Timothy Ridgewell

Charity fundraising, tree loving, veg eating Essex boy in the big smoke

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

If you want a practical example of why this fund is bullshit, I have one from the River Roding.

The Roding has billions of litres of sewage entering it illegally every year & the EA has refused to prosecute a single one. Separately, our volunteer River charity has been campaigning to restore the channel of the river through Ilford golf course & create a wetland. A large river charity (who will remain nameless) told us they could help us get funding for the restoration: great, we thought.

They were awarded tens of thousands of pounds from the water company fine fund & instead of actually restoring the river, they spent it (without consulting us) on staff time & consultant costs to produce a *report* about restoring the river. This report will then sit on a shelf somewhere and meanwhile the sewage still illegally enters the river & the river channel is still not restored. Our volunteers were forced to give up their free time & rely on local donations (a fraction of the amount spent on the report) to begin the restoration work as best we could ourselves. The system is utterly broken and our rivers are paying the price.

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

River guardians do not want bribes that allow Thames Water to keep breaking the law. We want one simple thing: for Thames Water to put spades in the ground & fix every single illegal outfall within the next 5-10 years.

A little story to illustrate:

5 years ago I found an illegal outfall spewing raw sewage (with visible turds) into the Aldersbrook (a tributary of the Roding). The EA refused to prosecute, but I created so much fuss locally about it that eventually I got a visit from Richard Aylard, Thames Water’s ‘Sustainability Director’ who had an unflattering appearance in the recent ‘Dirty Business’ programme. Instead of setting forth a timetable to fix the outfall, Aylard offered the River Roding Trust (the entirely volunteer run charity I founded) £50,000 for “river restoration”.

I refused this offer, saying there was no point restoring a brook that still had raw shit going into it. I continued campaigning for another three years: taking numerous journalists to the outfall, getting Thames Water hauled before the local council scrutiny committee & relentlessly calling them out on social media. Eventually, after 4 years, Thames spent £1 million fixing the outfall & the brook is now clean for the first time in decades.

I have no doubt that if I hadn’t discovered the outfall in the first place, or if I had taken the £50,000, the outfall would still be putting raw turds into the Aldersbrook, a stone’s throw from Ilford town centre. It’s obvious for Thames that’s it cheaper to pay their critics to keep quiet than to do the work needed to fix the problem, but this is not what our rivers need.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

If Hamas had killed 7 Israelis inside of Israel this week, it would be one of the biggest stories in the world, & all over the US media.

But Israel killed 7 HUNDRED Palestinians this week, including almost 200 children, & yet there's little outrage from our politicians or media.

[Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy]

God bless this woman. She knows what community is all about. ❤

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

No Pasaran. Goodnight ❤️

[Jessica Simor KC @JMPSimor]

The BBC says: “Protesters target mosque”. Can you imagine saying “Protesters target synagogue? These are criminals. By platforming Farage, Oakeshott, Tice, Goodwin etc, the BBC normalised the far right. Now it legitimises them as so called “protesters” https://t.co/yofMbolcM5

[Jerry Hicks @JerryHicksUnite]

The photo that best sums up the Tory 14 year misrule
#ToriesIntoThird #GeneralElection2024 #GTTO

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

After 14 years of corruption, destruction, chaos and misrule, today, 4th July, is our Independence Day.

[Have I Got News For You @haveigotnews]

Exit Poll reaction: On course to lose so many seats the Conservatives might be downgraded from a party to a gathering

[Faiza Shaheen @faizashaheen]

My statement… and there’s a lot more that I couldn’t fit on here. Please sign up here to get more on next steps
https://t.co/0sqHZJwov3

And sign this open letter https://t.co/LuOdtzyK9Q

It’s been a mad day and I’m very upset, but I’m touched by all the support.

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

The Lib Dem’s have called for a return to the Single Market.

Its common bloody sense, the closest country not in the Single Market is Morocco.

RT if you want cheaper food, cheaper clothes, cheaper footwear and cheaper energy.

[Timothy Ridgewell @TimRidgewell]

@TomThorogood Surely this caller isn’t real. If so he’d hate you turning Pescatarian

[Timothy Ridgewell @TimRidgewell]

@ROTS1882 @SpursSongSheet Fans to repeat Come on you Spurs 10 times not twice. It currently just gets to whole stadium levels and then falls silent. Could be a real driver of participation as everyone sings it

[Timothy Ridgewell @TimRidgewell]

@TheSpursWatch Outstanding start which is much better than anyone expected

[Timothy Ridgewell @TimRidgewell]

This barbaric war must stop @savechildrenuk #FreePalestine

[Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) 🪬 @DoctorVive]

This is the whole problem stripped down to its essence. Thank you @GeorgeMonbiot

[Timothy Ridgewell @TimRidgewell]

@QueenCH6666 @flea333 I believe in guns lol