In celebration of the great Ronnie Barker, who would have been 96 yesterday (I'm late, sorry) I've decided to post his celebrated mispronunciation sketch. As some of you will know, like many Two Ronnies sketches featuring just Ronnie B, it was written by Barker himself under the pseudonym of Gerald Wiley and is a masterpiece of comedic wordplay. In case you aren't aware of the story behind Gerald Wiley, Ronnie Barker would bring sketches to rehearsals claiming they had been written by a man called Gerald Wiley who had submitted them through Barker's agent, Peter Eade. So as not to arouse suspicion, Barker would even criticize some of the sketches, going so far as to telling Ronnie Corbett that some of them were poorly written. The truth was eventually revealed in a Chinese restaurant where, in front of the cast and crew, Barker stood up and admitted he was Gerald Wiley, although many didn't believe him. Incidentally, while I was writing Richard Briers' authorised biography I came across a set of postcards in Richard's study that had been sent to him by Ronnie Barker. Each one starts with "Now look here!" and have a running theme of Ronnie trying to find Richard a suitable "mental facility" in which he's to be committed! Anyway, God bless Ronnie Barker.

Meningitis is one a few diseases where your child can be well in the morning and dead by the evening And if you’d ever seen it happen, you wouldn’t be debating whether to vaccinate or not Tragic and horrifying

For your information: when Eddie died of meningitis, he didn't have a rash on his body. I discovered after he had died (as I was pulling him from his bed) that he had a rash in his armpits.

Donald Trump says the bombing campaign in Iran has led to "people walking around with no legs". That's yet to be proven, although Trump has shown evidence that people can walk around with no brain

Last year, Farage and his partner bought a house in Clacton, in cash, worth £885,000. Nigel told the world he bought it, but when it transpired he didn't pay enough stamp duty (he owns 4 other properties) they said his partner paid and he had lied. However, she does not have that kind of money so it only raised more questions. Who paid? Did they dodge tax? Was it Russian money? Was it from the ongoing fraud case in the EU? Was it a bribe? Considering he could be the next PM, the public have a right to know. Why is the media silent on this?! We won't forget Nigel, and we won't let the media forget.

Trump’s “Ukraine” plan is not a peace plan. Like all his plans it is a grossly 1-sided pact cooked up with a strong man (with commercial deals on the side). It betrays Ukraine, the Western alliance and our most fundamental values. When are we going to admit what is happening?

What did the Judge mean on Gill sentencing “you enlisted other representatives” - Errr shouldn’t that comment be all over news? Can Beth Righy spend hours speculating on that comment please rather than hectoring Starmer about a budget not released yet ? Hmm. 🤔 @LBC @SkyNews

Boasting of "record immigration raids" over footage of someone's door being bashed in. This hateful politics won't repair your existential unpopularity but may succeed in ruining some people's lives

The best way to honour those who fought in world war two would be to rebuild the NHS and the welfare state they voted in huge numbers to bring about

30 minutes I've been standing here trying to work out how to pick this up.

What's going on here? Why? What are the soldiers doing?

So basically, getting rid of support staff.

Why is there a completely unelected representative of a party with 5 MPs being asked the exact same questions about a major incident, only minutes after the entirely elected Secretary of Defence answered them? #bbclaurak

She knows that Motability cars are NOT free, they are leased, and that no-one gets them for conditions like acne, since acne doesn't restrict someone's mobility. She's a ruthless, vicious liar who delights in attacking & scapegoating seriously ill & disabled people. Vile.

The gov says schools can ‘find savings’ but funding’s still below 2010 levels and the UK spends less on education than most advanced nations. Making schools fund pay rises from squeezed budgets isn’t efficiency, it’s neglect.

A woman is killed by a man every 3 days in the UK... 78% are murdered by a partner/ex Yet not once have I heard Reform talk about this Not once have I heard them back measures to protect women’s safety In fact, they voted against them So ask yourself... Why the concern for women only when the perpetrator is a migrant?

Irony: it's an admission that the phonics, checking, KS2- testing, Ofsted-overseeing regime for Years 1-6 has failed! And the remedy is....? More of the same! More testing. What mega-brain in the DFE worked this one out? They're not education-addicts, they're test-addicts.

The Tories need to explain their plan for deporting people who have played by the rules, who are lawfully in this country, working in our schools, hospitals & businesses & living as our neighbours & families. theguardian.com/uk-news/2025…