John Stretch

Retired Master Mariner & Offshore Construction Manager. Rational optimist. Former 1970s member of GreenPeace & FoE. CO2 GHG theory grossly exaggerated.

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@Phatymarh44 That what the Catholics said in the 50s

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@HalalNation_ There isn’t any god that I’m aware of

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@Debonperc The greatest slavers were the North African Arabs who started 600 years before Europeans enslaving their neighbours south of the Sahara. What do you feel about these?

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@juneslater17 @miktorVeldre Yet they flocked from the countryside to the towns for the work. We have this sentimental view of rural pre industrial life

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

I don’t want to post the video. You’ve all seen it. But I do want to write a love letter…

Dear everyone in Britain, ( even you illegals)

Just so you understand. The poppy is for the boys who never got to grow old. For the boys who were still somebody’s baby, brother, uncle or father. More than 600,000 of them.

It doesn’t matter if you support war, hate your country, think you are a woman (even though you are a man). It doesn’t matter which God you pray to, or if you pray to none at all.

It doesn’t matter who you vote for, what climate narrative you believe, or whether you believe Israel should exist or not!

The poppy isn’t for you!

It’s for those who came before. Those who fought for your right to be weird, annoying or even foreign.

The poppy is how we say thank you. Thank you for giving us time, peace and choice.

And attempting to ban our poppy by declaring it politically divisive isn’t a move towards freedom. It is an act of suppression. Understand that.

The poppy is about love and loss. For you!

So stick your rainbow flags and every other flag where the sun doesn’t shine and just wear your poppy. Those boys did not die as symbols. They died for you!

Did you know that poppies grew across the battlefields where so many fell? As though even the land refused to forget the blood once given to defend it.

So the poppy is for them. For those who came before us and paid in youth, in hope, in breath, in blood, so that we might have the freedom to be arseholes.

So that we might even have the freedom to fight over the ridiculous, the inconsequential and the insane.

Revere it, celebrate it and wear it. The very least you can do is that.

Best
The ordinary people.

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@PrEuXr @DaleVince We have no option but to adapt and mitigate. Thankfully we are blessed with access to energy and technology which makes the process much easier

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@ministerLVVN

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@ministerLVVN Sentimental claptrap

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@martindvz Just replaced coal with gas. Coal, oil & gas have been the main reason for the huge increase in population and wealth in my lifetime. The attack on these is taking us backwards and poorer

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@BellRibeiroAddy Madness

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@Phatymarh44 That’s not what the evidence shows

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@UKJTI Religion is the problem

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@gumseewadaa I neither love it nor hate it. It’s just words on paper

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@TheVikingDane Socialists and Fascists are two cheeks of the same arce

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@rirokpik Your ancestors cooperated very willingly in said slavery. Your black neighbours to the north took more for longer. Why are you so willingly blind to this?

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@Patriot_Graham Congratulations to you both

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@AbbakarAffan Nigeria?

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@bencsmoke What hallucinatory drug are you on?

[John Stretch @johnstretch]

@rirokpik Those nice North African Arabs took more Sub Saharans over a much longer period than Europeans did. They also took >1 million Europeans as slaves but guess what, most Europeans aren’t even aware of that and the ones like me who are aware have moved on and got on with our lives.