedoandmend #reducewaste
November 4, 2025 at 7:33 PM
So glad to see/find one of my favourite knitwear designers/mending extraordinaire here on Bluesky! She has an incredible book on mending knitwear and also sells the most adorable mini skeins of wool and cashmere specifically for mending!
Reposted by Ruth A+
Ooooh now this looks like an interesting labeler
November 2, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Ooooh now this looks like an interesting labeler
Looking forward to tomorrow’s Cape Town Repair Cafe - our advertising has been much wider than usual so fingers crossed for a good turn out!
October 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Looking forward to tomorrow’s Cape Town Repair Cafe - our advertising has been much wider than usual so fingers crossed for a good turn out!
Reposted by Ruth A+
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
October 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
Reposted by Ruth A+
This line from Mamdani's father just really struck me. Great profile:
“I was an Indian in Uganda. I was a Muslim in India. And I was all of these things in New York City,” Mahmood Mamdani explained to his son. And “to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place amidst the promise of it.”
“I was an Indian in Uganda. I was a Muslim in India. And I was all of these things in New York City,” Mahmood Mamdani explained to his son. And “to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place amidst the promise of it.”
we’ll see how his mayoral tenure shakes out but i am convinced that Mamdani has the juice. not just the charisma to win an election but the temperament to govern and the measured pragmatism of someone who genuinely believes what they’re saying and wants to accomplish real things.
Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM
This line from Mamdani's father just really struck me. Great profile:
“I was an Indian in Uganda. I was a Muslim in India. And I was all of these things in New York City,” Mahmood Mamdani explained to his son. And “to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place amidst the promise of it.”
“I was an Indian in Uganda. I was a Muslim in India. And I was all of these things in New York City,” Mahmood Mamdani explained to his son. And “to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place amidst the promise of it.”
Reposted by Ruth A+
🤖 If you use LinkedIn, please be aware that they automatically use your profile to train their GenAI. To turn off, go to Settings > Data Privacy > Data for Gen AI improvements.
October 11, 2025 at 11:04 PM
🤖 If you use LinkedIn, please be aware that they automatically use your profile to train their GenAI. To turn off, go to Settings > Data Privacy > Data for Gen AI improvements.
Reposted by Ruth A+
“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”
apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com/article/pope...
Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.
apnews.com
October 12, 2025 at 5:16 PM
“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”
apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com/article/pope...
I’ve so enjoyed helping to put on these Repair Cafe events - the last one had so many new faces. The next event will be on Saturday 25 October and it would be great to see more newcomers.
October 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
I’ve so enjoyed helping to put on these Repair Cafe events - the last one had so many new faces. The next event will be on Saturday 25 October and it would be great to see more newcomers.
Reposted by Ruth A+
The most fundamental political debate of our time: You are integrated into and have responsibility for our complex, imperfect society vs. Nuh-uh.
October 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The most fundamental political debate of our time: You are integrated into and have responsibility for our complex, imperfect society vs. Nuh-uh.
Reposted by Ruth A+
Things to consider:
Document the violence & violations--on camera, w/photos, saving images--any way you can. Speaking as a historian- it will matter
Point out violations--w/images & text--even if you think it won't matter. It will. It needs to be called out & exposed
You are a witness.
Expose it.
Document the violence & violations--on camera, w/photos, saving images--any way you can. Speaking as a historian- it will matter
Point out violations--w/images & text--even if you think it won't matter. It will. It needs to be called out & exposed
You are a witness.
Expose it.
October 5, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Things to consider:
Document the violence & violations--on camera, w/photos, saving images--any way you can. Speaking as a historian- it will matter
Point out violations--w/images & text--even if you think it won't matter. It will. It needs to be called out & exposed
You are a witness.
Expose it.
Document the violence & violations--on camera, w/photos, saving images--any way you can. Speaking as a historian- it will matter
Point out violations--w/images & text--even if you think it won't matter. It will. It needs to be called out & exposed
You are a witness.
Expose it.