Bruno Roeber

[Fascinating @fasc1nate]

"When I told my father I was going to marry Jake he said, ‘If you marry that man you will never set foot in this house again.’⁣
⁣
He was horrified that I could contemplate marrying a black man, and I soon learned that most people felt the same way. The first years of our marriage living in Birmingham were hell — I cried every day, and barely ate. No one would speak to us, we couldn’t find anywhere to live because no one would rent to a black man, and we had no money.⁣
⁣
People would point at us in the street. Then I gave birth to a stillborn son at eight months. It wasn’t related to the stress I was under but it broke my heart, and we never had any more children.⁣
⁣
We were at the same technical college. I was having typing and shorthand lessons and he’d been sent there for training by the Air Force. He was with a group of black friends and they called my friend and me over to talk. We didn’t even know they spoke English, but Jake and I got chatting. He quoted Shakespeare to me, which I loved.⁣
⁣
Jake returned to Trinidad, but we carried on writing to each other, and a few years later he returned to the UK to get better paid work.⁣
⁣
He asked me to marry him, quite out of the blue, when I was only 19. My father threw me out, and I left with only one small suitcase to my name. No family came to our register office wedding in 1948.⁣
⁣
But gradually life became easier. I got teaching jobs, ending up as a deputy head teacher. First Jake worked in a factory, then for the Post Office.⁣

Slowly we made friends together, but it was so hard. I used to say to new friends: ‘Look, I have to tell you this before I invite you to my home — my husband is black.’⁣
⁣
My father died when I was 30 and although we were reconciled by then, he never did approve of Jake.⁣
⁣
Today we have been married for 63 years, and are still very much in love. I do not regret marrying him for an instant, despite all the pain we have suffered."⁣

[Fascinating @fasc1nate]

The small French village of Chambon-sur-Lignon received a surprise $2.4 million gift in the will of a 90-year-old Austrian man named Eric Schwam after he padded away in 2020.

Shocked officials soon learned that Schwam was paying the town back for saving him and his family from the Nazis 80 years earlier.

He asked that the town use the money to fund education initiatives and scholarships for the local children.

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@JamesAALongman Friend?

[James Longman @JamesAALongman]

Every day of the siege of Mariupol, Ekaterina thought she might die. On the day of her family’s escape, they tried to get to her father. But Russian troops shot at them. She had to make the unimaginable choice: leave her dad behind to save her daughter. Her story @ABCNewsLive

[ABC News Politics @ABCPolitics]

“Vladimir Putin may have thought all he had to do was pressure Zelenskyy and he’d fall. But the master tactician may have underestimated his enemy.”

@IanPannell reports from Kyiv as Ukraine agrees to meet with Russian negotiators at Belarus border. https://t.co/EUu1bcjvD8

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@BBCTomEdwards Necessity is the mother of invention!

[Jon M. Taggart @jonmtaggart]

"Do you own a chainsaw?"
"Indeed."
"Can you cut down this 2ft dia, 80ft pine tree for me, please?"
"Where is it?"
"At my house........... but the house is just 3ft away to the left & a shed 1ft away to the right.
You need to miss both of them. .........Can you do it?
yes indeed..

[Malcolm Clark @TwisterFilm]

1./ The Global Race to Vaccinate has begun. Here are just some of the obstacles scientists and countries have to overcome in the biggest medical challenge in history. The good news, as stats from @OurWorldInData show, the UK has started well. But we're only on the first lap.

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

The day Covid shook my faith in television news https://t.co/FnRZ6bqlgH

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@ChrisBalster Ha .. I’ve been meaning to get that done ... finally. This is the incentive I needed. Hope you are well & keeping that way. B

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@JamesAALongman And another difficult but necessary metric; who is at risk and who is paying the highest price? It shouldn’t be one versus the other but again an important part of the conversation that needs to be had.

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@JamesAALongman Completely agree. Tricky life vs life balance to be struck here. Risk of life from COVID vs risk to normal life from no economy, no jobs, no future. Yes I know simplistic analogy but does go to the heart of policy trade-off and should discussed more openly.

[Mikhail D. @Eire_QC]

Just released footage of the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, under Azerbaijani bombardment on the 4th of october 2020. #Armenia #Artsakh #Azerbaijan

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@OmarJimenez Enchanting, poignant, inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time.

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

Nuff said!

[Franak Viačorka @franakviacorka]

Pro-Lukashenka "supporters" rehearsing the slogans on the bus: "Father! Motherland! Belarus"; "Belarus is us!", "Only together and only forward".

Various pro-government rallies took place in Belarus regions. Public sector workers were forcibly brought there.

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

Amazingly creative ... particularly given the circumstances.

[Janek Lasocki @JanekLasocki]

They're coming for you Lukashenko ;)

(By St Petersburg artist Alexander Ivanov)

#BelarusProtest #Belarus

[Bruno Roeber @BrunoRoeber]

@JamesAALongman @Ayishat_Akanbi @Ayishat_Akanbi nails it all over the place. Excellent monologue from which we can learn a lot! We are exposing & redefining differences but actually not eradicating them. Re-tribalising society.