🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Happily shares life with P, dog mum to two Labs, loves languages 🇫🇷🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, independence supporter 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, Hibby, feminist: sex not gender.

[Bosnian Football @BosniaNTBall]

If FIFA want to stay consistent with their statutes, suspension of the United States Federation and team from the World Cup for political interference should follow! #FIFAWorldCup

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@JohnBoyne @KirkusReviews @DoubledayUK @PenguinUKBooks @HenryHolt Can't wait! 😊

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@JohnBoyne @VinesMatthew More power to your elbow, John. Keep fighting the fight. 🤍

[Diana Alastair💚🤍💜 ⚢ ❌❌✡️ @sappholives83]

Six of these ten Highland Councillors voted to allow a taxi driver who raped a passenger to keep his operator’s license — even though senior police officers urged them not to.

Please note that although we’re constantly told it’s women who grease the wheels for rapists, every single councillor who voted in rapist David Brown’s favor is a man. Take a good look at them, Scottish women: these 6 men would put you, alone and unwarned, in a taxi with a man who has already raped at least one passenger.

Brown has been put on the register for life; he raped an 18 year old girl and dumped her outdoors on a sub-zero January night in the Scottish Highlands; but these 6 men - Chris Birt, John Grafton, Ruraidh Stewart, Sean Kennedy, Willy MacKay, and Duncan MacPherson - are more concerned about his finances than they are about the safety of local women.

https://t.co/Rq2jzLJ9P3

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@JimSpenceDundee Allez les Bleus 🇲🇫

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@fabianocaball @offtheballbbc Yup, and yet she keeps getting invited back.

[Imtiaz Mahmood @ImtiazMadmood]

Iran has just been nominated to preside over the UN Committee for the protection of women's rights, human rights, and the prevention of terrorism.

YES, IRAN. And it was supported by the United Kingdom, Spain, and France.

This is not a joke. It's real.

- @isaacrrr7

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@Zoom Hi Zoom. Glitch somewhere... when notification comes up saying you have 10 mins left on meeting and you click on close, it throws you out the meeting. Has happened to me twice today!

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@JohnBoyne @PenguinUKBooks @PenguinIEBooks An absolutely outstanding book, John. (again) 😊

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@scottish_water Is there a problem with water in HS2 9NP? Very low water pressure.

[Rutger Bregman @rcbregman]

The BBC just released a new adaptation of Lord of the Flies, the classic novel by William Golding. It's beautifully made, but it's still telling the wrong story.

A few years ago, I went looking for the *real* Lord of the Flies. I wanted to know: has it ever actually happened? Have kids ever been shipwrecked on a deserted island?

It took me a year of research, but I found it. In 1965, six boys from a boarding school in Tonga stole a boat, got caught in a storm, and drifted for eight days without food or water. They washed up on 'Ata, a remote, uninhabited island in the Pacific. They stayed there for 15 months, and what happened on that island was the exact opposite of William Golding's novel.

These boys set up a small commune. They built a food garden, stored rainwater in hollowed-out tree trunks, created a gym with improvised weights, and built a badminton court. One of them, Stephen (who would later become an engineer) managed to start a fire using two sticks. They kept it burning the entire time.

Of course they fought too. But then they argued, they had a rule: go to opposite ends of the island, cool down, then come back and apologize. As one of them told me: ‘That's how we stayed friends.’

Back home, everyone assumed that the boys – Luke, Stephen, Sione, David, Kolo and Mano — were dead. When they were finally discovered by an Australian captain named Peter Warner, he radioed their names to Tonga. After twenty minutes, a tearful response came back: ‘You found them! These boys have been given up for dead. Funerals have been held. If it's them, this is a miracle!’

Peter commissioned a new ship, hired all six boys as his crew, and named the boat the Ata, after the island where he found them. They remained friends for the rest of their lives – Peter and Mano even became soulmates. I tracked them down, and it became one of the central chapters of my book Humankind.

Here's what struck me most: William Golding (the author of Lord of the Flies) was a troubled man, an alcoholic who once said ‘I have always understood the Nazis, because I am of that sort by nature.’ I think he was projecting his own darkness onto children. And we turned it into a lesson about human nature that we teach to millions of kids around the world.

I think the real lesson is the opposite. When real children found themselves alone on a real island, they didn't descend into savagery. They cooperated, they took care of each other, they survived.

I'm not saying that the Tongan castaways were representative of all kids everywhere. But I am saying that every kid who has to read or watch the fictional Lord of the Flies also deserves to know what actually happened when it played out in real life.

Stories are never just stories. We become the stories that we tell ourselves.

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@Tesco Why do you need a DM? Both photos show the state it's in!

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@Tesco The litter in the carpark in Stornoway is absolutely disgusting! It is ALWAYS strewn with litter! Someone should be going out regularly to do a litter pick! Big businesses like yourselves need to do better!

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@billykayscot Shark.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

National Trust blacklists a 71-year-old volunteer who pointed out spelling mistakes after criticising the charity’s boss.

Andy Jones spent 14 years volunteering with the National Trust. He sent a dossier detailing thousands of spelling mistakes and factual errors to the director-general — but received no response.

After sending a strongly worded complaint to his local branch, Andy was told his comments were “not in line with our organisational values” and was banned from volunteering at any National Trust site.

This is not the first case of the Trust dismissing or suspending volunteers. In 2025, more than a dozen volunteer gardeners were suspended after managers claimed their behaviour did not align with the Trust’s “inclusive culture”.

Read more below 👇

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@darthjambo @WingsScotland Is this information re the syllabus and time proportions in the public domain, please?

[The Bar Council @thebarcouncil]

The Four Bars of England and Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland are deeply concerned that the government is planning to restrict the right to a jury trial in England and Wales.

Being tried by a jury of one’s peers is a fundamental cornerstone of the criminal justice system in our respective jurisdictions.

The curtailment of jury trials has predictable negative consequences, including undermining the public’s trust and confidence in our criminal justice systems. Trial by a jury is long established and respected throughout the common law world for its veneration of democratic ideals, its age, gender and ethnic inclusiveness, and its respect for citizens’ and judges’ roles in the administration of justice.

The Four Bars stand as one in opposition to this proposal. Legislation is still some time away - the government has time to listen to the views we express and to change course.

Read the full statement⬇️
https://t.co/5LABXly20v

@FacultyScot @RoddyQC @TheBarofIreland @TheBarofNI

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@WingsScotland 😂

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@WingsScotland His school's inspection report.

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@WingsScotland John 'Naples' Campbell is utterly venomous. He was a pupil at my school. While waiting in a line to get into the classroom opposite mine, he was mucking about. I told him to behave himself; his response was 'you're homophobic, I'm reporting you!' Told him to go ahead! He's a HT

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Steph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Steph7Nil]

@WingsScotland And why did he follow her daughter's social media account. Surely this is a safe-guarding issue.