middleclassandmiddleaged

ALL the lifts at Exeter Station are now closed until APRIL 2026. Sing to me more songs of this ‘Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’ of which I hear so much is sung.

🧵There have been a few comments on here about the court day not being long enough and that it should be extended to cut the backlog. 10.30am to 4.30pm is shorter than office hours, but if people understood the realities, those times are justified. 1/

As #FLO I’ve delivered “that” message far too many times, at Christmas too. I don’t apologise for the swearing (it’s from another site) It makes it real. I wish those that cause the heartbreak could see first hand what devastation they cause! #FLO #RPU #DontDrinkDrugDrive🚔

In the autumn of 1942, a slight, 32-year-old Polish social worker named Irena Sendler passed through the gates of the Warsaw Ghetto with a carpenter’s toolbox in her arms. Beneath the hammers and nails lay a drugged six-month-old infant, breathing softly, utterly silent. One cry would have meant instant death for both of them. Irena smiled at the guards; they waved her through. They never suspected that this quiet woman would repeat the journey 2,499 more times. The ghetto was a slow-motion extermination. Starvation, disease, and random murder stalked every street. Jewish parents faced a choice no human being should ever have to make: keep their child and watch them waste away, or hand them to a stranger who promised a chance—however thin—at life. Irena came officially to inspect for typhus. In reality, she came to steal children from death. Babies left in toolboxes or ambulances under false bottoms. Toddlers sedated and tucked into potato sacks. Older children led by the hand through the stinking, lightless sewers while German boots marched overhead. “Not a sound,” she whispered as rats scurried past their feet. She knew that the rescued children would be given new names, new religions, new families. Their pasts would vanish unless someone remembered. So, on fragile scraps of tissue paper, Irena wrote each child’s real name, their parents’ names, and their new hiding place. She rolled the papers tight, slipped them into glass jars, and buried them beneath an apple tree in a neighbor’s garden. If she were caught and killed, the truth might still survive. She was caught. On October 20, 1943, the Gestapo kicked in her door. They took her to Pawiak Prison and demanded the list. When she refused, they smashed both her legs with iron bars. Then her feet. Then her arms. For weeks the beatings continued. She never spoke. They scheduled her execution. On the appointed morning, guards dragged the broken woman from her cell. Instead of a firing squad, she found herself outside the prison walls—alive. The Polish underground council Żegota had bribed a guard to mark her file “shot while trying to escape.” Officially dead, Irena Sendler limped back into the shadows to keep working.When the war finally ended, the first thing she did was dig up the jars under the apple tree. She spent years trying to return the children—now scattered across convents, farms, and foster homes—to whatever family might remain. Almost no parents had survived. But the children had. Because of her, 2,500 Jewish boys and girls lived to grow up, to marry, to have children and grandchildren of their own—an entire secret branch of the human family tree that the Nazis never managed to cut down.For decades her story stayed buried deeper than the jars themselves. Then, in 1999, four high-school girls in rural Kansas stumbled across a brief mention of her name. They found the old woman still living quietly in Warsaw and brought her courage back into the light. Journalists called her the greatest rescuer of the Holocaust. Irena only shook her head.“I could have saved more,” she said. “That regret follows me to the grave.”Irena Sendler—armed with nothing but a ghetto work permit, a toolbox, and a refusal to look away—proved that even in the heart of the worst evil humanity has ever devised, one determined person can still keep the darkness from winning completely.

I’m starting to believe that if the Taliban decreed that all women and girls were to be chained to an iron ring in the wall beside a bucket, fed a bit of rice once a day, and allowed to wash once a month, the West would just heave a collective shrug. Yeah well it’s their culture innit. #GlobalMisogyny

This is Sam. His brothers, Jake & Joe Sharp, made this video to show what young male depression looks like. Sam recently took his life. I’ve always been more concerned about the happy guys than the ones openly somber. Guys who are struggling are often the life of the party.

October feels heavy. Last year October was the month when so many of Liz’s dreams came true. It was also the last full month that she was alive. It feels bitterly unfair and yet simultaneously unimaginable that she isn’t here now. I have no idea how to get through this month, or the next one - the month we lost her, or Christmas the following one. But we will get through it, simply because there is no choice. One day at a time we will put one foot in front of the other and hold each other up. Because the reality is that no matter how hard the days are we will not give up. We have a difference to make and we will continue to do all we can to raise awareness of Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour and raise funds for research: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/v… We will do it for Liz, for those who came before her, for those who come next and because doing so makes each day feel a little lighter.

A woman has no right to see the path with both eyes,” says a Taliban-backed cleric. This is not religion, it’s hatred dressed in robes. This regime is waging a war on Afghan women, and the world watches in silence.💔

I was raped when I was inarguably among the strongest women in the 🌎… and he was just a guy. When he grabbed my wrist, I quickly realized – in that slow-motion-adrenalin-awareness phenomenon – that I couldn’t move my arm in any direction: not even when using my lats in a downward motion, where swimmers excel.”

The world watches in silence while Afghan women are erased from life.Women denied education – UN silence! Women denied work – EU silence! Women denied movement – OIC silence! Women denied voice – Security Council silence! Women denied life – World silence

Tomorrow should have been Liz’s 18th Birthday. In another world, and other lifetime she would no doubt have been out tonight celebrating with friends. I would have sat home worrying about whether she would be ok. It’s a worry that as I sit here tonight I would give anything to have. Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour took her from us in just 10 months. Before her diagnosis Liz had only one week off school - in year three for chicken pox. We would often joke that she was indestructible - if only that had been true. Tomorrow we would love to flood the internet with her photographs, she can’t be here to celebrate but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve a celebration. If you could find time to share one and encourage others to do the same we would be incredibly grateful. I’ll be sharing some throughout the day as well. If anyone would like to buy Liz a birthday drink you can do so here: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/v… #buylizadrink If you see this post alongside some of Liz’s work and would like to treat yourself to a calendar containing 12 of Liz’s best photographs you can do so here: gg4gp0-h8.myshopify.com Every penny will go to @CaptureDSRCTC to fund research into the palliative care of young people with cancers that have less than a 15% survival rate. Together we can ensure other young people get to truly Live even if their lives are far too short. Together we can make sure others get to make their dreams come true - just as Liz did. Forever loved. Forever missed. Forever 17. Our beautiful, talented girl. #LizHatton #ForLiz

We came away from Damascus content with our work. Knowing we had been promised that tagged dogs would not be culled. Now we are receiving photographs from people in Damascus that already, some of these dogs have been shot and killed. Some of these street dogs were even being cared for by people. Their yellow tags, that we were told would save their lives, were totally ignored. We are angry and broken, and we will not leave this unchallenged. 500 dogs were prevented from breeding, vaccinated against rabies, treated for tick and fleas/ ear tagged to save them from culling. Their wounds were attended to. We thank WTG Welttierschutzgesellschaft e.V. in Germany and SPCAI in America for funding and supporting our work in Damascus. We are going to make a lawsuit against the municipality in Damascus and there will be a demonstration by some activists there - because the agreements that had been guaranteed to us were not respected. We will ask for the resignation of the mayor immediately. Please share our post and our hashtag. #stopkillingSyriandogs

Today my phone is full of friends posting pictures of their children’s last days at school, ready to set off on their next adventure. Liz’s friends are among them and I am proud of each and every one of them as I know Liz would be. I don’t have a last day of school picture to share. There was no fanfare on Liz’s last day of school because we had no idea it would be her last. We miss her every second of every day but some days it hits harder than others. Today is one of those. I wish with all my heart that I was worrying tonight that she was out with friends, I wish with all my heart that I was worrying about finding university accomodation and listening to her worry about results. But I’m not. Those are worries I’ll never have simply because she isn’t here. Liz died aged just 17 in November of Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour - a rare and agressive cancer that receives on government or large charity funding - a cancer that consequently only has a 15% 5 year survival rate. All we can do for her now is to keep her mission alive, keep raising funds, keep changing things for the future, keep doing all we can so other young people go on to have an adventure. In lieu of a last day picture, this is Liz’s first day at school. She was so very proud to start ‘big girl school’ Please help us by #buyingLizadrink if you can: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/v… Together we can make a difference. (If you can’t donate please do like, share or comment if you can)

🧵I've been quiet about something that happened to me while travelling for work this year (largely because I've been receiving counselling since), but I can't shake the worry that this may be happening to other guests at your hotels, @Marriot.

It’s been 4 years since Sarah Everard was abducted, raped, and murdered as she walked home. It was a crime that brought the issue of male violence against women to the forefront of public discussion. Yet, 4 years later we’re still as unsafe as ever.

If you agree with this opinion in the ⁦@dailytelegraph⁩ I would appreciate a repost…

@LNRailway Waiting at Liverpool SP for the train to Birmingham. No trains going in or out. What is going on?

⛅ Good Morning LNR 👋 George here until 7pm tonight 🎵 Did you know on this day in 1963, the Beatles began their own music publishing company "Northern Songs" ℹ️ Handy Links: ℹ️ Delay Repay: orlo.uk/7p9fx ℹ️ Planner: orlo.uk/NwlSL

Our incredible daughter Liz died in the early hours of this morning. She remained determined to the last. Even yesterday she was still making plans. We are so very proud of the kindness, empathy and courage she has shown in the last year. She was not only a phenomenal photographer, she was the best human, and the most wonderful daughter and big sister we could ever have asked for. No one could have fought harder for life than she did. There is a gaping Liz shaped hole in our lives that I am not sure how we will ever fill. We have so much gratitude to every single one of you, whether you offered to help, or liked or shared posts - you ensured Liz’s last two months were her very best. She flew high until the end. We have two last favours to ask. Firstly, we would like to ask you to share one of her photos - on your social media, or in real life, however you can. Let’s let her go out with a bang. #LizHatton (photos will follow in a thread but do also feel free to choose your own from @lizhatton_photography on Instagram) Secondly, if you can we would like you to help us with a mission to raise money to fund research into Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour. With no charity in the UK or internationally funding into effective treatments are lacking. In 2024 a 15% 5 year survival rate is simply not enough. Together we can change that. Whether you can share, donate or raise funds - please be our village one more time. Let’s make this the last item on her bucket list and make sure other families don’t face a similar fate: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/v…

A walk home from the football might not be so simple for everybody…

@itsalawyerslife Finding your way to court using The Court Guide (which would also tell you if there were any places to eat nearby).

This is proving a hugely popular article and topic. Usually it’s posts about the Royals or Hollywood stars which get such attention. If anyone wants to send in a piece about their own experiences of past legal life, please do so. People clearly enjoy a little nostalgia.