Richard Allen

I teach sums by day....hard sums....but have been known to sing a bit too! You can hear me on Youtube....go on, you know you want to!! ;-)

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

Thank you @EdwardJDavey for pointedly reminding @KemiBadenoch that events such as the PM’s resignation involve human beings that should still be afforded a level of respect, regardless of political differences, when everyone can see how emotionally challenging the decision was.

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

@DavidLammy I completely agree with your comments @DavidLammy! I continue to be appalled by the personal attacks on others from @KemiBadenoch, designed to belittle and ridicule them, and justified as ‘holding others to account’! No wonder the country is so divided and full of hatred!

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

Well done to @LindsayHoyle_MP for asking MPs in PMQs to be mindful of how they challenge their colleagues. No wonder the country is so divided and full of hatred when the likes of @KemiBadenoch ridicule others with such personal attacks! Set a better example to your constituents!

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

I’ve just watched @KemiBadenoch at the despatch box in Prime Minister’s Questions and feel compelled to express how appalled I am by her style of delivery. By all means hold the government to account, but personal digs aimed at ridiculing others demeans politics and fuels hatred!

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

Seeing some of the embarrassingly hateful reactions to Starmer's resignation today, I thought it was worth resharing this.

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

@Matt_Pinner E

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Rubio on Ukraine: "Usually when a President tries to engage himself in peacemaking, in ending wars, that's applauded. This is one of the few times, when people criticize a President trying to end a war."

The criticism isn't about ending the war; it’s about demanding Ukraine’s surrender in a war it hasn’t lost or started, and disgusting bothsidism that ignores russia's war crimes and the illegality of an invasion that is just the latest in a long line of russian aggression.

​If you want the criticism to vanish, stop pressuring the victim. Arm Ukraine, tighten sanctions, and seize the shadow fleet.

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

These were the days when the world not only had respect for a U.S. president, they loved him as much as America did.

His representation of his country on the world stage was NEVER viewed as it is by a man now viewed as the global village idiot.

His name appears ZERO times in the Epstein files. He never needed to praise himself once, name a road or a building after him. He never sued the DOJ or filed malicious law suits against those who disagreed with or criticised him, because real men can take criticism.

He didn’t pretend to have a healthcare plan, he passed one into law. He never mocked disabled people or asked not to be seen with service members who had lost limbs in service of this nation, neither did he call those who fought and died for this nation ‘suckers and losers’

He won an ACTUAL Nobel Peace Prize and didn’t have to make up numbers for how many people attended his inauguration. He needed no monuments to his presidency because he had absolutely nothing to prove.

He served his nation with honour dignity and respect, the same respect he afforded America’s allies. He did not run an international extortion gang from the Oval Office and certainly didn’t send masked thugs into red state communities to brutalise them in order to instil fear.

He rebuilt a broken economy after the housing crash he faced in the year he was elected, handing off a growing economy when he left office in 2016.
He never stole money from low and middle income workers to hand tax cuts to the rich, while setting up a crypto bribe pipeline.

His speeches will go down in history as rhetorical masterpieces, with joined up coherent sentences and punctuation.

He never once felt the need to post an inflammatory vile and disgusting video about ANYONE, because he is a good and honest man, who remains to this day a beloved statesman and a man Donald J Trump will never be, even in a tan suit.

🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/qcvpnAvZb7

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

@GoldenAgeUnfold E!!!!!!!

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

[MarshFamilySongs @MarshSongs]

Huge happy 80th birthday to the legendary @DollyParton 🎉- we are marking it with a parody of her 2nd number one hit, written by the @BeeGees.
Our 🎶 version's called "Donald's Sewage Stream" - since he brought his sick drivel to #Europe #Davos #NATO & our #armedforces this week

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

Threatening to invade Greenland is reckless, destabilizing, and a stunning waste of focus and resources.

Not to mention profoundly stupid.

To restate what shouldn’t need to be said: Greenland is part of Denmark, a NATO ally. Threatening military force against Greenland strikes at the heart of NATO itself. Alliances only work if members trust that borders are respected and disputes are resolved through cooperation.

This helps Russia and China. NATO unity is our single greatest strategic advantage. Undermining it does more to advance Moscow’s and Beijing’s interests than anything they could accomplish on their own. A divided, distracted West is exactly what they want.

We already work closely with Denmark and Greenland on Arctic security and missile defense. That cooperation has been based on trust and mutual respect. Threats destroy that foundation overnight, and erode our credibility everywhere.

This is how alliances collapse, and once broken, they are incredibly hard to rebuild. https://t.co/VDe1o7kujQ

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

@itvnews Why is the lighting in your new studio dimmer than it was before? I’ve watched the News at Ten every night this week and the presenters at the desk look as if a bulb has gone out over their head. @PaulBrandITV had dark shadows around his face and under his chin. Somber!

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

@StandUpForElonn E

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

BREAKING: Gavin Newsom just obliterated Trump’s might-makes-right regime in 90 seconds.

No fear. Just a full-throated defense of law, democracy, and human dignity.

This is a must-watch.

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Statement from the Premier of Greenland 🇬🇱
6:55pm local time:

“🇬🇱 We have been a close and loyal friend of the United States for generations. We have stood shoulder to shoulder in difficult times. We have taken responsibility for security in the North Atlantic — and not least for North America. That is what true friends do.

Precisely for that reason, the current and repeated rhetoric coming from the United States is entirely unacceptable.

When the President of the United States speaks of “needing Greenland” and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it is not only wrong. It is disrespectful.

Our country is not an object in great-power rhetoric. We are a people. A country. A democracy. That must be respected — especially by close and loyal friends.

We are part of NATO, and we are fully aware of our country’s strategic location. We also understand that our security depends on good friends and strong alliances. In that context, a respectful and loyal relationship with the United States is very important. That has been the case for decades.

But alliances are built on trust. And trust requires respect.

Threats, pressure, and talk of annexation have no place between friends. That is not how one speaks to a people who have repeatedly demonstrated responsibility, stability, and loyalty.

Enough is enough.

No more pressure.
No more insinuations.
No more fantasies of annexation.

We are open to dialogue. We are open to conversations. But they must take place through the proper channels and in full respect of international law. And the proper channels are not random and disrespectful posts on social media.

Greenland is our home and our territory.
And it will remain so. 🇬🇱”

[Richard Allen @Dickytweets]

📢 I've signed @AlzResearchUK's petition because people with dementia deserve the right to an early, accurate diagnosis. Don't leave #DementiaUnseen, sign the petition today. https://t.co/W90tQaL9e3

[Jean Hatchet @JeanHatchet]

It doesn’t matter what you think of Rachel Reeves this is a picture of a woman who has been crying a lot and overnight too to have such swollen eyes. Leave her alone. She’s a politician yes, but she’s a human being in distress. It’s not ok to demand to know why or make her account for it.

[Pete @splendid_pete]

This fucking idiot stood at the G7 summit, surrounded by world leaders trying to maintain some shred of unity amid war, economic instability, and geopolitical chaos, and somehow managed to blame Justin Trudeau for Russia getting kicked out of the G8 in 2014.

That’s not just wrong, it’s aggressively dumb. Trudeau wasn’t even prime minister back then, Stephen Harper was. The decision wasn’t made by one or two people either. It was a unanimous action by all G7 nations after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.

But Trump, in his usual fact-optional style, needed to turn a complex, multilateral diplomatic response into a cartoon villain story starring Obama and Trudeau. Why?

Because he can’t go five minutes without sucking up to Putin or throwing punches at liberal leaders he resents. It’s lazy, dishonest, and painfully embarrassing on the world stage. Instead of backing Western allies against authoritarian aggression, he makes up history to kiss the ass of a dictator and insult the host of the fucking summit.