“ A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us'. ”
Victory Mansions
Joined May 2018
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Black Joan retweeted
🇬🇧 Eight-year-old Quinn, a white cat deaf since birth, disappeared from her home in St Helens, England, in September 2026.
About six weeks later, on October 22, she was found loudly meowing near bins at an A1 service station in Peterborough, roughly 274 km away.
Volunteer Cat Attwell caught her, and an up-to-date microchip led rescuers to her owners. Quinn may have travelled in a van or lorry, but her route is unknown.
One of her owners made an eight-hour round trip to collect her on October 25.
Black Joan retweeted
🇳🇱 In 1966, Henriëtte van Weelde rescued a mother cat and her kittens beneath a tree by Amsterdam’s Herengracht canal.
As more cats filled her home, she bought an old barge in 1968 and converted it into De Poezenboot, a floating cat shelter. A second boat followed in 1971, and the charity was formally established in 1987.
The shelter says it takes in 200–250 cats each year, providing veterinary care and seeking adoptive homes. A replacement boat arrived on the Singel canal in October 2023.
Black Joan retweeted
I said earlier that I thought it would be lovely if Russians and Ukrainians stopped killing each other. I didn’t defend either side or attack either side, I said killing was not good and eventually the war will stop and I thought sooner was better than later. Since then, so many of you have said blah blah it’s their fault etc etc and I’m an idiot. Ok. Fine. Let them keep killing each other while they argue about whose fault it was. That really is the choice. Stop killing or carry on killing. There isn’t another option.
Black Joan retweeted
Happy National Cat Day! Remember all the cats that served on ships as ratcatchers while providing sailors with much-needed companionship. This image is of Scoresby and Tiger aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery around 1930.
#cat #cats #catlovers #nationalcatday
Black Joan retweeted
Today I am musing, as I have regularly since 1995, about how ITV got away with this.
Black Joan retweeted
Cat names from Old Irish legal texts:
Bréone = ‘little flame’
Cruibne = ‘little paws’
Glas Nenta = ‘nettle grey’
Méone = ‘little meow’
🎨Book of Kells. Source: Kelly, Early Irish Farming p123. #NationalCatDay 🐈
Black Joan retweeted
John Atkinson Grimshaw is famous for his nocturnes ~ here’s his ‘Moonlight on the Lake, Roundhay Park, Leeds’ (1872). I’m admiring the subtle reflections in the calm water, the shimmering effect of the moonlight and even the wetness of the path
Black Joan retweeted
Following the proposed changes to payment of tax under self assessment, I've tried to model the potential real world impact on sole traders and partners. It's not easy because life is complicated.
Many businesses don't have a great first half of the year, making most of their profit from October onwards. These are going to suffer the worst - being forced to pay tax on income they haven't even earned yet.
There will also be a painful transitional year, although the Government is considering ways to soften the impact without changing the overall effect.
Some relatively modest changes, like paying tax monthly with a 3 month delay, could make a big difference to whether businesses can cope.
The Government has stated it is continuing to work with stakeholders on the timing and frequency of payments. It should accept that the natural business cycle means demanding tax on income before it is earned would be wrong, and any change to current rules must accommodate that commercial reality.
gov.uk/government/consultati…
Black Joan retweeted
Safe home, away from busy roads, wanted for 1 year old bonded siblings Martha & Monty. Born outside, they're not used to being handled: could you offer them a stable or a home with accommodation in a garden? They’d be so happy! #AdoptDontShop #WhiskersWednesday #Buckinghamshire
😱😱😱
The hidden tax measure in the Budget is huge for people paying tax under self-assessment - sole traders, partners, landlords, retired investors.
For 6th April 2028-29, you currently pay 50% of your income tax late in the tax year in question (in January 2029), 50% just after the year end (in July 2029) with any make-up payment in January 2030.
Under the new proposals you will pay your tax perhaps monthly or quarterly (TBC) from April 2029 onwards. A rough analysis suggests the impact is to draw about 50% of your tax bill forward, a huge cashflow boost to HMRC and a significant funding issue for the self-employed.
The Treasury recognises this, and expects to raise £1.3bn of additional tax in 29/30 as a result of this change.
The cashflow impact of the accelerated charge will send some businesses to the wall.
Black Joan retweeted
Kirsty Elson who creates small scilptures by upcycling driftwood and other found materials #WomensArt
Black Joan retweeted
During WW2,Stephen Bone served as a civilian camouflage officer and later as an Official War Artist attached to the Royal Navy. This work from 1931 depicts the floodlighting of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London and St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, in peacetime.
Black Joan retweeted
Rolf report 27 Oct: From one 🐈⬛ to all the other 🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛, have a v happy National Black Cat Day today! IMHO we’re a lot more fun than many non-monochrome cats because, among other things, we get to places other cats can’t reach! Apologies to Heineken😊. Rolf x
Black Joan retweeted
Three former SNP members who donated to referendum fundraisers have just had their demand for an internal legal probe formally rejected.
The donors sent a letter to the Crown Office last week asking for a formal review into why Nicola Sturgeon was never prosecuted during the police investigation into the party’s finances.
They were among the crowdfunders who raised £660,000 in 2017 and 2019 that was meant to be strictly ring-fenced for a future referendum.
John Swinney admitted earlier this year that the money was actually spent on general SNP activities instead.
The initial police investigation into that missing cash eventually led to separate charges against Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell.
The former party chief executive was sentenced to five years in prison in June for embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP over twelve years.
Sturgeon herself was arrested and questioned as part of the five-year police probe back in June 2023.
But police later confirmed the former First Minister would not face charges, with Sturgeon stating she had been completely exonerated.
She has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of her husband's criminality.
The three donors tried to use legislation introduced in 2014 that gives victims the right to review decisions made in criminal cases.
They accused Sturgeon in their letter of clear obstruction of justice by allegedly blocking scrutiny of the party accounts during Murrell’s crime spree.
Footage from 2021 previously uncovered by the Sunday Mail actually showed Sturgeon angrily warning members of the party’s ruling body to be very careful about suggesting there were any problems with the finances.
But the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service responded on Friday to say the criteria for the right-to-review scheme had not been met.
They explained that the police never actually asked them to prosecute the former First Minister.
Prosecutors stated that police only sought the Crown's view on the evidence before Crown Counsel agreed that Sturgeon and former treasurer Colin Beattie should not be charged.
Former donor Louise Williams is furious that the money was never used for the campaign as promised.
"Everybody knows what ring-fenced means - it means it’s going to be spent on one purpose," she said.
"That purpose was a referendum. They’ve admitted they’ve stolen it."
Meanwhile, blogger Stuart Campbell is now threatening police with a judicial review for failing to reopen the probe into the ring-fenced money.
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