Michael Merrick
@michael_merrick
Northern. Catholic. Father of 7. All views my own. AMDG.
🔴 Britain is ready to fight in the Pacific if conflict breaks out over Taiwan, the Defence Secretary has said. Read more here 👇 telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
🔴 Britain is ready to fight in the Pacific if conflict breaks out over Taiwan, the Defence Secretary has said. Read more here 👇 telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
You can be absolutely certain that this would involve banning (eg/) Catholic tribunals too.
Reform should unequivocally commit to banning all Sharia courts in the United Kingdom, and while we are here cousin marriage, too The time for outrage is over. The time for a detailed, serious policy response is now
This is astonishing. Feels significant for reasons I can't quite articulate that UvdL was brought to Scotland - to Brexit Britain - for this announcement.
BREAKING: Trump announces new trade deal with European Union
The slaughter of Christians across the world continues without a pause.
BREAKING: At least 21 people have been killed in an attack on a church in eastern Congo by an Islamic State-backed rebel group, a civil leader says. apnews.com/article/congo-…
Think my new goal in life is to be as perpetually optimistic as the OBR
This is clearly unintended consequence, but also awful.
The British state won’t protect children from mass gang rape. But it will “protect” adults from hearing about it.
this was peak
It’s not a video game, but did anyone have “Test Match” from the 1980s? I used to see it in various catalogues back in the day but I’ve never seen it irl. What say you? Would it hold up in 2025?
Hail, Queen of Heaven
Antisocial neighbours insist on blasting sound that - even in charity - I find it difficult to call “music”. Fantasising about blasting proper music in return (though I won’t). What classical music would be best at loud volumes, do you think? Monteverdi? Bach? Wagner? Grieg?
Hi @grok, I see people keep asking you to give one word answers to incredibly complex problems as part of a juvenile game of gotcha, so here's mine: who is the biggest club in the North East, based solely on UEFA Cup final appearances, go
Pope Leo: Catholic migrants are ‘a true divine blessing’ to the churches that receive them americamagazine.org/faith/2025/07/…
Cardinal Sarah speech today in France: 'Too often in the West, religion is presented as an activity in the service of human well-being. Religion is equated with humanitarian efforts, acts of charity, the welcoming of migrants and the homeless, the promotion of universal…
“Free markets,” whatever that even means, aren’t a “value.” They’re an instrument, to be used precisely up to the point they make the lives of the citizenry better, and not an inch farther.
Don’t you stand for American values? I thought free markets is one of them. Care to explain why this is different? Highest quality work, at the lowest prices, always wins. That’s what we do.
Bad news for the Humanists at Easter time
🚨 NEW: Section 179 of the Online Safety Act is a ticking time bomb for free speech. It makes it a crime to send a message you know is false if it causes “non-trivial psychological harm” — and if you don’t have a “reasonable excuse”. Who defines “harm”? Who decides what’s…
I's not even worth commenting anymore is it
EXCL: Labour accused of hypocrisy after raising age members can be local branch chairs, treasurers and secretaries to 18 - days after lowering voting age to 16 thesun.co.uk/news/politics/…
In a similar vein, I hear Starmer is drawing lessons on managing social turmoil by studying Nero
Keir Starmer will fight Corbyn’s new party by copying Emmanuel Macron. My weekend article for @Independent independent.co.uk/voices/keir-st…
This is true, but hegemonic power over the past 40 years or so has been spread through the academy/culture/arts. I don't think that will last, and we'll over-correct, but the slow strangling of our arts space (and its own aesthetic capitulation) is also a bit of a disaster
Maths is geopolitics now.