Just back from a week on the Somme, a powerful reminder of what happens when the world around us becomes unbalanced. Haunting human stories, landscapes still bearing scars over a century later, and the stark contrast in approaches to victory, defeat and death itself #Remember

Have they offered you Freedom of the City yet @CricketErik ? Or just a knighthood?

Great to see a debate in Nottingham, but…that was frequently an abysmal, out of control, interruption-fest.

History in the making: the final planned delivery of coal to Ratcliffe-on-Soar, the last coal-fired power station in the UK. In the region whose mines used to power the UK, Ratcliffe will power down in September & is expected to become a symbolic centre for clean energy.

Bloody extra time.

Trains and cars and planes…in’t Derby brilliant?

Wise post-election reflections by Jesse Norman . Whatever your flavour of politics, government has to be delivered by a logical and well-established system. Fighting with it or trying to break it will only ever end one way.

Fascinating thread from Sunder Katwala about the reality of Reform’s support: Farage’s party won 5 seats in 2024 with no more votes than his 2015 party had.

A new government with a massive majority. And still we end up with penalties.

“Pressure is for tyres” - Alan Shearer, Euros 2024. Framing it and having it.

Brilliant to see Lilian Greenwood back on the transport brief - she’s been a relentless advocate for improving connectivity and sticking up for the East Midlands 💪🚈

Inseine! (© all media tomorrow)

Glencoe at its brooding best. A strangely appropriate place to finish off Rory Stewart’s reflective account of the collision between his own passion and intellect and a government system seemingly running out of resources and energy #PoliticsOnTheEdge

Love this: “You couldn’t lick Alf Ramsey’s boots!”

It’s a painful story, beautifully told, fabulously sung, and amazingly staged by Nottingham Playhouse #DEHUKTOUR

Morning, Nottingham #watsonfothergill ⁦Nottingham Trent University⁩ ⁦NET Nottingham Tram⁩

I’d say it’s a feast for the eyes, but really it’s just a feast: The mouth-watering and wallet-emptying Bramley Festival ⁦Southwell Minster⁩ this morning ⁦Visit Nottinghamshire⁩

I just published 52 things I learned in 2024 link.medium.com/ysS4ClodYOb

🏫Communities, schools, parishes & town councils in east & south #Derbyshire can benefit from #Defra grants for tree planting. Let #DerbyshireHeartwood Community Forest experts help you realise the full potential that trees can bring to your land. More 👇ow.ly/W6Mb50UmhiT

I like this thread by Michael Dnes . Not just because it thinks positively about the potential of infrastructure investment, or because it brings HS2 to the East Midlands (which is ridiculously under-invested). It’s because it works the problem and finds a solution.