Matthew Bate

Behind our eyes. Calendars of our lives. Circled with compromise. Sweet bird of time and change.

[Matthew Bate @matthewbate]

Ladies and Gentlemen of Twitter. I am writing. https://t.co/KF9uWdkyBy

[Matthew Bate @matthewbate]

@CJGrandPrix That was astonishing. Brilliant.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

The Amish selling their home grown cannabis buds, oils, edibles at a local market in Pennsylvania.

[Matthew Bate @matthewbate]

What

[PmAmTraveller @pmamtraveller]

French ad for the AMC Pacer, 1975

[ER @mybxpress]

One wrong move and boom nose waxed. This challenge is actually insane

[New York Post @nypost]

Happy birthday Mel Brooks — and thanks for the laughs! ‘Blazing Saddles’ director turning 100 https://t.co/ij67H8vYzP

[Pulp Librarian @PulpLibrarian]

Dschinghis Khan: Dschinghis Khan (1979). The greatest song never to win Eurovision.

[The Beatles @thebeatles]

Love is all you need today because it's finally #GlobalBeatlesDay!

[Strix @strixperegrinus]

For us. For fairness. Politics isn't working. For far too long. Put big light on. Barm cakes. Putting the heart back into communities. The Smiths. But not Morrissey, obviously. People up and down this country. Decency. Hard working people. Communities. Picky teas. For our city-region. For all city-regions. Everton. Next door but one. Since 2001. Buses. Yellow buses. Hard working buses, up and down this country. Price caps. Price freezes. Giving back. Not taking enough to begin with. People are sick and tired. Wealth tax. Fairness. Tax land, tax money. Tax wealth. Tax growth. Tax growth to make growth. We're all immigrants, aren't we? No more being in hock to the bond markets. Increase borrowing. Increase spending. Doorsteps. What I'm hearing on the doorsteps. Good touch for a big man. We do things differently here. Wherever here might be. Politics of that which we have in common is moreso in common with unity than that which divides us can divide us from us. Chippy tea. Sad smile. Grass. Selfies. Fourteen years of Tory hurt didn't stop me dreaming. Jogging by the motorway. Like my grandad and his grandad before him. Chuckle. Little chuckle. Well, some people might say that. Guitars. Music. Nothing more esoteric than Elbow. I like Oasis, but I don't condone all the fighting and wouldn't like them now. Bricks. Houses. Terraced houses. Council houses. Ordinary people. Ordinary people like you and me, who haven't got embarrassing comments in their past because they've barely said anything of note. Politics, eh, who'd go into that? No, I wouldn't say I'm a saviour exactly. But the Labour Party has to be saved and I'm the only one who can do it. Milquetoast? I'm not really familiar with the term, but I like milk and I love toast, haha. They serve toast in the breakfast clubs, and we should honour Sir Keir's legacy really. Fantastic Prime Minister. Just not for very long. I love this country that I love, I'm very patriotic. But the flag is divisive, and we need to have a debate about that. A debate about whether or not it's divisive, about which I have no opinion. I went to Cambridge, and I'm not afraid to admit that. Ordinary lad done good. I've seen the system from the inside. I've seen the system from the outside. I've seen the system from Merseyside. It's not working. Not for ordinary folk like you and me. I'm a man, and I'm not afraid to admit that. But it is divisive, and we should have a debate about that. The North. People say it's grim up north, hah, maybe that's why we're more realistic up here. We know the problems people are facing, because we're the ones what's facing 'em. Regional inequality is something I'm passionate about. It's not fair that pints are only £7 in Manchester when pub landlords in London are raking in much more. Minimum wage for pints. Get young people earning, so we can tax them. Doe eyes. Glasses. I'm a bit older, a bit wiser, a bit heavier, haha. Ask me mates, they'll tell you. Don't ask them, actually. They're made of cardboard. I've always cared about equality. Sharing is caring, as my kids say. I think my wife taught them that. As PM I will do everything in my power to put every town in this country on the map. Of this country. Manchester feels half the world away. I've been lost, I've been found, but I don't feel down the back of the sofa for loose change. Not a bad idea though, in fairness. Fairness. Barrow-in-Fairness. In fairness, fairness isn't a bad idea to be fair. I'm from Wigan, me. As honest as can be. Uncle Joe's Mint Balls. Change. Believe in change. Believe deeply in unspecified change. And hope. Hope deeply for belief in unspecified change. Keep calm and carry the shopping back from the car in one go. For Andy. For us. Forever.

[My Favourite Bench @MyFaveBench]

Some memorial plaques are just so funny 😁
#Benchfans #Benchlove

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

“I wanted to do more for the war effort than baking sausage rolls.”

- Bletchley Park Codebreaker Betty Webb MBE.
(1923 - 2025)

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

Andrée Geulen saved hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust by hiding them and maintaining coded records of their original identities.

Her careful work enabled many families to be reunited after the war.

She was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations in 1989.

[Beatrice Groves @beatricegroves1]

St John's Wort 💛
So named as it was believed most efficacious if harvested today - #MidsummerDay & the Feast of John the Baptist ☀️😇☀️
In the Doctrine of Signatures its sunshine yellow meant it was used in traditional medicine to ward off evil spirits💛

[Yorkshire Wolds Weather @WeatherWolds]

In The Barley. 30°C and very warm. Butterflies.

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

Suzanne Spaak, a Belgian socialite living in occupied Paris, used her wealth and influence to save hundreds of Jews by organising their escape from the Nazis.

She was arrested and executed in 1944, just days before the liberation of Paris.

Please remember her:
🕯️

[DepressedBergman @DannyDrinksWine]

This scene in "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949) where 6 members of the D'Ascoyne's family, all played by Sir Alec Guinness, are seen together, took 2 days to film. The camera was set on a specially built platform to minimize movement. In addition, the camera operator spent the night with the camera to ensure that nothing moved it by accident.

A frame with six black matte painted optical flat glass windows was set in front of the camera, and the windows opened one at a time so each of the characters could be filmed in turn. The film was then wound back for the next character. Most of the time was spent waiting for Guinness to be made up as the next character.

(Source: IMDb)

P.S: 1) On this day, 77 years ago, Robert Hamer's "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949) premiered in London, U.K.

2) Remembering the great British actor, Dennis Price, on his 111th birthday!

[Slim Plimsoll @slimplimsoll]

My favourite part of watching the World Cup is playing spot the rapist.

[Mi𝕤𝕤 M🟥 @poppymoppet]

Portrait of Astrid Kirchherr by Stuart Sutcliffe #BornOnThisDay 🖌️🎨🖼️