John Smith (son of Harry Leslie Smith)
@Harryslaststand
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Known as "World's oldest Rebel" , WW2 Vet, Author of Harry's Last Stand & 4 other books. Refugee advocate. Feb 25, 1923-Nov 28, 2018. Curated by his son John
United Kingdom
Joined October 2010
I was born in a Barnsley slum on February 25th during the economically bleak winter of 1923. My working-class family were on a first name basis with poverty and hunger, so my beginnings weren’t auspicious but damning.
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I guess I got confused when they gave the #Hitler salute and chanted "blood and soil" b/c it reminded me of who I fought in my youth.
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Christ, you are going to go ballistic when you see what Netanyahu is doing to Gaza.
The damage done to Stonehenge is outrageous. Just Stop Oil are pathetic. Those responsible must face the full force of the law.
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I am back home to our home and I alone. It is 4:36 in the morning and I am wrapped in the blanket that covered him as he lay dying. And, I know exactly what my steps are. I will follow in his footsteps. I will endeavour to finish his projects.
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Never forget that my dad, Harry Leslie Smith died in the warm and caring arms of public health care.
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It always cracks me up when white English people say the problem is Muslims don't integrate to our society because having lived in Portugal amongst English immigrants I can assure white English people don't integrate for anything or anyone.
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I joined the RAF in 1941 and it's early in the morning and I am 94-so fuck off.
@Harryslaststand Nanny state much? Don't you read the fire escape route on the back of the hotel room door? Has thinking become that scarce in Britain?.
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Dear Trolls: .Just so you know, I lived through the Great Depression, The Second World War and deaths of my wife and middle son. So you don"t scare me and I am not going anywhere.
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I told Harry before he fell into a deep sleep about the concern rippling across Twitter for him and he said to me, "tell them, I love each of them so much.".
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If Prince Harry can take down the Daily Mail, he will be a Royal who did something real for the service of the people and democracy. #DailyMail.
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Here's to surviving the Great Depression, World War Two and seeing 95 both intellectually and physically intact. I assure you all I will see 100!
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This is Harry Leslie Smith's son, John. Harry is in A & E and not in a good way. He asked me to inform you in case things don't work out. I will keep you posted.
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My wife has been dead for 19 years but on our wedding anniversary August 16th; I always make sure that I drink a glass of champagne, eat a good meal and enjoy an excellent piece of cake because life is about moments of joy and despair and remembering the journey with loved ones.
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As I am 95 years old, I know what fascism looks like that's why when Donald Trump comes to visit Britain, I'll be out on the streets protesting because his politics is the same politics as Mussolini and Hitler's. #FridayThe13th
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It would've been my wife's 90th birthday today had cancer not killed her at 71. I have lived without her for almost 20 years but still her presence lingers in my mind the way a beautiful perfume will flirt with your senses right after someone extraordinary has just left a room.
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After being examined by the icu doctor, Harry exclaims, " I can assure you, I am not ready to die because I have too much work to do.".
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They've allowed him a cuppa!.
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As my life ebbs rapidly towards a 100 years of existence, the saddest thought for me is as a young man I fought fascism and now as a very old man; I must make another stand to oppose fascism because of #DonaldTrump.
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I am always amazed that it wasn't until I was 18 and in the RAF that I used a telephone for the first time and now at 95 I am on twitter.
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I have been in hospital with pneumonia for the last couple of days but I am getting better and should be out in a few days. Any enquiries to harryslaststand@gmail.com Please don't worry because I am a tough bugger. Take care, Harry
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Harry is on 50% oxygen to fight a very brutal pneumonia but he didn't need a bipap last night and his blood pressure is stable with medication. The nurse said, "this man is fighting so hard." #IStandWithHarry.
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Watching my dad die yesterday, I felt like I was watching a rare and beautiful species go extinct. #HarryLeslieSmith.
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If you are Queen consort and inviting Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson to a private party, you are a racist or want to unleash the media equivalent of the dogs of war or both. It's time to bin the monarchy.
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Harry said to me some time ago, "If you saw thousands of refugees wearily dragging their feet along the dusty roads of war, in your youth & now in your old age you see the same thing happening again to innocent people and do not raise your voice against it you've got no humanity".
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I have to thank all of Harry's followers, who have shown so much love for him tonight, I know it has helped his health. It also has made these hours less barren for me. Now, I am going to sleep for a bit and be back soon. If anything changes I will let you know. #IStandWithHarry.
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Harry's much better now and so to bed.
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At the moment I am too tired to express it more eloquently but the love being expressed on social media for Harry is giving me the stamina to tend to him. So thank you all. I am in your debt. #IStandWithHarry.
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Thank you all for keeping vigil over Harry with me. It truly is less lonely this way for me.
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Happy Christmas to all my friends and followers. Love will triumph even in this darkness, if we show the courage of compassion to our fellow travelers. All the best, Harry. #HappyChristmas
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This is so beautiful.
"World's oldest rebel", wartime hero, author, activist and fierce defender of the NHS - RIP Harry Leslie Smith . [Tap to expand]
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8 years ago today, I began writing my first book 1923. I didn't have an agent, publisher or even a social media account. And, over 2900 days later I've written 5 and am beginning my 6th that I hope to be published in 2020 So the lesson is follow your destiny despite the odds.
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I've beaten the devil again because I am breathing on my own and schedule for release tomorrow. Thanks to all doctors, nurses and staff who saw me through this and all of you on twitter who sent your love and support. Cheers, Harry.
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At 94 I might be better able than you to spot a fascist, considering I was in the RAF during that thing called World War Two. #DonaldTrump
@Harryslaststand #UCBerkley Do you even know what a fascist is? . Hint: Look in a mirror, it's the dictionary definition.
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Before losing consciousness I was able to play the clip below to my dad and when he heard his name being chanted he smiled with pleasure.
RIP @Harryslaststand, a wonderful, inspiring fighter for social justice and for peace. His legacy is to inspire thousands of people to fight for a world free of injustice and war. Last night we stood and cheered him.
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So, I laid Harry to rest today in very small, private celebration of life. There were words, wine, laughter and love. The beauty of human beings is we are as ephemeral as a shooting star.
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I've been watching on television and reading online all the tributes to my Dad, #HarryLeslieSmith and thinking what a beautiful man he was and how he would have been humbled by this out pouring of sincere love for him and his mission in life.
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To all of you, #HappyNewYear l've lived long enough to know that darkness will pass to daylight. Make 2018 about keeping the candles of decency burning because I plan to. Life is short, so never forget that our burdens are many but joy can be found in the harshest of environments
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I rejected Enoch Powell's racism in my middle age and I reject it now in the sunset of my days. If there is any wisdom that comes from living almost a hundred years is that to love & be loved is the only currency we need in life b/c it truly buys happiness. #riversoflove.
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I have spent the last 8 years with Harry on his beautiful odyssey to not make his past our future. It was honour to be his son and comrade. #HarryLeslieSmith.
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The reason why Nazis in #Charlottesville torch light parade went unaccosted by the police might be b/c America's President is a fascist.
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I've taken to wearing Harry's hat to face the crisp weather outside.
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The doctors believe Harry has a chance to survive intact so a feeding tube was inserted into him to give him the strength he needs to continue his battle with death and perhaps beat him one last time. #IStandWithHarry.
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I am nearly a hundred years old but II will be out on the streets when #DonaldTrump comes to Britain in July. If I can be there you have no excuses not to protest.
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My dad had been so dreadfully thirsty because he'd had nil by mouth orders for almost a week. So when he decided that the potential for full recovery was not possible. he was allowed to drink a beer. Sadly though he couldn't eat. #HarryLeslieSmith.
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Harry's having a good night so far and if all goes well they are going to drain his lungs tomorrow to help him breath as he has a very dangerous pneumonia and sepsis. He's alert and frustrated that he can't watch BBC news as it's not available in the hospital. #IStandWithHarry.
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Since my brother Pete's death, 9 years ago, I have been at Harry's side and never absent from him for more than a day. We laughed, we argued, we learned from each other. I became his friend while still letting him remain my dad.
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I remember Christmas Eve 1987 when Harry was 64 my brother Pete was 26 and me 22. It was snowing outside & after my mum went to bed my Dad taught me and Pete how to dance to swing music, while we drank copious amounts of wine. We stayed up until 6 and faced my mum's wrath at 8.
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For his breakfast he ate toast that I had cut into bird size portions. He said the milk, he drank at breakfast tasted as sweet as the milk ration he drank in school in the 1930s when he was starving.
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It's simple really #TommyRobison is a racist and if you support him that makes you a racist.
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Instead of wearing a poppy for #Remembrance2018 we should wear our shame because as a human race we've learned nothing since 1918.
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Harry's is to be moved shortly to ICU. I can not express enough thanks to everyone at Belleville General Hospital because all of them do excellent work under the most trying of circumstances. #IStandWithHarry.
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#ElonMusk I became a socialist like most from experiencing rank inequality as I was born in a slum that circled the coal mine where my dad worked-endured being made a child labourer at the age of 7, ate from rubbish bins & on my 18th birthday joined the RAF and fought Hitler
Those who proclaim themselves “socialists” are usually depressing, have no sense of humor & attended an expensive college. Fate loves irony.
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Anyone who tells you that men shouldn't cry is a fool because I'll tell you I wept in the shower this morning as I thought about what I can lose very soon or what I will lose in a short time because Harry is 95. #IStandWithHarry.
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Sorry to break it to you but you're not a journalist or even a muckraker, just a well connected, entitled, shitty human being that has a soap box where you promote hate, inequality, ignorance to try to keep the rich wealthy. Moreover, you are the taste of the banality of evil.
Just discovered that the Shadow Home Secretary has blocked me. I mock her when she’s done something worthy of mockery but I’ve never abused her. So she is blocking a journalist simply because she doesn’t agree with my views. A taste of what’s to come if she ever gets into power?
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If you think gay sex is a sin, you are not so much a Christian but a bigot that likes to keep busy on Sundays, by going to church. I despair for and fear people like #timfarron that think love and tenderness between some humans is an abomination.
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Harry's icu nurse is from Leicester, so she made him a decent cuppa and he is sipping it through a straw. #istandwithharry.
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I made sure that Harry, my dad, had a picture of Friede to hold onto while he rests in the hospital morgue.
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He sleeps deep, his legs jerking like he's riding a bike. And, I wonder if in his dreams, he's 7 again and riding on his uncle's bike from his grandparents' house to the moors, where he felt free from the sting of his poverty.
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If I were Prime Minster I would table a bill making it illegal for politicians and former politicians to be awarded #NewYearsHonours because when the pavements of Britain are littered with homeless citizens, you were derelict in your duty to humanity.
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Several months ago, I asked Harry what should I do if he became incapacitated by illness and he said " tweet about it, regardless of whether the end is happy or sad.".
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Arrived safe and sound. They cut the bastard out. Take care all.
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I am very old, so I know we will all be judged by history and those that come after us on whether we resisted racism, tyranny and fascism in this age of #DonaldTrump or whether we surrendered to it. In our youth, my generation fought to preserve democracy & now destiny awaits you
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Blood pressure will not rise and sits at 77/37. Harry woke for a moment and said " tell them I've kept my pledge," and then falls asleep again.
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Make no mistake, Donald Trump is a fascist and by marching against him today,, you are following the proud tradition of your parents and grandparents who also said no to fascism. #TrumpBabyBlimp.
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Dr says of treatment of Harry "we are begining to right the ship." But adds, "he is very sick." #istandwithharry.
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Had to rush hospital. Harry highly agitated and confused. He's calm now and sleeping. I will sleep in the chair beside him. #istandwithharry.
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When my mum read Angela's Ashes, she said to me. "that's like your dad's early life, except his had no love in it." And that is why, in these last years, I have tried to make sure that he knew he is loved. #IStandWithHarry.
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Harry wanted me to continue the refugee tour and that is what I am going to do, in a short while. #HarryLeslieSmith.
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No CEO of water companies who has pumped human shit into England's rivers has been arrested or faces jail time like the @JustStop_Oil activists will for splashing harmless cornstarch on Stonehenge. You are being played by the 1%.
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Every time, I have seen Harry on TV or giving speeches about refugees or poverty, all I think is "This is my dad, who ate from rubbish bins to keep himself alive during The Great Depression, and I love him so much." #IStandWithHarry.
Thousands are showing support for Harry Leslie Smith, a Second World War veteran and tireless refugee advocate, as the 95-year-old receives treatment in hospital in Belleville, Ont. #ICYMI
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I've had such a brilliant day thanks to all of you on twitter. Thank you all for your birthday wishes. What's kept me going all these years was being able to feel loved and return love. Be well each and everyone of you. Harry.
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To introduce younger people to the world of my youth and let them know my generation fought economic and social inequality to change our societies for the better and it can be done again. #WhyIJoinedTwitter
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I agree it was Dad's finest moment. I remember hugging him after it and whispering into his ear. "You did it, you old bugger, you redeem the lives of all our ancestors from the ash heap of history. I am so proud of you and I love you very much" #HarryLeslieSmith.
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Bugger of a day, had a fall and now I am in hospital. It's nothing just low blood pressure, but signing off for the next few hours.
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Saw my cardiologist today and I was told I have the heart of a lion albeit an old lion but one that will roar for awhile longer. So once my leg heals up, I am fit to fight again.
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No chemo. I was stage 2 and surgery removed all the cancer. It will however take me about a year to get back to normal. But all and all not a bad day. #fuckcancer.
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I didn't count because suffering in war is indifferent to age or sex. But one thing I am positive of is that at the end of the Second World War in 1945, there were fewer assholes like you.
@Harryslaststand Were there many women and children amongst the refugees back in '45? How many of today's "refugees" are women and children?.
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Hamburg, August 16th 1947- in the shadow of a city abused by war and starved by peace. I married a German woman. Without her love, my life would have been a petty, insignificant, acrimonious dance to the music of time.
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Don't fret over my musing on my mortality. But I am just feeling my years because it is the anniversary of my son's death today and this Saturday coming would have been my wife's 90th birthday. The task ahead of me is enormous and the world must keep turning as it should. .
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It's my wife's birthday today-dead 19 years but I'lll drink a glass of champagne and eat a piece of sacher torte as it was once her pleasure
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Britain, a fascist named Donald Trump has come to our country to spread, hate, lies and try to undermine democracy for the benefit of the 1%. You know what to do! #TrumpUKVisit.
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Just an update: Harry is hypotensive and on fluids and drifts in and out of consciousness, but is breathing well with oxygen Waiting for the cardiologist to report.
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It's been incredibly hard, for Harry, both physically and emotionally to combat this pneumonia along with sepsis. He is so grateful & humbled by the love and concern that has been shown to him from around the world. And, I thank you all for your kindness to me. #IstandwithHarry
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This is the same rubbish the middle class said to the working classes during the Great Depression when my family lived in doss houses & I was put to work at the age of 7 as a child labourer. The despair of those in poverty hasn't changed nor the hypocrisy of the well fed.
Define “poverty.” Compared to - say - South Sudan.
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My Lung was drained by a brilliant doctor who I chatted with about Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain and the Refugee Crisis. Afterwards I was given a bacon sandwich by my son, so it looks like things are looking up.
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I have to be clear, Harry maybe fighting for his life but his discomfort is minimal and he is conscious and thus able to make his own decisions. He's fighting for his life because that is what he has done for last 95 years, for himself and others. #IStandWithHarry.
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Make no mistake when #Newsnight photo shopped Corbyn into a Kremlin back drop as a graphic to imply he was a stooge of Putin they crossed a journalistic line b/c it makes their program no longer news but propaganda for the government.
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These were the last words of love and encouragement from the outside world my dad heard before slipping into unconsciousness. Hearing the cheers for his name, he smiled like he had when he had been hale and hearty. #HarryLeslieSmith.
RIP @Harryslaststand, a wonderful, inspiring fighter for social justice and for peace. His legacy is to inspire thousands of people to fight for a world free of injustice and war. Last night we stood and cheered him.
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Make no mistake the greatest disrespect to our veterans doesn't come from the size of the poppy warn on the lapel but by those who enable arms to be sold into war zones not for our protection but for the greed of the 1%. #JeremyCorbyn #RemembranceDay2018.
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Harry told his grandsons he'd rather have a shandy than the small amounts of water he's getting.
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One thing I am certain of is that my generation didn't fight in World War Two to see spivs like you profit from fascism and spread the politics of hate. #Brexit.
The U.K. and US fought two world wars for lousy Europeans like you & NATO kept the peace afterwards . The EU had nothing to do with it . .
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Harry can't eat much I try to get him to swallow ensure because solid food is difficult to swallow. He can drink tea from a straw and if it's from the hospital cafeteria, he cries out like his mother once did, "It's as weak as witches piss." #istandwithHarry.
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I just left Harry's hospital room for a break but I will be back in an hour or so to be at his bedside. He is very weak, in a twilight conscious state but is aware and fighting as best he can. #IStandWithHarry.
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I do everyday. He's been suffering from a persistent UTI since Sept and in a moment of fever last month asked. "These last years, I did something that mattered, didn't I?" My heart broke.
@Harryslaststand Be sure to tell him that his life has meant something. Actually, much more than something.
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I find it disturbing when some BBC reporters insist on calling Corbyn and his policies radical left wing. When wanting fair wages and taxes is considered radical by the BBC, Britain has definitely drifted from commonsense.
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Harry told me, "I don't care if I die on this refugee tour. I've had a full life. What angers me is there are millions of refugees whose lives and hopes have been thwarted by war. If I can make a little bit of difference in that, I've done my job." #IStandWithHarry.
Thousands are showing support for Harry Leslie Smith, a Second World War veteran and tireless refugee advocate, as the 95-year-old receives treatment in hospital in Belleville, Ont. #ICYMI
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Leave voters were betrayed the moment you started writing bollocks on the sides of buses, Boris. #CorbynSpeech
Crumbling Corbyn betrays Leave voters - and all because he wants to win a commons vote. Cynical and deluded.
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