Heading out for a family birthday party tonight 🎉 #Shropshire

First of pre-season nets for #MuchWenlock #Cricket Club today. I approached it with a degree of trepidation. Last year I developed a knee issue just before first game I could’ve played, & ended up not playing a single game as a result. Fortunately I survived today’s session, & seemingly intact🤞

Nigel Farage always backs foreign leaders and individuals ( #Putin, #Trump, #Musk etc.) who repeatedly try to damage the UK. Is #Farage just utterly incompetent and lacking in judgment, or is it the opposite of patriotism? #Greenland #Tarrifs

Which potential coalitions have the most support from Britons? LD + Lab, Davey PM: 36% support Lab + Grn, Starmer PM: 33% Lab + LD, Starmer PM: 31% Grn + Lab, Polanski PM: 30% Ref + Con, Farage PM: 29% LD + Con, Davey PM: 26% Con + Ref, Badenoch PM: 25% yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

It's not like the British Armed Forces stationed in Europe for decades

Remember when we didn't bother getting involved in the first world war because we only had <250k British Expeditionary Force troops to fight the Kaiser. Or when Chamberlain refused to join WW2 because Hitler refused to tell us when he'd shoot himself in the head in a bunker and end the war?

*Nigel Farage doesn't believe in the British armed forces*

Nigel Farage saying he will do exactly what Putin wants him to do! If they are given the chance, Reform will betray our Ukrainian allies. #Farage #Reform #Putin #Russia #Ukraine

Couldn’t resist the snow on Cothercott Hill in South Shropshire yesterday afternoon. #SouthShropshire #Shropshire #ShropshireHills

The obligatory Boxing Day walk - this one was at Nesscliffe. #nesscliffe #shropshire

Matthew Green re-selected for South Shropshire

I can now confirm that that I have been selected by South Shropshire Liberal Democrats to stand again in the next general election (probably 2029). I was very much encouraged to stand again by the response I received from South Shropshire voters in last year’s General Election. #Shropshire #LibDems

It’s also time for the country to make sure that those who created this unmitigated economic failure: Farage, the pro #Brexit Tories etc. never get an opportunity to do more harm to the UK.

So the line is that he wasn't getting paid for any of this

It really shouldn’t be necessary to keep repeating this, but sadly it is. #Ukraine #SlavaUkraini

Donald Trump destroyed public service broadcasting in the US - it's little surprise Nigel Farage wants to do the same thing here. Trump’s America, don’t let it become Farage’s Britain.

Another visit today to Stokesay #Castle (it’s not possible to make too many visits). Built in the late 13th Century and ‘modernised’ in the 17th Century when the timber framed gatehouse replaced an earlier one. #SouthShropshire #Shropshire

womp womp

How it started vs How it's going. More details: buff.ly/GbIKw4P

It’s Nat’s #birthday, so it would have been rude not to, wouldn’t it? @nathanielgreen.bsky.social #Shrewsbury #Shropshire

It’s often said, with considerable justification, that their pursuit of #Brexit meant many of those with ability left the #Conservative Party. What we hadn’t previously realised is that it appears to have included those with the ability to spell.

Quite. So many Labour people on this website visibly have no idea of just how bad things have got for ethnic minorities since they came on, and how their visible indifference lands.

I’m backing @joshbabarinde.bsky.social for President of #LibDems. With next election looking like its xenophobic nationalism versus progressive liberalism, the LibDems’ top team need to be principled, assured & appealing personalities that perform well on the media. That’s why Josh gets my vote.

Delighted to be in the Shropshire LibDem team awarded top prize in @assoclibdemcllrs.bsky.social local campaigner awards. There was a handful of us at the awards, many, many more share the credit for the successful local election campaign in #Shropshire Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP presented the award.

At LibDem Conference in #Bournemouth. Yesterday the sun was out and the skies were blue, so of course I had to spend 5 hours inside in a briefing. Lots of people are asking me whether I’ll be throwing my hat in the ring for parliamentary candidate for #SouthShropshire … #LDConf #Shropshire

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

Our democracy is too precious to be a plaything for foreign tech barons. Elon Musk doesn’t care about the British people or our rights. He only cares about himself and his ego.

There now appears to be clear justification for NATO to start intercepting Russian drones and missiles over Ukraine, before they have the chance of reaching NATO territory, provided of course that Ukraine agrees to this. #Ukraine #Poland #NATO #drones

Russians dropped a glide bomb on elderly people who were waiting in line for their pensions. More than 20 dead. Please. Don’t look away and don’t be silent. This is all I could ask for

Pershore Abbey at sunset yesterday evening. #Pershore was the location of my overnight stop. The first phase of construction of the fine building that survives today dates from around 1100. Although the site had been in use during Anglo-Saxon times, possibly as far back as the 8th Century.

With an enforcement appeal in #Wiltshire finishing just after lunchtime, I drove the short distance to Farleigh Hungerford #Castle where there is an earlier example of a planning enforcement case. @greenplanning.bsky.social #FarleighHungerford

Combining castles and campaigning! A positive response calling on voters in the Clun Division in #Shropshire yesterday. Local #LibDems led by ward Councillor Sam Walmsley, were out in #Clun, Clunbury, Newcastle, Hopton Castle (pictured) and Hopton Heath. #SouthShropshire

Timeline cleanse

Fewer than 10 Reform members were present at this selection meeting. One said of Carby, "I haven’t met her but I’ve been told she’s absolutely brilliant!"

Celebrating Ukrainian Independence Day in the Ukrainian Carpathians, with my friend Inna. I’m grateful that #Ukraine is an ally and friend of the UK. Ukraine resists Russia not just for themselves but also the whole of Europe including the UK.

"We have to set forward an alternative, whether that's on Europe, on energy bills, on health and care, and on reforming the voting system." @EdDavey.LibDems.org.uk

He’s just let the cat out of the bag. This former advisor to #Farage has put down in writing (in a ‘personal blog’) what many suspect some of the leading figures in #ReformUK actually want. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Juries are randomly selected members of the public. Men and women from all walks of life and all political backgrounds. Only a moron of irredeemable proportions would even think of suggesting that a jury verdict represents some deep state “two-tier justice”.

Spot on from Ed Davey, and if this means boots on the ground in Ukraine, and aircraft in the skies over #Ukraine, we, and other willing countries, need to be prepared to do that.

Most young voters are attracted to parties, like the Liberal Democrats, who offer a positive future. Most young voters are turned off by parties, like the #Conservatives and #Reform, that bang on about returning to a mythical past. #LibDems

Views of, & from, Pontesford / Earls Hill on Sunday. First time out #walking since I damaged my left knee while delivering political leaflets on May 1st - local election polling day. It’s not fully recovered, but I’m at a stage that I feel I can start going up a few hills again. #Shropshire

This is so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said. But with #Trump’s approach to doing ‘a deal’ with #Putin, it needs to be repeated as often as possible, by as many as possible. Nothing about Ukraine without #Ukraine

Some more from my brief visit to #Pickering #Castle in #Yorkshire, on Wednesday. Pickering is a fine example of a motte and bailey castle, but with two baileys, all of which are later walled in stone. The shell keep on the motte and the inner bailey are early 13th century work.

No one sums up the utter shamelessness of the British press and the ugly politics of Farage quite like Private Eye.

Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza is abhorrent and it's increasingly clear that his goal is ethnic cleansing. The UK can't just sit on its hands. The Prime Minister must stop all arms exports to Israel and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet.

Pickering #Castle, #Yorkshire: Rosamund’s Tower dating from about 1323, taken from the window of the chapel which was probably constructed in 1227. Picture taken yesterday on a flying visit between work site visits. #Pickering

Excellent from Ed Davey: ‘The way to see off the populist right isn’t to cower in its shadow; it’s to step up and offer a compelling, positive alternative.’ Alternative to ReformUK-Conservative chaos, is rapid reengagement with EU, turbo-boosting the economy, getting UK out of the Farage stagnation.

A late morning toddle across Shrewsbury’s Old River Bed SSSI today. Classed as ‘fen wetland’ this is a rare habitat in our region. Recently beavers have been reintroduced to this area. The fencing is to keep the #beavers in. No beavers were spotted today. #Shrewsbury #Shropshire

This is where I’ll be on Saturday. It’ll be good to see you there. All welcome. It’s not essential, but if you can rsvp, please do. #Shropshire

Giant’s Causeway from Lacada Point today. #GiantsCauseway #Bushmills #CountyAntrim #NorthernIreland