Gary Freer 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🌳

@chambleebrandel Don’t talk nonsense. I went twice and enjoyed it. Golfers play for money. Nothing wrong with that.

While there are many people celebrating the demise of LIV, for far too long there were far too many mute mouths about the cancer that LIV was and is. It tilted the game towards greed. It muddied the meritocratic aspects of golf. It’s likely that the philanthropic foundations of this game will, to some extent, be eaten into to fund the future equity of PGA Tour players. It stalled, or killed, the trajectory of hall of fame players. It divided the game. The only win, as I see it, is that LIV sought to launder the atrocities of the Saudis, but instead it further highlighted them. As LIV players sold their autonomy, the whole sport seemed to be in the throes of transition, from professionalism to authoritarianism. But the golf world knew that the Saudis were not interested in golf and that sport has norms that are worth preserving. Money, not for merit, but for the murky purposes of sportwashing crowds out those norms. It is in the striving to get better that one gets richer, that is the transformative influence of sport; both the athlete and audience benefit from the norms of competition. Sportswashing, what MBS/PIF were attempting to do with LIV by paying athletes for their celebrity to confer legitimacy on their murderous regime, reverses this process because it is only ostensibly about the competition, it is primarily about the obfuscation of the horrors of the regime. Both the athlete and the audience are robbed of the transformative influence of sport and what they are participating in and watching is merely a facade, a base amusement. So it is no surprise that almost nobody watched. Good riddance to the Saudi backed LIV.

@GDavies916 @kevinhatchard Watch Forest at Sunderland?

@kevinhatchard Back to our Premier league at the weekend. Set piece obsession, passing across endlessly at the back. Pushing and throwing each over, time wasting, long throws, play acting, rubbish VAR, playing 10 at the back…oh the joys. 🙄

What was lovely about PSG-Bayern was how it just ripped up football orthodoxy. No digging in, no calming things down, no damage limitation. Just risk-taking and imagination all the way. Two coaches who have totally removed the fear from their players, and replaced it with hunger.

@kevinhatchard And some dreadful defending.

@amwilson_opera @Telegraph Hear hear. It’s a very worrying trend. Resilience is a quality nearly everyone will need to draw on at some period of life.

@Telegraph Everybody has anxiety at some stage or another and feels low. They are unpleasant but a normal part of life. In many cases they are not an "illness" and our tendency to medicalise them is taking resources and attention away from moderate/serious categories of mental illness.

🔴 The report estimates suggest that 51pc of people aged between 15 and 19 have a mental or behavioural disorder such as anxiety, depression or ADHD 🔗: telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/…

@JAHeale Watch out for those shy Reform voters

Lord Hayward, pollster and Tory peer, has done his forecasts for next week’s council elections: 🩵Reform - gain 1550 🔶Lib Dems - gain 150 🌴Tories - lose 600 🌹Labour - lose 1850

@JVMonte2 Mike Oldfield

Who’s a great multi-instrumentalist?

@Rane_01 @ElectionMapsUK @Survation Where’s the evidence they are English nationalists rather than patriotic Brits?

@ElectionMapsUK @Survation The Welsh about to elect a bunch of ex Tory English nationalists to run their country 😂

Senedd Voting Intention: RFM: 30% (+6) PLC: 28% (+4) LAB: 15% (-12) CON: 10% (-5) GRN: 10% (+5) LDM: 4% (-1) Via @Survation, 17th - 23rd Apr, Changes w/ 2025

@TashaMahal @itsjohntiller No problem Elise, nice thread

@GaryFreer2 @itsjohntiller My bad,Mr. Freer, and thank you for pointing that mistake out to me. Yes, they are! Still believe many of the greatest songwriters (and literary writers, as well) are from the British Isles. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Procul Harum, Dire Straits, Traffic .... etc.

New York Times magazine has published its list of “The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters” What do we think folks? Have they missed anyone out? 😯

@DavidKn56173324 @JVMonte2 Just shaded by Abacab as their worst

@JVMonte2 Can't say it is hidden because Genesis were a massive band....but their self titled 1983 record is one of the best records of the 80's and totally overlooked.

What 80s album is a hidden masterpiece that never got the credit you felt it deserved?

@JVMonte2 Both Of Us - Clifford T Ward

@sinceApril1970 @TunawithaCh And we haven’t forgotten the Penalty Miss against France. He’ll turn up carrying an injury, play like crap and the ouch won’t have the bottle to drop him

@TunawithaCh Kane is very clearly a great talent. He does however need to perform well at a major tournament, not scoring a hatrick against Dog & Duckland, but scoring big goals at the business end of the tournament The last 2 outings have been quite lack-lustre. This time England expects

Harry Kane is the best English forward I've probably ever watched. Shearer is my hero.. my idol... but Harry is unbelievable. I hope he wins the champions league and we win the world cup. His ability warrants that kind of success.

@VintageRockN_85 Britten conducting the War Requiem

If you can go back to the 1960s for only one night, but couldn’t see the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.. who would you go see?

@gnomehelper @JohnWight1 Are you Lord Hermer?

@JohnWight1 Completely unprofessional, they should be suspended pending an investigation.

This is outrageous. The guy is clearly incapacitated on the ground, having rightfully and thankfully been tased, yet two police officers are repeatedly kicking him in the head. Who do they think they are: members of the IDF?

@Bluto78 @itsjohntiller 4 Englishmen and a Canadian

@itsjohntiller Pete Townshend, Jack White, Jagger and Richards, Joanie Mitchell, Elvis Costello

@AdamGinsberg9 @itsjohntiller The joke is on you. He’s English

@itsjohntiller OMG!!! THE GREATEST SONGWRITER EVER NOT HERE!! SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY!!! WHAT A JOKE!

@kashmere2u @itsjohntiller She’s Canadian

@itsjohntiller Unbelievable that Joni Mitchell isn’t on this sausage fest but Bad Bunny and Jay Z are

@Blochead4real @itsjohntiller He’s English

@itsjohntiller Elvis Costello trails only Bob Dylan as the greatest songwriter in history. And on most days I don’t think Dylan is an iota better.

@TamaraLBennett1 @itsjohntiller He’s from England, via Australia

@itsjohntiller barry gibb barry gibb barry gibb are you freakin' kidding me? he's better than any1 listed.

@CanningChuck @itsjohntiller No but three are English and one Canadian

@itsjohntiller Did Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Paul McCartney, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, John Fogerty, Ray Davies, Elton John, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young all pass away?

@VermontCheese @itsjohntiller She’s Canadian

@itsjohntiller No Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, Joni Mitchell? Give me a break. x.com/itsjohntiller/…