Amol Rajan, "Britain today is stuck, isn't it?"
Alan Sugar, "It's stagnant"
Amol Rajan, "Declining?"
Alan Sugar, "It's got a lot to do with Brexit"
"Brexit is the biggest disaster I have experienced in my whole lifetime, business career"
"Brexit was a total absolute disaster, and anybody who says it's not is deluded"
Amol Rajan, "What do you think it would take to get this country growing again?"
Alan Sugar, "Go back into the European Union"
"I've never met Starmer but if I ever did I'd ask if it's possible? What mechanism would it take to effectively get down on our bended knees and beg to be allowed back in again"
"That's what I would do. If I was in charge, I'd beg to get back in again"
Amol Rajan, "I've never really associated you with begging"
Alan Sugar, "Exactly. That's how bad it is"
It rained....
And as predicted on @LBC with @HenryRiley1 not 48 hours ago.
Anything in brown is sewage being dumping into the environment right now, in real time, anything in red is sewage dumped over the last 24 hours.
"Il existe une forme de tristesse qui naît du fait d'en savoir trop, de voir le monde tel qu'il est vraiment. C'est la tristesse de comprendre que la vie n'est pas une grande aventure, mais une succession de petits moments insignifiants, que l'amour n'est pas un conte de fées, mais une émotion fragile et fugace, que le bonheur n'est pas un état permanent, mais un aperçu rare et fugace de quelque chose auquel on ne peut jamais s'accrocher. Et dans cette compréhension se cache une profonde solitude, un sentiment d'être coupé du monde, des autres, de soi-même."
Virginia Woolf, Vers le phare
Retweet for a chance to win
A signed marble vinyl copy of Live At Tim Peaks Diner
Final copies on sale at 8pm tonight from here https://t.co/IUwpJLyJtE
Winner picked at random at 7.55pm
Reform UK's Durham County Council administration has had quite the week.
* The leader texted colleagues: "Don’t do woke things and make us look woke."
* Cabinet members opened wine and vaped at 3:30pm during a mental health meeting.
* When mental health concerns were raised, the leader replied: "I might do a motion for us all to hold hands and sing Kum Ba Yah."
* Three Reform councillors quit the party.
* A councillor reported the leader to police over a threatened "kicking" at full council.
* The leader's response: "The metaphor is pretty obvious."
Reform UK's internal training, which I tweeted about before, told activists: "Don’t drink and tweet."
That message doesn't seem to have made it to Durham.
Well done @SouthernWater
First bit of rain and you discharge sewage into our seas.
It’s only holiday season.
Don’t worry about the kids swimming about in it all.
And please stop sending us letters saying it’s our fault, it’s not, it’s yours.
I work the front desk at a small doctor’s office, and I wish people could see what happens on the other side of the phone. Every day, older patients call us confused.
They are told to use the patient portal, upload documents, check lab results online, fill out forms before the visit, and confirm everything through a link. Some of them do not know what a portal is.
Some do not have a smartphone.
Some have one, but they are afraid to click the wrong thing.
Last week, a man in his late 80s called about his test results.
He said, “Ma’am, I don’t mean to bother you, but the computer says I have a message and I don’t know how to open it.”
He sounded ashamed.
That broke my heart.
He should not have to feel ashamed for needing a human being.
Technology can be helpful. I understand that.
But when people who built this country are made to feel helpless because everything became a login and a password, we have gone too far.
Not everything needs to be an app.
Not every answer should be hidden behind a screen.
Sometimes people need a voice.
A patient person.
A real human who says, “Don’t worry, I can help you.”
Progress should not leave seniors behind.
Because one day, the world will move faster than us too.
And I hope someone is kind enough to slow down.
@AndyWoodturner Good dump last night but only a 5 minute shower on the east coast - it's helped to moisten the ground, so it can easily absorb plenty of moisture, when it does rain - rather than it running off.
End Disability Hate Petition
I’ve done it.
I’ve launched a petition calling for a **National Disability Hate Strategy for the UK**.
And I want to explain why.
Because I am sick and tired of disabled people being treated as acceptable targets.
Over the last few years, I have watched the language around disability get uglier and uglier.
Scrounger.
Fraudster.
Fake.
Workshy.
A burden on the taxpayer.
We see people being questioned because they can stand up from a wheelchair.
Challenged because they use a Blue Badge but don't "look disabled".
Judged because they have a Motability car.
Accused of faking because their disability fluctuates.
And disabled people are increasingly expected to prove themselves to complete strangers.
I've experienced disability abuse myself.
But through this platform, I've also heard from so many of you who have experienced it.
And then there's the way disability is discussed publicly.
We've seen headlines portraying disabled people and benefit claimants as a problem to be solved.
We've seen endless conversations about who's *really* disabled, who's *disabled enough*, and who deserves support.
We've even reached the point where politicians are publicly talking about distinguishing between people with "severe" disabilities and everybody else.
Words matter.
Because disability hate doesn't suddenly begin when somebody commits a hate crime.
It starts with stigma.
It starts with suspicion.
It starts with misinformation.
It starts when society is repeatedly told that disabled people are costing too much, claiming too much or somehow getting something everybody else is paying for.
And eventually somebody thinks it's acceptable to challenge that wheelchair user.
To abuse that Blue Badge holder.
To film somebody getting out of their Motability car.
To call somebody a benefit scrounger.
Or to send abuse to a disabled person online.
So I'm asking the Government to develop and fund a **National Disability Hate Strategy**, co-produced with Disabled People's Organisations.
Not another conversation *about* us.
Something created **with us**.
Something that looks at prevention, education, policing, online abuse and support for people who experience disability hate.
Because disabled people should not have to prove their disability to strangers.
We shouldn't be frightened of using the support we're entitled to.
And we shouldn't have to accept abuse as simply part of being disabled.
The petition is now live.
https://t.co/M2lqjmgmdp
Please sign it.
Please share it.
And if you've experienced disability hate yourself, tell people why you're signing.
Because the more of us who speak up, the harder we are to ignore.
**Disabled people are not targets.
And disability hate should never be normal.** @paulapeters2@relish_hendy@1kilroywashere@TheMeldrew@hewitson10@RachelCDailey_@TheCanaryUK@mssocietyuk@GMCDP@InclusionLondon