Simon Sparkes
@pilotsparky.bsky.social
Helicopter test pilot and instructor. Ex UK military but now working for the Norwegian government. Living in Norway changed my view of government intervention and social norms.
Reposted by Simon Sparkes
The Sun in 2014 calling Farage what he is. In some ways a saner time
bsky.app/profile/sund...
bsky.app/profile/sund...
This May 2014 editorial in The Sun about Nigel Farage said is not racist" to worry about the scale of immigration but it is "racist" to smear Romanians to say you wouldn't want to live next door to a Romanian & "you know the difference" [between a German and a Romanian neigbour]
September 30, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The Sun in 2014 calling Farage what he is. In some ways a saner time
bsky.app/profile/sund...
bsky.app/profile/sund...
Much of the investment and treating (read hospitality) culture in the UK is definitively out of bounds and if I was to accept anything (it is offered regulalrly) I would be subject to significant disciplinary action. /end
August 1, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Much of the investment and treating (read hospitality) culture in the UK is definitively out of bounds and if I was to accept anything (it is offered regulalrly) I would be subject to significant disciplinary action. /end
I work for the Norwegian Government and this is my ethical guidance document. You won't find anything like this is the UK MOD (or other departments for that matter). /1
www.regjeringen.no/globalassets...
www.regjeringen.no/globalassets...
www.regjeringen.no
August 1, 2025 at 9:20 AM
I work for the Norwegian Government and this is my ethical guidance document. You won't find anything like this is the UK MOD (or other departments for that matter). /1
www.regjeringen.no/globalassets...
www.regjeringen.no/globalassets...
Thanks for explaining. I did understand that for any trade agreement with the US to be binding in any way (to the US at least) it has to pass Congress. Who knows what will happen there because by the time they get around to it we might be past the mid term elections.
July 29, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Thanks for explaining. I did understand that for any trade agreement with the US to be binding in any way (to the US at least) it has to pass Congress. Who knows what will happen there because by the time they get around to it we might be past the mid term elections.
We live in Oslo and we have heard simialr messages from some of our friends. The UK is one of the safest places in Europe with lower crime rates and definitelty lower levels of violence.
July 29, 2025 at 7:51 AM
We live in Oslo and we have heard simialr messages from some of our friends. The UK is one of the safest places in Europe with lower crime rates and definitelty lower levels of violence.
And we really don’t pay the bills, do we?
July 12, 2025 at 11:13 AM
And we really don’t pay the bills, do we?
no mythical growth route out of this. Adam Smith knew this, politics in the UK needs a big dose of financial realism. My sense is that neither the UK population or the political parties want to understand that. A financial crash will be the only way to make the point.
July 12, 2025 at 10:55 AM
no mythical growth route out of this. Adam Smith knew this, politics in the UK needs a big dose of financial realism. My sense is that neither the UK population or the political parties want to understand that. A financial crash will be the only way to make the point.
Eventually the markets will decide(especially if Reform win the next election). Labour have failed, so far, to sell the trade offs internally and externally of what this means. A working welfare state and NHS needs higher taxes (not to mention other public services) not lower ones. There is /3
July 12, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Eventually the markets will decide(especially if Reform win the next election). Labour have failed, so far, to sell the trade offs internally and externally of what this means. A working welfare state and NHS needs higher taxes (not to mention other public services) not lower ones. There is /3
Is an example). The fact that high taxes are accepted as a necessary measure in these countries by the voters is something built over many decades. From Thatcher onward the argument has been missing in UK politics. Even now Reform trials to sell the same myth despite the financial facts/2
July 12, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Is an example). The fact that high taxes are accepted as a necessary measure in these countries by the voters is something built over many decades. From Thatcher onward the argument has been missing in UK politics. Even now Reform trials to sell the same myth despite the financial facts/2
Of course, none of them are or have been willing to recognise that the low tax model the UK public continue(s) to be sold is a myth. An ageing population, by default, needs this in work and the better off to pay more. The Nordic nations grabbed this nettle a long time ago ( the Norwegian Oil Fund/1
July 12, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Of course, none of them are or have been willing to recognise that the low tax model the UK public continue(s) to be sold is a myth. An ageing population, by default, needs this in work and the better off to pay more. The Nordic nations grabbed this nettle a long time ago ( the Norwegian Oil Fund/1
Back from who exactly?
July 2, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Back from who exactly?