Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
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twinklebutt.bsky.social
Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
@twinklebutt.bsky.social
Left-leaning (but not loonie left) pragmatist, realist, atheist cis-male gay. Vocal trans supporter. Insta-blocks bigots and never argues with idiots for more than a few messages - so if your thread goes quiet, I've muted it for that reason. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧
Pinned
I oppose certain societal injustices, however people anticipating that because of that I will help reinforce their precious sense of victimhood are in for a very sharp shock.

That's emotional empathy. I don't do emotional empathy.

Here's why - Harper's Handy Guide to Empathy:
Unsurprising, given how enthusiastically the Catholic faith has embraced child rape in its shameful history.
The Catholic League's response to the Epstein files? Arguing technicalities over the ages of the victims.

They're not defending faith. They're enabling harm.

www.friendlyatheist.com/p/the-cathol...
November 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
The UK is too dependent on the United States for its defense and has not adequately invested in a back-up plan should America pull away from Europe, a damning report by a cross-party group of lawmakers has warned.
Britain’s defenses too reliant on Trump’s America, MPs warn
The cross-party Defence Committee says Europe will be “left vulnerable” if the U.S. backs away.
www.politico.eu
November 19, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Ouchies tomorrow, I think! Happy with the new record weight, though. Good session.
November 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
I won't consider Starlink for the same reason I won't buy a Tesla and why I'm no longer on the former Twitter: I won't willingly give money to (or be an advertising base for) a Nazi salute-throwing fascist who actively tried to destroy our democracy
November 19, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Downdetector is back up, showing once again what a fine sense of irony the universe has.
November 18, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Crikey, there are some memories in this 4-CD set! That's my next few gym sessions soundtracks sorted...
November 17, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Nations Championship launched as rugby offers more purpose to test schedule reut.rs/4oKUNvj
Nations Championship launched as rugby offers more purpose to test schedule
Rugby's new-look Nations Championship was launched on Monday with northern and southern hemisphere countries pitted against each other in two separate windows in July and November next year before a weekend of finals matches in London.
reut.rs
November 17, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Do these immigrants have to bring the cows into the country as checked-in luggage or can they go in the overhead bins?
I knew they blamed immigrants for everything, but I didn’t think they would blame immigrant cows for hamburger prices.
November 17, 2025 at 8:09 AM
I'm looking for a comprehensive list of NFL and MLB team names to add to my Bluesky muted words list.

Although I'm interested in American politics, mostly for nuclear fallout spread reasons, I have zero interest in their local sports activities. It's really irritating that tags aren't used more.
November 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
What fictional creature/villain traumatized you as a child?
November 16, 2025 at 10:00 PM
I see that Trump is talking bollocks about how "dangerous" London is again.

London murder rate: slightly over 1 per 100,000 people.
Palm Beach murder rate: 15 per 100,000 people.
November 16, 2025 at 9:51 PM
To coincide with the switching-on of the Regent Street lights, Tampax have announced they are taking the string off their Tampons & replacing it with Tinsel. They say it's just for the Christmas Period.
November 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Current reading. 69 books finished so far this year, a new record.
November 16, 2025 at 2:02 PM
<burp!>

Duck and mushrooms in hoisin sauce on penne pasta for lunch. Beautiful! Thank you hubby.

We'll hold fire on strudel & custard for pud for a little bit, I think, let it go down...
November 16, 2025 at 1:36 PM
What's your favourite, non-classical, piece of instrumental music?

So hard to choose since most of my favourite tracks fall into that category and Kevin's picked one of them. This is another:

youtu.be/smWlIKzdf4k?...
November 15, 2025 at 8:45 AM
What's your favourite song (or tune) about the rain?

This, which I actually prefer to Vangelis' original, though Rutger Hauer's speech in that is spine chilling.

youtu.be/by2pM_0Sf8c?...
November 14, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Pluribus: Not at all engaged after 3 episodes and thinking of dumping it. Mostly because of the lead characters glacier-like slowness and her massively arrogant attitude. It's a very unappealing character.

It's a high concept 90 minute drama stretched so thin that it disappears. Not recommended.
November 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
If you enjoyed Baby's Breath, and have a hankering to find out what happens next to Erin Callahan and Dominion of Light...

"Fallen Feathers" published 1 Dec.

Preorder now.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0G2...

Paperback and ebook.

#BookSky #IamWriting #Books #Thriller #BabysBreath #FallenFeathers
November 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
There's lots you can and should criticise the BBC for.

But it's our BBC - and it's important.

Great to speak to CNN - Donald Trump shouldn't have his hands anywhere near our public services.
Zack Polanski on President Trump, "It's difficult to call him anything other than a fool"

"This is sociopathic behaviour"

"He is toxic, misogynistic, racist"

"I'm not a fan of Trump"

Christiane Amanpour, "It's pretty clear"
November 14, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Incompetence or embezzlement?

This farcical egowank project needs to be wound up. It has zero policies, zero credibility and zero chance of success.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Your Party receives ‘small portion’ of withheld supporters’ donations
Row continues between camps of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, whose company holds hundreds of thousands of pounds of party funds
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:41 AM
November 13, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I've got the Blue Origin live webcast on just in case anything interesting happens in the next ten minutes. Sound muted, of course. The nappy-filling levels of corporate excitement is bad enough to watch. Listening to it would result in my TV with a brick through it. Calm down ferfucksake!
November 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Paul Harper 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Every ad now
November 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I am both incredibly bored and not remotely convinced by Wes Streeting's very carefully stage managed leadership bid.

"They're briefing against me, so unfortunately I have to be on the news constantly defending myself in such a way that I look decisive and very Prime Ministerial"

Bullshit.
November 13, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Share something that reminds you of your childhood
November 12, 2025 at 10:18 PM