rfmacdonald.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

CLASS IS PERMANENT. 🚲🤩

submitted 10 hours ago • 3 comments

'There was also a strong sense of place and family, with people of all ages wanting to stay near their relatives, and a general feeling of dissatisfaction with schools’ attempts to equip pupils to make informed choices about their post-16 options.'

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

"The role of a councillor is to be a shop steward for the community inside the Council, not a cheerleader for the Council inside the community." The Canary's article on the People's Manifesto event in Newcastle, and an interview with me.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Well done to the co-op

submitted 7 days ago • 12 comments

Born on this day in 1951: Joey Ramone #Ramones Pics; Lisa Lake Gary Gershoff Jim Steinfeldt Sire Records youtu.be/f0lcans7l5I?...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Up to 3 Nightjars began churring ca 21:00 at traditional site in Cleveland Hills, w wing-clapping displays 20 mins later. Habitat becoming overgrown though, may not remain suitable long. Also Cuckoo, Woodcock, Tawny Owl & rich dusk chorus of songbirds. @teesbirds.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

My injury in the military left me paralysed below the knees & eligible for PIP daily living - but not for long… PIP is not a work-related benefit. Those that are inc JSA & UC A gov workplace accident entitled me to a benefit that gov will now take off me to supposedly help me back into work… 🤷‍♂️

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

Osprey? 80% sure. Flew over Marston Lake at Low Barns Co Durham @durhamwildlife.bsky.social Scared up all the birds on the lake, then chased off. 18/5/25 Apols for the v poor/ v short video. @rspb.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Still a very good dog indeed. Happy Birthday Dora! (12 today).

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Congratulations to Palace. Defended very well. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 (Not sure City were the worse team - but certainly didn’t play well enough). #FACup #MCFC #CrystalPalace

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Check out our Editorial Board member, Ali Fraser's inspirational new podcast called Young Warriors available at all the usual places you get your podcasts podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

'"A large group of pupils at Westbourne Academy are refusing to attend lessons and instead choose to roam the school, disrupting other lessons and engaging in threatening behaviour towards staff and other pupils," the NASUWT said in a statement.' Building on Etonian historical precedents? 1/2

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

Chopwell Woods, NE England, Summer on the way. Wonderful to be able to wander quietly & slowly, going off the paths to follow deer tracks through the woods. 🥾🥾🐾🐶🌲🌳🌲🪾🌳🐦‍⬛🪶

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

One of the most important bird, biodiversity and conservation-related reports of the year - always a must-read if you have any interest in our natural world

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Late breakfast today. The height of Regional Cuisine (NE England): ‘Broon Ale Geordie Bangers’ in a Greggs Stottie. Superb. 👨🏽‍🍳

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Discussions with the authors of our 2024 Andy Furlong Prize winner and runner up are now on our JoYS YouTube channel: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

Sharing on behalf of my @cunygcsociology.bsky.social friend/colleague Ruth Milkman who isn't on social media. Here's her statement re a problematic censoring of an obituary for Michael Burawoy to appear in ASA Footnotes #soctwitter #socsky #sociology docs.google.com/document/d/1...

submitted 11 days ago • 8 comments

🚨 NEW: Opportunities for the poorest young people in London far outstrip the rest of England, we have found. Our new Opportunity Index reveals how the area young people grow up in shapes their life chances, with huge differences between constituencies across the country 🧵⬇️

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

Raven settling on a shelter at the summit of Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms. Not a breath of wind at 1309 metres. A beautiful, quiet moment.

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

Male Blackbirds regularly sing to each other. Likely to talk about their day and their hopes and aspirations Not Bert. He will be singing about setting up the first avian trading company that bargains earthworms for high quality fruit 🙄

submitted 12 days ago • 3 comments

OFFICIAL: The 2025/2026 #ManCity home shirt.

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

OK, this is wild. In September 2023, geophysicists across the world started monitoring a very odd signal coming from the ground under them. It was picked up in the Arctic. And Antarctica. It was detected everywhere, every 90 seconds, as regular as a metronome, for nine days. What the HELL? 1/

submitted 13 days ago • 761 comments

A lad called Ryan told me he would vote Reform. In 5 minutes I learned he wanted to end homelessness, help poor families, and help vulnerable people get off drugs. Not a word about immigration. He just couldn't vote Labour after so may lies. My latest article in The Canary.

submitted 16 days ago • 4 comments

Connections Puzzle #700 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 Neat.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

#ProudBlue #BlueEarth The more we learn about trees & forests we find nature is much more advanced than we realized & can be quite chatty. Older spruce trees remember past events, like an eclipse, telling younger trees not to worry. Kids, the sun will return! www.yahoo.com/news/hours-s...

submitted 16 days ago • 41 comments

The Roman invasion into #Britain found a tribal society rich in material #culture. A #Celtic masterpiece: bronze mirror with engraved back from the grave of a high status lady at Birdlip, #Gloucester #Archaeology #jewellery #artwork #art #History #FindsFriday

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

God this is euphoric in the way that only things that are also unbearably sad can be. Click play on this and start your day with all the feelings ❤️

submitted 16 days ago • 8 comments

staffers are still cleaning up the Kristi Noem mess after she got gutted/filleted by @chrismurphyct.bsky.social this is A MOMENT. #MustWatch 🧢 @trumpfile.org

submitted 17 days ago • 1401 comments

Can Labour recover? Can Reform govern? My take on events up here in Durham. eyesandearsnortheast.substack.com/p/can-labour...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Still no payment from my ex-publisher, so I'm selling a few more of these (all purchased from their warehouse). The offer I'm doing is ALL FOUR of these, signed, for the price of the 1983 hardback (£16.99) plus postage. Please email me at [email protected] with your address if you want to nab them.

submitted 17 days ago • 10 comments

TANK vs TESLA "We've crushed fascism before and we'll crush it again" - ⁠WW2 veteran Ken, 98, in the tank

submitted 18 days ago • 2304 comments

Here’s a radical idea - listening to people in a democracy. Join the assembly and help develop a manifesto for Newcastle on Sunday 18th May. Follow the link to book a free ticket. majorityuk.org/assembly

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Great conversations on the streets of #Newcastle. People are frustrated with politics. One person said “No-one seems to fix anything. They say a lot, then they do nowt. They never listen.” Majority is listening. Join our citizens assembly on 18 May www.majorityuk.org/assembly

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Marsden Quarry, #SunnySouthShields #LoveAndPeace

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Mabel Update. She’s a little trooper; nicely sorted out by the Vet. Coned-up this morning; devouring a teddy bear this afternoon. #DogsOfBlueSky

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Poorly doggo. Hurt her paw out on a walk; vet tomorrow. Pork pie to ‘keep her spirits up’.

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

submitted 23 days ago • 339 comments

That County Durham has ‘swung’ to Reform needs some serious thinking about. And I don’t mean the usual half-baked, at-a-distance stereotypes & lazy guesswork. Here’s a good start, from @jamiedriscoll.bsky.social Please read & repost ❤️✊🏽

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

What happens now that Reform actually have taken back control? My article on yesterday's local election results in the North East. majorityuk.org/content.aspx...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Big Day ❤️ #MayDay

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

Mabel searches for any stream of morning sunlight, however thin. She’s like a lizard! #DogsOfBlueSky #TongueOutThursday

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Today, May 1, is International Workers' Day! It commemorates the sentencing to death of eight anarchist workers in Chicago who were framed for throwing a bomb at police who attacked a strike demonstration in May 1886 shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/the...

submitted 24 days ago • 6 comments

#ThickTrunkTuesday Somewhere in Middle Earth (well, Levens Hall Deer Park, Cumbria, England to be precise)

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

tomcox.substack.com/p/cat-horosc...

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

Wordle 1,409 3/6 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🕺🏻

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments