@reporterboy
I’m completely OK with it too - but there are obviously many people out there who could benefit from advice from you, so thank you very much for sharing your being comfortable with your situation.
@oldtrotter
For me, one of the most optimistic sources of hope in the next generation is precisely the fact that “many young people can’t drive and don’t want to”.
Well, this is quite upsetting really. His good health cannot have been enhanced by what
@NikJohnsonCA
has had to go through on the Combined Authority, so I hope some time out brings him back to ruddy full vigour.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority
Deputy Mayor to cover at the Combined Authority as Mayor, Dr Nik Johnson takes a leave of absence for on-going medical treatment. We all wish Dr Nik Johnson a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming him back when he is recovered.
This is the most vulgar joke I have seen for many years. It is softened by using the Latin name for this area of surface anatomy, but for the joke to work you have to coarsen your vocabulary considerably. I just haven’t been able to get it out of my head, so problem shared.
You may have recently heard an amazing tale of how Reaganite quotas on Japanese cars "saved Detroit". As I explain in the latest
@NRO
, the reality - confirmed by ample economic literature and contemporaneous reporting - is... just slightly different:
@David_Cameron
I’m giving you a tick for this. And well done to your
@uklabour
councillor colleague who organised the collections and shared the driving. Safe journey home.
@DanielJHannan
“conventional morality”? What other kind is there? You may have seen his “generous, warm” etc side but most of us have not. And I hope the main reason we miss him is because we can return to a politics of contesting reasonable ideas rather than divisive incitement.
Frivolity combined with mendacity and fear of scrutiny, his dire legacy a successor who might prove to be even worse. True to form
@steverichards14
cuts through all the fawning nonsense about Johnson's departure.
@EdanStarforth
@HZiauddeen
It will take me some time to get this image out of my head. Reminds me of a similar comment about likening the experience to having a wardrobe falling on top of you with the key still in the door.
@DanielJHannan
The intelligence itself is usually accurate - with careful assessments of the sources’ reliability and so on. It’s only been discredited in recent years because our political masters - yes, those “elected” representatives - who interpret it to suit their own agenda.
@DanielJHannan
Do you think endlessly attacking the EU is helpful? Unless you can conjure up a world in which the EU does not exist, or Northern Ireland ceases to have special status, the UK is going to have to work with the EU. I’d prefer people to do the unglamorous hard work of negotiating.
I hope Lib Dems settle on some productive policies. It isn’t going to work for MPs to court popularity with their constituents for positions which contradict those of other colleagues. I’m looking for concerted action on sewage and social care, not glorified parish councillors.
I am shocked that the Secretary of State has overridden all advice to the contrary and given this scheme permission. I have contacted Say No to Sunnica to discuss further. 5/5
@ECLibDems
@NoSunnica
Whatever were the reasons for not publishing the Section 106 agreement? It certainly looks signed, dated 25 March 2022, and there’s nothing to indicate that it has not also been sealed and delivered. This really does bother me. The only matters that we did not disclose 1/2
Many thanks to
@SouthCambs
District Council for conceding the prospective claim in full and for complying with the council's legal obligation to publish the section 106 agreement for Northstowe Phase 3A, which allocated over £68 million in funding. 👏👏👏
I think they mean no more than that the workings the economy over the past twelve months have resulted in halving the numerical value of the rate at which prices continue to increase.
@TheGalacticGal
@NASAWebb
The
@NASAWebb
selfie is great, but still doesn’t beat what for me remains the iconic view of the solar array unfurling after separation from the second stage on Christmas Day, and catching the sun as it disappeared from view.
Just finished. Has enhanced my understanding of the Eton-Oxford caste considerably, and a ripping good read.
Really looking forward to talking to
@KuperSimon
for RED TEAM podcast next week.
Tomorrow I shall be at one of the original transmission substations in England. Alas, almost none of this remains. However it’s still an important facility in powering the nation and I always enjoy visiting
I probably took being a councillor too seriously. Approaching a
@SouthCambs
planning committee meeting with an officer recommendation of refusal, I made a model of the proposed development and gave a presentation demonstrating alternative layouts. (I won the vote.)
Models are for life !
Anyone whose been to our Cambridge studio knows how much we like to work with models, its packed to the hilt. We make all of our own models in house, & it has been great to get back into modelmaking following the pandemic.
#architecture
#molearchitects
They literally have no arguments except fear-mongering, name-calling and hyperventilation.
No one wants gays back in the closet but if we could put people like Aaronovitch in it we'd be a lot better off.
This is tough going, but well worth the effort. “A novel is a meditation on existence, seen through imaginary characters. The form is unlimited freedom. Throughout its history, the novel has never known how to take advantage of its endless possibilities. It missed its chance.”
@JayMitchinson
He has done so much to boost your august newspaper, as well as clarifying the true thinking that underlies all those promises of “levelling up”. I hope the voters bear his comments in mind next time they are invited to put a cross on a ballot paper. And I hope he enjoys his stay.
@RogerMonks
It’s the “sculpt” between the ball of your shoulder and your biceps that’s the hardest bit. But good luck across the thirteen weeks till summer.
I was especially struck that even leafy Newnham gained a second Labour councillor from the Lib Dems, but then they did have a particularly appealing and engaging candidate in
@cameron8172
.
@timcotramwil
@Conservatives
I think the problem is that in places where they used to be somewhat competitive, such as Trumpington, people who might have considered voting for them have got into the habit of voting Lib Dem due to the high quality of councillors it results in...
@DanielJHannan
Er? Am I completely confused about the timing here? The NI protocol was negotiated by
@BorisJohnson
to replace the hated backstop in the draft withdrawal agreement drawn up under Theresa May. It was the key to the “Get Brexit Done” promise to the electorate in December 2019.
@s8mb
Part of the problem is that we have a supposedly “Conservative” government that believes the economy is a zero sum game. (Not least because its policies have critically dampened growth.)
@DanielJHannan
@BorisJohnson
So there are several possible interpretations: 1) it was negotiated in bad faith; 2) its implications were fully understood, even by someone as careless of detail as
@BorisJohnson
, but deliberately withheld from voters (and that’s being generous to that man’s dishonesty).
We had the same in the run-up to London 2012. I’m generally not the least interested in sport, but I absolutely loved our Olympic and Paralympic Games. I hope you will be able to look back on Paris 2024 with fondness and pride too.
I think non-French and non-French-speaking readers should be told about how utterly insane things are now in and around Paris because of the Olympics are. The opening ceremony is one week away and they've already barred any access to the Seine! 🧵⤵️ •1/19
The beautiful beaches at Seilebost and Luskentyre on the west side of Harris in the Western Isles, with the Mountains of North Harris in the background. More pics and info:
So come on,
@Conservatives
MPs. Give us a better leader. There are many of you better qualified and of much higher calibre for the job than
@BorisJohnson
.
Thought I’d take a look at what Tory MPs made of Johnson’s speech yesterday.
Interesting to see a distinct lack of the fawning support they are normally meant to put out.
Here is the sum total (as of 9:20am Sun!) of ToryMP tweets in the subject… 🧵
@moooodit
That’s good to hear. I used to visit Turkey regularly, and I got used to strangers calling me “abi”, which is a bit like “bro”. But when someone called me “amca”, meaning “uncle”, I was so shocked I got stuck into the gym as soon as I got home. Been “abi” ever since!
“You can wipe wine stains off walls and mop vomit from the carpet. It is our institutions of government that will need a deep clean once the party animal at Number 10 is finally taken out with the trash.”
Just discovered a bag of peanuts tucked behind a pipe inside a cupboard. Best before 20 July 2013. Well, I’m curious! The seal still seems airtight, so I’m going to find out how successfully the salt has preserved them, as well as being “packaged in a protective atmosphere”.
2016: Daniel Hannan, "Five years from now Britain will be flourishing as never before"
2024: Unelected bureaucrat Daniel Hannan, "We need to be doing more to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms. Perhaps something has gone wrong. And perhaps this is the time to act"
Nice of
@Tomstukeley
to acknowledge that the new joint administration would be able to build on the good work of the previous controlling group. I take heart from his acceptance that Huntingdonshire has been a well run council. Kudos too to the promise of constructive opposition
@bbcnickrobinson
I was in Morocco in the run-up to Desert Storm in 1991. The locals we lived with in the Atlas Mountains got their reliable news of the evolving situation from the BBC World Service. Worth every penny.
By their tweets shalt though know them! The tweets on the 'morning after' from
@AnnaBailey_Ely
and
@SteveCount
display a much needed and commendable quality in local government. And that is leadership. Gracious, maybe through gritted teeth, but real and accepting.
I don’t find it the least disturbing. The more people get to understand the responsibilities they have in broadcasting potentially dangerous words the fewer of them we may have to cope with. Her provocation has caused significant injury, theft and destruction of property.
This is DEEPLY disturbing.
Yes, she was wrong and shouldn’t have posted it BUT:
1. She did say “if this is true”, critically, she did not confirm anything.
2. She apologised for posting incorrect information.
If she is charged not only can you no longer openly speculate but
What saddens me most is that the government gave us no support when collectively the local authorities, cross-party and multi-tier, for two decades demonstrated the most pro-growth consensus in the country. Not declaring the 2014 local plans sound for four years was inexcusable.
1000+ quality homes built in
#Cambridge
most years 2010-2020 incl 1/3+ affordable.
In an area in size nationally of a first class stamp.
Plus 1000s more by our neighbours
@southcambs
& new sites for jobs.
NO need for rule by
@michaelgove
&
@dluhc
, who fail their housing targets.
Me too, only five (and a half). Apparently, two years later, my primary school class was asked what was special about the date 5th November. The expected answer of course was Guy Fawkes Night, but I said it was polling day in the US presidential election. Once a wonk, always a ..
One of the first news incidents I remember. I was seven. The shock and awfulness of it. The episode of The Crown which covered this was painfully brilliant.
Let’s hope that following his “liberation” from the opposing majority on the
@CambsPboroCA
Board, and after twelve months of learning on the job, and under a new CEO,
@NikJohnsonCA
can boost social mobility, especially by taking skills training seriously.
@timcotramwil
even things which when done well often correlate with upward social mobility, such as education and transport are under the control of the county/mayor.
“The right wing is very good at making people fight with each other to create tension and division and fear. If you ask the younger generation, nobody cares what somebody’s gender is or what their sexuality is. Everybody just wants to be a human being.”
@AidanVdeW
Cass, but in response to the tweet you are referring to I have downloaded her interim report, and then I also looked at the EHRC response to the recent consultation, and like you I didn’t find either of them suggesting that space should be left for any form of conversion therapy.
I remember being very annoyed, at a London airport I think, when a man ostentatiously unrolled a prayer mat in the middle of the concourse, causing no end of obstruction. As the article says, flexibilities are allowed, and being considerate towards others is a key plank of faith.
You can see the hope springs eternal in “the Red Wave is yet to emerge” of early editions. If it comes down to a run-off in Georgia, the Democrats will pile in again to return
@ReverendWarnock
.
🔴 The fate of the US Senate appears on course to come down to Georgia yet again, as the state is on course for a runoff.
Our Washington Editor
@RozinaSabur
is on the ground in Atlanta.
Read her report in full on our liveblog 🔗
@DanielJHannan
I have always hung up my Union Flags for the previous jubilees and I was proud to row in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, but this year I just feel too jaundiced about the state of our great country and fragility of its institutions at the hands of the mob currently in charge.
@johnelworthy
I really hated that approach. Of course it helps to win re-election (which I didn’t) in order to carry on doing things you want to do, but I felt too many councillors were craven to the loudest voices and were only interested in being a councillor rather than doing something.
The piano has landed. After its journey of 200 miles 4 weeks ago we have today moved the piano into the library at The Three Horse Shoes. Next tasks: untie the straps, unwrap the heavy duty cling film, remove the blankets, fit two legs, pivot on to them, fit third leg and pedals.
The way she knelt on the ground, at his level, leaving a space between - that he could step into when HE was ready to. That will hv signalled for him this new country maybe really is SAFE. She gave all that spontaneously, unconsciously. Stuff that matters happens in tiny moments.
Plenty of people have rushed to condemn this notion, but I’d be keen to see the actual proposals before commenting. I know DLUHC (and its predecessors) doesn’t have a great track record of success with top-down planning, but let’s see if they’re serious.
during my time as executive member for strategic planning were the commercially sensitive details underlying the viability assessments for Phase 1 and Phase 2 though these were shared with me in confidence. How else could I be sure the public sector was getting the best deal? 2/2
My recollection was that almost all the “sleaze” was backbenchers, apart from one or two ministers - whereas this time there is sleaze at the top of government, as well as incompetence in most of the cabinet and a prime minister not fit for office.
@johnelworthy
I’m really sorry to hear you’re going. I didn’t agree with you on everything, but public life was better in general for your terrier-like scrutiny of local government. And the manner of your “being let go” merely adds insult to injury.
So, that’s the Portillo moment for me. The comeuppance at last for
@Jacob_Rees_Mogg
. Simultaneously with
@UKLabour
crossing the 326 threshold to win the election, and
@Keir_Starmer
giving his “getting the future back” speech in London.
Proud dad moment. The London Leicester Square premiere of a film short staring my boy, Elliott, and co-staring
@edballs
. Unphased by a 40 minute Q&A after. The film short drops tomorrow. Watch this space. You can do anything son. 🥰
#MeAndMyStammer
@ascstammering
In whichever country you live, at some point in history the freedom you now enjoy was defended with blood, a gift to you.
Ukraine just happens to be doing it RIGHT NOW.
I’m really looking forward to this. With so much new development around here, it’s been near impossible to disturb the ground without turning up something “Roman”, that is to say from the period of administration as part of the empire.
Our new exhibition,
#MarginsOfEmpire
in partnership with the
@britishmuseum
opens today!
Margins of Empire explores the often unseen role of people living in the Roman Empire who were not Roman citizens & examines their religious beliefs, craft skills and role in the military.
I’d rather have some rain, but one advantage of parched earth is that it reveals features beneath encroaching vegetation. People talk of Henry VIII as precipitating the first Brexit, but the abandonment of Roman administration had happened over a thousand years earlier.
It will forever be a tragedy that the
@Conservatives
ran scared from this man. That cowardice may end up with the party out of office indefinitely (and deservedly so).
They probably didn't imagine that Brexit would lead to labour shortages, massive lorry queues through Kent, exports crashing through the floor, and the country's geopolitical status moving from solid to laughing-stock either, but here we are.
Good grace in Swindon South, from both the winning Heidi Alexander and outgoing Robert Buckland. And good to hear, for the first time, a plea for people to enter public life to bring people together and make life better rather than stoke division and treat politics as a circus.
I think the
@Conservatives
have spectacularly lost this contest. Their arguments have imploded. The number 10 parties are now too deeply scored in people’s minds for
@BorisJohnson
to survive the Sue Gray report, at least I hope so.
I was Frank Dobson’s election agent in 1992 and attended his beautiful funeral in 2019. It’s bad enough that a Culture Secretary would tweet a blatant lie, but despicable that she’s refusing to take it down.
@NadineDorries
This is one of the most obnoxious aspects of the “lines to take” that have been issued to the payroll vote. “I’m not guilty, but I’m going to pay the fixed penalty notice to make it go away.”
I mean, they're sending ministers out to argue that the prime minister "accepts" the police found him to have broken the law, but not that he accepts he broke the law. That's fucking bonkers.
@DanielJHannan
But you are one of those most responsible for bringing us this populist government, so what can you honestly expect but crowd-pleasing rabble-rousing policies? And don’t expect a government acting on principles when the head of government has none of his own.
I may have achieved my life goal.
@rcolvile
is upset. For those stuck outside the paywall, I said:
Calling people nimbys is divisive, a distraction tactic and devoid of intellectual basis...
1/
An often overlooked point - and a consequence not just of the current Home Secretary but of all the other
@Conservatives
ghouls who have tormented us over the past couple of decades.
Never underestimate the damage Braverman does. Not just to vulnerable people. But to all of us. She’s a malignancy in our society and we all suffer the side effects. Whether our reaction is anger, despair, fear or loathing, it’s all harm. A relentless assault on our wellbeing.
I’m sad that Harry and Meghan didn’t feel they could stay to bring up their children in England. My impression is that they are appreciated much more than the nasty right-wing media would have us believe. And I know they are controversial but the Invictus Games will likely endure
🚨 New leaflet alert! My endorsement leaflet is packed with support from many of my constituents and Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Johnny Mercer, and more—a real who's who of endorsements! Are you ready to vote for common sense conservatism? 🗳️
Did any of the Brexit ultras ever accurately predict the negative consequences of “talking back control” and attempt to convince us that the pain would be worth the gain (whatever that might be)?
In front of the Cambridgeshire flag today for County Flag Day.
Delighted to stand with my fellow Lib Dem Cambs MPs
@pippaheylings
and
@CharlotteCane8
under the blue flag showing the River Cam, representing our residents
Today we opened the railways’ bridge over Irpin river. Our heroic cities Irpin, Bucha and Borodyanka now have direct railways connection with Kyiv. We will reconstruct everything destroyed during this horrible war.
@Ukrzaliznytsia
@AKamyshin
@Pertsovskyi_O
In conclusion:
Stop saying we send too many people to university, and start saying we’re not creating enough graduate-quality jobs. End of rant.
Here’s my column in full (free to read for the first 300 clicks)
[After 14 years of bad governments] There was a creeping sense that democracy itself was based on deceit, a trick played on the innocent by the powerful… the Conservative Party has chosen to nurture it and toy with it on various occasions in its desperate effort to retain power.
I thought the ménage à trois scene, which was set up by a knowing exchange of books of great French literature, was the most beautiful of all the twelve tableaux.
Maybe they are motivated by humanitarian considerations. There are plenty of us
@Conservatives
who find the behaviour of our current government utterly vile, and that’s an understatement.
No one, from first principles, would have picked the Rwanda solution. But, as long as politically motivated lawyers and judges routinely overturn deportation attempts, we have no option but to move the process offshore.
The frequency of incidents like these always seems to go up whenever
@Conservatives
stoke up fear of immigration. Reprehensible and thoroughly irresponsible. Stop it.
To the man who just hurled racist abuse at me in the car WITH MY KIDS PRESENT!!
Thanks v much. That’s the first glimpse of hatred they’ve ever seen & that I now need to educate them about.
I won’t forgive you for that 🤬🤬🤬
There is a difference between “the right to object” and allowing the “haves” to retain a veto. In the absence of any voice in the planning system for those who may occupy new houses, some external authority needs the power to over-rule the “I’m all right, Jack” mentality.
“Who will actually have the final say [on planning decisions]?” asks
#BBCLauraK
Shadow Housing Secretary Lisa Nandy says she would keep "the right of communities to object” to housing proposals but did not say they would have a veto over green-belt plans
Tonight I will be voting to support the PM who was elected by the British people. We need to continue our work to improve the lives of those we were elected to serve & focus our energies on the challenges that face us. We will be judged on our delivery at the next election.