Lynne

[Brentford FC Women @BrentfordFCW]

Abbi debut goal!

On her Brentford debut, Abbi Smith runs onto Rebecca Teale's cross from the right side and smashes it home to give us a two-goal lead 😤

[Brentford FC Women @BrentfordFCW]

Abbi Smith is a Bee 🐝

Versatile forward Abbi Smith becomes Carly Williams’ first summer signing, the ex Ipswich and Arsenal Women’s Academy graduate joins the Bees from Billericay Town ✍️

[The Arsenal Bureau @DArsenalBureau]

🚨A Message From Legend Wenger To The Family.

My dear Arsenal family,

🗣️Football can be the most beautiful thing in the world, and also the cruellest. Yesterday we saw both.

🗣️I watched our players give everything on that pitch in Budapest their hearts, their souls, their intelligence. They played with the spirit that has defined this club for so long: courage, technical quality, and a refusal to give up even when the moments became difficult. Kai’s early goal, the way we controlled large parts of the game… we were so close again. So very close.

🗣️I know how much this hurts. I felt it myself in 2006. That pain is real because the love is real. When you care as deeply as we do at Arsenal, defeat in a final cuts to the bone. But please, do not let this moment define the season or the progress we have made. This team has brought the club back to the very highest level. They have consistency, they have character, and they have shown they belong among Europe’s elite.

🗣️To the players: hold your heads high. You have made us proud. To Mikel and the staff: you have built something special keep believing, keep building. To the fans who travelled and those watching everywhere: your support was magnificent, as always. You are the soul of this club.

🗣️I had so hoped to be with you on the streets of north London for the parade, to see the smiles, the flags, the pride in every face. But sadly I won’t be able to attend. Travel and health make it difficult at this time. Still, know that my heart will be right there with every single one of you, cheering, singing, and remembering how far we have come together.

🗣️The trophy is still missing from the Emirates, yes. But the journey to get there has been magnificent, and the story is not finished. We have come so far. Pain today, but hope and pride forever.

We will rise again. Because that is who we are.

Thank you, and I love this club with all my heart.

Arsène Wenger ❤️

[Emirates @emirates]

Meet @Arsenal's BIGGEST supporter! 🔴⚪️

The iconic Emirates A380 has been wrapped in red to celebrate the Premier League champions. ✈️🏆

[Cinque Ports FC @CinquePorts2010]

𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐒𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒 🤝⚽️

Cinque Ports FC are delighted to welcome Tom Simmons to the club as our new Head Coach.

Tom joins the coaching team as the club continues to move forward with real ambition, both on and off the pitch.

Tom said:

“Really happy to join Cinque Ports. The club is showing a lot of ambition and I’m excited to get going. Up the Ports⚽️”

Welcome to the Ports, Tom.

One Club. One Community. Together.

#UpThePorts #CinquePortsFC #WelcomeTom #OneClubOneCommunityTogether

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

The Arsenal. Your Premier League champions.

[BTFC Women u23s @btfcwomen23s]

We caught up with Tom Simmons ahead of our FA Women’s National League Reserve Cup Semi-Final this weekend 💙
——————————————————
📹-@BailyShorter
@_tomsimmons1

[Billericay Town FC Women @BTFCWomen]

2–1 defeat away at Gwalia, but an incredible contest and a huge performance.

Post-match reaction from Tom Simmons and Jackie Dennis 🎙️

🎤 : @frantalkswfball
🎬 : @miaelizabethh__

[Deal Town @Deal_Town]

WALMER beachfront outdoor gym plans take stride forward

https://t.co/nbZuTAR71l

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Tax. We’ve all become so used to it, we forget how much we’re actually paying. It is relentless, even beyond death. And for what? If we had a semblance of functioning public services, I could maybe stomach it. But we don’t, so what are we actually paying all of this money for?

We are subject to Scandinavian levels of tax for third-world levels of competence - what a toilet deal.

Earn a salary. Income tax, a fifth gone before we’ve even started. National insurance, more on top of that. What for? A ‘world-class’ health service? The NHS? Ha. Good luck.

Even getting to work costs - taxes on buying a car, running a car, insuring a car. Vast amount of road tax. Is that being well spent? Unless you want potholes you can paddle in, the answer is no. A road network built for half the amount of cars. How’s that going? It takes twice as long to get anywhere. Fuel duty and tax on insurance - whack that on top too. Congestion charges, tolls, fines and more. It goes on and on and on.

Forget getting the train, that’ll cost twice as much and never runs on time - a season ticket into London costs thousands. Unaffordable. Yet the trains so often run empty? Maybe that system isn’t working…

VAT on anything that moves - getting taxed to buy products/services, from already taxed money.

Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax. Then more tax.

Did you go to university? Your ‘loan’ isn’t loan, it’s a tax. Interest is so sharp, you’re just paying that off each month. Hundreds gone, to pay for a sociology degree a decade ago. Ouch. Why are we saddling our youngsters with so much debt, with so much interest on top of that? Madness.

Manage to put a few quid away to save? That gets taxed too - ISAs will be under attack in the budget. Profit made on successful investments, what happens? You guessed it. Tax.

Somehow you’ve scrabbled a deposit together for a property. Well done.

Paying half a million quid for a semi-detached? Not cheap. Stamp duty means you get slapped for thousands. Obviously first time buyer exemptions mean less and less as house prices soar.

You’re in the house. Great news. Or so you thought. Council tax. Going up seemingly by 5% every year. Thousands of pounds a year. For what? To collect the bins? Really? Don’t forget the extra costs to have your garden waste removed. Brilliant.

More insurance taxes, and of course VAT on any improvements you want to make. Bills soaring, with tax slapped onto every corner of it - green levies and the rest.

How depressing. Time for a pint.

Alcohol duty. Because of course. Why wouldn’t they throw extra tax on it? I’m not a smoker, but the same applies. Even holidays. Air passenger duty to put a few extra quid onto the price of a trip away. Just for good measure.

You’re limping on through. Maybe you decide that starting your own business is the way to go?

You get it up and running, starting to make a reasonable profit. Take a small salary - to pay for such luxuries as food and heating. As we know, that gets taxed.

Alongside the costs. National Insurance. Business rates. Fees and licences. It is endless.

What’s left after all that? A profit? Surely good news?

Bang. Corporation tax. A big slice gone. After that, we can enjoy a handsome profit. Right?

Nope. Dividend tax. With its brutal thresholds. What slivers you do take get taxed all over again when you want to actually buy something. Obviously.

And the final kick in teeth.

Inheritance tax.

After everything, somehow, you’ve managed to put a reasonable amount of money away. After all that tax, you’ve succeeded in building a financial legacy to pass to your children - your business, and your own savings.

Money you were taxed on the day you earned it, taxed when you saved it, taxed when you invested it, taxed to build your business. It gets taxed one final time. On both your personal savings, and also the value of your company.

Even after death, it continues.

What are we paying all this money for?

Are our schools world-class? Borders secure? Police visible? NHS efficient? Economy thriving? Roads operational?

No. No. No. No. No. No. NOTHING WORKS.

Britain has the highest tax burden in most of our lifetimes, yet the worst services many of us have ever seen. If everything worked perfectly, there could maybe be an argument for such suffocating levels of tax. But it doesn’t, and hasn’t for decades, so there isn’t.

When the taxpayers fail to fund this state monster of inefficiency and unaccountability, what do they do?

QE. Print money. Creating inflation, devaluing our earnings and our savings. Yet one more tax.

The people creating all of this, implementing all of this? £100k plus on the public sector, living in London. Comfortable salary, great pension, no job risk. Clueless about the real world.

Maybe, just maybe, the current approach isn’t working.

We need to urgently cut tax. Shrink government. Reward hard work.

You just can’t tax a nation into prosperity. It never has worked, and it never will work.

LEAVE OUR MONEY ALONE.

[Lynne @lynnedsi]

@RupertLowe10 @basilthegreat I’m a Kent resident. Definitely do not support an increase for failing services whilst supporting employees with public sector pensions. Major elephant in the room for all public sector services and needs addressing before residents are forced to pay more for less and less!

[Lynne @lynnedsi]

@parcelforcie @Parcelforcehelp There’s absolutely no point in such a late response. I needed help 2 days ago when I was trying to speak to someone about a so called “failed delivery” where there was no-one outside my house at the time. How is this permitted to happen? it’s not the first time!

[Lynne @lynnedsi]

@parcelforce @parcelforcehelp I sent a DM asking for help at 11.26am this morning with a “false” failed delivery for 2 items I desperately needed today. No answer yet and your customer services line is fully automated. What kind of shocking service is this? Disgraceful.

[Chris Littlewood @chrislittlewoo8]

Digital ID for every adult is not progress. It is the end of a free society dressed up as convenience.

I am a cyber security specialist. This is my take.

They are selling it as a fix for illegal migration. That is bollocks.

We spend hundreds of billions a year on cyber security and yet the volume of breaches is breaking records. The threat is growing faster than the spend.

Digital ID will not stop boats. It will not stop trafficking gangs. It will not fix a broken border.

Criminals will work around it.

Honest citizens will pay the price.

It builds giant data banks that track where you go, what you buy, what you read and who you speak to.

It links your identity to every checkpoint in daily life.

One breach and your life is exposed.

Look at Jaguar Land Rover and the airports in recent weeks. Now imagine that at national scale on an ID system tied to everything you need to live your daily life.

Here is the risk that ministers will not admit.

Ransomware seeded through a supplier or an insider:

It lies quiet for months.
It rolls through the backups.
On trigger day the register and the recovery sets are both encrypted.

Payments fail. Health and benefits stall. Borders slow. Citizens are frozen out until a ransom is paid or the state rebuilds from scratch.

Centralise identity and you centralise failure.

Do not fall for the pitch.
Function creep is certain.
It starts as login.

It becomes access to money, travel, speech and public services.

It turns rights into permissions controlled by the state and its contractors.

It creates a single point of failure for criminals, insiders and hostile states to target.

It will punish the elderly, the poor and anyone who is not always online.

It will centralise risk and outsource blame.

It will not stop fraud.

It will not stop illegal migration.

It will build the machinery for a social credit system by stealth.

If ministers cared about the border, they would enforce current laws, resource patrols and processing, close loopholes and remove those with no right to stay.

You do not need a national ID to do any of that.

We scrapped ID cards in 2010 for a reason.

Britain does not need a central register to prove age or status.

Yes to privacy first proofs. No to a database state.

[Lynne @lynnedsi]

We were at home at 11am waiting for this delivery yet no-one outside when the so called “failed delivery” message arrived. Add to that I have a safe space designated on my account so why didn’t the delivery driver use that……if they were actually here at the house?

[Robert Jenrick @RobertJenrick]

Day 1 of Starmer's 'Phase 2':

- Five armed police officers arrest harmless comedian.

- ⁠Bill introduced that will see up to 43,000 criminals avoid prison.

- Long term Government borrowing costs reach their highest level in 30 years.

[Lynne @lynnedsi]

@GBNEWS Jesus this makes my blood boil! The only pension reform needed is the reform of public sector pensions! It’s simply unaffordable and I will vote for whichever political party commits to this in their manifesto and drives change through. Completely ridiculous to leave untouched!

[ClarksonsFarm @ClarksonsFarm1]

Repost🙏🏻

[Sasha Yanshin @sashayanshin]

Rachel - seeing as you are demonstrating that you don't understand basic economics, let me enlighten you.

Interest rates are lowered by the Bank of England when:
1. Economy is doing badly (to stimulate it)
2. Unemployment increasing (to try and halt it)
3. Inflation spike finishes (high rates no longer needed to manage inflation)

Currently #1 and #2 are both happening. The UK Economy has contracted for 2 months in a row + we are seeing the biggest job losses since 2008 happening.

The inflation spike and its reversal happened long before your Government came into power.

In fact the latest inflation figure today is 4.1% while in June 2024 it was 2.8% and the main reason why inflation is going back up is your tax and anti-business policies.

Taking credit for interest rates being cut at the moment is a bit like celebrating that your car has a very short stopping distance just after you crashed it into a tree.