Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
@politicanimal.bsky.social
politic_animal from the Musk shop.
Local government policy adviser by day. Timetable wrangler/travel challenge story-teller by day and night. Once branded ‘Twitter’s answer to Phileas Fogg’
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@travelling_turtle?si=WGsuH_ffy0bqKr2
Local government policy adviser by day. Timetable wrangler/travel challenge story-teller by day and night. Once branded ‘Twitter’s answer to Phileas Fogg’
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@travelling_turtle?si=WGsuH_ffy0bqKr2
Pinned
Where to find the Travelling Turtle Adventures:
🕵️♂️ #FinalProblem2024 bsky.app/profile/poli...
🌍 #ContinentHop24 bsky.app/profile/poli...
🚞 #NarrowWay bsky.app/profile/poli...
🇪🇺 #Schengen200 bsky.app/profile/poli...
🦤 Old Twitter journeys x.com/politic_anim...
🎞️ YouTube youtube.com/@travelling_...
🕵️♂️ #FinalProblem2024 bsky.app/profile/poli...
🌍 #ContinentHop24 bsky.app/profile/poli...
🚞 #NarrowWay bsky.app/profile/poli...
🇪🇺 #Schengen200 bsky.app/profile/poli...
🦤 Old Twitter journeys x.com/politic_anim...
🎞️ YouTube youtube.com/@travelling_...
Reposted by Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
Look, the bit of Article 1(iv) of the British-Irish Agreement that says that birthright protections don’t apply if you’ve been fined £200 for being drunk and disorderly is in really, really small print. That’s why you haven’t seen it.
The Conservative party’s policy also includes stripping people of their British citizenship when they are found guilty of a crime ⬇️
All criminals with dual nationality must be deported, say Tories
The Conservative party’s policy also includes stripping people of their British citizenship when they are found guilty of a crime
www.thetimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Look, the bit of Article 1(iv) of the British-Irish Agreement that says that birthright protections don’t apply if you’ve been fined £200 for being drunk and disorderly is in really, really small print. That’s why you haven’t seen it.
Beautiful day in York to wander round the Minster, Treasurer’s House and the Walls.
Been a fabulous babymoon (that’s a thing now, apparently), a calm before the storm.
Tempered only very marginally by discovering Grand Central is the only train operator who won’t compensate you for a 37min delay.
Been a fabulous babymoon (that’s a thing now, apparently), a calm before the storm.
Tempered only very marginally by discovering Grand Central is the only train operator who won’t compensate you for a 37min delay.
December 8, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Beautiful day in York to wander round the Minster, Treasurer’s House and the Walls.
Been a fabulous babymoon (that’s a thing now, apparently), a calm before the storm.
Tempered only very marginally by discovering Grand Central is the only train operator who won’t compensate you for a 37min delay.
Been a fabulous babymoon (that’s a thing now, apparently), a calm before the storm.
Tempered only very marginally by discovering Grand Central is the only train operator who won’t compensate you for a 37min delay.
Weird how he has chosen to ignore the dark blue splodges on Clacton, Great Yarmouth and Grimsby.
The thing about Sam Ashworth-Hayes is he thinks it's fine and good for kids to go hungry and live in poverty provided they're brown.
December 7, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Weird how he has chosen to ignore the dark blue splodges on Clacton, Great Yarmouth and Grimsby.
It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas (at the Castle Museum).
December 7, 2025 at 4:57 PM
It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas (at the Castle Museum).
Can’t come to York and not pay a visit to Duchess of Hamilton, Evening Star and friends.
December 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Can’t come to York and not pay a visit to Duchess of Hamilton, Evening Star and friends.
Lovely to return to childhood honeypot of Knaresborough. While the town itself has sprawled in the last two decades, not much has changed in the Nidd Gorge during that time…
December 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Lovely to return to childhood honeypot of Knaresborough. While the town itself has sprawled in the last two decades, not much has changed in the Nidd Gorge during that time…
Reposted by Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
Beloved franchises like Casablanca
December 6, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Beloved franchises like Casablanca
Our view for the weekend.
December 6, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Our view for the weekend.
Reposted by Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
I do feel that using the word ‘historic’ to describe posts made up to and including April 2025 is a bit of a generous stretch here.
Technically, my lunch yesterday was historic, but I probably wouldn’t describe it that way.
Technically, my lunch yesterday was historic, but I probably wouldn’t describe it that way.
Reform UK strips council leader of membership over undisclosed X account on.ft.com/4oyJky1
Reform UK strips council leader of membership over undisclosed X account
Party expels Ian Cooper in Staffordshire after historic racist social media posts emerge
on.ft.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I do feel that using the word ‘historic’ to describe posts made up to and including April 2025 is a bit of a generous stretch here.
Technically, my lunch yesterday was historic, but I probably wouldn’t describe it that way.
Technically, my lunch yesterday was historic, but I probably wouldn’t describe it that way.
Our LNER senior conductor this afternoon (jokingly) announced our arrival into Saint Evenage. Hopefully he will have convinced enough people to create another of these in a few year’s time.
When I moved to South London from Asia, I thought Stockwell was pronounced St Ockwell and celebrated a local saint from the European middle ages. I believed this for almost eight years.
December 5, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Our LNER senior conductor this afternoon (jokingly) announced our arrival into Saint Evenage. Hopefully he will have convinced enough people to create another of these in a few year’s time.
At last, someone prepared to speak the hard, unvarnished truth. Nothing but respect for my president.
5 minutes after FIFA gives him a fake medal Trump wants to rename American football.
December 5, 2025 at 8:55 PM
At last, someone prepared to speak the hard, unvarnished truth. Nothing but respect for my president.
I’m disappointed, obviously, to be overlooked.
But I have it on good authority that I’m very much in line for the World Chess Federation Prize for Chemistry.
But I have it on good authority that I’m very much in line for the World Chess Federation Prize for Chemistry.
December 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I’m disappointed, obviously, to be overlooked.
But I have it on good authority that I’m very much in line for the World Chess Federation Prize for Chemistry.
But I have it on good authority that I’m very much in line for the World Chess Federation Prize for Chemistry.
It is very confusing, given the existence of a real North Pole Depot over at Old Oak Common, that this particular train is actually going to romantic Willesden (the Willesden Up & Down Relief Line, followed by the Willesden Railnet Reception Line, to be strictly accurate).
Platform signs at Euston. Please note the Polar Express is 1. not run by Avanti, so it might actually get there and 2. just next to the Chester train, thus proving Chester is in the north.
cc @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social
cc @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social
December 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
It is very confusing, given the existence of a real North Pole Depot over at Old Oak Common, that this particular train is actually going to romantic Willesden (the Willesden Up & Down Relief Line, followed by the Willesden Railnet Reception Line, to be strictly accurate).
The moment I have always dreaded just happened. My wife asked me, as we pull in, ‘What county is Peterborough in?’
Good practice in awkward questions for when our child asks ‘Where do babies come from?’
Good practice in awkward questions for when our child asks ‘Where do babies come from?’
December 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The moment I have always dreaded just happened. My wife asked me, as we pull in, ‘What county is Peterborough in?’
Good practice in awkward questions for when our child asks ‘Where do babies come from?’
Good practice in awkward questions for when our child asks ‘Where do babies come from?’
Reposted by Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
This is unfair. On the House of Lords
Yep, the Supreme Court really is just a House of Lords—a purely political branch with bizarre veto power, wielded capriciously and without accountability. Time for massive reform.
December 5, 2025 at 2:03 AM
This is unfair. On the House of Lords
Some very confused Harry Potter-bound tourists on the train who had been informed by their AI of choice to take a Thameslink from Farringdon to Watford Junction.
December 5, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Some very confused Harry Potter-bound tourists on the train who had been informed by their AI of choice to take a Thameslink from Farringdon to Watford Junction.
It is a fair criticism, though. Someone in mainland Britain who goes around openly considering Northern Ireland or the frameworks that underpin the peace process there is clearly never going to successfully integrate.
Novara Media - who claim to be left wing - seem to be happily retweeting Reform and agreeing with their racism.
December 5, 2025 at 12:18 PM
It is a fair criticism, though. Someone in mainland Britain who goes around openly considering Northern Ireland or the frameworks that underpin the peace process there is clearly never going to successfully integrate.
Reposted by Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
I've missed walking past a Jamie's Italian and saying "NO HE ISN'T!"
December 5, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I've missed walking past a Jamie's Italian and saying "NO HE ISN'T!"
There’s a lot in the Child Poverty Strategy which is really, really good, but as so often I am left reading it and trying to identify any substantive parts that couldn’t have been written while in opposition and therefore not, you know, with an 18-month delay on the most urgent of policy areas.
📉 This morning, the government published its full Child Poverty Strategy, setting out plans to reduce hardship for children growing up in the UK by the end of the parliament.
It's a crucial commitment to delivering on one of their central manifesto promises.
It's a crucial commitment to delivering on one of their central manifesto promises.
December 5, 2025 at 11:08 AM
There’s a lot in the Child Poverty Strategy which is really, really good, but as so often I am left reading it and trying to identify any substantive parts that couldn’t have been written while in opposition and therefore not, you know, with an 18-month delay on the most urgent of policy areas.
A 10-minute doze.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
A 10-minute doze.
Fun little online game if you fancy a public transport challenge across Europe without the hours at freezing bus stops: how fast can you get from Inverness to the Rock of Gibraltar with £500 to spend? (I’ve managed 1 day 22hrs 10min and had to walk up the Rock having run out of money) geo-racers.com
Race from one side of the world to the other - Geo Racers
geo-racers.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Fun little online game if you fancy a public transport challenge across Europe without the hours at freezing bus stops: how fast can you get from Inverness to the Rock of Gibraltar with £500 to spend? (I’ve managed 1 day 22hrs 10min and had to walk up the Rock having run out of money) geo-racers.com
Seems quite odd that Elton & Orston - which while it may only have 2 trains a day, they are at vaguely useful times, and the station does sort of serve some villages - is now ‘beating’ middle-of-nowhere Shippea Hill and one-train-a-week-in-one-direction-only Denton and Reddish.
Oh! I almost forgot. it's LEAST USED passenger figures today, as the ORR release their new stats for the year. Here's the new Top 10 list of least used stations - Elton & Orston is back to being the least used!
Download the data here:
dataportal.orr.gov.uk/station-usage
Download the data here:
dataportal.orr.gov.uk/station-usage
December 4, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Seems quite odd that Elton & Orston - which while it may only have 2 trains a day, they are at vaguely useful times, and the station does sort of serve some villages - is now ‘beating’ middle-of-nowhere Shippea Hill and one-train-a-week-in-one-direction-only Denton and Reddish.
Reposted by Jo Kibble (Political Animal)
losing my mind at the 25% of GOP voters who think most Italian Americans are "more loyal to a foreign country than to the United States."
December 4, 2025 at 9:00 PM
losing my mind at the 25% of GOP voters who think most Italian Americans are "more loyal to a foreign country than to the United States."