Jack Martin loves padel tennis

Here's a clip from last night's News Agents parody with special guest co hosts everyone's favourite Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan & the plumberin/plasterin sensation- Green Party MP Hannah Spencer. Maitlis was in her element! Full sketch on my yt channel:

A must read compactmag.com/article/the-gr…

Apprenticeships. I love them. We’ve developed hundreds and hundreds through our companies, giving youngsters the skills they need to build a rewarding and sustainable career. We’ve sold an entire generation a foul lie, that if you don’t go to university, you’ve somehow failed - it is total bloody guff. For most young people, university has become a route to nowhere. You leave home, rack up £50,000 of debt, and get handed a degree that means very little in the real world. Then you move back in with your parents and start applying for the same jobs you could’ve done at 18. Yes, you’ve got pissed in some small city for three years. You can do that whilst training to be a plumber too, just without the debt and the pointless coursework. If you’re not sure what you want to do with your life, do NOT go to university. Learn a skill. The country doesn’t need more graduates. It needs electricians, builders, plumbers and the rest. Of course for some, university is the right path, but that does not reflect the sheer volume of students currently going to university. We need drastically fewer universities, and drastically fewer university students. We’ve built a system that’s forgotten how to make or fix anything. For most, higher education is just to delay starting adult life. It’s good for universities, good for administrators - not so good for the kids paying the bill for the rest of their lives. The debt is eye-watering. Most will never pay it off, and only shave down the interest payment every month. It’s just another tax, one which will eat into your earnings forever. Entirely unnecessary. To what, pay for a few nights out in your early 20s? Is that worth a lifetime of debt? I think not. Apprenticeships build confidence, discipline and real-world ability. You learn a trade, earn while you learn, and by your early twenties you’re already years ahead of your peers at university. No debt. Just skills, which will last you forever. Work for someone for a while, develop your skills, then look to start your own business. If you dedicate yourself, the demand will always be there. AI won't replace you, not for several decades at least... Work on your time. Run your own business. Be your own boss. Make something. Build something. Do something. If that sounds appealing, have a serious think about an apprenticeship. I would argue we need to be giving kids the opportunity to learn and develop trades even earlier in school. Why not? Let’s make it as easy as possible for boys and girls not so good with the textbooks to build their skills through a different avenue. Britain should be proud to make, fix and build again. That means valuing tradesmen and women every bit as much as graduates, more I would argue. Let’s start building an economy that actually does something. My advice to youngsters reading this? Apprenticeships. Consider it.

@stewartbrand Very cool, Where do you plan to live next?

🧵 The tugboat MIRENE--our adventurous home for 43 years, based in the Sausalito houseboat community--is now for sale. Price $1.8 million. Link below. And a thread of detailed description and photos.

Always worth a read ...

How Peter Hitchens answers any question these days @ClarkeMicah

@CharlieFBBaker1 What do you dislike about him?

I am too old to hate public figures but Thomas Skinner is testing me

football is back!

I have loved @dcsandbrook and @TomHolland1996 for all of the podcasting things that they have done, but now I also love them for sending me to sleep.

@antoniogm What's the name of the village?

She was joking of course. I opted for the tiny Galician village, half of whose population is a third cousin, outside of La Coruña with the 12th century church my grandmother was baptized in (and where much of the distant family is buried).

The consular officer—nose ring, tattooed finger, the raspy voice of the long-time smoker—asked me where to register me for voting purposes. Me: The family is from Galicia but I last lived in Barcelona. Her: Tell me who you’re voting for and I’ll decide where to put you.

@elonmusk Who do you mean, when you say some?

Great day for some … fireworks 🔥🔥

Thank you @chrisman my youngest son, who is 7, started using @synthesischool this morning and is already obsessed! When can you start teaching the all other subjects?

LOL.

facebook.com/share/v/16dHDp… LOL

Reeves, Starmer, Rayner, Reynolds - all creatures of the public sector. Never run a business, couldn’t run a business. I just get so frustrated. They do not understand the pressure of it - I wouldn’t trust any of them with a lemonade stand. So when they throw all of these extra taxes on small business owners, they simply do not understand what they are doing. Extra national insurance for employers? Oh, that’ll be fine. Reducing the threshold? Not a problem, employers can pay. Crack down on dividends? Who cares, that’s one for the owners. It’s so easy to say when you’ve got a comfortable salary, funded by the taxpayer. Politicians and their bureaucrats fear nothing. Civil servants never get sacked, they’re there for life. Running a business in 2025 Britain is bloody difficult. Really, really bloody difficult. I talk to people every day who are struggling. The stress of it is quite something. Constantly checking your emails, all weekend and on holiday. The spouse is annoyed because you can’t switch off. It is constant. The stress never ends. There’s no safety net, there’s no back up. Either you succeed, or fail. There is so much regulation and red tape - you can’t even sack anyone. So what do business owners do? They don’t hire anyone. Why take the risk? It’s just not worth it. So Government then cracks down with IR35, making it impossible for many to take on these contracts. It is brutal. It is relentless. Worst of all? It all comes from people who DO NOT understand what they are doing. I sit there in Westminster, listening to these gnomes drone on about the economy. You’d get more business sense out of a blindfolded toddler. At least they understand incentives. I find it all just so frustrating, I can’t even tell you. The answer is to radically slash tax - corporation, income, dividends. Take a Milei chainsaw to regulation. Be brutal. Tear it all down. A red tape bonfire visible from space. To the brave men and women who run their own business, you have my full respect. Keep going. It will get better. Please know that there is at least one MP on your side.

My column on Keir Starmer and “immigration week” theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

ALEX STORY: 'What we demand is law-abiding, respectful competence from our institutions, rooted in the Crown-in-Parliament tradition, not international law or Sharia' #csm @AlexPStory countrysquire.co.uk/2025/05/12/an-…

I love @DominicFrisby

Our Hambledon Friendly XI had a good run out against @petersfieldcc home at Ridge Meadow, you can find the game on our YouTube Livestream. A good win and runs for Lockie, Toby & Dave