Philippa Jones

@englishmaninBX I will neeeeeeed a slice of that pretty please!!!

@MrDaveConroy Good decision !

I got my dishwasher off them 🤣

Refreshing to hear a sensible balanced view from a serious businessman about the budget on @BBCr4today. @johnrobertsAO says Dyson is talking nonsense. Already a fan of @ao. Now see why.

@MrDaveConroy @BBCr4today Just realised it was @johnrobertsAO , now I’m even more a fan of @ao

@MrDaveConroy Good, measured interview just now on @BBCr4today with Bolton business owner. He obviously has some concerns regarding budget but said Dyson is talking nonsense. Didn’t get his name but he needs wider media exposure

#taxdodgy Dyson, as expected given his track record

@englishmaninBX Best bit so far is headless Marie Antoinette listening to awful heavy metal band. I don’t think she deserved that

@libe Nous avons vu la même chose au Royaume Uni avec Reform. Regardez #ghostcandidates

👻 Au RN, il n’y a pas que des candidats problématiques, il y a aussi des candidats «fantômes»

Excellent thread. I was a JP for over fifteen years, the contrast between the early 2000s, with a resourced and respected Probation service, and the impact of austerity, an obsession with punishment and, well, Chris Grayling, was both stark and grim.

Congratulations to @JamesTCobbler on appointment as Prisons Minister. An inspired choice that will deliver real change to our broken prisons system. Bravo!

@IanDunt @JamesTCobbler is an inspired choice !

Good to see Starmer instantly recognising one of the really significant advantages of the House of Lords: allowing a prime minister to staff their Cabinet with experts from outside of the limited Commons talent pool.

@englishmaninBX Nads and Campbell will come to blows before the night is out!

@stanscafe Brilliant to see you doing this! 👏

We're live from the election count here in Birmingham....democracy in action

@Mij_Europe @IanDunt Trouble is LFI people insisting publicly that if Republican Front beats RN the Prime Minister must come from LFI. Some even say it should be Mélenchon even though he’s not even standing! That will push centre voters to vote for RN if centre stands down. Idiotic stance.

According to Le Monde, 166 third place candidates of left & centre in 306 three-candidate constituencies have already stood down. More doing so all the time. Republican Front is not perfect but is working reasonably well. Scope for an RN overall majority tightening considerably

@benfenton @IanDunt Anecdotal from a Brit living in France. 2 French people separately approached me about D Day today at the food bank where I volunteer and an elderly Algerian gent actually saluted me saying he is an ancien combattant.

The French newspaper Libération has a D-Day article about the gradual wiping of the British from the memories of the “Débarquements” - the landings on June 6 1944. Fascinating piece and indicative of Britain’s struggle to maintain relevance and salience in the 21st Century.

@englishmaninBX Impressive. But who or what are you trying to keep out - or in?

@russ63ok @fasc1nate Thanks Russ, as you know Charles Joughin was my disreputable but heroic ancestor !

@fasc1nate @PhilippaJones2 Thought this would be of special interest to you xx

Charles Joughin was the chief baker on the Titanic and one of its most unlikely survivors. He was interrogated by the British Titanic inquiry, which was tasked with finding out how the Titanic had sunk. Below is his interrogation by Mr. Cotter: "What did you do with the children when you put them into the boat? - Handed them into the boat or dropped them in. Threw them in? - Threw them in. And what did you do with the mother? - We wanted to throw her in, and I think she preferred to try and step in. What happened? - She missed her footing. You said that you never went into your boat. Why did not you go, seeing that you were in charge? - I would have set a bad example if I had jumped into the boat. None of the men felt inclined to get into the boat. When you found your boat had gone you said you went down below. What did you do when you went down below? - I went to my room for a drink. Drink of what? - Spirits. The Commissioner: Does it very much matter what it was? Mr. Cotter: Yes, my Lord, this is very important, because I am going to prove, or rather my suggestion is, that he then saved his life. I think his getting a drink had a lot to do with saving his life. In between helping women and children get inside the lifeboats, Joughin kept returning to his cabin for shots of heavy liquor. When the final lifeboats departed, Joughin remained calm and rode the Titanic down like an elevator. A drunk person is more likely to freeze to death than a sober person because of vasodilation (dilation of blood vessels). A drunk person is more prone to hypothermia because all the blood rushes away from the vital organs to the surface of the skin. However, in the case of Joughin, the North Atlantic Sea was approximately -2°C (26.4°F) that night, which was cold enough to constrict his blood vessels, and as a result, counterbalance the alcohol in his system. Joughin said he was relatively calm in the water and felt no pain. Joughin spent two hours in the water before he was able to climb aboard an overturned lifeboat. He was later saved by a passing lifeboat.

Save The Electric, The Crown and Station Street from demolition. Tell @BhamCityCouncil @andy4wm our cultural history is not for erasure. Designate Birmingham's Old Station Street a Historic, Cultural and Civic Asset - Sign the Petition! chng.it/6YXBmmY4My via @UKChange

This little animated video should be being very widely shared.

EN DIRECT | Conférence de presse du Président @EmmanuelMacron à l'issue du Conseil européen. twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@englishmaninBX Congratulations - go celebrate in someone else’s pub!🍻🥂