Politics, trade unions, history. Mackem in exile. Love cooking, reading, hats, cats: Also Scotland, Iceland, France, Italy, Greece. I prefer the fringe. #FBPE
London, Europe
Joined November 2009
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Graham Stewart retweeted
For those of you who watched the Arsenal Fleetwood match last night, this characteristically thoughtful from @henrywinter
Max Dowman: some thoughts. A little bit of understanding and support would not go amiss for a targeted teenager who wants to play the game the right way, who doesn’t roll around on the ground when struck by a bad challenge, and he gets hit by a few. Officials take note. Coaches take note. There’s a balance with young talents of toughening them up physically and mentally while protecting them. There's a balance between admonishment for a mistake and encouragement to learn.
Everyone wants to see Dowman fulfil his huge potential and develop into a major player for Arsenal and, eventually, England. Dowman is a special young talent, still only 16, still with the ink drying on his GCSE papers. He's still a kid, still learning. There have been (premature) calls for Dowman to be fast-tracked into England Under-21s, even the seniors. A month ago Thomas Tuchel and Lee Carsley conferred on Dowman and sensibly agreed his development would best be served by games with the Under-19s. “Max is always in the conversation because of his talent,” Carsley said.
That talent has seen Dowman become the Premier League’s youngest ever goalscorer, become the youngest player in the Champions League, and also get targeted. He gets a kicking, nine times in an Under-19s international against Spain last year. On returning to Arsenal, Dowman was encouraged by his manager Mikel Arteta to learn from Bukayo Saka about the art of dealing with such aggression. It was all about avoiding contact and “to learn when to release the ball”. Arteta also praised Dowman’s “football IQ” with the “super smart” way he makes decisions, praise indeed. It’s impressive in one so young.
His two red cards this month, one for England Under-19s against the USA behind closed doors in Marbella and now for Arsenal against Fleetwood Town, need placing in context. Trend or blip? Dowman, who usually has a composed temperament, suffered a number of robust challenges from the USA when he snapped and put in a strong challenge of his own. Some of those present in the game felt it was only a yellow. Dowman's not a petulant player, but his frustration spilled over at the aggression put in on him.
Similar to last night. There were some robust League Two challenges going in from Fleetwood players on the English champions' winger, testing his temperament, and after 85 minutes he reacted. The focus was on his silly kick out towards Harrison Neal, a soft red but still a red under the Laws, when the focus should also have been on Neal’s challenge which could have injured Dowman. No card was issued against Neal.
Michael Salisbury is an experienced referee, 16 years on the list, including now five years in the Premier League. Like all officials, Salisbury has a duty of care to all players to ensure they are not put at risk by bad challenges. Neal got the ball but the force and pace of his follow-through endangered Dowman, whose standing foot was momentarily trapped. Dowman, any player, deserved some protection from challenges like that.
He also deserved some compassion from Arteta. It’s one thing having strong words in passing if a senior player was trooping off, red-carded, down the tunnel. But Dowman is 16, probably still fuming with the tackle on him, and frustration at dismissal and inevitable feeling of letting the team down. Dowman didn’t need the most important person in his professional life, Arteta, to compound his misery with a frosty few words as he headed towards the tunnel. He's 16. He wasn't being petulant. He was reacting to a bad challenge.
Maybe Arteta was trying to make the point again about Dowman having to withstand such tackles, and not reacting. Arteta told reporters after the game that he had spoken pre-match to Dowman and the other players of the need for emotional control in such an intense occasion.
Fair enough, Dowman will learn. Whatever Arteta's frustration, it felt harsh and small-minded by such a successful, established manager. Officials take note too. It’s worth recalling that Arteta’s club contacted the authorities when they felt Saka was being targeted with bad challenges. Talents - all players - deserve protection. #AFC
Graham Stewart retweeted
Corporate greed is Microsoft making $134 billion in profits last year, receiving $19 billion in tax breaks under Trump, paying a lower federal income tax rate than a nurse and getting rid of 60,000 workers.
“Corporations will create jobs if they get tax breaks” is a total scam.
Graham Stewart retweeted
A great rant from a friend:
“I don't know who's running the British newspapers at the moment, but I reckon somebody's accidentally given the editorial jobs to a bunch of fucking doomsday preppers.
Have you seen the absolute state of the news lately?
World War Three. Nuclear Armageddon. Russian cyberattacks. Chinese hackers. Emergency survival kits. How to prepare for the end of civilisation.
Every bloody newspaper seems to be running the same story.
You'd think Vladimir Putin had been spotted at Dover services with a tank and a packed lunch.
And apparently, the most important thing we can do to prepare for all this is go shopping.
Seriously.
We're being advised to stockpile food, water, torches, batteries and enough toilet roll to survive the collapse of Western civilisation.
Do they genuinely believe we're all going to read these articles, leap off the sofa and charge down to Asda like there's a fucking trolley dash on?
I reckon somebody's looked at the Christmas retail figures and thought, "How can we get these bastards to spend another two hundred quid?"
"Tell them the Russians are coming."
"Brilliant. We'll shift those seventeen pallets of corned beef we've had sitting in the warehouse since Easter."
And what exactly am I supposed to do with all these emergency supplies if there's a nuclear attack?
Imagine it.
You're sitting in your living room, minding your own business, when suddenly there's an enormous flash outside.
The windows explode. The roof comes off. There's a nuclear shockwave tearing through the city, flattening everything in its path.
And there you are, crawling across the kitchen floor, desperately trying to get the fucking tin opener out of the drawer.
"QUICK! SOMEBODY GET THE BEANS!"
What fucking difference are beans going to make?
You're about to be vaporised at several thousand degrees. I don't think the nutritional benefits of baked beans are going to be particularly relevant.
But the politicians are the funniest part of all this.
Angela Rayner was asked what she'd be stockpiling.
Sauvignon Blanc and mascara.
Sauvignon Blanc and fucking mascara!
I love that.
The world's coming to an end, millions could die, civilisation might collapse, but Angela's making sure she's got a decent bottle of white and her eyelashes done.
Then Andy Burnham comes along telling people not to stockpile alcohol because they need to keep a clear head.
Well, thank Christ we've got that sorted.
One politician's preparing for the apocalypse like she's going to an all-inclusive resort in Tenerife, and another's telling everybody to drink responsibly.
And apparently Andy's emergency supplies include Twiglets.
Fucking Twiglets.
I mean, at what point did the national security discussion turn into everybody comparing what they've brought to a children's birthday party?
We're supposedly facing the possibility of World War Three, and our political leaders are having a conversation that wouldn't sound out of place in the middle aisle of Aldi.
And then there's the cyberattack warnings.
Apparently, Russia or China could launch a massive cyberattack and bring down our communications, electricity supplies and essential services.
Right.
And what am I supposed to do about that?
Unplug the kettle?
Put the laptop in a biscuit tin?
I can just imagine some highly trained Russian cyberwarfare specialist sitting in Moscow, surrounded by millions of pounds' worth of sophisticated computer equipment.
"Comrade, we have penetrated the British national infrastructure."
"Excellent. Shut down their electricity."
"We cannot, sir."
"Why not?"
"Some bastard in Ellesmere Port has wrapped his Virgin Media router in fucking Bacofoil."
It's a good job Churchill isn't around to witness this.
"We shall fight them on the beaches. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall never surrender."
"Unless we've run out of Pot Noodles, in which case we're absolutely fucked."
What a fucking pantomime.”
Graham Stewart retweeted
Obama:
"While we're alienating key allies like Canada, the White House is bending the knee to Vladimir Putin of Russia, and selling out Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom and democracy."
Graham Stewart retweeted
BREAKING: NAILED IT! Fearless journalist Mehdi Hasan savages JD Vance for being a shameless racist despite having an Indian family.
This is a knockout punch...
"JD Vance's in-laws' names are Radhakrishna Chilukuri and Lakshmi Chilukuri. I wonder if he tells them this stuff, too. To their faces," Hasan wrote on X, responding to a vile Vance campaign rally clip.
"Or does he just save it for white MAGA rallies? Truly a racist pathetic embarrassment of a son-in-law to his brown Indian immigrant in-laws," he added.
The clip in question showed Vance engaging in the kind of lowest common denominator, xenophobic, gleefully ignorant rhetoric that has defined the Republican Party's messaging this entire election cycle. They know that they can't fix gas prices or improve affordability because of Trump's interminable, disastrous Iran War, so they're mashing the big racist button as hard as they can.
"A very distinctive memory I have of right after 9/11, I was a young man in high school," said Vance. "I remember that sense of pride, you remember that? That all of us had, Democrat, Republican, and Independent in our country. And I remember driving to a local gas station to wait hours in line for gasoline...
"That was now, of course, more expensive because of a region of the world made up of countries of names that I couldn't even pronounce," he said.
The joke there, folks, is that Arabic names are alien sounding and impossible to pronounce for a simple country boy like James David Vance. Who exactly finds this kind of provincial, bigoted material appealing? The infuriating irony, of course, is that while Vance can't "pronounce" Arabic names, he has absolutely no problem dropping bombs on Arabs in Gaza.
This is the deal with the MAGA Devil that Vance has made. He wants to be the leader of a party that is now unashamedly white nationalist, but his entire family is Indian-American. His wife's name used to be Usha Chilukuri. One of his sons is named Vivek.
Vance is so power-hungry that he is actively creating a world that is more hostile to his own flesh and blood. He's a disgusting, spineless creature who can never be permitted to inhabit the White House.
Please like and share if you think that Vance is a disgrace!
Graham Stewart retweeted
#ApartheidClyde #ElonMusk #ComradeMusk #MoscowMusk #NaziMusk #SpaceKaren #SissySpaceX #BoycottTesla #Swasticar #Tesla #SpaceX #BoycottStarlink #SpaceWanker @starlink @spacexstarlink @tesla @spacex @elonmusk
Graham Stewart retweeted
If you think the USA harboring the criminal who just lost the Brazilian election is bad, wait till I tell you about the convicted felon/pedophile who tried to overturn an election, incited an insurrection, stole classified documents & was re-elected president.
Graham Stewart retweeted
So Trump just helped Flávio Bolsonaro enter the US without a passport..while he's actively fleeing a Supreme Court arrest warrant for corruption in Brazil.
I thought the mission was to deport criminal foreigners, not harbor them at Mar-a-Lago
MAGA, you are a joke.
Graham Stewart retweeted
Head of OBR told Nick Robinson: "The total of welfare spending hasn't changed all that much [over the years] in the scheme of things".
Anyone think that will stop Robinson and others banging on about "ballooning welfare"?
No, me neither. #r4today @BBCr4today #Budget2026
Graham Stewart retweeted
And to the maga nasties out here who are suggesting I am not an American since I also have a Czech citizenship and therefore I voted illegally here in Florida. I got news for you. Melania trump is also a dual citizen- of US and Slovenia.
So yes-
I can vote, I have voted and will be voting democratic as long the GOP remains a party of pedophile and rapist protectors. Among other things.
Graham Stewart retweeted
Lowe is a millionaire, born into a life of immense privilege. Instead of being grateful that he's never had to choose between heating and eating he's furious that the government is helping people who do, by taxing people like him. Incredibly, he also thinks you should vote for him.
Graham Stewart retweeted
BREAKING: LOL! President Obama brutally MOCKS Trump for melting down over his Cheesecake Factory joke and then goes right for the jugular.
He really is the best to ever do it...
"That was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave the other day. They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices. They did not argue with that," Obama said at a rally in Georgia for Senator Jon Ossoff.
"They did not deny tariffs were contributing to higher costs for families. They didn't say anything about that. I accused this administration, based on the facts, that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption!" he continued. "They didn't say anything about that."
"The President wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments," Obama said with a grin. "He took great umbrage. He said, I didn't understand the work of the artisans in the White House."
"And they mobilized, this was, I mean, it's all crazy, but this was the really crazy part. They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke!" he went on.
"The White House even called the Secretary of the Treasury. This is the man who is in charge of the economy," Obama continued. "The person who's supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable. The guy who's supposed to be figuring out how to lower inflation and reduce interest rates. They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory."
"No, y'all didn't see this? This really happened!" said an incredulous Obama. "And the Treasury Secretary, he happens to be a former hedge fund manager worth half a billion dollars, and he was out there in front of the Cheesecake Factory, explaining how he ordered the delicious French dip cheeseburger instead of the egg rolls."
"Now, look, this is not something I ever thought of," he added. "Like, I inherited this major financial crisis. I never called my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, said, man, you got to go to Arby's. Order roast beef."
Trump's deranged response to the original joke has served as a potent reminder of just how little he actually cares about the American people. We are suffering from the economic fallout from his tariffs and failed Iran War, gas prices are spiraling out of control, and rather than address these multiplying crises, Trump would rather attack Obama and whine about a harmless joke.
"This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people," added Obama. "They don't have solutions to actual problems, so they'd rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory. That's the game they've been playing for the last two years. Just keep throwing distractions out there, attacks, fabrications, phony outrage, and hope that you won't notice that your bills are higher and your life is tougher."
"Except that okie-doke will not work this time, Atlanta," said the former President. "Because you know your prices are still up. Because you pay your utility bills, you've seen what those are like. You know it's still hard to pay rent and pay for child care and pay for health insurance.
"And you know we need serious people who are listening to your concerns, who see you and care about you and have real plans to make your life better. People like Jon Ossoff, people like Keisha Lance Bottoms!" roared Obama.
Please ❤️ and share if you can't wait to see Trump melt down over these new remarks!
Graham Stewart retweeted
BREAKING: MIC DROP! Senator Mark Kelly delivers the best takedown of Trump's failed Iran War that we've ever heard — just in time for the midterm elections!
This is an absolute slam dunk...
"We had a President take this country to war without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline, and without an exit strategy. And now he's stuck. He doesn't know what to do," Kelly said, while campaigning for Senate candidate Troy Jackson in Maine.
"I sit on the Armed Services and the Intelligence Committees, both of them. And I will say, from what I know about this, the Iranians weren't any closer to developing a nuclear weapon this year than they were when I first got to the United States Senate in 2020," said Kelly. "And it's this President who, by the way, tore up the deal in 2018 that started them to enrich the uranium at a higher level."
"So if you think there was a problem, this President created the problem!" he continued. "But he didn't need to go to war and put Americans in harm's way. We have now 20 deceased service members. Over 800 injured."
By now, most discerning people have come to realize that this war was never about nuclear weapons. Trump launched this war because Israel convinced him that he could win a quick, splashy victory and Israel wanted this war because they want to destroy a regional adversary. American interests were never at stake.
"And what did the American people get out of this?" asked Kelly. "They got nothing. They got higher gas prices. They got higher food prices."
"We've got service members deployed for record numbers of days on the USS Abraham Lincoln. And I understand going on cruise can be hard. It's challenging," he went on. "But really, they had eight service members who tried to commit suicide because of the conditions aboard the ship. And I've got to tell you, the worst thing about that, by far, for me, was to see the Secretary of Defense go straight to camera and say, there's no problem, and we give commanders everything they need. That is not leadership."
"Leadership has taken some responsibility for whatever the situation is," added Kelly. "And by the way, how hard would it have been for him to say, hey, I recognize there's a problem. We're going to look into the problem, and we're going to make things better for these service members because they deserve that. It's not hard to do. This Secretary of Defense was incapable of doing that."
Kelly is right to lay the blame for this disastrous war as much at Hegseth's feet as Trump's. Our booze-breathed, Fox News-fried "Secretary of War" is more interested in posturing as a tough alpha male than he is in actually leading our troops.
These midterm elections are, among other things, a referendum on this war. If you're sick of wasting blood and treasure on endless wars, vote blue!
Please ❤️ and share if you think that Mark Kelly nailed it!
Graham Stewart retweeted
What a horrendous individual Michael Gove is. Recommend IDF for a Nobel Peace Prize and denies a genocide is taking place in Gaza. The country is down the shitter because of people like this scum. It's a lot deeper than a load of white stuff up the hooter.
Graham Stewart retweeted
He thinks he can ban words in newspapers now.
The barriers between Trump’s inner reality and the outside world do not exist anymore. He sees everything as an extension of himself. In his reality, it’s called “SI” and everyone must comply.
Dark times. He’s just a madman.
