Patrick Butler

Newcastle resident, sports fan. Views are all my own.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@ConstitustionX This is from March.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@zarahsultana Are you suggesting we ban face coverings?

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@novaramedia How do you simultaneously rewild and repopulate an area? They are diametrically opposed outcomes!

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@GeordieChump @NlandLive It’s in Stannington too.

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

Right. Let’s go in swinging with both fists, here.

Let me tell you about LCpl S. I won’t blow his full name on the internet because I don’t know what he’s up to and it might be something cool.

This guy was the son of an Afghan refugee from the 1980s war. Of course, he was Muslim. Strapping unit of a bloke. Gave up a degree in astrophysics to join The Parachute Regiment as a private.

I once overheard him in a harbour area in the bush in Kenya, giving the other lads a talk about stars and where they come from. When we deployed to Bosnia, I gave him the task of a lecture to the company on Bosnia’s history. Smashed it out of the park.

He went to Afghanistan with 2 PARA and came back with a seriously high level medal.

His mates love him and called him “the kindest man in the Parachute Regiment”. He won the annual Fishmonger’s Prize for giving successful life-saving CPR to a random unconscious man he came across lying in the street on a night out.

He is one of the finest soldiers I had the honour of working alongside. He has my undying respect. And he’s a Muslim.

So @LozzaFox and every dickhead who made @BritishArmy turn off the replies on this benign post: get fucked.

Utrinque Paratus. Former Emerald 30A, out.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@fredhechinger Yes, she must feel like such a failure when she sees other writers, like Robert Galbraith, releasing multiple great books!! When was the last time she wrote ANYTHING!!

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@knowles204 @Isabellejm1 @StuartMaggs @TomABacon @Hairyfarmer Some equipment is ‘shared’ by the use of contractors who essentially rent out machinery and operators, at a profit, to farms. This is practical for larger less regularly used items such as combine harvesters but not for items used everyday like feed wagons, etc.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@Isabellejm1 @StuartMaggs @TomABacon @Hairyfarmer I don’t think there’s a minimum figure; it depends what you are producing and where, but most modern profitable farms would be hundreds rather than tens of acres.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@Isabellejm1 @StuartMaggs @TomABacon @Hairyfarmer Farming is subject to significant economies of scale; bigger farms produce food more cheaply because they can spread the cost of tractors, milking parlours etc over more land / food. Therefore as farms become smaller they become less profitable and food costs more.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@StuartMaggs @TomABacon @Hairyfarmer The land is in demand for a range of uses besides farming; housing, solar farms, etc. the concern is therefore that farms subject to inheritance tax will sell off packets of land to make the payment; this land is likely to be used for one of these purposes I.e. not farmed.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@DaleVince Most of Britains wildlife lives on farmed land; hedges, for example, are not a natural feature and host a huge variety of animals and birds. Lose the farms and you will lose the nature you seek to preserve.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@tomhfh Broadly agree with principle that people can use their own land how they please, however farmland produces significant positive externalities in the form of nature habitat etc that need to be somehow priced in.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

Words fail me…where is Anthony Gordon? #ENGSLO

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

Where is Gordon? #ENGSLO

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@MilitaryBanter Really top guy! Enjoyed working with him over Covid. Always friendly and funny.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@hbkismy @jeremycorbyn @AJEnglish The same South Africa that’s supporting Putin?

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@jeremycorbyn Looks likely it wasn’t IDF. I presume you will apologise?

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@DPJHodges @urbanista101 Only troops on the ground can differentiate between civilian and military targets. However, in an urban environment, a bombing campaign against military targets is essential to make such an action possible without v high casualties; which will probably happen anyway. Catch 22.

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@vicderbyshire Mature and considered response. What a difference!

[Patrick Butler @Patrickrjbutler]

@SkyNews So why say “purports”?