As we all look back at #LiveAid40, I would like to tell the story of my experience as a 20yo attending the Wembley show on 13 July 1985. These are never-before seen photos, taken on my Canon A1 with a 50mm lens from my position centre front in the crowd

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At the time of the show, I lived as a student in North London. My friend Tom alerted me that Keith Prowse agencies would release a few extra tickets on Friday 12 July - I managed to get one, as did he. So I turned up to meet with Tom on the steps at Wembley at 9:30am on 13 July

My day has started with an eye-opener:

- driving through rural Northamptonshire, stopped at village shop/PO
- went in, picked up paper & snack, then waited in short queue to pay
- with 1 in front of me, lady shop-keeper said she needed to pop to the loo. We both said no probs 🧵 - 1 minute later, older lady pulls up, picks up Daily Mail and joins queue
- 1 minute later she asks have we been waiting long "no" we said
- 1 minute later she tuts, walks round the shop and bangs on the PO glass screen
- comes back just as the lady shop-keeper appears again

Fragile post-Brexit UK food supply-chains.

Once again, for those who struggle to acknowledge reality.

Last month, weather acutely impacted the source of many winter salad vegetables grown in Morocco and Spain, potentially impacting all of Europe 🧵 2/
Before Brexit, EU food supply-chains were largely frictionless & secure, as all countries were members of a single market. Imports from Morocco were covered by a single EU-Morocco agreement. Supplies from Spain were internal to the single market.
ipcc.ch/apps/njlite/ar…

I really can't ridicule the incompetence of the UK government over post-Brexit trade enough

Remember the phantom Seabourne Ferries debacle?

Well, the latest example is a tale of utter incompetence, phantom shipping companies and the Great UK Tomato Shortage of 2023 🧵 2/
In January 2021, a continuity agreement between UK and Morocco came into force, replicating the EU-Morocco agreement we had just left.

This was lauded by UKGov as an example of how post-Brexit Britain would bypass the EU for food security

https://twitter.com/UKinMorocco/status/1228240766058758144?s=20&t=McVQxNGXUiCDMD_BZwl_Vg

I am convinced if the UK vote on 23 June 2016 had gone the other way, there would be no war today Soft power is a risk mitigation

Voting for Brexit has led to a reduction in Britain's soft power, whilst the success of manipulating the vote showed Putin that his plan for Europe, NATO and Russia was workable. It charged his batteries.

theguardian.com/politics/2016/…

It's not only a HGV driver shortage impacting UK supply chains, but also Brexit has removed cabotage, which made UK haulage more efficient. A truck from Spain dropping fruit in Glasgow could pick up dairy in Glasgow for delivery in Hull, then fish in Hull for delivery in Madrid. This created additional flexibility because the driver involved was employed in Spain, not UK. The same was true for UK-employed drivers travelling across Europe. UK haulage companies are now effectively excluded from a system operating across 27 countries, hence no shortages.

3.0 "our demographics" defence

A demographic defence invariably mentions the following attributes being 'exceptional' UK issues:

- population density (or 'lived density')
- obesity
- BAME residents as % of population
- Vitamin 'D' deficiency

Each can be challenged separately 3.1 "our demographics" defence

Population ('raw') density is population divided by land area

UK has one of the highest population densities in Europe, but not the highest (Belgium and Netherlands being higher, Germany and Italy only moderately lower)

When defending against the "UK worst in Europe" assertion, government supporters turn to one of three counter points:

1. the "not per capita" defence
2. the "other countries have dodgy data" defence
3. the "our demographics" defence

Here is a thread to address each

THREAD 1.0 "not per capita" defence

Per capita is dividing the data by the population.

First, the reasons why this measure can be useful:

- degree of impact within a given boundary (i.e. country, state, county, local authority etc)
- capacity for death count to grow within a boundary