Foundation Manager at Gainsborough Trinity Foundation. A Sport & Community based charity. Former professional player. Always willing to learn. Views are my own.
Lincoln, England
Joined March 2018
- Tweets4.5K
- Following221
- Followers659
- Likes9.9K
Richard Cooper retweeted
"Who is bankrolling Nigel Farage's party?" asks Bridget Phillipson. "Labour will protect our democracy from foreign influence."
Right. Same question back.
Who is bankrolling Labour, and the machine around it?
Gary Lubner. South African. Former Autoglass chief. Millions.
Lord Alli. Buys the clothes, lends the flat.
George Soros. Money into Best for Britain and Fair Vote, routed through a London outpost, which is how a foreign fortune gets round a ban on foreign donations.
Pierre Omidyar. French-Iranian, eBay founder, funding the campaign groups.
Bill Gates. In for the photo call.
Swedish philanthropists. Bloomberg.
And Verbatim, which made the Channel 4 sting she is riding, is itself funded from abroad. So the watchdog on foreign money is on foreign money.
And those are off the top of my head. No research. Give me an afternoon and the list fills a page.
So the party promising to protect democracy from foreign influence is up to its neck in it, legally, through the same door, and has proposed no cap that would inconvenience a single person in the room. They held a drinks party for them in Downing Street.
The question is not who is bankrolling Farage. It is why Labour thinks the answer changes depending on whose name is on the cheque.
"Protect our democracy from foreign influence." They would not know where to start.
Who is bankrolling Nigel Farage's party?
What interests are they seeking to advance?
Are they acting in Britain's best interests?
Reform UK are engulfed in sleaze and scandal. Labour will protect our democracy from foreign influence.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/po…
Richard Cooper retweeted
Update:
In the 27 months since Labour came to power, we've seen;
• Employer National Insurance increased from 13.8% to 15%.
• The employer NI threshold cut from £9,100 to £5,000.
• The freeze on Income Tax and National Insurance thresholds extended to 2031.
• Capital Gains Tax increased from 10% and 20% to 18% and 24%.
• Business Asset Disposal Relief increased from 10% to 14%, then 18% – and now its lifetime limit halved to £500,000.
• Investors’ Relief raised to 18% and its lifetime limit cut from £10 million to £1 million.
• CGT relief on sales to Employee Ownership Trusts halved.
• Carried interest taxation increased and moved into the Income Tax regime.
• Dividend tax rates increased by two percentage points.
• Savings-income tax rates increased by four percentage points.
• Property-income tax rates increased by four percentage points.
• VCT income tax relief cut from 30% to 20%.
• Most unused pension funds brought into the Inheritance Tax net.
• Agricultural and Business Property Relief capped.
• Inheritance Tax thresholds frozen until 2031.
• The non-dom regime replaced with a tougher residence-based system.
• VAT imposed on private school fees.
• Business-rates relief removed from private schools.
• The Stamp Duty surcharge on second homes and buy-to-let raised from 3% to 5%.
• The Furnished Holiday Lettings regime abolished.
• A new annual surcharge on homes worth £2 million or more.
• Pension salary-sacrifice NI relief capped at £2,000 a year.
• The bank surcharge doubled.
• Capital allowances for plant and machinery cut twice.
• Online gaming duty almost doubled.
• The Energy Profits Levy increased and extended, and its investment allowance scrapped.
• Vaping Products Duty brought in and tobacco duties increased above inflation.
• Vehicle Excise Duty increased for many new cars, with electric vehicles brought in.
• A pay-per-mile tax on electric and plug-in hybrid cars legislated for 2028.
• Air Passenger Duty increased.
• Making Tax Digital extended to more landlords and self-employed people.
Together they represent one of the biggest transfers of wealth from households and businesses to the Treasury in decades – with little to show for it in public services.
Whether you're a business owner employing staff, a parent paying school fees, a farmer planning succession, an entrepreneur building wealth or simply someone trying to save for your family’s future...
- You keep less of what you earn.
- You keep less of what you invest.
- You leave less for your family.
Death by a thousand cuts.
Richard Cooper retweeted
This is one of the most blatant examples of gaslighting you’ll ever see.
This clip sums up the Labour Party. It sums up Angela Rayner. And, frankly, it sums up too most politicians.
Laura Kuenssberg asks Rayner about Andy Burnham opening the door to a return to freedom of movement. He’s started the debate by talking about it.
Kuenssberg: “The Labour manifesto in 2024 said in black and white ‘there will be no return to freedom of movement’. You stood on that manifesto. Andy Burnham promised to stick to that manifesto. He’s breaking that promise, isn’t he?”
Then this from Rayner: “No he isn’t, because he’s been really clear that this Parliament, that manifesto, we are clear we are not reopening that debate.”
Unbelievable. Even by her standards.
Kuenssberg put her right immediately: “He’s literally just reopened this debate. It’s exactly what’s just happened.”
She denies the debate has been reopened in the same breath as it is being reopened. They will say anything, no matter how obviously contradictory.
We watch car crash after car crash from Labour ministers, yet they keep rising in the polls. No wonder the country is in such a mess.
Richard Cooper retweeted
BREAKING: TRUMP BETRAYAL! Zelensky reveals he offered the U.S. THREE OPTIONS to halt Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries — but Trump accepted NONE.
President Volodymyr Zelensky just provided stark evidence of Donald Trump’s betrayal of America’s commitment to defend Ukraine from the Russian invasion of its sovereign territory.
Trump has been pressuring Zelensky to unilaterally stop taking out Russia’s oil refining infrastructure, but the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with the Kyiv Post that the United States has met none of the three conditions he says his country requires before agreeing to a stop to its successful campaign to cripple Russia’s revenue-generating energy businesses. Therefore, the strikes continue.
Here are the conditions that Zelensky said that Trump can choose from to convince Ukraine to impose a ban on blowing up Putin’s petroleum refineries:
Option one: an “energy truce,” where Russia stops hitting Ukraine’s power infrastructure. “That is fair,” Zelensky said, and it’s hard to argue with that. Expecting Ukraine to stop hitting Russia, while its opponent continues to bomb away, makes no sense at all.
Option two: enable Starlink coverage over Russia so Ukraine can show the U.S. where Russian ballistic missile launchers are and destroy them. Zelensky noted that Trump’s team has said Elon Musk doesn’t want to. Who the f@#k cares what Elon Musk wants? If Musk continues to be an obstacle, the U.S. should nationalize Starlink on security grounds and turn Ukraine’s spigot back on.
Option three: if Starlink is off the table, give Ukraine missiles for its Patriot systems, something that “doesn’t depend on Musk or Putin.” Given the fact that the American military has blown through a significant portion of its arsenal in the misbegotten Iran war, this last option might be the toughest for Trump to fulfill.
“Ukraine had received none of the three proposed forms of support,” he said. “That is why the reaction is what it is. We are fighting for our lives.”
Zelensky also argued the refinery strikes can’t move global prices much, since Russia accounts for only 2% of global diesel exports and the other 98% comes from elsewhere.
Zelensky smartly warned against lifting sanctions on Russia before negotiations, saying they were imposed in response to aggression, “not as a price for the mere opportunity to talk.” He said lifting them early would leave Ukraine without leverage and that rebuilding support for new sanctions after more than 20 packages would be hard, a warning that lands after Trump waived sanctions and tariffs on Russia. “I do not want us to find ourselves without any leverage,” he said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. delegation went to St. Petersburg after talks in Oslo and then gave Kyiv a briefing. Now a broad meeting between Ukraine, the U.S., the EU and NATO is planned in Brussels this week. As long as Trump is in Vladimir Putin’s pocket, however, the prospect for successful negotiations is slim to none.
Of course, the Kyiv Post is only reporting Zelensky’s point of view. The White House has not responded yet to his comments. But one of his points is hard to dodge: Ukraine is being asked to hold back while the other side keeps firing. Only a fool like Donald Trump would expect any invaded country to agree to a deal like that.
Please like and share if you think Russia should end the war by withdrawing its forces from Ukrainian territories!
Richard Cooper retweeted
Dear America,
We are either on the side of the innocent people who were invaded, killed, mutilated, raped and kidnapped and who are fighting back or...
We are on the side of the killers, rapists and invaders.
It's that simple.
America must stay with #Ukraine
#SlavaUkraïni
🇺🇦 Zelenskyy delivers a blunt message to the United States:
“Just give us Starlink back. If you refuse, Ukraine will survive. We will continue defending ourselves with or without it.
But why would you restrict a country fighting for its survival? Why make it harder for us to defend our people?
I simply cannot understand the reasoning behind this decision. It is a mistake.”
Ukraine isn’t asking America to fight its war. It’s asking America not to stand in the way of its defense.
Richard Cooper retweeted
Another car crash interview for Labour.
Can’t answer the question and he is deliberately trying to mislead the public with dodgy figures. They’re not like for like.
You just can’t trust anything Labour politicians say.
Richard Cooper retweeted
Parent volunteers are not going to spend hundreds of £ & take time to do UEFA C & the level 1 online course is not fit for purpose , plus all the networking and contacts you meet on courses ..they broke a system that was working brilliantly and made all the educators redundant
Richard Cooper retweeted
I totally agree. At my small grassroots club, I am the only UEFA qualified coach from 12 teams. The club has offered to fund 50% of the UEFA C course and nobody has taken us up on it. IMO the UEFA C should be the Intro to Coaching, nobody watches or learns on online courses
Richard Cooper retweeted
I’m becoming increasingly concerned about the level of coaching at grassroots level,it’s now over 5 years since the FA overhauled their courses & in my view it’s been nothing but a disaster, I work with multiple clubs ,with good intentioned volunteers,but coach education is zero
Richard Cooper retweeted
🚨 ANDY BURNHAM'S FIRST PARLIAMENT APPEARANCE EXPOSES LABOUR'S PATHETIC BLAME GAME.
Good morning to the millions of everyday, hardworking Brits waking up on this Wednesday!
In case you missed Andy Burnham's first performance at the despatch box yesterday, the entire circus proved that Labour will blame anyone on earth except themselves! 🤡
Burnham blamed Brexit for our sluggish economy, blamed Margaret Thatcher from forty years ago, and even declared the British state is too big while in the exact same breath demanding relentless state nationalisation!
He point blank refused to rule out fresh tax hikes in next month's Budget, refused to commit to 3 percent GDP defence spending, and openly boasted that he is unapologetically pushing for closer ties with Brussels.
Everything is an excuse with this government. They want to hike your taxes, defund our Armed Forces, and surrender our sovereignty back to the EU, while crying about decisions made decades in the past.
This is not leadership. It is an unelected PR politician running a national excuse factory while working class families foot the bill for his economic failure.
RT and SHARE this everywhere to expose Burnham's pathetic excuses and demand a General Election NOW! 🇬🇧🔥
Richard Cooper retweeted
Labour literally goes directly after those that go to work, pay their taxes, and their bills, & save for their old age!
🚨 EMERGENCY WARNING TO EVERY PENSIONER IN GREAT BRITAIN: LABOUR IS PREPARING THE ULTIMATE WEALTH GRAB!
If you worked hard for 40 years, paid your taxes, and saved for retirement, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has just placed a massive target firmly on your back.
The highly influential IPPR think tank, which is packed with Burnham's own inner circle, just published the exact socialist blueprint Labour plans to use to bail out their bankrupt government. 🤡
Look at the terrifying three step robbery they are demanding for the October Budget.
First, slapping National Insurance directly onto the incomes of 9.6 million British pensioners.
Second, hiking capital gains tax to a staggering 40 percent to crush your investments.
Third, a devastating 0.65 percent annual property wealth tax just for the privilege of living inside your own family home!
They label you "wealthy" to justify stealing the nest egg you spent a lifetime building. Yet they magically find endless billions to house illegal arrivals in catered hotels without blinking an eye.
They treat the generation that built this country like an absolute cash machine while engineering our total national decline. The mask has completely slipped.
RT and SHARE this everywhere to warn every single retiree in Great Britain before Chancellor John Healey raids their bank accounts! 🇬🇧🔥
Richard Cooper retweeted
“Net Zero: Let’s make UK energy the most expensive in Europe, shut our factories, destroy jobs and local economies, plaster solar panels over thousands of acres of farmland, spend £billions turning off wind turbines because we can’t use their energy supply, spend £30 billion on carbon capture machines, ban new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea but spend £40billion buying North Sea oil and gas from Norway, blame cow burps, reduce red meat consumption and freeze pensioners so global CO2 drops by 0.0003%. But we will also build hundreds of AI data centres that guzzle natural resources and energy. China’s still building coal plants like it’s 1950 but at least we get to feel superior while the rest of the world laughs over our sheer stupidity. Genius.”
Richard Cooper retweeted
Watching Keir Starmer bang on about how proud he is of how successful he’s been, is vaguely ridiculous given he’s just been sacked by his own party after just two dismal years of abject failure, making him the least successful Labour PM in history. 🙄
Richard Cooper retweeted
I’m astonished that even Labour’s coup against their leader is turning into a shambolic, embarrassing farce full of dithering, timidity, U-turns, and broken promises.
So unlike them!
Richard Cooper retweeted
▪️Rising unemployment
▪️Over 580,000 UK businesses closed in the year leading up to May 2026
▪️Removes the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners
▪️Cuts welfare from the disabled
▪️Hammers farmers
▪️Tax hikes on small businesses
▪️Betrays WASPI women
▪️Boasts about meeting BlackRock
▪️Government demand to access Apple customers' encrypted data
▪️Increases student tuition fees
▪️Promises to cut energy bills and freeze council tax and yet both increase
▪️£35bn Chagos deal
▪️£30bn on carbon capture machines
▪️£3bn a year to Ukraine
▪️Thousands of acres of prime farmland plastered with solar panels
▪️Freebies scandal
▪️Record tax burden
▪️Deepening cost of living crisis
▪️Record levels of government borrowing and interest payments to service the £3 trillion national debt
▪️2 pubs a day closing due to tax rises
▪️Totally devoid of any charisma, vision or empathy while speaking to the public like they are naughty schoolchildren
▪️Mandelson scandal
Keir Starmer is the worst Prime Minister at exactly the worst time.
Richard Cooper retweeted
You’re a shameful moron @ZackPolanski ..
Those policemen were heroes risking their lives to stop a terrorist who’d been randomly stabbing Jews in the street in a disgusting anti-Semitic attack.
God forbid you ever have real power in Britain.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski condemned for retweet criticising hero police who took down Golders Green terrorist trib.al/sdrwomr
Richard Cooper retweeted
There's a perception in grassroots coaching that small sided games (SSG) are the bit at the end of the session where the coach steps back and lets the children have a kick about.
The "fun bit", the reward for getting through the session and I think for some coaches there's an unspoken worry behind that, a feeling that if the players are just playing a game then what exactly am I here for? If I'm not organising, setting up cones, and delivering coaching points then I'm not really coaching, and that can make you feel a bit redundant.
That couldn't be further from the truth, and I think it's one of the biggest misunderstandings in grassroots football right now, SSG's aren't the absence of coaching.
They're one of the most powerful environments you can coach in, because the game itself is doing half the work for you. Every decision a player makes in a SSG's is real., there's pressure, opposition, consequence, and context.
An activity can teach a child how to pass but it can't teach them when to pass or why that pass was the right one in that moment. The game does that, and your job as the coach is to help them see it.
The coaching doesn't stop when the game starts, it just changes shape. Instead of standing at the front telling players what to do, you're watching, observing, and picking your moments. A quick question during a natural break in play, "what did you see before you passed that?" A gentle prompt before a restart, "where's the space right now?" A conversation with a player while they're waiting to come back on, "what would you do differently if that happened again?"
Those interventions are small but they are received differently because the player has just lived the moment you're asking them about. It's not theoretical anymore, it's real and it's theirs.
The reason some coaches only use SSG's as the final ten minutes of a session is that somewhere along the way we've been taught that coaching has to look busy. It has to look structured and organised and visible but the best coaching often looks like very little from the outside. It looks like a game running smoothly with a coach on the edge asking the right questions at the right time, and a player suddenly seeing something they didn't see five minutes ago.
You're not redundant in a SSG's, you're arguably more important than at any other point in the session, because the players are making real decisions in real time and you're the one helping, guiding, facilitating and scaffolding them to understand why some of those decisions worked and others didn't.
So if you've been treating SSG's as the warm down or the reward at the end, maybe it's worth rethinking that because the game is where the learning lives, and coaching doesn't have to stop just because the bibs are on and the goals are out.
Richard Cooper retweeted
⚠️ LABOUR'S HIDDEN TAX TRAP -
If you earn £100 and pay £30 income tax you're left with £70
You then buy £70 of fuel & you pay 59% fuel duty & VAT (£41.46 of the £70
Which means the government actually just got £71.46 tax from your hard earned £100.00
NO WONDER PEOPLE CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE IN THE U.K 🇬🇧
