Flick 🇬🇧

🐕, 🦆, 🌱

New Spinsters: I’m not going to follow back until you post a bit.

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Nostr: 2c60241a778e47057c7b457e8e31750216a924877c8c21637b719ba573568161

Nostr: 2c60241a778e47057c7b457e8e31750216a924877c8c21637b719ba573568161
Also Nostr: @flick@henhouse.social

Public Key

npub1lmksrgs7e5w5gz53fgq38py0dw3yfjdyur2nv0vg7rspce6sr4lqqn85vl

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flick_at_spinster.xyz@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0amgp5g0v682yp2g55qgnsj8khgjyexjwp4fk8ky0pcquvagp6lspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshgn4zz

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1lmksrgs7e5w5gz53fgq38py0dw3yfjdyur2nv0vg7rspce6sr4lqqn85vl

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Last Notes

2026-04-02 08:45:09 UTC

Signs of spring: squashed toads on the roads :(

2026-04-01 19:05:50 UTC

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2026-04-01 18:50:13 UTC

UK: Tesco is doing 15p veg for Easter. Not sure about other places.

2026-04-01 10:37:49 UTC

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Yeah, the weekend looks a bit grim, doesn’t it?

2026-04-01 09:52:59 UTC

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Bit of both. When he zones out like that, it means he’s gone far enough but it’s not so bad that he’s going to just turn around and leg it home.

2026-04-01 09:35:55 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/b03c197cc92375bd296072102fff0fa1d3862b93c00078f2ea02c261cd29de7c.jpeg

2026-03-31 12:38:45 UTC

I love how they’ve tried to make it cheerful with the little flowers.
https://media.spinster.xyz/e0846127ea1d5ee4699b2b35ba2d963456bbc324eefc3d6c41aa639d20e43461.jpeg

2026-03-31 07:51:11 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/canada-wants-to-make-quoting-the-bible-illegal/
> But the most controversial part of all is the removal of the hate-crime exemption for good-faith interpretation of a religious text, which was previously enshrined in the criminal code to prevent religious persecution and harassment.
> The Bible is certainly in the government’s crosshairs. Marc Miller, the minister of Canadian identity and culture, testified in parliamentary discussions about the legislation that he believes there is ‘clear hatred’ in the Bible, particularly in Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. He said he didn’t understand how the concept of good faith can be invoked in quoting certain passages from the Bible, and there should be discretion for prosecutors to press charges for criminal hate speech.
https://archive.ph/CdDAW

2026-03-29 20:52:40 UTC

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People no longer stop my mother in the street and say “oooh, I hope her hair changes colour!”….
(Much less orange as I’ve got older.)

2026-03-29 20:32:00 UTC

I was looking for, and failed to find, something else entirely, but may I present: me, aged around three, after a long day in the garden.
https://media.spinster.xyz/01d63bca66a7459bff5a9a282e7e14335dda0e648327b81e974341a060e64909.jpeg

2026-03-29 18:11:30 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/c05707ebde192871affdb77e009f550fe2457bfc06e9b7e34c53c152c1318387.jpeg

2026-03-28 13:44:26 UTC

https://beautymatter.com/articles/italy-halts-the-sephora-kids-ride
> The Italian competition authority Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) has reportedly launched investigations into LVMH’s Sephora Italia and Benefit Cosmetics over “possible unfair commercial practices” relating to the advertising of products created for adults to children and adolescents.
> AGCM claims the companies (Benefit Cosmetics LLC, Sephora Italia S.r.L., and LVMH Profumi e Cosmetici Italia S.r.L.) encouraged consumers as young as 10-12 to make compulsive purchases of face masks, serums, and anti-aging creams. The authority believes this fuels the issue of “cosmeticorexia”—an obsession with skincare among minors. AGCM also claims the companies used “insidious” marketing strategies that involved very young influencers.

2026-03-28 09:32:34 UTC

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I’ve signed up for a tinned fish subscription, it’s making me have to think!
I have a tin of chilli mackerel in the cupboard. I’m not a fan of hot food, so I’ll have to get creative with that one to cool it down.

2026-03-28 07:56:39 UTC

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Roasted cherry tomatoes, not bell peppers, but otherwise spot on (definitely unoaked!), come on over!

2026-03-27 19:23:01 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/cb4512a3b42ee46f5390aec442f63479a7cd3a2ce6d4483897531ea9dd6f39ed.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/1b049f81f349657cdcc7b12f7280331a72aff4ab5bb5c503c4b5f735f694163a.jpeg

2026-03-27 16:03:41 UTC

https://spectator.com/article/its-easy-to-blame-big-tech-for-the-results-of-parental-neglect/
> If a child found Mr. Kipling cakes particularly addictive and began overindulging to the point of becoming overweight or unwell, would we be right to sue the baker? Or would it make more sense to ask whether the parent had enabled the behaviour by leaving the packets within easy reach, refusing to set limits or using them as a convenient babysitter?
> A Los Angeles jury has just delivered a landmark verdict against Meta and Google, finding both companies negligent for designing addictive platforms that harmed the mental health of a young user, known as Kaley. The £4.5 million awarded in damages, with Meta shouldering the lion’s share, has been hailed as social media’s ‘Big Tobacco moment’. Tech firms, it’s argued, acted recklessly in knowingly hooking children with infinite scrolls, auto-play and algorithmic dopamine hits, and so they are therefore fully responsible for the depression and anxiety that ensued.
> It is a seductive narrative. It’s also a comforting one, because it shifts responsibility away from the place it is most uncomfortable and most necessary to look at: the home.
(Archive still down, sorry.)

2026-03-27 11:09:17 UTC

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I think mining = mountains is a not uncommon assumption. I’ve had people tell me there couldn’t possibly have been mines around here, when there were hundreds (and there are still quarries).

2026-03-27 11:06:15 UTC

https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/school-book-banning-escalates-in-the-uk-as-greater-manchester-secondary-school-censors-scores-of-books/
> In November 2025, a school library in Greater Manchester underwent a purge. Inspired by the headteacher’s dislike of one particular title, books were pulled off the shelves, in a case unlike any previously seen in the UK. Within weeks, more than 130 books had been targeted – nearly 200 if each issue of the numerous graphic novels is counted. The books included a graphic novel of George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four, young adult books like Dean Atta’s Black Flamingo and Alice Oseman’s chart-topping Heartstopper graphic novel series. Black Flamingo has since been reinstated, but the fate of many books on the list is unclear.
> The school leadership pointed the finger at the librarian. She was threatened with disciplinary action, labeled as a safeguarding risk and at one point she was under risk of police involvement. She resigned from her job under severe stress.

2026-03-27 10:42:17 UTC

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It’s mined, not from the sea.
But: quite.

2026-03-27 10:22:21 UTC

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/03/26/the-end-of-the-british-salt-industry-could-be-apocalyptic/
> the UK is on the verge of becoming a net importer of salt, for the first time in history. Inovyn, the company that produces roughly 50 per cent of Britain’s salt, has announced that it will likely have to close its facility in Runcorn, Cheshire, unless it receives government support. Like the rest of the UK’s manufacturing industry, Inovyn is struggling to cope with the UK’s breathtakingly high energy costs and crippling carbon taxes. In other words, Britain’s salt industry is to be sacrificed at the altar of Net Zero.
> The decline of salt would be an economic disaster. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest manufacturers in the UK. Salt, which is used in 90 per cent of pharmaceuticals, is a vital component in a surprising number of everyday products. Only the food industry contributes more to the domestic economy – and the food industry also needs high-quality salt, for taste and preservative reasons.

2026-03-27 10:03:54 UTC

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The issue isn’t proving that you aren’t a bot, it’s uploading your ID to either Reddit or some random third party, security levels unknowable, and then having your posts linked to your ID if the police decide to take offence at something you post.

2026-03-27 07:47:03 UTC

I slipped on some slushy snow yesterday morning, but I thought I was ok because I landed on nice bouncy heather.
I was wrong :(

2026-03-26 20:13:26 UTC

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/03/26/britains-energy-nightmare-is-of-our-own-elites-making/
> The energy secretary is wrong on all fronts. Catastrophically so. As a new report by Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) confirms, North Sea oil and gas drilling has indeed fallen sharply in recent years. But this has been driven by government policy, not the supplies in reserve beneath the sea. Miliband’s ban on new North Sea oil exploration, and his continuation of the Tories’ windfall tax on the sector, are by far the greatest constraint on domestic drilling. As a result, according to OEUK, imports of LNG – which currently account for 14 per cent of the UK gas supply – are set to soar to 46 per cent by 2035. Under Miliband’s North Sea shutdown, Britain will become more dependent on suppliers like Qatar, and thus more vulnerable to external energy shocks.
> And what might domestic protection mean for the price of energy? While nobody expects reopening the North Sea to instantly rescue the UK from the current price hikes, more domestic drilling could indeed lower costs in the long run. Miliband’s insistence that prices are set ‘internationally’, and so domestic production would ‘not take a penny off energy bills’, is straightforwardly untrue. If prices really were set globally, the UK would not be paying six times more for gas than energy-rich America.

2026-03-26 19:59:15 UTC

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Not tried recently, and can’t access it atm. The Times is pretty good at blocking it again when it works around the paywall, though.

2026-03-25 21:10:14 UTC

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Tbh, based solely on my extensive knowledge of John Grisham novels, low sounds better: less likely to be overturned as absurd upon appeal.

2026-03-25 16:53:30 UTC

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> Doctors across the nation are alarmed that skepticism fueled by rising anti-science sentiment and medical mistrust is increasingly reaching beyond vaccines to other proven, routine, preventive care for babies.
What could possibly have caused this, I wonder? A real mystery.

2026-03-25 07:34:38 UTC

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That’s why I don’t use them.

2026-03-24 22:21:49 UTC

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I’m afraid I buy it! Slow dehydration, maybe?
https://www.frejabonebroth.com/collections/instant-bone-broth

2026-03-24 22:11:12 UTC

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My current favourite mash is with cream cheese and powdered bone broth. Cauliflower is my least favourite brassica, but I will have to try it with turnips in a few weeks when my early crop comes through.

2026-03-24 22:04:01 UTC

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See, FINAF, it’s not just me!
Vox, try it in mashed potatoes, too!

2026-03-24 20:22:06 UTC

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Secret ingredient!

2026-03-24 20:06:31 UTC

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Crust is just my regular dough, rolled very thin (I can give you the recipe if you want but it’s metric!), “sauce” is finely chopped sundried tomatoes mixed with cream cheese (I’m not that keen on pizza sauce), toppings are salami, mushrooms and sugar snaps (snow peas, I think?) (a bit weird but they needed using), and mozzarella.

2026-03-24 19:15:57 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/32e1808066a8fa211326d632cca72f8eace223a46e72e45219003a8d9b2bcc56.jpeg

2026-03-23 22:27:04 UTC

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Yes, and definitely no!
I’m a lot more vegetarian when the ducks are laying, and I don’t eat a huge amount of red meat.
Oh, but: can you eat ostrich? Or is it too close to being red meat? If you think you can safely try it, honestly you would think that it’s steak.
Eg:
https://media.spinster.xyz/90318c132723b5b0d3188d382621b45ad611bc6f87a17de3d6bc264d21aacd2f.jpeg

2026-03-23 22:16:36 UTC

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Bubble and squeak, with marmite and cheese.
(Did bubble and squeak make it over there? Left over mash and cabbage.)

2026-03-23 19:03:19 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/037bdce857d59f2655b85efb2c38a827bad5b084f12ce9dcbbacb05e07a0aa85.jpeg
https://media.spinster.xyz/0c6ec3e9b4f4839226a9c3e518e829db663788b02ebfab7fd5d9da5b2fab8901.jpeg

2026-03-23 11:17:43 UTC

After a long spell without any, Mr DT has had two falls in the last week. One outside, where he took two hours to bum-shuffle back to the house and pulled a muscle in the process, one in the kitchen where his head smacked the floor with an awful thump.
OTOH, he did seem a bit brighter than last time we went up, when he kept nodding off.

2026-03-22 21:23:53 UTC

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Or a little way over?

2026-03-22 21:03:09 UTC

There was an Anglo-Saxon bishop named Chad, coming from a Celtic word meaning “battle”. He later became a saint.
4:30ish
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SIMGph7xkDA

2026-03-22 20:10:40 UTC

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They launched missiles in the direction of DG. Whether they had any expectation of them actually getting there….
It would be interesting to know how far the one that was shot down had actually got.

2026-03-22 20:02:57 UTC

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Oh, yes.
One better: if I pin the piping cord to the tube, I can get that exactly the right length and join the ends, then use that loop to draw around!

2026-03-22 19:28:43 UTC

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I did sort-of try this, but it’s more of a rounded-end rectangle and the marking it on the fabric defeated me.

2026-03-22 19:27:39 UTC

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My tube is floppy… :(
In hindsight, I should have left the papers in. But yes, I think a lot of pin-faffing is in my future.

2026-03-22 18:33:04 UTC

Sewing help, please!
I’ve got the sides of my mum’s bag done and assembled into a tube. I’ve got a length of piping cord, and a piece of fabric to form the base.
I tried just eyeballing it and ended up with too much side to go around the last side of the base, so I’m going to have to be more systematic.
Any ideas how I go about it? Am I just going to have to pin and adjust and pin and adjust?

2026-03-21 19:26:35 UTC

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Mushrooms with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and mozzarella.

2026-03-21 19:18:39 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/9e03d75d93cc75f75fe5d20a4d4383a2cb46f6879ecc51cc8ce7577456c6d867.jpeg

2026-03-21 11:06:56 UTC

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Looks like they’re going for an existing German replacement, so hopefully it’ll not be a complete waste of time like that armoured personnel carrier that they tried to make over here that was so bad it made people ill.

2026-03-20 21:56:50 UTC

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Pretty sure they only went out of service weeks ago, so I’m sure you could get in there!

2026-03-20 21:51:46 UTC

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We, otoh, have just retired our last mine clearing ships: instead, we now have shiny new drone technology.
Which — coff — hasn’t been tested.

2026-03-20 21:50:06 UTC

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Book. Always book. Make your own pictures!

2026-03-20 21:41:24 UTC

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I loved the book, but I can definitely see where C is coming from. He does get shanghaied and it is a sad ending.

2026-03-20 20:50:50 UTC

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And he’s ok with it? That is promising!

2026-03-20 20:18:57 UTC

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Surely there should have been one left at the end…?

2026-03-20 15:46:54 UTC

https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
> Privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail provided Swiss authorities with payment data that the FBI then used to determine who was allegedly behind an anonymous account affiliated with the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, according to a court record reviewed by 404 Media.
> The records provide insight into the sort of data that Proton Mail, which prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption and that it is only governed by Swiss privacy law, can and does provide to third parties.

2026-03-20 12:41:45 UTC

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How’re you doing?

2026-03-19 12:51:47 UTC

https://order-order.com/2026/03/19/ofcom-fines-4chan-520000-lawyer-responds-with-picture-of-giant-hamster/
> The tin-pot internet police at Ofcom have fined US-based platform 4chan an unbelievable £520,000 (plus daily penalties of around £800) for repeatedly violating the Online Safety Act. They claim the site failed the OSA’s risk assessment duty, its illegal content safety duty, and its children’s safety duties. That’s half-a-million quid, please…
> Below is 4chan lawyer Preston Byrne’s response email, which contains a picture of a giant hamster dressed as Godzilla:
>> Ofcom,
>> Thanks. As has been explained to your agency, ad nauseam, the United Kingdom lost the American Revolutionary War. We are not in the mood to discuss the matter further, and have not been in the mood for 250 years.

2026-03-18 19:21:51 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/e8ce9c8c589f78fe5bc70b0e5af2529a35a17ac0e6a2f52a44195297721dad3e.jpeg

2026-03-16 18:57:48 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/189ec508f1cde57649f1a0b28431db3ffe95263fb635edafc56cfcf747f05909.jpeg

2026-03-15 20:56:00 UTC

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I… what animal is that even supposed to be…?

2026-03-15 15:55:46 UTC

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Could you get her shut into a room where she can’t hide? Bathroom, maybe?

2026-03-15 11:33:56 UTC

Made it up to see the DTs (Dog pleased to get his treat and fuss; Mr DT looking frailer and kept nodding off), started raining half way home (Dog unimpressed, amount of sniffing underwent sudden decrease).
https://media.spinster.xyz/bb3b1b50930dd1878c093e79b0014428bd693c2c95dd77ab1f15f4a017afa2cd.jpeg
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2026-03-14 21:26:13 UTC

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NGL, going to go out in the morning to measure my oil tank intake and order a lock :(

2026-03-14 19:10:57 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/90318c132723b5b0d3188d382621b45ad611bc6f87a17de3d6bc264d21aacd2f.jpeg

2026-03-13 21:28:06 UTC

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Totally would.

2026-03-11 21:07:38 UTC

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Denmark has been doing good stuff, too: https://news.sky.com/story/uk-government-looking-at-danish-migration-model-heres-how-it-works-13470122

2026-03-11 20:54:45 UTC

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Ah ah, wrong response!
That should be “Mohammed, PBUH”!

2026-03-11 20:40:51 UTC

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/03/11/labour-is-taking-inspiration-from-the-taliban/
> We regularly hear the refrain that schools need to get back to ‘old-fashioned’ methods of teaching. But how far back should they go? And, while we’re at it, to which society? Labour councils in the north of England have attempted to clear up this confusion for us. Seventh-century Arabia, at the dawn of Islam, is their answer.
> In a document titled ‘Sharing the Journey’, multiple Labour-run councils have told schools that drawing pictures of humans could be ‘idolatrous’ to ‘some Muslim’ pupils. Music lessons could also conflict with the religious injunctions of Islam, on the grounds that ‘music is traditionally limited to the human voice and non-tunable percussion instruments as in the days of the prophet, when they were only used in marriage ceremonies and on the battlefield’. Dancing and physical activities also need to be carefully policed so as to ensure there is no ‘physical contact between male and females’, nor ‘performing in a manner that might encourage immodesty or sexual feelings’.
> This is, to put it mildly, disturbing. These councils – they include Leeds, Oldham, Tameside and Kirklees – are effectively advising schools to look to the Taliban for educational inspiration. They are also denying pupils the joys of drawing, music and dancing. Any adult who isn’t chronically maladjusted knows that these expressions of creativity and affection are vital to a human’s development – indeed, they are among the most important aspects of any child’s education.

2026-03-11 20:24:53 UTC

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She does do an excellent “confused old lady”, especially if it involves tech or getting expedited customer service!

2026-03-11 20:21:31 UTC

My mum’s been staying with her sister for a bit, and she came home today.
On the train. On her own.
The first time she’d been on a train in about twenty years, the first time she had *ever* been on a train without either a parent or husband.
She struggled a little with the QR codes, but pulled her little-old-lady act on the guards.
I am so proud of her!

2026-03-11 19:21:18 UTC

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Long shot: here we have a few mobile vet practices. They’re not cheap, but at least you’d only have the problem of getting her to let the vet near.

2026-03-11 19:15:50 UTC

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Yikes, see what you mean about Google. I’m sure it’s not that, though: no vomiting and she’s Jumping on and off furniture ok.
I would call the vet and ask for advice.

2026-03-11 19:13:07 UTC

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Will she let you check inside her ears? Might be wax buildup affecting her balance.

2026-03-11 19:12:07 UTC

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If it’s anything like here, they can’t prescribe without seeing the animal so it would just be an OTC like feliway.

2026-03-11 19:10:18 UTC

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Hopefully just a sprain.

2026-03-10 08:29:02 UTC

https://media.spinster.xyz/3342d73a31924ed3d2eca472ee1b335af8fac58bf5c497b24d7a3fc90aacb038.jpeg

2026-03-08 10:33:30 UTC

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No, I mean defending the military bases we have in many of the gulf states that are being hit, thus preventing them from going up in smoke.

2026-03-08 10:10:26 UTC

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Not being there to help defend our allies is pissing them off royally, but it’s more the delays: the government knew this was coming a fortnight in advance. If they were going to send aircraft carriers, *that* was the time to do it. Not pathetically faffing around and being indecisive like this.

2026-03-08 09:47:37 UTC

God, this is embarrassing. State of this country.
https://media.spinster.xyz/0402411d4019d9e5c2c13db6ac677ecd4448b691b6afdcf9f173ce19a648d789.jpeg

2026-03-06 19:29:10 UTC

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Oh, I thought you meant 60% on GPL1s. That is slightly less terrifying.

2026-03-06 18:30:13 UTC

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That’s terrifying! Source?

2026-03-06 18:24:51 UTC

Chris Whitty in “says something sensible” shock!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzx4eypv8o
> England's chief medical officer says the drugs are "transformational" for people who need them, but this should be "a very small minority".
> Letting people become obese, to then medicate them for life would be "shocking" and the "wrong answer" to one of the most pressing health issues in the UK, he says.
> Instead, Sir Chris says the UK should learn from other countries, including France, which are doing a much better job of eating healthily and preventing obesity.

2026-03-06 12:21:12 UTC

Oh dear, I’m in the shit again….
https://media.spinster.xyz/be56eda946f3d3d109b485ec3deb246e9470016b1f20abe1f912c4d7627af5e4.jpeg

2026-03-05 08:47:24 UTC

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> with environmental schemes such as the one in east Devon paying thousands of pounds an acre
Where is that money coming from? Is it big businesses offsetting carbon, tax money, what?

2026-03-04 17:07:05 UTC

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Does rather depend on finding a good supply of cottage-shaped rocks….

2026-03-04 10:49:33 UTC

Robin singing his (or her) heart out this morning.
https://media.spinster.xyz/2d24689959d780b20261ddf45fc337be11a51b0ffc90170529c0bbd8e2911e58.jpeg
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https://media.spinster.xyz/224d8e94b89067be9a39b1e0edc9dd2d682fbabad0af2a5518b250b08b337da7.mov

2026-03-03 21:31:08 UTC

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Bloody hell.
Kudos to her, but that’s a weird as hell hobby: I wonder what her day job is that she can do it?

2026-02-28 20:08:49 UTC

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2026-02-28 19:57:18 UTC

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2026-02-27 21:26:27 UTC

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TIL! I’ve only ever tried beginner ones and been a bit meh about the appeal.

2026-02-27 21:21:10 UTC

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I didn’t realise it was so complex, never having done more than a handful.

2026-02-27 21:04:34 UTC

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> I need to learn it. (Don't ask.)
I feel like asking is pretty much compulsory at this point….

2026-02-27 20:42:32 UTC

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/02/27/the-gross-bigotry-behind-the-greens-hippy-facade/
> How is it possible that a party that rubs shoulders with sectarian bigots, and which would sacrifice women’s rights at the altar of men’s feelings, and which demonises Jewish nationhood, can get away with calling itself ‘progressive’? Call me a stickler for linguistic accuracy, but such a searingly dismissive attitude to the rights of women and Jews sounds more ‘far right’ to me than anything Matt Goodwin has ever said.
> The loony Greens are a firm reminder that women and Jews are the two great losers under the Islamo-left ideology. On one side we have the keffiyeh-adorned genderfluid left that thinks a man’s right to piss where he likes counts for more than a woman’s right to privacy and which views Zionism as a demonic force deserving of destruction. And on the other we have regressive Islamists who think women should be cloaked when out in public and that Jews are a pox on humankind. In flirting with both of these nauseating creeds, the Greens have made themselves into the prime engine of bigotry in mainstream British politics. Pricking their hippyish facade, and exposing the truth about woke, is a pressing task of our time.

2026-02-27 15:36:25 UTC

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He’s a dog, not a cat. Keep up, Emma!

2026-02-27 15:31:15 UTC

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Not here, they don’t. (The UK and Ireland are rabies-free.)

2026-02-27 15:15:45 UTC

Adventures of Dog:
He just went outside for a wee, and a weird squealing noise ensued. I looked to see what was going on and he had a rat in his mouth, which he promptly dropped and fled for the house with blood streaming down his nose.
This is not remotely like him, he has zero prey drive. It’s also not typical rat behaviour: even when I walked towards it, it just stood there and only shakily scurried off when I was a few feet away. I’m hoping it was sick, rather than that someone’s been putting poison out.
(The bleeding has stopped, it was only a tiny scratch/bite. As it happens, he’s still on his antibiotics anyway, so I’m not greatly concerned.)

2026-02-26 09:53:07 UTC

The vet suggested doubling up Dog’s meds, so he’s been having both his NSAID and paracetamol/Tylenol for the last few days. It’s made absolutely no difference to his desire to go for walks, and I know she’s going to suggest Librela (monoclonal antibodies) again when I speak to her.
I’m really not keen. I wasn’t keen on having to drag him to the vet every month for the jab anyway, and the adverse reaction reports that have started coming through since it was first suggested make me even less keen, but also I’m really not sure that the issue is pain. Take this morning: yes, we were only out for about fifteen minutes, but he was running around, sniffing at stuff, and it very much wasn’t a poo-and-return. I just think he can’t be arsed.

2026-02-25 12:20:35 UTC

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260218-i-hacked-chatgpt-and-googles-ai-and-it-only-took-20-minutes
> I spent 20 minutes writing an article on my personal website titled "The best tech journalists at eating hot dogs". Every word is a lie. I claimed (without evidence) that competitive hot-dog-eating is a popular hobby among tech reporters and based my ranking on the 2026 South Dakota International Hot Dog Championship (which doesn't exist). I ranked myself number one, obviously. Then I listed a few fake reporters and real journalists who gave me permission […]
Less than 24 hours later, the world's leading chatbots were blabbering about my world-class hot dog skills. When I asked about the best hot-dog-eating tech journalists, Google parroted the gibberish from my website, both in the Gemini app and AI Overviews, the AI responses at the top of Google Search. ChatGPT did the same thing, though Claude, a chatbot made by the company Anthropic, wasn't fooled.
Sometimes, the chatbots noted this might be a joke. I updated my article to say "this is not satire". For a while after, the AIs seemed to take it more seriously. I did another test with a made-up list of the greatest hula-hooping traffic cops. Last time I checked, chatbots were still singing the praises of Officer Maria "The Spinner" Rodriguez.

2026-02-23 16:07:11 UTC

This is an interesting idea:
https://www.lajoiehomebase.com/
> At La Joie Homebase®, we offer what we call a Taste of Connected Living™: time-defined stays that let you experience what this international lifestyle truly feels like.

> It’s not accommodation, and it’s not a travel product. It’s a new framework for living together that combines independence with connection, privacy with community, and everyday life with moments of joy.
> Each Taste of Connected Living™ takes place in a fully privatized home — a mansion, villa, townhouse, beach house, or farm — curated for beauty, comfort, and authenticity, reserved only for our community of women. It’s a way to engage with real life around you, contribute to it, and feel part of something meaningful.

2026-02-19 20:09:43 UTC

Using a mandoline to slice salami:

2026-02-18 19:11:33 UTC

Mmm, frozen drizzle in a howling gale.