Natasha Finlayson

INCIDENT: We are currently monitoring an unidentified flying sleigh entering NATO airspace. The track originates from the North Pole and is flying an erratic path🎅 
No NATO jets have been scrambled.

Rob Reiner was a lovely man. I spoke to him last night for over an hour. I always enjoyed his company. I met him at his Dad's in 1975. He was telling me about fiming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future. This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man. So awful.

Now, I know what you're all thinking, but who hasn't accidentally done a Sieg Heil on their first day in government?

Source: A Case for a Proper Ban on Hunting 2024

✨ The Big Give women and girls match fund is now live ✨ We need you to support women with convictions find jobs they love. If you support our work before 12pm on Thursday 17 October your gift will be ✨DOUBLED✨ by the Big Give at no cost to you. donate.biggive.org/campaign/a0569…

98% of the adult cares homes closed to protect people from harm were run by for profit companies. And 90% of children's homes. Time to end this absurdity. Core public services should not be cash cows for private equity.

It’s been 1,116 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from attending school. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where educating girls is illegal. #LetHerLearn

Left to die on the side of the road, terrified and in pain, like their life didn’t matter. SLOW DOWN stupid people and watch out for #wildlife. This could easily have been avoided 😡

The EU is giving €10bn in aid to European countries hit by the recent floods. Every such disaster will cost billions. We will spend big on climate, either way. But it's far more effective and humane to spend the money on prevention than on endlessly picking up the pieces.

This is hugely encouraging - positive intent and action to reduce the counter-productive imprisonment of women who need support, not punishment. Refreshing change after years of empty rhetoric and rearranging the deckchairs on the criminal justice system Titanic.

The govt’s prisons agenda is partly a pragmatic necessity (the prisons are full). But also a confidence in going somewhat upstream of public opinion on a pragmatic/centrist liberalism. Probably reflects Starmer's personal/professional expertise (hence contrast with other issues)

People who send gifts to MPs and ministers could just send them to food banks and clothes banks instead.

The Taliban's Minister of Education says that girls' schools are likely to remain closed permanently. After the initial ban, there was hope they might reopen, but that hope is now gone. They lied. The Taliban haven’t changed and remain the same fanatics they were.

For Afghan women to follow: Parasto Hakim is a must. She has been running underground schools for girls and shared important commentary on the crisis of gender apartheid in Afghanistan:

We gotta stop telling “both sides” to tone down the political rhetoric Trump wasn’t attacked by a transgender member of MS-13 who snuck in w/the Mexican caravan to be radicalized by Black Lives Matter while majoring in CRT at Antifa University It was just another random, Dollar Store white boy with an unregistered, easily purchased semi-automatic light rifle BECAUSE IT ALWAYS IS

Women's prisons could be shut and converted to house male inmates to ease overcrowding, reports the Mirror. This is a vital moment for this Labour govt to seize a step-change in our response to female offenders. Prison has proven time and again to NOT be a safe place for women, nor tackle the root causes of their offending. Now is the time to act and close them for good: 🔺 Self-harm for women in prison was at the highest rate ever recorded in 2023, an increase of 63% and eleven times higher than in the male estate. 🔺 76% of women in prison report having a mental health problem. 🔺 53% of women in prison have experienced abuse as children. 🔺 72% of women leaving one prison faced homelessness or unsafe accommodation. 🔺 Pregnant women are 7x more likely than those outside prison to suffer a stillbirth. Women are disproportionately imprisoned through a failure to tackle the root causes of crime. Austerity has not only dealt us a prison overcrowding crisis, it has in tandem with a cost of living crisis exacerbated offending, further increasing the needs of women and families. Women are most likely to be primary carers for children and other adults around them, as well as to be susceptible to sexualised exploitation for fear of escalating violence, homelessness, threat or material need, found @RevDoors. For the more than 70% of female offenders who have experienced domestic abuse, and whose offending is rooted in their abuse, this compounds the outcome. Leaving women destitute, homeless. With no holistic response to address their harm, they are spat out of the system, often back in the control of their abuser. Pregnant women and mothers? One in three are held in prison pre-trial. Two babies have died in England’s prisons in recent years. Inquests into newborn babies dying in prison have found huge failings for what is in real terms a dark ages Dickensian practice that should be abolished. The answer? Investing in the community solutions, like Women Centre's. The case is clear, and has been for years. WC’s have a proven track record of delivering results that stems from providing a holistic specialist approach to tackling how and why women offend. Giving women empowerment and support they need to avoid re-offending whilst addressing harms. Against a spend of £1.7bn on issues linked to female offending, a place at a Woman’s Centre ranges from £1,223 to £4,125 per woman depending on needs, whilst a place in prison costs £52,121. This makes sense. This needs to happen.

Birmingham, the night of the count. Labour’s Jess Phillips is announced the winner on stage for Yardley. In an attempt to get a photo of the candidates on stage, am standing among a throng of men on the counting hall floor supporting the workers party candidate. They boo Jess, cat-call and chant the candidate’s name over and over as if it is a boxing match. They try to drown out her voice. It is ugly and it is shameful. As I extricate myself from the pack I shake my head in anger. There is nothing elegant in this brazen show of misogyny and bullishness. Shabana Mahmood gets the same treatment. Both women show defiance yet overall, it is an unpleasant, unnecessary and degrading experience. Elsewhere in Britain, post-election speeches were demonstrations of grace in defeat, and humility in success. As it should be. We aren’t tribal like America. We aren’t quick to protest like France. Sometimes we might admire the more direct approach of other countries. Yet I love our restraint. The passion is there. Reservoirs of it. But the speeches often follow unwritten protocols that show honour and valour almost to the point that the victor becomes indiscernible. Democracy is something to value and treasure. As Brits, I think we value it, although the disappointing turnout gives cause for concern. Isn’t it a prize that our individual vote counts every bit as much as the Prime Minister? Isn’t that fantastic? The workers party claimed to stand for Palestine. A cause I sympathise with, and one that deserves the attentions of the media. Hyped up and militant at 5am, it was clear that the main aim of the male group was to disabuse others of a respectful election. Particularly the female candidates. Jess shook hands with all candidates after the announcement. All except one. The workers party candidate refused her, which was received with cheers for him and jeers for Jess from his swarm of supporters. Surely a candidate standing on a single-issue platform, to improve conditions for Palestinian people, would appreciate the opportunity to build a bridge with his local MP. He could have used that opportunity to progress the cause. Suffragists fought hard for voting rights just over a hundred years ago. Anyone who values women’s rights should be concerned by activities that seek to block their access to democratic choice. There was overt and covert misogyny in this election. It needs investigating and fixing. If women don’t have voting rights, then we don’t have a democracy. @jessphillips @JaneRockHouse @5050Parliament @fawcettsociety @ShabanaMahmood @birminghamlive

@helenl2611 ❤️

Listen to @MsNFinlayson she knows her stuff 🥰

Hopefully a useful explainer for those wondering why prisons are top of the agenda for a new government. We'll be exploring the solutions required in more detail very shortly!

"Prevention, diversion and rehabilitation should be guiding principles at the heart of the criminal justice system." @MsNFinlayson 📢 Read our Chief Executive Natasha Finlayson's comment on the appointment of James Timpson as #PrisonsMinister: workingchance.org/latest/stateme…