David Short

Retailer, Business Consultant and NUFC fan. Views my own.

[David Short @davidshort63]

@TomK_Brit1993 None

[David Short @davidshort63]

@CraigHope_DM @TomCollomosse We are fast becoming the club everyone laughs at. Embarrassing

[Simon Clarke @SirSimonClarke]

On the spiteful nature of Labour’s education policy, let’s revisit the single decision Bridget Philipson made that has been most revealing, as well as frustrating.

Eton and Star Academies wanted to open a great new free school in Middlesbrough to help more talented young people access the best universities - a noble endeavour backed by funding from Eton as well as a commitment to share their passion and expertise.

The last Conservative government said yes in 2023 under @GillianKeegan, in a victory for local children and parents and for a great campaign led by independent Mayor Andy Preston @centre_right_ and Conservative Councillor @MiekaSmiles.

But astonishingly, Labour locally campaigned against it. Andy McDonald MP raged against Eton as a "hallmark of stifling elitism”.

What did Bridget Philipson do when she became Education Secretary? She killed the project. Prejudice trumped social mobility.

https://t.co/LeOO3olBgH

[David Short @davidshort63]

@ADMusgrove Sadly no ones listening

[David Short @davidshort63]

@DPJHodges It’s a joke, no two ways about it.

[David Short @davidshort63]

@PolitlcsUK @thetimes Zero skills for job between them as usual

[David Short @davidshort63]

@JuliaHB1 He certainly thinks he is

[Burnside @BurnsideWasTosh]

"Hands up if you've ever run a business."

[David Short @davidshort63]

@markaizatt Fucking embarrassing

[David Short @davidshort63]

@NickyAACampbell I see near misses with e-bikes and e-scooters regularly., often on pavements. They are heavy, particularly the e-bikes and move at speed transferring huge force to anything they hit. Often it’s youths on e-scooters with no common sense. I fear more injuries…or worse sadly.

[David Short @davidshort63]

@RKH4658 @Churchill Comparison check every insurance, every year. Sad and frustrating but it’s the only way not to get screwed.

[David Short @davidshort63]

@richardseiler Excellent 👏

[Richard Seiler @richardseiler]

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦

Jeremy Clarkson has never pretended to be anything other than exactly what he is

Brutally honest. No oil painting. A pot belly, a lifelong smoker, a drinker. Not exactly the modern alpha male or is he?

And somehow that is the whole point

I have watched him for most of my life
First as a motoring journalist who could make you want a car you would never own and never need
Then as something bigger
The loudest, funniest, most unfiltered mouthpiece the ordinary person ever had
A man who said the thing everyone was thinking while the rest of television tiptoed around it

From Top Gear he built something that should not have worked
Three middle aged men, The Stig, a track and a chemistry you cannot manufacture
James May the patient one
Richard Hammond the brave one
And Clarkson the force of nature dragging both of them into chaos and somehow back out again

When it all fell apart at the BBC he could have disappeared
The fracas was not his finest hour and he never pretended it was
He owned it, apologized and carried on
No reinvention, no groveling tour, no carefully managed comeback
He just kept being himself and let the work speak

The move to Amazon and The Grand Tour proved something I think a lot of people missed
The format was never the magic
The men were
You can take three friends out of a studio and drop them anywhere on earth and the loyalty between them travels with them

But it is Clarkson's Farm where the whole picture finally comes into focus

Here is a man with nothing left to prove walking into a field he barely understands and refusing to fake competence he does not have
He has run that farm at break even and then at an outright loss in full public view
No editing it into a success story
No pretending the numbers work when they do not
His farm manager hands him one brutal truth after another and he sits there and takes it

A whole season swallowed by drought even after he leaned into robotics and the most advanced farming money could buy
Technology was supposed to be the answer and the weather did not care
He showed that too
Most people would have cut it

And through all of it he has done something quietly remarkable
He has dragged the plight of the British farmer into the light
The paperwork, the council, the margins that vanish, the weather that ruins a year of work in a week
People who had never thought about where their food comes from suddenly cared because he made them care

And then there is the part nobody warned me about
Men who raise animals for meat and still love them
Who name them, worry about them, sit with them
Who treat them with respect and dignity right up to the moment they cannot keep them
And feel the full weight of sending them off

He does not hide that
He lets the camera sit in the discomfort of it
The grief of a man who knows the deal he made and still finds it hard

That is not weakness
That is honesty most people are far too afraid to show

We live in an age that rewards the polished, the curated, the carefully built personal brand
And here is a scruffy, swearing, chain smoking farmer who has done the opposite of all of it and won
He stayed exactly who he was while the world begged him to become a product

That is the whole secret
There is no act
There never was

And that is exactly why we keep watching

Praying for a full recovery mate, looking forward to another season of Clarkson's Farms!

[David Short @davidshort63]

@Alexarmstrong And she agreed 🤷‍♂️🤣

[David Short @davidshort63]

@NTCouncilTeam Tynemouth and the nearby beaches are a joy to visit.
But your lack of adequate (in fact ANY) public toilets is shameful.
The facilities beside the priory have been shut for years. You’ll quote vandalism but you need to find a way. Not good enough.

[Mambo Italiano @mamboitaliano__]

If you had just one trip left in your lifetime, which country would you choose? 🧳🇮🇹

[Stuey Beef 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @stuey_beef]

359 civil servants.

Currently working from Greek and Spanish holiday resorts.

140 of them from Ed Miliband’s department.

The same department whose minister said “further slippage is not acceptable.”

Meanwhile ordinary British families are skipping holidays this summer because they can’t afford them.

This is not flexible working. This is one rule for them.

Another for everyone else.

[David Short @davidshort63]

@InTheTrenchesUK Nailed it.

[Clean Up Britain @cleanupbritain]

Virtually all the exits to Britain's motorway service stations look this. What's wrong with us in this country? No other west European countries are as run-down, filthy and littered as Britain... we need to turn the tide of decline. Pride and respect should never go out of fashion.

[David Short @davidshort63]

@WestminsterWAG Agreed. In fact I’d ban cases of any size in the seating area. It’s chaos every time. Many are too large or misshapen and shouldn’t be on there anyway. I used to pop my rucksack up there or my wife’s shoulder bag. Not a cat in hells chance these days.