Patrick Baty

Thoroughly good egg. Ex soldier. Interests: colour; decoration; music; the military & 20th British art (especially Robert Bevan and Stanisława de Karłowska)

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

@MrsTrevithick It's a good piece. Always pleased to read an appreciation of his work.

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

Delighted to have just come across this.

In memoriam Robert Bevan, British landscape painter: 1915-1925 https://t.co/HVkFetX3jI via @howardnoakley

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

Delighted for the mention of Papers and Paints. Both have been good customers over many years.

[FT Weekend @ftweekend]

Inside Sheherazade Goldsmith and Matthew Freud’s newly renovated super-mews https://t.co/NPsDe1e6v2

[British Poles @britishpoles]

We need only 218 signatures! There are currently 9,782 signatures on the petition to save the Ilford Park Polish Home. The petition is approaching 10,000 signatures - the threshold at which the UK Government is required to respond and address the petition to save the last centre for Polish veterans.
Nearly one million Poles live in the UK. If even a small fraction take a moment to sign, it could make a significant difference in preserving this unique centre and its historic legacy.
Signing takes only 1 minute and it brings a great sense of satisfaction!
Every signature counts, please sign and share the petition: https://t.co/0QOyE90PCg

[British Poles @britishpoles]

During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, George Orwell spoke out in defence of the Polish people and criticised the English intelligentsia’s cautious attitude towards Joseph Stalin’s policies. He accused them of cowardice, hypocrisy and tacit approval of Soviet actions against Poland.
Orwell remains one of the most widely read writers of the twentieth century.
He was born on 25 June 1903.

[victor keegan @vickeegan]

Too hot to go outside? Read at home about lost London from my new book London’s Forgotten Island formed by the Tyburn , now underground, and the Thames, home to the richest sources of history anywhere.

[Trent Park House of Secrets @TrentParkHouse]

Trent Park House of Secrets opens its doors on 21 July 2026 - London's new museum of espionage and intrigue in wartime Britain.

From glittering 1930s social hub to wartime surveillance centre - this is an untold story of espionage and deception.

Advance booking opens in July

[British Poles @britishpoles]

We now have 6,087 signatures. We need at least 10,000 for the British government to be officially obliged to respond to the petition to save the last centre for Polish veterans.
Nearly one million Poles live in the UK. If each of us takes just a moment to sign, we can realistically help preserve this unique place.
The Ilford Park Polish Home was established in 1947 as part of the “Winston Churchill Promise”, Britain’s commitment never to forget its debt to Poland.Signing takes just one minute – the satisfaction will last forever.
Sign the petition here: https://t.co/0QOyE90PCg

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

@PhoneyMajor As you may know, originally B Sqn of 21 SAS was almost entirely formed from ex-wartime SBS men. A Sqn - SAS and C Sqn - SOE. A huge collection of skills and experience.

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

@PhoneyMajor In a Mk1* canoe, Dickie Livingstone & ‘Gruff’ Courtney (both SBS & later 21 SAS) took US General Mark Clark from the submarine HMS Seraph to meet French General Charles Mast on Op Flagpole. Clark presented his signed M1 carbine to Dickie (now in 21 collection).

[Richard Williams @williams_rje]

@AlistairCarns had a distinguished military career. It is damning that Benn, Starmer, Hermer, Reeves and others would not listen to him on lawfare, the Northern Ireland Bill, on defence transformation or on financial resources; and all credit to this RM veteran for stepping into the breach and his resignation on principle.

His dynamite resignation, on the back of the Healey exit represents the necessary detonation of a political bomb under UK defence; highlighting how screwed up it all really is, how badly Starmer is lying to the country, and how totally irresponsible is this @UKLabour government.

Carns is very right on the big things, the MoD and the “centre” are not facing reality on the changing technologies of war, they are not getting the resources they need and they are not defending veterans from lawfare. On this latter and vital point, this is led and encouraged by the UK’s own Attorney General as chief back-stabber.

For this, Hermer should be the next to go. And by the way, don’t expect much from the Starmer-loyalist, ex-Para Jarvis….not every Politician has the guts to do what Carns and Healey have just done…

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

@Fictionwitch Thanks Harriet. Country Life has always been very good to me.

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

Many thanks to Country Life for including me amongst the 'best you can buy' (?) in their 'English Issue'.

[Lord Spider Fella @lurkingspider]

Spoke with a young guy wanting to serve in @RoyalNavy yesterday.
He explained that officer recruitment entirely remote now. Takes years and will not meet a single person, let alone an RN officer, before he gets to join BRNC.
How is this getting the best where they need to be?

[Richard Williams @williams_rje]

This @historyinmemes post refers to the events of 19 September 2005, in Basra, Southern Iraq

2 SAS men captured by Iranian-backed insurgents whilst conducting covert surveillance of an Iranian-controlled Iraqi Police Force, were about to be spirited away to Iran for ritual humiliation or worse.

The British chain of command, who had ordered the SAS surveillance operation in the first place, became overly worried about the negative presentational impact of an SAS rescue operation on their plans to withdraw British Forces and hand over Southern Iraq to local police and security forces that they knew would be controlled by the Iranians. They feared that such a high profile operation would (correctly) prove to the US-led coalition and the Baghdad government that the UK was withdrawing its forces too soon, and certainly before the area was properly stable; that they were simply enabling a safe logistics base for Iranian insurgents to target Iraqi and US forces in central Iraq.

Whilst the many Generals, ambitious staff officers, civil servants and diplomats (in London and Iraq) wrestled with this emerging reality and its potential consequences for their withdrawal plan - hoping that there was a less visible way to recover the men, the SAS prepared an operation to rescue their own men, the moment an opportunity presented itself.

The moment it appeared, the SAS pushed past the concerns and fears of a confused, conflicted chain of command that had refused to give permission for a rescue declaring to the SAS CO “that there is more at stake than your men’s lives” and executed successfully the recovery operation, returning the men safe from the clutches of a vicious and merciless enemy.

If the SAS Command hadn’t ignored the concerns and constraints of the London HQ staff and their advisors, if their rescue force hadn’t been as skilled and decisive, then the outcome would have been dreadful for their two men and for the country; and for no good reason.

As Martin Luther King is reported to have said: “The time is always right to do what is right” and so it was in September 2005. 🇬🇧 🇬🇧

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

@jaglancy She was an inspiration.

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

I heard a lovely anecdote today about Sir Alex Younger, the former head of MI6, who has died at the age of 62.
Around the time the James Bond film “Spectre” was coming out, there was a private viewing at MI6’s HQ in Vauxhall with some of the production team and actors, including Ralph Fiennes.
Alex Younger compared the event, which included an opportunity for members of the audience (who were largely real life spies) to quiz the actors and producers.
One person asked Ralph Fiennes: Who was your favourite Bond?
He gave an answer about how they were all good, but his favourite was Daniel Craig. The rest of the team said similar.
Then Alex threw the question back to the person in the audience who had posed it, asking them who their favourite Bond was.
But before this person had time to give an answer, someone else in the audience shouted out: “You, sir!”

The individual (a former diplomat) who shared this story with me said it was one of so many examples of how admired, liked and respected Alex was by his colleagues.

“He was one of the best chiefs”.

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

Very well done.

[FANY (PRVC) @fany_prvc]

����Three FANYs have completed the tough two-week French Paratroopers Course in ETAP (@ecoledestap), Pau, and have earned their ‘brevet’ (wings).
https://t.co/iorzd69Bo1

[Laia y Frodo @frodoargento]

EL INGLES CONDECORADO POR ARGENTINA

El Cirujano Capitán Rick Jolly, médico de la Royal Navy, se convirtió en uno de los oficiales médicos más respetados en la historia militar británica y el único militar de la Guerra de las Malvinas en ser condecorado tanto por Gran Bretaña como Argentina.

En 1982 estaba sirviendo como Oficial Médico Superior de la Brigada de Comando, responsable del apoyo médico de miles de Marines Reales y soldados desplegados en el Atlántico Sur.

Durante la Guerra de las Malvinas, Jolly estableció y comandó el hospital de campaña en la bahía de Ajax, alojado dentro de una planta de refrigeración en desuso en San Carlos. Trabajando bajo presión constante, a menudo con suministros limitados y bajo la amenaza de un ataque aéreo argentino, Jolly y su equipo atendieron a más de 1.000 heridos, incluyendo alrededor de 300 heridos argentinos.

Notablemente, de las 580 bajas en batalla británicas que llegaron vivas a la bahía de Ajax, sólo tres murieron después y ninguna murió bajo el cuidado directo de Jolly. Amigos y enemigos recibieron el mismo trato, ganándose el respeto de todos los que pasaron por el hospital.

Por sus acciones durante la campaña, Rick Jolly fue nombrado Oficial de la Orden del Imperio Británico (OBE). Años después, el gobierno argentino se enteró de cuántos de sus soldados habían sobrevivido a causa del trabajo realizado en la bahía de Ajax.

En 1999, le otorgaron la Orden de Mayo, uno de los más altos honores de Argentina. Esto lo convirtió en el único veterano de la Guerra de las Malvinas en ser condecorado oficialmente por ambas partes del conflicto. Cuando pidió permiso a la reina Isabel II para llevar la medalla argentina, ella personalmente aprobó la solicitud.

Jolly permaneció en la Royal Navy hasta 1996, retirándose como capitán cirujano después de 24 años de servicio. Al jubilarse se convirtió en un apasionado defensor de los veteranos, ayudando a fundar la Asociación de la Medalla del Atlántico Sur y haciendo campaña por un mayor reconocimiento del trastorno de estrés postraumático entre ex militares y mujeres.

También escribió varios libros, incluyendo The Red and Green Life Machine, que sigue siendo uno de los relatos de primera mano más importantes de las operaciones médicas durante la Guerra de las Malvinas.

El cirujano capitán Rick Jolly murió el 13 de enero de 2018 a la edad de 71 años. Su legado perdura no sólo a través de los cientos de vidas que ayudó a salvar sino a través del ejemplo que dio de profesionalismo, coraje y humanidad en la guerra.

En un conflicto definido por la valentía en tierra, mar y aire, Rick Jolly demostró que a veces el mayor acto de servicio no es quitar vida sino preservarla

[Patrick Baty @patrickbaty]

@ForcesNews Such a shame.