Kathy O'Donnell
@kathyodonnell.bsky.social
930 followers 390 following 1.5K posts
Journalist, parent to two grown-ups, LGBT+ rights campaigner, trustee Equality Network, former night editor of The Times, Scotland. Lives in France. [she/her]
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Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
neilmackay.bsky.social
These images are separated by one day
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
joannechocolat.bsky.social
The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
jdportes.bsky.social
I wrote about Robert Jenrick's embrace of blood and soil nationalism for @bylinetimes.bsky.social

"The British right is adopting an increasingly extreme form of ethnic identity politics, while failing to explain what the rest of us are supposed to be worried about"

bylinetimes.com/2025/08/19/r...
But what about “ethnic change”? Yes, the proportion of Islington’s population who are (like me) white British has dropped from perhaps 85% to about 40%.  This change is indeed visible. For West, it is “far beyond what any group would find tolerable.” What he doesn’t and can’t say is why exactly I’m supposed to find it intolerable. Why should I, or my neighbours, be more concerned about what race or ethnicity the kids are at the local school than the quality or financing of local services, or whether the council is successfully balancing the need for more housing with the interests of long-standing residents?
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
adambienkov.bsky.social
"Last year the Byline Times published an embarrassing story about Conservative party councillors pretending to be ordinary folk during a televised election campaign event. A year later, Bienkov is suddenly off the invite list."

www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/10/free...
Free speech tested at party conferences - Index on Censorship
Political parties in the UK must allow critical voices in
www.indexoncensorship.org
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
bylinetimes.bsky.social
🔴Conservatives Accused of ‘Trumpian’ Tactics After Barring Second Byline Times Journalist From Conference

Award-winning investigative journalist David Hencke has attended Conservative party conference since 1987 but is now hundreds of pounds out of pocket after being blocked from attending
Conservatives Accused of ‘Trumpian’ Tactics After Barring Second Byline Times Journalist From Conference
Veteran award-winning investigative journalist David Hencke has attended Conservative party conference since 1987 but is now hundreds of pounds out of pocket after being blocked from attending
bylinetimes.com
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
robinmoirawhite.bsky.social
I always find it encouraging when the antis attack me for something I have written rather than the substance of what I have written.
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
robinince.bsky.social
It’s Jack Whitehall night in Riyadh - everyone will be there - oh, except Asaad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a teacher that criticised the government that is paying Jack and so is in prison for 20 years

www.amnesty.org/en/documents...
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
This will make multi-property private landlords and property investors shit themselves.
Good.
greensorganise.bsky.social
The Green Party wants to Abolish Landlords.

The question on everyone’s lips:
What does that actually mean?

Here’s motion proposer @sallonsax.bsky.social talking to @turnleftmedia.co.uk about just that!
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
You are not a newspaper and you're not doing journalism when you print what are obviously lies that are intended to mislead readers for political advantage.
Yet there are zero consequences beyond the tiny correction for The Sun, its editor or the executives who printed this knowing it was untrue.
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
There's no great ethical dilemma faced by Sun editors. If you invite a politician like Katie Lam to write for you and they write things that you know to be untrue, you ask them to correct their copy and if they refuse, you either print it with a caveat and the actual facts or not at all.
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
It should be understood that the consequences The Sun faced for printing what was quite obviously a pack of lies - and dangerous lies at that - is this tiny correction.
The regulator is unfit for purpose.
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
We lied and lied and lied and lied and lied, admits The Sun.
jdportes.bsky.social
The Sun corrects Katie Lam's numerous errors and lies about foreign nationals claiming benefits.

archive.ph/vQ7Tn
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
tanjabueltmann.net
I say this with the bluntness it requires: they will get people murdered if this continues. This is not just populism anymore either: it’s completely unhinged and a deliberate choice that does endanger lives. I am not saying this lightly at all.
Screenshot of an Express article; it says: Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border

In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
Put-put-put goes the pathetic outrage engine...
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
adilray.bsky.social
Jenrick was speaking from Aldridge, Brownhills an area that has upto 90% of white British residents. This makes it less mixed than the UK average and therefore little chance of social integration because of low diversity. But Jenrick didn’t see that. Is that racist?
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
peterjukes.bsky.social
🔴NEW🔴

Thread 🧵

@bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12
‘Thick as Thieves’: Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage’s Putin Problem
Far from being distant from the Reform UK Leader, insiders told Byline Times that the former MEP convicted of bribery was one of Farage’s closest aides, while we reveal how Gill worked on the Kremlin’...
bylinetimes.com
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
mattgreencomedy.com
Meeting two potential American refugees from Denver…
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
philippaeast.bsky.social
Sadly, Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds is turning into a horrible battle against GCs to preserve trans inclusion 🏊‍♀️🏳️‍⚧️🏊‍♂️
@translucent.org.uk are stepping up (with @goodlawproject.bsky.social) for the legal fight
Please support if you possibly can via this fundraiser: translucent.org.uk/keep-hampste...
TY🙏
Keep Hampstead Heath's Ladies' Pond Inclusive: Fund Trans Rights and Defend Our Community! - TransLucent
Keep Hampstead Heath's Ladies' Pond Inclusive: Fund Trans Rights campaign defends inclusivity.
translucent.org.uk
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
rws63.bsky.social
If my wife and I had a UBI after the loss of work up to her finally getting diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's/dementia,it would have stopped the fall into economic chaos. We used up all we had in reserves pretty quick , then used our main credit card to cover basic stuff we needed. UBI now !
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
Was that a safety net or a lifestyle choice?
You're absolutely correct about how people like Whatley view themselves. What they don't say out loud is that they believe others must be as venal as they are. Whereas in fact, they are the outliers.
kathyodonnell.bsky.social
If I recall correctly, Helen Whatley's own publicly-funded benefits - that being the rent she claimed as an MP on her London flat - doubled in 2019. At the time she'd had an 8 bedroom, £1.3m home in Faversham. She refused to tell constituents which was her primary residence.