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helybow.bsky.social
helen bowman
@helybow.bsky.social
Buildings (mainly post-war) & politics. Insightful musings stolen? Procrastinator. Cornish/living in Edinburgh. Attempting PhD on New Labour and built heritage.
Reposted by helen bowman
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD USE HYPHENS
December 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
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Pete Hegseth, introduced as the SSecretary of War.
December 2, 2025 at 9:14 PM
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'The 'Pillar of Salt': a Grade II-listed road sign designed in International Modern style by Basil Oliver, Borough Architect, for Bury St Edmunds Town Council in 1935.
December 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by helen bowman
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.

Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
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The same people who convinced the British public to back a catastrophic Boris Johnson premiership are now pulling the same trick again with Nigel Farage

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-confid...
The Confidence Trick That Put Boris Johnson Into Power Is Now Being Used on Nigel Farage
The same people who convinced the British public to back a catastrophic Boris Johnson premiership are now pulling the same trick again with Nigel Farage
www.adambienkov.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 11:12 AM
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Postbox bollards outside the Post Office. Absolutely delightful.
#WorldBollardAssociation 📮
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum.

UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours

No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands)

UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany)

Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.
November 19, 2025 at 11:52 AM
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Massie: “[Speaker Johnson is] trying to say the rich, powerful men who flew to Epstein Island are the victims now. The only way a ‘Christian man’ can stand up there and sell a lie like that is if he’s already decided in his head that protecting them is somehow okay.”
November 19, 2025 at 7:03 AM
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The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 AM
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We're almost at 5K! Sign & share the petition to create a kinder future, free from testing on animals: act.animalrising.org/shut_down_mb... 🐶 #animaltesting #savethebeagles
July 14, 2025 at 8:21 AM
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Breaking news! 🚨

Another not guilty verdict for protecting horses at the Grand National.
A Liverpool Crown Court jury took just 51 minutes to clear all five defendants accused of causing a public nuisance for entering the track during the 2023 race.
November 13, 2025 at 1:52 PM
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Finally the quintessential book on Scottish Brutalism has arrived!

Our Book of the Week is Brutal Scotland by Simon Phipps (@new-brutalism.bsky.social)

Lavishly illustrated in monochrome, it reveals the stark beauty of these monumental buildings.

Copies available in store and online.
November 17, 2025 at 11:46 AM
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I asked this question because I think whether the government acts to mitigate this possibility is key to whether it can pass this policy
Asked if Keir Starmer believes British people want to "see refugee children pulled out of school and deported after 10 years in this country”, his spokesman says that “what the British public wants and what this government was elected on a mandate to deliver was to secure our borders"
November 17, 2025 at 2:52 PM
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In an open letter shared with The Edinburgh Minute, architect Malcolm Fraser, known for his work on the Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre, DanceBase and Dovecot Studios, argues against plans to demolish Argyle House: www.edinburghminute.com/three-reason...
November 14, 2025 at 11:34 AM
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Spoiler: The “one catch” is the annual Wicker Man, to which newcomers are cordially invited.
November 15, 2025 at 10:33 AM
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November 15, 2025 at 12:56 PM
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Alan Dershowitz is one of those claiming Epstein was not a pedophile because he pleaded guilty to one count of having sex for money with a 17-year-and-10-month-old person. "That’s not a pedophile." See this important response from Julia Brown, the brave reporter who broke the news on this
November 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by helen bowman
MPs can’t even fix their own workplace. And they have failed to do so for more than a decade as it crumbles around them. There is no solution in sight.

Political metaphors don’t come more heavy-handed than that.
A final decision on how to repair Britain’s crumbling parliament is likely to be postponed beyond the next general election, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Final decision on fate of crumbling UK parliament delayed to 2030s
It’s a fire-hazard that’s prone to tumbling masonry — but fear of a public backlash is again delaying repairs to the world famous building.
www.politico.eu
November 15, 2025 at 12:38 PM
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This is as bad as anything proposed by Reform.

Leaving refugees in permanent limbo and unable to build a new life in the UK would be a complete abdication of our humanitarian responsibilities

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by helen bowman
Sickening rhetoric by Home Secretary. Denying access to human rights isn't "protecting the public". This is Labour further demonising those seeking asylum in language very reminiscent of the far right. Yes, some break the law, so should be prosecuted within the law. Removing rights is not the answer
November 13, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by helen bowman
Oh wow! A London Underground station being officially Listed is always great news - this one especially so. Southwark station, 1999 by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, has just been Listed at Grade 2. Now for the other JLE stations. @c20society.bsky.social

historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-...
November 11, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Reposted by helen bowman
#architecture #buildings #LocalHistory #Edinburgh #Brutalism #Modernism
Argyle House should be refurbished, not demolished. Think of the embodied carbon. The issue is not what it looks like. It is a question of sustainable resource management.
November 13, 2025 at 8:31 AM