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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 20h

English democracy relies on local councillors. So why are so many facing the axe? Living as I do in a county that went through this process 18 years ago, I can only wonder why Polly didn't come out with these arguments then... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

English democracy relies on local councillors. So why are so many facing the axe? | Polly Toynbee

Government plans to merge councils may not save money, and do nothing to solve the very real problems they face, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

www.theguardian.com

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 1d

One of the Corbinista's inner circle popped up in my feed last night criticizing this action because the issues are "complex". Or to put it another way, senior Corbinista's think their coalition will benefit more from appeasing transphobes than from defending human rights.

BASH BACK @bashback.bsky.social · 2d

OUR STATEMENT ON THE ACTION AGAINST FILIA

TERFS GATHER EVERY YEAR TO GLOAT ABOUT ATTACKS ON BODILY AUTONOMY AND TRANS PEOPLE'S SAFETY

THIS YEAR, WHEN WE FACE THE GREATEST ATTACKS ON OUR FREEDOMS, WE WILL NOT ALLOW THEM THE PRIVILEGE

STATEMENT ON BASH BACK ACTION AGAINST FILIA (9/10/25)

LAST NIGHT, ACTIONISTS FROM BASH BACK TOOK ACTION AGAINST THE BRIGHTON CENTRE, VENUE OF THE FILIA CONFERENCE, WHICH PLAYS HOST TO SOME OF THE MOST VICIOUS TRANSPHOBIA IN POP POLITICS.

FILIA'S SPEAKERS THIS YEAR INCLUDE BIGOT-PROVOCATEURS JULIE BINDEL, LGB ALLIANCE AND "SCOTTISH LESBIANS" - A GROUP BEHIND THE SEGREGATIONIST 2025 SUPREME COURT RULING.
THEIR VILE AND HATEFUL RHETORIC LEADS TO THE SAME KIND OF DISCRIMINATORY VIOLENCE THAT KILLS HUNDREDS OF TRANS PEOPLE EVERY
YEAR.
THESE BIGOTS HAVE OUR BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS. THEY USE THIS CONFERENCE TO GLOAT. THIS YEAR, WE WILL NOT LET THEM.

STATEMENT ON BASH BACK ACTION AGAINST FILIA (CONT.)

BASH BACK SEES FILIA AS NEITHER RADICAL NOR FEMINIST, SPREADING MISOGYNIST HATRED BACKED BY BOTH BILLIONAIRES AND THE STATE.

LIKE THE SUFFRAGETTES AND RADICAL QUEERS BEFORE US, THAT THE ONLY PATH TOWARD LIBERATION IS THROUGH ACTION.

TO THE ORGANISERS OF FILIA WE SAY THIS:

IF YOU EXPECT TO CONTINUE IN YOUR TRADE OF TRANSPHOBIC HATE, IF YOU EXPECT TO CONTINUE IN YOUR QUEERBASHING AND TRANSMISOGYNY AND CALL IT "FEMINISM" THEN EXPECT RESISTANCE, EXPECT RETALIATION, EXPECT US.

PAINT WASHES OFF. BLOOD NEVER DOES.

Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 1d

Autumn is the best season for dog walking in the urban woodlands around the reclaimed colliery site where I walk the dog 🐕 #Blyth

A view of golden sunlight through cramped and crowded trees

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Reposted by Gareth Davies

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 5d

People claim London crime is rising because it suits them, Met commander says

Nigel Farage and right-wing commentators seek to portray capital as ‘lawless’ despite evidence to the contrary Claims that London is becoming more dangerous despite the crime figures indicating otherwise are being made because it suits some people, a senior police commander has said. The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and right-wing commentators have increasingly sought to portray the capital as a “lawless” city from which high net-worth individuals are fleeing. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 7d

Both might be right, but it's our values that matter as we make those choices - the same values that made my dad a trade unionist, a community champion and a stalwart of the party that he belonged to, but which left us before he did.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 7d

Some of us will want to join a new party, and some of us might decide that the current system is part of the problem, and argue for a better system, or for other ways of effecting change outside the system.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 7d

We are a generation who have been made politically homeless by the changes within Labour, but the key factor is that like other griefs, it may be specific to us, but we are not alone. Labour has left us, and we're tasked with finding our new place in the world without it.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 7d

Like many griefs, the grief I felt about the lost relationship with my dad through the party, and the loss I felt about no longer having a political home has eased with time. Last week, in a bar in Crete, I met another son of a political figure who had surrendered his relationship to Labour.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 7d

This article rang a bell with me - I didn't tell my dad I'd left the Labour Party and even at his funeral I felt a deep sadness about the loss of that shared relationship and talked to the present and former MPs about the party as if I still had a stake in it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Some people have a choice about whether or not to vote Labour. I wish I did too | Polly Hudson

I’m disillusioned with Keir Starmer’s government. But my late father’s passion for his political career makes it difficult to imagine putting my cross in another box, writes Polly Hudson

www.theguardian.com

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 7d

So excited to be gearing up to speak at #Euromoot2025 this afternoon signumuniversity.org/event/euromo...

2025.10.03-05 Euro Moot, 3-5 October, 2025 - Signum University

Land of Dragons: How Myth Shapes Our Reality Signum University invites you to join us from 3-5 October for Euro Moot 2025. This hybrid event will occur at the Pafiliwn Grange Pavilion in Cardiff, Wale...

signumuniversity.org

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 12d

Possibly coal hole plates rather than service covers but very very lovely.

Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 12d

In every case the result is a part of the feel the NHS pays goes to shareholders or financiers or both. In every case the complexities of contract management distort the way services are delivered-the physio working on my spine issues won't look at my knee because I don't have a referral for it.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 12d

Really? I'm in four strands of healthcare as a patient right now. In every one of them some part of my care is being delivered by a privatised/ working for profit body. Whether it's the privatised MRI scanners, the privatised neurological assessments or the physio service theyre already privatised.

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Reposted by Gareth Davies

Quakers in Britain @quaker.org.uk · 12d

As US nuclear weapons return to Britain, we re-affirm the commitment to nuclear disarmament rooted in our faith.

We join hundreds of groups in calling for measures to prevent nuclear war, and redirect military spending to peacekeeping, climate action, and meeting human needs.

Quakers join global call for nuclear disarmament

On International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Quakers in Britain joined more than 275 organisations in urging governments to take bold action towards disarmament.

www.quaker.org.uk

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 13d

I thought of my short denim jacket,
One size too small teeshirts,
Shrink fitted 501s as the
#Escutcheon of the tribe I
Wished to join, the
Family that might Embrace me but instead, I felt less real, less
Authentic as if
Cosplaying some medieval
Fantasy of masculinity.
I wish I'd known.
#vss365

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 13d

Nicely composed - although most folk who visit Whitby seem to not get the significance of the Abbey and the synod that preceded it

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 14d

This #nightmare
Was not a grey horse
Calling at the door to
Enforce and reinforce community
But the absence of any
Sense of belonging that helped me understand the
#MariLwyd and my fear that we have lost our way
#vss365

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 16d

Here's what I wrote in 2031, which was among my reasons for leaving the Labour Party. Sometimes the only thing worse than being wrong is being right.

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Reposted by Gareth Davies

Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 19d

Youth unemployment, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1981, photo by Tish Murtha.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 21d

Is there a finer example of two men whose ability to influence party opinion will lead to the death of the party in question?

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 22d

I believe he did - who wrote them is a different question altogether, and they probably had their fingers crossed.

Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 22d

I'm not sure he knew that - those who promoted him put out that he was lots of things but he ae med to have the intellectual depth of a puddle.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 22d

It was Labour Party employees, in their spare time, who phoned me to urge me to vote for Starmer in the leadership campaign - he was the candidate of the bureaucracy.

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 25d

I don't know Orla but I agree - and I'm still perplexed how the winner met the brief

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Gareth Davies @coachingintheround.co.uk · 25d

I think it's definitely a phrase that divides as much as it unites, but it's also an exemplar of the debate around different varieties within Wales. I think it's fair to say that the debate around it that flares in the press occasionally is tongue in cheek

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