Simon Clews

Liverpool FC fan, St Helens RL fan, Music lover who likes a Gamble

[Proudofus.uk @ProudofusUK]

You have a birthday.

So does England. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

And it’s today. The 12th of July.

Almost 1,100 years ago, on this exact day, England became a country. Almost no one knows it.

The island was old long before it had a name. Farmers. Romans. Saxons. Then out of the sea came the Danes. ⚔️

They came to raid. They stayed to farm. And one hard question hung over the whole land.

Two peoples, Saxon and Dane, one small island. Whose country was it now?

Alfred of Wessex held the last corner and turned the tide. But he wanted more than a truce. One country. For both peoples. One England.

He died before he could build it. 🔥

So his family finished it. His son took back town after town. His daughter Æthelflæd led the armies herself. A woman commanding armies more than 1,000 years ago.

But it was Alfred’s grandson who ended the work.

Æthelstan.

In 927 he rode north and took York, the last Viking crown in England. One man now held every English kingdom.

Then he did something stranger. He called the other kings of Britain to a bridge in the north. A quiet place called Eamont. 📜

Scots. Welsh. The kings of the north. There, by the river, they bent the knee.

And that morning he took a new title. Not king of Wessex. Not king of the Saxons.

King of the English. All of them.

That bridge, on this day in 927, is the closest thing we have to the morning a country began. ⚖️

He made it real. One law, coast to coast. One coin, struck the same everywhere. On it he wears a crown, not a war helmet.

Then in 937 they came to destroy it. Vikings, Scots, the men of the north. The largest army the island had ever seen. They met him at Brunanburh.

Dawn to dark. Five kings fell. And when the sun went down, Æthelstan was still standing. 🏛️

England had been tested. And England had held.

He left no son. He died in 939 and chose a quiet abbey at Malmesbury. Alone, in the country he had made.

But it never came apart. Every king and queen of England since has sat on the throne he built. More than 1,000 years. Unbroken.

You were taught 1066. The Tudors. The wars. But not this. Not the king who made the country. Not the bridge. Not the 12th of July.

Æthelstan. The first king of England. And the one we forgot.

Next year it turns 1,100.

England has a birthday. And now you know when it is. 🇬🇧

You did not choose to be born here. But you inherited a country with a beginning. A name won on a bridge, 1,100 years ago. That is yours. No one can take it from you.

Help us remember the king who made us.

Help us remember who we are. 👇🙏

👉 https://t.co/rih7iKwnvf 👈

Be part of us. ☝️🇬🇧

Be Proud Of Us. 🙏🇬🇧

[Paddy Power @paddypower]

Fancy getting your hands on one of our reversible bucket hats for the semi-final?

Simply REPOST in order to be in with a chance of winning one!

18+ GambleAware | #WorldCup markets available on the Paddy Power app

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@markuscarrus_1 Love a light crispy lager

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@Mobyhaque1 Nusa, Raphina

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@markuscarrus_1 Interesting, please report your feedback

[Paddy Power @paddypower]

Shakira now has more World Cup appearances than Cole Palmer

[Sven @SvennyG96]

You think I’m missing my kids birth to watch Lukaku chase his touch? Forget it.

[Sam @SamCKx]

If Keir Starmer does resign, history will look back on his reign and scratch its head as to why the hell he was so hated.

On paper, he's probably delivered more to working British people in such a short time than any PM for decades.

After inheriting an absolute mess: NHS waiting lists fallen. Worker's rights improved. Rail operators nationalised. Improved relations with EU and improved UK's global reputation. Removed non-dom tax status. Halved childcare costs. Boosted state pensions. Lowest homicide rate in 50 years. Lifted 550k children out of poverty. Immigration vastly reduced.

We are in the age of billionaire funded misinformation, whose sole purpose is to topple democratically elected leaders, and insert leadership that favours the wealthy elites over the working people. Looks like the game plan is working...

[Paddy Power @paddypower]

If Deschamps had any sense of banter, he'd have instructed his team to walk off the pitch in protest at that

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@markuscarrus_1 3 weeks to go!

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@markuscarrus_1 @bigphil321 And it is their job to serve because that's the job...

[🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InsideLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿© @InsideLucysHead]

The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans...

The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

Conclusion:

Eat and drink what you like.

Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

[Eddie Gibbs @eddiegibbs]

Slot Excuses … LOADING

Checks Roy Hodgson back catalogue.

All the hits lads. All the hits.

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@lfcJ7_ Last Feb/March

[Dirty Footballer 👊 @DirtyFootbaIIer]

This is top level shithousary 😂😂

[Toby Tarrant @tobytarrant]

Genuine question.

Why do Reform keep accepting these defections from the worst politicians this country has ever seen? Surely it's stupid on their part?

It's the political equivalent of when Southampton signed Ali Dia.

[Football F*ck Ups @FootbaIIFckUps]

The worst 1v1 in the history of football

[Today Years Old @todayyearsold]

This is all brand new information

[Simon Clews @siclews78]

@markuscarrus_1 Flake?

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

John Major effectively calls Labour and the Conservatives cowards over Brexit - must watch

"In an act of collective folly, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union"

"Across the world our enemies celebrated and our friends despaired"

"We left the EU on a minority vote of 37% of the electorate"

"After a referendum campaign that was PACKED with misinformation and misjudgement"

"It left our country poorer, weaker, and divorced from the richest free trade market that history has ever seen"

"National interest brushed aside by false hopes and promises, that even a cabinet dominated by front line Brexit enthusiasts was unable to deliver"

"The promises they made, given the opportunity, they were unable to meet"

"The gains from Brexit that were promised so confidently, can not be seen to be illusionary"

"While the forecast damage of leaving the European Union has become only too apparent"

"The nation saw project fear become project reality"

"It's no consolation that the majority of the public now overwhelmingly recognises that it was misled"

"In their moment of triumph, Brexiters predicted other countries would follow their lead and leave the European Union"

"None have"

"All saw only too clearly that Brexit was packed with disadvantages"

"Far from others leaving the European Union, 9 further nations wish to join the EU"

"Which is an apt comment on how the world saw Britain's decision to leave"

"The United Kingdom once revelled as a leading member of the European Union with half a billion citizens, and the undoubted first ally of the United States, the world's most eminent superpower"

"Today we know we are neither and so does the world"

"As we plan for the future we must see ourselves as we now are"

"And what we are is 70 million people in a world of 9,000 million"

"The UK has a proud history, a wealth of talent, a role in the world that continues to be significant"

"So we have much to offer any partner"

"Our national assets could make the European Union stronger and better equipped to face the uncertain future that now lingers in front of us"

"Our collective future demands a Europe that conducts itself as an economic superpower alongside America and China"

"The alternative is to be ever subordinate to the economic whim of America and China - I have no appetite for that"

"I know the shortcomings of the European Union, I lived with them for many painful years"

"But in a dangerous, uncertain world, with two unpredictable superpowers"

"I believe the UK's future is safer and more economically secure, inside a powerful block of neighbour nations, than outside"

"There are many barriers to a return to full membership of Europe that will be difficult to overcome"

"That said, there are areas we can make a start"

"And looking forward the plain truth is, the European Union is too important for the United Kingdom to not be part of its decision making process"

"The polls tells us that well over a half of the British electorate now believe it was a mistake to leave the EU"

"And less than 1/3 support having done so"

"Amongst the young, support for Brexit falls as low as 13%"

"That is why it is so disappointing that both government and opposition are so wretchedly timid in their policy ambitions"

"Both Labour and Tories are terrified of a residual Brexit vote"

"They don't seek to change the minds of those who favour Brexit, by talking about the advantages we have lost and might be able to regain"

"They simply hide in a hole and do nothing"

"Our economic and political interests, that's not abstract, that's your living standards"

"Our economic and political interests could not be clearer, but short term party political calculations is given priority over the national interest"

"Brexit is a flop"

"It is losing our country £100 billion, not million, £100 billion every year, as well as the tax revenue that would deliver"

"Just think about that, every year, every year, the loss of European trade is damaging our finances"

"The loss is made greater by some decisions the present Labour government have taken, and that is one reason why we are facing a painful and difficult budget"

"Economists agree there will be a cumulative loss to the economy of £311 billion by 2035"

"Together with 3 million fewer jobs, and a fall in trade levels with the EU"

"As of now its a matter of fact, not conjecture"

"Many SMEs have simply been defeated by post Brexit bureaucracy and simply find it no longer profitable to trade with Europe"

"It is baffling, baffling, that at a basic minimum labour are not now looking at how to negotiate away such frustrations created by bureaucracy"

"New trade deals supposed to cover lost European trade have not done so"

"Some are positively damaging, ask the farmers if you disbelieve me"

"The much promised mega trade deal swapping American trade with lost European trade promised so frequently and so confidently has never happened, and it shows no sigh of doing so in the future"

"We have lost, probably forever, the unique and advantageous deals we had gained in the 1980s and 1990s and I do not believe they cannot be regained"

"Without them a full return to the EU is unlikely until a younger generation, pro European politicians come to power, and the Brexiter voice again retreats to the fringes of debate"