Barry

@PC_Steele @_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore He did. And he was.

@WHG17 @_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore Then you get fired.

“Rory Stewart is the best prime minister we never had.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that sentence, in my texts, in comments sections, after our interviews. Over the last 10 years he’s spoken to me as a Tory leadership contender, Covid canary in the coal mine, independent London mayoral candidate, or, as in this instance, a podcaster and author. His brand of conscientious conservatism beguiles the significant part of our country that is relatively normal and looked on in horror/confusion as the right wing actively attacked Britain and/or descended into explicit bigotry, parochialism, and conspiracy. We spoke about political evil and how it’s often fun to be so, boarding schools, and whether or not we should rewild wolves in Britain. Eclectic and thoughtful. Performative and precise. I think it’s the best episode of The Exchange so far, but it’s Yanis Varoufakis next week and that was pretty good too. Subscribe, listen in bio, text me about alternate realities. xx @RoryStewartUK @NewStatesman

@TalkTV @JuliaHB1 Climate change is not propaganda. This is propaganda. When did the BBC promote drag queens to kids? What are you on about? When I was a kid - Kenny Everett, Dame Edna, Danny LeRue .. was that the same? You want rid as your paymasters want to make UK like USA. A fact free zone.

🚨"People don't like the BBC anymore." Julia Hartley-Brewer says the BBC has become a "perpetrator" in the culture war, pushing climate change propaganda and promoting drag queen content to children. @JuliaHB1

@pengersxi @_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore That's what I said. He holds a different view to you. You politically disagree with each other... Therefore... He's shit. Have a good evening.

@WHG17 @_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore Apologies, I thought I was quite clear in my first response. No, I think he's shit because his principles were the UK not leaving a trading bloc and not drawing the line at an act of economic self harm that killed thousands of society's most vulnerable people. Understand now?

@pengersxi @_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore So you hate him cos he voted with the whip. Then you hate him when he sacrificed his office/job/parliamentary position on a point of principle. So what you mean is... You disagree with him. Therefore you hate him.

@WHG17 @_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore Except he didn't. He voted through austerity but drew a line at Brexit and rebelled. Centrists love him for the same reason they love Keir Starmer. Wears a suit and has a haircut. He has a personality, I guess, but that's literally the bar right now. Shite politician.

@_Hitodama_ @OliDugmore Ah you mean he was a Tory MP. And voted with the whip. Because if you don't you get fired

@OliDugmore Fuck Rory Stewart. A life of extreme privilege has given him a lot of interesting anecdotes, sure, and centrist dads may swoon for his oh-so common sense conservatism, but his voting record as an MP was fuckin abysmal.

@andywigmore @OliDugmore You mean he disagrees with you. Incredibly nice people can disagree with you. Incredibly clever people can. You can have respect for people who do. Everything is possible if you try. Watch this. youtu.be/JIjenjANqAk?si…

@OliDugmore You must fancy him or something equally weird, Rory is a crackpot woke dripping wet Tory, the worst kind and the reason this country is so f***d and should be a Lib Dem - wobble your head Oli

@anne_hegerty @jamespdrury @HistoryBoomer

@WHG17 @jamespdrury @HistoryBoomer Of course animals must be fed. Of course people who feed them need not be stupid. It's just that, if you are stupid, it's the one job that will always be open to you. If instead you can fly a plane or create a funding proposal document, you can probably earn more money doing that

I have regular political arguments with a buddy, and when he says Americans are racist, etc., because they voted for Trump, I counter that most Americans have only the vaguest clue why they voted. They're ill-informed about everything. He finds it hard to believe they don't know who Trump really is because in his bubble (that I share), we're hyper-informed on these things. Matthew's essay backs me up! This line rang especially hard: "just know for sure that your intuitions are no good." That's why I love data. I want to see numbers, not just vibes from people who live like me. (And my buddy sometimes checks my Twitter feed, so Hi "Bob!")

@jamespdrury @anne_hegerty @HistoryBoomer Very good 👏

@WHG17 @anne_hegerty @HistoryBoomer Owners of animals must feed them lest they become former owners of animals or, indeed, owners of former animals…

@robprogressive Air force one costs $200,000 an hour to be in the sky. It's refit/replacements are in the billions. Do you want the UK PM to be connected in the sky, protected while he travels, to be able to conduct business and work productively? Should he travel easyJet with a 20kg bag?

Kier Starmer’s 39 trips abroad have cost £4.2m of taxpayer money That works out to £108,000 per flight Is this a good use of taxpayer money? Just checking

@anne_hegerty @HistoryBoomer Not sure this is a wise post. It feels sneery and elitist. People who voted trump may have done so for many reasons; Cost of living. Immigration. Anti-woke. Anti-establishment. Xenophobia. Feel like a businessman is better than a politician. Not sure what feeding animals means.

@HistoryBoomer I'm slowly realising that the Trumpers I argue with on social media are often people who spend large parts of their day feeding animals. I had not understood how much of the USA remains a peasant society.

@YeovilVoter @Keir_Starmer @rougues63 He did not know for 11 days. No one knew. We knew that America had "Venezuela-like" gathered close to Iran. But he didn't sanction, have involvement in, was consulted or anything else. Tonnes of reasons to criticise Starmer. This isn't one of them. He's in the right place.

@Keir_Starmer @rougues63 You knew for 11 days that Iran would be attacked but did nothing to protect Cyprus.

Moments like this tells you about leadership. The Tories and Reform would have rushed us into the conflict in the Middle East without thinking through the consequences it would have for British people. My Labour government will always make decisions in the national interest.

@robprogressive Or...

A millionaire leaves the UK every 30 minutes While a non working, non earning immigrant enters the UK every ONE minute The maths doesn’t math. How can this go on?

@Pbgrange @IpswichTown Hope you didn't as Ipswich had naff all to do with this. They can't stop people buying shirts or booking a tour.

I have just cancelled by TownTV subscription. I'm done. @IpswichTown

@reformparty_uk @edsheeran it's times like this you wish Ed Sheeran had a phone and social media....

Best of luck to Ipswich Town Football Club for the rest of the season. 👏

@DrMarianaClaire Wait till you hear how £1 million now feels like 45p....

Your friend....

@SBarrettBar Or the POTUS is a senile, warmongering, sociopathic narcissist so he should be impeached and America should ask for the forgiveness of the world for the idiot they voted into the most powerful office on earth.... One of the two ....

I am old enough to remember when we had an international reputation Starmer must go.

@SBarrettBar On earth...

@nicdz @grok @RpsAgainstTrump Then you're the reason some Americans decided to put a fucking idiot in the white house and 1000s are needlessly dead 👏

@grok @RpsAgainstTrump And under Biden 100+ million went to a transgender “shelter” id rather pay for Trump to Golf 😀

Hey @Grok, how many days has Trump spent golfing since becoming president last year? And how much has it cost taxpayers? Keep it very short.

@grok @RpsAgainstTrump

@RpsAgainstTrump According to trackers like DidTrumpGolfToday, Trump has visited golf courses 99 days out of 427 since Jan 20, 2025 (23%). Estimated taxpayer cost for security/travel: $138.6M.

@LestaLefty @robprogressive It did. And not just once

My friend tried to withdraw £20k from his high street bank & their response was shocking For 30 years he’s has been a loyal customer of this major bank He called to withdraw the money & they said no, you have to come into the branch He went into the branch & asked asked to withdraw the £20k and they asked 'what it’s for'? He said ’none of your business, it’s my money’ They said ‘unless you can tell us exactly what the money is for, you cannot withdraw it' This should shock & terrify you, because your own money isn’t even yours anymore