Jonathan Tapp

@billat_foxhill @MelJD46 Plenty on the Wantsum marshes…

@MelJD46 Not heard one ☹️someone on the village FB page said they had

I've heard #cuckoos the 3 different places this weekend, the one where I am now rarely stops calling once it gets started

A thread on the 50 best fortifications to go and visit in the world according to me. They are all fun for at least one in the family. They are listed in reverse rank order as determined by how much fun, unique and awesome they are.

@billat_foxhill @MelJD46 I’ve been using Starlink since its launch in the UK and haven’t looked back. I find 4G & 5G hopeless in the summer when Margate is busy.

@MelJD46 Yes one step into the countryside and you can be in the land of copper wire, my stepson helps people by using 4-5G and high grain antennas, cheaper than Starlink

Ahhh that #allegedly #superfast #mostreliable #broadband cant cope this morning with one tablet streaming ... All this stuff is designed for urban environments, outside of towns you will be scuppered.. best get back to reading books ...

@NitnelavGS @FinancialTimes I think you are perhaps down as a subscriber to FT Edit, which includes a number of curated articles but not the whole show.

I get this each time I try to read an FT article on Ukraine. Waisted hundreds of Euros for a @FinancialTimes subscription. Never take the "print edition" subscription. And there is not even a button to change it. I am paying for financial news I am not interested in.

@billat_foxhill @MelJD46 When will it end?

@MelJD46 Another grey murky one in kent ,

Good morning🙂🖐, #Tuesday it is then , cloudy again but mild, tho if misty, the damp air soaks through. The leaves🍂 continue to drop silently pooling at the base of their host trees & hedgerows. Enjoy your Tuesday whatever you do 🎁💐🐦‍⬛🎁💐🍂🌻

@horton_official Dieter Helm’s vision for British farming is pure Treasury - no subsidies, full carbon pricing, faith in markets(!) but others still subsidise, so we export both food and emissions. And “polluter pays” isn’t the same as “public goods” - taxing harm isn’t the same as funding nature

Fascinating look at the future of British farming by Dieter Helm. As with all policy, the government is ignoring the huge changes coming dieterhelm.co.uk/publications/t…

@DanNeidle @herrvonari76181 Plenty to go at.

@herrvonari76181 I assume there’s a plan to recover payments made by PPE Medpro.

Douglas Barrowman to the media: there was a mountain of evidence Douglas Barrowman to the court: he didn’t give evidence.

We said goodbye to Max today, nearly 12. A gentle, loyal companion - much loved, deeply missed. 🐾❤️

@Frencheconomics Simon, you’re right about the inflationary bite of fiscal choices. But Reeves can’t square the circle: a wealth tax would be damaging (as Dan Neidle has shown), yet by also ruling out the big three she leaves a £30bn hole with nothing but damaging and corrosive drift to fill it.

A pretty sensible set of comments from the Chancellor in this interview on wealth taxes, the role of the bond market, and child poverty. thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar… The issue is (and has been) the fiscal decisions that have fuelled UK inflation. Rather less here on what practical (and politically tricky) measures will be taken in the Budget to avoid a repeat…

@billat_foxhill I think they’re all here in Thanet…

Happy Sunday 😊there’s a Green Woodpecker on the lawn eating Ants, we haven’t seen one for ages

@Rambaudian @DanNeidle Have you ever been to Tesco HQ? It’s not a Zoomy kind of place.

Another viral tax claim on X. The boss of Tesco apparently pays "not a penny" of UK tax on his £10m salary. True or false?

@StuartMaggs Sighs of relief in the Home Office so don’t hold your breath…

I'm quite looking forward to Yvette Cooper as Foreign Secretary. It's such a massive improvement that it has to be a positive.

@FlindtTowers and he’s back…

@richardpayne94 @RamblersGB @openspacessoc @RighttoRoam Try growing sunflowers (not a right of way)

Fido has cost me up to 5t/ha loss. “Oh, but he’s not doing any harm…..” when asked to be kept on a lead. 4m margin, but….. no….. Can’t fence as it’s next to a river which floods. The joys of footpaths…. @RamblersGB @openspacessoc @RighttoRoam #norespect

@WilliamJHague Your article makes a strong case for confronting uncomfortable demographic truths. Sadly, the public response it received on your own newspaper’s platform was dominated not by debate, but by distraction - possibly not even human. We may not just be ageing. We may be being lulled.

Here's all you need know👇 bit.ly/3UI3KIe

The world is undergoing a fertility crisis, with fewer and fewer people across the world having children, with significant repercussions for growth and tax.   Evidence from around the world suggests that reversing this trend will be impossible. Instead, leaders must build these forecasts into their decision-making and prepare voters for the fallout.

If the NFU agrees, and even Dan Neidle agrees, and DEFRA polling agrees, and food security experts agree — yet government does nothing — then the issue isn’t economics. It’s that no one in power is listening. Or worse, they are — and they don’t care.

@DanNeidle I’d be intrigued to know why you, we, are apparently failing to get this across to HMG - why allow this to bleed, why not say hey, great, let’s do it better?

@DavidB48674 Back in the real world, the NFU agrees with my proposed solution to the farm tax, and I’m trying to make it happen. What are you doing, other than making stupid partisan points? taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/11/24/how…

This is from the guy who got the farm taxes completely wrong, who was probably the reason the gov implemented it but is certainly the guy they quoted to justify it. The self awareness is staggering.

Rachel Reeves’s family farm tax ‘will put food security at risk and force farmers to drop nature-friendly practices’ the government’s own survey has found. Has the penny dropped yet?⬇️ thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

@thegraingeek @JRDSills Here in Kent, our wheat yields are down by 15%, and our irrigated potatoes have fallen by around 20%. RF has prevented us from harvesting both spring oats and winter beans. The combination of poor yields and poor prices is - let’s say - unfortunate, if not downright perverse.

@JRDSills Very similar in Yorkshire. I was fairly early into SFI, so 2026 will be the last year of my agreement. Very concerning.

Wheat harvest done. Still to double check the numbers, but looking like we'll only just average above 7t/ha compared to over 10t/ha last year. Very poor year. Without stewardship and other grants, financial numbers would be looking pretty drastic.

Keir Starmer appears to look on awkwardly as President Trump discusses steps he has taken to help US farmers in response to a question from @beverleyturner about the family farm tax. Comes as a record number of farms were forced to close this year in wake of the Budget⬇️