Patrick Stokes

Bristolian, retired & living in Brixham after 30+yrs in Manchester. Gashead #UTG #GoGlos I love Cricket too! @Gloscricket @BristolBears

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@ThePanelGDC @GetYourTipsOut Me Wolfs Bristol

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@JonathanPieNews @reid6peter Who is this moron?

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@battlefieldexpl I was there a few weeks ago. It’s a great museum!

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@CliveTyldesley Absolutely Clive….John McGovern once told me his job was to win the ball and pass it to Robbo. 😃

[Forestmad 🔴⚪️ @forestmad80]

Don’t cry that it’s over, smile that it happened.

That quote could never be more apt. Best player we’ve seen in the red.

Still in shock. #NFFC

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@NFFC Really sad news. What a great player Robbo was. A true legend….a real one off and a cornerstone of that great Forest team under Clough. Sending condolences to his family & friends and all forest fans. ❤️

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@ThebfgGazza @LeaRobertsComic Another gravy drought and an invasion of the giant parsnip! Shortage of roasties 5/10.

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@ThebfgGazza @LeaRobertsComic That looks good Gary…….maybe a tad too much gravy 8/10.

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@ThebfgGazza @sproston_rob Pigs in blankets on speed….where’s the gravy? 4/10

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@JoeSims10 @BBCOne @WarpFilms @wlmager Just binge watched this series. Such a great drama, thank you.

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@Tim_Burgess @absoluteradio @LlSTENlNG_PARTY Burnel looks in great shape!

[Manchester United @ManUtd]

A special Reminiscence Session hosted by Cadbury Ambassador @GNev2 shows how the power of football can spark and create shared memories — watch the full episode on YouTube now ❤️📲

🤝 @CadburyUK x @AlzResearchUK

[TipperaryLive @TipperaryLive]

Documentary based on Tipperary village to be screened at film festival in Rome next month https://t.co/5lpGqc8wGZ

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@TheCinesthetic You are entering a world of pain😃

[Dianne Oxberry Trust @TrustDianne]

Today would've been Dianne’s birthday. In her honour, please spread the word about ovarian cancer - https://t.co/fu5UfjYMb3 - & if you can, consider donating the cost of a birthday drink. It could save lives giving families more birthdays together https://t.co/sbB11ktu44

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@JVMonte2 It’s my favourite Bruce album no doubt. It’s got a passsion and angst that is so true. Love Racing In The Strret and Promised Land 😃

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@delamitrinews For me Surface of the Moon…..a top song!

[Patrick Stokes @PatStokes64]

@TheBarmyArmy Cheltenham Cricket Festival

[David Coverdale @davidcoverdale]

😱😱😱😱😱

[Bricktop_NAFO @Bricktop_NAFO]

‘Why The British Don’t Like Trump’🇬🇧

- Written by Nate White🇬🇧

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 – 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 mostly 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.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.