Amy 💙NHS #Europeanforever

Well after 11 years, I'm done with this platform. Such a shame, but it's such a negative experience. Am on threads and bluesky.

Large parts of adult social care in England face collapse, thinktank warns The budget is blamed but there are other factors. Massive real cut in local govt funding since 2010. Curse of privatisation: 30%-40% of money vanished in profits. Money buys less theguardian.com/society/2024/n…

@sturgios Subtle. I like it.

The Churchill Arms in Kensington has gone for an understated Christmas decoration scheme this year

@karenfthompson We were talking about great ads the other day, I loved these ones

To all my Twits of a certain age .. If you know … You know … “For mash …..

This evening's viewing

@charliersmith1 Brilliant 👏👏👏

After being off work cos of my mental health for over a year, I had an interview for my dream job, and I’m delighted to say I’ve been offered the position!! 😃

@TweeetsOfDogs Aww.

"This guy followed my wife and son home from the park. he had a chip and we found the owner lived 25 miles away from us. We returned him and the next day we received a call from the owner asking us if we wanted to keep him. Meet Boomer. 🙂" ❤

@NiallHarbison Aww.

Sometimes I get sent pictures of sick dogs that I just cannot ignore no matter how busy we are. This one came in today. We are in the wet Monsoon season at the moment and this street dog look utterly dejected. His life has started to turn around… (1/8)

@Shitlawns Wow, that's horrible.

Tell me you've never studied garden design without telling me...

Oh come on, you can't expect farmers like James Dyson to have to pay inheritance tax like everyone else, remember its just assets, not cash. Here is a lovely picture of part of Jim's £20million Dodington estate

Tax due if parents hand on £3m house: £940k Tax due if parents hand on a £3m farm: £0 A reminder of significant tax advantage to farmers vs everyone else AFTER these changes

Millionaires arrive in London to complain about paying tax.

@rogerfederer @RafaelNadal Love. 💖

Vamos, @RafaelNadal!   As you get ready to graduate from tennis, I’ve got a few things to share before I maybe get emotional.   Let’s start with the obvious: you beat me—a lot. More than I managed to beat you. You challenged me in ways no one else could. On clay, it felt like I was stepping into your backyard, and you made me work harder than I ever thought I could just to hold my ground. You made me reimagine my game—even going so far as to change the size of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.   I’m not a very superstitious person, but you took it to the next level. Your whole process. All those rituals. Assembling your water bottles like toy soldiers in formation, fixing your hair, adjusting your underwear... All of it with the highest intensity. Secretly, I kind of loved the whole thing. Because it was so unique—it was so you.   And you know what, Rafa, you made me enjoy the game even more.    OK, maybe not at first. After the 2004 Australian Open, I achieved the #1 ranking for the first time. I thought I was on top of the world. And I was—until two months later, when you walked on the court in Miami in your red sleeveless shirt, showing off those biceps, and you beat me convincingly. All that buzz I’d been hearing about you—about this amazing young player from Mallorca, a generational talent, probably going to win a major someday—it wasn’t just hype.   We were both at the start of our journey and it’s one we ended up taking together. Twenty years later, Rafa, I have to say: What an incredible run you’ve had. Including 14 French Opens—historic! You made Spain proud... you made the whole tennis world proud.   I keep thinking about the memories we’ve shared. Promoting the sport together. Playing that match on half-grass, half-clay. Breaking the all-time attendance record by playing in front of more than 50,000 fans in Cape Town, South Africa. Always cracking each other up. Wearing each other out on the court and then, sometimes, almost literally having to hold each other up during trophy ceremonies.   I’m still grateful you invited me to Mallorca to help launch the Rafa Nadal Academy in 2016. Actually, I kind of invited myself. I knew you were too polite to insist on me being there, but I didn’t want to miss it. You have always been a role model for kids around the world, and Mirka and I are so glad that our children have all trained at your academies. They had a blast and learned so much—like thousands of other young players. Although I always worried my kids would come home playing tennis as lefties.   And then there was London—the Laver Cup in 2022. My final match. It meant everything to me that you were there by my side—not as my rival but as my doubles partner. Sharing the court with you that night, and sharing those tears, will forever be one of the most special moments of my career.   Rafa, I know you’re focused on the last stretch of your epic career. We will talk when it’s done. For now, I just want to congratulate your family and team, who all played a massive role in your success. And I want you to know that your old friend is always cheering for you, and will be cheering just as loud for everything you do next.   Rafa that!   Best always, your fan, 
 Roger

@soundstoryuk I gravitate mostly to Treasure,Victorialand and Heaven or Las Vegas is one to turn up to volume 11 when I'm putting the deccies up 😄

So many fantastic #CocteauTwins albums. But which are your favourites and why....?

One third of children in the UK are living in poverty and we have had a day with the media obsessing about rich farmers who want to keep their millions tax free. Who is orchestrating this utterly bizarre news agenda, and why?

THIS 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 If you want a simple, clear and accurate explanation of the Inheritance Tax and farming issues spend a few minutes listening to this. It utterly destroys all the hysteria being whipped up atm.

Ronald Reagan turned millionaires into billionaires on the backs of the working class. Now Trump will turn billionaires into trillionaires on the necks of the working class. Wealth inequality is a scourge on society which will ultimately destroy us all. Tax the rich. A lot.

@EmmaHoyes1 Gorgeous, enjoy. #solotravel

I find myself often wishing I had someone to travel with, to share it with, but in the end it’s still better to travel, to see it anyway, than to stay at home waiting. And a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine in the Italian Novembre sunshine, is a beautiful thing indeed.

@frankcottrell_b @BacklistedPod David Sylvian answering a question, honestly, 55 and that made me happy as a clam. I also think I won a book from your good self by twit too 😃. I have gone to blue sky though, twit is just not a nice place anymore.

Should you stay or should you go? Whatever. What are you happiest Twitter memories? Eg. without twitter I would never have found @BacklistedPod

@wmarybeard Ooh its a tricky one - text is too small but notwithstanding is a statue of Jimmy S art, but would I want to destroy Eric Gill works? definitely not Caravaggio. But would i happily do in everything by J Koons- yes I think so.

there's a debate of which I am part (well, two opposing views) in the RA magazine, about whether art should rightly ever be destroyed. If the question is "ever", then I argue yes.