Jonathan Fallowfield

Doctor, academic, democrat, sports junkie. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my university and employers.

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

*BRITISH WRITER PENS THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF TRUMP*
Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.
I don't say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it's a fact. He doesn't even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It's all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don't. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He's not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He's more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless or female – and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy' is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and most are.
• You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it's impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

[Colin the Dachshund @DachshundColin]

🚨BREAKING🚨
Keir Starmer once reclined his seat on a short-haul flight.

In other news Nigel Farage has received a £5m gift, a house, helicopter flights, a Maldives trip and been accused of throwing an election for £1m.

Here's Sam Coates with more on the reclined seat scandal.

[Jonathan Fallowfield @JAFallowfield]

@brennap9 @NatureMedicine Fantastic. A great team effort!

[Paul Brennan @brennap9]

Special mention to Stuart J Forbes (and lab!), @JAFallowfield for all support through project
@MRC @EASLedu @dundeeuni @uniofedinburgh @NHS_Lothian @NHSTayside @NHSGGC

[Jonathan Fallowfield @JAFallowfield]

@prakramacha @HepCommJournal @TimKendall_Path @EdinUni_IRR @EdinUni_CIR Really pleased to see this published. Thank you @HepCommJournal @ebtapper

[Prakash Ramachandran @prakramacha]

Great to see our article published in @HepCommJournal. Remember to look at basement membrane in your fibrosis studies, especially if working on FXR agonists. Thanks to everybody who helped! @JAFallowfield @TimKendall_Path @EdinUni_IRR @EdinUni_CIR
https://t.co/6v5P8Ingf8

[Matt Green @mattgreencomedy]

This feels like the morning after the Brexit vote. But unlike that vote, we didn’t see how bad it was, watch it get worse for 8 years and then vote for it again in even greater numbers.

[Saturday Night Live @nbcsnl]

Kamala Harris talks to Kamala Harris

[Jonathan Fallowfield @JAFallowfield]

@RosieisaHolt You were great...

[Rachel Cunliffe @RMCunliffe]

Nothing to see here, just the guy who bought Twitter having free speech explained to him by a cat

[Armando Iannucci @Aiannucci]

You seeing this, @ElonMusk?

[Brendan May @bmay]

No idea how yesterday happened. None at all.

[Simone Biles @Simone_Biles]

I love my black job 🖤

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

MAGA folks would hate if you retweet this video.

I can't stop watching this.

[Tennis TV @TennisTV]

1001 singles matches
739 victories
105 top 10 wins
46 ATP titles
41 weeks as World No. 1
29 wins over the Big 3
14 Masters 1000 titles
11 Grand Slam finals
3 Grand Slam titles
2 Olympic Gold medals
1 @andy_murray

Thank you, Sir Andy 💙💙💙

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

I wish to personally express my sincerest gratitude to whomever it is on the Trump campaign who convinced Trump it was a good idea to have him appear before the @NABJ. Whoever you are, you are a true patriot, and your country is in your debt.

[Jonathan Fallowfield @JAFallowfield]

@derekamann1 Stay strong Derek.

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

WOW! Everyone should listen to this superb maiden speech from newly appointed Prisons, Parole & Probation Minister @JamesTCobbler in the House of Lords today

What an absolutely inspired appointment this is👏👏👏

[Brendan May @bmay]

Who made this? It’s genius.

[John O’Brennan @JohnOBrennan2]

Wow.

The Harris team are out of the blocks in lightening quick time with this superb ad
https://t.co/YAuod7w8Se