Rachel aka ‘That Red Witch’ She/Her/Hi/Ei

Mum-Wife-Rebel-Teacher 🌱 Dysgwr o 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇩🇪 #BLM 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ally @ClimateCymru ambassador Ex Community Cllr Also @mrsrallen.bsky.social

[Rachel aka ‘That Red Witch’ She/Her/Hi/Ei @MrsRAllen]

I’m with George! Find me on Bluesky: https://t.co/pHraQtXxAi #Xodus

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

This is my farewell post. I am not deleting this account, as I don’t want to lose the archive, and I don’t want my name taken by imposters. But, for as long as Musk owns the platform, I’ll no longer use it. I’m now posting at https://t.co/0iVBaQEKGy.

Since Elon Musk bought this site, he has transformed it from one on which millions could converse as equals into his personal megaphone. Now the world’s richest man uses it to wage his class war, transferring blame for the ills of capitalism onto vulnerable minorities, boosting the grimmest and most antisocial accounts while suppressing the humane voices with whom he disagrees.

He has used X not only to subvert the election for the US presidency, but to create a role for himself in US politics which, though he has never stood for election and would not be eligible, grants him immense power over the citizens of that nation. This site has been used as a tool to help replace democracy with oligarchy.

Musk claimed, on purchasing the platform, to be a “free speech absolutist”. He is in fact a prolific censor, suspending dissenting accounts and using lawsuits to shut down free speech, while employing an algorithm to increase the reach of his own posts 1,000-fold. He cannot abide a level playing field.

He has permitted or encouraged the growth of a ghost army of bots and trolls to degrade the experience of all who disagree with him. Their task is not just to abuse opponents but, perhaps more importantly, to drown intelligent conversation with a tsunami of stupidity. They respond to data with denial, expertise with execration, insight with insult, humour with hatred and thinking with thuggery. They suck the meaning out of everything. The stupidity trends in one direction: in the service of economic power. It is a weapon used to suppress the possibility of a better world.

Many years ago, when I lived in Brazil, I learnt that the military dictatorship had actively sought to suppress educational levels in schools, as it saw a well-informed population as a political threat. A confused, distracted and ignorant population is easy to manipulate. Now this counter-educational model is being rolled out worldwide, and Elon Musk is its primary sponsor.

I stayed here long after I first considered leaving, as I believed it was wrong to cede the ground to an oligarch and his minions. But I came to see that those of us who do not subscribe to Musk’s grim project are being used as groundbait: stimulating the feeding frenzy of 15-minute, 24-hour hate that now powers this platform. We can no longer build anything of value here. Brute force – the unmediated power of money – has beaten humanity, intelligence, humour and democracy.

On Bluesky I can be the person I want to be, a better person than I am on X, where it is almost impossible not to get dragged into the mud. I feel I can be understood because I am not confronting a deliberate effort to misunderstand me. So I can speak more quietly.

There is no guarantee that Bluesky will not also one day be monetised by its owners or captured by self-serving billionaires. But for now it remains a place in which interesting and enjoyable conversations can be had, kindness can be shown to strangers and a better world can be imagined. I hope to see you there.

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

Apparently Sally Rooney is Antisemitic because she opposes genocide.

People in Ireland are Antisemitic because they oppose genocide.

This is why Andy Burnhams comments yesterday were so deeply irresponsible - blurring all the lines between being Jewish & criticising Israel.

[Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 @MrMatthewTodd]

Dear UK,

A leading climate scientist said last year that this could happen in the U.K. anytime now because of climate change.

Media and politicians don’t want you to know.

[Miffy @miffythegamer]

I love how the epic @valmcdermid has spun swivel-eyed TERF, Julie Binjuice, into a foaming-at-the-mouth, pissy knickered hissy fit.

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

This is huge.

Time for all British nationals who served in the IDF to be investigated over possible involvement in war crimes.

[Miffy @miffythegamer]

Let’s amplify Alex’s post so everyone knows he lied about Mothin Ali and had to pay him a huge pile of money.

[Rachel aka ‘That Red Witch’ She/Her/Hi/Ei @MrsRAllen]

If Sadiq Khan is a trans ally, why is he allowing JK Rowling’s Harry Potter to take over the Christmas lights in Oxford Circus? Email him now and ask him to pull the plug on transphobia. https://t.co/gXHXKzGRM9

[Good Law Project @GoodLawProject]

We’re powered by supporters like you, so we want to know what your biggest concerns are.

We need 3,000 more people to fill out our 5 minute survey. Will you help us?
https://t.co/4l2GguJfD3

[SpeakOutSister @speakoutsister]

Gloria Steinem is an example of someone whose viewx evolved because she found out nore about trans people. She started off with views that were relatively common among particular types of feminists in the 70s and then changed them.

[Rachel aka ‘That Red Witch’ She/Her/Hi/Ei @MrsRAllen]

Petition: Immediately unfreeze gender-affirming surgeries and protect NHS Welsh Gender Service patients. https://t.co/vMbNCGbVqN

[Rachel aka ‘That Red Witch’ She/Her/Hi/Ei @MrsRAllen]

Ask your MP to ban gas chambers: https://t.co/3FZGn66xTZ #ProjectSlingshot #BanCO2GasChambers #EndFactory Farming

[Palestine Solidarity Campaign @PSCupdates]

🚨PETITION

Instead of taking decisive action to end its support for Israel’s genocide, the government has tried to repress people protesting it.

Sign our petition today to demand Andy Burnham sanctions Israel and stops attacking our right to protest: https://t.co/BengyVmD1w

[Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 @MrMatthewTodd]

Buckle up folks. Autumn 26 is going to be a rollercoaster

[Aidan Comerford @AidanCTweets]

Graham Linehan has published over 40 tweets tagging Jon Ronson...this year alone. Probably 400 to 500 times in the last 7 years. And it hardly needs to be said, but very little of it is cogent criticism of Jon's opinions, but when Jon retorts in a book Graham "refuses."

Sure.

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

The Times columnist Hadley Freeman posted this absurd, outrageous smear against Mark Ruffalo.

She has now deleted it, but with no correction.

Instead she has whined about being the victim.

A Hadley Freeman masterclass everybody!

[Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 @MrMatthewTodd]

When will people in the media speak out against the daily mails dangerous nonsense which puts us all at risk?

Kathryn Porter, who wrote this, is a paid consultant to the fossil-fuel industry.
So presenting her simply as an ‘energy expert’ without mentioning those commercial interests is misleading. https://t.co/rP9O3h87R3

[Rachel aka ‘That Red Witch’ She/Her/Hi/Ei @MrsRAllen]

Stand with Nadia Sawalha! https://t.co/UOwGVf8v4J

[Good Law Project @GoodLawProject]

Dr Arday’s tragic death was the direct, foreseeable result of press harrassment with racism playing a key role.

We're asking the prime minister to commission a public inquiry so a tragic death like Dr Arday's doesn't happen again.

https://t.co/fGZZTjUYZG

[Climate Dad @ClimateDad77]

Like the closing scenes of a horror movie that stays with you for days & days.

[G.T @gingerrtom]

Tommy Robinson thinks that two men who are charged with multiple counts of rape, human trafficking, ABH, and child pornography are "Legends".

It's never been about protecting
women and children.

[Mukhtar @I_amMukhtar]

You didn’t see wall-to-wall media coverage when, in June, Professor Simon Goldhill resigned from the University of Cambridge after an external investigation upheld multiple complaints of sexual and professional misconduct.

He kissed a female student in her twenties, put his tongue in her ear, and touched her chest.

The student said she felt “scared and panicky”. She also made it clear that she did not want to be kissed and pushed his hand away when he touched the zip of her trousers.