Ivan Davidson

[Lou Macari @LouMacari10]

What a fantastic day at Windsor Castle to receive my MBE from Prince William. I was dead nervous beforehand, but was then ok chatting with him about football and our work with the homeless over the last 10 years at the Macari Centre.

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

The UK Govt has been given suggestions on how NOT to just stand by… with several ways to ensure suffering in Gaza is eased. @Caabu urged @Ed_Miliband and the UK Govt to ensure that ‘Israel permits free and proper humanitarian access into Gaza. This includes using powers to sanction those who block life-saving humanitarian aid’.

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

This is winter in Gaza because Israel had blocked the entry of not just aid, but essentials for life.

Tents are not allowed in because the poles are considered dual use.

950k need new shelters. Hundreds of thousands are at high risk of flooding.

Palestinians in Gaza need life essentials to enter. This is collective punishment and a crime in intl law.

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

This is so strong and clear.

You can't help but notice that if this was in the UK context - you wouldn't be able to get a single one of these sentences out without a journalist barracking the person saying it constantly.

The UK media is in quite a state.

[Michael Crick @MichaelLCrick]

It's utterly pathetic the way BBC presenters like Victoria Derbyshire are told by BBC bosses to say to outspoken interviewees like Bernie Sanders things like "President Trump and his family would deny they are corrupt", or "The Israeli Government would deny they are extremist". It's gross over-reaction to Trump libel action against the BBC.

[Ivan Davidson @ivand1962]

@ToryFibs £276 rise?

Martin Lewis is saying today current estimates are for a £496 rise.

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

This is the ‘justice’ being handed out in the self-proclaimed ‘only democracy in the Middle East’. The judge accepts @infinite_jaz and @the_andrey_x were the victims yet punishes them while their assailants go free

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

May those who live, work or holiday on top of this have nightmares about what lies beneath them. May they imagine the cries of the dying and may it keep them awake at night.

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

Today Israeli authorities barred me and other European elected representatives from entering the West Bank to meet Palestinian students and civil society leaders, as part of a @ProgIntl delegation.

We knew that by crossing into the occupied Palestinian territories, we risked being detained, interrogated and turned away by Israeli authorities. And that, alas, is exactly what happened.

For more than eight hours, we were held, interrogated and made to feel as though we had done something wrong simply by attempting to enter.

The simple truth is we had done nothing wrong. We went to show our support for the Palestinian people and highlight the terrible injustice and violence being perpetrated against them. We want to ensure that people back home do not look away from the reality of what is happening.

Ultimately, we went to show solidarity. But we left with an even greater determination to speak out. We will not be silenced, and we will not look away. None of us should.

[PoliticsHome @politicshome]

Despite changes made by the previous chancellor to air passenger duty (APD) on private jets, this tax still only makes up, on average, less than two per cent of the cost of a typical private jet ticket, while it makes up on average 43 per cent for an economy ticket on a passenger plane.

It’s time to stop being incrementalist on private jet tax, writes Labour MP Martin Rhodes https://t.co/9u3E8m0pKh

[Ivan Davidson @ivand1962]

@JozefOstyn71791 @bbclaurak You're confusing anti- semitism with anti-zionism. As we all know, not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews.

[Martin Lewis @MartinSLewis]

Important News: @Ofgem’s just launched a ‘consultation’ about switching on the Market Stabilisation Charge as soon as November. It doesn’t sound a big deal, but it could be, it ain’t good for consumers and I don't want it to slip under the radar.

In a nutshell, it means if wholesale energy prices drop sharply, the cheap fixes and switcher’s deals offered will be a lot more expensive, in order to protect energy firms’ profits.

That’s because any firm taking on a new customer, including on a cheap fix or other specialist tariff, will have to pay compensation to that customer’s old supplier, if they switch. It's basically a form of switching penalty.

While technically this is a consultation, it’s one of those where Ofgem has made up its mind, but is required to consult - it will almost certainly happen. Below is my ‘first look’ explainer on this...
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How it works (simplified to make it easy to understand):

Ofgem decided to put this power back into suppliers’ licences in May, so it could switch it on quickly if needed, and now it is trying to do just that.

It means if wholesale prices drop more than 10% below the level built into the Price Cap (and remember the January Price Cap is currently predicted to be 25% higher than now), and someone switches supplier from that or any tariff, the new firm must pay the old one 85% of the drop in wholesale rates beyond that 10%.

So very roughly, say the wholesale energy in the Price Cap costs £1,000 (a made-up number, to keep it simple. This is about proportions, not exact amounts):

- If prices drop to £900, there’s no Market Stabilisation Charge.\
- If prices drop to £800, you get the first £100 drop, but 85% of the next £100 (£85) goes to your old supplier.

So almost certainly the new firm will make you pay the difference, meaning the tariff will be up to £85 more than it would otherwise have been (other factors could affect the amount, but this is a rough illustration)

In other words, the new supplier can’t pass a chunk of the saving from lower wholesale rates on to you, because it has to hand much of it to your old supplier.

Why Ofgem says it’s doing this

Its argument is that the Price Cap requires suppliers buy energy in advance. If wholesale rates fall sharply and people leave in large numbers, those suppliers would be left out of pocket, and it doesn’t want suppliers who did the right thing by buying energy in advance to be penalised.

My View

I don’t like it. This is a ‘Market Stabilisation Charge’ but the supplier market is pretty stable, and I doubt we are at the domino risk of suppliers going bust in the way they did in the early twenties. A good few energy firms have made large profits since then, and protecting them over winter by effectively dampening competition because it’s ‘not their fault’ feels raw.

After all we don’t take their profits off them when they make them ‘through no fault’. Until now, my hope had been that at some point the Middle East situation would de-escalate, wholesale rates would drop. While it would take months for that to feed into the Price Cap, other cheaper tariffs would be available to switch to. That would still happen, but the savings could be no-where near as good as otherwise.
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As noted, these are my provisional thoughts and this has only just come out. I will need to do more looking/thinking.

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

Suicide and men.

New suicide figures have been published by @ONS: 5,738 suicides were registered for England in 2025.

75% were in men. 1 in 65 men die by suicide.

Sometimes when I'm invited to talk about mental health, I ask a question at the end. "How many of you (mixed crowd) struggle with mental health issues?".

Maybe one or two in a room of a couple of hundred. Then when everyone leaves, often 10-20 guys will come over and say "I do".

Men still have a problem opening up about their mental health, all ages, because the message society still sends is, "it's weakness".

October, for some reason is the worst month of the year for me. I go from running 20kph and flying through summer ( well, better than October) to what I can only describe is a descent into every mental health stereotype.

Anxiety
Fear
No energy ( chronic)
Hypersomnia ( 28 hours isn't uncommon)
Insomnia
Suicidal ideation

And then the voice pops up. "You could end this here and now ". It's really difficult to explain to anyone who's never had suicidal ideation what it exactly is.

Because I run and keep fit I "know" my fitness will pull me through, but many are stuck in a cycle. Maybe use food or alcohol to look for a dopamine hit ( serious mental health issues literally take away your ability to feel anything, an omnipresent numbness), maybe drugs, maybe exercise, maybe work, many even cut themselves to try to feel something.

In that context, saying" I'll end it here and now " becomes a relief. It's certainly no cry for help because you've mostly already tried everything and still the black dog comes.

Right now I'm at the gym, forced myself to push through but I know a 28 hour sleep may be incoming and that "why don't you..." voice starts to get louder.

I've put this out there over 20 years on here so thus isn't for any purpose other than to show that someone who's in the top 1% of health and fitness is as prone to this quite frightening drop off, seemingly from nowhere, so if this is you, you have that voice, then know it's an illness that strikes many, and unfortunately takes a few along the way. I'm lucky, many took the literal leap because the fear is all consuming.

There us help, lots of charities I here @MindBodySoleUK @MindCharity @CharitySANE are but a few.

But those stats at the top are sobering, and are holding steady.

If someone you know is struggling or you think they are, please reach out to them. If you are struggling, please reach out to friends and family.

[Ivan Davidson @ivand1962]

@RidgeandFrost @SkyYaldaHakim Another hypocrite of a politician.

He's correct in what he says, but he doesn't use the same criteria when it comes to Israel, the US, or Saudia Arabia etc.

Wrong is wrong, no matter who the perpetrators are.

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

"The last thing I did is the report on Gaza naming what is happening there as genocide. One of the main reactions to that report [was] paying tribute to me for my courage.. why would you need courage to speak the truth?"

Navi Pillay upon winning the 2026 Nobel peace prize

[Ivan Davidson @ivand1962]

@ToryFibs Most UK diplomats have had to leave the Consulate. We have given in to the Israeli government. We should be expelling Isreali diplomats in retaliation. We would do this with any other country. Why not Israel?

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1

CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 325-to-1

Trickle-down economics was always a sham.

Nothing has ever trickled down.

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

One of the greatest players I've ever had the privilege to see.

In a day and age where prices are bandied around like confetti I honestly don't think you could put a price on what his capabilities were.

Now, you get one type of midfielder who sits on one position, passes it 10 yards max and it worth £100m.

Then you get another type of midfielder who adds average attacking thrust. Another £100m

Then, you have captains who don't open their fucking mouths for 90 minutes, called" leaders ". Another £100m

He was a team's best defender, best holding midfielder, best leader, best attacking midfielder and most important match winner.

Priceless. Truly priceless.

[Sarah Wilkinson @swilkinsonbc]

Another unlawful violation as British police arrest, strip and drag a man for NOT displaying a sign in support of anything | via @DefendOurJuries

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

We cannot be spectators in the demise of the Cuban revolution. End the blockade, now.