Jacky Tarleton 🇺🇦🦋

"I don't want you to hang my portraits in your offices. Because a President is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang pictures of your children instead. And before you make any decision, look into their eyes." - Volodymyr Zelensky President of Ukraine 🇺🇦 Just wow❤️ 🫡

@andrewjohnrudd Thanks, Andrew!

@JackyTarleton Gosh! I hope you're keeping dry, Jacky!

Heavy flooding near Exeter Quay today.

Videos analyzed by @nytimes appear to contradict DHS accounts that the man approached agents with a handgun and the intent to “massacre” them. Footage shows the man holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when agents take him to the ground. nytimes.com/live/2026/us/m…

I just rewatched Graham Vick’s brilliant prodn of Rossini’s William Tell from @Rof_Pesaro newly on @medicitv It’s magnificent with a fabulous cast. I can’t recommend it too highly.

@thetimes Are you aware of an intrusive advert popping up constantly in all your articles asking us to agree your terms and conditions? Ticking I Agree makes no difference!

Marian Anderson’s house in Philadelphia. One of the places we are visiting this morning as ⁦@BBCRadio3⁩’s US Road trip continues.

Wilkie Collins (8 Jan 1824-23 Sept 1889) ‘Author of The Woman in White and other Works of Fiction’ in the words he wrote to put on his tombstone, was born this day 202 years ago in New Cavendish Street, London of Harriet née Geddes and William Collins RA. Happy birthday Wilkie.

Former President of Poland Lech Walesa wrote the following letter to Trump. Your Excellency, Mr. President, We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, with fear and distaste. We find it insulting that you expect Ukraine to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States in its fight against russia. Gratitude is owed to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world. They have been dying on the front lines for more than 11 years in the name of these values and the independence of their homeland, which was attacked by Putin’s russia. We do not understand how the leader of a country that symbolizes the free world cannot recognize this. Our alarm was also heightened by the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation, which reminded us of the interrogations we endured at the hands of the Security Services and the debates in Communist courts. Prosecutors and judges, acting on behalf of the all-powerful communist political police, would explain to us that they held all the power while we held none. They demanded that we cease our activities, arguing that thousands of innocent people suffered because of us. They stripped us of our freedoms and civil rights because we refused to cooperate with the government or express gratitude for our oppression. We are shocked that President Volodymyr Zelensky was treated in the same manner. The history of the 20th century shows that whenever the United States sought to distance itself from democratic values and its European allies, it ultimately became a threat to itself. President Woodrow Wilson understood this when he decided in 1917 that the United States must join World War I. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood this when, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he resolved that the war to defend America must be fought not only in the Pacific but also in Europe, in alliance with the nations under attack by the Third Reich. We remember that without President Ronald Reagan and America’s financial commitment, the collapse of the Soviet empire would not have been possible. President Reagan recognized that millions of enslaved people suffered in Soviet russia and the countries it had subjugated, including thousands of political prisoners who paid for their defense of democratic values with their freedom. His greatness lay, among other things, in his unwavering decision to call the USSR an “Empire of Evil” and to fight it decisively. We won, and today, the statue of President Ronald Reagan stands in Warsaw, facing the U.S. Embassy. Mr. President, material aid—military and financial—can never be equated with the blood shed in the name of Ukraine’s independence and the freedom of Europe and the entire free world. Human life is priceless; its value cannot be measured in money. Gratitude is due to those who sacrifice their blood and their freedom. This is self-evident to us, the people of Solidarity, former political prisoners of the communist regime under Soviet russia. We call on the United States to uphold the guarantees made alongside Great Britain in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which established a direct obligation to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for its relinquishment of nuclear weapons. These guarantees are unconditional—there is no mention of treating such assistance as an economic transaction. Signed, Lech Wałęsa, former political prisoner, President of Poland

@domcavendish 😉

@JackyTarleton Thanks! cheque’s in the post…

Terrific synopsis of Shakespeare plays from Daily Telegraph’s very knowledgeable theatre critic👏👏

@domcavendish (Cont) his own son played Leontes’ son. At stage door he was so charming, signed all their Arden edns, One said he’d made her weep & he hugged her! Most had never seen a live play before. White fur covered the stage for Act 1. Utterly magical play!

@JackyTarleton I’m actually abroad at the mo so didn’t see it in print - there was a mega listicle covering everything in November. In case you can face more! telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-t…

@domcavendish Your article choosing Shakespeare’s top 20 plays, recommending productions, was most enjoyable - except - where was The Winter’s Tale? It is fascinating on so many levels.

@domcavendish Ah yes, I recognise that list from before! I see Winter’s Tale was 22. ‘Ingenious hybrid’. 1st time I saw it aged 15, Laurence Harvey at the Edinburgh Festival. I was bowled over by the passion. Later taught it to adults for A level, took them to RSC for Jeremy Irons’ Leontes..

"I ask you - do not get tired of supporting Ukraine." - Volodymyr Zelensky President of Ukraine 🇺🇦 They will have my support till victory, and beyond.🫂❤️🇺🇦 And you?.. Do you continue to support Ukraine?🙌

Heartbreaking

"Ukraine is the only shield that separates Europe’s comfortable way of life from the Russian world."

That’s some speech….

@ETOpera We’re all devastated that you’ve stopped coming to Exeter’s Northcott Theatre. How can we persuade you to return? You’ve brought magnificent opera to Devon for years. We are bereft☹️😱