Andy Nash

All things Clevedon, Calgary & Alcossebre. Padel. Pickleball & Sea Shanties. Intend to live to 100 or die trying.

[Brendan May @bmay]

Every time we lose someone like Sir Alex Younger, the country becomes poorer.

The very best of Britain. RIP.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

James Reed runs one of Britain’s biggest recruiters. When he says high employer costs are killing entry-level jobs, he’s not guessing — he’s reading the data daily. £15,333 in 2016. £29,654 now. Labour Govt have broken the ladder. Young people are now paying the price.

[Times Radio @TimesRadio]

Reed chief executive James Reed says the high cost of hiring young people is to blame for plummeting entry level jobs.

"The cost of hiring a 21 year-old 40 hours a week in 2016 was £15,333, now it would cost the same employer £29,654 so it has gone up 93%"

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

Oh!

[Cut My Tax @CutMyTaxUK]

The new Danish government is cutting the corporation tax rate from 22% to 19% over three years, and eliminating income tax bands for the highest earners.

“It is crucial that Denmark remains competitive,” Prime Minister Frederiksen said.

It's sad that the British government does not have a similar attitude.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

@bphillipsonMP Looks like 95% of posts here are critical of “free breakfasts” being funded by taxes.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

Live footage of Labour being “the most business friendly Government ever.”

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

Let me get this straight.

Same tracks. Same signals. Same trains. Same staff. Same timetable.

Just… public ownership.

I’ve turned around a few businesses in my time. This is not a transformation. It’s a rebrand with a £Xbn price tag.

What problems are we fixing here?

[Luke Murphy MP @LukeMLabour]

This week marks a major milestone for our rail network, the first Great British Railway branded trains are being rolled out!

It’s great news for passengers in Basingstoke that the process of bringing railway services into public ownership is fully underway.

[DeepWebSlinger @deepwebslinger]

THE REACTIONS❗️

Just doesn't get better than that... 🙏 ✝️

[Gary Holman @GaryGaryholman]

Today we remember Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly OBE RN, the Royal Navy doctor who became one of the most respected medical officers in British military history and the only serviceman from the Falklands War to be decorated by both Britain and Argentina.

Richard Tadeusz “Rick” Jolly was born in Hong Kong in 1946 to Polish parents who had endured Japanese internment during the Second World War.

Educated at Stonyhurst College, he went on to study medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London, qualifying as a doctor in 1969. After working as a junior doctor, he joined the Royal Navy in 1972, beginning a career that would eventually place him at the centre of one of Britain’s most famous military campaigns.

During his naval service, Jolly served with the Royal Marines, the Fleet Air Arm and in a variety of operational and training appointments. One of his most important pre-war roles was as Medical Officer to 42 Commando Royal Marines, gaining invaluable experience in field medicine and operational deployments.

By 1982 he was serving as the Senior Medical Officer of 3 Commando Brigade, responsible for the medical support of thousands of Royal Marines and soldiers deployed to the South Atlantic.

During the Falklands War, Jolly established and commanded the field hospital at Ajax Bay, housed inside a disused refrigeration plant overlooking San Carlos Water. The hospital quickly became known as the “Red and Green Life Machine”, named after the colours of the Royal Marines and Army personnel serving there. Working under constant pressure, often with limited supplies and under the threat of Argentine air attack, Jolly and his team treated more than 1,000 casualties, including around 300 Argentine wounded.

Remarkably, of the 580 British battle casualties who reached Ajax Bay alive, only three later died and none died under Jolly’s direct care. Friend and foe alike received the same treatment, earning the respect of everyone who passed through the hospital.

For his actions during the campaign, Rick Jolly was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Years later, the Argentine government learned just how many of their soldiers had survived because of the work carried out at Ajax Bay.

In 1999, they awarded him the Order of May, one of Argentina’s highest honours. This made him the only veteran of the Falklands War to be officially decorated by both sides of the conflict. When he sought permission from Queen Elizabeth II to wear the Argentine medal, she personally approved the request.

Jolly remained in the Royal Navy until 1996, retiring as a Surgeon Captain after 24 years of service. In retirement he became a passionate advocate for veterans, helping to found the South Atlantic Medal Association and campaigning for greater recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among former servicemen and women. He also wrote several books, including The Red and Green Life Machine, which remains one of the most important first-hand accounts of medical operations during the Falklands War.

Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly died on 13 January 2018 at the age of 71. His legacy endures not only through the hundreds of lives he helped save but through the example he set of professionalism, courage and humanity in war.

In a conflict defined by bravery on land, sea and air, Rick Jolly proved that sometimes the greatest act of service is not taking life but preserving it.

Courtesy of FactSlap

Borrowed from Facebook.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

🙌🏻

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

50 000 Poles showed up at the main square in Kraków’s Old Town last week to celebrate the promotion of their team Wisla Krakow to the first league.

They cleaned up the square before going home, leaving no garbage behind.

0 arrests, 0 violence, 0 looting

[Gareth Baines @DrGABaines]

Nicola Sturgeon has updated her pronouns to him/not me

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

UK real per capita GDP growth 2016–25: 5.4%. Italy: 11.6%. Spain: 11.1%. France: 8.4%. We voluntarily erected trade barriers against our largest market. The OBR estimated a 4% long-run GDP hit. Right on cue.

[Julian Jessop @julianHjessop]

Several have asked about this chart from David Smith's (@dsmitheconomics) column in the Sunday Times today.

Doesn't it lay bare the costs of Brexit?

In short, no.

But here's a slightly longer answer... 🧵(1/n)

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

@AlistairCarns SWR nationalised May 2025. Result: cancellations +50%. Delays +29%. Late arrivals doubled. Cost to taxpayer: £21.6bn subsidy annually. Starmer’s claimed saving: £150m. That’s 0.7%. “Passengers first.” 🫣.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

@Heidi_Labour Nonsense! The real-world evidence from SWR — the first operator nationalised, in May 2025 — is brutal. Cancellations rose by an average of 50% in the three months after nationalisation, with the problems getting more acute over time, performance has deteriorated.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

@Keir_Starmer Fixed? But nothing’s changed? Same trains. Same track. Same signals. Same staff. Same pensions. Same timetables.

What has changed is now taxpayers’ money will cover the ongoing losses.

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern “return to public ownership.”

🤔Same track. Same trains. Same staff. Same timetable chaos. The only thing that’s changed? It’s your money covering the losses now, not shareholders’. Nationalisation: where failure gets publicly funded. #rail

[UK Prime Minister @10DowningStreet]

From today, millions of passengers will have better train journeys.

We’ve nationalised Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express with plans to recruit more drivers and improve signalling to reduce delays and cancellations.

[Colin the Dachshund @DachshundColin]

"We asked 100 people to name something you might hide down the side of a house. You said a motorhome...."

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

@TONE1923 The UK borrows in its own currency but cannot print its way out without triggering inflation that destroys real living standards-as Truss found in 45 days in 2022. Gilt yields spiked, the pound collapsed, & the pension system nearly seized up. That’s not theory; it happened!

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

Absolutely. 👏

Is this clown seriously advocating the UK defaults on its debt? 🫣

We’re waiting to hear from him what exactly “ignore the bond markets”means 🤔

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

Quite right. No one voted for death either so let's live forever!

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

🫣

[Bella Wallersteiner 🇺🇦 @BellaWallerstei]

Norway is now richer per person than Britain, Germany, France and Sweden thanks to North Sea oil & gas. Britain has 7.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent beneath its own waters (@thetimes) yet imports a third of its gas from Norway instead….Utter madness!

[Andy Nash @57deacon]

Let’s hope this emboldens Govt to grasp the nettle and implement a strategy which guides those who’re currently in despair towards a better future. #NEET #welfare

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

The Milburn review could be be the most consequential report since Beveridge.

It's full of devasting inductments of state failure; things civil servants have wanted to say for years but never dared.

My column on why this could rewire the welfare state.
https://t.co/IslayB12CY