James Buffy-Maun

UK economy after Labour fixed the foundations

@PolitlcsGlobal Which bits of the EU are poorer than the UK?

🚨🇪🇺 NEW: The EU has approved the UK’s participation in Erasmus and will begin negotiations on two new key agreements -Electricity Agreement: The UK could join the EU’s energy internal electricity market (buying and selling power) if it follows the respective EU rules -Financial Contribution Agreement: The UK would make regular payments to help poorer EU regions The amount would depend on the size of the UK economy and the proportion of the internal market in which the UK aims to participate in -Erasmus+: The UK will rejoin the Erasmus+ student exchange programme from 2027 A review after 10 months will decide if it continues long term

Cambridge Classics degree required qualification first in the Mathematical Tripos until the 1850's. Thereafter a paper in amongst others Euclidian geometry was included until the early 20th century... It was eventually abolished to enable less-mathematical classics scholars to pass

I've been working on a long article about British elites and the role classics played in their education. I am an edu-trad and believe in the best that has been known & thought. But you can have too much of a good thing, and in the 19th C I think Britain overdosed on Classics! EG, in 1900, a donor offered to found a school of naval architecture at Cambridge University, but withdrew the offer when the university insisted the students would all have to qualify in Greek. Boris is a hangover from that era, when elegant translations of the Melian dialogue were seen as the best preparation for anything life would throw at you. In lockdown I think some leaked WhatsApps showed him struggling with basic percentages. It's a throwback to big educational debates in the early 20th C, when reformers wanted more maths and science on the curriculum, and the trad public schools wanted to stick with Greek & Latin.

@PrfChrisPainter I suppose he's had a lot of practice at messing up now

Keir Starmer shows the honesty to admit in public when he's seriously messed up. A politician acknowledging fallibility is a rare breath of fresh air.

@LukePollard Let's see if he can remember how many ships he's got available..

Today the Prime Minister has confirmed he has authorised UK armed forces to take action against Russian shadow fleet vessels to turn the screw on the funding for Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine. The UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. 🇬🇧🇺🇦

@peterkyle Shame there won't be any jobs thanks to Labour

Labour’s Employment Rights Act will benefit millions of workers across the UK.

@Keir_Starmer What ships will you be using for this? Your own Secretary of State for Defence doesn't even know how many he has. If he's a top minister it explains a lot

Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets. I will always defend British interests at home and abroad, which is why we are taking action against Russia’s shadow fleet today.

@AvonandsomerRob @PaulReadGB Goldenpension

Keir Starmer plays 007 in the next James Bond Movie. Can we get a working title?

@LBC @LucyGoBag @NickFerrariLBC Imagine the terror he inspires in Moscow. Now he’s going to board shadow fleet vessels with his imaginary navy. If it was 1939 and he had to keep track of 184 destroyers it might be forgivable. He has 7 frigates and 6 destroyers in total.

How many frigates and destroyers does the UK have at its disposal? Defence Secretary John Healey can't seem to tell @NickFerrariLBC with any certainty.

@CVW19752015 @pinstripedline The Permanent Secretary of the Air Ministry clearly went to Oxford

@pinstripedline Interesting choices of 'vital to survival'...presumably docks-based and factories-based, largely, it seems apart from the Oxford area!

A 1950s TOP SECRET map showing the critical areas of the UK that needed to be defended from both conventional and nuclear air attack by Fighter Command and ground based AA defences.

@DPJHodges The Government regards Diego Garcia as Mauritian sovereign territory

So Iran actually attacked UK territory days ago. And the government withheld that information from parliament and the public.

@PolitlcsUK @thetimes Surprised Squirrelton isn’t in there

🚨 NEW: The proposed names the Government is considering calling its new towns - Elizabethtown (after the Queen) - Pankhurst (after suffragette Emmeline) - Attleeton (after ex-PM) - Athelstan (first King of England) - Seacole (after nurse Mary) [@thetimes]

@lewis_goodall They can tell a sucker when they see one

Cyprus PM on future of British bases: “When this unfortunate situation in the Middle East is over, we need to have an open and frank conversation about the status and future of the British bases in Cyprus,”

@Keir_Starmer @LPerrinx There aren’t going to be any workers if you continue with your loony policies

Last year, the future of British Steel was on the line. Scunthorpe’s steel furnaces were hours away from shutting down. I couldn’t let thousands of people lose their jobs. So we saved British Steel. Time and again, people want to write off Britain’s workers. The Tories did it again and again. My Labour government will never leave workers behind. We’re investing in British steelmaking across our country – so we can make more of our own steel here at home.

@JohnSimpsonNews Have you considered the possibility that you are not a great judge of character?

@ClaireH_Scott Nice that they’ve rolled out the red rug for him

Keir Starmer sets down in Cork Airport for the UK-Ireland summit

@gregbagwell To have zero naval assets in the region for the first time in decades just as war breaks out does not suggest the Nelson touch

5/ As for the accusation that an RAF CDS can’t value a Navy capability, I would suggest that anyone making it has an agenda to emplace their own candidate. The process to form military advice is a joint one that takes advice from all the experts; no single service bias survives.

Some are putting out a story that Sir Rich Knighton (CDS) should resign over recent events in Cyprus. Some say he’s lost the confidence of the PM, some say an RAF officer can’t appreciate the Navy’s capability and some say he is not a warfighter. Let’s address each in turn: 1/12

@EdwardJDavey If he were given to strops, he would surely ban you from X. That he allows you to post your snivelling nonsense despite your petty vendetta on his own platform speaks volumes about him, and says much about you.

Ed Miliband must step in and bar Tesla from holding an energy licence. Elon Musk is a threat to our national security and clearly not a fit person to operate in our energy industry. We can’t have the lights go out because he’s having a strop on X.

@PolitlcsUK Will he be reducing the voting age to 18 months?

🚨 WATCH: Keir Starmer jokes "I'm nearly finished" as a child repeatedly screams over his speech in Belfast

@LoftusSteve Yes they have always replaced notable Britons with other notable Britons. There is no shortage of famous Brits to choose from. Uniquely British animals are rare though.. the Horrid Ground Weaver Spider perhaps?

I made a mistake yesterday that I think others have fallen for too. The BoE is not replacing Churchill and other historical figures so not to cause offense to certain groups. The notes change every 10 years and those involved in voting chose Wildlife. That's it.

@GBNEWS Is that why you gave £75k to Lord Mandelson?

‘I am fighting for all those people…who worry if they can make ends meet.’ Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks from Belfast, following the release of the first tranche of Mandelson files, about the impact of the Iran war on the cost of living.