Andy Ibbs 💙

Thread on #Plymouth I’ve lived & worked in Plymouth for >20 years. When I arrived it felt like a dying giant: the dockyard employed a fraction that it used to, and the city seemed in decline: it didn’t seem to know what its purpose was. 1/10

@john_n_mark @Peston Cut; nose; spite; face.

@Peston Don't worry,just running your mouth,US will soon withdrew her security cooperation with UK let see how far ,your running mouth can go Shameless

In response to Starmer’s declaration of independence from Trump in relation to the Iran war - his refusal to join offensive strikes against the Islamic theocracy - his ministerial colleagues are both reassured and anxious. “It’s landed quite well with the public, don’t you think?” one said to me. Opinion polls would corroborate, namely that a majority of British people are relieved we are not formal participants in the attacks on Iran itself. And although it is not comfortable for many to hear an American president denigrate a British prime minister as Trump does daily at the moment, the operational co-operation between British and US military and intelligence has not been impaired - or at least not yet. That is what I am told by officials whose only skin in this game is British security, and have no political reason to shore up Starmer. However after two and a half weeks of the Trump and Israeli induced chaos engulfing the Middle East, the impact on our daily lives is not yet tangible - but will be soon enough. Senior members of the government, like me, believe financial and commodity markets are under-pricing the severity of the impact of Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital supply waterway for oil, gas, fertiliser, helium and so on. The point, as one minister, put it to me, is that tankers that left the Gulf shortly before the war started on 28 February have not yet arrived in Europe - because passage takes between three and five weeks, depending on their size. So Europe has not yet experienced any disruption to physical supplies. But that shock to energy and other supplies is about to hit, and will endure for many weeks, probably months - even if, against all evidence, Trump is able to claim something he can semi-plausibly describe as victory any time soon. Apart from anything else, the threat from Iranian drones and mines in the Strait probably won’t vanish, even if Trump declares his peace, because it is not at all clear that Tehran has central control of all the Iranian militias. The process of rebuilding confidence in the security of the Strait will not be easy. And anyway production facilities in the Gulf that have been switched off can’t be switched on overnight. So although the Business and Energy departments are being reassured by chemicals manufacturers and petrol retailers and other relevant businesses that they won’t run out of vital supplies this week or next, that is obvious and of limited utility. The economic pain is coming. And the only questions are about severity - bad or very bad - and duration. The political point for the PM is it is his responsibility to protect the living standards and quality of life of British people. And even if our looming hardship is largely Trump’s fault, it’s Starmer who will be held accountable by voters for whether he is protecting them appropriately and effectively. It is worth noting that the massive rise in the cost of living in the last parliament was largely the result of Covid and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and yet the Tories were massacred at the last election (though of course the incompetence of Truss’s mini budget didn’t help them). This is another way of saying that just as Starmer has acknowledged the UK has a material interest in keeping the peace in Ukraine, if a ceasefire with Putin is ever agreed, the same holds true of the Strait of Hormuz and the UK more generally. But if some kind of stability returns to the Gulf, and British ships and planes are deployed there to maintain that stability, that will be a challenge to the government - because it will seriously deplete military resources available for Ukraine’s “coalition of the willing”, policing the so-called High North of the Arctic and the many other regions vulnerable to conflict and instability. 1/2

@MrNickKnowles @SkyUK @skytv Pigeons

I’ve tried to stick with @SkyUK for @skytv but the prices are hiked constantly and miles off new customer rates - the internet is diabolically poor, connectivity between Q-boxes hopeless & dropping out Customer service terrible Can anybody recommend a better alternative?

@TomABacon @USAmbEU Well, actually they are pushing. The point is we - UK and EU - need to resist, and strongly.

@USAmbEU "Be independent, but under our terms." You don't get to push for both a multipolar and a unopolar world at the same time.

The United States opposes any efforts to incorporate European preference in the EU Defense Procurement Directive. We fully support European rearmament and a revitalization of the European defense industrial base.  However, European preference in the Directive would undermine member state flexibility to make national procurement purchases, hinder European rearmament efforts, create barriers for Allies reaching NATO capability targets, and run counter to European commitments in the 2025 U.S.-EU Joint Statement on trade and Reciprocal Defense Procurement Agreements. Our full statement here: ec.europa.eu/info/law/bette…

@HSJEditor Spot on Alastair. If we’re going to find an acronym for removing non-existent fat, let’s use one that’s more honest. Just wondrin’ - has HSJ ever done a look back to see what % of Trusts’ CRES/CIP/WRAP/CRAP plans were ever actually delivered? They’re always a complete fiction.

Surely 'Cost Reduction and Productivity' programme would be more accurate

@MichaelLCrick @rhodri_jones @MichaelLCrick - 452 out of a constituency of ~65,000 seems a large sample size to me - 0.7%. Imagine a national poll with a sample size of 350,000… that would be pretty impressive! Take your point about language tho….although what is the % of voters who DON’T speak English?

@rhodri_jones I'd be very cautious about this poll as 452 is a pretty small sample. Also, did they interview voters who don't speak English?

First constituency poll in Gorton and Denton here: omnisis.co.uk/poll-result/co… By my poor maths excluding will not vote, and don't know, it is GREEN 37%, REFORM 33% and LABOUR 30%

@CarlEveCrime @SBarrettBar @BangorUni Hey Carl, do you think that, between the two of us, we might have enough crayons to explain to @SBarrettBar that student societies (a) are independent their universities and (b) it’s sort of a prerequisite that they identify which university at which they’re students?

@SBarrettBar @BangorUni No - a debating society is run by the students, it's not run by the University. They can choose who they do and do not want to come to debate. Their society, their choice. Reform threatening to cut all funding to the university is classic authoritarian bullying.

No. You are responsible @BangorUni if you let the organisation use your name - which you do. I am fed up of no one taking responsibility in Britain anymore. Grow up. And fix your mess.

@MattChorley They’re all in the Lords - none in the Commons.

Who is a "big beast" in politics today?

@MrKennethClarke Define purpose in this context

Robert Jenrick is not fit for purpose.

@julescooper1 @MikeKeegan_DM @tntsports Switch to rugby union.

@MikeKeegan_DM @tntsports Spent over £400 travelling & watching the game today! with that performance on the back of the last decade it’s very hard to be anything but flat. I think we all feel pretty helpless. Our club is being destroyed by greedy incompetent people & there’s no end in sight. What to do?

Surprised that those on @tntsports are expressing surprise at Old Trafford being ‘flat’. What on earth were they expecting? It’s a miracle, and a testimony to the loyalty of the matchgoing fanbase, that there wasn’t mutiny in there.

@CouncillorTudor Or just the gently wilted kind?

@CouncillorTudor So, no greens then?

Gammon baking, but today is not a day for politics.

@LukePollard Completely agree with the sentiment, Luke, but hate the term “corporate”. When I hear the term “corporate parent”, I envisage the relationship between Meta and Facebook, or Alphabet and Google. “Corporate” is a business word, nothing to do with love or nurture.

Councillors are corporate parents to kids in care and I’ve long argued MPs need to be “corporate grandparents” - this policy announcement helps make that true👇

You know you’re getting old when you find your Dad on the 1921 census.

I think my whippets would agree: excellent green space in our parks; with moors and beaches nearby. dogstrust.org.uk/about-us/media…

@PradaWestEnd Looks startlingly similar to the company that premiered Prada at @TRPlymouth !

Your Original West End Company for The Devil Wears Prada. That's All. 📸: Ben Gibson

Rest in peace, Patricia Routledge 🙏🏻 In memory of her, I encourage everyone to read these words of hers from February last year. Whether young or old, you're bound to get something out of it. ***** "I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude. My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found. At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me. At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul. At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being. At 80, I took up watercolour painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible. Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever. I’m writing this to tell you something simple: Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again. Let these years ahead be your TREASURE YEARS. You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless. You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours. With love and gentleness, Patricia Routledge ***** Once more, rest in peace. 🤍

@forwardnotback Nah, ears are completely different!

Is that Spock I see playing the part of a murderous doctor😃😃😃

@IainDale Thank you.

@andyibbs Two were 150kw and one was 85 I think. Cost was 87p per whatever it is, which doesn't make it much cheaper than fossil fuel. Otherwise I charge at home and that's cheap.

Took six and a half hours to drive back to Kent from Bideford. This was the first long trip I've done in my EV. Tunbridge Wells-Sutton Coldfield-Bristol-Barnstaple-Bideford-Tunbridge Wells. 660 miles. 3 separate charges. All worked fine!

Yesterday was a very special day. I got to meet my grandson, born 18 August, which happened to be my 60th birthday.