Conservative Member of Barnsley MBC from 2006 to 2026. Now retired from politics
Barnsley, United Kingdom
Joined April 2012
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Robert Barnard retweeted
It's no secret that the UK's welfare system is broken.
But did you know that 75% of constituencies in England receive more in welfare than their workers pay in income tax and National Insurance?
Robert Barnard retweeted
“What we urgently need, for both economic stability and growth, is a reduction of government intervention, not an increase.”
— Milton Friedman
Robert Barnard retweeted
Milton Friedman: “Keep your eye on one thing and one thing only: how much government is spending, because that’s the true tax. If you’re not paying for it in the form of explicit taxes, you’re paying for it indirectly in the form of inflation or borrowing.”
Robert Barnard retweeted
Today is the 109th anniversary of one of the worst disasters to strike human civilisation. Lenin's Bolshevik putsch in Petrograd, which overthrew Russia's first democracy and began 70 years of murder, theft and persecution. Imperial Germany arranged this event and paid for it.
Robert Barnard retweeted
Mortgages up £400 on average but don’t worry folks, Andy Pandy has cut the cost of gherkins by 4p
🤦🏻♀️
Robert Barnard retweeted
PARIS EN 1929 🇫🇷
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame, la Place de la Concorde, des Parisiennes et des Parisiens en belles tenues.
Une autre époque, une autre France...🧐
(🎥filmschatzarchiv/YT)
Robert Barnard retweeted
Busy London streets in the 1950s. Lovely old cars, black cabs, and people dressed in coats and hats. A wonderful glimpse of ordinary everyday life in the capital.
Robert Barnard retweeted
This photograph appeared in Fancy Cycling: Trick Riding for Amateurs by Isabel Marks, showing just how adventurous cycling had become by the Edwardian era.
The caption say it alll!
#CyclingHistory #Edwardian
Reminds me of the episode of Dads Army where they play cricket. On second thoughts I think Pte. Godfrey would be less likely to be run out than our hapless PM.
Robert Barnard retweeted
At what point do we stop focusing on who needs to pay more tax and start asking where all of our tax money is going.
Robert Barnard retweeted
A whole different world used to exist, as AJP Taylor wrote about in his Oxford History of England:
"Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state beyond the post office and the policeman…He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter a foreigner could spend his life in the country without permit and without informing the police…All this was changed by the impact of the Great War…The state established a hold over its citizens which though relaxed in peace time, was never to be removed and which the Second World War was again to increase. The history of the English people and the English State merged for the first time."
If you want to learn about what the world was like in that era, if you want to know what sort of world used to exist, 1913 by Charles Emmerson is by far my favorite
Robert Barnard retweeted
Town life in 60s England. 🏡
The Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels is a centuries-old tradition in Devon, England. Locals carry flaming, tar-coated barrels on their shoulders through the streets without a care in the world. ⏳️
Robert Barnard retweeted
#UK #avgeek #aviation #WW2 🇬🇧❤️ This stunning BOAC (#BritishAirways) Short S.25 Sunderland flying boat clip shows the check-in to takeoff to dining service. But why board via a boat launch instead of a jetty? 749 built. A few still survive. 📹@Birdseed501
Robert Barnard retweeted
Ian Fleming's 13 Rules for Life
1. Don’t draw your gun unless you can see both the other man’s hands.
2. Don’t waste your time on women who wear a bracelet on their left ankle.
3. Beware of motorcars with two women in the front seat.
4. Don’t play cards against married couples unless they are drunk.
5. See the brand name on the bottle.
6. Avoid people who call you “Old Boy” and all politicians.
7. Never eat scrambled eggs unless you make them yourself.
8. Talk secrets only in the open air.
9. Don’t buy anything that eats.
10. Beware of people who smell and tread carefully in the company of moustaches, sideburns, and beards.
11. Have nothing to do with correspondence in coloured ink, particularly when variegated.
12. Cut down on your drink when your eyes get red and on your smoking when your breath gets short. Don’t worry about cirrhosis of the liver or cancer.
13. Live until you’re dead
Robert Barnard retweeted
Sheffield, 1902,
Filmed by Mitchell & Kenyon from the front of an electric tram.
The tram carries us along streets including London Road, the Moor, Haymarket and Fargate. Horse drawn carts share the road with the new electric trams, while people go about their day.
Sheffield was already famous throughout the world for its steel, but here we see something much more personal: the shops, streets and people of the city as they wer going about their everyday life.
#Yorkshire #Edwardian
