Stirling's Sahara wellies

@GMacdonaldSNP Good effort Gordon. Despite my complete disdain for politicians in general, most MSPs I have met, from every party (except the Greens....they are just tedious) have been decent, well meaning people. I'm sure you are also.

This is my last day as the MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands after serving 15 years in our parliament. Thanks to my staff, SNP activists, councillors and the folk who volunteer to support our communities. It has been an honour & a privilege! #BothVotesSNP #Independence🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@JohnSwinney FFS John.....I've got an idea.....why doesn't the SNP set up its own energy company?

Scotland is an energy superpower, yet we pay the highest fuel prices in the UK. This is a scandal of Westminster’s making - and while other countries act to support people, the UK government does nothing. It’s time to take control of our energy with independence.

@tjalve @LordMasterIvan You must have been there in May 😉

@7Stirling @LordMasterIvan It’s all lies I spent ten days in Scotland and there are just sun all the time!

European summer

@mblacky78 @Sherelle_E_J Correct. Cod is southern thing.

@Sherelle_E_J It’s only considered a national dish from a London centric point of view! Everywhere north of the M25 everyone knows haddock is better and the only real choice for Friday tea!!

Fish lovers are being told to buy hake instead of cod as the population plunges. Let’s get one thing straight. It is *stupefyingly ridiculous* that cod is a national British dish. Why is a fish that is caught in Norway/Russia/Iceland and processed in China and then deep fried to mask its watery, insipid texture considered the epitome of Britishness? While we are reviving Cornish hake, why don’t we end this bewildering habit of catching world-class seafood like spider crabs and langoustines and shipping it straight off to Europe because ewww “we don’t like the look of it”. Also what about delicious, meaty gurnard, abundant in English waters yet immediately exported to France and Spain? I had one in Cornwall once, and it was the most glorious fish I have ever tasted. I for one would be thrilled to see it in the supermarkets and restaurants.

@Sherelle_E_J You honestly couldn't pay me to eat cod....as you say, watery and slimey. Haddock is the king of British fish, closely followed by hake.

@redfoliot @LordMasterIvan The reason why I built a house on the south coast of England and take lots of holidays.

@7Stirling @LordMasterIvan Ha yes. Don't feel bad. I live in a place in the US where I often feel we have Scottish weather.

@WilliamT4479 @VeryBrexitProbs Gave?

@VeryBrexitProbs And we just flip a switch and they lose all aircraft we gave them. Bye bye. And they kick us out, they can deal with Russia and China. Good luck.

Trump thinks Europe needs NATO more than America does. His generals know better. Here’s what the US loses without it. 1. Its European base network Over 50 US military bases across Europe housing 84,000 troops. Ramstein in Germany is the largest US air base outside America and the hub for every US operation in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk is home to the only US F-35 wing in Europe, the same base the F-15 shot down over Iran last week flew from. These aren’t gifts to Europe. They are America’s front door to the rest of the world. 2. The geography it can never replace The US sits thousands of miles from every major conflict zone on earth. Europe puts American forces within striking distance of the Middle East, North Africa, the Sahel, the Arctic and Russia’s western border. No aircraft carrier replaces an entire continent. Without European bases America is projecting power across two oceans from a single landmass. That is not a superpower posture, it is an island. 3. Its intelligence network GCHQ, MI6 and European intelligence agencies feed directly into US operations. Five Eyes gives America more global surveillance reach than any other arrangement in history. Lose NATO and that pipeline closes. 4. Two allied nuclear powers The UK and France have independent nuclear arsenals. Outside NATO those weapons are no longer guaranteed to be on America’s side. That is two fewer nuclear powers in your corner. 5. Its arms export market European NATO members are America’s biggest weapons customers. F-35s, Apaches and Patriot missiles, hundreds of billions in contracts. If Europe goes it alone they buy European. Lockheed Martin and Boeing lose their biggest export market overnight. 6. The dollar’s global dominance NATO helps underpins the security order that keeps allies trading in dollars and holding dollar reserves. Collapse that alliance and the shift to alternative currencies accelerates. No single advantage matters more to American prosperity. 7. A trillion-dollar insurance policy 31 other countries have a legal obligation to fight for America if attacked. The only time Article 5 was ever triggered was to defend the US after 9/11. Over 1,100 allied soldiers died in Afghanistan answering that call. No other country on earth has anything close to this. 8. Its seat at the head of the table NATO makes America the leader of the free world. Without it the US is just another big country with a big army stranded between two oceans with no allies. China and Russia would celebrate for a decade.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Without NATO, America doesn’t gain independence. It loses an empire.

@Tom730410985 @VeryBrexitProbs

@VeryBrexitProbs BULLSHIT AND EVERYONE IN EUROPE KNOWS WE HAVE NO USE FOR THEM AT ALL. OUR BASES CAN BE BUILT IN MOROCCO AND OTHER AREAS AND WE WILL NOT FIGHT RUSSIA FOR EUROPE AND THAT IS THERE ONLY ENEMY THEY CLAIM. WHEN IN FACT THE ENEMY IS WITHIN AND WE CAN'T HELP WITH THAT EITHER.

@YuteMcWallad @AdamRamsay allthingswildlife.co.uk/articles/wild-…

@7Stirling @AdamRamsay We haven’t had bears for 1500 years and the ecosystem didn’t collapsed ffs. Organised culls of deer is a better alternative to introducing extremely dangerous predators

There are brown bears in France, Spain and Italy, Norway, Sweden and Finland; Greece and Japan. Why not Britain?

@KBababouie @AdamRamsay Really? Bears were indigenous to Britain and were wiped out by hunting and habitat loss around 1500 -1000 years ago.

@AdamRamsay The UK has NEVER had large predator animals like bears THIS WILL DECIMATE OUR LOCAL ECO SYSTEM also not a single fucking Brit is taught or has the knowledge on what to do when encountering a bear we will just die to bear attacks

@YuteMcWallad @AdamRamsay Removing apex predators like wolves and bears has hugely detrimental effect on ecosystems.

@AdamRamsay What’s the point in intentionally adding an animal dangerous to humans and livestock in such a small densely-populated country?

@StevosWright @InformaCosmos To be a serving member of the British armed forces you need to be a British or Irish citizen or a citizen of a Commonwealth country. The Brigade of Gurkhas is recruited solely from Nepal and is an integral part f the British Army.

@InformaCosmos Se puede ser de la guardia real siendo extranjero, o solo es hijo de extranjeros?

🇨🇴🇬🇧 | Una madre colombiana muestra con orgullo a los turistas un cartel de "Ese es mi hijo" frente a un guardia real en Inglaterra.

@KemiBadenoch Between 2010 and 2015 your govenrnment cut defence spending by 22%.....almost £13bn per anum. As we say in Scotland.....you have a brass neck.

When it comes to defence, Keir Starmer is all talk and no trousers. The Defence Investment Plan is nine months late. We literally have no plan for rearming our country - no plan for our equipment and munitions purchases. This is a national scandal.

@KemiBadenoch 14 years Kemi.....you had 14 years where your government presisded over the underfunding of our armed forces. Labour have been in power for less than 2 years, but somehow this is all their fault?

@YouveGoat2Laugh Type 45 Destroyer......Clyde built

Our 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿ferries could tow their useless 🇬🇧frigates.

@johnredwood The USA gives Israel $3.8bn annualy in military aid. In addition to they give extra funding to replenish ammunition and equipment in time of conflict - they have given $21.7bn in the past 2 years. The Israeli armed forces is primarily a conscripted force.

Israel has more military in uniform, an Iron Dome protection, more than six times as many tanks and twice as many combat aircraft than the UK for a smaller budget. Why can’t the UK government get more for our defence money?

@CleansedTweets We had jellyfish at one restaurant. Amazed how something could be crunchy and wobbly at the same time. The Chinese like textures that we don't. the flavours are good, but textures are challenging. They happily chomp away on cartilage and fat which I just can't do.

@7Stirling EXACTLY THIS! Thats why I posted... the meat cuts are not edible for me, at least.

Really fond of China, but not its food. I'll get some kickback on the comments here, apologies, but all my friends struggle with it. It could be my area, it could be just bad luck. I don’t know. However, we all agree that a British Chinese meal is the best in the world and one of our favourite foods.

@TickleMeElmoOG @LordMasterIvan Kefalonia......

@LordMasterIvan It’s pretty, but I’d rather have a Florida beach with warm water and soft sand over a European beach with cold water and rocky sand any day.

@LordMasterIvan We get 2 seasons in Scotland.....Winter and May.

@LordMasterIvan Scottish summer........