Andrew Garner
@andrewbgarner.bsky.social
188cm 78kg blood type O+
Ha ha, nice, maybe you’re not old enough but I recall voting in a referendum to amend the constitution to renounce the claim to Northern Ireland. This country has become very wealthy from free trade which doesn’t happen by itself, it depends on security, and we contribute nada .
November 28, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Ha ha, nice, maybe you’re not old enough but I recall voting in a referendum to amend the constitution to renounce the claim to Northern Ireland. This country has become very wealthy from free trade which doesn’t happen by itself, it depends on security, and we contribute nada .
We avoid turkey (inferior chicken) so usually roast a great big sirloin joint. Cook it nice and rare, cut yourself a big slice, and you’ve basically got a steak
November 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM
We avoid turkey (inferior chicken) so usually roast a great big sirloin joint. Cook it nice and rare, cut yourself a big slice, and you’ve basically got a steak
Good lord no wonder type 2 diabetes rates are so high in the US - the GI load on a portion of that must be stratospheric.
November 27, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Good lord no wonder type 2 diabetes rates are so high in the US - the GI load on a portion of that must be stratospheric.
I’d throw in Nick Gibb
November 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I’d throw in Nick Gibb
It was the Ireland I was born into and that novel does so much to help explain the poor choices my parents and grandparents made, but it’s not often I’ve got the stomach for re-reading it
November 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
It was the Ireland I was born into and that novel does so much to help explain the poor choices my parents and grandparents made, but it’s not often I’ve got the stomach for re-reading it
This is a really powerful, excellent thread. And it (necessarily) only scratches the surface of the harms of lockdowns, from educational impacts to the £300-£500 *billion* of debt incurred, the interest on which dwarfs education, defence or transport budgets.
November 23, 2025 at 1:39 PM
This is a really powerful, excellent thread. And it (necessarily) only scratches the surface of the harms of lockdowns, from educational impacts to the £300-£500 *billion* of debt incurred, the interest on which dwarfs education, defence or transport budgets.
Local authorities already have pretty wide powers to issue bonds, (and HMT doesn’t control or limit that), but they have no means to raise the revenue to service those bonds. All roads lead back to devolving tax raising powers (which I know is slightly missing the point here)
November 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Local authorities already have pretty wide powers to issue bonds, (and HMT doesn’t control or limit that), but they have no means to raise the revenue to service those bonds. All roads lead back to devolving tax raising powers (which I know is slightly missing the point here)
All ministers do that even at the most junior levels. They’d be mad not to.
November 20, 2025 at 9:13 PM
All ministers do that even at the most junior levels. They’d be mad not to.
Great explanation. So refreshing to have someone take a breath, pause, and analyse the facts, rather than the hyperventilation that characterises so much media commentary
November 20, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Great explanation. So refreshing to have someone take a breath, pause, and analyse the facts, rather than the hyperventilation that characterises so much media commentary
Very nice. I’m watching Ben Stokes, Headingley, 2019, set to a Jimi Hendrix soundtrack. That’ll get the cricketing vibes going every time.
November 19, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Very nice. I’m watching Ben Stokes, Headingley, 2019, set to a Jimi Hendrix soundtrack. That’ll get the cricketing vibes going every time.
Lots of lawyers would advise apologising when you’ve made a clear mistake
November 15, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Lots of lawyers would advise apologising when you’ve made a clear mistake
It’s amazing that Basil Spence could get that so right, yet everything else he touched makes me want to claw out my eyeballs
November 8, 2025 at 6:19 PM
It’s amazing that Basil Spence could get that so right, yet everything else he touched makes me want to claw out my eyeballs
Really superb stuff, what a great distillation of such a complex topic.
November 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Really superb stuff, what a great distillation of such a complex topic.
I don’t think that’s a get out of jail card. They made an explicit promise (a v stupid one), but to break that promise will breed contempt and distrust for mainstream politicians and could be terminal for Labour, or at least on a par with how the LibDems fared after breaking the tuition fee pledge.
November 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM
I don’t think that’s a get out of jail card. They made an explicit promise (a v stupid one), but to break that promise will breed contempt and distrust for mainstream politicians and could be terminal for Labour, or at least on a par with how the LibDems fared after breaking the tuition fee pledge.
Is it not a bit dicey to assume to LDs are in the left/centre bloc? Given their success now rests on keeping a swathe of middle class suburban seats happy, when push comes to shove, who’s to say they’ll line up with Labour and an increasingly overtly left wing Green Party?
November 4, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Is it not a bit dicey to assume to LDs are in the left/centre bloc? Given their success now rests on keeping a swathe of middle class suburban seats happy, when push comes to shove, who’s to say they’ll line up with Labour and an increasingly overtly left wing Green Party?
The camera work in that series was just incredible, it was artistry in its own right.
November 1, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The camera work in that series was just incredible, it was artistry in its own right.
100%! It doesn’t matter if that nationalism is cloaked in warm, fuzzy progressive sentiment. Dividing islands into different countries will never make things better, take it from an Irish man.
October 24, 2025 at 7:13 AM
100%! It doesn’t matter if that nationalism is cloaked in warm, fuzzy progressive sentiment. Dividing islands into different countries will never make things better, take it from an Irish man.
I’m torn, because obviously from a fiscal perspective it’s the right thing to do, but, from a democratic perspective, having made such an explicit promise to the electorate, I fear for the consequences for centrist politics if that promise is broken so overtly.
October 23, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I’m torn, because obviously from a fiscal perspective it’s the right thing to do, but, from a democratic perspective, having made such an explicit promise to the electorate, I fear for the consequences for centrist politics if that promise is broken so overtly.
Indeed. I really thought that when Cameron made an unqualified apology for the British army slaughtering its own citizens in broad daylight, the issue wouldn’t be open for debate in polite company anymore. Alas.
October 23, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Indeed. I really thought that when Cameron made an unqualified apology for the British army slaughtering its own citizens in broad daylight, the issue wouldn’t be open for debate in polite company anymore. Alas.
Interesting that you didn’t explore STV in more detail, given it’s what was on the table for the UK, and that it’s what Ireland uses (for everything! If Traitors was being filmed there it’d be used and you’d have Claudia saying ‘buckle in let’s see where Stephen’s transfers are going!!!’)
October 23, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Interesting that you didn’t explore STV in more detail, given it’s what was on the table for the UK, and that it’s what Ireland uses (for everything! If Traitors was being filmed there it’d be used and you’d have Claudia saying ‘buckle in let’s see where Stephen’s transfers are going!!!’)
I am very happy that there are good people out the willing to actually *drill into the skull of a waking person* but my god I’m heaving at the thought of it.
October 21, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I am very happy that there are good people out the willing to actually *drill into the skull of a waking person* but my god I’m heaving at the thought of it.
It was definitely a model in Victorian England, eg: The Wednesday club in Sheffield was both a cricket and football club well into the twentieth century, as a way of keeping crickets fit over the winter months.
October 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
It was definitely a model in Victorian England, eg: The Wednesday club in Sheffield was both a cricket and football club well into the twentieth century, as a way of keeping crickets fit over the winter months.
I think it’s a pretty rational decision, and Starmer and colleagues should really be a lot more cautious about interfering in operational decisions.
October 17, 2025 at 8:08 AM
I think it’s a pretty rational decision, and Starmer and colleagues should really be a lot more cautious about interfering in operational decisions.