Joe Mitchell
@joe-mitchell.com
Another day, another microblog! Mainly worrying about democracy. Work on regenerating local news at @publicinterestnews.org.uk. Also @[email protected] for when the sky inevitably clouds over.
I don’t want to get all conspiracy theorist, but it’s pretty suspicious that the @fairphone.com website consistently doesn’t work on an iPhone…
November 28, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I don’t want to get all conspiracy theorist, but it’s pretty suspicious that the @fairphone.com website consistently doesn’t work on an iPhone…
Last time I was at London City Hall it was in an armadillo nr HMS Belfast. Life comes at you fast. Here for the GLA25 event - to talk about role of local news in keeping mayors on their toes. Can’t find a hashtag..
November 27, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Last time I was at London City Hall it was in an armadillo nr HMS Belfast. Life comes at you fast. Here for the GLA25 event - to talk about role of local news in keeping mayors on their toes. Can’t find a hashtag..
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
UK net migration fell to 204,000 in year to June - live updates
Net migration, the difference between those entering and leaving the country, was 345,000 in 2024 according to revised figures.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
For any budding journalists in the south west, here's your chance! www.theprsd.co.uk/2025/10/29/r... (via @theprsd.bsky.social and @totnespulse.bsky.social and @westcountryvoices.bsky.social)
Raise your voice | South West Future Journalists Awards - the PRSD
The South West Future Journalists Awards is your chance to help share your voice and other voices to the world
www.theprsd.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 2:19 PM
For any budding journalists in the south west, here's your chance! www.theprsd.co.uk/2025/10/29/r... (via @theprsd.bsky.social and @totnespulse.bsky.social and @westcountryvoices.bsky.social)
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Happy 30th birthday to Shetland News! 🎂 👏 🎉
Editorial:
IT IS perhaps not an anniversary at the forefront of most people’s minds, yet for us here at Shetland News it is worth marking in a small way, nevertheless.
shet.news/t2heh
IT IS perhaps not an anniversary at the forefront of most people’s minds, yet for us here at Shetland News it is worth marking in a small way, nevertheless.
shet.news/t2heh
Thirty years on: Shetland News says thank you to those early pioneers
IT IS perhaps not an anniversary at the forefront of most people’s minds, yet for us here at Shetland News it is worth marking in a small way, nevertheless....
shet.news
November 24, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Happy 30th birthday to Shetland News! 🎂 👏 🎉
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
🚄Excellent news - the government is freezing rail fares!🚄
Next we need REDUCTIONS as UK rail fares are out of control
But this is a step in the right direction after 30 years of privatisation and a win for public ownership! 🎉🎉🎉
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Next we need REDUCTIONS as UK rail fares are out of control
But this is a step in the right direction after 30 years of privatisation and a win for public ownership! 🎉🎉🎉
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Rail fares to be frozen in England next year - BBC News
Regulated fares, which include season tickets and off-peak returns, will not see annual price rises for the first time in 30 years, the government announces.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 AM
🚄Excellent news - the government is freezing rail fares!🚄
Next we need REDUCTIONS as UK rail fares are out of control
But this is a step in the right direction after 30 years of privatisation and a win for public ownership! 🎉🎉🎉
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Next we need REDUCTIONS as UK rail fares are out of control
But this is a step in the right direction after 30 years of privatisation and a win for public ownership! 🎉🎉🎉
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
They’re now aiming at 200k members!
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
The Green Party has now reached over 170,000 members!
Membership growth, polling surges, by-election wins and defections, the Green Party is making hope normal again.
Join today to be part of it ⤵️
The Green Party has now reached over 170,000 members!
Membership growth, polling surges, by-election wins and defections, the Green Party is making hope normal again.
Join today to be part of it ⤵️
November 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
They’re now aiming at 200k members!
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
🎉 We've launched The Bristol Cable app – a world first!
Independent investigative journalism meets open social networking.
**What makes it different:**
• No algorithms – you control what you see
• No data harvesting
• No advertising
• Connects to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads & beyond
Independent investigative journalism meets open social networking.
**What makes it different:**
• No algorithms – you control what you see
• No data harvesting
• No advertising
• Connects to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads & beyond
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 AM
🎉 We've launched The Bristol Cable app – a world first!
Independent investigative journalism meets open social networking.
**What makes it different:**
• No algorithms – you control what you see
• No data harvesting
• No advertising
• Connects to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads & beyond
Independent investigative journalism meets open social networking.
**What makes it different:**
• No algorithms – you control what you see
• No data harvesting
• No advertising
• Connects to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads & beyond
Know a UK journalist (esp. local) who could use £10,000 to work on a project likely to have significant social impact? Please point them this way --> www.tenaciousawards.org/about-the-jo...
November 20, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Know a UK journalist (esp. local) who could use £10,000 to work on a project likely to have significant social impact? Please point them this way --> www.tenaciousawards.org/about-the-jo...
I'll be talking about how we should and could regenerate local news at Stroud Trinity Rooms, this Sunday at 4.30pm (but don't let that put you off, haha). There will be short films and everything! www.stroudtrinityrooms.org/event-detail...
Press Intrusion, Local Media & Democracy | Stroud Trinity Rooms
On Sunday Nov 16th at 4:30pm - Film Screening & Panel Discussion
www.stroudtrinityrooms.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:11 PM
I'll be talking about how we should and could regenerate local news at Stroud Trinity Rooms, this Sunday at 4.30pm (but don't let that put you off, haha). There will be short films and everything! www.stroudtrinityrooms.org/event-detail...
“But it was also to grapple with their ideas, help them make the best version of their arguments and then to validate their voices by publishing them on the same page as our editorials”
A paean to the value of letters pages. Finishes with a good quote too: www.notus.org/perspectives...
A paean to the value of letters pages. Finishes with a good quote too: www.notus.org/perspectives...
The Washington Post Got 21,000 Emails After It Didn't Endorse. I Read Them All.
Reading and editing letters gave me a theory about what is wrong with America — and how it could be fixed.
www.notus.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:56 PM
“But it was also to grapple with their ideas, help them make the best version of their arguments and then to validate their voices by publishing them on the same page as our editorials”
A paean to the value of letters pages. Finishes with a good quote too: www.notus.org/perspectives...
A paean to the value of letters pages. Finishes with a good quote too: www.notus.org/perspectives...
Never seen a Head of Reparations role before! From @jrct.bsky.social. Pioneers should apply here --> jrct.org.uk/job-vacancie...
Job vacancy: head of reparations
jrct.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Never seen a Head of Reparations role before! From @jrct.bsky.social. Pioneers should apply here --> jrct.org.uk/job-vacancie...
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
LOLing at this quote from a megashed stan from this BBC news article in April. Majestic and wonderful, indeed.
October 30, 2025 at 12:06 PM
LOLing at this quote from a megashed stan from this BBC news article in April. Majestic and wonderful, indeed.
Current status: awaiting a swan to leave Glasgow Central station so we can be platformed. 🦢
October 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Current status: awaiting a swan to leave Glasgow Central station so we can be platformed. 🦢
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
Green party reaches 100,000 members for first time after Polanski becomes leader
Green party reaches 100,000 members for first time after Polanski becomes leader
Green party in England and Wales has had near-50% rise in membership since Zack Polanski took over last month
The Greens in England and Wales have more than 100,000 members for the first time, the party has announced, a near-50% rise since Zack Polanski took over as leader last month.
It puts them on a potential course to overtake the Conservatives and comes little more than a week after the Greens announced they had moved past the Liberal Democrats in membership numbers, getting to 83,500. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 12, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Green party reaches 100,000 members for first time after Polanski becomes leader
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
George Orwell’s Animal Crossing
October 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
George Orwell’s Animal Crossing
Hey Rachel Reeves, please can we have swingeing taxes on fast food packaging? Or, like the French (possibly), ban it entirely? #FiscalRules
October 7, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Hey Rachel Reeves, please can we have swingeing taxes on fast food packaging? Or, like the French (possibly), ban it entirely? #FiscalRules
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
Wrote something for @powertochange.org.uk about the fact that government policy must include a new category - digital social policy - to address the social impacts of technologies. Tech policy has to be more than cutting-edge innovation and growth www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...
October 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Wrote something for @powertochange.org.uk about the fact that government policy must include a new category - digital social policy - to address the social impacts of technologies. Tech policy has to be more than cutting-edge innovation and growth www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
Kemi Badenoch during her visit to Blyth*...
"A town once powered by coal is now powered by wind. And all this is creating hundreds of jobs. Blyth illustrates the promise of the clean energy revolution."
"We know that growing our green industries is crucial to reaching net zero"
"A town once powered by coal is now powered by wind. And all this is creating hundreds of jobs. Blyth illustrates the promise of the clean energy revolution."
"We know that growing our green industries is crucial to reaching net zero"
October 1, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Kemi Badenoch during her visit to Blyth*...
"A town once powered by coal is now powered by wind. And all this is creating hundreds of jobs. Blyth illustrates the promise of the clean energy revolution."
"We know that growing our green industries is crucial to reaching net zero"
"A town once powered by coal is now powered by wind. And all this is creating hundreds of jobs. Blyth illustrates the promise of the clean energy revolution."
"We know that growing our green industries is crucial to reaching net zero"
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
The folks @democracyclub.org.uk provide an invaluable service to democracy in the UK. They're such an important part of national democratic infrastructure. They've just started looking for a new Chair for their board. Read the spec and see if you're a good fit: docs.google.com/document/d/e...
Democracy Club Chair 2025
docs.google.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The folks @democracyclub.org.uk provide an invaluable service to democracy in the UK. They're such an important part of national democratic infrastructure. They've just started looking for a new Chair for their board. Read the spec and see if you're a good fit: docs.google.com/document/d/e...
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
I'm seeing so many takes around parts of the "ID card" melange, I have to add a few.
It's not about cards. It's about registers. A register is a definitive 'true source' of data, about people, places, buildings, whatever.
It's not about cards. It's about registers. A register is a definitive 'true source' of data, about people, places, buildings, whatever.
September 26, 2025 at 11:20 AM
I'm seeing so many takes around parts of the "ID card" melange, I have to add a few.
It's not about cards. It's about registers. A register is a definitive 'true source' of data, about people, places, buildings, whatever.
It's not about cards. It's about registers. A register is a definitive 'true source' of data, about people, places, buildings, whatever.
Reposted by Joe Mitchell
🚨 BREAKING: The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has pleaded guilty to #bribery, admitting he received corrupt payments as a Brexit Party MEP in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.
Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges
Gill admits to eight charges while an elected member of the European parliament
www.theguardian.com
September 26, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Mads Mikkelsen? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
‘Professional actor’ behind attacks that closed Danish airports, defence minister says
Drones overfly four more airports forcing Aalborg to halt traffic two nights after shutdown at Copenhagen terminals
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Mads Mikkelsen? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
"...the rise of "workslop," which is low-quality AI content (reports, presentations, emails, etc) that requires another human to fix it and to diagnose what went wrong, which is killing productivity and making workers resentful of each other. Things are going great!" www.404media.co/email/641a21...
September 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"...the rise of "workslop," which is low-quality AI content (reports, presentations, emails, etc) that requires another human to fix it and to diagnose what went wrong, which is killing productivity and making workers resentful of each other. Things are going great!" www.404media.co/email/641a21...