Tony Bird

@tonybirdlondon

🏳️‍🌈 🇪🇺 💚 Sequin socialist. HIV+ he/him ✊ 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️

243 Siguiendo2171 Seguidores3810 Publicaciones

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Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jul 16

Sequinageddon! Trying to make a top for one of the queer French dance holiday's costume nights and my flat is currently covered in fragments of iridescent blue/green sequins. Plus ça change

Iridescent blue/green sequin cloth bunched up on a wooden floor

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jul 9

I organise a group of queer ballroom and latin dancers for London Pride every year. Here we are before and after three hours and two miles of right foot first, side-close-side-tap, turn-turn-turn-tap, pointing, vogue walks and whooo!s

A group of about twenty people in colourful and sparkly outfits in a park.
Behind them is a trolley covered in Pride Progress flags

A group of about twenty exhausted people in colourful and sparkly outfits in a street off Whitehall.
Behind them is a trolley covered in Pride Progress flags

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jul 4

On the bus. Love that I basically turn into a human glitter ball wearing this

Photo of my sequin covered knees casting sparkly light on the back of the seat in front

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jul 4

Ready for Pride. Am I gay enough? 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Me in a silver sequin romper suit with a rainbow fan

Selfie showing a stripe of silver glitter across my face at eye level

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jul 3

Aēsop in Soho (and Spitalfields) are giving away queer books again for Pride. Over 30 books to choose from. A queer retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth is right up my δρόμος

Book cover for The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jul 3

London Pride tomorrow and new Doctor Who dollies in the post today reminded me of this which I took in 2020. I must get round to doing a new one with the Progress Pride colours added

Rainbow flag colours and in front of each stripe is a Doctor Who action figure in the same colour.
Purple - Missy
Blue - New series Sontaran
Green - Ice Warrior
Yellow - Axon
Orange - Zygon
Red - Season 18 4th Doctor

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 29

Never been so excited for free Yeti head

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 29

Eagerly pressing the refresh button at 09:59 this morning. Tickets for a Kylie concert? Or a hot new musical? Nope - it was for 5" of silver plastic

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 27

Defence doesn't even get mentioned - funny that

Why have Labour defectors abandoned the party?
Based on answers you have previously given us, you voted Labour at the last general election but do not intend to do so at the next election. Which of the following reasons best describe why you no longer intend to vote for the Labour Party? Please select up to three. % of 1,274 Britons who voted Labour in 2024 and currently do not intend to vote Labour at the next election.
Have broken or not delivered on promises 29
Cost of living has not improved enough 24
Have been too right-wing 22
Have made no difference 21
Immigration is still too high 20
Public services have not improved enough 19
New party closer to my values 18
Changes to disability benefits 14
Changes to winter fuel payment 12
Only voted Labour in 2024 for tactical reasons 12
Labour's policies have made me worse off 11
Stance on the conflict in Gaza 10
Stance on transgender rights 8
Don't like the party's leaders 7
Have been too left-wing 2
Something else 8
Don't know 5

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 27

Gay mens' ballroom dancing weekend at Torquay last week. Final night Broadway Ball - we went as On The Town. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and the other one

Three men dressed as sailors standing the stairs - trying top copy the pos from the poster

Poster for On the Town showing three men dressed as sailors.
The poster reads Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, On The Town

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 25

"In her Q&A this morning Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, confirmed that she wants the government to approve the licences for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea."

Reeves says she wants to see Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields approved
In her Q&A this morning Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, confirmed that she wants the government to approve the licences for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea.

She said:

I’ve been very clear that I think that the North Sea is a crucial asset for the UK, and that oil and gas will be an important part of our energy mix for years to come. And I’m very keen to make sure that we use that resource, to ensure our energy security.

There are decisions to be made shortly on both Rosebank and Jackdaw. Those are quasi-judicial decisions. But in our manifesto two years ago, we committed to honour existing licences, and I hope that we do.

As energy secretary, Ed Miliband is the minister in responsible for taking the quasi-decisions on approving the licences. He is one of the ministers most hostile to oil and gas extraction from the North Sea, but the government is under a lot of pressure to approve the licences. Andy Burnham appears to be less opposed to further drilling than Miliband, although he has not set out a detailed position on this issue.

Yesterday it was reported that Miliband is prepared to approve the Jackdaw application. Jackdaw is a gas field, and it does not alarm environmentalists as much as Rosebank, which is mainly an oil field.

The Institute for Government has a good briefing on the proposals here.

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 21

The Martin Luther King quote comes to mind. "The Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to order than to justice"

Screencap of a post
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social‬
For Fathers' Day, Keir Starmer posts a photo of his own father, who died in 2018, and a non-political message.
The replies are a torrent of vitriol & cruelty, all with hundreds of Likes.
We complain a lot about the quality of leadership, but there's a huge problem with the way we treat politicians

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 18

How's your head?

The head of an action figure Yeti on a purple background.
The text reads: Collect and Build. Comes with Abominable Snowman head

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 8

Half the wards in Lammy's constituency went Green in May. He's got a fight on his hands in 2029

Map of wards in the Tottenham constituency.
Half of them are Green. Half are Red. Some are a mix of both.

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 4

John Constable and David Lucas: A Unison of Feeling at the V&A Explores his collaboration with mezzotint printmaker David Lucas. Interesting two room exhibition. The V&A also has room of their Constable paintings next door Spring - David Lucas after John Constable - 1830

A black and white mezzotint of a farmer plowing the field. On the right side in the distance is a windmill and the sky is filled with billowing clouds

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 4

Liked this shot as well

View of glass and steel skyscrapers in the City of London at sunset from across the river.
There is a big bank of purple cloud above them with orange streaks from the sunset

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 4

As we're doing Blobby discourse I'm remembering the summer of 2022 when Duckie would regularly have Mr Blobby turn up and I got to grind with him on the dancefloor to Sister Sledge #ThinkingOfYou

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 2

Walking home over Tower Bridge tonight. Dramatic sunset after today's dramatic weather

View looking west up the Thames from Tower Bridge. The Shard and clear skies are on the left and the city skyline and a big bank of cloud are on the right.
There's a yellow orange sunset lighting up the clouds.

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· Jun 1

Guardian at the start of Pride month. If you still have a subscription - cancel it

Placard saying Fuck the Guardian you transphobic frauds

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 31

Post dragons

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 29

Post a photo from 2019 The summer I broke my leg in France. The problem with crutches is being unable to carry anything. My sister has sent me this glorious pinafore with a huge pocket big enough for all those essential items: cans of diet coke, crisps, bananas, wine gums...

Middle aged man with a greying beard in his living room on crutches.
He's wearing a light blue, frilly, pinafore apron with a big pocket at the front

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 29

Nothing has improved my quality of life in the summer as much as discovering how easy it is to make gazpacho

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 28

AI but without the 'I'

Screenshot of Google AI overview saying
There are 2 'p's in the name Tony Bird

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 28

This how we compare. Basically we have the worst trans rights in Europe - comparable to Russia and Hungary. And Labour and Andy Burnham are making them even worse rainbowmap.ilga-europe.org/categories/l...

ILGA map of Europe showing trans rights.
The UK, Russia and Hungary are coloured in red

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 28

Just pointing out that Hastings was similarly shafted by Southern Water in May 2024 and look what happened there

Screencap of Hastings Local Elections results from 2026.
Green Party has 19 councillors (up 7 from 2022) and a majority on the council

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 27

Michaelina Wautier at the Royal Academy. Stunning show by a 17th century trailblazer. It's really rare for a woman painter at the time to be making monumental religious and mythological paintings Triumph of Bacchus - 1650 www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/m...

Painting Bacchus reclining in a wheelbarrow being pushed by satyr. He's surrounded by various revellers, one of which is feeding him grapes

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 27

The Guardian UK website is dot com slash uk (dot co dot uk will redirect you there) And the article is in the uk website opinion section The Guardian UK obviously has a truly dreadful record on trans rights but they very occasionally allow a supportive piece

Screenshot of the guardian commentisfree website showing the article listed

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 25

I fell in love with Whistler at the Tate's Turner Whistler Monet show in 2005. 21 years later he has a show of his own and it was worth the wait. Fearless, uncompromising, sublime. I'll be going back again and again and again Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea 1871

A painting of a wide river in loose, horizontal, broad strokes of different shades of blue. It's dusk, the far bank of the river is in the darkest blue, reflected in the water, a few lights showing

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 24

Moonrise over London Bridge. Walking home from an afternoon of queer ballroom dancing at Bishopsgate Institute (and a post dance ice cream)

View of the Shard from across the river. It's dusk, the "magic hour". The sun has just gone down but it's still light.
The moon is top right corner

Tony Bird@tonybirdlondon· May 20

The Burrell Collection I haven't been here for 35 years. It's still a great personal collection in a gorgeous modern building. Really worth the 30 minute bus trip from Central Glasgow. Edgar Degas - The Rehearsal - 1874 burrellcollection.com