Rob Parsons

I gave a talk recently about re-enchant as resistance. I didn't put enough mention of the cultural dislocation so many of us feel at the moment or enough mention the things that help resolve that. We are living through a period of engineered disorientation and it damn well needs opposing.

We cannot be friends with, we cannot be the allies of and we ure as fuck cannot sell arms to a country that commits genocide and kidnaps our MPs.

“It has been said that Socialism is about Equality. If you ask for an equivalent short had description of Liberalism I should say that it is about Freedom and Participation.” Jo Grimond

Are they sure this is a sarcophagus? It looks to me like a loaf of wholemeal. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

"UK approves Jackdaw gasfield in North Sea". Bollocks

Just a regular reminder to please support your local bookstore, café, theatre, bakery, and library. Without us, they can't survive. Without them, neither can we.

Keep seeing other press organisations describing the ITV Reform expose as “shocking”. Given how open Reform are with their abhorrent views, I can only assume the thing that shocked them was watching some fellow journalists actually doing journalism, instead of unhinged op-eds about trans people.

we can create the culture we *want* to live in by choosing to act different! shit does not have to be this way!

"Can we just all just take a minute to absorb this: we are now talking about the how and when not the if" of rejoining the EU. @pimlicat.bsky.social Emotional moment. Continued thanks to all for the hard work to get this far.

We actually do know how to reduce rape. We do it the same way we disincentivize other behaviors: we punish it severely and consistently. The issue is not that we don’t know the solution, but that we lack the will to carry it out.

Telegraph asked me to comment on 4,102 babies with the surname Smith and 3,772 with the surname Khan being among 558, 988 babies born in England."These new Smiths and Khans will all go to school together in a few years, alongside children with many other surnames" www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10...

Her illness started with Covid, and despite her incredible, international-competition level fitness at the time. I don’t know who exactly would have to get this for healthy people to understand that when they get Covid, which they will continue to get, they are spinning a chamber and firing the gun.

Without hope, people won't work together and uplift others around them. In times of instability it can feel tempting to strip everything back and focus on only the absolute survival essentials, but investing in things like art and culture are key to preserving positivity in our communities.

Ringmer review A reader writes Andrew Eliopulos: The Fascinators: teenagers Sam, James and Delia negotiate small town life in Georgia, USA, and their personal relationships with magic getting in the way.

More relevant today than ever. “Our liberalism means we stand up to bullies, everywhere.” Conrad Russell

Ringmer review Dorothy the Ringmer megalodon writes: Sharon Blackie: Foxfire, Wolfskin and other stories of shapeshifting women As a shapeshifting woman myself, I really appreciate these stories. Fascinating tales exposing mischief, magic and our mythological roots.

Reminder that "biological sex" is not a thing that exists. It is a legal fiction in every place that refers to it. In the UK, in the equality act, it means "the sex that was written on your original birth certificate." Incidentally, it doesn't matter if that's due to a clerical error.

Soup, books and jigsaws available on Saturday. 12 noon – 2 pm at the village hall. The soup dragon would approve. (If you don’t know the soup dragon, see here: www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/sho...)

Moliere said “I live on good soup, not on fine words.” At Ringmer Library we live on both. And good soup, fine words, and great pictures (sawn up into little bits) are available on Saturday. 12 noon – 2 pm at the village hall.

Another day, another dog abused by hunts

“A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.” Abraham Maslow And we have both, if you define a painting as a jigsaw. Soup, books and jigsaws available on Saturday. 12 noon – 2 pm at the village hall.

Missing Eva Marie Saint a lot more than I'm missing Jeffrey Archer.

“Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.” Ludwig van Beethoven Find out that this is so on Saturday at Ringmer Library’s soup, book and jigsaw sale. 12 noon – 2 pm in the village hall.

Soupercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! Soup, and books, and jigsaw sale this Saturday 10th Oct 12 noon – 2 pm at the village hall all in aid of Ringmer Library

@netflix.com Hey Netflix, your new interface was designed by AI wasn't it? That's all I'm saying.

This is a fight for the future of our country. For liberty, equality and community. For the values we hold dear. This is the fight of our lives. And we are going to win it.

Wey hey!! Two cheers. Hurrah! I’m almost, but not, quite, mildly excited that something might not be ruled out in a few years time. Way to go, Andy. Bold, bravely ambivalent, solidly ambiguous, resolutely vague leadership, at last. 🙄🙄🙄 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I.... I need to update my will.

There is no middle ground with the kind of people who attack the RNLI. We don’t need to ‘listen’ to them. We need to tell them where to go.

I think we're entitled to ask what the fuck are the police doing about this? www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Only one clear strong voice against racism and xenophobia swirling around Piddington #Newsnight I hope she's ok, Othered in her own home for being decent

"Our green spaces belong to all of us, and we want everyone to feel welcome in them." Introducing our new Wild About Inclusion Lead, Anna Shamoon.  https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/articles/meet-the-staff-anna-shamoon-wild-about-inclusion-lead/ #NationalInclusionWeek 📷Anna Shamoon

“We believe that power does not belong to the strongest, the richest or the loudest, but to all of us. That democracies have the freedom to choose with whom to work.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

This is very true. Sometimes alt text is just a chore - one I undertake willingly - but sometimes it's a joy finding the right words to express the picture.

Crypto billionaires don’t become crypto billionaires by being generous or altruistic. They become crypto billionaires by being greedy, selfish, amoral, dishonest, untrustworthy shites. They don’t give away money for the common good. Is that who should control our politics?

There are occasions, not many of them, but they do happen, when the real naked visceral truth is expressed on social media. This is one of them. 👇 Wake up, Labour Party, and bloody well do something.

“Fundamental is belief in the freedom of every individual. That is threatened from many directions: by over-mighty states, by private concentrations of power, by the actions of other individuals or by circumstances which leave the individual without access to power or opportunity." Alan Beith

Disgraceful that the RNLI have to say this today, but here we are 😞. If you would like to donate👇🏻. rnli.org/support-us/g... #RNLI #RNLISavesLives

I’m not sure why it’s impossible for a Labour politician to say that racism is not a “legitimate concern”. You cannot and will not ever be enough for your enemies. If you move, they’ll move further. So don’t move.

A suggested statement for Andy Burnham.

That the government's response to a large-scale fascist mobilisation is to say stuff like "the right to protest is fundamental" and "we already *are* stopping the boats" is in itself the story of how we got here.

Kent police said 'no arrests were made' of the people who blocked a port and roads. There's your two-tier policing, folks www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...

"Hatred draws itself on your face and it doesn't use nice pens" is such a wonderful epigram