Ian Leslie
@mrianleslie
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Author of 'John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs'. Available now: https://t.co/GnlOMpOLvu
Joined April 2007
Manifesto for moderates:.- Stand up for incremental improvement!.- Fight for the least bad option!.- Sometimes the other guys have a point!.
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Grew up in poverty. Spent much of his early life in hospital, at death’s door. Smoked. Was an alcoholic in middle age. Now he’s 83 and doing this. I don’t know what the moral is here.
Ringo Starr at The Venetian Theatre, Las Vegas May 29 2024 *video tomlodewyckx/instagram* #thebeatles #ringostarr
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Opening an unopened bottle of whisky in someone else’s home…is it prissily middle class of me to think that’s really weird behaviour?.
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My favourite Prince Philip story (told by Lynton Westray, the White House's African-American butler, who served eight presidents and just about every figure of importance in post-war 20thC).
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There’s some tough competition out there but this might be the dumbest rebrand I’ve ever seen.
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What a funny joke, huh? Ukrainians getting massacred and people on here play along with Putin's game. Look at the number of likes. It's a high bar but this is one of Twitter's worst moments.
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This comment from an anonymous FT reader offers a succinct and simplifying framework for how to think about C-19 and the government's response to it.
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That’s before we get to the weirdness of retailing it to a journalist as a charming anecdote.
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When was the last time a fall of PM was so sheerly enjoyable?.
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Call me old-fashioned but I don't think it's a good idea for the National Trust to be issuing statements in the style of a Labour Party press officer
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I'm signing off from my family for a few days so that I can spend Christmas with the people I love on Twitter.
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New rule: any British person gushing over Jacinda Arden should also name her greatest political achievement and provide a breakdown of her party's electoral prospects
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I know the temptation is to jeer but at the centre of this there's a human being, and we should take a moment to acknowledge how bloody hilarious this is.
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EU now rejecting the principle of queuing, the cornerstone of British identity. This will not go well.
"We reject the logic of first come, first served". EU Commission calls on AstraZeneca to live up to its "contractual, societal and moral obligations" as row over vaccine shortage escalates.
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That was Starmer's most effective performance ever, wasn't it? Actually felt the force of it.
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At the very least this tells you that Eddie Izzard is not going to be an effective Labour MP. No arguments, no attempt at persuasion, just patronising dismissal.
"People have got to sort themselves out. Join the 21st century.". Eddie Izzard says she isn't going anywhere after Rosie Duffield said she'd rather be arrested than refer to Eddie as she. @eddieizzard | @RuthDavidsonPC | #TimesRadio
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Quite an extraordinary exchange and a very revealing one.
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Hysterical over-reaction to Comey yesterday a reminder that the press is not biased, collectively, to left or right, but to drama.
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Murphy criticised the use of puberty blockers on kids, in a private Facebook group (someone screengrabbed the comments and posted). Tell me again how cancel culture isn't a thing.
This is appalling. Róisín Murphy’s label ceases promotion over transphobic comments: source
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My daughter (7) is watching every episode of Horrible Histories ever, so I've been watching a lot of it too, and I have to say it's a bloody marvel and a jewel of the BBC.
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Weirdest thing about the gender debate is watching intelligent people (in this case, Jacqueline Rose) put their name to pure drivel, apparently sincerely.
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"Bodies are not inherently male or female". KM is a representative of Stonewall, hugely influential on politicians, companies and institutions on this issue. Tell me again how it's not about the denial of basic biology?.
disagree with you about this.KM: it is.BC: you define woman as anyone including men who say they are women.KM: bodies are not inherently male or female. They are just their bodies.IO: KM was asked if he thought the tweets are transphobic. He said yes. Trawling through all of the.
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What on earth were they thinking, bringing this action? Didn't they realise they'd actually have to stand up and explain themselves?.
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The dark genius of Peleton's business model, from @JonnElledge's newsletter (in The Parable of the Bin) cc @rshotton
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Superb, blistering column from NYT columnist Pamela Paul. I would @ her in but her Twitter account has now been suspended.
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What a clip. Rarely has a contrast in intellectual clarity between caller and presenter been so stark.
Following his clash with Kellie Jay-Keen over 'sex based rights', Ulrika in York tells James Max: "The word woman is our word.". "If you say trans women are women, you are erasing our sex class.". @thejamesmax | @StandingforXX
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What a passage this is. Sally Rooney on the Irish abortion ban, 2018.
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What if you told them they're *not* a problem, there's no such thing as a wrong body, or a right body, there's just the body you have - and then you try and help them be happy in it?.
As adults we like to centre ourselves and assume we know best, but you can also frame it like this: if a child genuinely believes they’re in the wrong body and every adult around them tells them no, they’re wrong, they’re a problem, how does that help the child ever? (2/5).
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I don't know how you can watch this interview and maintain a 'fuss about nothing' position let alone 'she deserves it'
Listen now: In an exclusive interview, Professor Kathleen Stock @Docstockk speaks to @Emmabarnett about resigning from her post at the University of Sussex, her experiences while still at the university and the concept of academic freedom
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If Coldplay can sing Oasis then surely all the faiths of the world can come together.
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A few weeks ago British journalists were celebrating this guy because he was rude to Liz Truss
LAVROV SAYS RUSSIA DID NOT ATTACK UKRAINE. WTF.
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Bloody hell. Honestly, can people not see there's a slight problem here?
When the imperative to respect a male serial killer’s preferred pronouns supersedes the journalistic duty to help readers understand a story about a terrible form of male violence against women.
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OK but what if I educate myself and decide I disagree with you?.
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@AnnelieseDodds You are anything but crystal clear since you haven't defined 'conversion therapy' (let alone 'gender', 'man' or 'woman'). Neither have you said why you're ignoring the EHRC and Cass. You'll have to backtrack from this position before the election, may as well start now.
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@BenPBradshaw Nobody is saying trans people are more likely to be sexual predators. But men are. This is about *males* and how you keep them out of female spaces. You are either genuinely confused or being wilfully blind.
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Strong ‘I know nothing about this but I have a very strong opinion on it’ energy.
Given that there's no conceivable unfair advantage whatsoever, the only possible reason for this is hatred and discrimination.
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@LukeTryl @Samfr It's another empty rhetorical gesture to say 'it's just the extremes'. The 'extreme' position you ascribe to 'a minority of activists' is held by Stonewall, the First Minister of Scotland, most Labour MPs. And the people they denounce as 'bigots' are in tune with the public.
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Rory Stewart is the new Ruth Davidson - the Tory who appeals to everyone except Tories
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This is weird and wrong and I am amazed the BBC think it's OK (and I say that as someone who essentially agrees with what she says).
.@maitlis: “Good evening. Dominic Cummings broke the rules. The country can see that and it’s shocked the government cannot.”
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My fond hope is you'll realise that people in power excusing their friends *because they're friends* is part of the problem.
Am hating the abuse I’m getting on here for sticking up for the Cummings’s. But they are old friends & here goes again: they’re human beings with a small child & made a decision in an emergency. PM is satisfied. Hope we can get back to discussing the recovery now. (Fond hope).
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@sarahditum And this is telling. The Guardian wants to cite an example of what Rowling has actually said that's so hateful, that 'hurts' people - and *this* is the best they can do.
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The pianos at St Pancras are the single greatest public policy innovation of the last 20 years.
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It is puzzling to me that the govt hasn't done a big TV campaign on social distancing (esp. b/c rates will be cheap now).
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Obama oh-so-patiently explaining to progressive activists the absolute basics of political communication.
Barack Obama in a Snapchat interview has some advice for Dems on "defund the police"
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Lockdown has to end before we're ready (ie before a vaccine arrives). Ending lockdown before we're ready costs lives. Any position that doesn't recognise both of those truths is magical thinking.
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This debate needs more attempt at understanding, says man who has stubbornly refused to attempt understanding it.
@jk_rowling @schooltruth @GraceCampbell I really don’t claim to know as much, or to have studied this as much, as you. But I do think the debate could do with a little less polarisation and a little more attempt at understanding. And if you would like to go into a better argument than Twitter ever allows (esp since.
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From early March. At the time I criticised him for being so confident about this but I was wrong and he was very, very right. Everything he says here, inc. about expert advice, is spot on.
“This is the most serious epidemic since the end of WWI. You can use the police to enforce emergency measures, and call out the military to support.”. Rory Stewart says the government has responded too slowly to coronavirus, and that tough measures need to be taken now.
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This makes a case for GB News, and/or for why news orgs need more ideological diversity - the interviewer exposes Truss's fakery more skilfully than his C4 or News Agents counterparts would do.
Liz Truss's awkward interview moments with @StevenEdginton . 🔒 Become a GB News Member: .👉 Read the interview:
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Didn't tweet about Oct 7th for five days (and then only in a statement mostly devoted to condemning Israel)
Silence is complicity.
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Can't get over the fact some genius at No.10 thought "Let's give Cummings a kicking, he's not the type to escalate it.".
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I’ve had numerous meals out in Paris over the last couple of weeks and never once been asked by a waiter how my meal is going. I love it.
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Is anyone actually disagreeing with what Starmer says here?
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The Ruffian has LANDED. This week's is about academic historians who are destroying their own discipline.
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As I watch its calm, informed and brave correspondents in Ukraine and elsewhere make sense of this, I'd just like to say FUCK YOU to all enemies of the BBC.
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Labour's left have just never been able to get this through their heads
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Surprised the Tories are not more sympathetic to low skilled workers given the state of their front bench.
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@fossilfreebooks I guarantee you nobody is feeling gleeful over this stupid act of cultural destruction, instigated by you.
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Finally got round to setting down some thoughts on GET BACK
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Incredible routine. Not sure I fully appreciated how all-round talented these guys were.
The Bruce Forsyth Show (18th September 1966). Brucie and Roy Castle are both in full flow here.
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EU survey on minorities and discrimination, 2018. "In the past 12 months have you ever felt discriminated against because of skin colour / ethnic origin / religion (in 10 areas of life)?"
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@helenpidd @kathryn42 This is an incredibly durable straw man. Nobody has ever, ever argued that *trans women specifically* pose a threat; the point is, and has always been, to keep males - however they identify - out of women's spaces. Please let's just put this particular argument out of its misery!.
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The vacuity of Billy Bragg's rhetoric laid bare. No substantive disagreement with those he criticises, just pure culture war.
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Anyone dismisses outright the idea there might be a problem with cancel culture/wokeness (if you have better terms, feel free!) in our institutions should watch this and see how they feel about that.
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A few scattered thoughts on "Blair & Brown" now it's over. I really enjoyed it. It didn't tell a new story, but the story it told was deepened by the distance we've all covered since then. And they really brought the best out of the interviewees. 1/n.
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Apart from anything else this just poor interviewing. If a politician says ‘live and let live’ on this, you have to say sure, so how are you applying that principle to prisons/sport/medicine etc. Otherwise you’re just giving them a pass.
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This is a perfectly reasonable and good humoured answer and I'm furious people are making me defend Dominic Raab
Asked if he would take a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: "I take the knee for two people; the Queen and the Mrs when I asked her to marry me." Listen live ► @JuliaHB1 | @DominicRaab
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Very interesting recollection of working with Liz Truss in government, from @Samfr. Get a sub and read the whole thing.
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Honor Cargill-Martin, St Paul’s and Oxford, apparently incapable of basic thinking or empathy. What is it about this subject that makes people switch their brains off?
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Let’s be honest: this is a decision taken in the interests of teachers, not parents.
🚨 NEW: We’re scrapping single headline Ofsted judgements with immediate effect. Ofsted judgements have been high stakes for schools, low information for parents. We’ll:. ✅ Give parents more transparency.✅ Drive high & rising standards.✅ Pave the way for school report cards.
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Just imagine how good England could have been if we didn’t have a constitutional obligation to play Harry Kane for an hour.
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Mate she just invented the gender of ‘rapist’ to avoid answering a rational question.
That was a truly remarkable resignation statement by Nicola Sturgeon. Whether or not you back her ideas and convictions, she has been one of the most important politicians of this generation. Her call for less irrationality and hysteria in politics should be heeded.
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Going well then.
detransitioners are simply not known. PR - inaudible response.AR - we don't know how many people actual regret and are actually gay and lesbians.PR - I don't agree. AR - Do you know how many there are? .PR - no. AR - then you do agree with me.
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Superb on the Lia Thomas debate from @alexmassie who brings data and swats away some common bad arguments.
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Enthusiastic culture warrior claims to be against culture war. Classic example of the genre!
JK Rowling has every right to her opinions. I may not share them, but that's fine. And I totally condemn any threats to her, as I do to anyone. I think the literary world can do better than this fabricated culture war, and that's what I'm trying to do.
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Would it be insanely hard for Spotify to add a "donate to this artist" button?.
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I think the atmosphere in the BBC studio is so much more fun and convivial than ITV, mainly thanks to Lineker and the life force that is Micah Richards.
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It does make me think that a big part of the extraordinary success of gender identity theory is that its proponents won over lazy blokes who don't want to think unless they have to. Memo to campaigners: get lazy blokes onside and anything is possible.
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The problem with these contested issues, esp gender, has not been too much debate but too little. The norm-shifting has happened 'backstage' without real public engagement or persuasion. Dissenters were dismissed as bigots or indeed as culture warriors. This is essential context!.
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There are nine genders, OK? It’s science. Honestly this whole thread is mindblowing. Regina Doherty is an Irish Senator.
RD: "There was a whole debate in Ireland. why can't you just ask the questions because there is nine genders. Just put the nine genders in. Stop trying to be afraid of the fact that there are other genders.".
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James Richardson on the Totally Football pod: “Spain, with the finishing skills of the nation that’s still making the Sagrada Familia…”.
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I am extremely excited to tell you that my book, 'John & Paul': A Love Story In Songs', will be published in Spring 2025. 🧵
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*We* are seeking to radically redefine cultural terms and concepts. If you object, *you're* fighting a culture war. Absolutely classic example of the genre.
Oxfam’s job is to end poverty – we refuse to be distracted by the toxic culture wars. Here are some reflections on the reaction to the @oxfamgb Inclusive Language Guide.@guardianopinion.
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