Gill Barrett

[Madeira Airport Spotting @MadeiraSpotting]

WOW! AMAZING GO AROUND Ryanair B737 MAX 8-200 at Madeira Airport

https://t.co/XY13q6006Q

[P a u l ◉ @SkylineReport]

BREAKING: Politics and security fears are starting to hit the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

FIFA expected a global stampede for U.S. matches.

Instead:
• thousands of seats remain unsold
• hotel bookings are lagging badly
• resale prices are falling
• and some host cities are quietly slashing expectations

The problem is becoming impossible to ignore:

Fans are being asked to pay Super Bowl-level prices…
inside a high-cost security-heavy environment increasingly associated with:
• visa delays
• aggressive immigration enforcement
• ICE concerns
• geopolitical instability
• expensive flights
• and growing fears around travel friction in the U.S.

That combination is creating a brutal mismatch between FIFA’s hype machine and real-world buyer behavior.

Even some marquee matches still have massive blocks of available seats while hotels in host cities report booking levels closer to a normal summer than a once-in-a-generation global event.

And there’s a deeper political problem underneath all of this:

The World Cup depends heavily on international fans.

Especially Latin American supporters.

But when the atmosphere around the tournament starts feeling expensive, hostile, unpredictable, or over-policed, “latent demand” stops converting into actual travel.

FIFA built pricing around a fantasy version of infinite demand.

Reality showed up with inflation, border anxiety, security concerns, and a maxed-out credit card.

Now organizers appear stuck waiting for last-minute buyers and emergency price cuts to save optics before kickoff.

[Stefan Moore ★ @2StefanMoore]

A final piece of advice from Holly Butcher - written the day before she passed away from cancer at just 27:

“It’s a strange thing knowing you’re going to die young.

At 26, I thought I had time…
To fall in love.
Start a family.
Grow old.

But cancer doesn’t care about plans.

Now, I understand how fragile life really is. Every single day is a gift, not a guarantee.

I’m not writing this to scare you. I’m writing to remind you: really live.

Stop stressing over little things. Be kind to your body- move it, nourish it, stop criticizing it. One day you’ll wish you had appreciated it.

Go outside.
Look at the sky.
Feel the sun.
Just be.

Spend less time chasing “stuff” - more time making memories. Don’t skip moments with people you love.

Laugh more.
Write a note.
Tell someone you love them.

Complain less.
Give more.
Helping others brings more joy than anything you can buy.

Be present.
Put your phone down.
Show up - really show up.

You don’t need to have it all figured out. You don’t need a perfect body, or a perfect life.

Just follow what makes your heart light up. Say no to what drains you. Make changes when you need to.

And please - donate blood. I wouldn’t have had that extra year without it. And that year gave me memories I’ll hold close… forever.

Thank you for reading this.
Live your life well.

And maybe… we’ll meet again someday.”

Holly 🩷

Repost & share Holly’s important advice. ❤️

[Volcaholic 🌋 @volcaholic1]

This is so creepy. It’s already weird enough that these robots exist, but the fact they can just pack themselves away at the end of the day makes it feel even more unsettling.

No likey!

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

There is a video circulating on the internet that is difficult to watch. A woman sits on a pavement in Louisville, Kentucky. She is wearing a hospital gown. It is 36 degrees outside. Her belongings, everything she apparently owns, are in a plastic bag on the concrete beside her. Behind her, through the glass doors she has just been escorted through, the hospital hums along as normal. The security guards who brought her here have already gone back inside.

She couldn’t afford her bill.

This is not a scene from a developing nation or a history book. This is the United States of America.
The country in which it happens has spent decades telling the rest of the world that it has the highest GDP on earth. Which is a bit like a restaurant proudly displaying its bill on the wall. Enormous number. Terrible meal. The lobster was frozen, the wine came from a box.

Europe, by comparison, has spent the better part of a century building something rather different. The food, for a start, is extraordinary. Not in a showy way, but in the way that a simple lunch in Lyon or a glass of wine on a terrace in Lisbon reminds you that eating is one of the genuinely good things about being alive. The wine is the wine that the rest of the world has spent generations attempting to replicate, mostly without success.

Roughly 35 percent of Europeans live with a chronic illness. In America, that number is 76 percent. The difference is not genetic. It is architectural. It is the slow accumulation of decent food, walkable cities, actual holidays, and a healthcare system that does not require you to crowdfund your own appendix.

Europeans work fewer hours. They have more purchasing power on a smaller salary once you subtract the cost of health insurance, medical debt, and the private school their child needs because the local public one has a metal detector at the entrance. They live, on average, about ten years longer. Not ten years of decline and doctor visits, but ten years of being a person in the world.

In the first quarter of 2025, the number of Americans leaving the United States doubled compared to the previous quarter.  Europe was their top destination. Not for a sabbatical or a gap year. Permanently. These are not people who failed. These are people who did the maths.

There is a man somewhere in America right now who has worked fifty-hour weeks for forty years, taken one week off when his employer permitted it, and will, statistically, be dead before he sees seventy. And there is another man, not very far away on a map but an entire civilisation removed in practice, sitting on a terrace in the afternoon sun with a glass of something cold and no particular place to be. He has had six weeks off every summer since 1987. He knows his neighbours by name.

The first man’s country has the higher GDP.

The first man’s country tops the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index. The second man tops the Quality of Life Index (QLI). The better health. The longer life. The afternoon.

MAGA America calls that losing.

Ask anyone.
Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[All day Astronomy @forallcurious]

Re-entry of Artemis II crew captured by the astronaut in International Space Station

[Spencer Hakimian @SpencerHakimian]

Cost of Living in Germany vs USA:

[John Rich🇺🇸 @johnrich]

Show this video to your kids…Wow😳

[Niall Brannigan🥁🎸🎹 @niallb1]

Wankers indeed.

[Supertanskiii @supertanskiii]

Yesterday the first British political figure in recent times was sentenced to 10½ years for Russian collusion.

It was on barely any front pages, covered for a day and was ignored when it broke besides @carolecadwalla’s fearless reporting.

Why? Because he was a Reform leader.

[Dr. Phillip Alvelda @alvelda]

And that’s from one infection.

You really don’t want COVID even once if you can avoid it, and you really don’t want repeat infections.

Also clearly better off if you’re vaxed when you get it.

[Gill Barrett @Gillybar]

@niallb1 Such a great song!

[Gill Barrett @Gillybar]

@khnh80044 Wow! 👀

[Niall Brannigan🥁🎸🎹 @niallb1]

This is a lovely essay; a story of times gone by, of a boy in darkness and the saviour who he eventually cast aside.

@PaoloHewitt1 writes beautifully and evokes the early 1970’s, the music, the clothes and the air of menace. A wonderful short-read. https://t.co/fbn8sRyUge

[Madeira Island / Ilha da Madeira @Madeira]

#Madeira

[Nikki da Costa @nmdacosta]

The Speaker has confirmed that only five 'non Kim' amendments will be voted on on Friday.

All these elements of the Bill are now permanent. A 'yes' vote at Third Reading is to accept:

🚨Any doctor can raise ending a patient's life, no matter how vulnerable the patient, including those with learning disabilities [NC1 rejected]

🚨 Doctors and the panel only have to be 51% sure that the patient is not coerced or pressured, meets the criteria, or really wishes to die [NC9 not selected]

🚨Doctors do not need to be an expert in a patient’s condition, nor know the patient, nor are they required to involve other professionals. This increases the risk of mistakes [45 not selected]

🚨 The panels which have replaced the High Court will not have the power to investigate further, and will consist of self-selecting members, rather than being independently appointed [82-86 not selected]

🚨'Education campaigns' targeting “all professionals…family, friends, unpaid carers and other support organisations and charities” as specified in the impact assessment [NC14a rejected]

🚨 Private, for-profit contractors can run the service with no profit cap and no transparency obligations [15 not selected]

🚨 MPs will be sidelined from decisions about what this service will look like, and what their constituents will experience [103, 104 not selected]

🚨 The Bill will autocommence in 2029 no matter what training or work is left undone, or what the state of the NHS or palliative care is [102 not selected]

🚨Hospices and care homes who do not want to participate in assisted dying will have no protection in law and could have funding predicated on participation [NC17 not selected]

🚨There are no obligations to ensure drug safety standards, protect against distressing or prolonged death, and no need for patient clarity about possible complications [99 + 100, 27 not selected]

🚨Independent oversight is gone for good: the Chief Medical Officer has been removed and replaced with the Commissioner marking his team's homework [NC4 not selected]

🚨 MPs have no guarantee that the necessary data will be gathered from Day 1, without which it will be hard to understand how assisted dying is used and who it is impacting [NC19 not selected]

🚨 Coroners will be excluded despite strong opposition from the Royal College of Pathologists and former Chief Coroner that this will mean wrongdoing is concealed [NC15a not selected for decision]

[Gill Barrett @Gillybar]

@niallb1 @peterjohncox 👏

[Sky Bet Championship @SkyBetChamp]

😎 🤳 @LRamazani88 @LUFC Champions 360 cam vibe!

#EFL | #SkyBetChampionship

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Collapse of this road in Turkey