William McIntyre

@jackisgeeky @LoftusSteve Or just reduce the employer (tax-payer) pension contribution for civil servants which is a whopping ~ 28.97 %. Nothing close to it in the private sector.

@LoftusSteve Are you going to cut their NI contributions so they can invest that money into a different pension to cover the £200k+ shortfall in their pension pot?

A super easy place to start with pension reform. If you get a public sector pension above £20,000 per annum you lose your state pension. This is easy for the Gov to track and should be phased in gradually so it's £20k for 2040.

@JRB___2 @blaiklockBP What should the older generation do? Sell up and live on the street? Die? Vote Reform so fewer immigrants arrive? Get your granny a job in construction? None is all that appealing.

@blaiklockBP Absolutely horrific stats. Young people have been betrayed by older generations for the sake of preserving their wealth.

Over-55 homeowners have £3.4 trillion of property wealth. £321,213 per household. 76% have no mortgage. 1.6% of under 40's own a house with no mortgage.

@RachelReevesMP @DrRJSimpson Energy bills will go down just in time for summer, then back up by a lot more come autumn/winter. Cheers.

⚡£117 on average coming off energy bills 🚗 Fuel Duty freeze extended 🧒 450,000 children to be lifted out of poverty 💷 A payrise for over 2 million people 💊 Prescription charges frozen again This is a government for working people.

@AmericanDebunk Yes, he could be a strategic genius or possibly a jumped-up stupid guy who doesn’t even know the meaning of decimated.

This post by Trump is pre-framing what's to come. Read along and you'll start to see it too. When Trump tells the UK to "go to the Strait and just TAKE IT," the surface read is that he's venting at allies who didn't show up. But the deeper move is priming the the public (and world) with a new mental frame: the Strait of Hormuz is not Iranian sovereign territory anymore. It's available real estate. It's takeable. Anyone with courage can have it. That's a massive Overton Window shift delivered, in a tweet, as an insult to the UK. A year ago "America controls the Strait of Hormuz" sounded like some twisted fantasy. Today Trump is telling Britain to go grab it themselves like it's a parking spot. In a few weeks, Trump has normalized the concept of Western control over the Strait so thoroughly that full US seizure now looks like the modest option compared to what he's suggesting allies do on their own. This is intentional. The persuasion mechanics here are priming plus pre-selling. Whatever the eventual deal includes (US Navy permanent presence, joint patrols, Iranian withdrawal from mining infrastructure) the public will accept it because Trump already told them the Strait is there for the taking. Your subconscious mind has already been primed to accept it. This "psychological baseline" is going to influence Trump-Iran negotiations. Best believe it. "The hard part is done" works the same way. He's managing public fatigue. It translates to "we won, relax, this is cleanup". This keeps approval from eroding while the Pakistan talks drag through April. Trump isn't describing reality. He's installing it. Say the Strait is takeable enough times and it becomes takeable in the public mind. It's been 10 years of Trump and he still leaves me in awe with his persuasion.

@SteveAnyalechi @ImtiazMadmood It’s good manners, if nothing else, to tell allies that you intend on starting a war.

Trump is playing smart and unapologetic leadership. He’s calling out allies who sat on the sidelines, pointing out that the Strait of Hormuz situation impacts everyone - and if these countries want energy security, they need to step up or rely on the U.S. He’s pushing responsibility back onto partners, strengthening American leverage while insisting the free world shouldn’t expect America to carry every burden.

Trump is a badass dealer. He started war with Iran. Iran blocked Strait of Hormuz and stopped the sale of oil to Europe. UK is affected. And UK didn't join Trump when Trump asked for their help. Now, UK is suffering shortfall in oil supply. And Trump is telling them to buy from him or go and open the Strait of Hormuz by themselves. Either way, Trump wins. - @HarmlessHQ

@vashetti @BoliroCom I’ll admit I was wondering the same 🤣

@BoliroCom @Best_Defence Who the hell is Kathy?

"Absolutely love them! My produce stays fresher longer without plastic wrap" - Kathy H

@BBCSportScot You could graze sheep in the Japan half.

A fine save by Zion Suzuki denies Scott McTominay an early Scotland opener against Japan. #BBCFootball

@BBCSportScot @BBCOne @BBCiPlayer Any reason why the SFA have to go to all the expense of bringing today's match officials all the way from Australia for a friendly? Can we assume a reciprocal junket for a Scots referee and assistants in the future?

The Scotland team to face Japan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇯🇵 Watch the game live @BBCOne Scotland and @BBCiPlayer from 16:30 GMT 📺 #BBCFootball

@andrewlearmonth John Swinney always has the look of a man deeply worried that someone somewhere is having a good time.

John Swinney says Malcolm Offord unfit to be an MSP. “The thing that would worry me... is that if he was to tell that joke at a Reform conference, I suspect lots of people would laugh and applaud."

@markthehibby Yeah, but apart from that…

🚨 Sh*tshow National Party!! #SNPout #FMQs

@Andrew_Eldridge @jonburkeUK @Turbinetravel @KathrynPorter26 Also, imported LNG can have roughly four times the upstream carbon footprint of gas produced in the North Sea and piped into the UK.

The companies own the gas after it has been extracted but they have to pay a heavy price for it in licence fees and taxes levied upon them. UK government takes around £30 billion per year in oil and gas taxes not including VAT. The current EPL is 38% uplifted by this government in 2024 but, add in the corporation tax, and they are being taxed at 78% which is scheduled to remain until March 2030. Can I ask, how you think that £30 billion will be replaced? Can I also ask if it is just oil companies you do not like making a profit, or is it any business?

The stench of desperation from the fossil fuel fanboys in my notifications is palpable. Their latest ruse is to claim Britain owns its North Sea oil and gas reserves when 100% of the oil and gas pumped from our waters is in private hands. Not some. Not most. ALL OF IT.

@farawaydeployed @DawnsMission @TrumpGirlLove pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11…

@DawnsMission @TrumpGirlLove Who funded the study? (Hint: a company that produces natokinase.) Just over half had data on atherosclerosis There was no placebo group If you don’t think any of that is important, you are affected by confirmation bias more than you think.

Why hasn’t nattokinase replaced statins? Joe Rogan discussed a study where 1,062 people took it for a year. Ultrasound showed their arterial plaque shrank 36%. This enzyme stops new blockages and reverses existing plaque. Why not mainstream yet?

@PaulEmbery Let's not forget, he did end the war in Ukraine in one day.

Trump blinked. His reputation will not recover from this. As with his climbdown over Greenland, he has almost certainly won no significant concessions. "Art of the deal", my foot. I have never seen such shambolic incompetence from a world leader. I've known parish councillors with a better understanding of statecraft.

@EdConwaySky @petermacmahon The UK produces so many excellent businesspeople and entrepreneurs. It’s a pity none of them go into politics. The only people politicians make money for are themselves.

UK government bond yields also dropping. Here is the UK 10 year

Oil prices tumbling

@ImtiazMadmood @GarethDavies007 “Europeans: They never touch a conflict until they smell victory. Early on? Crickets.” Were Europeans consulted? In June 2025 we were told Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability had been “completely and totally obliterated”. Americans, the people who think WWll started in 1941

Hanson, who’s studied how wars end for 50 years, says the tide has turned in America’s favor against Iran. Forget the rancid propaganda flowing from all quarters related to the Iran conflict and how it is going - Hanson says look at how everyone else is behaving. Hanson’s Key Points: • Europeans: They never touch a conflict until they smell victory. Early on? Crickets. Now they’re quietly moving assets and offering support. Pure calculation — they’ve read the battlefield and decided which side wins. • Gulf petro-states: Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris survive by reading the room perfectly. They’re expelling Iranian attachés, silently intercepting Iranian missiles over their capitals, and the UAE just reaffirmed its $1.4 trillion investment commitment to the U.S. mid-war. These are not gestures — they’re bets. And they’re all-in on America. • Al Jazeera: The Qatari state network that usually bashes U.S. actions (and hosts Hamas offices) is now calling America’s bombing campaign “brilliant” and “underestimated.” When the outlet that hosts both the biggest U.S. air base and Hamas praises U.S. effectiveness, the message is unmistakable: they think we’re winning. • Military reality: A-10 Warthogs and Apache gunships are now flying strike missions inside Iranian airspace at will. These slow, low-flying platforms only appear when enemy air defenses are effectively gone. Confirms what’s really happening on the ground. Iran’s only play left is rope-a-dope: drag it out, hope U.S. public opinion flips, pray midterms pressure Trump to quit. VDH’s verdict: If Trump sees it through — and he will — the regime falls. Not in years. Pretty soon. Bottom line: Watch what people do, not what they say. Every player with skin in the game is betting on America. The signals don’t lie. - @EnergyAbsurdity

@cjnovo992 89 minute and Celtic two-nil down at Tannadice. Only twenty minutes left to play.

Wee bit worried for tavs unbelievable free kick goal to stand The ball hit goldsons hand during the 2022 season, VAR will have a look

@AuthorGFAllen Though, maybe not, as I see your YA paperback is $19.99. That’s a lot of pocket money. How’s that going?

@AuthorGFAllen As a reader, paperbacks (though Jonathan Cecil reading PG Woodhouse is an exception, Elliott Gould’s Raymond Chandler another) as an author, ebooks pay better.

Anyone else still prefer physical books over ebooks or audiobooks?

@Gidi_Traffic Same reason Michael Buble wears a dinner suit, and Beyonce wears a hanky.

Question: Why are women’s uniforms different from men’s in the same sport? ✍🏽