Helen
@socialsoup.bsky.social
Service Designer in UK Gov. Anti-fascist.
This beautiful fella is the well loved ‘Reindpede’ of Seaton Valley.
After being damaged in storm Bert last year, it’s not made an appearance this year and honestly the locals residents Facebook group are FURIOUS!
After being damaged in storm Bert last year, it’s not made an appearance this year and honestly the locals residents Facebook group are FURIOUS!
November 25, 2025 at 9:47 PM
This beautiful fella is the well loved ‘Reindpede’ of Seaton Valley.
After being damaged in storm Bert last year, it’s not made an appearance this year and honestly the locals residents Facebook group are FURIOUS!
After being damaged in storm Bert last year, it’s not made an appearance this year and honestly the locals residents Facebook group are FURIOUS!
@deanvipond.bsky.social you’ve made me lament the mega sense of hope we had just after the first COVID emergency response.
I honestly saw something new & positive emerging, community connections, importance of clean air, parks and local growth. Join national and regional policies/ ways of working.
I honestly saw something new & positive emerging, community connections, importance of clean air, parks and local growth. Join national and regional policies/ ways of working.
November 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
@deanvipond.bsky.social you’ve made me lament the mega sense of hope we had just after the first COVID emergency response.
I honestly saw something new & positive emerging, community connections, importance of clean air, parks and local growth. Join national and regional policies/ ways of working.
I honestly saw something new & positive emerging, community connections, importance of clean air, parks and local growth. Join national and regional policies/ ways of working.
Reposted by Helen
By 2024-25, pensioners received on average an extra £900 a year compared to 2010-11, while those under 65 receiving benefits have lost an average of £1,500 a year.
The key drivers of this? Increasing the state pension via the Triple Lock, while freezing and capping support for working-age families.
The key drivers of this? Increasing the state pension via the Triple Lock, while freezing and capping support for working-age families.
November 25, 2025 at 2:07 PM
By 2024-25, pensioners received on average an extra £900 a year compared to 2010-11, while those under 65 receiving benefits have lost an average of £1,500 a year.
The key drivers of this? Increasing the state pension via the Triple Lock, while freezing and capping support for working-age families.
The key drivers of this? Increasing the state pension via the Triple Lock, while freezing and capping support for working-age families.
Can I have ‘my country back’ from the ‘invading hoards’ of racist bigots please?
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Can I have ‘my country back’ from the ‘invading hoards’ of racist bigots please?
Grassroots festival from amazing North Sea surfers and local ambassadors- open for submissions for all fellow north sea enthusiasts!
www.northseasurffilmfestival.com
www.northseasurffilmfestival.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Grassroots festival from amazing North Sea surfers and local ambassadors- open for submissions for all fellow north sea enthusiasts!
www.northseasurffilmfestival.com
www.northseasurffilmfestival.com
Reposted by Helen
Asylum is not "illegal migration"
Let's start from here theconversation.com/asylum-is-no...
Let's start from here theconversation.com/asylum-is-no...
Asylum is not illegal migration – why the UK government shouldn’t conflate the two
The new proposals transform settlement into something that must be continually earned. The path has become longer, more conditional and far more easily disrupted.
theconversation.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Asylum is not "illegal migration"
Let's start from here theconversation.com/asylum-is-no...
Let's start from here theconversation.com/asylum-is-no...
Can someone smarter than me explain why the NHS App allows 13 year olds (GDPR article 8) access to their held data and services- yet I see no plans for GOVUK App to do the same?
November 18, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Can someone smarter than me explain why the NHS App allows 13 year olds (GDPR article 8) access to their held data and services- yet I see no plans for GOVUK App to do the same?
Hateful policies that civil servants will eventually have to design services for. Including removing vulnerable peoples rights, benefits- seeing more homelessness, mental health and the charity sector and local authorities carry the weight of the fall out.
When does impartiality outweigh integrity?
When does impartiality outweigh integrity?
November 17, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Hateful policies that civil servants will eventually have to design services for. Including removing vulnerable peoples rights, benefits- seeing more homelessness, mental health and the charity sector and local authorities carry the weight of the fall out.
When does impartiality outweigh integrity?
When does impartiality outweigh integrity?
Reposted by Helen
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by Helen
‘I once planned to sue the bbc for suggesting I encouraged an insurrection the time I encouraged an insurrection on live tv’
November 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM
‘I once planned to sue the bbc for suggesting I encouraged an insurrection the time I encouraged an insurrection on live tv’
Reposted by Helen
Poverty is one of the most significant causes of digital exclusion. Systemic approaches to eradicating poverty should be top of a Labour govt's list of priorities, not part of a
plan to deliver a pet project, but if drastic reductions to economic exclusion are on the cards, that's to be welcome
plan to deliver a pet project, but if drastic reductions to economic exclusion are on the cards, that's to be welcome
November 8, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Poverty is one of the most significant causes of digital exclusion. Systemic approaches to eradicating poverty should be top of a Labour govt's list of priorities, not part of a
plan to deliver a pet project, but if drastic reductions to economic exclusion are on the cards, that's to be welcome
plan to deliver a pet project, but if drastic reductions to economic exclusion are on the cards, that's to be welcome
Reposted by Helen
Please take a minute to scroll through this—and share it.
It's the story of our time.
The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
It's the story of our time.
The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 5, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Please take a minute to scroll through this—and share it.
It's the story of our time.
The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
It's the story of our time.
The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
Apparently this isn’t an onion parody. I’m not up on my American papers, but is the NYP like the UKs Sport? Think they did the same here with Jeremy Corbyn, going after his flat cap and allotment jams.
I mean I’d vote for higher taxes, free stuff, hating Israel’s genocidal actions and vibes too.
I mean I’d vote for higher taxes, free stuff, hating Israel’s genocidal actions and vibes too.
November 5, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Apparently this isn’t an onion parody. I’m not up on my American papers, but is the NYP like the UKs Sport? Think they did the same here with Jeremy Corbyn, going after his flat cap and allotment jams.
I mean I’d vote for higher taxes, free stuff, hating Israel’s genocidal actions and vibes too.
I mean I’d vote for higher taxes, free stuff, hating Israel’s genocidal actions and vibes too.
I’m stuck, I can’t articulate my thoughts into meaningful action or what I’m trying to show.
Is there such a job role for an ‘idea beater’? Because I really need one.
Is there such a job role for an ‘idea beater’? Because I really need one.
a video game screen shows a bird flying in the air with the words hit and shot below it
Alt: Duck hunt- a 90s Nintendo video game. The video game screen shows a ducks flying in the blue sky, after emerging from a tree and grass and being shot for points.
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I’m stuck, I can’t articulate my thoughts into meaningful action or what I’m trying to show.
Is there such a job role for an ‘idea beater’? Because I really need one.
Is there such a job role for an ‘idea beater’? Because I really need one.
Dear U.K. THIS.
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
November 5, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Dear U.K. THIS.
Reposted by Helen
Britain's wealth gaps means that a typical worker would need to save more than a lifetime’s worth of their earnings to become wealthy
It would now take 52 years of typical earnings – £1.3 million in total – to move from the middle to the top of the wealth distribution.
➡️ buff.ly/Ya8kInK
It would now take 52 years of typical earnings – £1.3 million in total – to move from the middle to the top of the wealth distribution.
➡️ buff.ly/Ya8kInK
November 3, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Britain's wealth gaps means that a typical worker would need to save more than a lifetime’s worth of their earnings to become wealthy
It would now take 52 years of typical earnings – £1.3 million in total – to move from the middle to the top of the wealth distribution.
➡️ buff.ly/Ya8kInK
It would now take 52 years of typical earnings – £1.3 million in total – to move from the middle to the top of the wealth distribution.
➡️ buff.ly/Ya8kInK
Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon “a hard man”. 😂😂😂
November 2, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon “a hard man”. 😂😂😂
Reposted by Helen
Great investigation of the Nazis, racists and criminals mobilising the flag-on-lamp-posts movement. This is the kind of journalism that the national media could and should have conducted:
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
November 2, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Great investigation of the Nazis, racists and criminals mobilising the flag-on-lamp-posts movement. This is the kind of journalism that the national media could and should have conducted:
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
In addition, ask folk which law do they disagree with?
ECHR judgments have led to some of the most vital changes in law and policy in the UK including;
- stopping children getting smacked by teachers
- allowing abused cared for children to claim damages
ECHR judgments have led to some of the most vital changes in law and policy in the UK including;
- stopping children getting smacked by teachers
- allowing abused cared for children to claim damages
Any time anyone starts talking about taking us out of the ECHR, ask them two questions:
1. Which of these rights don't you believe in?
2. What exactly would you replace it with. And don't take any vague promises like Brexit benefits.
1. Which of these rights don't you believe in?
2. What exactly would you replace it with. And don't take any vague promises like Brexit benefits.
November 1, 2025 at 9:17 PM
In addition, ask folk which law do they disagree with?
ECHR judgments have led to some of the most vital changes in law and policy in the UK including;
- stopping children getting smacked by teachers
- allowing abused cared for children to claim damages
ECHR judgments have led to some of the most vital changes in law and policy in the UK including;
- stopping children getting smacked by teachers
- allowing abused cared for children to claim damages
I’ve hit peak 40 something northern woman today, all by 6:30pm.
- dismantled the Halloween decoration with the power tools I got last xmas.
- Kids football match in the stotting rain.
- Day time clubbing in an old industrial warehouse.
- Sunday dinner, with extra gravy.
- dismantled the Halloween decoration with the power tools I got last xmas.
- Kids football match in the stotting rain.
- Day time clubbing in an old industrial warehouse.
- Sunday dinner, with extra gravy.
November 1, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I’ve hit peak 40 something northern woman today, all by 6:30pm.
- dismantled the Halloween decoration with the power tools I got last xmas.
- Kids football match in the stotting rain.
- Day time clubbing in an old industrial warehouse.
- Sunday dinner, with extra gravy.
- dismantled the Halloween decoration with the power tools I got last xmas.
- Kids football match in the stotting rain.
- Day time clubbing in an old industrial warehouse.
- Sunday dinner, with extra gravy.
Reposted by Helen
I'm always tempted to ask people who think the UK's Human Rights act 'needs reform' which one of these you object to some people having. And also, why specifically those people.
Friendly reminder: these are the rights we all have under the ECHR.
They're not just for a privileged few
They're for EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US
They're not just for a privileged few
They're for EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US
October 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I'm always tempted to ask people who think the UK's Human Rights act 'needs reform' which one of these you object to some people having. And also, why specifically those people.
Reposted by Helen
“I think they are a profoundly antisocial technology that should be rejected in every way possible...Their very existence is toxic to the social fabric.” –CISI Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app quoted in @theverge.com www.theverge.com/tech/807834/...
Privacy laws can’t keep up with ‘luxury surveillance’
“It’s not clear to me that a small red light would be sufficient notification in some states for someone to consent to being recorded.”
www.theverge.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
“I think they are a profoundly antisocial technology that should be rejected in every way possible...Their very existence is toxic to the social fabric.” –CISI Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app quoted in @theverge.com www.theverge.com/tech/807834/...
Reposted by Helen
why, that's a *steal* for the smart piss ball, and I can't wait to find out how much the monthly subscription for the piss-sniffing service costs, and it'll be so useful, and I won't mind the occasional leaking of data on my leaks until the inevitable shutdown day, when my piss ball is sadly bricked
Withings’ urine scanning health tracker is now available for $350
Withings’ urine scanning health tracker is now available for $350
Replacement cartridges that can last up to three months with semiweekly testing start at $100.
buff.ly
October 29, 2025 at 4:13 AM
why, that's a *steal* for the smart piss ball, and I can't wait to find out how much the monthly subscription for the piss-sniffing service costs, and it'll be so useful, and I won't mind the occasional leaking of data on my leaks until the inevitable shutdown day, when my piss ball is sadly bricked
Reposted by Helen
who creates the lively art and music scenes if the rent is too high? who makes cultural life? who serves you food or washes your dishes? who creates the fancy little restaurants that draw you to urban living? affordable housing is at the heart of what makes city life worthwhile.
October 26, 2025 at 6:04 AM
who creates the lively art and music scenes if the rent is too high? who makes cultural life? who serves you food or washes your dishes? who creates the fancy little restaurants that draw you to urban living? affordable housing is at the heart of what makes city life worthwhile.
Reposted by Helen
Notice how it’s always, “the Bible must inform our laws!” until it comes to the +2,000 verses in the Bible that discuss the generous use of wealth and possessions in a way that prioritizes the needs of the poor, this sick, the stranger, the vulnerable, and the oppressed.
October 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Notice how it’s always, “the Bible must inform our laws!” until it comes to the +2,000 verses in the Bible that discuss the generous use of wealth and possessions in a way that prioritizes the needs of the poor, this sick, the stranger, the vulnerable, and the oppressed.