Benjamin Barnard

[ClarksonsFarm @ClarksonsFarm1]

And on that bombshell…

[Looking for Growth @lfg_uk]

Natural England wants landowners to kill 75% of the ponies living on Dartmoor.

Seventy five percent.

Politicians gave them power to do it, they have no accountability to the public.

NOBODY voted for this.

NOBODY voted for Natural England.

This has to end.

[Benjamin Barnard @benjaminbarnard]

@LynseyJParker @WTMAtkinson Where was this? When I was 11, a child invited by my parents snapped off the palm trees on our one and destroyed it! I would love to buy it for my brother for Christmas!

[Sonia Sodha @soniasodha]

Feel quite depressed about politics today. Low-quality policy debate re a huge policy rushed through with little thought as to how in order to tick a political box (legacy for a rubbish PM). And I’m supportive of a social media ban for u16s done in the right way!

[James W. Phillips @AnEmergentI]

Until you've seen the inside of the British state in No10/HMT/Cabinet Office with your own eyes I really don't think you can comprehend just how broken it is. Yes Minister + Thick of it + The Teletubbies all rolled into one tragicomic fiasco. We did try 2 warn the incoming govt!

[Dan Neidle @DanNeidle]

Thomas Piketty and a large team have just proposed a worldwide tax & economic revolution:

⦿ Cap rich-nation growth near zero
⦿ Cut work hours in half
⦿ Cut material consumption by 1/3
⦿ 10% of GDP going into a global fund
⦿ Tax wealth to essentially end it

It's potty.

[Gabriel Elefteriu FRAeS @GElefteriu]

This should not even be a question. The balanced force model is already broken, gone, finished. Plenty of secondary roles for Army on continent, and exciting opportunities for transforming “land power” via new tech in future, but “taking and holding” ground in the depths of Eastern Europe don’t think so. Doesn’t mean no presence but with specialised troops rather than entire battlegroups. Eur allies don’t need more soldiers (not that we could put any significant force in the field anytime soon anyway), they need us to lead where we’re best and where it’s harder for them — in the air domain FIRST, in cyber/space, and also at sea. Space should be (near) top of the list for anyone serious abt Uk contribution to actual Eur defence, let alone our own national requirements as a power with global pretensions.

[(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges]

So the Lord's pitch has now disintegrated to the point it is no longer fit to play test match cricket. We hear a lot about the decline and collapse of western civilisation. Surely this is the tipping point. Our generation's Fall of Khartoum.

[Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn]

I'm so sad to hear that Alex Younger died yesterday. Not only was he the ultimate spy's spy and loved by all who served under him, he was also incredibly generous to far lesser mortals like me.

Alex always picked up the phone (after retiring from MI6 I should say), even if it was only to say he was too busy to help that day. He had been ill for some time, but stubbornly refused to let that get in the way of what he thought was his duty to try to cast some light on an ever more confusing world.

One day in late November last year, during a particularly gruelling chemo round, he answered from the Marsden hospital. "Sure. I'll get in a cab and be home in 20 minutes," was his extraordinary response to my hapless plea to come on an emergency podcast on Ukraine.

Alex's integrity was as impeccable as his judgement. He was a wonderful Brit and a true patriot, and he will be very much missed.
https://t.co/h3J7nS6aoG

[Benjamin Barnard @benjaminbarnard]

@WalkerMarcus This quiz is excellent. Thank you for sharing it!

[Benjamin Barnard @benjaminbarnard]

@VitaliJames @TheCriticMag 💛💛

[The Critic @TheCriticMag]

Cricket embodies much of what is valuable about our culture, writes @VitaliJames
https://t.co/y1yY7xXT4y

[Louis Elton @LouisElton96]

Now, the interesting question to me is: who crafts these red dispatch boxes?

I've gone down a rabbit hole, but with little success!

The red dispatch boxes have historically been sold by a small Bermondsey-based business called Barrow Hepburn & Gale, which was founded in 1760.

It is known to supply these red dispatch boxes to both the Government and the Royal Family.

Indeed, they supplied Rishi Sunak with a delightful red folder as a gift to Australian PM Albanese just a few years ago.

From their website, it's unclear whether they still manufacture in-house or if it is all outsourced to smaller makers. Indeed, the whole business is rather mysterious!

It's seemingly owned by Mohammed Suleman, who seems to be something of a leather goods multi-entrepreneur. Companies House also lists Jennifer Patrick and Angela Scragg as directors,

The procurement of gifts is a powerful, potentially very powerful tool for not only supporting local artisans and small craft-led SMEs but also as a global-reaching advert for such businesses, which employ highly skilled makers to craft beautiful things.

Mr Suleman / Ms Patrick / Ms Scragg if you are reading this: I would love to meet! I make films about artisans making culturally significant products around the U.K., and I'd love to do one about Barrow Hepburn & Gale...

[Tim Stanley @timothy_stanley]

Blair irritatingly makes several good points, the monster.

[Rosie Beacon @BeaconRosie]

So yes Labour has a policy problem. But the bigger issue is the culture that produces it, one that prioritises political combat over intellectual curiosity & creativity. It’s not enough to identify a problem without interrogating its causes (ironically a common policy failure) 6/

[Rosie Beacon @BeaconRosie]

I am unforgivably bored of this notion that saying ‘policy first politics second’ is somehow a hot take. Saying a government should focus on its policy is like saying a restaurant should focus on its food. If you want to change that you have to figure out 1/

[Rachel Wolf @racheljanetwolf]

Unfortunately, I agree. I'm in politics because I care about the mundane stuff - the schools people go to, the jobs they get, whether they know that the streets will be clean and crime will be punished. On domestic policy, the last decade has been largely miserable.

[Louis Elton @LouisElton96]

Are you a technologist or engineer who can build almost anything, but want the judgement and wisdom of an artisan?

Or an artisan, maker, or industrial designer, but need an AI dev, 3D, or CNC engineer to work with?

I’m starting a WhatsApp group to match people for the prize. DM me to join.

[Parham House & Gdns @parhaminsussex]

We are currently undertaking works to the Pleasure Pond in association with Natural England and a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier Scheme, to support its long-term health and vitality.

We are also open this Bank Holiday Monday 4th May.