Among many people tweeting lies about me, @NickyAACampbell, @GaryLineker and @Rylan yesterday was someone called @AndyPlumb4
I do not know who Andy Plumb is, but a defamation lawyer advised me that what he did on Twitter yesterday is the quickest way to lose £20,000. I messaged Andy to that effect:
His response was bravado:
But it seems that Andy has upset a lot of people on Twitter, because quite quickly I was told exactly who he is....
...although I didn't expect @AndyPlumb4 to be the one who announced his own address to the world:
Had he apologised and deleted his tweet immediately that would have counted hugely in his favour. But it was a full day before I noticed his timeline had been quietly altered:
Yet there was no apology to me. Just this bizarre explanation:
It's really not “perfectly normal behaviour,” Andy.
You have a lot of followers who will have read and spread your damaging lies. I let loads of stuff go on here — but not this. I'll be in touch soon.
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A quick 🧵 that might warm your heart a little. Below you can see the “Lady in Red Plasterer” last night, along with @itn news anchor @NinaHossain (I should say that the Lady in Red, @NaimaBenmoussa3, is on the right 😉).
2. So Naima is a plasterer with red hair. But there's much more to her story. A year ago one of my producers, @RebeccaHBM@BBCRadio2, saw this photo in the Buxton Advertiser.
3. A brief article told how Naima, herself a victim of rape and domestic abuse, had been called to repair the home of a young mum, Suzanne, whose violent ex had smashed up the place on the way out (this is often the last thing an abuser does). buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/people/ne…
I'm not at home at the moment, so these guys just served an “anti-vaxx writ” on my wife instead. They are angry at the BBC’s #CovidVaccine reporting. They were polite, for which I'm grateful, but coming to my home on a Sunday? And I'm a little unnerved by the heavy breathing too
I have only just seen this: if my wife hadn't accepted the “anti-vaxx writ” on my behalf, this group waiting near my house would then have “taken the whole street.” The original video shows street name and house number really clearly.
Always happy to engage but not like this.
These people are perhaps a little more scary than they are first appear. #CovidVaccine
Journalists of the future. Chatting with the @PalatinateUK team @durham_uni yesterday. So great to see people who are totally committed so young. Sorry to Amelia who got cut off on the left of frame.
The event was organised by the great @TCHL who I've know since the last century and who I was delighted to see is settling into his new job as Master of @South_CollegeDU, Durham's newest college. Tim’s been a BBC editor and editor of @TheScotsman and he will be ace in this job
No city in the world more beautiful. How lucky was I to spend three years of my life here?
(@HatfieldCollege, '83 to '86).
Thread. Here's what happened when I brought together a very old thing and a very new thing.
The old thing — it's not me — is a penny farthing bicycle. 1/
The penny farthing was invented in 1880. The large front wheel was necessary because, although mass steel production had allowed spokes to be built for bike wheels, as yet they didn't have bicycle chains and therefore gears. 2/
Okay that's the old thing. The new thing is this. 3/
Thread. I recently reported this Lamborghini driver.
/1
You'll see from the still pic that he ran a red light — in fact, the whole body of his car was the wrong side of the line.
The key moment in my original tweet is here.
/2
This driver had been somewhat erratic in the half-mile leading up to the lights, so I reported him to the police, expecting this to be about the easiest bust the @MPSRTPC team would ever have.
/3
I guess this will be my last time on the High Street Kensington cycle lane. They have only been in place for two months, and they are reportedly being ripped out next week after residents' complaints. But I had an interesting encounter when I headed there today:
And from Pimlico Plumbers, an accidental endorsement of the whole reason behind building separate space for cycling
From the same brief trip (I was honestly only on the road for about fifteen minutes):