Kate de Selincourt
@katedes.bsky.social
Writer - sustainable building and the environment
😂😂 haha did I hurt its feelings?
December 1, 2025 at 10:57 AM
😂😂 haha did I hurt its feelings?
Well duh
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Well duh
Continue to be mystified by the demographic that most depends on social care (ie middle aged [ahem] professionals like me, who depend on carers (or soon will) so they can continue to go about their daily lives without having to do their parents' personal care) actively wanting this to happen.
Agree with every word of this
We've gone from 9% of social care staff coming from outside the UK and EEA in 2021/22 to almost 25% in 2024/25
The govt has no near-term replacement
It means either:
1) staffing shortages or
2) councils spending far more to attract staff, with no extra funding
We've gone from 9% of social care staff coming from outside the UK and EEA in 2021/22 to almost 25% in 2024/25
The govt has no near-term replacement
It means either:
1) staffing shortages or
2) councils spending far more to attract staff, with no extra funding
November 28, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Continue to be mystified by the demographic that most depends on social care (ie middle aged [ahem] professionals like me, who depend on carers (or soon will) so they can continue to go about their daily lives without having to do their parents' personal care) actively wanting this to happen.
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
My mortgage for a two-bedroom terraced house with cellar and attic is £50 a month less now than I was paying as a renter for a one-bedroom flat literally across the road, twelve years ago, and one day I'll have paid off the mortgage. Homeowners complaining about anything is as entitled as motorists.
This house tax pretending is making me more insane than usual because as a renter I’ve had to move every 1-3 years just as standard because rents always rise. And no one cares. House owners get a tiny fraction of that precarity and suddenly it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened
November 27, 2025 at 2:08 PM
My mortgage for a two-bedroom terraced house with cellar and attic is £50 a month less now than I was paying as a renter for a one-bedroom flat literally across the road, twelve years ago, and one day I'll have paid off the mortgage. Homeowners complaining about anything is as entitled as motorists.
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
Honestly, it is possible to think 'I work hard to earn money; I deserve that money' and *also* 'it would be good if we created a more equal society: I'll help'. Exhausting to see everything presented as a fight to the death between those two ideas, seemingly forever.
November 27, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Honestly, it is possible to think 'I work hard to earn money; I deserve that money' and *also* 'it would be good if we created a more equal society: I'll help'. Exhausting to see everything presented as a fight to the death between those two ideas, seemingly forever.
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
It’s the World at One-egraph
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:21 PM
It’s the World at One-egraph
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
My mum ordered a new freezer from AO and when the delivery van came, it did not have a tail lift - apparently the company won't pay for them
The two guys were expected to lift freezers, washing machines etc off the back of the van themselves...which does not seem safe
This guy can GTFO
The two guys were expected to lift freezers, washing machines etc off the back of the van themselves...which does not seem safe
This guy can GTFO
There's an advert on his website for a 'Depot Supervisor' that pays £12.75 an hour for shift work.
If he wants to reduce welfare spending maybe he should pay staff enough that they don't need in-work benefits.
If he wants to reduce welfare spending maybe he should pay staff enough that they don't need in-work benefits.
‘Madness’ to increase welfare spending in Budget, says AO World boss
November 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
My mum ordered a new freezer from AO and when the delivery van came, it did not have a tail lift - apparently the company won't pay for them
The two guys were expected to lift freezers, washing machines etc off the back of the van themselves...which does not seem safe
This guy can GTFO
The two guys were expected to lift freezers, washing machines etc off the back of the van themselves...which does not seem safe
This guy can GTFO
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
Still no better heuristic for revealing a politician or public figure's deep unseriousness than checking whether or not they are a climate sceptic.
The so-called “Global Warming Policy Foundation”, generally recognised as a #ClimateDenial lobby group, has Lord #Glasman giving its annual lecture…..
November 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Still no better heuristic for revealing a politician or public figure's deep unseriousness than checking whether or not they are a climate sceptic.
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
We’ve had our heat pump for 12 months now estimate that we’re about £280 better off. That surprised me as we moved from oil which is cheap, and I was expecting the heat pump to be marginally more expensive. Just goes to show! Buy a heat pump folks!
November 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
We’ve had our heat pump for 12 months now estimate that we’re about £280 better off. That surprised me as we moved from oil which is cheap, and I was expecting the heat pump to be marginally more expensive. Just goes to show! Buy a heat pump folks!
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
Can planting hedgerows help prevent #flooding?
Join us on Wed 10th Dec, 12.00-12.40 to hear from Prof Pippa Chapman & Dr Sofia Biffi.
Pippa & Sofia have explored how hedgerows of different ages (from under 5 years to decades old) affect how well soil absorbs and drains water.
Link to register 👇
Join us on Wed 10th Dec, 12.00-12.40 to hear from Prof Pippa Chapman & Dr Sofia Biffi.
Pippa & Sofia have explored how hedgerows of different ages (from under 5 years to decades old) affect how well soil absorbs and drains water.
Link to register 👇
November 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Can planting hedgerows help prevent #flooding?
Join us on Wed 10th Dec, 12.00-12.40 to hear from Prof Pippa Chapman & Dr Sofia Biffi.
Pippa & Sofia have explored how hedgerows of different ages (from under 5 years to decades old) affect how well soil absorbs and drains water.
Link to register 👇
Join us on Wed 10th Dec, 12.00-12.40 to hear from Prof Pippa Chapman & Dr Sofia Biffi.
Pippa & Sofia have explored how hedgerows of different ages (from under 5 years to decades old) affect how well soil absorbs and drains water.
Link to register 👇
Yikes!
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
The CDC website now disseminates disinformation about vaccines, claiming erroneously that infant vaccines might cause autism, when we know conclusively that they do not. It is difficult to overstate just how dangerous this is. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
November 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Yikes!
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
"There is significant overlap between a Passivhaus approach and the aims of Healthy Homes” states Homes England in its new Healthy Homes guidance
Read UNZ article by @sarahlewis.bsky.social highlighting Homes England's acknowledgement of Passivhaus health benefits.
Read UNZ article by @sarahlewis.bsky.social highlighting Homes England's acknowledgement of Passivhaus health benefits.
Passivhaus is good for you!
Sarah Lewis, research and policy director at the Passivhaus Trust, highlights how Homes England’s new Healthy Homes guidance is embracing the Passivhaus standard
www.unlocknetzero.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 12:00 PM
"There is significant overlap between a Passivhaus approach and the aims of Healthy Homes” states Homes England in its new Healthy Homes guidance
Read UNZ article by @sarahlewis.bsky.social highlighting Homes England's acknowledgement of Passivhaus health benefits.
Read UNZ article by @sarahlewis.bsky.social highlighting Homes England's acknowledgement of Passivhaus health benefits.
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
Capitalism is incredible. Sorry, former teacher, your retirement fund is gone because 5 guys who've collectively never worked a full hour told the banks to put all the money in the country into virtual girlfriend futures
WSJ: “.. If the AI market blows up, the blast radius would be wide, hitting not only Wall Street firms, but also pensions, mutual and exchange-traded funds and individual investors, because of how debt is often sliced and resold across the financial landscape.”
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/finance/inve...
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/finance/inve...
November 18, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Capitalism is incredible. Sorry, former teacher, your retirement fund is gone because 5 guys who've collectively never worked a full hour told the banks to put all the money in the country into virtual girlfriend futures
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
“How many refugees have been granted asylum in the UK?”
Most people overestimate the number - by a lot. With far-right figures spreading misinformation, it’s hard for the public to know the truth.
Watch the video to see just how wide the gap is between perception and reality.
Most people overestimate the number - by a lot. With far-right figures spreading misinformation, it’s hard for the public to know the truth.
Watch the video to see just how wide the gap is between perception and reality.
November 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
“How many refugees have been granted asylum in the UK?”
Most people overestimate the number - by a lot. With far-right figures spreading misinformation, it’s hard for the public to know the truth.
Watch the video to see just how wide the gap is between perception and reality.
Most people overestimate the number - by a lot. With far-right figures spreading misinformation, it’s hard for the public to know the truth.
Watch the video to see just how wide the gap is between perception and reality.
This whole thread 😥😡😡
Ending Health and Care Worker Visas is a similarly hostile, and counterproductive, anti-immigration measure, which goes dramatically further than the previous government did, ruining people's lives, and norsing up the care sector into the bargain. 35/
www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...
www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...
Opinion: Migrant workers prop up the UK’s social care system. Now…
Labour’s crackdown will break a promise made to workers like me – and leave the system in disrepair
www.thebureauinvestigates.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:31 AM
This whole thread 😥😡😡
Whatever happened to Best Value? 🙁
NEW: £250m+ has been taken as profit over 3yrs, by private companies running social care services in 3 English regions. By:
⛴️ Private equity firms
🏝️ Orgs based in tax havens
Read our new #RORE report (Reclaiming Our Regional Economies) in today's @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
⛴️ Private equity firms
🏝️ Orgs based in tax havens
Read our new #RORE report (Reclaiming Our Regional Economies) in today's @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Private care providers in three English regions make £250m in three years
More than third of profits analysed went to firms owned by private equity or based in tax havens, research finds
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Whatever happened to Best Value? 🙁
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
I dust my house. My AI Robot watches.
"It should be you doing this."
"Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark."
"That's not why you were invented."
"These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise."
"They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them."
"Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."
"It should be you doing this."
"Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark."
"That's not why you were invented."
"These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise."
"They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them."
"Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."
October 15, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I dust my house. My AI Robot watches.
"It should be you doing this."
"Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark."
"That's not why you were invented."
"These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise."
"They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them."
"Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."
"It should be you doing this."
"Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark."
"That's not why you were invented."
"These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise."
"They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them."
"Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
I had my disagreements with the BBC under Tim Davie but he was a decent man doing a difficult job.
To see Trump's White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all.
To see Trump's White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all.
November 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I had my disagreements with the BBC under Tim Davie but he was a decent man doing a difficult job.
To see Trump's White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all.
To see Trump's White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all.
Today was ridiculously beautiful in the forest
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Today was ridiculously beautiful in the forest
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
You're gonna be unpopular. Be unpopular because you're fixing things, not because you aren't.
November 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
You're gonna be unpopular. Be unpopular because you're fixing things, not because you aren't.
Any #lichen or #fungus enthusiasts here who can tell me what this is?(or which, indeed!) Seems to be fruiting (the little orange hats?) but altogether unfamiliar.. @guyshrubsole.bsky.social is this one in your repertoire?
November 8, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Any #lichen or #fungus enthusiasts here who can tell me what this is?(or which, indeed!) Seems to be fruiting (the little orange hats?) but altogether unfamiliar.. @guyshrubsole.bsky.social is this one in your repertoire?
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
The @adstandards.bsky.social has found claims made by the Stove Industry Association about wood burning stove emissions to be "misleading and unsubstantiated".
There is so much misinformation out there about #WoodBurning and #AirPollution. We're very pleased to see the truth come to light.
There is so much misinformation out there about #WoodBurning and #AirPollution. We're very pleased to see the truth come to light.
ASA rules against Stove Industry Alliance over misleading claims - AirQualityNews
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned two advertising claims by the Stove Industry Association (SIA) after ruling that the trade body misled consumers about the environmental impact of…
airqualitynews.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:55 PM
The @adstandards.bsky.social has found claims made by the Stove Industry Association about wood burning stove emissions to be "misleading and unsubstantiated".
There is so much misinformation out there about #WoodBurning and #AirPollution. We're very pleased to see the truth come to light.
There is so much misinformation out there about #WoodBurning and #AirPollution. We're very pleased to see the truth come to light.
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
"You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it" | My commentary on Bill Gates' flawed new climate missive for @thebulletin.org: thebulletin.org/2025/10/you-...
You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it
What Gates is putting forward aren’t legitimate arguments that can be made in good faith. They are shopworn fossil fuel industry talking points.
thebulletin.org
October 31, 2025 at 6:35 PM
"You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it" | My commentary on Bill Gates' flawed new climate missive for @thebulletin.org: thebulletin.org/2025/10/you-...
Reposted by Kate de Selincourt
📣Come and work with us!
Interesting & flexible job based at our Wiltshire office, covering financial administration, business operations, and strategic planning.
https://ggbec.co.uk/office-manager-financial-administrator/
Passivhaus Trust AECB
Interesting & flexible job based at our Wiltshire office, covering financial administration, business operations, and strategic planning.
https://ggbec.co.uk/office-manager-financial-administrator/
Passivhaus Trust AECB
Office Manager/ Financial Administrator - Greengauge
We are looking for an experienced financial administrator who is looking for an opportunity to work for a purpose-driven organisation and help administer and oversee the day-to-day operations of the business.. Part-time hybrid role (20 hours per week) with the possibility to grow into a full-time role.
ggbec.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM
📣Come and work with us!
Interesting & flexible job based at our Wiltshire office, covering financial administration, business operations, and strategic planning.
https://ggbec.co.uk/office-manager-financial-administrator/
Passivhaus Trust AECB
Interesting & flexible job based at our Wiltshire office, covering financial administration, business operations, and strategic planning.
https://ggbec.co.uk/office-manager-financial-administrator/
Passivhaus Trust AECB