Gen WM

Female. Mom. Expat. Et cetera. Energy market segment analyst by day. Opinions are my own. Retweets are not endorsements of political party platforms.

[ALT-immigration @ALT_uscis]

The news “business” got what they want.
4 years of sensationalism and ratings.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@joshpizpom That alternative timeline was a Gore win. Imagine the world if he had.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@EveningExpress @AberdeenCC @scotgov Scotland got a share of this through Barnett. What happened to it @scotgov ?

https://t.co/7m8Cc6jlSC

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@EveningExpress Has @AberdeenCC thought to ask @scotgov for swimming pool rescue funds?

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

What is the evidence supporting a £2.1 million estimate? @EveningExpress @pressjournal @AberdeenCC

And while we’re at it, whatever happened to that swimming pool rescue funding that Scotland received through the Barnett formula back in 2023? @scotgov

[Evening Express @EveningExpress]

Report reveals ‘significant deterioration’ of closed Bucksburn Swimming Pool will add ANOTHER £1m to repair bill https://t.co/s5Mht4S6rx

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@joshpizpom @youngwd1 There’s the Aberdeen Energy and Innovation Parks (industrial estates…) here: https://t.co/DmE0bboCGj . Like many ABZ industrial estates, these are also on the outskirts of the city. 🚗 Ex-M&S site would be handy for an office worker, if energy efficiency issues can be sorted.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@JohnSwinney @theSNP What is the point of Scottish Independence if we burn the place to the ground to get it? What did we gain with 35 abstentions? https://t.co/FLc9jijPMK

On a much smaller scale, any word on whether swimming pool rescue fund via Barnett will be spent on any Scottish pools?

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@JohnSwinney @theSNP What is the point of Scottish Independence if we burn the place to the ground to get it? What did we gain with 35 abstentions? https://t.co/FLc9jijPMK

On a much smaller scale, any word on whether swimming pool rescue fund via Barnett will be spent on any Scottish pools?

[Martin Lewis @MartinSLewis]

As I do at every general election. I wish the new government, whomever forms it, well. I hope they do what is needed for the country, and make lives better for the people of the UK. And right now, with much of our societal infrastructure struggling, improvement is needed, and needed soon.

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

USA media dishes brutal truth about Brexit Britain

“Every decision taken by Tory (and @LibDems) governments was a political decision—it did not need to happen that way. Austerity was never the hard logic of dutiful caretakers; it was a political calculation to rescue rich friends and dump the burdensome price on those least able to endure the cost.”

“There is mold in the walls and shit in the rivers, posh butter in the supermarkets has anti-theft tags stuck to it, the trains run on schedule about half the time, the average pub-poured pint of lager—the blood of the nation—is nearing the criminal price of 5 pounds ($6.34), and on May 22 a new general election was announced to the people of Great Britain by a prime minister who is richer than the king. 

“Should the polls prove correct—short of a 2016-scale error—the annihilation will be justified. Wage growth is at its lowest level since the Napoleonic Wars. What the Financial Timescalls the “rental market” and what the rest of us call “How much of your money someone richer than you takes every month” is stratospherically inflated; rent is about half a person’s average salary in London. Chain stores on British high streets close permanently at a rate of 14 per day, leaving most shopping areas a procession of corrugated shutters, uncollected rubbish, and the sleeping bags of the homeless.

“The precious marvel that is the National Health Service is cracking at the seams; at the current rate, waiting lists will not be cleared for another 685 years. The union for junior doctors, the BMA, has organised 10 strikes and walkouts in the past year for a pay deal that would only bring wages up to the current level of inflation. The city of Birmingham was the first to tip over into bankruptcy; more will follow.

“In 2022, at least 3% of all families in Britain—around two million people—could not afford to eat. Like a revenant from Dickens, Victorian diseases like scurvy, rickets, and scabies are back to blight children.

“Life expectancy has dropped to the lowest level since 2010—tellingly, the year the Conservatives took power, at the height of the recession.”

“These are the bitter fruits of austerity: an experiment in sado-monetarist economics and financial barbarism. Not much unites those five PMs other than the constant ritual tribute in blood to their coiffed icon, Margaret Thatcher. Yet Thatcher, back in the 1980s, did not lie about how brutal the first shock of neoliberalism was going to be. She coldly promised torture before riches.

“Its sequel, however, was pitched by its architect George Osborne, chancellor under David Cameron, as a bit of belt-tightening resembling that most prized memory in the national canon: the Blitz Spirit. Come on, chaps, buck up and give it some welly. The shattering of society into thinner fragments was supposed to be a hardy adventure. 

“Midway through this downhill plummet, Britain bumbled backward out of the EU. The wreckage of this four-year disaster can now best be seen as an attempt to escape the harsh bite of austerity.

“Brexit was a retreat from hunger into myth: an embrace of antique fables about British pluck and derring-do, a belief that even without an empire and an industrial base this archipelago might reclaim past glory. Faced with profound turmoil, much of the nation turned to a half-remembered falsehood about their grandfather’s generation, marching along with Churchill. This election is the reckoning Brexit postponed.

https://t.co/PRKpMibIqR

[Josh Ellis @jzellis]

I'm gonna explain to y'all why Britain considers 78°F/25°C hot. I know hot because I grew up in Texas and spent half my life in Las Vegas. So I am absolutely qualified to explain this to the rest of you who laugh at UK "heat waves".

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@AngryBlackLady @thelauracoates For real. I hope someone got her whatever she needed afterwards. That’s a lot to take in. Her reporting allowed the camera to pan away from the person on fire, while still keeping the audience informed.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@joshpizpom There are in fact two different 2-bed houses listed for sale in Woodside today on APSC. Prices from £115-125k. Where exactly is the cost for those poles coming from?

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@joshpizpom I would love to see an itemised list to help the public understand how exactly those painted poles are worth £155k—this is more than the cost of some houses in Aberdeen! The poles are even more underwhelming driving past.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@Dan1763 @JamesRWithers @thetimes Worst part is @thetimes used Jordanhill case study to argue for more charter/academy style high schools in Scotland. A better study would examine key differences between the low-achieving schools with low poverty stats and high-achieving schools with higher poverty %.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@JamesRWithers I agree. As a parent, a far more useful measurement for me would be % of pupils who go to uni, % of pupils who go to college, % of pupils who land apprenticeships, and % of pupils who land a full-time job (incl military) straight out of high school.

[Sarah Ockwell-Smith @TheBabyExpert]

Children with ADHD and Autism aren't going anywhere. They've always been here and always will be.

#adhdawareness #neurodiversity #autismawareness

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@lorrainemking On the bright side, it makes a National Trust Scotland annual membership look like value for money, even if you’re just visiting Scotland for a week. There are five NTS castles within Aberdeenshire alone.

[Gen WM @genwheeler]

@BBCScotlandNews One ticket with afternoon tea costs more than a 12-month family membership covering 2 adults and 6 kids with National Trust Scotland. Which would cover admission to Crathes, Drum, Craigievar, Fraser and Fyvie castles. Most of them have nice cafes. ☕️

[Molly Jong-Fast @MollyJongFast]

Instead of talking about princess Kate who deserves privacy we should be talking about the phenomenon of the rise in cancer among younger people

https://t.co/TihOBE5tLs