How he got rich, whom he knew/used along the way.

20 Years!! Two decades on, I remain incredibly grateful to everyone who helped back in 2005 and to all those who supported me - and the @Conservatives - through the 2010 and 2015 elections, and during our time in office. With your help we changed our party to serve as a modern,

Miami, Sunday morn Feb ‘24 and 4 of us on a 40 mins trip with footy obsessed Albanian taxi driver; he updates PL scores as we go; supports Man U as does a Portuguese guy; American couple support Spurs - cue for loud guffaws from the rest of us; Neymar to Santos to improve PSG.

During Albanian taxi driver’s 25 minute trip I get his take on footy: lauds Shaqiri’s skills; Liverpool wrong to sell Diaz & Quansah; Liverpool vs PSG was the real 2024 CL final; the Trent/Origi corner/goal vs Barca; Tuchel is a winner, take England to win the World Cup in 2026.

Aged tourist gets to quiet Dubrovnik in Nov. Chance to share local memories of early 90s war with Serbia (allied with Bosnia & Montenegro) when the city was shelled - see shrapnel damage - and people died. Chimes with Russia’s barbarous attempt to subjugate Ukraine. #Croatia

You are the BBC's heart and soul Steve.

The Trump family has tapped two little-known boutique banks to help finance a blizzard of crypto deals it has struck this year: one based in Manhattan’s Trump Tower, the other sandwiched between a junkyard and a funeral parlour in New Jersey https://t.co/ktgGafPelO

Get to impressive and interesting Goldsworthy exhibition. Some stunning exhibits - Fence, Oak Passage, Red Wall, and more - linking materials to land and space. #Goldsworthy

Measure for Measure is a favourite. Young Vic’s vivid, sexed up version, Angelo as Putin in Edinburgh, role swapping at Donmar. Current RSC has nods to Epstein & MeToo, lots of noise, Isabella as Oz Dorothy, all a bit mechanical, needed more passion. Liked by The Guardian. #RSC

Happy 75th Snoopy. #snoopdogg

Bouchard pointed out (FT Weekend 20/9) how economics veered into sterile maths. Not all do - Deaton, Coyle, notable exceptions.

Or here.

Not sure what’s happening here.

This is actually a good statement from Bernie Sanders Worth the watch

Some 20 years ago a then Cumbria regeneration agency engaged the late Republican (old school) satirist P J O’Rourke to head an expensive 2 day Carlisle conference. A spoof? It was never held. O’Rourke jape, to be written up as a satire on government interventionist folly? @PJO

Nigel Farage looks uncomfortable as Jamie Raskin uses his opening statement to absolutely demolish him

Aged hiker on part of the South West Coastal Path (aka the Salt Path) stumbles upon a make shift shelter near Westward Ho!. Raynors’s Retreat? Moth’s Manse? Metaphor for the book? #saltpath

No. In chess, the players are on opposite sides, not the same side.

Hats off to Lake District Summer Music Festival ‘25. Memorable finale performance of Beethoven 9th.

Grieving the loss of one of my best friends, Jim Lovell. His extraordinary legacy is cemented by many space missions: Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. Our mutual respect had no limits. The Gemini XII mission we flew together paved the way for the Apollo