Tony Meredith

https://mastodon.me.uk/@Tony_Meredith

Oldish. British. Living in the beautiful Lake District. Previously a civil servant in London. He/him.

Interested in humans, and equality. Otherwise #art #history #gardening #birds and not too much of #policy #politics

International law was built on hard lessons.

Separate account on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/tonymeredith.bsky.social

Avatar: Old dog, resting and waiting.
Banner: Dramatic cloud after sunset, above dark woodland.

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npub1k83t2g2yh3qans305smtz79qush6cnuw7fh4aenaw4k4lvejtuxszsnre6

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

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relay.momostr.pink

relay.primal.net

relay.nostr.net

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npub1k83t2g2yh3qans305smtz79qush6cnuw7fh4aenaw4k4lvejtuxszsnre6

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Last Notes

2026-07-06 18:18:49 UTC

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I would like to argue you're wrong. But maybe not.
I accidentally got into 1980s English politics by going to a small election meeting in the village. First it was volunteering. Then scraps of paid work. Then a bit of a career around Parliament.
Back then, my family were amazed to see a pack of mints with the portcullis logo.
I learnt a bit about how real life connects to power. And, yes, the majority are still very disconnected.
#GoToMeetings #JoinAParty #democracy

2026-07-04 18:55:48 UTC

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I'm so happy to know you and your family.

2026-02-24 18:46:12 UTC

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The latest bleak bit of non-progress on delivering decent palliative care is the Govt response to the HoC Select Committee report.
2/2
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmhealth/1722/report.html

2026-02-24 18:44:27 UTC

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ICYMI, there's already a NHS legal duty to provide palliative care services. It seemed like a success when that became part of the 2022 Health Act.
(Let's remember Clair Fisher who did a bit towards that https://speakforme.co.uk/clair-fisher-blog-dying-well-what-works )
I disagree with your logic. Decent palliative care is necessary. And already required by law. I see no dependency on any proposed legislation.
1/2

2026-02-12 18:52:41 UTC

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I don't recall any working plumbers sitting in the HoC. Will the planned changes about second jobs likely allow someone like her to stay qualified??

2026-01-25 18:01:10 UTC

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It's magical to have a nice neighbour like you.
I was pruning roses yesterday, so that was light work. What were you doing??

2026-01-21 18:42:03 UTC

I'm just following the psycho-drama of that Board of Peace. The AP says this was the state of play at 5pm today.
(Stories are circulating that UK and Germany have also made decisions too ... )
#diplomacy #MiddlePowers
https://apnews.com/article/trump-netanyahu-gaza-board-of-peace-a4a296f736474e8c6a4edacd7109b8e5

2026-01-10 15:03:08 UTC

Am I woke yet? Just set up a Twake account as an EU alternative for Dropbox.
It seems simple enough for me, currently on a 5GB free plan. And the file sharing options are quite neat.
#Twake #NotDropbox #EUAlternatives
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/115/871/391/044/347/082/original/f8f86bb921b2c818.jpg

2025-12-07 18:27:22 UTC

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Is anyone else old enough to remember YTS?
Wiki doesn't offer anything about evaluation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_Training_Scheme?wprov=sfla1

2025-10-23 18:14:10 UTC

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I'm sorry. The rise of the English far-right has been permitted too much space.
Maybe oldies need to mobilise more and get back into politics. @npub1ecs…kh2u

2025-08-24 19:05:11 UTC

Ah. Not a coincidence then.
TLDR - the company owning the festival has previously been boycotted over its investments in Israel.
#Portsmouth #Victorious #Sonar #KKR #Superstruct
KKR-backed music event hit by band boycotts over removal of Palestinian flag - https://on.ft.com/4651cKK

2025-06-30 07:29:26 UTC

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I've started using OnBuy. Grand total of 4 orders so far, but no problems.
https://mastodon.me.uk/@Tony_Meredith/114745567398910553

2025-06-14 18:33:19 UTC

Really. Did no one else want to post about this today?
[EDIT apart from @npub12pw…zvxn ]
#NHS #dementia #Adebowale #racism #UKpol
BBC News - I'm an NHS leader - but mum still suffered at hands of health service because she was black
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v5q2n4gpxo

2025-06-03 18:27:14 UTC

Just checking. Everyone here who can is paying money to keep the wheels turning in their fediverse server, right?
Right?
Our smallish UK server needs an annual money budget of about £3,000. Hundreds of people making small payments every month can make that look easy.
Oh, did I mention that the budget/money stuff can be all transparent on Open Collective ...
#money
https://opencollective.com/mastodon-me-uk

2025-05-18 17:29:43 UTC

BBC News has been broken deliberately. I hope someday that honest ordinary journalism will return.
There's an online BBC News piece "Israeli forces besiege Gaza hospital as Hamas offers truce terms" with a subhead "Israel has laid out conditions which could bring about the end of the war".
No mention of international law. Only one sentence "Israel has been blocking supplies of food ... for ten weeks."
Meanwhile Sky News (I'm no fan) has this.
#Gaza #BrokenBBC #BBC
https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-at-mercy-of-what-comes-next-as-israel-ramps-up-brutal-offensive-13370380

2025-04-03 17:41:33 UTC

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I'm just admiring Summer as a really gentle dog.
We use the same ball here with a mini poodle. (And I remember another dog that would have destroyed it in a blink.)

2025-03-16 18:59:06 UTC

Just to mention, quietly, that I've never knowingly tasted a Swiss wine. So, my little order this month with Vinatis includes a bottle of Fendant (at a discount price).
Is it worth exploring? Say, relative to Austrian wines?
#wine #suisse #schweiz
https://www.vinatis.co.uk/69254-fendant-vetroz-les-terrasses-2023-domaine-jean-rene-germanier

2025-03-15 19:49:35 UTC

Small news. A compost heap I built in February is reasonably happy, despite low overnight temps.
#compost
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/114/168/166/303/094/950/original/558fe2423609f921.jpg

2025-02-19 19:37:45 UTC

Gaza. This informed piece gives a sense of how life is currently for the survivors.
#Gaza
https://aje.io/46mm9q

2025-02-19 18:34:00 UTC

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Sorry I'm late. Just like @npub1qpm…lyf4 my experience is a one-sided cataract operation. It's why I hung back.
There's the big choice of corrective adjustment for a new lens. If any of your crafts or hobbies require a lot of close vision, just think through the practicalities of that. Personally, I chose "normal" after a near-lifetime of shortsightedness - with no regrets.

2025-02-14 19:19:20 UTC

In ordinary garden news, I've now done my awkward stepladder job of the year giving a haircut to the tall laurel hedge that birds like for nesting. And thereby filled the first compost bin of 2025.
Close to frost again tonight.
But - it looks like next week here may have some nighttime temps here at 9 or 10C.
I'll happily take encouragement from new growth and birdnesting.
#gardening #hedges

2025-01-29 20:04:45 UTC

Good news for UK gardeners. Beth Chatto gardens have a 20% discount offer until 31st Jan on pre-orders for March/April/May.
Think quickly now and save!
Code is 20BC25
#gardening #BethChatto

2024-12-26 18:49:59 UTC

Bad "research", quirky marketing, and lovely bonkers info. From an otherwise completely respectable firm of life insurance brokers (head office in Exeter, UK).
Allegedly, the most popular music at funerals in 2024 was ...
"Another one bites the dust", by Queen.
[Disclaimer. I too have had to choose funeral music. Nothing mentioned here is a recommendation.]
#FuneralMusic #death
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/720/586/888/065/337/original/64cc27e198c6a635.jpg

2024-12-15 19:46:01 UTC

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I think your "if" clause is probably the bigger part of the trick here. Oh, and trust.
Setting an e-identity with "proof" doesn't seem trivial.

2024-12-15 18:01:56 UTC

I might be too old and grumpy for this. Digital IDs.
But still, potentially saving a few billion annually for better use in public services deserves debate. Here's an FT editorial.
Anyone here with experience from Estonia, Singapore, or Australia??
#DigitalID #NoDigitalID
Why Britain needs a digital ID system - https://on.ft.com/4fiXejc

2024-12-07 19:12:37 UTC

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2024-12-07 18:58:10 UTC

ICYMI Jasmin Paris is in the FT this weekend.
"Women of 2024", along with Taylor Swift and such.
#Barkley #UltraRunning #JasminParis
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/613/048/969/375/465/original/b943e48f051af9ed.jpg

2024-12-06 13:57:32 UTC

Good news. A few good people are making a difference - giving hard-headed first aid training for farmers and forestry workers, who are at higher risk than other occupations.
Started recently in Cumbria; active in N England and S Scotland. Seriously needed in other rural areas too.
#farming #forestry #FirstAid #F3A
https://www.f3a.co.uk/

2024-11-30 19:16:42 UTC

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And what maybe reeks worse is that the story, leading to due process, only got momentum from Kirsty W being part of the picture. The absence of a famous name might well have led to investigation being avoided and denied.

2024-11-30 19:06:24 UTC

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Kudos for saying the old-fashioned right thing about unproven allegations, even outside court process.

2024-11-20 19:03:49 UTC

FT article today. This gift link has limited use, but text includes:
"These gangsters act .. with ... what a UN memo called 'the passive, if not active benevolence of the IDF'"
"the heavily armed gangs operate freely along the border, a restricted Israeli military zone"
"They stockpile the looted goods in open-air headquarters .. and resell .. to destitute Palestinians at prohibitive prices."
#Gaza #WarCrimes #IHL
How gangsters took over Gaza’s aid routes - https://on.ft.com/4fACFzD

2024-11-13 17:59:11 UTC

@npub13hx…7a03 Thanks for boosting @npub1ld5…63uk my way.
I'm feeling we'll all get dragged in deeper as the US and its companies do more Bad Things, regardless of law or decency. Are there any practical ideas??
At a really low level, I'm now moving my email stuff to EU-based providers as a more reliable service.
https://syzito.xyz/@fkamiah17/113476355708064765

2024-10-22 17:27:03 UTC

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Definitely a crisis, but did you see the valid third option?
According to the FT, Demos think tank are about to publish a piece proposing social care be removed from local government (like NHS) so that Whitehall visibly carries the cost risks.
#SocialCare #UKpol
The English county facing the biggest financial ‘black hole’ - https://on.ft.com/3BXFGv2

2024-10-18 18:52:23 UTC

Let's hope the wheels of justice continue to turn. There's now another position paper for the UN from Navi Pillay and team, which even includes a practical focus on reparations following the ICJ Advisory Opinion.
Build the archive, preserve the records.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155861
#Palestine
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/329/899/787/447/927/original/106a1d8b0b26119a.jpg

2024-09-20 19:13:15 UTC

Good news. Networking to enable more and more women's education.
(And donations are always possible if you've got spare money.)
#Camfed #WomensEducation
https://camfed.org/together-we-are/

2024-09-20 18:14:47 UTC

How much history do you remember, or were you even taught it?
Here's a starter. Can you name 25 empires?? Oh no, 25 just in medieval times ...
[Full disclosure. I learnt a bit.]
@npub14da…mm3f
https://hcommons.social/@medievalists/113160144876425961

2024-09-03 18:28:26 UTC

Ok, I'll give the new UK government (Labour) a pass for its calibrated words and actions on arms exports to Israel. It's sufficient as a signal; and the published legal advice deliberately highlights practical steps that Israel should take, maybe helping towards international consensus.
Next? There are UN General Assembly draft motion(s) coming soon about the ICJ advisory opinion (illegal occupation + apartheid).
#Gaza #Palestine #ArmsExports #Israel #ICJ #UKpolitics
https://mastodon.me.uk/@Tony_Meredith/112876729007278011

2024-08-30 16:46:00 UTC

"In August, the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that have been denied access by Israeli authorities has almost doubled."
#Gaza #genocide #famine https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-211-gaza-strip

2024-08-15 17:32:50 UTC

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I'm old enough to remember when big pharma sometimes claimed high pricing in US and European markets helped them to offer lower prices in poorer countries. So, while I'm totally sure that was true (big pharma, ok), is anyone looking at changes in international pricing on the same drugs?