Alan Goodearl

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@Madz_Grant @matt02392 @LiamUKPolitics So, if your job involved standing around while people threw bins at you, you wouldn't mind a politician encouraging them to show nice cold rage? You'd only mind the nasty hot type. There being no risk of bin-throwers muddling the two.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@gypsydave5 @TedIacobuzio @ClarkeMicah @MykhailoXPIH It depends on how you look at things. Was the Pearl Harbour raid a US victory because the Japanese fleet retreated, even tho the ratio of losses were in their favour? Few in Britain in 1916 viewed Jutland with any kind of satisfaction.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@TedIacobuzio @gypsydave5 @ClarkeMicah @MykhailoXPIH If interested in this, I'd recommend Mark D Karau's "The Naval Flank of the Western Front" [Barnsley, Seaforth 2003], which looks at the Channel from a German perspective.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@TedIacobuzio @gypsydave5 @ClarkeMicah @MykhailoXPIH I am not aware of such a plan. Are you? If Germany had wanted to send battlecruisers into the Channel they cd have got there long before the main RN force cd have intervened from Scotland. It would have been a blunder. The 3rd BS covered the Channel approaches. 1/2.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@TedIacobuzio @gypsydave5 @ClarkeMicah @MykhailoXPIH Any battlecruisers that survived that wd not be well-suited to operate in the mine-strewn Channel narrows. If any remained, the GF would be waiting to ensure that they did not leave the Channel. Too big a sacrifice for one or two day's delay to troop movements. 2/2.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@TedIacobuzio @ClarkeMicah @MykhailoXPIH Up to a point. But you usually expect a victor - especially one with crushing numerical superiority - to suffer lighter casualties than his opponent. The RN was disappointed by the outcome. With reason.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@olympians @TheCiderShedPod I prefer the filler. Mrs P, Walter, a pot of tea: perfect. Updates on Chelsea's caravan, fine. Alice, R, George, Kenton, Ben, et al having interminable breakdowns, not what you want to hear while cooking.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@Brent_Council Well done, Ryan.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@bennymichielsen Some years ago, I spent a few days at Waterloo with a good guide; but you are showing things that I haven't seen before (or, at least, don't remember seeing before).

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@ClarkeMicah @WestminsterWAG Mementoes might be given to a church, town or person associated with the vessel. A friend had the bell from his grandfather's battlecruiser in his garden. Some go to museums, some are lost. Generally they are stored to pass to the next craft that carries the name.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@shashj And many good soldiers maintained that interest, even when there was quite a lot going on. Am reading Alan Brooke's diaries. 14th Dec 1943, on route to Montgomery in Italy, "we flew over the battleground of Cannae and flew rings round it low so as to have a good look at it."

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@54JohnBull @TheAngry53586 The Dover guns are a little smaller but otherwise very similar.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@bennymichielsen Thank you. It is interesting to hear that from someone who has walked the ground. I went on a motor tour along the Prussian line of approach and gained a sense of how difficult it must have been - narrow lanes, often with awkward terrain to either side.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@shashj Your thoughtful coverage of naval matters will be particularly missed. I hope you have opportunity to visit some of the interesting naval museums and many preserved ships they have in the US.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@fugitiveink @unguenta Up to a point. I too enjoy working an old garden. But many of us also admire the work of gardeners who made large changes in the past - moving villages, reshaping lakes, "improving" upon nature in radical and dramatic ways.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@BNHWalker Anecdotal only, but I felt that the UK switch in electing MEPs from single member constituencies to a list had a marked effect. Tho constituencies were huge, before 1999 active members had a profile. Afterwards, nobody knew who they were.

[Alan Goodearl @AlanGoodearl]

@simonharley Thank you. Marine paintings are hard to value. The subject can matter as much as the artist. That's a leap, tho, from anything he's achieved at auction. Is it a gallery that sells many ship pictures?