Marplesmarbles

It's fizzy its ginger it's phenomenal

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Why does Vance loathe Europeans so much? I honestly don’t understand it. Explanations?

Maybe it’s because Europe quietly lives the kind of life many Americans secretly dream of.

Picture this:
You wake up to the sound of church bells echoing through narrow, winding streets. The smell of fresh bread from the corner bakery drifts up to your window. You walk to work—or maybe bike—passing sunlit plazas where people are already gathering for morning coffee. The pace is gentle. The rhythm is human.
In Europe, life isn’t a race to the top; it’s a balance.

People work, yes—but they also live. With six or seven weeks of vacation a year, it’s normal to take long summer holidays, to spend time with family, to explore other countries, languages, and cultures. After work, cafés and pubs fill with laughter. Friends meet for wine, football, deep conversation—or just to sit in silence together, watching the world go by.

There’s no need for three jobs to survive. Healthcare is there when you need it. Higher education won’t bankrupt you. Public transport connects you to beautiful cities, peaceful countryside, and coastlines that look like they’re pulled from a postcard. Most people have a passport. Many speak more than one language. Travel is a way of life.

People walk more, eat well, breathe cleaner air. They live longer, with fewer chronic illnesses. Joy and connection are built into the structure of daily life—through long dinners, slow Sundays, and deep-rooted social ties.

Maybe Vance doesn’t hate Europe.
Maybe he just can’t understand a society where people come first—and where success is measured in quality of life, not in the number of hours you work or how loudly you shout about greatness.

Because when you really look at Europe, you don’t see a threat.
You see a mirror.
And maybe that’s what makes some people uncomfortable.
Not because Europeans are the problem—
But because the life they live reminds us of the one we could have, too.

[hugh mcsween @HughMcsween]

The unionists vision for Scots, leave school at 14, retire at 70, work for 56 years for the least pension in Europe.

Please people let us get out of this union,

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Zelensky is a wartime leader watching his people suffer and die under Russian attacks every day. To be lectured and lied to by Trump and Vance, as they defend the war criminal dictator committing these atrocities, is unimaginable agony. An everlasting shame for America.

[Big Brother Watch @BigBrotherWatch]

🚨BREAKING🚨

Apple is removing its most robust data protection tool from UK users.

“This decision by Apple is the regrettable consequence of the Home Office’s outrageous order attempting to force Apple to breach encryption. As a result, from today Apple’s UK customers are less safe and secure than they were yesterday – and this will quickly prove to have much wider implications for internet users in the UK.

“No matter how this is framed, there is simply no such thing as a “back door” that can be limited only to criminals or that can be kept safe from hackers or foreign adversaries. Once encryption is broken for anyone, it’s broken for everyone, and as we have cautioned: this will not stop with Apple.

“We once again call on the Home Office to immediately rescind this draconian order and cease attempts to break encryption before the privacy rights of millions are eroded and the UK further ostracises itself from other democracies around the world” - @rebecca_vincent

[Ewan Morrison @MrEwanMorrison]

Apple and 1984 - here we are again.

The Labour Party's attempt to snoop on the data of UK citizens by forcing-the-hand of Apple has backfired.

Apple have now snubbed the govt, refusing to give the govt a snooping "backdoor" and have simply withdrawn encryption services to the UK. This leaves us with less online security.

The UK govt has entered the authoritarian hall-of- mirrors where it now sees its primary job as snooping on everyone who is against .

Paranoid govt. lead to a surveillance state, leads to collapse of civil liberties and capital flight.

The authoritarian Labour Party are leading our nation rapidly into stagnation.

Prime Minister Kier Starmer and Yvette Cooper need to re-read Orwell's 1984 - as a warning and not as an instruction manual.

GiF: Apple 1984 advert.

[BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking]

Apple removes high-level data protection for UK users after the government requested right to access https://t.co/JIMIlMBc37

[Tom Harwood @tomhfh]

BREAK: Absolutely horrific news for iPhone users in the UK.

Apple is removing its highest level data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded access to user data.

This is a move that Apple has never made before in any market.

[Senior Lieutenant Zandi Sussex @ZandiSussex]

A beautiful & inspirational speech by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s at the closing ceremony of Invictus Games.👏🥳 Plus a standing ovation for the Founder of the Games, Prince Harry!

#InvictusGames2025

[Karl Cunliffe @KDCunliffe]

Who’d have thought that we’d be listening to David Tennant & Camila Cabello singing together on “I’m gonna be 500 miles”?

The mind boggles 😀

#DavidTennant #BAFTAS #BAFTAFilmAwards #BBCOne #baftas #camilacabello #DavidTennant #bafta #BAFTA2025

[BAFTA @BAFTA]

It's David Tennant's world, we're just living in it...

#EEBAFTAs #DavidTennant

[Chrystia Freeland @cafreeland]

As long as I am Prime Minister, there will be no invitation for Russia to join the G7 table in June this year. We will not turn a blind eye to war crimes and attacks on other countries’ sovereignty.

[Fellaraktar🇺🇦 @fellaraktar]

He wasn’t bullied by putin.
He wasn’t bullied by fico.
He wasn’t bullied by orban.

He won’t be bullied by trump.

He answers to the people of Ukraine.

He will not sell his people out.

[GeorgiaPeach Forever46 🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲 @ChrisFromGA68]

I prefer Presidents who stand with our allies. 🇺🇲😎🇺🇦

[BigBlueWaveUSA2026® 🇺🇸🌊🇺🇦 @BigBlueWaveUSA]

Just a reminder:
Elon Musk entered the United States illegally, was an illegal immigrant and worked here illegally.
Source: Kimbal Musk, his brother.
#SendHimBack

[Congresswoman Sara Jacobs @RepSaraJacobs]

This is illegal. Neither Donald Trump nor Elon Musk has the authority to eliminate USAID; only an act of Congress can do that.

Lawsuits are underway and we are doing oversight to try to stop this.

[Rep. Ilhan Omar @Ilhan]

Elon Musk does not have the power to dismantle USAID.

The idea that a billionaire can wake up one day and decide to end life-saving international aid programs is undemocratic and outright dangerous.

[Acyn @Acyn]

McGovern: Maybe before coming after USAID, Republican should look at the billions and billions of dollars of tax breaks and subsidies they give to oligarchs like Elon Musk. You want to save some money? Let's start there.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Raskin: "Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payments systems of the Treasury, but you don't control the money of the American people. The US Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution ... we don't have a fourth branch of government called 'Elon Musk'"

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Gerry Connolly: "It is a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarchy named Elon Musk. And Elon, if you want to run USAID, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed."