Steven Fairhurst Jones 🇺🇦🇬🇧

Cotswolds now, formerly in London. Ex-National Archives, ex-Defra. Volleyball (play), football (follow), bit of running, bit of cycling. #RejoinEU

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Before & After…

If anyone doubts the power of community action over the @EnvAgency’s spineless inertia, you can walk to the outskirts of Ilford & walk along an ancient lost river to see for yourself.

With 10 days of intense effort by dedicated volunteers, the river River Roding Trust managed to clean up & restore 250 metres of the Aldersbrook (about 1/3 of the brook). This allows a direct comparison between the parts of the brook we restored & those we haven’t got round to yet.

These photos & videos are all from May 2026. The first is on a part of the Aldersbrook still to be restored & shows the old flood defences which are no longer needed & are killing the river but which the EA won’t remove unless we volunteers pay them £50,000 just for surveys. These defences have caused 2-3ft of stinking sludge & silt to build up over 70 years, such that the water in the brook is just a few centimetres deep. Combine with huge amounts of rubbish & and out of control knotweed infestation & the river ecosystem is essentially dead. A river that is older than England destroyed by official indifference.

A hundred metres away, and it’s a different story. The rubbish & the invasive species (I sprayed the knotweed myself last autumn) are gone. The silt that used to clog the river is now spread on the banks & rapidly providing fertile ground for native plants. Instead of sludge, there’s 2-3ft of water, so fish have returned to the brook for the first time in decades, along with dragon flies, herons & a nesting moorhen. We river guardians knew our intervention would make a difference, but have been shocked at quite how quickly nature has come back. The restored Aldersbrook is now a rare jewel: pretty much the last fully natural tidal brook in London.

The EA now has a choice. It can salvage some good from this situation & work with us to restore the remaining sections of the brook, or it can continue to do nothing. If the latter, river guardians *will* be back this winter to finish the job & the EA can see how well prosecuting volunteers for restoring a river without permission goes for them.

[FearBuck @FearedBuck]

A Boston city worker said around 2,000 Scotland fans cleaned up after drinking all day and left the area so clean that he didn’t need any help tidying up.

(Via NBC10 Boston)

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

“What’re you in for mate?”

“Cleaning a river without a permit. What about you?”

@EnvAgency is really plumbing new depths of malevolent uselessness here.

[KumoriRaver @kumoriRaver]

England fans stayed behind to help the owner and staff clean up the tables at a pub in Dallas 👏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Lancesico 🇱🇨 @Bornakang]

This is why trees are so important

[Meg ✦ @Flicky0ps]

Street trees are one of the best long term investments a city can make.

[Steven Fairhurst Jones 🇺🇦🇬🇧 @Sweetcover1]

@ColeFusionHQ I once sat near a group of men in a pub, one of whom was nicknamed "Doctor Congo" because when he arrived the TV was showing a football match featuring Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), to which he asked loudly "Who the hell is Doctor Congo?"

[Scotland’s Story @80_mcswan]

Nigel Farage has said that the handgun ban in the UK is ridiculous.
The ban was introduced after the tragedy of Dunblane.
His comments are a disgrace and an insult to all those who lost their lives at Dunblane.
The ban must never be reversed.

[Sean @shornKOOMINS]

Sick to death of this cunt lecturing us about hard work. When he was an MEP he was 748th out of 751 for attendance, attended 1 out 42 meetings when he was on the EU fisheries committee, has one of the lowest attendance records in Parliament, and never shows up in his constituency

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

BREAKING: Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home and the focus on work-life balance

"People aren't more productive working from home - it's a load of nonsense”

Whatever you do JUST DON’T VOTE REFORM

[John Sutherland @policecommander]

Terrible news for the people trying to convince us that Britain is broken.
Brilliant news for everyone else.

[Trades Union Congress @The_TUC]

New Reform candidate Matt Goodwin has claimed that being born and raised in England doesn't make you English.

These Luton workers proudly disagree.

[Armchair Admiral 🇬🇧 @ArmchairAdml]

“They stayed a little back, off the front lines”

Cunt.

[PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇧 @prideukorg]

❤️🏳️‍⚧️

[Steven Fairhurst Jones 🇺🇦🇬🇧 @Sweetcover1]

@allaboutfpl Bit of an Easter egg for #80s pop fans there too

[John Rich🇺🇸 @johnrich]

Show this video to your kids…Wow😳

[Federico Italiano @FedeItaliano76]

The perfection of snow in the paintings of Danish artist Peder Mørk Mønsted (1859–1941)

[Steven Fairhurst Jones 🇺🇦🇬🇧 @Sweetcover1]

@OxfordClarion those Summer(town) knights 🤔

[Jonathan Brash MP @JonathanBrash]

I’ve never known anyone talk so much about ‘hate’. It may play well on social media but in the real world British people seem much more focused on decency, kindness and, yes, honest disagreement and discussion. Stop polluting political discourse.

[giggly ♡ @xgigglypuff]

Every few months, there is a new woman going viral for academic success, and there is a hate train of jealous misogynists. I hope we can turn this into a positive moment of celebrating her, and we’ll have another smart woman’s posts to look forward to ♥️