Proud to be a Maxonian I enjoy photography, philately, railways, aviation, birds, MUFC and MTFC @thesilkmen. I also want the truth.

Joined February 2012
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What am amazing few minutes #westcliff #essex
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RT @The5th_estateUK: Reform is building the momentum to overtake the establishment parties, on course to defeat them and finally fix Britai…
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As it seems state pension is referred to as a benefit then why is it still subject to tax? Benefits are not taxed.
Daily Express MPs demand Chancellor stop treating pensioners as an easy target. Monday 15 June 2026 A look at #TomorrowsPapersToday
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Don’t argue with people over sixty. Just don’t. It’s not just an age; it’s a masterclass in survival. They grew up without Google, without DoorDash, without therapy podcasts, and without an "undo" button. If something broke, they grabbed duct tape, WD-40, a hammer, and a look of sheer determination that made even the broken appliance second-guess itself. As kids, they knew exactly what kind of mood their mom was in just by the sound of how hard she slammed the cast-iron skillet onto the stove. They were the original latchkey kids — walking home from middle school with a house key tied around their neck, with strict orders to heat up lunch and not burn the kitchen down. By the time they were ten, they could bike to the corner store, buy a gallon of milk for the neighbor, feed the family dog, and still have time to play freeze tag in the yard until dark. Their knees were a permanent canvas of scrapes, bruises, and rubbing alcohol. Their universal first-aid kit was just a quick wash under the garden hose and a Band-Aid. If a bone wasn't sticking out, you were fine. They drank water straight from that same hose, ate Wonder Bread covered in butter and sugar, shared a single glass bottle of Coke among five friends, and somehow didn't die from a lack of sanitization. This is the generation that knows how to rewind a cassette tape with a No. 2 pencil. They know the suspense of waiting all week for a movie to air on TV, because if you missed it, it was gone. They remember rotary phones, looking up a family in a massive paper phonebook, and the excitement of getting a color television. They survived party lines, typewriter ribbons, early brick cell phones, and flip phones — and today, they might accidentally send you a 7-minute voice memo where the first 6 minutes are just them breathing and asking, "Hello? Can you hear me?" And don't you dare laugh. Because without a GPS, these people could drive halfway across the country using nothing but an old paper map, a cooler full of sandwiches, and the gut feeling that "the exit should be coming up somewhere around here." They are the ultimate masters of household magic. They can stitch, tighten, glue, and fix just about anything. And somewhere in their pantry, they have a "bag of bags" that is literally older than half the gadgets you own. Leave people over sixty alone. They saw the world before the internet, and they navigated the world after it. And through it all, they didn't just get by — they thrived.
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Tim Smith retweeted
Check out Down The Line Rail's video! #TikTok vm.tiktok.com/ZNRcgRkpg/
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Tim Smith retweeted
THE ZEBEDEE FILE There is a man in the House of Lords who draws £300 per day to sleep. Not metaphorically. Literally. There exists a photograph of George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, chin sunk to chest, mouth agape, unconscious in his red leather chair while the chamber debates around him. He is not ill. He is not exhausted from labour. He is 84 years old and has spent three decades proving that consequences are for other people. This is not a biography. This is evidence. EXHIBIT A: THE BOUNCING MAN Westminster. The Shadow Defence Minister attends a reception hosted by the Scotch Whisky Association. He drinks. He drinks more. He attempts to dance with a 70-year-old woman in the street. When police intervene, he assaults an officer. He is arrested, convicted, fined £1,050, and forced to resign from the front bench. A witness describes his behaviour as "like Zebedee on acid." The nickname sticks. It spreads through Scottish political circles. Zebedee, the bouncing toy from children's television, bobbing erratically on a spring, directionless, manic, absurd. A perfect metaphor for a man who cannot be controlled, cannot be stopped, cannot be made to leave. Any serious political system would have ended him there. A criminal conviction for violence against police while drunk, while serving as Shadow Defence Minister, while simultaneously working as a magistrate sworn to uphold the law. Three roles. Three failures. One conviction. The British establishment looked at this record and made him a peer. EXHIBIT B: THE FAMILY TRADE September 2000. Celtic Park. Alex Foulkes, 25 years old, son of the Labour MP, screams sectarian abuse at football supporters until police arrest him for behaviour that nearly triggers a riot. Officers describe him flicking V-signs, ignoring warnings, escalating deliberately. His defence is not remorse. It is connection. "You will be in trouble," he tells the arresting officers. "My father is an MP and my mother is on the police board." Consider what this reveals. Not panic. Not fear. The calm certainty that political status transcends law. The confidence that threats work. The understanding that the Foulkes name carries weight that ordinary citizens do not possess. Alex would later emigrate to New Zealand and insert himself into their Labour Party, because shame does not travel and neither do those who have never experienced it. EXHIBIT C: THE MATHEMATICS OF THEFT Between 2007 and 2011, George Foulkes held two jobs. MSP for Lothians. Peer of the Realm. Salary from Holyrood: £52,000 annually. Expenses from Westminster: £54,527 annually. Simultaneous. Systematic. Sustained. While you lost your job in 2008. While your house lost value. While you made choices between heating and eating, George Foulkes made choices between which chamber to sleep in. The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner eventually exposed the decade total: £533,583. Scotland's most expensive peer. More than former First Ministers. More than former Ministers. The gold standard of extraction. When caught, he did not apologise. He defended. The claims were "within clearly defined guidelines." Guidelines he helped write. Guidelines that permitted a man to draw two public salaries while performing neither role adequately. Guidelines that assumed you would be too busy surviving to notice him thriving. EXHIBIT D: THE MASK SLIPS The expenses scandal consumes Westminster. Speaker Michael Martin prepares to resign in disgrace. Carrie Gracie of the BBC offers Foulkes the opportunity to explain, to defend, to show contrition. He demands her salary. She tells him: £92,000. His response: "Nearly twice as much as an MP, to come on and talk nonsense." This is the authentic voice. Not the public servant. Not the honourable member. The snarling entitlement of a man who believes questioning him is the real crime. Who believes his extraction is legitimate and your scrutiny is theft. Who believes the problem is not the corruption but the discovery of it. He was not defending Michael Martin. He was defending the right to take your money without question. The immunity of the unaccountable. EXHIBIT E: THE PERMANENT SORE LOSER May 2026. Eighty-four years old. Heart of Midlothian lose a football match to Celtic. A game. A sporting contest. A result determined by goals scored. Lord Foulkes writes to FIFA. He claims the result was "predetermined." He demands an inquiry. He escalates to his "contact in FIFA" because Neil Doncaster of the SPFL will not validate his conspiracy theory. This is not politics. This is pathology. Three decades after his criminal conviction, four decades into public life, he still believes the world has conspired against him personally. Still believes his status entitles him to override reality. Still cannot accept defeat without alleging corruption. Look closer at the pattern. Hearts versus Celtic. The sectarian fault line of Scottish football. The same poison his son was convicted of spreading in 2000. The same hatred that nearly caused a riot. Foulkes is not a sore loser. He is a vector for the disease he claims to oppose, using his platform to stoke division while drawing salary for unconsciousness. EXHIBIT F: THE HYPOCRISY Jeremy Corbyn. Antisemitism. The moral reckoning of the Labour Party. George Foulkes positioned himself as prosecutor. He attacked. He demanded suspension. He helped create the climate of moral authority that expelled a leader. This from a man convicted of assaulting police while drunk. From a man whose son threatened officers with political connections. From a man who extracted half a million in expenses while drawing two salaries. From a man who stokes sectarianism while claiming to oppose it. The establishment does not merely tolerate hypocrisy. It requires it. Hypocrisy is the proof of loyalty. The demonstration that you can hold contradictory positions simultaneously and maintain power regardless. Foulkes passed this test. He passed it perfectly. THE REVELATION Here is the twist you were waiting for. George Foulkes is not a bad apple. He is not a rogue element. He is not an embarrassment to the system. George Foulkes is the system working exactly as designed. They did not make him a peer despite his criminal conviction. They made him a peer because of it. He proved he could survive exposure, survive shame, survive scandal, and keep extracting. He proved he would never talk about whose interests he really served. He proved he could be trusted to take the money and remain silent. Every time he sits in that chamber, drawing £300 for attendance he does not perform, he sends you a message written in the only language the establishment understands: I can do anything. I can assault police. I can threaten officers with my connections. I can extract half a million while asleep. I can stoke sectarian hatred at eighty-four. And you cannot touch me. He is not the exception. He is the instruction manual. The cautionary tale that proves there are no cautionary tales for men like him. The living evidence that your rules are for you, and his rules are for him, and never the twain shall meet. THE VERDICT George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock: convicted of assaulting police while drunk. Father of a sectarian abuser who threatened officers with political connections. Scotland's most expensive peer. Double-dipper extraordinaire. Sectarian stoker at eighty-four. Hypocrite without shame. The Zebedee who keeps on bouncing. The clown who never leaves the circus. The thief who lectures the honest about morality. He does not hide his face because he has no shame. He has never needed shame. Shame is for people who can be fired, who can be evicted, who can be prosecuted, who can be punished. Shame is for you. George Foulkes cannot be punished. He can only be named. Documented. Photographed in his red leather chair, mouth open, £300 richer, sleeping through the destruction of the principles he claims to represent. Look at him. Remember him. And understand: until men like him fear the people more than they fear losing their allowances, the bouncing will never stop. The acid will never wear off. And the bill, £533,583 and counting, will always be paid by you. The Zebedee sleeps. The strings are visible. The only question is whether you will keep paying for the performance.
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He can’t, just gaslighting as always.
Replying to @10DowningStreet
And yet our energy bills are going up again in July. So tell me again how you are bringing down bills 🤔
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The Conservatives betrayed this country. Badenoch, Sunak, Patel, Cleverley. All of them disagreed with leaving the ECHR. Privately they still disagree. Never forgive. Never forget. 👇
Had the Conservatives followed my plan to leave the ECHR, the Belfast attack would never have taken place. Instead it betrayed the British people. It’s why I left the Conservative Party.
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I think they’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel so many times there is no bottom left to scrape!
So the new Security Minister is Dame Angela Eagle. A politician who sought to undermine the ruling protecting women-only spaces is now entrusted with protecting the country. What could possibly go wrong?
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A smorgasbord of classic Boeing jetliners. An energetic B737-200 used as an advertisement, followed by what appears to be the oldest operational B767-200, line no. 27. Aged 43, she was pipped 20 mins later by an inbound 1979, 47yo veteran B727-200. Just a normal day in Nairobi.
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The Daily Mail has reported the Home Office uses psychological manipulation tactics to coerce families like Henry Nowak's to give statements that denounce division and preserve "community cohesion". I've been reporting on RICU for years. It is the nerve centre of two-tier policing. It controls newspaper front pages in the aftermath of terror attacks. It planned the "spontaneous" vigil after the Manchester Arena bombing. Here's everything you need to know about the British government's "Don't Look Back in Anger" department. You should be angry about what is being done to us. connortomlinson.substack.com…
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So the next tanker will just go the long way round and remain in international waters. How about using our armed forces to stop the unfettered invasion of our country by undocumented individuals? Your job first and foremost is to protect us and our country. @Keir_Starmer
🚨 THE ULTIMATE WESTMINSTER COVER UP. Keir Starmer is desperately parading around a Russian oil tanker today to hide the absolute meltdown happening inside his own government. Two top defence ministers have just walked out in total disgust. Labour is offering a completely insulting 0.08 percent increase to our military budget by 2030. 🤡 They will happily bleed the working class dry to fund a spiralling welfare state and luxury migrant hotels. 💷 But when our brave armed forces need the basic kit to actually defend the realm, the establishment suddenly claims the treasury is empty. He is a total fraud playing global tough guy for the cameras while leaving Britain completely exposed. RT if you see right through this charade and demand we fully fund our military! 🇬🇧🔥
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Sub human @LisaNandy who supports paedophilia, wants to control children on the internet (and adults via #DigitalID), while she DELIBERATELY IMPORTS RAPISTS AND PAEDOPHILES via Calais who are raping children. SICK BITCH! #BBCLauraK #BBCNews
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Tim Smith retweeted
Replying to @RupertLowe10
You aren't winning and Thursday will prove it.
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RT @The5th_estateUK: Alex Phillips knows Rupert Lowe more than most. Listen to her.
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Tim Smith retweeted
🚨 THE ULTIMATE WESTMINSTER COVER UP. Keir Starmer is desperately parading around a Russian oil tanker today to hide the absolute meltdown happening inside his own government. Two top defence ministers have just walked out in total disgust. Labour is offering a completely insulting 0.08 percent increase to our military budget by 2030. 🤡 They will happily bleed the working class dry to fund a spiralling welfare state and luxury migrant hotels. 💷 But when our brave armed forces need the basic kit to actually defend the realm, the establishment suddenly claims the treasury is empty. He is a total fraud playing global tough guy for the cameras while leaving Britain completely exposed. RT if you see right through this charade and demand we fully fund our military! 🇬🇧🔥
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Can we be sure the count will be beyond reproach?
🚨 The Establishment is in full panic mode They’re doing EVERYTHING to steal your vote from Reform in Ashton-in-Makerfield! They’re stitching up alliances between failing parties, flooding the media with desperate smears, and even wheeling out rent-a-crowd (rentacrowduk.co.uk/) to manufacture fake support and put you off. Don’t fall for their tricks. The only party with the policies to deliver the real change Britain desperately needs is Reform. The only party that can actually beat left-wing Labour is Reform. Your conscience knows what’s right. Vote Reform. Take your country back.
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Rupert Lowe’s strategy for Makerfield isn’t to win He knows that It isn’t about national interest He knows that It’s about sowing just enough division to manufacture a victory for Andy Burnham As to his motivation, is it a personal vendetta or something more coordinated?🤔
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Tim Smith retweeted
Recycling Tory actors now too are we? 🤔😂 @RestoreBritain
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Jeremy Clarkson dismantled Victoria Derbyshire at the farmers’ protest 🔥 She went straight for the BBC gotcha: “Didn’t you buy your farm to avoid inheritance tax?” Clarkson: “Classic BBC. I bought it to shoot. That’s even worse to you lot. Comes with the bonus of no IHT… but people like me can use trusts anyway. This tax hammers ordinary family farms that can’t.” Then when she asked where to get the money instead: “Fire the civil servants whose jobs you can’t even explain.” Spot on, Jeremy. Victoria wasn’t there to report, she was there to smear and defend Reeves’ disastrous raid on Britain’s farmers. BBC bias on full display x.com/triffic_stuff_/status/…

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Little people of Mackelsfield, like the Tolpuddle Martyres your moment has come. For over a century you’ve paid the piper and taken the cost with no complaint. Now your country is looking to you to say no, enough is enough, you either vote Reform our last chance or write off UK.
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