Francis 🇾🇪 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @francis@greenplenty.social

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/14/city-guilds-uk-workforce-peoplecert-cost-cutting-drive by

At a time when the U.K. needs to address youth unemployment and increase productivity, we see City & Guilds, one of its proudest, primary educational and certification institutions, sold to an overseas Private Equity company to be sweated and stripped. Seems completely counterproductive. The UK desperately needs such organisations. As a teenager, I topped up my education by working through levels 1-3 of the C programming language C&G. It's transformed my career. The UK industrial strategy appears to be a joke. What is it, and how do we help young people learn the right things and get into the workplace? Maddening to watch us dismantle ourselves like this.

Online age verification isn't the same as a quick ID flash: it's surveillance. These systems collect your data and undermine your ability to anonymously access and discuss sensitive topics online. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/why-isnt-online-age-verification-just-showing-your-id-person

From the estimable Stephen Collins

Because age verification is really just there to:

- suppress queer information
- restrict abortion access
- gatekeep sexual education
- slurp up more personal data for marketing

"But think of the children!"

Maybe we should think about the corporations that prey on their attention-spans and self-esteem instead.

Sign stuff here:
https://www.stoponlineidchecks.org

Info on how to help here:
https://docs.fightforthefuture.org/s/637497e2-8a61-42aa-82fe-1b847e113ebb#h-what-are-online-id-checks-and-why-are-they-a-threat

#CallToAction #Activism #InternetSafety

I agree with Kevin Gopal; the real test of the focus & seriousness of the Govt.'s Child Poverty Strategy will be how it impacts the North of England, andWales where child poverty is notable more widespread than in the SE.

While there are pockets of good news (see the Gopal's short account of Preston Council's local strategy's impact), this strategy can only be said to be a success if the regionally skewed experience of poverty is reduced.

#ChildPoverty #politics

https://national.thelead.uk/p/the-north-of-england-is-watching-child-poverty-strategy-rachel-reeves

still baffled at people who have pin sharp and detailed cynicism about cryptocurrency but have fallen hard for chatbot AI

IT'S THE SAME FUCKING PERPETRATORS

Britain’s biggest hunger strike in decades – and the media won’t touch it https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britains-biggest-hunger-strike-decades-and-media-wont-touch-it #1u #Israel #Palestine #Gaza

with #santaclaus coming up soon just wanted to clear this up #hohoho #yo #arrr #nikolaus

I was being "funny". Someone made it funnier. Well played. 👏🏼

@ravensrod

A lot of Germans are posting in German about #Giessen today, and since many of our friends overseas may be confused, here's a summary:

The current iteration of the Nazi-Party, the AfD, is holding a summit in the town of Giessen today. They announced the formation of a youth org (Hitler-Jugend?). A ton of people came to protest. The police are busy protecting the Nazis, and politicians in the current government see fit to attack the protesters.

This needs international attention.

#depol

OwnCast is a Fediverse alternative to Amazon's Twitch. It's a livestreaming platform with built-in chat. You can chat without an account, or use your Mastodon etc account to verify your chat identity. Lots more info here:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/owncast-live-streaming-and-chat-on-the-fediverse

If you'd like to try it out, you can follow this OwnCast account that holds regular music streams and it will post in your Mastodon etc feed when it next goes live:

➡️ @video

#FediTips

David Hinchliffe offers an uncomfortable truth in a letter to the Guardian:

'In what is now very much a our “me first” society, it is swimming against the tide to refer to the common good. But accessing private healthcare is anything but a neutral act. It significantly worsens the prospects of those who are unable, or unwilling, to take this step, whose health problems are often considerably worse than those of the queue-jumpers'.

#SaveOurNHS #heath #NHS #politics

@francis @markdennehy Separated by 75-80 years, alas. That's two *long* political careers apart.