Amy Gray

She’s out today! The remarkable and unfairly forgotten Duchess of Atholl, Scotland’s first woman MP and the Conservatives’ first woman minister, turned the most unlikely rebel in British politics.

Petition for Budgets not to be in half term. (Kids are installed in front of Lilo and Stitch with sarnies and Wotsits, so it had better not last more than an hour)

It’s going to take us an hour and a half to do 25 miles on the M6. Ugh.

Anduril is just….hanging out there 😂

I have questions

I just made the mistake of listening to Dear Bill again and now I'm leaking all over my keyboard. Why did we meet in the middle of a war, What a silly thing for anyone to do...

My kids are both now at school and my income hasn’t troubled this threshold for a while, but I know hardworking and highly qualified people refusing promotions and reducing their hours because of this. Such a cap on aspiration giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Belatedly joining the Operation Mincemeat fan club after seeing it at the Cambridge Arts theatre this venting. I’ve not had a jollier or more moving night at the theatre in a very long time.

I don't think this could happen to this extent in the UK now, though several of our past monarchs behaved this way. The checks and balances in the US aren't working but I wonder whether any party will be brave enough (to take on the big money interests) to fix it.

Totally in line with what my school parent WA groups discuss every day - we want hard copies of books, and homework set on paper not on apps spectator.com/article/the-...

Quite the stat from London Influence: While the 2024 UK general election clocked in a historic total spend of £29 million, political ad spending for just the Texas Senate race has already topped half a billion dollars. I much prefer our British model.

In and around St Albans? I'm speaking about the Red Duchess on 3rd November - book tickets here 👇 www.stalbanshistory.org/events/event...

When I worked at CCHQ we used to get reporters trying this sort of thing all the time. I don't think they ever got through, because our vetting processes were good enough to spot them. Which is maybe something Reform should think about.

Everyone tells you how disgusting babies' nappies are; no one tells you how grim the wobbly tooth stage is. "Mummy LOOK Mummy it's going sideways and back and forward it's hanging off now MUMMY LOOK!"

We cannot run the event unless it is going to be a fantastic experience for our visitors. If you bought tickets online, your refund is being processed and should be back in your account in 3-5 working days. If you bought tickets in person, please take your receipt to the Ticket Office for a refund.

What does Putin have on him?

"In 1976 our tax handbook was 1600 pages long. Now it's 23,000 pages. That is all 7 Harry Potter novels, the Bible *and* the complete works of Shakespeare, combined - 4 times over," says Kemi. I'm only posting this so that I can say that I've read them all. That's all 😏

Red Duchess on Christmas list.

Some absolutely valiant filling in from the BBC News team and Anita Boateng here as Kemi is 30 mins later on stage than they expected

We’re asking for your help to get Burnham’s Government to act on AI and copyright. Alongside fellow members of the Creators’ Rights Alliance, we’re sharing the We Are Better Than This video animation which outlines the fears and concerns shared by many creators and society at large. 🧵

Once again I remind you that the Duchess of Atholl got there first (Red Duchess is available where you get your books etc etc etc)

Mine is an eth (I use it in my personal shorthand)

Spot on analysis of Burnham's big speech from @shippersunbound.bsky.social. "There was precisely nothing, rhetorically, for the striving middle classes, who will presumably have to fund all these visions of the future.... He has no plan for growth": spectator.com/article/burn...

This is such a great book (and her biography of Eleanor Rathbone should be on every politician's shelf). Would definitely be joining if I could.

From Alice Thomson’s column today. The Tories are on their fourth female leader.

Love this. It was not easy to explain to the 7yo though 😂

Can you imagine how awful another referendum on rejoining the EU would be? *shudders* *shudders again* *goes to lie down in a dark silent room*

Anyone seen a full transcript of Burnham's conference speech up yet?

ENOUGH WITH THE FOOTBALL

Marina Hyde has been arguing for this on The Rest is Entertainment

I think this is sensible. I would go further to say that anyone arriving illegally on a small boat will never get asylum here, as well as opening up safe and legal routes for the most vulnerable (not a lot of women on most of those boats are there). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

1. Make sure you're doing it yourself. Kids read most readily when parents read. Seeing the adults around them reading, hearing them talk about what they're reading, is often the best way to engage their interest.

Also: have lots of books around in the house. Stack of books by the loo. Books within easy reach of their beds. Bookshelf under the telly. Books in your bag every time you go out for you and for them. Books in the pocket on the back of the front car seats. Give book tokens as gifts.

This Alexa Shopping List has appeared alongside the two Amazon lists I created. I don’t have an Alexa. I’ve never had an Alexa. I don’t ever plan to have an Alexa. But I don’t seem to be able to delete the list.

Headmaster regularly used to play the bagpipes in chapel. Bagpipes are very definitely an outdoor instrument.

The #GBBO sweepstake I ran at one job was excellent. Everyone drew a contestant’s name, and in the week following their exit you had to bring homemade baked goods into the office. There were more people in our team than contestants so we had at least 3 cakes a week.

my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...

AMEN

“For decades feminists have argued for women’s right to go where they please, at any hour, wearing what they choose. The onus shd not be on women to “take precautions” but on men not to rape/assault them, on govt to uphold their liberty & on police to keep them safe” www.thetimes.com/article/d2ee...

"Saltwater crocodiles - known locally as Salties" Of course they are.

www.theguardian.com/news/2026/se...

I think I thought that this was already the case. So if it isn’t, it should be.

I watched this with 7yo at the weekend and he was completely gripped the whole way through (as was I). www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Burnham needs to be more careful with his language. 'The North' looks v different from eg Scotland or Wales. He talks like the PM of England, not of the UK. Not too late to fix that. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

Do Reform's big donations make an early election more likely? They wouldn't be able to spend £72mn before campaign spending limits kick in & wouldn't have time to recruit campaign managers, & we know they haven't vetted enough potential candidates.

The taxi rank outside Cambridge station is *so* badly signposted and it would be so simple to fix.

“Reform UK has literally published a would-be Crypto Finance Bill spelling out exactly what they would do for their paymasters… Reform has nothing like this kind of policy detail for any other subject. It doesn’t even have a spokesman on defence.” frasernelson.substack.com/p/farage-may...

The most unrealistic thing about Ludwig is that it's supposedly set in Cambridge and none of the characters cycles anywhere.