Ben Howell

Gives a monkeys

[Thanos Angelopoulos @Th_Angelopoulos]

Call you old fashioned? Alright, old-fashioned, @PatrickChristys, let us go through the decades you prefer.

The 1960s: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley tortured and murdered five children, buried them on Saddleworth Moor, and recorded their screams on tape.

The 1970s: Peter Sutcliffe murdered 13 women with hammers and screwdrivers across Yorkshire.

Dennis Nilsen began strangling young men in his London flat, dismembering them, boiling their skulls on his stove, and flushing the remains down the drains.

The 1980s: Michael Ryan shot 16 people dead in Hungerford. Fred and Rose West were raping, torturing, and dismembering women and girls and burying them under their house in Gloucester. Their own daughter among them.

The 1990s: Two 10-year-old boys abducted a toddler from a shopping centre in Liverpool, tortured him, and bludgeoned him to death with bricks and an iron bar.

Thomas Hamilton walked into a primary school in Dunblane and shot 16 five-year-olds and their teacher. Harold Shipman was murdering his patients by the hundred.

The 2000s: James Watt and his family enslaved a man for a decade, tortured him with baseball bats, air pistols, boiling water, and pit bull attacks, then decapitated him and dumped his body in a lake.

Mathew Hardman, 17, murdered a 90-year-old woman, cut out her heart, placed it on a silver platter, and drank her blood.

The 2010s: Derrick Bird shot 12 people dead across Cumbria.

Thomas Mair shot and stabbed an MP in the street while shouting "Britain first".

The 2020s: Jemma Mitchell decapitated her friend, stored the body for two weeks, and drove 200 miles to dump it.

Those are the decades you prefer. And for each decade there are 20 other equally horrific incidents.

And here is the thing, old fashioned Patrick. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, violence, burglary, and car crime have fallen by close to 90% since the mid-1990s. The ONS confirms that violent crime is two-thirds lower now than in the 1990s.

The country you live in today is measurably, statistically, dramatically safer than the one you are nostalgic for. That's not an opinion, it's a fact.

And I am not even touching Glasgow and its past knife crime epidemic.

So, which decade was better, Patrick? Tell us.

[Calvin3648 @calvin33066]

if u dont support LGBTQIA+ rights you can go fuck yourself. Oppressing and killing people just because they switched genders, or have a different sexual orientation. You should be able to love anyone for who they are regardless of gender without backlash. Happy pride month people

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

When you arrive at an event and discover you’re speaking from a pulpit. Great to see Retford book festival going from strength to strength. And to feel the very strong anti-Trump, anti-Vance, anti-Farage, anti-Musk energy in a Reformy area. Starmer stay or go? 70 stay/30 go.

[Supertanskiii @supertanskiii]

A message to JD Vance from Britain:

Even if you stopped your ICE Gestapo from murdering US citizens

Even if you learned that guns = dead kids

Even if Trump wasn't a rapist

We still wouldn't care about your opinion, you backwards, guyliner wearing, hillbilly couch fucker.

[Ben Howell @HowellerBen]

Sums it up!

[Murray Rothbard @MurraySuggests]

The Iranian navy, which has been destroyed eight times, has apparently closed the Strait of Hormuz again, because the United States, for the seventh time, won the war that wasn’t a war, so now the United States has to open the Strait of Hormuz that was already open before the not-war began.

The not-war began because Iran had uranium that was totally, completely, beautifully obliterated, so they can’t build the nuclear bomb they weren’t building, which is why the United States had to start the not-war it definitely didn’t start.

Now the United States, which has nuclear weapons, is threatening to use nuclear weapons to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, because nuclear weapons are far too dangerous for countries with nuclear weapons to allow other countries to have.

If the United States saw the United States doing what the United States does in other countries, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States.

[Socialist Opera Singer @OperaSocialist]

People accuse Farage of division, of racism and of being far-right because he is divisive, racist and far-right.

[Just Dave now @justdavenow89]

Every single Brit wants you to stay out of our politics.

Concentrate on that shit show you’ve caused in America by helping trump

stay the fuck out of the UK with your opinions

[Danny Boy @Care2much18]

This is the dumbest tweet ever written by an American, an astonishing achievement given the depth of competition for that accolade.

It's hard to know where to even start.

I'll go from the top and try wade through it, to arrive at where the focus should already be. /1

[Narinder Kaur @narindertweets]

@GoodwinMJ @Phil_Osophi The majority of Brits think JD VANCE is a total prat.
How deluded are you?

[Don McGowan @donmcgowan]

A few weeks ago, our UK media and Nigel Farage were clamouring to 'Get Starmer Out'.

Remember that? They were using it as their slogan for Matt GPT's disastrous by-election campaign. They claimed that it was a 'referendum on Starmer's leadership'.

It didn't quite go to plan. Starmer outplayed them all on that occasion.

Here's something that we need to remember though, when JD Vance came to the UK in July of 2025, he held a series of meetings in the Cotswolds with some British politicians.

Nigel Farage.
Robert Jenrick [Tory then, Reform now].
Danny Kruger [Tory then, Reform now].
James Orr [Tory then, Reform now].

Donald Trump is a destabilising force, but I don't really think he knows why. 😵‍💫

JD Vance is far more malign. He is wrapped, head-to-toe, in the Christian Nationalism/Project 2025 movement that Farage et al. are desperately trying to bring to our shores.

Reform will lose the Makerfield by-election, they picked a lame, three-legged donkey to run the Grand National. But they started this campaign the same as the last 'Get Starmer Out', before suddenly dropping it as the realisation dawned.

OK, this has gone a bit higgledy-piggledy, so what I'm trying to get to, is that any intervention by JD Vance in UK politics, is likely at the behest of Nigel Farage.

Farage is desperate, clawing at the floor while the daemon of scrutiny drags him backwards to the pitch dark basement of obscurity.

His only possible hope of survival is an early General Election, and to have that happen, he needs Starmer on the ropes.

Cue, JD Vance with a targetted intervention about:

migrants ✅
elites ✅
inciting anger ✅
Henry Nowak ✅
death of our civilization [sic] ✅

A tirade worthy of only one man … Nigel Farage.

The man who has sought to weaponise this tragedy and incited rioting only five days ago. The man who has gone against Henry's father's own wish that the tragedy should not be used as a weapon of hatred.

Nigel Farage is a dangerous force with the backing of, probably, the next President of the USA. Both are trying to destabilise and turn our societies into fascist visions of the far-right.

Don't let them.

Have a lovely weekend. 😊

[Just me - Thomas @TomSoede]

The interesting thing here is not that everyone suddenly loves Starmer.

It is that outside the Westminster/media bubble, many people seem to understand something very basic:

A country cannot rebuild itself through permanent leadership panic.

Stability is not glamorous.

It does not trend as easily as drama.

It does not feed the pundit class in quite the same way.

But after the Tory circus — five prime ministers, endless faction fights, mini-budgets, resignations, scandals and collapse — stability matters.

You do not have to agree with every decision Starmer makes to understand that.

You do not have to think he is charismatic to understand that.

You only have to ask one question:

Would another leadership war really help the country right now?

For many people outside the bubble, the answer seems to be no.

Country first cannot just be a slogan.

Sometimes it means giving a Prime Minister with a majority the time and space to govern.

If this speaks to you, please repost it — not for me, but for someone who is tired of chaos being sold as politics. And - yeah you guessed it - follow me.

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

Things most Americans agree on:

Groceries cost too much.

Tariffs suck and make no sense.

Congress and Presidents shouldn’t trade stocks.

The debt is a mess.

The border should be secure, but legal immigration is good.

Endless wars are stupid, especially ones that nobody wants and have never been explained.

Americans are exhausted.

AI is like my new best friend that also might be trying to take my job, my ability to think for myself, and my humanity in the process. Yo like I love you, but WTF, but I still love you.

Diversity is actually awesome! The opposite is boring AF.

Canadians are super fucking cool.

Mexicans are chill.

Putin isn’t a good guy looking out for America’s best interest. Rocky IV and Miracle are great movies.

Good neighbors are a blessing.

Freedom of religion and coexistence without having to blow each other up is probably a good idea.

We all question, are we alone in the universe?

We all fuck up along the way.

Epstein didn’t hang himself.

The Trumps and Epstein were best friends for decades. It’s like Bert trying to tell us Ernie was just an acquaintance in the same social scene on Sesame Street back in the day.

The Cowboys suck. Go Birds!

Things we’re told to fight about:

Me.
Laptop.
Vaccines.
Transgenders in sports.
Pronouns.

That’s the joke.

[Just me - Thomas @TomSoede]

This morning I asked myself, not for the first time, who is Nigel and I made some notes.

And it does add up.

Here is a man who sells himself as the ordinary bloke with a pint, the man of the people, the great outsider standing up against the establishment.

And yet somehow this ordinary bloke always seems to arrive with a camera crew, a donor network, a friendly broadcaster, and now a parliamentary investigation into a £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire.

Very normal.

Very grassroots.

Very “just one of the lads”.

The peoples revolt, apparently, now comes with lighting, branding, fundraising dinners, professional outrage, and a small question about whether millions should have been declared properly.

Everything is a betrayal when Labour does it.

Everything is “nothing to see here” when Nigel does it.

Housing? Blame Labour.
The NHS? Blame Labour.
The economy? Blame Labour.
Boats? Blame Labour.
A £5 million gift? Suddenly everybody must calm down and respect the process.

And then came Tuesday.

A young man died. A family was grieving. A country was trying to understand something horrific.

And Farage stepped forward.

Not with calm.
Not with care.
Not with responsibilty.

But with his announcement of “pure cold rage”.

That phrase matters.

Because anger is human.
Anger can be moral.
Anger can demand answers, justice, accountability and truth.

I understand anger.
A lot of people are angry.
They have every right to ask serious questions.

But rage is different.

Rage does not ask careful questions.
Rage does not wait for investigations.
Rage does not protect grieving families from becoming political props.

Rage looks for a target.

And that is where Farage always seems most comfertable.

Not solving the pain.
Not calming the country.
Not asking how institutions failed and how they can be fixed.

But standing beside the pain with a microphone, turning the temprature up, and calling it leadership.

Warm enough to repost.
Warm enough to donate.
Warm enough to vote.
But never calm enough to ask:

“Hang on, who benefits from keeping us this angry?”

That is the trick.

He does not need Britain to feel hopeful.
He does not even need Britain to feel informed.

He needs Britain permanently one headline away from rage.

Because rage is usefull.

It fills rallies.
It drives clicks.
It turns grief into theatre.
It makes slogans feel like solutions.

And while everyone is shouting, nobody asks the boring questions.

Where is the plan?
Where is the funding?
Where are the costings?
Where is the responsibilty?

Maybe that is who Nigel Farage is.

Not the man of the people.

But the man who knows exactly how to turn peoples pain into his own political stage.

The Reform & Tory Sitcom continues.

Same chaos. Different rosette.

Anger can demand answers.
Rage just sells tickets.

If this speaks to you, please add your comments, repost it, and maybe follow me — not for me, but because politics needs fewer slogans and more people asking proper questions.

#Farage #ReformUK

[Team Ossoff @TeamOssoff]

Ossoff: Last September, the President of Kazakhstan calls Donald Trump and says he wants to grant tungsten mining rights to an American company. And the very next month, Eric and Don Jr. get a stake in the American company pursuing the mining deal.

Six days later, six days after Prince Eric and Prince Don get their stake, Kazakhstan announces this company will get, “The largest known undeveloped tungsten resource in the world.” A few more weeks go by, and then the U.S. government, run by their father, sets aside 1.6 billion of your tax dollars to fund and finance their mining project. In Kazakhstan.

All this while you pay more for gas, for groceries, for health care, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[davey @jerseyh0mo]

Has a gay person ever knocked on your door to convert you? Because Christians do it all the fucking time you hypocritical dipshit

[dave lawrence 🐟🐟🐠 @dave43law]

🤣🤣🤣
It's true it's continual

[Sai Ishaya @Sai_Ishaya_]

It's absolutely baffling to see the backlash against this announcement.

Imagine complaining that the UK is securing a multi-billion-pound private investment.

Let's look at the actual numbers: taxpayers are funding £1.3bn for local roads & a new rail station. In return, Universal is spending £5 billion to build the park and another £1 billion operating it.

Bedford(& the UK) gets 28,000 total jobs, a massive revitalization of a former industrial site, & a projected £50 billion economic boost.

The sheer cynicism around projects like this is exactly what holds the UK back. If we treat massive, job-creating investments as something to be outraged about, we only guarantee our own economic stagnation.

[Colin the Dachshund @DachshundColin]

@Nigel_Farage Not being arrested for taking a £5m bribe is the pinnacle of two-tier policing.

[Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer]

Henry Nowak’s family have lost their son and brother in the most appalling circumstances.

Nigel Farage is exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division.

It’s completely unforgivable.

[Anna Turley MP @annaturley]

Farage could have been in Parliament today, doing his job, and ask any question he wanted of the Home Secretary about the tragic Henry Novak case.
Where was he?
Instead he hides behind pre-recorded rage-bait videos. Coward.