Carol Powell

Today is Undiagnosed Children's Day #UCD2024 Remember, there is no requirement to have a diagnosis in order to have SEN or a disability in law, and this should not be a barrier to getting support. We have more info on this at: 🔗ipsea.org.uk/what-are-speci… 🔗ipsea.org.uk/FAQs/disability

It's Sunday, no @BBCWomansHour today, but - wait - what's this you say? The very first episode of the brand new WI podcast is ready to stream? 1st ep is all about women w/ #autism & #ADHD & our #ThinkingDifferently campaign. #podcast #EmpoweringWomen open.spotify.com/episode/4N9XnI…

Times leader column now joining the voices saying Thames Water should be allowed to go bust 👇

This week we’re championing Neurodiversity Celebration Week, honoring the beautiful spectrum of human minds. Let's foster understanding, acceptance, and appreciation for all neurodivergent women. Our new Thinking Differently report features the lived experiences of women with autism and ADHD, sometimes blighted by stigma and misunderstanding, but also full of hope and women supporting women: thewi.org.uk/thinking-diffe….

The facts about child poverty and education. ⬇️

My letter to the Prime Minister about Frank Hester's remarks

I don't want lower taxes. I want hospital beds. Trains that run on time. Kids who aren't too hungry to learn. Libraries in every town. Rivers that don't run with slurry. Local councils not forced into bankruptcy. Politicians who don't venally line their own pockets.

Was waiting to go in the lift in the shopping centre in town, there's a lady waiting to go up in the lift with her daughter, her daughters in a pushchair and is around 5or 6,she's got ear defenders on, and is happily rocking back and forth singing to herself, another lady whose also waiting for the lift with her husband or partner, says excuse me but isn't she too big to be in a pushchair? The lady holding the pushchair is really embarrassed and starts to explain to the lady that her daughter has learning disabilities, i'm stood holding Ryan's hand and I interrupt and say to the lady with the pushchair, you don't need to explain to anyone, it's nobodies business, the lady and husband just glare at me and Ryan and walk off, when we get in the lift the lady says thankyou,and goes on to say that her daughter hasn't slept all week, all week,no sleep all week and your minding your own business and someone who has no clue questions you or assumes they know better. When you have a disabled child just a little trip into town or to the shops take alot of planning, and like this lady today you may not have had any sleep, the last thing you need is to be judged.

‘Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.’ Our freedom is Fragile. The duty to defend it belongs to us all. ⁦@HMD_UK⁩ ⁦@HolocaustUK⁩

uncanny likeness. brilliant.

"We have to improve the way it is funded, otherwise children will continue to be turned away." @DingleyCEO bbc.co.uk/news/education…

Hippy, capitalist, guru, grocer: the forgotten genius who changed British food theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/…

Read the attached statement made by ex Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw for why the Post Office should insist a 47 year old mother and sub postmaster, Jacqueline Macdonald, should be found guilty of theft and not just false accounting. It is shocking. He says that if she was done only for false accounting, the integrity of the precious Fujitsu Horizon system would be undermined in future cases, and the appeals of wrongly convicted sub postmasters would have credibility. Bradshaw had his way. The judge in the trial agreed with him. This woman of no previous convictions was sentenced to 18 months in prison, for theft and false accounting. The point however is that Bradshaw was an employee. The big question is who further up the management ladder incentivized him to pursue sub postmasters, most of whom were innocent of any wrongdoing, while denying all the many flaws in Horizon - and to pursue them through the courts in such a single minded and determined way. This was just one of the many harrowing disclosures in today’s profoundly depressing session of Wyn Williams’s statutory inquiry into the Horizon scandal. It has been impossible to watch without feeling fury and great sadness at the brutal treatment of sub postmasters.

“They were told by human beings - who knew perfectly well that there was a blip in the system - that the system was working” The editor of @PrivateEyeNews demands justice for victims of the Post Office scandal #Peston

This is very disturbing

Exclusive: Alan Bates became so exasperated with Ed Davey (when post office minister) he stopped engaging with him He told Davey in 2011: "having nailed your colours to [Post Office's] mast...there was little point in continuing a dialogue with you" 1/ thetimes.co.uk/article/how-ed…

As councils crumble, a new scapegoat has been found: the parents of disabled and vulnerable children Thank you @johnharris1969 for highlighting the system failure and constant blaming of parents with disabled children. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Big news this evening > Post Office is under criminal investigation by Met Police over wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters. Police confirm tonight they’re looking at “potential fraud offences” in the handling of the Horizon IT scandal news.sky.com/story/post-off…

Tomorrow 6 January the main rate of national insurance is cut from 12% to 10%, its lowest for over twenty years. People earning £50,270 or more will save £754 a year, so be £62 a month better off. People working 25 hours on minimum wage will save 38p a week. Plus ça change.

After a big week in the Post Office scandal saga… 🚨 Scotland Yard confirms for the first time that the Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters. 👇 thetimes.co.uk/article/091281…