The Bewsh

[The Bewsh @thebewsh]

Our local Hornsey comprehensive showing that whatever your background you can achieve great things if given support and encouragement. @Greig_City @ScaramoucheST

[Scaramouche Sailing Trust @ScaramoucheST]

London teenager selected for elite sailing programme https://t.co/bUu4qNGH78

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

Thread of the most beautiful train stations on Earth 🧵

1. Antwerp, Belgium

[Francesca 🚲💕 @francesca_kms]

One of my favorite things is riding home on a warm summer’s evening. It’s lovely.

Looks like I’m not alone in that; many others feel the same way.

Imagine if everywhere in London was this joyous to cycle through. There would be far fewer cars & much healthier, happier people.

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Must watch on House of Commons reform @EllieChowns

Dr Ellie Chowns, "As a newly elected member, I'd like to offer observations on three elements on how this house operates: sitting, speaking and voting"

➡️ Sitting
- Chamber is too small
- In Council and in European parliament we had own seat, desk, plug in devices
- Extraordinary there aren't enough seats for every MP

There is a practice of Christian prayers, as a daughter of preachers I am familiar with this. But in this day and age where we are a mix of all faiths and none, it might be time to represent a range of faiths

➡️ Speaking
- If we have more time limits more MPs would be incentivised to speak
- Trying to get a slot, bobbing up and down, last week I did for five solid hours without getting attention of the speaker
- This is not good for a democracy
- Find a better way of allocating speaking time
- The culture in this house is everything from excessive deference to braying, we need to clean to clean up politics, we are here to debate in as positive a spirit as possible

➡️ Voting
- It's extraordinary we do not have electronic voting
- While I've been here I've participated in 5 votes, that's taken 1.25 quarter
- If you add up all the votes thats 1.5 months of MPs time, totally unproductive
- If we got rid of the voting lobbies we could double the physical size of the chamber (everyone could then have a seat)

"My final point, if we want to be a truly modern house of commons: proportional representation"

[The Bewsh @thebewsh]

Don’t like Andrew Neil but this is worth reading and worth remembering.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

My Election Day Monologue on @TimesRadio. In praise of British democracy.

It’s election day in the United Kingdom, a seminal event we too often take for granted. We also do it in a very British way. 

There will be no armed guards at the polling stations. No intimidating mobs. Just paper and pencil, trusted tellers and friendly canvassers. 

If the British people decide it’s time to change governments, that will happen quickly and without fuss. The military will not be mobilised. Barbed wire will not be arranged around public buildings. Defeated candidates will not be fleeing the country. Riot police will not be assembling on side streets. 

But a removal van — something we’ve all had to use at some stage in our lives — will turn up sometime Friday morning to help the incumbent move out. Another will bring the belongings of the new prime minister and family. 

A few words from the winner outside 10 Downing Street, a round of applause as he goes through the famous door — and the business of government continues as before. Even with a new broom there will be a sense of continuity. And calm. 

Nobody will contest the overall integrity of the result, whatever minor challenges there are at the margins. The loser will concede defeat and wish the winner well. The winner will try to be magnanimous. 

Nobody will be exiled. There will be no talk of being cheated, of a rigged election, or lawyers getting rich on endless court challenges. No mob will descend on the Palace of Westminster determined to overthrow the result. The pigeons will continue to peck away, undisturbed, on Parliament Square. 

However people voted the result will be accepted. Folks will just get on with their lives and wait to see what the next government has in store for them. 

Such a peaceful, uneventful, very British passage of power is to be treasured. It is perhaps THE distinguishing hallmark of democracy that power is passed in this way, without upheaval or protest, at the behest of the people. 

Democracy requires a winner to be gracious and a loser to accept that they’ve lost, without quibble. That is the British way. It is not now true of that great democracy across the Atlantic. 

It is also the case, if today heralds a change, that a centre right government will give way to a centre left one. Whatever the result the numbers in Parliament who might be deemed hard right or hard left will be de minimis. Pretty much irrelevant. 

There is something quite British about that too. It will not be the case when that great democracy across the Channel votes on Sunday, where the extremes on both sides of the political divide are likely to make up almost two thirds of the National Assembly. 

We broadcasters don’t do British party politics on election day. That can wait until you’ve voted and we know the result sometime after 10 o clock tonight. 

So we will spend the next hour looking at elections in France and America, two countries with their own strong democratic traditions. 

Also two countries, as we shall see, with democratic challenges we don’t face, whatever else may confront us. 

They are our allies — fellow democrats in a world threatened by autocrats — and we must wish them well in overcoming their problems, as we tackle ours. While taking some comfort and pride from the fact that there is something quite special about our own British democracy. 

So let us savour this important day.

[The Bewsh @thebewsh]

Good luck Adam. You will make a great MP

[Adam Jogee MP @AJogee]

And that’s a wrap - it’s been an honour, a privilege and a good time too.

Whatever happens, we have worked our hardest and this picture sums it all up for me. Grateful to everyone for their support and love. #labgain #LoveNuL 🌹🇬🇧❤️

[The Culturist @the_culturist_]

This is what American cities looked like a century ago (and what happened to them)... 🧵

1. Saratoga Springs, New York (1915)

[Robert Peston @Peston]

Poker face

[David Yelland @davidyelland]

Purely as a piece of communication, this picture of Keir and Victoria Starmer at Taylor Swift speaks a million words. His rivals look angry, old, unhealthy, flabby, tired…. Success is about the soul and people respond to soul….. you can see it in this photo….

[Scaramouche Sailing Trust @ScaramoucheST]

The double handed team of Jessye and Samiya finished 8th / 14 in the RSYC West Princessa race. The conditions didn’t suit their asymmetric spinnaker at all, but they persisted and performed very well👍💪

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

Vic looking fabulous and unstressed. Amazing what a decision to carry on working, looking after the children and avoiding the campaign trail (rather than allowing the right wing rags to rip into every aspect of your clothes, hair, history and views) can do … oh! and @taylorswift13 wore red #subliminalVoteLabourMessageSwifties

[steve richards @steverichards14]

What’s wrong with this country episode 2895:

[Scaramouche Sailing Trust @ScaramoucheST]

They are both there speaking to the National Outdoor Education Conference 👍 but…. A big plan ahead for these amazing sailors. To be announced soon👍💪

[Charlotte Thompson 🌻 @charlottethomp5]

Very glad to see my MP @CatherineWest1 challenge the PM about this shocking story.
Disgraceful response by the PM, to Catherine as well as to the SNP MP who also raised this issue during today's #PMQs .
He has no shame.

[Chris Turner #FBPPR @chrism_turner49]

@carolvorders Reminded of the words of Oliver Cromwell

[Fintan O'Toole @fotoole]

Fintan O’Toole: The only difference between a good migrant and a bad one is time https://t.co/W3Us2xXaKl

[Mums For Lungs @MumsForLungs]

London's Ultra Low Emission Zone expands today. In 2018 we campaigned to see all Londoners benefit from this scheme, & now they can. All of London breaches @WHO #AirPollution limits, & 1 in 11 children in London have #Asthma. We need #CleanAir 💚. #ULEZ
📸 Crispin Hughes

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

Did you know in the Netherlands regulations around the disposal of treated human waste are so restrictive that it all but bans the spreading of 'treated sludge' on 'agricultural land' as they simply don't want the risk of it reentering the food chain in any way whatsoever.