AT 969

SOCIAL MEDIA

16 ASIAN TRADER 19 SEPTEMBER 2025

“Things will only officially be bad when

there are security tags on Freddos.”

Napoleon (@moanaparte)

“‘72-hour antiperspirant protection’ is

the biggest lie ever told.”

Napoleon (@moanaparte)

“In our history, whenever excise duties

have been unreasonably high, the result

has been crime, including smuggling. At

present the duty on a pack of cigarettes is

£8.93. Reduce it to solve the problem.”

Peter Sewell (@portly_pete)

“In 2016 I worked as a Deliveroo rider &

earned the equivalent of £11.20 an hour

– 55% more than min wage of £7.20. In 2024 I

worked as a Deliveroo rider and earned £5.28

– 54% less than min wage of £11.44. Insecure

work has become more precarious …”

Harry Wallop (@hwallop)

“Used the wife’s deodorant because

mine’s run out. I don’t understand this.

We’re made from the same stuff (human),

yet while she smells lovely wearing it, I smell

like a boiled sweet stuck to an old carpet.”

Napoleon (@moanaparte)

“The smoking rate in the EU is twice

what it is in the UK and has barely fallen

in the last decade. It nevertheless thinks it

can create a ‘nicotine-free generation’ by

2040 and is lying about the risks of safer

nicotine products. What a clown show!”

Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon)

“Papers today jammed with stories

showing the beginning of the end of the

age of entitlement. And the return of a focus

on needs over wants.”

Merryn Somerset Webb @MerrynSW)

“Seen about 5 new domestic robots

launch in last 3 weeks. All designed to do

laundry or fold laundry. Silicon Valley is

entirely the domain of people who wish they

still lived with their mum. Uber – Mom drive

me around. Uber Eats – Mom, cook for me.

TaskRabbit – Mom please clean.”

Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin)

“Okay so that Miles Davis quote “if you

hit a wrong note, it’s the next note you

play that determines if it’s good or bad”

applies to basically everything.”

Dylan O’Sullivan (@DylanoA4)

“Whenever I’m visiting someone who

has a smart speaker, I like to set random

reminders or alarms for months in advance.

My latest one will happen in 3 months telling

my sister to clean out the rabbit hutch. She

doesn’t own a rabbit.”

Fesshole (@fesshole)

“I just rang the Speaking Clock. What a

nice voice it’s got at the moment! I was

so glad to find it’s still there. Like going to

your grandparents’ old house from childhood

and finding they’re actually at home.”

Victoria Coren Mitchell (@VictoriaCoren)

“Man living alone here. Just burped

quite loud and my google assistant was

activated. I’m now reconsidering my life

choices.”

Fesshole (@fesshole)

“I do care about the environment but

I’m not mad on scratching my eyeball

with the bottle top now attached to my water

bottle.”

Wendy Wason (@Wendy_Wason)

“We have a dumb joke when we go out

for dinner as a family when they say ‘any

allergies’ and the youngest always says ‘cats’

and we all chuckle and so does the waiter.

Today he said it, the waiter looked confused

and said ‘we don’t cook cats’”.

Wendy Wason (@Wendy_Wason)

“Reforming the state is difficult whereas

passing legislation to restrict people’s

freedoms is easy.”

Luke Johnson (@LukeJohnsonRCP)

“‘You don’t have a right to inherit money

from mummy and daddy that you did

nothing to earn.’ @Lewis_Goodall suggests

hiking inheritance tax to 100% in order to

reduce income tax and ‘incentivise work.’”

LBC (@LBC)

“Remember when picking up “a few

bits” at the supermarket didn’t cost £54?”

VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish)

“How can the Deputy Governor of the

Bank of England be ‘surprised’ by

inflation? It has literally been this govern­

ment’s explicit policy to pile so much more

cost onto businesses that they have no choice

but to increase prices ...”

Kien Tan (@kientan74)

“‘It is almost certain that Rachel Reeves

will extend the freeze on personal tax

thresholds in the autumn budget, which

would hurt working people by taking more

money out of their payslips.’”

Institute of Economic Affairs (@iealon­

don)

“Private equity [PE] curse. UK supermar­

kets Asda and Morrisons crushed by debt

anvil. Asset-stripping to pay for debt and private

equity profits. Staff cuts, low investment,

market share struggles. PE has devoured high

street, care homes, vets, healthcare.”

Prem Sikka (@premnsikka)

“Ai is leading to a lot of people accepting

low standards. Make it stop. If some­

thing is worth doing. Do it well.”

Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin)

“‘Ooh, something smells good, what are

you cooking?!’ It’s always just an onion.”

VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish)

“First sighting of SPooOooOooKY stuff

in the supermarket. That’s it, folks,

summer’s over. It’s Halloween now, which

means it’s Christmas now.”

VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish)

“‘Hello. How much are your hotel

rooms?’ ‘Who are you?’ ‘The council.’

‘Two grand a night.’”

Napoleon (@moanaparte)

“Who is Molly May and why should I

take her recommendations on which

fabric softener to use?”

Baron MVT (@VonTrippenhoff)

Asian Trader has rounded up some comments from

our Twitter feed to give a vivid picture of retailers

and friends under inflationary conditions …

X: The World According

to “Not” Twitter

@NoContextBrits