sionnach

Dizzy redhead. Hedgehog enthusiast, and occasional Allegro driver.

[Will Hazell @whazell]

What is it about this sculptural depiction of a black woman which leads Rupert Lowe to describe it as "filth"?

[sionnach @streetfoxed]

@YorkshireDad2 ... standing more towards the kerb would help 😉

[John Wood 🌱Ⓥ @uptone]

How the Bayeux Tapestry was really made (according to Michael Palin and Terry Jones) 😝 #BayeuxTapestry

[sionnach @streetfoxed]

She's not known for her journalistic skills, or for giving any subject much thought.

[Michael Brown 🌍 @MentalHealthCop]

I love it when people put their ignorance and lack of imagination on open display in a show of pride.

My wife is one of those 40% - she is a detective who does the complex tech work for murders, human trafficking jobs, kidnaps and active manhunts for serious criminals.

[Dale Vince @DaleVince]

Another example of a private monopoly failing us - National Grid have been making an average £5 billion a year for the last five years - while failing to invest what’s needed to keep our grid up to scratch - we pay the annual £2 billion cost of that failure, while they pocket £5 billion. And it could be £8 Billion a year by 2030. It’s another outrageous failure of Thatcher’s Dogma - Privatisation. We need to take National Grid under control, not ownership - and force it to do the job we need, not the job its shareholders would prefer.

https://t.co/yV3ZUjY0Ws

[sionnach @streetfoxed]

@YorkshireDad2 Hello

[Linguistic Discovery @lingdiscovery]

A priest, a pastor, and a rabbit entered a clinic to donate blood. The nurse asked the rabbit: “What’s your blood type?”

“I’m probably a type O,” said the rabbit.

[Lactose the Intolerant @Ersatz_F]

My face hinge fell open and I couldn’t believe my looking blobs when I read that.

[Maude Frome @frome_maude]

Badger carries the old moon out of the month.

#NewMoon: Friday 11th September
#BookChatWeekly
#Art: Jackie Morris

[Jenny Jones @GreenJennyJones]

Hmmm no more Yo! Sushi for me.

[Jacob Collier MP @JacobCollierMP]

With the heroes of the @RNLI under attack again, I’m reminded of this passage from Bill Bryson.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Scenes from Kyiv, just 24 hours after Trump's son-in-law sat in the city center asking Ukrainians to help Putin accomplish his "aspirations".

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

I’m just glad Kushner and Witkoff weren’t around to negotiate a “win-win” for Germany and Japan in 1942.

[sionnach @streetfoxed]

@SueSuezep An utter Walt.

[sionnach @streetfoxed]

What a heartening story. Many thanks to all involved https://t.co/jXpPVxjMG1

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The Weakest America in Eighty Years, and Moscow Has Noticed

Let me tell you what the Kremlin sees when it looks west, because it is not complicated. It sees an America weaker than at any point since 1945, run by a man so frightened of Putin that he switched off every dollar of help to Ukraine after one bad afternoon in the Oval Office. Russia responded in the only language it speaks, launching more than 800 drones in a single night and turning the sky over Kyiv into a permanent fireworks display.

Moscow also sees something rather more amusing. It sees an America without a single friend left in the world, and a president who, by the Kremlin’s cheerful reckoning, is now less liked abroad than Putin himself. Think about that for a moment.

And Beijing has been taking notes too. A friendless America went into Iran, declared victory in March, called it over in July, and is still there in September, insisting for roughly the hundredth time that the war has ended. Nobody believes him. Least of all Tehran.

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

After a day sitting opposite Kushner and Witkoff, it’s clear they see Russia’s invasion as a business deal

They keep amplifying what Putin wants, what Russia can gain and what Ukraine must give up.

This is what happens when Trump sends real-estate developers to negotiate a war.

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

this is the kind of design costume designers make to tell you who are the bad guys in a space movie

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

Personally, I think this is nonsense. I will break down what I think is happening in this video.

It appears that Jeff Banks is a longtime Reform supporter, so Nigel is granting him two favors. The first is the opportunity to secure a contract to produce Reform's merch. The second is the opportunity to appear in this video, which effectively functions as an advertisement.

I think it is a mischaracterization to call Jeff Banks a "designer." A more apt term is "businessman." There's nothing inherently wrong with being a businessman, but if we were to survey everyone in the menswear industry, the greatest concentration of hucksters would be in this category.

For decades now, Jeff Banks has been sourcing his production in low-wage countries and then importing those items into Britain, which in turn undercuts British production. For instance, this shirt pictured below, which was made in China. To be clear: there is nothing inherently wrong with Chinese production. Some of it can be quite high-quality. But when someone arrives in the country with only the intention of maximizing profits, quality is not their central concern.

If Nigel actually cared about British manufacturing, he could have contacted @paddygrant, who has been a champion in this area for decades. While Jeff Banks was outsourcing his production, Patrick was not only manufacturing in the UK, but also saving British factories. In 2015, he saved the Blackburn factory Cookson & Clegg from closure by purchasing the operation and saving countless jobs. That factory could have easily made Reform's merch. And the money would have gone to someone who has been a genuine champion of UK manufacturing.

Jeff Banks claims that it's a "nightmare" to produce neckties in the UK, so he had to go to Como, Italy to get his silk. This is the sort of lie you can expect from a huckster who is principally concerned with profits, not British jobs.

I'm sure he knows that Macclesfield has a long tradition of producing British silk. Adamley still produces there, as you can see in the third slide. Some of their designs are inspired by David Evans's archival prints, which would have given Nigel and his team the opportunity to promote a long-forgotten British tradition. (I will save the story for David Evans for another time). These Macclesfield silks could have been given to Drake's, a domestic British neckwear producer.

Yes, this would have been expensive for the end consumer. But this is what you would have had to tell Reform supporters: if you want genuine, high-quality British manufacturing, it will cost you.

Jeff Banks doesn't take this route with his production because he knows supposed "British patriots" are often cheap bastards, much like their American counterparts. So he cuts corners where he can. By cutting costs in this way, you undercut actual British producers. Consumers see this advertisement, go to Jeff Banks, and see that the goods are cheap. They then wonder why British manufacturers are charging so much more.

Unfortunately, this corner of the market is full of hucksters who are not real patriots. Nigel promotes this guy in return for his support, which brings consumers to him, helping line his pockets — much of it cheap imports. If you want real British-made clothing, there is no shortage of options. But you have to be serious about supporting domestic craftspeople and factory workers.

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

If the costume designer on Star Wars had suggested this for the Empire uniforms George Lucas would have told them to dial back the Nazi