It would appear that “former Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach has threatened the University of Cambridge with legal action after a historian named her as a descendant of merchants who enslaved his ancestors.”
#British consumer goods giant #Unilever has doubled profits and increased ad spending in russia despite its pledge to stop profiting from the market after moscow invaded #Ukraine last year
Its russian subsidiary Unilever Rus, which employs more than 3,000 people, almost doubled its 2022 net profit from 4.8 billion rubles ($62 million) to 9.2 billion rubles ($119 million), according to the investigative news outlet Follow the Money.
"The legal subordination of one sex to another – is wrong in itself, [...] it ought to be replaced by a system of perfect equality, admitting no power and privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other."
~ 'The Subjection of Women' by J. S. Mill (1869)
Did you know that John Stuart Mill was the first person in #British#Parliament to call for allowing #women to vote?
This petition also included the signature of the only #PoC, Sarah Parker Remond.
"The British Navy has dropped the custom of employing Chinese laundry workers on warships over fears they may spy for Beijing [...]
However, they are being replaced by Nepalese Gurkhas"
So the British are going to stop a racist tradition for a very racist reason so they can get even more racist 🤡
Did you know that only a single #British#MP was ever executed for a non-political crime?
MPs have been serving the English parliament since 1593, & a good number died by execution.
But only one, MP for #Dorset in 1614, Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven (as Mervyn Audley) died not because of treason or for being a Royalist... but for raping his wife & "sodomy".
I've created a new web app - British Placename Mapper at https://placenames.rtwilson.com/ - you can search for placenames in various ways (starts with 'great', ends with 'burgh' etc) and show them on an interactive map. Try a few of the examples and send me any cool maps you come up with!
(Re-posting for those who sensibly weren't using social media on a bank holiday weekend!)
The placenta has always been seen as something mystical.
In #Australia, if it was believed that, if the mother had launched the afterbirth into the water, the baby would have been a good swimmer.
Batak¹ people from Sumatra, #Indonesia, buried it under the house; it was believed to be the newborn's sister or brother.
Similarly, Baganda² from #Uganda believed that the placenta was a doppelgänger of the child – this is similar to the #Irish (or #British, in general?) concept of fetch.³
After a long history of whole families working in Great Britain coal mines, “The Mines and Collieries Act” in 1842 banned boys under 10, girls, and women from working below ground.
It took several years to fully set, but it did not stop women from working on the surface.
These women became known as “Pit Brow Lasses."
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#Kenyan police on Monday blocked a news conference intended to air allegations of human rights and environmental abuses by British troops in the country, hours before King Charles arrives for a four-day state visit.
Buckingham Palace has said Charles' visit will acknowledge "painful aspects of the UK and #Kenya's shared history". The #British ruled for more than six decades before the East #African nation won its independence in 1963.
Brandon Mitchell: Everyone Must Support Ukraine
by #JakeBroe
01:02:48
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Podcast of Jake with #BrandonMitchell: originally from #Canada, he currently lives in #Sweden.
He served for 4.5 years in the Canadian and #British army.
In March of 2022 he volunteered to go to Ukraine and became a combat medic.
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Jake Broe is a US Air Force veteran covering the Russian war in #Ukraine several times a week since February 2022.
One by one, they are pledging support for #Ukraine, with or without #NATO, for “as long as necessary” and “all of its weight”
“Ukraine is and will remain #France’s priority,” new #French FM Stéphane #Séjourné said. “The defense of the fundamental principles of international law is being played out in Ukraine.”