@SuellaBraverman You might’ve forgotten, but we remember your previous incarnation as a Tory. Then you were happy with FOUR PMs in sequence without mandates. In fact, from memory both you and Jenrick tried to be PM in the same way. Since Reform never governed does not erase your past, Sunshine.
@SuellaBraverman You might’ve forgotten, but we remember your previous incarnation as a Tory. Then you were happy with FOUR PMs in sequence without mandates. In fact, from memory both you and Jenrick tried to be PM in the same way. Since Reform never governed does not erase your past, Sunshine.
The 4 km-long stretch of river in the city of Yanagawa, Japan is ideal for a relaxing time on a donko boat.
And sometimes the boatmen can show off their skills in a somewhat theatrical way.
“His deepest need was that people should like him. An admirable trait that; in a spaniel, or a whore — not, I think, in a Prime Minister...”
Francis Urquhart [Ian Richardson] House of Cards
@0TulsiGabbard2 Since the USA now also have no regard for international law and invade other countries, you are not going to be critical of Russia. The rest of the civilised world remains horrified.
@StevenKerwin@RightScopee 😃😂🤣😝Meloni is not letting a convicted felon insult her or Italy! When are you lot in the USA wake up and see what the rest of the world knows?
Bollocks! She handed Trump his balls in a sack! The look on his face like a guilty caught schoolboy! And like a schoolboy, Trump always has to get one up so LIES! All the fucking time! Haven't you retards worked him out yet? Everyone else has! He's the laughing stock of the entire world!
@RightScopee Trump obliterated Meloni? Of cause: like all his telephone calls are beautiful, like he is in perfect health, big beautiful bill, etc. ad nauseam. SHE put him right in his place. THAT’S what one calls WOW! How on earth did Trump brainwashed 50% of the USA’s population? Mon Dieu.
Michelle Obama had a problem.
She was standing in Buckingham Palace, about to sit down to a state dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth II — one of the most formally dressed women in the world, wearing jewels that had adorned British royalty for centuries — and the gift she had brought was a $50 brooch from an antique shop in Washington D.C.
It was May 2011. President Barack Obama and the First Lady were on a state visit to the United Kingdom — only the second time in history a sitting American president had been granted that honor. The palace had pulled out all the stops. Chandeliers blazing. Footmen in livery. The Queen in full regalia, diamonds catching the light.
And Michelle's gift was a small moss agate brooch from a vintage store called Tiny Jewel Box.
Barack Obama would later recall the moment with a smile. "The Queen was dressed up quite a bit for the state dinner," he said. "It was a little bit concerning for Michelle, because as a gift to Her Majesty, Michelle had selected a small, modest brooch of nominal value."
The brooch was beautiful, in its quiet way. Made in 1950 in America, crafted in fourteen-karat yellow gold, set with diamonds and pale green moss agate in the shape of a small flower. Delicate. Personal. The kind of thing you find when you're not looking for something grand — when you're just looking for something true.
Michelle presented it to the Queen that evening, alongside the official state gift — a carefully assembled album of photographs and memorabilia from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth's historic 1939 visit to the United States, something the Queen was said to have been visibly moved by as she turned the pages.
But it was the little brooch that told a different story.
The following evening, the Obamas hosted their own reciprocal dinner at Winfield House — the official residence of the American Ambassador in London. It was a room full of heads of state and royalty, an evening of its own formality and grandeur. The Queen arrived.
And on her lapel, she was wearing Michelle's brooch.
Not one of her legendary pieces. Not a diamond parure gifted by a Commonwealth nation or a sapphire set that had passed through generations of the royal family. The small American flower from a Washington antique shop — worn the very next night, in front of everyone.
Obama said: "The one thing we immediately noticed is that she was wearing the brooch that Michelle had given her. It was an example of the subtle thoughtfulness that she consistently displayed. Not just to us, but to everybody who she interacted with."
The Queen understood something that is easy to forget in rooms full of expensive things: the value of a gift has nothing to do with its price. It has everything to do with what it says. That brooch said — I chose this for you. I thought of you when I saw it. I wanted you to have something made by American hands, something personal, something that wasn't pulled from a state inventory.
The Queen heard every word of it.
She kept the brooch. It became known in royal circles as the American State Visit Brooch, and it appeared on her again on notable occasions over the years — a quiet signal, each time, of the warmth she carried for the people who had given it.
The exchange, it turned out, went both ways. The Queen gave Michelle a gift of her own that visit — an antique brooch of red coral and gold, shaped like a rose. Two women, surrounded by all the machinery of state protocol, quietly giving each other flowers.
When Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022, Barack Obama released a video tribute. He talked about how she reminded him of his grandmother — the same wry humor, the same no-nonsense grace, the same ability to make everyone around her feel genuinely seen. And he told the brooch story. The $50 antique. The state dinner. The moment the next evening when they walked in and saw her wearing it.
"She could not have been more kind or thoughtful to me and Michelle," he said.
Queen Elizabeth II owned jewels that belonged to empires. Pieces that had passed through the hands of kings and queens across centuries of history. Stones worth more than most people will ever see in a lifetime.
And when she wanted to tell someone that their gift had mattered — that the thought behind it had reached her — she pinned a small moss agate flower to her lapel and walked into the room.
That is the kind of person she was.
Kindness, when it comes from a genuine place, doesn't need to be expensive.
It just needs to be worn.
@durhamsafc1994@AmandaAchtman I respectfully beg to disagree with your opinion that the doctors are evil. The public asks for “assisted dying” and politicians who make the laws. As in every walk of life, some doctors agree with “assisted dying”. Most don’t. And this case should be a warning .
@AmandaAchtman@DrOKaneAgain Surely, was it not supposed to be the patient who asked to be bumped off, first? Or is killing people a new treatment option?
@0laratrumpRv2 Indeed. Started an unnecessary war & lost. Turned the USA into a criminal state by invading Venezuela and kidnap their President. Behaving like a buffoon: foul language & confirms his lack of decorum or class. The high office of POTUS will take decades to regain respect.
@MichaelPayneUK@welshroots Then why the vendetta against Corbyn and the absolute persecution of Diane Abbot? His incomprehensible and idiotic appointment of Mandelson was the final straw! Let’s not mention his u-turns. Decency sadly does not compensate for lack of insight.