John Phoenix

Northern

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Keir Starmer — ever a man of his word til the end.
In June 2023 he explicitly ruled out ever indulging in a resignation honours list (BBC Radio 4 Today).
Today he’s marked his resignation with 21 peerages, overwhelmingly public-sector/legal jobsworths. Barely a single wealth creator among them.
Classic line up of the New Establishment which has run the country under Labour and Tory governments for the past three decades and is now firmly in control. Largely (if not entirely) with the following characteristics:
*Career almost entirely in public sector, often taking salaries from several sinecures at once as they work up the greasy taxpayer-funded pole.
*Associated with various ‘right-on’ causes.
*Largely middle class, London chattering class, Oxbridge well represented (of course).
*Fashionable left but not too left. Good mainstream Labour links.
Thus is the antediluvian House of Lords perpetuated by the Left as well as the Right as a comfortable state-funded retirement home for the well-connected ‘good and great’ past their sell-by date — when it should simply be abolished.

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@wandbc Labour governance what do we expect.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Restore Britain’s five step plan to end the welfare scam.

Number one.

No benefits for foreigners. Saves billions and billions every year. If a Somalian family is living on benefits in social housing funded by the British taxpayer, I wish them well. In Somalia. No discussion needed. Huge savings to be had.

Second.

The ballooning welfare bill is not solely down to foreign nationals, far from it. There are a huge number of British people taking the mick. The system is there for the taking, and they are doing exactly that. Claiming some disability or another, when there is evidently nothing wrong.

Face-to-face assessments are vital, regular and vigorous.

- Dedicated welfare fraud investigation units.
- Proper data-sharing between HMRC, DWP and local authorities.
- Automatic recovery of fraudulent claims from future earnings.

And actually through doing this, we can give proper support to those British men and women who genuinely need it. A fair, robust and compassionate approach.

Third.

A life on benefits for a healthy individual is NOT acceptable. If you can work, you must work. A few months to find a desired job is reasonable, but after that - if you want your benefit money, you will be put to work.

That is Restore Britain’s position.

Litter picking, street cleaning, gardening, scraping chewing gum off the pavement. Whatever. If it needs doing and you want the money, you’re doing it.

Random drug tests for those on benefits - if you’re getting high, the benefits stop.

Tough love.

Next.

Reintroduce the two child cap. Hardworking British parents shouldn’t have to subsidise indolence.

If you want more children, get a job.

Finally.

Tax cuts.

Raise the thresholds. Make it so that going back to work is financially rewarding. Obviously. Reward hard work, and people will do more of it. If people feel like going into work is actually worth it, they will do it. It must never pay to sit on benefits.

More training, more apprenticeships. A skilled and active workforce. Contributing, not taking. That is what we need.

A Restore Britain Government will ensure no household receives more in out-of-work benefits than the equivalent working family earns after tax.

The welfare system should protect those who cannot work, support those who fall on hard times, and help people back into employment as quickly as possible.

It should never be more attractive than work.

Restore Britain will reward contribution and ambition, not indolence and entitlement.

End the welfare scam, slash the bill, crush inflation.

[Kris Wigfield @kr62209]

About time.

The world’s biggest sport is controlled by an organisation that has spent decades lurching from one corruption scandal to the next.

If England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina ever moved together, FIFA’s leverage would collapse overnight.

Take back control of the game and give it back to the fans.

#ReclaimFootball

[Football Away Days @AwayDaysFB]

This Leeds fan has hit the nail on the head with the Wednesday situation, it is absolutely insane when you actually try wrap you're head around how on earth the EFL is going to dish out further deductions to them...

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

The man who wants to rescue Sheffield Wednesday, American businessman David Storch, says he has been “informed that a 15-point penalty is set to be imposed at the start of next season” in League One. The outgoing owner Dejphon Chansiri should hang his head in shame at the damage he has inflicted on Sheffield Wednesday. He can’t have a conscience. Otherwise he’d accept a compromise on bid price. 

The EFL should have been tougher with Chansiri quicker. The FA should remember it is supposed to be custodians of the game and protect clubs. The importance of an Independent Football Regulator, much delayed by vested interests, is highlighted again by events at Wednesday. 

At the moment, the people being punished at Wednesday are fans, players, staff and the man who wants to save them. Shameful situation engulfing a historic club which could have been avoided with stronger leadership by the authorities. And Chansiri locating some principles. #SWFC

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@mark_flemdog @skylineowl Neither played for swfc

[Jim Chimirie 🇬🇧 @JChimirie66677]

The scrapping of an Eton-backed free sixth form in Middlesbrough tells us more about Labour than any manifesto ever could. A project designed to educate the brightest children from one of the poorest parts of the country was not stopped because it failed, cost too much, or lacked need. It was stopped because it threatened to succeed. And success, when it cannot be controlled, is intolerable to this government.

This was not a fee-paying outpost or a vanity scheme. It was a free school, approved under the last government, partnered with a proven academy trust, aimed squarely at deprived pupils with high academic ability. The offer was simple: take children who show promise and give them an education equal to the best in the country. That should have been uncontroversial. Instead it triggered hostility, suspicion, and finally cancellation. Not because of what it would have done, but because of what it symbolised.

The real offence was a four-letter word: Eton College. That name short-circuited reason. Local Labour figures spoke of "elitism" while opposing a free school for poor children. Ministers talked about surplus places and SEND funding while quietly abandoning a project already designed to address a regional attainment gap that everyone admits exists. None of it holds up. The explanations came after the decision, not before it.

Look at the facts Labour prefers not to dwell on. The North East lags badly behind London on A-level results and university entry. That gap has widened, not narrowed. This school was explicitly designed to deal with the A-level drop-off that has trapped bright pupils in the region for years. Its location was central, its funding secure, its academic model tested. Scrapping it did nothing to help SEND pupils and nothing to raise standards elsewhere. It simply removed an option that would have worked.

What happened in Middlesbrough fits a pattern we have already seen. When schools succeed by insisting on discipline, knowledge, and high expectations, the response from Labour is not curiosity but suspicion. Not imitation but obstruction. Katharine Birbalsingh and Michaela showed what happens when deprived children are taken seriously. Instead of being celebrated, that success is treated as a problem to be managed. The lesson is the same here: excellence outside the approved model must be neutralised.

The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, claims the money could be better spent elsewhere. That argument collapses on contact with reality. Identical Eton-Star colleges have been approved in other Labour-run areas. The money exists. The model is acceptable. What differed in Middlesbrough was not need, but politics. Local ideological resistance was indulged, and bright children paid the price.

This is the quiet cruelty of modern Labour education policy. It speaks endlessly about disadvantage while dismantling the very ladders that allow people to climb out of it. It treats aspiration as a threat and excellence as exclusion. It would rather keep everyone inside a failing system than allow some to rise beyond it, because rising exposes the lie that background is destiny.

We are told this is about fairness. It is not. Fairness would mean expanding opportunity wherever it appears. What Labour practices instead is levelling by denial. If not everyone can have something, no one should. If a school might allow working-class children to outperform expectations, it must be stopped in case it embarrasses the system.

Middlesbrough did not lose a school. It lost permission to excel. A message was sent to its brightest children: know your place. That is not compassion. It is control. And until Labour grasps the difference, it will keep dressing envy up as justice and calling restraint care. Ministers will feel nothing. Children will pay the price.

"Bridget Phillipson, claims the money could be better spent elsewhere. That argument collapses on contact with reality."

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@skylineowl Answer?

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Bingo.

The problem is that massive transfers from productive members of society via taxation enable the vast staff of elite universities to enjoy the benefits of capitalism while living under the illusion of communism.

[TW Football @TWFootball1867]

A sneak peek from an analysis thread that will be dropping later.

Wednesday's second goal - not appreciated for the move and the play.

20 passes, patient, controlled play.

A look at the freezes

1: shows our change of shape in the second half - looking much more like Wednesday of the last 18 months. 433 build up, rotation with Svante moving out to false full back with Lowe going high and Kobacki coming in and looking for space between the lines with Lowe.

2: After patient play, Svante picks it up at false left back, Koback holding space between the lines - this is a key change from the first half -

3: rotation between Kobacki and Lowe, with Lowe now holding the space in the box - between the lines. You then see a ladder movement pattern between Baz, Kobacki and Lowe - runs from the ladder with the lay off into space.

4: Picking up Cadz for the finish. He knows the space he is going to attack, as he attacked the same space to disrupt for the first goal. But timing is key, he has to come onto the ball to finish on one touch, so holding that initial position is key.

5: Cadz holds to see the weight of the pass into McNeill, as he can play the cross first time, Cadz starts the move across as the defenders drop, picking up the yard between the lines

A great goal from a side who have spent no money, have about 10 fit senior players, have had little pre season, dont regularly get paid, and, apart from 3 of them, none of which were first team starters at the end of last season.

I think Henrik was a little guilty of going too defensive and rigid in the first 2.5 games, but these players can play, and the youth, McNeill, Cadz, Kobacki, need to be given the freedom to play rather than being shackled in a rigid system.

More to come later

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@richgrain @willgrainger08 @nicrichholwill Brilliant..proud Dad

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@DrRosena Define a timely manner? There's a schedule a plan that should be executed and not overrun? The area is gridlocked enough with cycle lanes, road works and LTNs . Take accountability

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@nataliemartinez When is the next?

[Niall Harbison @NiallHarbison]

I share what Snickers brings every morning here on my insta…

https://t.co/B8ruKgLn4p

A follow would be much appreciated 🥰🙏

[Richard Grainger @richgrain]

Love this clip from Will v Poland yesterday - great last ditch tackle prevented him getting a shot off #fawales #swfc 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿⚽️

[Ian Wright @IanWright0]

After my debut show whilst still a player in 1997 and many more memorable years, I’ll be stepping back from BBC MOTD at the end of this season. I feel very privileged to have had such an incredible run on the most iconic football show in the world.

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@Ocado any issues with Egg supplies? Not much of a selection today

[John Phoenix @FlamzingJP]

@jon_cooper75 Today?