Andrew K Steele

@BenGoldsmith @TrooperSnooks So were species of dinosaurs. Are they not exotica?

@TrooperSnooks The species listed above were/ have been in Britain way longer than us humans. By your argument, we’re the exotica.

It should be noted that 80% of Britons don't live in the countryside, where this array of exotica would be released.

@BenGoldsmith @NewStatesman @RoryStewartUK Rich? Food secure? Billionaires' perspective again I see.

If a rich, food secure country like Britain can't co-exist with wolves, why should any country anywhere be expected to co-exist with large wildlife? Sri Lanka, the size of Ireland with a population of 22 million, lives with 5,000 wild elephants and 1,000 leopards (and they're more food secure than we are in Britain, btw). The arrogance here, of suggesting that we Brits are somehow 'above' living with real wildlife; or, worse, that Nature or God somehow got it wrong, and there's no place anywhere for wolves or other large wildlife, is just staggering. Wolves are a vital species and the reason the Highlands and much of the British uplands are wrecked is because we've removed these keystone species.

Urban fantasies of wolves will not save the environment says @RoryStewartUK Listen to The Exchange: linktr.ee/exchange.ns

@BenGoldsmith Does this apply to inherited wealth and privilege too? Asking for a friend. "Long-term subsidies for any industry act like an opioid drip, stifling innovation, entrenching vested interests and making it far harder for new young entrants to get a foothold."

It’s odd to see some ‘conservatives’ (and even a handful of confused Brexiters) calling for a return to EU-style, state-funded welfare for landowners. The EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) has been an epic abomination. The CAP dishes out more than €50 billion of EU taxpayers’ money a year, around 40% of the total EU budget, of which half goes to the richest 10% of landowners. Corruption is rife. And for what? Long-term subsidies for any industry act like an opioid drip, stifling innovation, entrenching vested interests and making it far harder for new young entrants to get a foothold. And the perverse incentives created by unconditional subsidies for farming produce terrible outcomes for land, for nature and for wider society. For example, incentivising farmers to clear nature from steep hillsides, or to drain and plough natural wetlands, doesn’t enhance food security, it weakens it: by causing soil erosion, exacerbating flooding downstream in winter, and bringing drought in summer. Paying farmers to turn every square inch of land into farmland no matter how suitable it is for farming produces terrible outcomes for society. The CAP has been among the worst economic policies of modern times, and the good news of leaving it has been the one thing Leavers and Remainers have agreed on. Replacing the CAP in England with the new Environmental Land Management scheme has had pan-political support, and already more than 80% of farmers are signed up. Yes it could be bigger and more generous, and less bureaucratic and prescriptive, it is a new thing after all, a work in progress, but the premise of ‘public money for public good’ is impeccable. Public money absolutely should be conditional upon the delivery of real public goods: mitigation of flooding and drought, restoration of soil, cleaning up our watercourses, making space for vital pollinators, protecting wildlife, and so on. We absolutely want and need these things, farmers are more than willing to deliver them, and society is willing to pay for it. Everyone wins. Calls for a return to CAP type farming subsidies should be met with ridicule.

@TWBFarms Was told many years ago that global wheat prices correlate with global oil prices. Appears to be an even stronger relationship recently.

Meanwhile …………. ☹️

@terrierview Exactly that happened on GB news this morning. One of the presenters assumed that £21 would pay for his £65 cat medicine.

Suspect there will be a fair bit of misunderstanding here. Doubt many practices charge significantly more than £21 for a script, but it’ll be interpreted by owners as the cost of the actual medicine.

@RHarrabin Investigative reporter fails to spot it's not Jeremy Clarkson. He'll believe (and report) whatever anyone tells him without doing any research himself.

Jeremy please remove this. Its awful.

@BladeoftheS How are 40GW of Wind Turbines going to produce ANY energy on "the least windy days" when they literally are not turning?

The Hinkley C UK nuclear reactor will produce 3.2GW, it will cost £50bn. For that the UK could have built 40GW of Wind Turbines in 1/5th of the time. Which would even on the least windy days of the year produce TWICE as much electricity. Nuclear is an unnecessary RIPOFF.

@BenGoldsmith @SamaHoole @AndrewGilruth Ben, I think you've proved you know very little, if anything, on the subject. It's time to just shut up and just stop pretending. You have no credibility, just an agenda.

@SamaHoole @AndrewGilruth I stand corrected on the numbers. Sorry and thanks. But the hills were largely bare even by then. Sheep have wiped out nature in the British uplands. Anywhere that sheep have been replaced with native cattle, nature is resurgent. Geltsdale for example, in the Pennines.

Ben has provided some statistics. "Total sheep in the British Isles in 1880, circa 1 million." Ben. The 1866 agricultural census, which exists, which has been digitised, which is available to anyone with an internet connection and fifteen minutes, recorded approximately 30 million sheep in Great Britain. Thirty million. Not one million. Thirty. This is the foundational figure on which Ben has constructed his entire argument. The foundational figure is wrong by a factor of thirty. Ben has not let this stop him. Ben has continued with confidence. Doris, who cannot read, who cannot do arithmetic, and who has never consulted an agricultural census, has nonetheless managed not to be wrong by a factor of thirty about anything this morning. Doris is near the fourth stone. Ben is near a different number.

@Hullfcfanpage_ @George355370368 It'll be Jack Walker, again.

@George355370368 I’d prefer Dufty honestly, got SL experience

Cody Ramsey or Matt Dufty it is apparently

@pcooke06 @hullfcofficial @YorkRLFC I agree. Thought York were very consistent in what they did and looked well coached. They took chances when they had them. Hull made plenty of meters but just looked a bit bereft of ideas in the last 3rd. Also made far too many individual errors.

Just home from @hullfcofficial vs @YorkRLFC, thought the best team won. Congratulations to Mark Applegarth l, his staff and his team. Hull Fc weren’t great at all, almost scraped a win. Back to the drawing board for them. Hope their injured players going off aren’t serious 🙏

@DailyVeganMeal @NoFarmsNoFoods Group 1 carcinogens - alcohol, sunlight, the contraceptive pill, x-rays etc etc. Dose is what matters. Low to moderate doses are beneficial and high doses may be harmful. But you aren't interested in the whole truth, just the bits that support your agenda.

The tobacco industry spent decades funding research to create doubt about the link between smoking and cancer. The meat industry is doing the same thing right now. Processed meat is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the WHO, same category as cigarettes. The comparison might feel extreme, but the science doesn't think it's ridiculous.

“Serving meat and dairy at a university is akin to serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference.” Absolutely ridiculous.

@JaredCohen10 @johnnyddavidson @wirecasuals It's only members that can obtain the 2 for a tenner tickets and I think the members are generally happy to try and help the club grow.

@johnnyddavidson @wirecasuals Hull FC are doing 2 tickets for a tenner. Still will only be 2/3 full and not sure how many times they can do that before members realise they’re being had over big time.

Was told yesterday for round one of Super League several sellouts are expected: - York vs Hull KR - Warrington vs St Helens - Leigh vs Leeds expected to be close to full - Hull FC vs Bradford around 17,000 tickets sold so far - Wakefield vs Toulouse expected to be close to full

The gold price has hit $5,295/oz. Gordon Brown sold at $275.

As someone that is signed up to one of these contracts, why have I only just stumbled across this when the "consultation" ended on the 12th December 2025. Am I the only person who didn't know that the governmemt are going to tear up the FIT contract I signed in 2011?

@TWBFarms This is the issue. Unfortunately all the parties are as bad as each other on this. Our present "farming champions" @grahamstuart and @VictoriaAtkins voted in favour of the anti British Farming trade deals served up by the last government. MP's only do what is best for themselves.

This is democracy? ⁉️ MPs of every party dodging the very votes their constituents expect them to show courage on. Nobody elected representatives who are too scared to represent. If you won’t stand up for the people who sent you to Westminster, why are you there? 👎 @agricontract @loosecollie @wheat_daddy @TheFarmingForum

@passthebiscuits @dantracey1983 @tomkunaguero @forti_two @MartinSLewis @FinancialTimes All S&S ISA's have a 'current account' attached to them within the ISA wrapper for holding, as yet, uninvested cash or investment withdrawals etc etc. Some of these accounts pay a good rate of interest i.e. 4%

@dantracey1983 @tomkunaguero @forti_two @MartinSLewis @FinancialTimes See how confusing this is doesn’t make sense , it’s in a s&s account not invested in shares but somehow it earns a 4% return 🤷🏻‍♂️..how do I put it in limbo like that without risk but earning 4%? At least I understand where bank interest comes from.

The @FinancialTimes is reporting that the cash ISA limit will be cut from £20,000 to £12,000 in the budget (though don't know from when). It hasn't mentioned a carve out for older people (which may still happen). This is to encourage investing not raise revenue, if true, its the wrong solution, to a real problem, for me (I'd work on improving investment education, culture and incentives instead). Plus it will simply lead to the obvious loophole people using shares ISAs to hold cash. Anyway we'll see on Wed exactly how it works.

@LabourfutureUK Labour was the party of the working class. Now, they are only the party of the non-working class.

Has Labour lost touch with the working class? Formed to represent working people, now Labour feels more distant than ever. It's time for Labour to reconnect with the people it was created to serve.

@herdyshepherd1 The age/type of pig is important for context. We have 2000 pigs from weaning to 35kg. We are far from mega! Alternatively, a farm with 2500 sows would possibly take the description on the chin. I doubt the validity of the AI definition for the US unless it refers to sow numbers

@herdyshepherd1 I understand what you are saying and it's easy to be clumsy as it's a complex subject. However, to describe as a "Mega farm", anywhere with 2500 pigs or over is far too simplistic. A small family operation with 200 sows rearing pigs to slaughter could easily have over 2500 pigs

I’m being told off for a clumsy example I tried to give on the Radical Podcast and which became a stand alone clip I wasn’t trying to denigrate pig farmers who I genuinely have a lot of respect for… they are doing what they have to do in a tough situation

@AdamBienkov It obviously depends on your local delivery person. Ours is absolutely fantastic and will always go above and beyond when needed. I'd take all our deliveries through Evri if I could.

Your regular reminder to never ever use Evri, even if your life depends on it. Hands down the worst delivery service in the UK