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Gemma Bristow

@konallis.bsky.social

410 followers 260 following 1.4K posts

UK. Technical writer with a background in humanities. Posts about the Imagist poets, children's books, history, and green politics. All comments personal, all errors my own.

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Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · Nov 7

Hi! You want to check out my writing and see my sugar shaker collection? My website is www.helical-library.net. Fellow charity shop maven? I post finds and decor pics on Instagram (@konallis_gem).

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Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 2h

Other than porn bots, I think everything I've ever reported on Facebook (including an entire group dedicated to racist memes) has come back 'We didn't remove this'.

Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Clive Baker @elyclive.bsky.social · 3h

We need to rewild 30% of the planet to restore nature & protect our wildlife, but Britain is falling behind. So I've signed this new petition calling on one of our biggest landowners - the Church of England - to rewild its land. Join me? you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/he...

Help save nature by rewilding the Church’s massive landholdings!

We need to rewild 30% of the planet to restore nature & protect our wildlife, but Britain is falling behind. So I've signed this new petition calling on one of our biggest landowners - the Church ...

you.38degrees.org.uk

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Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 5h

Reform lost by 11% in Caerphilly - because of a surge in turnout, because Reform looked set to win the seat.

This illustrates Reform's vulnerability *because* they are leading the polls (in a 6 party system) while being an *unpopular* party. A much bigger problem under FPTP 2029 than PR 2026

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Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 5h

My good news has just come in! LOOK AT THIS! So pleased to see this! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Booker prize launches £50,000 children’s award

Children will help judge the new prize along with children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 9h

If Northanger Abbey were set in 2025, what book is Catherine Morland obsessed with?

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Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 3h

I was going to say Twilight, then realised she wasn't even born when it came out.

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 4h

Bon voyage!

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 4h

...that you want to use in your argument, but you still need to know the material back to front before you go in, or you're in trouble.

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 4h

I had to check that this meant 'having a book with the answers in'. The only 'open book' exams I know are English A-levels in the UK, when you have to write critical essays on four books you've studied during the course. You can take the books into the exam as a reference, to look up quotes etc...

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 18h

Interesting story, though the headline makes me think of a dino therapist going, 'But apart from the asteroid, things generally OK?'

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 22h

Wild how this can happen when my neighbours can't get permission to put double glazing in.

Vox @vox.com · 23h

President Donald Trump is demolishing the East Wing of the White House without review, recourse, or an approval process.

Here's what to know. 👇

Trump’s East Wing demolition, briefly explained

The president vandalizes the White House.

www.vox.com

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Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

One reason why the government is in a mess is that “is that true tho?” doesn’t get anywhere near enough weight against “what do the public think?”

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

Home Sec describes a widely held public perception (UK is the destination of choice for asylum seekers in Europe) + endorses it as true. Home Office data shows it is not true. Whatever merits of her policy change, should not make false factual claims
www.thesun.co.uk/news/3709465...

Migrants come to Britain because they think we're Europe's most generous country

TODAY’S small boat numbers are shameful, and the British people deserve better. They contain a lesson: we must go further and faster to secure our borders. Under the last Conservative Government, t…

www.thesun.co.uk

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Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Big Issue @bigissue.com · 1d

The child poverty strategy is expected to be published around the time of the chancellor's autumn budget. Here's what you need to know.

Everything you need to know about Labour's child poverty strategy

www.bigissue.com

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Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 1d

I don't get the pointlessness of spamming someone with ads for the thing they just bought. Surely the ads should be for things that complement the thing you just bought.

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 1d

Please don't burn stuff just for ambience. (Stylists for interior design books and magazines need to step up here, and stop showing open fires and stoves as aspirational.) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Reposted by Gemma Bristow

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 1d

Simple enough, the Conservative Party will deport UK residents if they are not considered to contribute enough.

Any respectable politician or media commentator should be condemning such extremism.

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

Slightly confusing briefing with Badenoch's spokesman & a Tory press person on their/Katie Lam's migration plans. Here's what I could follow:
• Tory policy on revoking indefinite leave to remain is "broadly in line with what Katie said" (they "haven't seen" her idea it's extended to EU nationals) ..

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Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Coates is Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 2d

It is, today, the tragic 318th anniversary of the death of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell, shipwrecked off the Isles of Scilly, but who managed to struggle ashore and was recovering on the sands when along came a woman who done him in for his emerald ring...

Contemporary pamphlet featuring a rudimentary woodcut of a naval officer in a wig with ships sinking behind him. It is titled The Life and Actions of Sir Cloudeſly Shovel, Kt.

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Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 2d

And of course referenced as 'Clodsley Shovel', the head Mole and mining engineer in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 2d

The parents, who are presumably very wealthy foreign nationals, seem to want to groom their child for an anachronistic Empire-builder lifestyle and might find that it doesn't quite work out. But it's a great salary for pushing a toddler around parks and museums.

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 2d

Thread:

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

Tory policy is to revoke permanent residence (ILR) for everybody who does not earn £38k - deporting most nurses who have ILR

This is put in the video as "who is unlikely to contribute more than they cost"

NB: video does not say EU settled status is exempt

No govt since Idi Amin has done this

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 2d

Finished this. Loved the last episode especially. Siiri is one of my favourite heroes of the year.

Gemma Bristow @konallis.bsky.social · 2d

Are these wars like the Anglo-Zanzibar war: over so quickly that someone taking a nap could miss them entirely? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Z...

Anglo-Zanzibar War - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Reposted by Gemma Bristow

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 2d

89% of people around the world want their governments to act faster on the #climatecrisis

But while being in the majority, most people mistakenly think they are in a minority

The #89%project wants to know why climate action matters to you 👇

89percent.org/tell-us-your...

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Tell Us Your 89 Percent Story - The 89 Percent Project

89percent.org