Mike Carson

Retired in Spain

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@KirstieMAllsopp Yes they take longer to dry your washing, but taking longer and being more gentle gives you much softer clothes with reduced power consumption.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@bmstewart2004 I don't understand why Internet prices are so high in UK. I'm in Spain and pay 20€/month for 600Mb and that includes Spanish and international TV.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@afneil I think you need to check or change your data sources!

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@PolitlcsUK That would make him a bigger fool than trump!
You would have to be blind not to see that renewables are the only way forward.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@David90shaw Twaddle! According to your own figures it's 3-2 in favour of Mr Burnham.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@0xlordmicky The Canadian army had 1 years olds!

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@PolitlcsUK @Telegraph Spain have already banned Palantir from all government contracts over security concerns.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@realDonaldTrump Sadly, he believes this. 1😡

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@Peston Pretty sure the byelection is to be a member of Parliament, not Lord mayor of Manchester. Andy Burnham is already Lord mayor of Manchester and will have to stand down if he becomes an MP.

[Just me - Thomas @TomSoede]

Elon Musk is not standing for election in Britain.

He is not knocking on doors in Clacton.
He is not sitting in Parliament.
He is not accountable to British voters.

And yet somehow, his shadow keeps falling across British politic:

Reform.
Restore.
Farage.
Lowe.
MAGA influencers.
American right-wing think tanks.

Different names, same political weather.

That should worry people.

Because Musk does not need to run Britain to influence Britain.

He owns the platform where so much political anger now lives.

He can amplify one story.
Reward one narrative.
Boost one kind of outrage.
Turn one tragedy into a culture war.

Make one politician look bigger than they really are.

And suddenly British politics starts sounding less like Britain and more like imported American rage.

That is the danger.

Not because ordinary people’s anger is fake.

People are tired.
People are under pressure.
People are worried about housing, borders, crime, wages, the NHS and the future.

Those frustrations are real.

But powerful billionaires can choose which frustrations get amplified, which targets get selected, and which politicians benefit from the noise.

Britain should not become a playground for foreign billionaires, MAGA politics and algorithmic rage.

We need repair.
Not imported outrage.
We need serious government.
Not billionaire mood swings.

Britain is tired.

But Britain does not have to become cruel.

With respect, Elon Musk should leave British politics to British voters.

Britain needs repair.

Not imported American rage.

#UKPolitics #LessNoiseMoreDelivery

[Joe .... @lincslincs]

The full UK State Pension is now worth around £12,548 a year. That's less than half the earnings of someone working full-time on the National Minimum Wage, despite many pensioners paying taxes and National Insurance for 40, 50 or even 60 years.

Yet every time the Treasury needs money, the same voices appear demanding the Triple Lock be scrapped.

Why?

State pension spending is forecast at around £154 billion this year, but that supports over 13 million pensioners, many of whom rely on it as their primary income. Meanwhile, billions continue to disappear into failed projects, government waste, bureaucracy, consultants, quangos and policies that deliver little value to ordinary taxpayers.

The Triple Lock isn't some gold-plated luxury. It exists because politicians allowed the State Pension to fall behind for decades. Even today, a full State Pension is barely above the poverty line and is nowhere near a typical working wage.

If politicians want to save money, start with waste, inefficiency and failed spending programmes.

Leave pensioners alone.

They worked, they paid in, they built this country and they deserve dignity in retirement, not another raid on their income.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@ChristouDa44220 @GeoedieBozzy @Councillorsuzie This is misleading and has already been debunked.

The contract in question was awarded in 2019 long before Andy Burnham’s wife joined the company. Burnham has properly declared the interest.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@ArchRussel20580 @GeoedieBozzy @Councillorsuzie This is misleading and has already been debunked.

The contract in question was awarded in 2019 long before Andy Burnham’s wife joined the company. Burnham has properly declared the interest.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

@Zigmanfreud I'm 78, my best friend is 64, age is just a number. We can all live in peace together if we try.

[Mike Carson @torrecomputing]

Ban Workplace Drinking for MPs - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/vHFvTsUcWi via @change_es

[ytruthmatters @ytruthmatters]

What President Obama said 👆👆👆

America, you have a problem. It's a problem decades in the making, but now the perfect storm has arrived: a wannabe dictator plus a corrupt Administration plus a partisan Supreme Court plus an oligarch‑owned media has created a tyrannous storm.

If the Democrats ever get back into power, they MUST strengthen the institutions of democracy because if they don't, the storm will return.

[Sandy Tregent @SandyofSuffolk]

As it appears to be pensioner bashing weekend and pensioners seem to be the ones wholly responsible for the dire economic state of the country, I thought I'd apprise you all of some facts and figures.

Between April 2024 and March 2025, the cost of keeping asylum seekers in hotels was £2.1 billion.

In 2023, £15.3 billion was spent on foreign aid.

As of August 2025, there were 740,000 people aged between 16 and 24 years old receiving Universal Credit.

The benefits bill for people aged between 16 and 64 in 2024/25 was £123 billion.

In this decade (2020s), our annual net zero transition costs are estimated to be £125 billion.

UK quangos cost the taxpayers between £376 - 391 billion per year (2023/4 figures).

MPs' expenses (not salaries) are in the region of £130 - 150 million a year.

The UK has committed to give the European Space Agency £1.84 billion for the period 2022/27.

Since 2022, the UK has committed to give Ukraine £21.8 billion.

The UK continues to give money to the EU under the Brexit divorce. As at March 2024, there is still £6.4 billion outstanding.

'Free breakfasts' in schools cost the UK taxpayers an estimated 1 billion per year.

I'm sure I could go on. But it's just too depressing. The spending is out of all control, and rising. The interest on our national debt rises daily. And we're governed by socialists who love spending everyone's money but their own. As do all governments and councils.

But, of course, it's all the fault of old age pensioners. Rolls eyes. A lot. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[Love the UK - Bring back common sense @UKwantsmore]

Governments absolutely DID tell us we “paid in” for our state pension. The 1946 National Insurance Act (based on Beveridge) sold it as contributions giving you an entitlement “as of right” – no means test. The Minister literally called it “the best insurance policy the British people ever had.”

Calling it a “long-standing fiction” and saying no one is entitled isn’t clever economics, It’s prejudice against the elderly. Just because a few privileged people sip champagne in retirement doesn’t mean the millions who worked hard all their lives and trusted successive governments aren’t entitled to what they were promised.

We paid National Insurance for decades. Honour the contract.
https://t.co/wCmVpxzCSL

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

"New research reveals Britain’s biggest water company has been illegally polluting rivers at an even greater scale than previously thought."

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse it does.
More on the collapse and chronic failure of Thames Water.

And govt still sits back and does nothing.

https://t.co/uuuZiO9n34