Petunia Winegum 💙

Storyteller, Illustrator, Frog / #kidlit reviewer / Writes plays & children's books #MG 🇬🇱 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 🇵🇸

[Petunia Winegum 💙 @Wuuff]

I had a gruesome 2018, then this time last year I was selected by @youngvictheatre as part of their inaugural year-long writing programme, mentored by the fab @EuphoricInk
Play submitted, & this week my monologue will be performed at The Clare. To think I almost didn't apply...

[🌻 Go Wild With Annette @writethewrongs2]

What the bloody hell is wrong with people? 😡

'No signs of life' in River Lugg after John Price destruction

An ECOLOGIST has warned that it could take up to 30 years for a river that has no "signs of life" to recover after it was "obliterated" by a local farmer.

Although then and now photos show that the landscape around the River Lugg near Kingsland has been drastically transformed, an ecologist has warned it could take decades to fully recover after farmer John Price used an 18-tonne digger to dredge a section.

Price also stripped a mile-long stretch of the bank of trees back in 2020.

He was jailed for 12 months in 2023 by a judge who told him he had committed "ecological vandalism on an industrial scale" along a section of one of Britain's most important salmon rivers.

He had claimed he had carried out the work to help protect locals in the nearby hamlet whose homes were devastated by flooding and to help fix riverbed erosion.

But the Environment Agency said the damage was one of the worst cases of riverside destruction it had ever seen, leading to a "devastating" effect on local wildlife - which has still not recovered six years on.

Although trees, bushes, and greenery are growing back around the river, a leading ecologist believes there are "no signs of life" in the river itself.

Environmental designer Richard Fishbourne said: "It is quite disturbing to see how much damage one person can cause in just a couple of days.
"When I went down recently there was no sign of any fish where you would usually expect to see minnows, graylings, trout and salmon.

"There's just no sign of life - there's nothing in the water here now and it has become an impoverished landscape.
"It can take decades to build up this wonderful community of species and habitat but it can all be destroyed in a moment of insanity."

More here:https://t.co/1MH3mRDo4A

[Sky News @SkyNews]

'Don’t use our tragedy as an opportunity to incite more hate'.

 Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby was killed in the Nottingham attacks, made the appeal while speaking about Henry Nowak warning against exploiting victims’ families to fuel division and unrest.

[Marina Purkiss @MarinaPurkiss]

Just watch this…

And for the love of God, please see Farage for what he is.

His response to Sarah Everard Vs his response to Henry Nowak

Jaw dropping.

[Cathy Newman @cathynewman]

In the last 48 hours I’ve been deluged with 100s of vile, misogynistic tweets and death threats. Why? For doing my job: asking @ZiaYusufUK questions about claims by @Nigel_Farage of 2-tier policing. I spoke about this on tonight’s show. Enough is enough. https://t.co/SSHiAI3Umc

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

“I don’t give a shit what your system is, what does it mean for the river?”

I genuinely never thought I would have to challenge the British state in order to protect the river I love, but here we are. Massive thanks to Channel 4 for spending so much time & care in detailing the incredible work done by volunteer river guardians on the River Roding: I am going to use the description of us descending on litter like a “squadron of community-minded locusts” again!

Whilst I no longer shocked at the indifference of public bodies like the EA & local councils to the desperate plight of our rivers, it has genuinely surprised me that @EnvAgency thinks it is a good use of their powers to prosecute volunteers for doing their job for them by restoring rivers, especially when there are serious illegal sewage discharges nearby that they have done nothing about. Please withdraw your prosecution threats EA & work with us instead. The Roding could genuinely be a test case in how government & river guardians can work together to protect & restore our rivers.

https://t.co/vCBY3cPxmE

[Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven @FreytagArndt]

A truly wise man

[caroline wheeler @cazjwheeler]

New: The King raised serious concerns about Donald Trump’s state visit to the U in the wake of the US President’s infamous bust-up with Volodymyr Zelensky, The i Paper understands.

The monarch’s private reservations over the visit left officials scrambling, fearful that a royal snub of President Trump could detonate into a full-blown diplomatic crisis.

Multiple senior Whitehall sources have told this newspaper that the King was reticent about hosting Trump at this time because of his treatment of Zelensky.

One source said Charles was “jittery” about it, while another put it more starkly: the King “did not want to do it.”

A flurry of emails and texts exchanged between Peter Mandelson, then US ambassador, and officials in March 2025 reveal a behind-the-scenes diplomatic scramble to alleviate Charles’s concerns over the visit.

In one message, the peer thanks the most senior civil servant in Foreign Office for his “cool handling of the last 48 hours on the SV [State Visit]”, and in another exchange five days later Mandelson discusses how he is awaiting an update following the weekly audience between the King and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The King’s concerns are understood to be included in a number of heavily redacted documents released in the so-called Mandelson files.

W/ @janemerrick23 @singharj

https://t.co/94T6VLboO6

[Socialist Opera Singer @OperaSocialist]

If only someone in the media would expose Farage's incitement yesterday via performative utterance in the same way that Jonathan Miller humiliated Enoch Powell and his grubby little racism.

[Liam Nissan™ @theliamnissan]

💯

[#WOMENSART @womensart1]

Hazel MacNab, contemporary UK printmaker based in Cornwall #Womensart #PrintmakerArtWeek

[Petunia Winegum 💙 @Wuuff]

@CarlBovisNature @ShappiKhorsandi @exitthelemming @ChrisGPackham @DeborahMeaden @MeganMcCubbin @Lucy_Lapwing @DrAmirKhanGP @CityCorpHeath @BBCLondonNews @sophiepavs @WildlifeTrusts I was there yesterday and the male swan attacked several swimmers, including some ducks it wasn't too keen on! Anyway, I obviously cheered on the swan, but how depressing that people couldn't keep away from the nesting spot.

[Dr Elaine Cox 🍃 💚 🍃🌽🥬🐦‍⬛🐌🇬🇧 @ElaineCox11]

Uncut grass keeps the ground at around 19.5°C
Grass cut to 10 cm raises the ground temperature to about 24.5°C
Bare ground in the middle of summer rises to over 40°C
It's important to raise awareness #NoMowMay

[Kyra Rising💫 @KYRA_RISING]

IT’S POPPING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, IT’S ACTUALLY POPPING

[Ten Thutty @thenotoryousone]

The last survivor from the famous A Great Day in Harlem picture 🙏🏾

[Dan Wyke 🦠➡️🧠🔥 @Dan_Wyke]

While arguing that Next can't afford to pay 16-24 year olds the minimum wage, CEO Lord Wolfson forgot to say that for the fiscal year ending January 2026, Next reported an operating profit of £1.236 billion, marking a 13.4% increase from the previous year. #r4today

[𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉 @OrevaZSN]

I’m trying to figure out how we went from “reduce your carbon footprint” to building AI pollution factories in every city.

[Good Law Project @GoodLawProject]

Palantir claims its software saves medics time they can spend on patient care.

But leaked internal NHS documents have revealed that Palantir software is 10 times slower than alternative tool 🐌
https://t.co/qIDJLNLbK6

[TheBossRoss 🇪🇺 🧶 ❄ 📷 6x💉 @BettinaSRoss1]

So what happens when Reform take over your local council?

This.

#KentCountyCouncil

[Good Law Project @GoodLawProject]

The tide is turning – if not against Palantir entirely, then against the presumption that there’s no alternative to them.

The British people are saying no, and it’s working. Say no to Palantir in the NHS here: https://t.co/4G724CElC9

[Imogen @Imogenlemon02]

This is what happens when you forget gimmicks such as the failed Rwanda scheme and just get on with the job of processing asylum claims.

It’s what this Labour government said it would do and it is delivering.