Jonathan Barker

@jonswfc.Bsky.social

A northern bloke stranded in Essex. Some people understand house music...All opinions my own.

[Jonathan Barker @JonSWFC]

@weare1of100 just the record sleeve gives me goosebumps

[Kris Wigfield @kr62209]

I've noticed there is still a lot of online questioning of Henrik Pedersen.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion - and friendly debate is one of the reasons we all love football - but I want to give an alternative view.

Firstly, the new owners have made their decision. They have chosen to give Henrik an opportunity. Whether people agree with that decision or not, surely the best thing for Sheffield Wednesday now is for supporters to get behind him and give him the best possible chance of succeeding. If he succeeds, the football club succeeds.

From my own experience of spending more than six months at the club and being there every day, this is what I personally saw and heard:-

• A coaching team that was fully behind him.
• Players who, despite operating in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable, continued to play for him every week.
• A squad that never stopped competing, even with everything that was going on behind the scenes. In fact, I'm still amazed we didn't suffer some real hammerings given the challenges the group was facing.

I also saw a manager with relentless positivity.

Straight after defeats he was already looking forward and motivating players.

Every day on the training ground he attacked the job with energy and enthusiasm. Whether you agree with his methods or not, nobody could question his commitment.

What I heard was equally interesting.

Opposition coaches, scouts and football directors would regularly tell us what a remarkable job he was doing under the circumstances. Many simply couldn't believe how competitive he had managed to keep the team given the challenges he was facing.

Perhaps most importantly, some of the biggest clubs in the country clearly rate him……

Manchester City, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Chelsea were all proactive in wanting to place or keep young players at Sheffield Wednesday. They weren't doing that as a favour to us. They were doing it because they believed their players would develop under Henrik and that he would improve the value of their assets.

These are clubs with some of the best recruitment and player development departments in world football. They must have seen something they liked.

Does any of this guarantee success? Of course not, it doesn’t even always work out for Jose Mourinho.

Football is unpredictable and nobody knows what the future holds.

But there is a big difference between questioning whether somebody will succeed and declaring that they cannot.

The owners have seen enough to give him a chance.

The people working with him every day have seen enough to support him.

Some of the biggest clubs in England have seen enough to trust him with their young talent.

That doesn't mean they are right.

But it does mean there may be more to Henrik Pedersen than some are prepared to acknowledge.

Now that the decision has been made, I hope supporters give him a fair chance.
Because every now and then in football, the good guy does win.

Wouldn't it be brilliant if that happened here?

Up The Owls! 🦉

[Gary Sitton @SittonGary]

A victory for football #UCL

[Jonathan Barker @JonSWFC]

@jonnorris12 Wow, that's some luxury tea.

[Jonathan Barker @JonSWFC]

It's been a while since a song gave me goosebumps on the first listen.
https://t.co/B0heq5pA54

[Dave Hibbert, BA(Hons), ACTUS, Cert.Ed. Rejoin EU. @Cpass12David]

The Guardian: “Net migration down by three-quarters, the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, knife crime cut by 10%, the economy growing the fastest in the G7, rising wages, energy bills and petrol prices held down, the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the cold war, a massive expansion of free childcare …
If Keir Starmer did tub-thumping lists of Labour’s achievements in the style of Gordon Brown, he would not actually have a shortage of things to talk about.”
During the two years of Labour government, following fourteen years of Tory mismanagement, there have actually been significant improvements in Britain. Why does the Tory media not report them?

[Viviane: 🌹Labour led by Keir for me @LaindonFEMINIST]

Living in the real world is so much better than believing what the media tell you.

Inflation down
fastest GDP/capita growth in 4yrs
GDP growth fastest in G7
UK fastest investment growth in G7
Consumer spending up 0.6%,
business investment 0.7%,
government consumption 0.4%.

[kieron murphy @kieronmurphy5]

@LaindonFEMINIST @alan1grey Amazing transformation of the UK 🇬🇧 economy from @RachelReevesMP @Keir_Starmer and the @UKLabour government ✅👏👍🌹

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

Immigration makes Britain brilliant.

[Faisal Islam @faisalislam]

Q1 2026 G7:

🇬🇧 0.6%
🇺🇸 0.5%
🇨🇦 0.4%
🇩🇪 0.3%
🇮🇹 0.2%
🇫🇷 0%

🇯🇵 (not yet reported but estimates are 0.4%)

[Adrian Edmondson ❎ @AdrianEdmondson]

So bored of news outlets trying to write the news rather than report it.

[Bryan Smith #RejoinEU same handle on BlueSky @BpsmithUk]

...& this small story is being repeated in hundreds of thousands of homes all over UK.
Labour policies - increased minimum wage & pension, child care, breakfast clubs, reduced energy bills, easier trade (more & cheaper work for businesses) - will work through to people by 2029.

[Jonathan Barker @JonSWFC]

@ThurrockJen Massively disappointed in my own MP. Hasn't taken long for you to lose touch with reality. Councils will always be Reform going forward, people are too racist to vote any other way, but Starmer has made a palpable positive difference to the country as a whole.

[penelope shitstop .. 💕🦩🇪🇺💙❤️🐟 🏳️‍🌈😤 @mulberryjane]

Did we learn nothing from that fucking Tory shitshow of PMs merry-go-round ?

Being PM isn’t about being popular, charismatic or even popular. It’s about working for the country not yourself. @jessphillips should be ashamed of her behaviour today. It’s helping nobody.

[Karen Gibbs Shadow Investigator for Shadows @CathArtic26]

@Miatsf I am very very disappointed in you, I’ve followed you since you first appeared on politics live. You’ve got the mood of the country and voters wrong.
The reason Reform has done well is due to the RW bias of the media NOT Sir Keir Starmer.

[Phil Collins💙 @PhilC273]

@Miatsf So clever - not. Just in case you've forgotten here are the things your Govt has been delivering. You are making a big mistake and ordinary folk like me see it as selfish and self-centred, clearly not thinking about the country

[Gordon Fielden @GordonFielden]

What is remarkable about this letter is not merely the resignation itself, but the extraordinary political miscalculation that underpins it. At a moment when the Labour Party possesses one of the strongest parliamentary mandates in modern British political history, there are those within its own ranks seemingly prepared to weaken the Government from within rather than recognise the scale of the challenges inherited after fourteen years of Conservative decline.

To suggest that the Prime Minister should now prepare an “orderly transition” barely into government is not an act of strategic wisdom. It is an act of impatience and political self indulgence. Governments are not rebuilt overnight, economies are not repaired by rhetoric, and public services shattered over a decade do not recover within months.

The contradictions within the letter are striking. It speaks of transformational programmes, of meaningful work undertaken in Government, of efforts to tackle hatred and division, yet then abruptly pivots into a demand that the very leadership overseeing those policies should effectively step aside. One cannot simultaneously claim to believe in collective responsibility whilst publicly detonating confidence in the administration one serves within.

Most damaging of all is the timing. At a period where the political right, Reform, hostile media networks, and increasingly aggressive populist movements are seeking to fracture progressive politics across Britain, internal grandstanding of this nature only serves their interests. The electorate does not reward parties that appear consumed by internal ego and permanent instability. History has shown this repeatedly.

The public delivered Labour a mandate to govern, not to descend into another era of factional warfare and theatrical resignations. The country requires seriousness, endurance, and discipline. Those who cannot uphold collective responsibility during difficult periods perhaps misunderstand entirely what government is supposed to demand of them.

[Jonathan Barker @JonSWFC]

Don't think I've ever wanted a prime minister to ride out an assassination attempt so much. Go on Keir son.

[Kate Wilton @KateWilton1]

Starmer is far from perfect, he’s not a natural communicator, his communications team is terrible, he’s made some strange and disastrous appointment ie Mandelson. But someone explain to me how he’s a terrible PM. He’s serious, statesmanlike, gets on with the job well.

[Dr Kenny Frederick (FCCT)#Antiracist,BLM @kennygfrederick]

He has already achieved 70% of his manifesto in less than two years.

He listens & is not pig headed & changes his mind occasionally.

He understands the law & does not speak without considering what he is saying.

He is intelligent & has integrity. He has a good team with him