David Venables

Fly fisherman,game shooter,owner of reasonably well behaved black Labradors. beating, picking up, plus working on my large veg plot. used to play a bit of rugby

[David Venables @venelectric]

@paulmasonnews @elonmusk I think you will find lots of people seething in anger at left wing politicians ,defending pathetic diversity policies.

[David Venables @venelectric]

@MatthewStadlen Meanwhile in the Standlen world ,stand back and do nothing . This situation will deteriorate, thanks to wishy wishy liberals like you.

[David Venables @venelectric]

@DavidGauke @sassycassyL People like you are the reason why the Tory party are struggling. You alongside many of your colleagues were a complete disaster. So you are in no position to lecture anyone.

[David Venables @venelectric]

@LizKershawDJ @sillymooooo @reformparty_uk Perfect reply Liz

[David Venables @venelectric]

@afneil Andrew You’re a flogging a dead horse with this gentleman. He is clueless.

[Trump Girl @TrumpGirlLove]

I absolutely love this! It’s incredibly easy when you have the right equipment. 🪾🪾🪾

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

My monologue from today’s The Times at One with Andrew Neil @TimesRadio

ROYAL NAVY RIP

While US destroyers duke it out with Iranian navy fast boats over the Strait of Hormuz, we learned yesterday that the Royal Navy’s HMS Iron Duke, a Type 23 frigate, was being withdrawn from active service, despite a recent £100m five-year refit, which suggests that was largely a waste of money. 

More important, it underlines the stark reality that we no longer have a functioning navy. 

That’s right. The country of Rule Britannia, which once had the most powerful navy in the world, capable of protecting an empire which covered a quarter of the globe, no longer has a navy worthy of the name.  

For the factual basis of what I’m about to say, I am indebted to Britsky, who posts important naval data on X and has become the reliable go-to source for information on our disappearing Navy. 

HMS Iron Duke joins another ageing Type 23, HMS Richmond, in retirement. Leaving the Royal Navy with just five frigates to monitor Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic and other Russian activity in the Channel. 

Even that doesn’t reveal the full, desperate picture. Of the five frigates still supposedly available for service, one, HMS Kent, has been almost 750 days in refit and is not available for service. HMS Portland and HMS St Albans have also been laid up for some time. 

Only HMS Somerset is currently deployed and HMS Sutherland could be, pretty quickly. So the Royal Navy can call on the immediate services of only two of the five frigates we have, all dating from the 1990s. 

What about the more powerful Type 45 destroyers? Sad to relate the picture is even bleaker. There are only six. One, HMS Dragon, has been deployed to the East Mediterranean to protect Cyprus, though that took some time. 

Another, HMS Daring, has been in refit for 3,260 days and still not available for duty. HMS Defender has been out of action for over 1,000 days, HMS Diamond for just under 700 days. HMS Dauntless is in maintenance. Other than Dragon, out of our six destroyers, only HMS Duncan could be deployed quickly. 

What about our hugely expensive, powerful Astute class submarines? Better you don’t ask. We have only five — and only one, HMS Anson, is on active service somewhere in the Indian Ocean. 

The other four — Astute, Ambush, Artful and Audacious — have been laid up for a total of 4,000 days. That’s right 4,000 days. HMS Ambush alone has been inactive for 1,400 days. It’s currently laid up on the River Clyde. 

So the currently deployable, conventional Royal Navy, excluding the ancient, creaking subs carrying our nuclear deterrent, amounts to two frigates, two destroyers and one sub. That’s not a navy for a maritime nation. That’s a joke. 

Yes, we have two big aircraft carriers too. They also seem to spend a lot of time in maintenance, which is where they are at the moment. But both could currently be deployed pretty quickly, which is an improvement. But we don’t have the frigates or destroyers to form a carrier fleet. So they can only be used in concert with better equipped allies. 

We might be short of fighting ships. But we’re not short of admirals. We currently have around 30 rear admirals or above, which works out around four per deployable ship. That’s admirals. Not captains. 

None, of course, of this bloated top brass has been held accountable for the near disappearance of our naval power. Nor have any Tory politicians who for 14 years presided over our navy’s degradation. Nor is the current Labour government in any apparent hurry to put matters right.

Our airforce and army are in no great shapes either. But it is the state of our non-navy, an integral, vital part of our island history, which is the real national scandal. 

And, as is so often the case in modern Britain, nobody is held to account. Nobody forced to carry the can. Nobody making it their mission to put it right. And that is the real national disgrace.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Establish 100 world-class technology schools in 100 towns in the Uk, each one with 1,000 pupils and open purely to merit, on a par with the best in Germany/Austria. Aim to place each pupil on graduation into the very best apprenticeships, like BAe, Rolls Royce, Airbus, or STEM university courses.
Double the fees for anybody who wants to do media studies at university 😂

[LibertyJ @LibertyJen]

Watch 3.5 month old Marley test her first time meeting the sheep. 🥹😍

[Leeds All Over @LeedsAllOver]

All that money, but you can't buy class. #LUFC

[Tanya Arnold @tanyaarnold]

Ah well, at least I got to interview Reece Walsh!

[David Venables @venelectric]

@GeoffreyBoycott Happy birthday lovely photo

[Charles Bukowski Legacy @Bukowskiquot]

"Don't fight your demons. Your demons are here to teach you lessons. Sit down with your demons and have a drink and a chat and learn their names and talk about the burns on their fingers and scratches on their ankles. Some of them are very nice."

~Charles Bukowski

[Steve Caple @SteveCaple4]

A friends 'Reading style' waggon in Norfolk.🥰

[Lord Ashcroft @LordAshcroft]

For every retweet of this post, I will donate £1 to the @VC_and_GC_Assoc up to £50,000.
Time is running out following @I_W_M’s decision to close the Lord Ashcroft Gallery.
Visit while you still can, to honour the bravery of those who risked so much to protect our great nation.

[David Venables @venelectric]

@ClarkeMicah @iknowaletheia All the public libraries in my area are free. Some staffed by unpaid volunteers. It’s about the only thing decent left in this country

[David Venables @venelectric]

@c_dodson_thatch Beats using a hammer every day of the week

[David Venables @venelectric]

@Gary1165 You never know your luck, if you don’t buy a ticket you don’t win a prize.

[David Venables @venelectric]

@davidyelland You live an absolute privileged lifestyle. Vast swathes of this country due to uncontrolled immigration are awful. You might pause to think of your fellow countrymen having to suffer this outcome. Instead you trot at the usual racist jibes