Penny Homer
@socialsoprano.bsky.social
Usually found in or in front of the choir. More of a menopausal mezzo these days but gotta keep the brand identity. When not singing I'm usually Trekking to a Star or drinking a beer (or both). West Brom sufferer. Trans rights are human rights. She/her
Reposted by Penny Homer
Wrote this a couple of weeks ago. Feels more relevant still after today. And it’s a deficit of self awareness which goes far beyond some members of the BBC board.
November 24, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Wrote this a couple of weeks ago. Feels more relevant still after today. And it’s a deficit of self awareness which goes far beyond some members of the BBC board.
Reposted by Penny Homer
I wonder why
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has seen her favourability drop 32 points among Labour members since her plans for asylum policy reform were announced
Cabinet rankings: Mahmood sees sharp drop in approval among Labour members – LabourList
Shabana Mahmood’s approval among Labour members has plummeted since her announcement on reform of asylum policy, exclusive polling for LabourList has revealed. The poll, conducted…
labourlist.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I wonder why
Reposted by Penny Homer
Good point about why AI isn't being designed to replace domestic chores or tedious manual labor. The tech billionaires pushing this stuff into art and relationships have servants; they don't need robots.
These guys have never had to do any of that kind of difficult or gross stuff so of course AI is mostly a way to address their own lack of an inner life.
November 24, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Good point about why AI isn't being designed to replace domestic chores or tedious manual labor. The tech billionaires pushing this stuff into art and relationships have servants; they don't need robots.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Maybe everyone at the Atlantic will get bird flu for putting this guy and the word science on the cover
Over many interviews, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Michael Scherer about how he plans to remake America’s public-health system. Can he lead the scientific establishment he’s spent much of his life crusading against?
Read more in our new cover story: theatln.tc/q9hXxlbM
Read more in our new cover story: theatln.tc/q9hXxlbM
November 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Maybe everyone at the Atlantic will get bird flu for putting this guy and the word science on the cover
Nearly a million for a total wreck. London property is mad.
They really don't want to share any interior shots but when they do, you just know that unspeakable acts have been committed within... www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
Check out this 3 bedroom end of terrace house for sale on Rightmove
3 bedroom end of terrace house for sale in 75 Camden Mews, Camden, London, NW1 9BY, NW1 for £925,000. Marketed by Auction House London, Hampstead
www.rightmove.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Nearly a million for a total wreck. London property is mad.
Reposted by Penny Homer
You can make art.
The biggest step isn't getting good at art, it's being willing to make art that doesn't match the idea of "good art" in your head.
Making a lot of imperfect art is an essential step toward making perfect art; a counterproductive goal you shouldn't have anyway.
Just make art.
The biggest step isn't getting good at art, it's being willing to make art that doesn't match the idea of "good art" in your head.
Making a lot of imperfect art is an essential step toward making perfect art; a counterproductive goal you shouldn't have anyway.
Just make art.
November 22, 2025 at 12:11 PM
You can make art.
The biggest step isn't getting good at art, it's being willing to make art that doesn't match the idea of "good art" in your head.
Making a lot of imperfect art is an essential step toward making perfect art; a counterproductive goal you shouldn't have anyway.
Just make art.
The biggest step isn't getting good at art, it's being willing to make art that doesn't match the idea of "good art" in your head.
Making a lot of imperfect art is an essential step toward making perfect art; a counterproductive goal you shouldn't have anyway.
Just make art.
Reposted by Penny Homer
The destruction of the federal government disproportionately affects black women. The federal civil service has long been a good career option because of the strong equal opportunity enforced in the civil service that has historically blunted the double discrimination that black women face.
Since February, according to my latest analysis, almost 600,000 Black women have been economically sidelined. The November 20, 2025, Jobs Report makes clear this isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. That is not a recovery. It is a redistribution of opportunity.
The exit economy is here. Black Women are paying the highest price | Fortune
This isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. And it's not a recovery, it's a redistribution of opportunity.
fortune.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:52 PM
The destruction of the federal government disproportionately affects black women. The federal civil service has long been a good career option because of the strong equal opportunity enforced in the civil service that has historically blunted the double discrimination that black women face.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Look, I am very small potatoes as an author. I make too little in royalties to live off them. But I can tell you the reason I got to write my 2nd book was bc the sales of the 1st were very good. That's what else you're eating into by pirating, our ability to keep writing what you claim to love.
November 24, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Look, I am very small potatoes as an author. I make too little in royalties to live off them. But I can tell you the reason I got to write my 2nd book was bc the sales of the 1st were very good. That's what else you're eating into by pirating, our ability to keep writing what you claim to love.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Mood of UK political Bluesky, 2 days before the Budget: We're discussing about how we guarantee our own deaths in a nuclear war.
Things are going well.
Things are going well.
Yes, as a zone one dweller, I am maybe...against nuclear power if it takes away the central London guarantee of 'ending up a shadow on the wall' quite frankly.
November 24, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Mood of UK political Bluesky, 2 days before the Budget: We're discussing about how we guarantee our own deaths in a nuclear war.
Things are going well.
Things are going well.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Everything wrong with political journalism in one graf. This is not a policy proposal that exists but that doesn’t matter, what matters is that someone “won” by asking it bsky.app/profile/larr...
What a strange framing and characterization. How does one describe his blatantly dishonest, racist question about taxes as “press[ing] the Mayor-elect on his policy proposals”? In what way does this lying troll emerge as a “winner“?
November 24, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Everything wrong with political journalism in one graf. This is not a policy proposal that exists but that doesn’t matter, what matters is that someone “won” by asking it bsky.app/profile/larr...
Reposted by Penny Homer
I’m usually giving counsel of despair so let me offer a hopeful note now: all this is the desperate thrashing of a dying generation, horrified to see up close the consequences of raising their children to believe violence and racism are wrong, and that people should treat each other decently.
This one really is useful because you won’t see a more clear demonstration of one of the most damaging political phenomena of the era: the reactionary professional mind rejecting unacceptable reality, only able to process and comprehend it via something close to conspiracy theory.
Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz says Jewish students shouldn’t have smartphones until they finish high school — so they don’t see the “carnage” Israel and the U.S. have carried out in Gaza.
Video: Mel via X (@Villgecrazylady)
Video: Mel via X (@Villgecrazylady)
November 24, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I’m usually giving counsel of despair so let me offer a hopeful note now: all this is the desperate thrashing of a dying generation, horrified to see up close the consequences of raising their children to believe violence and racism are wrong, and that people should treat each other decently.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Also make sure that your child reads the AI generated “ebooks” on ReadingPlus as that generates the reports we need for the DofE and which we can’t provide if she reads actual books for fun instead
Messages from school to my parents in the 90s: Fill in the slip at the bottom & bring in £2 for the trip to the zoo
Messages from school now: Your child's exam schedule is on Zoop, login via the LernPortal to access it, the results will be on HoneyTree, their homework is on Zappp & NumberHub
Messages from school now: Your child's exam schedule is on Zoop, login via the LernPortal to access it, the results will be on HoneyTree, their homework is on Zappp & NumberHub
November 24, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Also make sure that your child reads the AI generated “ebooks” on ReadingPlus as that generates the reports we need for the DofE and which we can’t provide if she reads actual books for fun instead
Reposted by Penny Homer
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Star of The Harder They Come had hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want and I Can See Clearly Now
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican reggae singer, actor and cultural icon, dies aged 81
Reposted by Penny Homer
The second problem with this — after the fact that it will bankrupt a bunch of institutions — is that the government doesn’t seem to know if it wants to a) raise lots of money from intentional students or b) discourage universities from relying on international students. You can’t have both!!
These are HEPI estimates of the 20 institutions affected: I think this illustrates the impact if the tariff is absorbed in full by institutions.
What share of the 6% tariff different universities may try to pass on to fees - or the impact might be on demand if they did - is not publicly known.
What share of the 6% tariff different universities may try to pass on to fees - or the impact might be on demand if they did - is not publicly known.
November 24, 2025 at 11:06 AM
The second problem with this — after the fact that it will bankrupt a bunch of institutions — is that the government doesn’t seem to know if it wants to a) raise lots of money from intentional students or b) discourage universities from relying on international students. You can’t have both!!
Reposted by Penny Homer
Oh look, my university's about to lose £21 million because Labour want to appease some mythical racists who won't vote for them anyway.
These are HEPI estimates of the 20 institutions affected: I think this illustrates the impact if the tariff is absorbed in full by institutions.
What share of the 6% tariff different universities may try to pass on to fees - or the impact might be on demand if they did - is not publicly known.
What share of the 6% tariff different universities may try to pass on to fees - or the impact might be on demand if they did - is not publicly known.
November 24, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Oh look, my university's about to lose £21 million because Labour want to appease some mythical racists who won't vote for them anyway.
Reposted by Penny Homer
FFS 😡
FINLAND IS NOT RE-GAUGING ITS RAILWAYS
Just because an urbanist influencer has posted a 6 months old piece (that was anyway inaccurate) about it does not mean it is happening!
Finland *might* lay some additional standard gauge track from Sweden to Oulu
FINLAND IS NOT RE-GAUGING ITS RAILWAYS
Just because an urbanist influencer has posted a 6 months old piece (that was anyway inaccurate) about it does not mean it is happening!
Finland *might* lay some additional standard gauge track from Sweden to Oulu
November 24, 2025 at 11:41 AM
FFS 😡
FINLAND IS NOT RE-GAUGING ITS RAILWAYS
Just because an urbanist influencer has posted a 6 months old piece (that was anyway inaccurate) about it does not mean it is happening!
Finland *might* lay some additional standard gauge track from Sweden to Oulu
FINLAND IS NOT RE-GAUGING ITS RAILWAYS
Just because an urbanist influencer has posted a 6 months old piece (that was anyway inaccurate) about it does not mean it is happening!
Finland *might* lay some additional standard gauge track from Sweden to Oulu
Reposted by Penny Homer
Now to check the history of NHS funding and see who was responsible for large amounts of budget reduction for its services including cancer screening
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Now to check the history of NHS funding and see who was responsible for large amounts of budget reduction for its services including cancer screening
Reposted by Penny Homer
Her parents bought the house in the 1960s for £21K and now it's worth £1.2 million
It is insane that some people think you should just be able to keep all of that - if you've made a big profit, it is fair you should get taxed on that
It is insane that some people think you should just be able to keep all of that - if you've made a big profit, it is fair you should get taxed on that
I don't think this was actually deliberately published as ragebait, but the entitlement contained within is remarkable and a classic example of the sort of sentiment governments sometimes just have to face down inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...?
We were hit with a £148k inheritance tax bill when mum died at 97 - it's disgusting
Jill Lemon has labelled inheritance tax as 'cruel', 'horrible' and 'unfair'
inews.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Her parents bought the house in the 1960s for £21K and now it's worth £1.2 million
It is insane that some people think you should just be able to keep all of that - if you've made a big profit, it is fair you should get taxed on that
It is insane that some people think you should just be able to keep all of that - if you've made a big profit, it is fair you should get taxed on that
Reposted by Penny Homer
With money lost to tax evasion/avoidance standing at anywhere between 25 and 120 times greater than that lost to benefit fraud, Rachel from accounts, the Tiny Tears chancellor goes after the low-hanging fruit. This is fiscal incompetence.
Whose side are Labour really on?
Whose side are Labour really on?
Reeves to launch crackdown on benefit fraud alongside lifting two-child limit
Move aims to bring in extra £1.2bn of savings as government seeks to head off criticism over welfare spending
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
With money lost to tax evasion/avoidance standing at anywhere between 25 and 120 times greater than that lost to benefit fraud, Rachel from accounts, the Tiny Tears chancellor goes after the low-hanging fruit. This is fiscal incompetence.
Whose side are Labour really on?
Whose side are Labour really on?
Reposted by Penny Homer
Even Hilary Cass - who disgracefully called parents terrified that their trans kids would take their own lives if they were denied healthcare "shroud wavers" - didn't go so far as to call for a ban on puberty blockers.
Nothing Wes Streeting says turns out to be true.
Nothing Wes Streeting says turns out to be true.
November 24, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Even Hilary Cass - who disgracefully called parents terrified that their trans kids would take their own lives if they were denied healthcare "shroud wavers" - didn't go so far as to call for a ban on puberty blockers.
Nothing Wes Streeting says turns out to be true.
Nothing Wes Streeting says turns out to be true.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Reposted by Penny Homer
Here's the Health Secretary Wes Streeting explaining that a clinical trial of a safe drug used in the UK and across the world for decades is necessary in order that it can be banned.
He wants to be PM.
He wants to be PM.
November 24, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Here's the Health Secretary Wes Streeting explaining that a clinical trial of a safe drug used in the UK and across the world for decades is necessary in order that it can be banned.
He wants to be PM.
He wants to be PM.
Reposted by Penny Homer
Wild that we spend so much time having to confirm we’re human online when all signs point to the industry actually wanting “robots” to do all our tasks.
November 24, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Wild that we spend so much time having to confirm we’re human online when all signs point to the industry actually wanting “robots” to do all our tasks.
Reposted by Penny Homer
On a per hour basis, Andor cost significantly less than any of the movies - 24 episodes (with each episode running somewhere between 40-65 minutes, ie approx 20 hours) for $705 million before tax credit rebates.
$34m-ish per hour. Less than a third of a Star Wars movie budget on a per hour basis.
$34m-ish per hour. Less than a third of a Star Wars movie budget on a per hour basis.
For 8 great Star Wars movies (or, more exactly, narrative arcs), that seems more than fair to me. ☺️
Disney Spent More On ‘Andor’ Than Any Of Its ‘Star Wars’ Movies
Disney has revealed it spent $60.5 million on Star Wars streaming series Andor in 2024, giving the show a total cost of $705.5 million - far higher than the spending on any of the movies in the saga.
www.forbes.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:37 PM
On a per hour basis, Andor cost significantly less than any of the movies - 24 episodes (with each episode running somewhere between 40-65 minutes, ie approx 20 hours) for $705 million before tax credit rebates.
$34m-ish per hour. Less than a third of a Star Wars movie budget on a per hour basis.
$34m-ish per hour. Less than a third of a Star Wars movie budget on a per hour basis.
Reposted by Penny Homer
I was just chatting with folks yesterday about how this is an on-going disappointment. Just more excuses 🙄
I’m over it.
I’m over it.
Nearly five years after its massive crowdfunding campaign, the team behind the still-unreleased STAR TREK: VOYAGER documentary explain the project's delays
blog.trekcore.com/2025/11/star...
#StarTrek #Voyager
blog.trekcore.com/2025/11/star...
#StarTrek #Voyager
STAR TREK: VOYAGER Documentary Team Issues Statement on Delays as Project Moves into Fifth Year
Nearly five years after its massive crowdfunding campaign, the team behind the still-unreleased STAR TREK: VOYAGER documentary explain the delays
blog.trekcore.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I was just chatting with folks yesterday about how this is an on-going disappointment. Just more excuses 🙄
I’m over it.
I’m over it.