Andy Howden

Author of two contemporary novels; Melting in the Middle launched November 2020, and now Coming Clean, launched October 2024. Love Hull City despite everything.

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

Another really positive review for Coming Clean from @BookishHermit on the blog tour, organised by @rararesources. Thanks for taking the time to read and review it. #WritingCommunity #writingfiction

[Rach RandomResources @rararesources]

"a thought-provoking read that resonates long after the last page is turned." says @BookishHermit about Coming Clean by @andy_howden https://t.co/hfsqht0fGy

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@Matt86Holmes Agree. When last night I saw the entitled negativity on #hcafc and implied disrespect for players who got us promoted, I decided I've had enough at least until the club announce more signings. In general, you get a more informed discussion on the recruitment on the Not606 site.

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@BenStrodder If we're paying 3 million for him to play one game against Manchester United, he's very expensive! I agree the delay is a bit odd, but we're clearly seeing him as a player with potential over several years, so if we have to wait a bit to get him at a good price, so be it. #hcafc

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@MHU1971 One thing I dislike about supporters of big clubs is their fickleness and sense of entitlement, so sad to see it infecting some of ours too. These guys defied all odds last season and this is their 2nd 45 minutes of the new season. Some people need to get a grip. #hcafc

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@tylerD96_ @hcafc_will @TigersEye1904 @bazdjcooper IF upgrading our facilities and sports science reduced the overall days we lose to injury by 10%, wouldn't you take that? No guarantees maybe but then look at the money we've wasted on injured players.Just posing the question to Baz as to whether we're taking any steps. #hcafc

[Very Brexit Problems @VeryBrexitProbs]

MAGA and Reform have spent years screaming that London is a war-torn no-go hellscape.

London's murder rate is now lower than every single US state and every big US city.

Philadelphia's is 12x higher. Maybe MAGA should sort their own cities out before lecturing ours. 🇬🇧

[Count Binface @CountBinface]

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@digitalsunshine Know should avoid the Twitter echo chamber issue but can I just say you consistently say what I'm thinking. BBC doesn't want stability.

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

If you’re just waking up and haven’t caught the news yet…

Reform UK lost two council by-elections to Labour last night in Thurrock.

I know Zia Yusuf and Nigel Farage won’t be tweeting about this one, so just making sure you’re all aware 😂😂😂

[Jack Dart @JackWDart]

As someone who lives in London and who doesn’t traditionally vote Labour, it is one of the best cities in the world and that is because of Sadiq Khan.

As a Londoner, I proudly note that under Sadiq Khan, the capital has achieved its lowest homicide rate on record (1.1 per 100,000).

He has delivered universal free school meals for all primary pupils, frozen TfL fares multiple times to support households, driven record levels of council housebuilding, planted over 640,000 trees, expanded the cycle network, and supported more than 330,000 new jobs. The ULEZ expansion has helped reduce air pollution-linked deaths by an estimated 40% (Imperial College research).

London is safer, greener, and fairer in many measurable ways, one of the world’s great cities. Done listen to these people who only ever talk down our great capital.

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@danielstorey85 in the i paper is my favourite football journalist - never soft soaps things. And here he is telling it like it is about Scotland and a certain selection error. #hcafc

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

Distressingly, this is the bile the Mail will be spewing out every day about Andy Burnham, seen on news stands by millions. As normal, I turned it over so at least the next person in only saw the back page.

[To Hull & Back (P)odcast @Hull_and_Back]

We need to make £6m asap otherwise we'll get points deductions/fines/etc, meanwhile Man City can just throw £130m at one player with no issues while their 115+ charges still haven't been sorted, despite the hearing into those charges ending in Dec 2024...

It just stinks. #hcafc

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@digitalsunshine Have to say the more I see of Steve Clarke's rather dour persona and compare it with Oli, the more I get why he didn't get selected. Their loss. Also makes me appreciate Sergei's man management even more. #hcafc

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

Really hope Andy Burnham can build a broad consensus in Labour. But even if he does, the BBC will be looking for conflict because they're bored with consensus and I'm sure there'll be plenty of Labour MPs with big egos willing to feed them the lines.

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@digitalsunshine The BBC are complete hypocrites. Focussed for months on Westminster manoeuvres without much interest in what Labour has achieved. Now they've got their desired result they will wring their hands at yet another change of PM.

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

This is the best response I've seen to the BBC's focus on personality rather than serious political analysis.

[Gordon Fielden @GordonFielden]

Chris, what is most striking about your piece is not the reporting of events, but the relentless effort to frame every development through the prism of impending collapse.

Throughout the article, readers are presented not with objective analysis, but with a succession of loaded phrases and assumptions designed to reinforce a predetermined narrative. A premiership is described as "flailing", potential rivals are elevated into waiting successors, and routine political disagreement is transformed into evidence of a government supposedly on the verge of disintegration.

What is conspicuously absent is any serious examination of the reality facing any government today. Defence spending does not emerge from thin air. Every additional pound committed to the armed forces must either be raised through taxation, borrowed, or diverted from another area of public expenditure. That is not a political slogan. It is a fiscal fact.

You devote considerable attention to those criticising the Defence Investment Plan, yet remarkably little attention to what their alternative would be. If the spending settlement is inadequate, what precisely should replace it? Where would the money come from? Which taxes should rise, or which public services should face reductions? These are the questions that matter.

The article also appears determined to portray every resignation as a judgement on Sir Keir Starmer's leadership while giving scant consideration to the possibility that ministers can disagree on policy without it amounting to an existential crisis for the government. Westminster may enjoy perpetual leadership speculation, but governing a country requires rather more than gossip, intrigue and anonymous briefings.

Perhaps the greatest weakness in your analysis is the assumption that political commentary can substitute for political reality. The government remains in office with a substantial parliamentary majority, inflation has fallen significantly from its peak, economic growth has returned, and major policy decisions continue to be implemented. Whether one supports the government or not, those are facts rather than interpretations.

In the end, your article says far more about the current appetite among sections of the media for leadership drama than it does about the actual condition of the government. The country deserves analysis grounded in evidence, not a running commentary built upon Westminster's favourite pastime: predicting the imminent downfall of every Prime Minister.
https://t.co/iHgb3apH0G

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@digitalsunshine @HULLCITYREFRESH I keep going onto Not 606 and the Championship page - and then I remember. 🙂 #hcafc

[Dave Hibbert, BA(Hons), ACTUS, Cert.Ed. Rejoin EU. @Cpass12David]

The Guardian: “Net migration down by three-quarters, the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, knife crime cut by 10%, the economy growing the fastest in the G7, rising wages, energy bills and petrol prices held down, the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the cold war, a massive expansion of free childcare …
If Keir Starmer did tub-thumping lists of Labour’s achievements in the style of Gordon Brown, he would not actually have a shortage of things to talk about.”
During the two years of Labour government, following fourteen years of Tory mismanagement, there have actually been significant improvements in Britain. Why does the Tory media not report them?

[Andy Howden @andy_howden]

@Petrie_JohnC I absolutely agree with you. It's odious that they just turn their attack on whoever is next. It's simply therefore about how effectively you deal with it. I don't think Keir Starmer is very good at it unfortunately. Wes Streeting is very good and hopefully Andy Burnham is too.