Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️

Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man – there’s your diamond in the rough

[Rishi Sunak @RishiSunak]

I was a very fortunate kid. My dad's GP surgery sat between the Dell and Hampshire's County Ground, so at weekends I could go to a game and get a lift home afterwards. It left me with a passion for both sports and a belief that sport opens a window onto who we are.

When I was growing up, the Tebbit test was a matter of intense debate. Which side did you cheer for at the cricket? For all the criticism it received, it was a test anyone could pass. If you supported England because you saw it as home, you were part of the team regardless of the colour of your skin. Born in Southampton, 10 year old me passed it without even knowing about it.

Giving the @MCCOfficial's Cowdrey Lecture on Thursday made me think about cricket's place in our national life and the current arguments about identity.

In Britain we've built the world's most successful multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy. I was a beneficiary of it. Whatever issues people had with me as PM (and there was no shortage) my race and religion weren't among them. I could read a lesson at the King's coronation or light Diwali diyas on Downing Street with my daughters without controversy. Foreign leaders assumed these must be huge symbolic moments. For most Brits, they just weren't that big a deal.

But Britain's democratic achievement is now under strain. Some of the challenges are ones I've written about before, like Islamism, and the failure of governments, including the one I led, to adequately control immigration. But something else is going on - a risk that we start equating skin colour with nationality.

After I left office, a debate kicked off here on @X about whether I was English at all, because I was a "brown Hindu". During the election campaign I'd been shocked when footage was broadcast of someone calling me a "Paki." It was shocking precisely because it was so unusual. That kind of abuse had simply not been a feature of my political life. But the Englishness argument was stranger still. Call it the reverse Tebbit test. If you're not white, it no longer matters who you support at the cricket, because you can never be English. It's a test no non-white person can ever pass.

I have no truck with people who offend our sense of fairness and come here illegally; I spent half my premiership trying to deport them to Rwanda. I think the bar for legal migration should be high. It is entirely possible to want a radical reduction in immigration and a far more robust approach to integration, and still totally reject the attempt to turn Britishness into a DNA test.

If you're born and brought up in England and view it as home, what are you other than English? Denying people their Englishness or their Britishness because of the colour of their skin is a recipe for alienation and a two-tier society. How are children who hear this meant to feel?

Sport can play a small but significant role here. Cricket is played by nearly every major ethnic group in this country. Ask what my largely white rural constituents in the Dales and the British-Asian kids in Bradford have in common, and the answer is cricket. If cricket can produce England teams in which every kid can see themselves, the impact reaches far beyond the boundary.

As I write in @thetimes today, we must all be on the same side, cheering for the same team.

We cannot allow race to be reintroduced into our politics. We cannot allow Briton to be set against Briton.

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

@mikenelson586 Pardons are not prospective. It would not cover perjury coming out the hearing; hence his decision not to answer questions.

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

@NiohBerg @Ali_Remi1 @PlzDontTellHank @Jojumann 😂 “shared-subscription” lol

[State’s Attorney Eileen Burke @saeileenburke]

Let me be clear: I strongly support the SAFE-T Act. A person's wealth should not determine if they stay in jail.

But if someone is charged with a violent gun crime, domestic battery, sexual assault, or a dangerous felony, we will seek detention to protect the community.

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

We’re living in the upside down

[Barak Ravid @BarakRavid]

🚨U.S. to allow Iran to get ~14 billion dollars (!!!) in oil revenue
🚨This is a huge financial concession to Iran by the U.S.
🚨It is the first time U.S. is buying Iranian oil since 1996
🚨It's all happening in the middle of a war against...Iran

[Barak Ravid @BarakRavid]

🚨U.S. to allow Iran to get ~14 billion dollars (!!!) in oil revenue
🚨This is a huge financial concession to Iran by the U.S.
🚨It is the first time U.S. is buying Iranian oil since 1996
🚨It's all happening in the middle of a war against...Iran

[Dominik Hasek @hasek_dominik]

If the US president today agrees or proposes to hand over a single square meter of Ukrainian land (including Crimea) to imperialist criminal Russia, it will be a betrayal on the country of Ukraine and the entire democratic world. And if he does so, he must be treated as a traitor

[Avi Mayer אבי מאיר @AviMayer]

As a native New Yorker, I permit myself to say this:

His flirtation with antisemitism aside, Zohran Mamdani is a ridiculous candidate with no executive experience and awful ideas that he will not be able to pay for.

That he is even on the ballot is embarrassing for NYC.

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

Here's the links for my conversation with James Holland, WW2 historian:
YouTube: https://t.co/q7OJHI5Ad3

Spotify: https://t.co/VjTdb68p7z

Podcast: https://t.co/uxqXcfWUje

Sponsors: https://t.co/6gqZk7DFTq

[Anthony Scaramucci @Scaramucci]

This is the biggest risk. An Amexit an American Exit from the world making us weaker and poorer.

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

👋 @Hertz made a reservation as a Five Star member for @BWI_Airport. told our car would meet us at baggage claim, no one showed. Told our name would be on the board at Hertz and we could just go. Name wasn’t on the board. Had to wait in a long line for a rude rep. #carrental

[MLB @MLB]

The legendary Honus Wagner was born OTD in 1874.

Repost and like for a chance to win this game-used memorabilia card!

[MLB @MLB]

Eddie Murray, born OTD in 1956, is 1 of 7 players with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs in their career!

Repost and like for a chance to win this autographed card.

[MLB @MLB]

Happy birthday to 5-time World Series champion Paul O'Neill!

Repost and like for a chance to win this autographed card.

[MLB @MLB]

In honor of legendary @Cubs third baseman Ron Santo's birthday, we have this card to give away.

Repost and like for a chance to win.

[Guy Benson @guypbenson]

On the WH’s “Gulf of America” battle with the AP (of which I’ve been very critical for various reasons), I have a question:

Let’s say a future Democrat administration decided that due to the state’s Confederate & racist past, the Mississippi River would hereby be renamed the Barack Obama River, in honor of our first black president. Not as far-fetched as some may think. Now, if a news organization declined to just switch to calling it the Obama River overnight, how would we all react if the Dem WH then froze out that news org, in retaliation?

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

This happens to Mahomes & Goodell brings a firing squad onto the field

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

@ShawnRyan762 ….

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

@georgesantos can felons vote in NY?

[George Santos @Georgesantos]

I support Matt Gaetz for AG and I too am a midterm voter.

[Daddicus Finch 🇺🇦🎗️ @MattALocke]

@georgesantos Bro, aren’t you going to prison or something? Lol you’re not rising anywhere.