Award-winning North Chocolates, ran by Bev, specialises in luxury dark, milk & vegan chocolate bars. 100% Gorgeous. The bars, not her.
Newcastle upon Tyne
Joined April 2013
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Bev Stephenson retweeted
Janis Berzemnieks, another Reform UK Councillor in Sunderland that hasn't declared employment.
Reform UK's Janis Berzemnieks, a Sunderland councillor elected in May 2026, declared "None" under employment on his official Register of Interests.
Yet his LinkedIn profile reportedly identifies him as a Team Leader at GXO Logistics (he also has another LinkedIn profile also saying he works for GXO).
linkedin.com/in/janis-berzem…
Sunderland Council's rules require councillors to declare paid employment and identify their employer.
Failure to register a disclosable pecuniary interest without reasonable excuse can constitute a criminal offence under the Localism Act 2011.
Was Berzemnieks employed by GXO when he submitted his declaration, and if so, why wasn't it disclosed?
@SunderlandUK's Monitoring Officer should be asking @ReformUkWear and @CllrChrisEynon, why they are failing to declare employment?
This is the 4th councillor we've identified that has conceiled business interests.
Heather Finlay still hasn't updated her ROI with the 3rd business interest.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Much punchier accusations from Sir Malcolm Rifkind - a former defence and foreign secretary:
"I choose my words very carefully. I think this week Donald Trump has shown himself as a person to be repulsive; as a President of the United States to be a disgrace to his own people as well as to his international responsibilities.
"We all know his actual reasons for this are a grubby attempt to win a few more votes in the midterms by trying to get oil prices down.
"In order to achieve that, he has not only betrayed Ukraine in the middle of a war, fighting for its very existence, but he is also directly - not indirectly - directly responsible for the deaths of many Ukrainians who will not now be protected by the attempts that have been successfully made using intelligence provided indirectly by the United States."
xitter.cf/breeallegretti/status/…
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Occupy Democrats
2͏h͏ ·
BREAKING: PANIC! Trump is DESPERATELY trying to stop Jack Smith from testifying in his own $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC.
Donald Trump sued the BBC for defamation, asking for a whopping $10 billion in damages. Now, he’s panicking about the one witness who might actually know something about the behavior that led the British broadcaster to publish what it did.
According to The New Republic, the BBC subpoenaed former special counsel Jack Smith to testify as part of its defense against Trump’s defamation suit. The suit claims the network defamed him with deceptive editing in a 2024 documentary about the January 6 Capitol attack.
Trump’s lawyers filed a motion Friday to block the deposition, arguing that “Smith lacks any personal knowledge regarding the issues in this matter.”
Their reasoning: Smith wasn’t at the January 6 speech, didn’t help prepare it, and can’t know what Trump was thinking. They say anything he gathered was “secondhand knowledge” from materials collected from other sources.
The BBC’s lawyers weren’t impressed. They wrote that “none of [Trump]’s arguments for blocking the deposition of Mr. Smith can withstand scrutiny.” They noted that Smith himself doesn’t object to testifying, and that Trump still has to prove he “did not foment or incite the January 6 Capitol riot,” which he claims the documentary falsely implied.
Then came the line that says it all: “No one forced Plaintiff to file this lawsuit and to dispute that his speech on January 6 incited the violence that followed at the Capitol. But as long as he chooses to maintain the case, he cannot commit the fundamental injustice of preventing the BBC from obtaining the evidence it needs to robustly defend itself.”
This isn’t Trump’s only dodge. His attorneys are also fighting efforts to make Trump himself testify, to subpoena his children, and to look into his finances. Trump sued over what the BBC said about January 6, and now he’s fighting every attempt to examine what actually happened.
There’s another problem for him. The BBC is funded by British taxpayers, so Trump can’t bully it into a hefty settlement or force it to back off its coverage the way he has with some American media companies.
So now he has two choices: drop the case, or actually try to prove his point and live with the consequences.
If Trump really believes he did nothing wrong on January 6, a deposition should be no problem. His lawyers’ desperation suggests otherwise.
Please like and share if you can’t wait to hear what Jack Smith has to say if the BBC successfully gets him to testify!
Bev Stephenson retweeted
BREAKING: Billionaire Sir Richard Branson unleashes a SCORCHING attack on Trump and his disgusting cozying up to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that gets under Trump's skin...
"I thought I’d never have to say this in my lifetime, but this is 2026, and sadly nothing is what it used to be," Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, wrote on LinkedIn. "The Trump administration has become an appeaser to autocrats and dictators, putting their personal whims before the best interests of the American people and those of the free world. What is it about Putin that President Trump fawns over?"
"How will America’s allies ever be able to trust this administration again when they are now turning against them at a time of war and suffering?" he asked.
Trump has repeatedly betrayed our Ukrainian allies in recent days. First, he announced a stunning deal with Putin to allow millions of barrels of diesel into the global markets, a move that will directly pump money into the Russian war machine. Then, he began a concerted smear campaign against President Zelenskyy and said that Putin is easier to deal with.
The backstabbing escalated when Washington failed to provide its usual early warning to Kyiv of an incoming Russian ballistic missile attack. Now, it appears that the White House ordered a temporary disruption of Starshield, a military version of Elon Musk's Starlink that the Ukrainian armed forces rely upon.
"The slowdown of Starlink/Starshield and the inexplicable lack of advance warning of Russian missile launches have already caused Ukrainian civilians to die unnecessarily," wrote Branson. "How much worse can it get?"
"If one thing is clear it’s that European leaders must overcome the initial shock about Trump’s recent actions and step up to the plate. It’s as much about Europe’s freedom as it is about Ukraine’s sovereignty. Both are worth fighting for," he continued. "All options should be on the table now, from the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine to the delivery of advanced weapons systems such as Germany’s Taurus."
"Why oh why is this happening? We cannot let the free world be dismantled before our very eyes," Branson concluded.
We couldn't agree more. Trump is an enemy to Ukraine, an enemy to democracy, and an enemy to the American people. When Democrats retake power, we have our work cut out for us. Every last trace of this monstrous man's legacy must be erased.
Please ❤️ and share if you think that Trump is Putin's puppet!
Bev Stephenson retweeted
George Monbiot explains why the UK should rejoin the EU,
"There's a reason why Russia tried to intervene in the Brexit vote, they knew that it would harm the UK and the EU if we left"
"They were very clear about that and boy have they been proved right"
"It has damaged our economic life, our social and cultural life"
"Wales alone has lost £1 billion net in regional and social funding which it would have received from the EU"
"And it has greatly weakened the opportunities particularly for young people, to work abroad, live abroad, to have the freedoms we had before"
"We could rejoin the Customs Union, or the Single Market, but if we did that alone we would be rule takers, we have to accept whatever the EU handed down because we would not be at the table negotiating and making decisions alongside other nations"
"As an audience member pointed out, yes the EU is changing. But that's not a reason not to rejoin, but that's a reason to be there in case it changes into a direction we don't like. We can help it be the kind of EU that we want it to be"
"I don't think there's any option but to rejoin fully"
My view: Brexit was sold as a way to take back control. In practice, it has often meant giving up influence over decisions that still affect us. Our businesses have to navigate rules shaped in Brussels, but Britain has no vote in setting them. That is not meaningful sovereignty; it is distance from the table.
Rejoining would give the UK a voice in the institutions where shared rules are debated and agreed. It would also restore a closer, more predictable relationship with our largest nearby market, making it easier for businesses to trade, invest and plan.
Those gains would not erase every problem facing the country, but they would remove barriers we chose to put in our own way.
The case is about more than trade. It is about making it easier for people to study, work and build lives across Europe; cooperating on research, energy, climate and security; and giving communities and regions access to shared opportunities.
These are practical freedoms and partnerships that matter in people’s everyday lives.
A halfway arrangement could reduce some friction, but it would leave Britain following many common rules without full representation in shaping them. If the UK wants influence over the direction of European cooperation, membership is the route that provides it.
Rejoining would not mean surrendering every national choice; it would mean choosing to make some decisions together, with a seat, a vote and the ability to argue for the outcome we want.
The question is not whether the EU is perfect. It is whether Britain is better placed to shape its future from within, alongside its neighbours, or to stand outside while decisions with consequences for us are made without us.
After the experience of Brexit, there is a strong case for choosing influence, cooperation and closer ties again.
And since Britain left, no other EU member state has followed it out. Instead, the Union has grown to 27 members, while 10 aspiring members are currently in the accession process.
That does not prove the EU is perfect or that membership suits every country. But it does show that countries see real value in joining: access to a huge shared market, stronger economic links and greater stability. European Commission
They are not signing up because the EU has no problems; they are choosing to take part in a shared project that can bring investment, opportunity and a stronger voice in decisions affecting their future.
If countries across Europe are working to join, Britain should ask why it chose to walk away, and whether standing outside has made us better placed to shape what comes next.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
I love this! Bravo @SunderlandAFC and @SRTRC_England 🔴⚪️
#SAFC going the extra mile to light up the Stadium of Light red tonight in support of @SRTRC_England’s ‘Wear Red Day’.
Thank you for your 30 years of leadership standing against racism in Sunderland.
One team: on the pitch and in our city 🔴⚪️💪
#WRD26
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Did @itvpeston ever cover any of the multiple meetings between Farage’s funders & the Russian embassy back in 2018? I can’t recall but maybe I’m mistaken. Was Farage ever asked why he voted in the pro-Kremlin bloc in the EU parliament? Or why Arron Banks thought Crimea is to Russia what the Isle of Wight is to Britain? Or why LeaveEU denied Russian involvement in Skripal?
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Fucking hell, that ITV investigation into Reform UK is horrific.
We can’t get desensitised to this…
Reform politicians talk about Muslims how the Nazis talked about the Jews.
Anyone that fails to condemn it is complicit.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
As Reform UK’s Sunderland Leader @CllrChrisEynon blocked us, he won’t see that we are reminding everyone that he used to campaign for Boris Johnson, for a Conservative government.
He would really hate this, so whatever you do, don’t also share it.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Bearing in mind they’ve almost tanked both Durham and Kent in 100 days, the chances aren’t looking good.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Reform UK Councillors Gone: Updated
Reform UK Leader Brian Smith (North Tyneside) is now an Independent.
➡️ Kicked Out
Brian Black (Kent CC)
Oliver Bradshaw (Kent CC)
Paul Thomas (Kent CC)
Bob Ford (Kent CC)
Bill Barratt (Kent CC)
Ed Hill (Devon CC)
James Regan (Essex CC)
Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster CC)
Paul Bean (Durham CC)
Adam Smith (West Northants C)
Daniel Taylor (Kent CC)
Nicole Brooke (Northumberland CC)
Patrick Lambert (Northumberland CC)
Maxine Fothergill (Kent CC)
Ian Cooper (Staffordshire CC)
Edward Harris (Warwickshire CC)
Isabella Kemp (Kent CC)
Aaron Roy (Hartlepool BC)
Jay Cooper (Sefton MBC)
Caroline Gladwin (Isle of Wight C)
Robert Hanson (Sheffield)
Danielle Cavanagh (Gateshead C)
Daniel Astley (Newcastle C)
Daniel Rollinson (Walsall C)
➡️ Resigned Independent
Nicola Brown (Doncaster CC) Ind
Christopher Marriott (Doncaster CC) Ind
Chris Large (Staffordshire CC) Ind
Lynn Dean (Staffordshire CC) Ind
Robin Perry (Walsall C) Ind
Alan Dennison (Pembrokeshire CC) Ind
Kathryn Shaw (West Northants C) Ind
Joanne Blythe (West Northants C) Ind
Andrew Barry (Torfaen CBC) Ind
Todd Ferguson (North Ayrshire C) Ind
Roger Tarrant (Cornwall CC) Ind
Susanne Desmonde (Cornwall CC) Ind
Nick Farmer (Wakefield C) Ind
Jo Monk (Worcestershire CC) Ind
Ashley Monk (Worcestershire CC) Ind
Matthew Jones (Worcestershire CC) Ind
Jamie Hanlon (Cornwall CC) Ind
Jasmine Fox (Durham CC) Ind
Steven Lewis (Wakefield C) Ind
Rosemary Trollope-Bellew (South Kesteven DC) Ind
Susan Maxfield (Kirklees C) Ind
Rebecca Waters (Birmingham C) Ind
Steven Deakin (Cannock Chase C) Ind
Joe Garner (North Northants), Ind
Bella Simon (Walsall), Ind
James Fletcher (Luton), Ind
Glenn Gibbins (Sunderland), Ind
Alex Barr (South Tyneside), Ind
Billy Burke (Trafford C), Ind
Lawrence Davies (Swindon C), Ind
Carol Ney (Plymouth C), Ind
Tanya Brasted (NE Lincolnshire C), Ind
Robbie Withey (Aberdeenshire), Ind
Mark Hill (Chorley), Ind
Grace Stickland (Plymouth), Ind
Jonathan Millard (Blaenau Gwent), Ind
Dawn Saunders (Durham), Ind
Mark Hill (Chorley DC), Ind
Lyndsey Fox (Durham), Ind
Paul Sexton (Durham), Ind
Nicole Brown (Durham), Ind
Chris Perera (Essex), Ind
Marcus Barr (Somerset), Ind
Brian Smith (North Tyneside), Ind
➡️ Defected
Amelia Randall (Kent CC) Rest
John Roddy (Warrington BC) Con
Peter Colley (Hertfordshire CC) Rest
Dean Burns (Kent CC) Rest
Jack Goncalvez (North Northants C) Rest
Charles Whitford (Leicestershire CC) Rest
Luke Cooper (Warwickshire CC) Rest
Scott Cameron (Warwickshire CC) Rest
Kieran Mishchuck (Kent CC) Rest
Alistair Hendry (Somerset CC) Con
Graham Eardley (Walsall C) Rest
Owain Clatworthy (Bridgend CBC) Rest
Cain Parkinson (Lincolnshire CC) Con
Brandon Dodd (Glamorgan C) Rest
Charlotte Kelly (Staffordshire CC) Con
Robbie Lammas (Medway C) Con
Dan Glover (Warwickshire CC) Rest
Rob Aitkenhead (Warwickshire CC) Rest
Leon Graham (Lancashire CC) Con
Cameron Emery (West Northants C) Rest
David Hoey (Solihull MBC) Con
Karl Perks (Worcestershire CC), Con
Bruce Craze (Cornwall), Res
Rhys Carr (Wakefield C), SDP
Mark Hadfield (Plymouth CC), Res
Andrew Crumplin (Plymouth CC), Res
Nigel Swales (Lancashire CC), Lab
Robert Hanson (Sheffield), Chartist Reform
Mick Lee (Sheffield), Chartist Reform
Andrew Southall (Dudley MBC), Res
Michael Rees (Gloucestershire CC), Res
➡️ Suspended
Dave Rowan (Kirklees C)
Jacob Padget (Wakefield C)
Matthew Wallens (Staffordshire CC)
Dean Robertson (Litchfield City)
Bradley Thompson (Essex CC)
➡️ Disqualified
Andy Osborn (Cambridgeshire CC)
John Allen (Northumberland CC)
➡️ Resigned
Mark Whittington (South Kesteven DC)
Jack McGlenen (Durham CC)
Gaynor Jean-Louis (Worcestershire CC)
Wayne Titley (Staffordshire CC)
Donna Edmunds (Shropshire CC)
Luke Shingler (Warwickshire CC)
Desmond Clarke (Nottinghamshire CC)
Andrew Kilburn (Durham CC)
John Bailey (Durham CC)
Sam Booth (Doncaster C)
David Maclean (Isle of Wight C)
Robert Bloom (North Northants CC)
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Freedom of Movement wasn't about immigration.
It was YOUR freedom.
To live in Paris.
Work in Berlin.
Retire in Spain.
Study in Rome.
Fall in love in Prague.
We didn't take Freedom of Movement away from Europeans.
We took it away from ourselves.
What an utter disgrace. Bellends. Those in the council and those who voted to put them there.
Reform-led Gateshead Council refuses to light up bridge red in support of anti-racism campaign
chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor…
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Amble (Northumberland) Council By-Election Result:
🌹 LAB: 38.8% (+0.4)
➡️ RFM: 33.5% (-10.9)
🌳 CON: 21.0% (+3.8)
◼️ RES: 6.7% (New)
Labour GAIN from Reform UK.
Changes w/ 2025.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Two pictures:
1. Nigel Farage pointing and laughing as the pound crashed after Britain voted to leave the EU.
2. Crispin Odey’s £220m profit after investing £873k in Vote Leave campaign groups.
If you still think Brexit was a good idea then you are a fucking moron.
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Man with stubble, "Small boats arrivals are 37,000. There are over 4 million kids in child poverty. And 4.5 million who can't get a dentist appointment" #BBCQT
"We spend 90% of the media discourse on the 37,000. How much more could we achieve if we put that effort into the 4.5 million?"
Well said that man 👏
Bev Stephenson retweeted
Tice apologises for failing to declare a foreign visit. Reform Welsh leader steps down over accusations of assault and coercive behaviour. Endless scandal about money. This is the reality of far right parties. Always their own interests and business not that of the public. It is Trumpism and the last thing we need
