Mark L

@Peston @ONS Careful now Robert, sit down and check that you’re ok.

The claim of the Chancellor and PM that the economy was recovering nicely before Trump’s Iran war has this morning been corroborated by @ONS. See attached. All history now though, due to Trump’s extreme energy shock

@JimGamble_INEQE @csbuckler @BBCgmu Not just sometimes Jim. We stopped shooting each other but we haven’t moved on, eating ourselves from within with our mutual suspicion, even hatred, living by the mantra of “fill your boots with their money” and “its the Brits fault”. A generation lost through paralysis.

I listened to an excellent interview by @csbuckler this morning on @BBCgmu with a SF MLA. In almost every answer about the problem, whether cost of living, job losses at the UU, and what needed to be done, they defaulted to the British Government. What would we do without them to blame for absolutely everything? Our politics can’t leave the past behind or accept responsibility for anything beyond populist soundbites. You sometimes have to wonder if we’d be better off with direct rule as we blame them for everything anyway. Another novel idea would be to represent our concerns via those elected to Westminster.

@jni_1972 @McIlroyRory When I read this I hark back to our greatest moment in golf being Eamonn D’Arcy holing a putt at the Ryder Cup! Seriously, is there a more begrudging and bitter nation?

Rory McIlroy above the UUP logo? Is the famously non political Rory ok with this? Was he consulted before his image was used? @McIlroyRory

@Globalstats11 Just picturing how this works! So, a guy walks up to me on the street, asks me “excuse me sir, which country do you respect the most?”. So I will be, like everyone else, either consciously or unconsciously biased, and my answer will be in line with my prejudice. Totally pointless

20 Most Respected Countries in the World 1. 🇨🇦 Canada 2. 🇳🇴 Norway 3. 🇸🇪 Sweden 4. 🇨🇭 Switzerland 5. 🇦🇺 Australia 6. 🇫🇮 Finland 7. 🇳🇿 New Zealand 8. 🇩🇰 Denmark 9. 🇳🇱 Netherlands 10. 🇧🇪 Belgium 11. 🇮🇪 Ireland 12. 🇦🇹 Austria 13. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 14. 🇮🇹 Italy 15. 🇩🇪 Germany 16. 🇯🇵 Japan 17. 🇪🇸 Spain 18. 🇵🇹 Portugal 19. 🇫🇷 France 20. 🇸🇬 Singapore Note: According to 2025 International Reputations Survey by Reputation Institute | 48K consumers from G8 nations & 30K interviewees from non-G8 countries were surveyed Source: Reputation Institute

@areyoflight I have a man crush on this woman!

Rubio phones Europe, saying the US should close their bases in Europe and remove their troops. This is Europe’s reaction:

@ianjamesparsley @post_liberal I believe that the Top 14 attracts more viewers in France than football.

@post_liberal Though they haven’t won the Tour de France anything like as recently.

PSG was only founded in 1970. Thats probably the strangest fact about them. But we forget that France isnt really a footballing country in the same way that we are. Its a country of cyclists rather than footballers. Despite this, they are still better at football than we are.

@magyarpeterMP The reaction in the (much larger) Poland is not reassuring however. Rather than reflect on the news from Budapest, the populist leader there now ratchets up the rhetoric, saying the Hungarians have lost their minds and spouting unfounded accusations that Magyar boiled animals!!

After a year and a half, I am back in the "public" television studio. We have just witnessed the last days of a propaganda machine. After the formation of the TISZA government, we will suspend the news services of the “public” media until its public service character is restored.

@_OrbanAnita Yet in Poland the madness of the populists only ratchets up, PiS’s leader Kaczynski claiming the Hungarians have lost their minds, spouting unfounded accusations from Magyar’s former wife about him boiling animals. This is a positive week but we must keep fighting for freedom!

For 16 years, Hungary hasn’t seen a press conference like this. For 16 years, a prime minister has not answered questions from the press in this open, extended format. For TISZA, press freedom is not a slogan, it’s a governing principle. Ministers will be available, accountable, and engaged with the media, because they understand its role in a functioning democracy. What makes this shift even more striking: this political movement won without access to state media, without access to platforms tied to the ruling elite, and despite a tightly controlled media environment shaped over years. We have a fundamentally different approach to power that is based on transparency, openness, and accountability. # First international press conference of Prime Minister-Elect, Péter Magyar

@_OrbanAnita Meanwhile, in Poland, Jarosław Kaczynski, leader of the populist PiS party, an Orban supporter, and brother of the late President, states on state TV, I kid you not, that Magyar “boiled a dog”. The bitterness bears zero resemblance to his much vaunted claim to be a Christian.

Péter Magyar held his first national and international press conference following his election victory on Sunday. His message was clear: Hungary will restore freedom, the rule of law, and democratic institutions. He outlined concrete priorities such as tackling corruption, addressing 16 years of missed opportunities, introducing a two-term limit for the prime minister, ensuring the independence of the judiciary and investigative bodies, and taking steps toward joining the eurozone. On foreign policy, he emphasized rebuilding trust with partners, including the EU and NATO, renewing the Polish–Hungarian relationship, and contributing to a stronger Central Europe within a stronger European Union. The signal is both domestic and international: stability, accountability, and a clear European path. # First international press conference of Prime Minister-Elect, Péter Magyar

@SophyRidgeSky A truly shocking statistic (for me at least) is that, in the construction sector alone, in the last recorded year, 2022, there were 700 deaths by suicide in the Uk, two per day, 99% male. I worked in this sector for 35 years and had no idea.

💯

@vicderbyshire Vic, you did brillliantly as usual but Sir Bernard badly needed a bung stuck in his gob, not for what he has every right to say, but for consistently interrupting your other (equally entitled to voice their views) guests. It was appalling.

‘Quite frankly absurd’ ‘A complete misunderstanding of what Christianity is about’ ‘I’ve met many doctors in my life & none of them have ever glowed like that’ Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe who was among the Conclave who elected Pope Leo tells #Newsnight what he thought of this image, and of Donald Trump’s claim he was portraying himself as a doctor 👇

@spotrac I often think back to when McIlroy paid (I think) £20m to extract himself from the contract with his then manager, c 15 years ago. It gave the then manager 10% of his winnings. Surely the best spent £20m, given that he is now heading towards billionairdom, and still only 36!

2026 #Masters Payouts 1. McIlroy, $4.5M 2. Scheffler, $2.43M T3. Hatton/Henley/Rose/Young, $1.08M T7. Morikawa/Burns, $725k T9. Homa/Schauffele, $630k

@MLAsAndTheLike Gold Coast, old chap, its the Gold Coast.

Rory leaving the we'an off to school, taking his private jet to Augusta for a practice round and flying back home to Florida for tea may be his most North Down activity to date ...

@SportsPaulH @TheMasters He was surely best friends with those trees lining the fairways, bosom buddies.

Cam Young says Rory McIlroy "didn't really want to talk to me" but the feeling was mutual as both players battled to win @TheMasters "Sunday at the Masters in the final group, I'm not trying to be best friends out there" #TheMasters

@White_Rabbit_OG There really are no words to describe the people who post such stuff.

May we all be so blessed. 🤞

@skydavidblevins Casement………..

George Best got an airport in Belfast. What's Rory McIlroy getting? 🤷🏻‍♂️ #themasters

@sara_utv Where to start? Pointless.

Campaigners against plans to build a goldmine in Tyrone say they are "positive" as a public inquiry into the billion pound project resumes in Omagh today. Dalradian have welcomed today & describe the application as environmentally responsible & economically transformative. #UTV

@AlanGreenwood_ I find him similar to Brian O’Driscoll in his punditry. Both are unquestionably masters of their art, both have encyclopaedic knowledge, to a freakish degree, of the minutiae of their sports, both crack funny jokes and smile a lot, yet I find it hard to warm to them.

As a commentator, Nick Faldo is a dead on 50/50 split between annoying and enthralling. 50/50. Dead. On. Uncanny #Masters

@jonsopel Plus Ulster rugby making a European Semi-Final John, justsaying - quite the weekend!

What a night. Orban out in Hungary And Rory achieves back to back wins at the Masters. Good night

@anneapplebaum @mpolachowska Plus Nawrocki and Kaczynski, a good day for Poland as well!

Orban concedes defeat. The support of Trump, Vance, Putin, Lavrov, Weidel, Milei, Le Pen, Fico, Babis and many others could not overcome Hungarian anger at a stagnant, corrupt regime #block-69dbf1ff8f08ff62487f805e" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">theguardian.com/world/live/202…