Dave Calderwood

Journalist, writing mostly about aviation and motorcycles

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

Harrier Sundown, as the US Marines call it

[Air Power @RealAirPower1]

The Harrier has officially left the building. VMA-223 "Bulldogs," conducted the final USMC AV-8B flight today at Cherry Point, closing the book on one of the most unique airframes to ever fly from an LHA. It’s all F-35B from here!

So long Jump Jet!

[Pilot Careers Live @pilotcareerlive]

Ever wondered what it takes to fly for the military? 🇮🇪✈️

Join us ar Pilot Careers Live Dublin on Saturday 17 October for an insider's guide to building a career as an Irish Air Corps pilot.

🎟️ https://t.co/XiIbJuRjzJ

[Steve Parrish @Stavros6]

Great trip past the #Isleofman this morning, on my way to @northwest200 Departure #huddersfield international. @Jimwhit69 👍

[Tom.C⚽️🇬🇧 @TomCom86136845]

😉

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

Those who say “I’ve never met a poor farmer” show breathtaking ignorance. The vast majority of farmers are cash poor and with huge production costs. Many live on below minimum wage and work brutal hours.

It’s time for a real acknowledgement and understanding of farming life and an appreciation and gratitude for what they do - providing our food and maintaining the beautiful countryside.

There is an old adage that “we reap what we sow”. This should be the case for farmers - because ultimately, no farmers, no food. Yet the Labour government appear to be hell-bent towards punishing the people who provide our food - farmers. How unbelievably illogically warped of them.

[Clean Up Britain @cleanupbritain]

This couple have been caught on camera fly-tipping near Nuneaton. The evidence will be passed to the Leader of Warks County Council @_GeorgeFinch who, we have full confidence, will ensure these people are prosecuted. @bbcmtd

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

@OilySmudges It was fast and looked great but I remember being puzzled by the handling. The front end was great but the rear seemed to resist lean. The Z1000 was better (wonderful bike!)

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

I'm so useless at Oily's quiz but this is one I did know because I rode the very first one in the UK for MCN and Bike mag back in 1978 (yes, I am that old)

[OilySmudges | Stuart 🇬🇧🏁🏍️ @OilySmudges]

OilySmudges' Mosaic Quiz No. 28
Congrats to our winners 🏆
Many thanks to everyone who joined in 👏👏👏
This week's answer: 1978 #Kawasaki Z1-R 🏍️🇯🇵
#Motorcycles
See you all again next time 👍

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

@classicrider I think Kawasaki introduced the remote master cylinder idea to make it less vulnerable - the Z1R had various bits to make it a good base for production racing. It looked great but I remember being puzzled by the handling.

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

@ChrisWhiteley2 Hi Chris. I think the ZZR was after my time on Bike mag. We did run all sorts of wacky travel stories by readers - often the best read in the mag.

[Julian Ryder @MotoGPJules]

I second that.

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

Excellent idea! I'm in.

[quibble @QuibbleUK]

Hello, we are Jonathan and Abigail - unashamed pedants who want to bring this affliction to bear on all things public policy and practice.
We believe that details matter, especially in public administration. This is why today we are founding quibble: a campaign to fix the small stuff.
Think, for example, about the cookie banner that we click on every webpage. Each instance is not a big deal, so we just put up with it. But its cumulative impact adds up - on average we press it 5 times per day. The European Commission estimates that it costs EU citizens 343 million hours per year.
And who is there to represent the impacts of seemingly minor issues like this in a systematic way? We want quibble to be the answer. In the case of the cookie banner, lots of advocacy has rightly focused on privacy, but has this meant that user experience has taken a backseat? We believe there are ways to improve user experience without compromising on privacy. We will share more about this soon.
Consider another example. Did you know that in some government-run car parks you can be fined for a minor keying error, such as accidentally typing a zero instead of an “o”? Again, we will come to the detail of this quibble in the coming weeks, but for now just consider again the question: who? Who is there currently to systematically represent the interests of the parker who is given an unfair ticket?
An inherent feature of consumer interests is that those who have them rarely have enough other things in common to make collective organisation and representation feasible. This is the gap that quibble seeks to fill. Now of course excellent consumer interest groups exist. But understandably quibbles might not be at the top of their lists. Our hope is that quibble will be complementary; picking up the bottom-of-the-list issues faced by various groups - the stuff they are almost too embarrassed to raise because they are too small.
We are not embarrassed about detail. If you’ve ever had a splinter, you know small things can have a big impact. This is what quibble is committed to tackling, and our wider hope is that by doing so we will also incentivise policy makers to be even more careful about detail.
Check out our website here, including our first four campaigns: https://t.co/gZiqqHbhIL

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

Can you see it yet? … This was once agricultural land, helping to feed the nation.

Now it’s Britain’s largest solar farm.

Bill payers have underwritten up to +/-
£80 MILLION of revenue on the Contract for Difference, depending on future electricity prices.

The land no longer makes food, the returns go to private international investors.

And WE underwrite the risk. This is stakeholder capitalism. Socialism on acid.
*sigh* you need to read the book!

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

Great shot!

[Isle of Man TT Races @ttracesofficial]

Where mountain and machine become one.
#tt2026 #isleofmantt

[Lawrence Whittaker @ListerLawrence]

@TheRealJamieKay Get people working! Lower Corp Tax to 20%, No income tax on any overtime or the over 67’s working. Half NIC for any workers under 30. Let’s go baby!

[Brian Spuzuki @BrianSpanner1]

Coming Soon.

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

92 years old and still amazing! Thanks for posting @stockotrader

[Mike’s Old Tat 🇬🇧🇺🇦 @stockotrader]

The DeHavilland Comet. Always great to see this wonderful Aircraft at Shuttleworth. Time to go home!

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Labour inherited a defence budget for 2024/25 of £60.2 billion. Latest projections put defence spending at £73.5 billion by 2028/29. That’s a rise of £13.3 billion. Where did you get the £270 billion increase from? The tooth fairy? Let me speak plainly: it’s a lie — delete the tweet.

[Dave Calderwood @DConflying]

@classicrider @DavidJ_Newell Is that bowls? Paul or some other obscure sport?

[Colin Brazier @ColinBrazierTV]

"Ex-Iraqi soldiers" are forcing away Belgian police trying to stop migrant boats crossing the Channel. This is an invasion and it's time Britain moved to a war footing to secure our safety.
My latest Friday monologue.