Dave Green

Real ale and craft beer, aviation, ASP .NET & PHP programmer. Taekwondo 3rd Dan. Electric guitar player. Leeds / Sheffield. From Sheffield

[Stephen Fisher @SeaSpitfires]

I watched this disaster unfold over the last month and quite frankly I think some people at the British Museum are being economical with the truth here. Having seen the tapestry a few times in Bayeux, I don't believe BM learned anything from the French...
https://t.co/3ow9qFsGdq

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Jeremy Clarkson runs at least eight businesses off a thousand acres in Oxfordshire. Seven of them make money.

Count them. A farm shop. A pub. A lager brand. A bestselling book every autumn. A streaming series. A merchandise range. And now an app, built by Lisa Hogan, connecting the public to farms.

Then the eighth. Growing food.

Year one, working the ground flat out: £144. By year six, a £5,000 loss where £37,000 had been projected. This summer, two hundred of those acres grew nothing at all, because putting wheat in them was a guaranteed loss before the drill left the shed.

Every enterprise on that farm turns a profit except the farming.

The lager tells you why, and the chain of cause is on the record. Government subsidies were falling, so in 2021 he decided to brew beer from his own barley. That is the entire origin of Hawkstone. A decision taken in Whitehall turned an arable farmer into a brewer, and the beer worked.

Nothing about the grain changed. Barley sold as barley goes at whatever the buyer offers that morning. Barley in a bottle goes at the price the man who grew it decides.

That one difference is the whole business.

The pub is the same move in bricks. A derelict barn nobody had wanted since 2013, bought for reportedly under a million, now with a queue. On the menu a sausage from his own pigs costs 74p against 18p for the imported version, and he absorbs that gap on every plate. The farm shop, meanwhile, is legally barred from selling food produced more than sixteen miles away, and still cannot keep up with demand.

Now look at what the farming has behind it that yours does not. One of the best land agents in England. A farm manager who has worked that ground since he was a teenager. An agronomist. A production company covering the costs. A queue down the lane. A name that sells anything it is printed on.

It loses money anyway.

And this is the ordinary arrangement, not an eccentric one. Defra's own figures say 72 percent of farms in England now take income from something that is not farming, and diversification accounts for 31 percent of total farm income. The government's own Batters Review found nearly a third of British farms were loss-making outright in 2024.

Diddly Squat is simply the loudest version. The shop subsidises the field. The pub subsidises the field. The television subsidises the field.

A thousand acres of English farmland, and the one thing it cannot do is pay for itself by producing food.

[Dave Green @realseawolf]

Looked for Race Around The World final on the iplayer. Should be easy on the homepage right. No not there. I'll search for it.
Showing episodes from 2 years ago.
Find button for latest series & episode. Had to do the same with the Apprentice. Idiots must design these things!

[Andy Parker @tabamatu]

As a former home brewer, these moments never pass me by. It still blows my mind that folk spend their money on what we produce out of what is basically a shed in Finchampstead.

[Andy Parker @tabamatu]

I’m pretty sure there’s only one bottle shop in the world who could convince The Kernel to put their cat (in ASCII form) on a label. Happy 10th birthday ⁦@hopburnsblack⁩ X

[Flightradar24 @flightradar24]

The RAF’s first Wedgetail is airborne for flight tests today. https://t.co/6wfFVS4nKG

[Mars Pascale @mars_1871]

Last night I refused service to a guy for being rude, drunk and obnoxious, and he saw fit to throw a glass at me behind the bar, shattering it all over our heads and customers plates at the bar. He said “call the police, they’ll never get me”.
They nicked him two pubs down.

[Dave Green @realseawolf]

@BeerNouveau Should also be the same that all venues over 500 capacity have to have some local beers. E.g. arenas and places like O2 Academy

[Dave Green @realseawolf]

@RutlandArmsChef I'm over in Leeds at the moment and there's a few places for dosa.
@Bundobust do a small dosa but very tasty.
@TharavaduRestau do a much bigger dosa (Gary Eats on YouTube gave Tharavada a 10+/10.
@jahjyotpunjabi at @NMBCoRefectory massive chicken tikka dosa, spiced aloo or mixed

[Dave Green @realseawolf]

@EstibalizTerron I love @Crash_Records as I pre-ordered the new @maximopark album and it included a gig ticket for the album launch show for less than £20 at the Brudenell Social Club. Surprised it hasn't sold out yet.

[Dave Atkins @daveratkins]

Smoked Eel Mousse & Basque Bacon with Kriek sauce and Chouke Gueuze. What a great combination of flavours. At Les Brigittines.

[Dave Atkins @daveratkins]

What a superb beer this @thornbridge x @OdellBrewing 90 Shilling is at the Thornbridge Tap. Complex malty dominannt, soft, smooth, full mouthfeel , soft bitter finish. The Jaipur was top notch too.

[Hop Hideout ® @HopHideout]

Finally sharing a tap list! We’ve already kicked a few kegs & changed some, but here goes for now. Thanks once again to every1 who has been in & given your great thoughts, we’ve lots to do still & only 6 days in!
🍺 @thornbridge @LostCauseBrew @deyabrewery @DurationBeer &….

[Wolf of X @WolfofX]

Thread on People Stumbling Upon Surreal Finds from the Past.. Some of these will blow your mind..!

1. Before and after of the excavation of the Ancient Greek Stadium

[No Context Brits @NoContextBrits]

Oasis reunion confirmed.

[Tom Rogers @RogersHistory]

Live on a standard residential terrace street and got this note through the letterbox last night because the car was parked a bit further down the road.

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

Thread of crazy painting details 🧵

1. It's all in the eyes

[No Context Brits @NoContextBrits]

Settle a debate.

What do you call these from a chippy?

[Dave Green @realseawolf]

@NoContextBrits Scraps

[Creepy.org @creepydotorg]

Strange things people have found in their old houses:

A thread 🏚️

1. The old carpets were pulled up in a newly purchased house, revealing this hidden underneath. Did a satanic ritual take place here, or is it a curse for the new owners?