Batley and Spen by-election
I continue to update my assessment of the Batley and Spen by-election, which is to be held next Thursday, 1 July 2021: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2021/06/04/the-batley-and-spen-by-election-2021/
Afternoon music

Victoria
I have been watching the dramatization of the life of Queen Victoria. Very good, and unlike most such docu-dramas, does not leave out the major political and socio-economic currents flowing at the time. Very intelligently planned, and finely-acted.
As always, there are imperfections. In the double-length episode I saw today, some lady was playing a piece by Rachmaninov on the piano, though the name of the composer was not mentioned. Anachronistic, in that this was set around 1850. Rachmaninov was born in 1873! So the TV people got it wrong by about 50 years!
Dramatized history is ever thus. In fact, other episodes of Victoria were also rather loose with the historical truth, as when Drummond, the secretary of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, is shot in mistake for Peel. That did happen, but not at all as shown.
The series was based on a book by A.N. Wilson, who is a readable writer, but not always a good historian. I once read one of his books which was so replete with historical inaccuracies that I was surprised that no-one at his publishers had corrected them. In fact, I reviewed the book on Amazon UK, where I was a “top 50” reviewer, but the Jew lobby had all my reviews removed from Amazon some years ago.
More music
Europe is dwarfed by the burgeoning power of China. In every way— population, overall economic strength, military might. Even the USA is now challenged. The response by the USA (as well as Europe and Russia) to that challenge will define what the second half of this century, as well as succeeding centuries, will look like.
Justice?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thug-who-dogs-tear-animals-24390497
This was not justice but entirely misplaced mercy. Look at his previous convictions and (again) far too lenient previous sentences.
Tweets seen
So it begins…
Dump them all back in Africa somewhere (anywhere).
I agree. There should have been also, a mass civil disobedience to the facemask nonsense, with businesses openly ignoring the so-called “rules”. Businesses have almost all cravenly submitted to the Government diktats, so screw them.

Answer: bulldoze it with all MPs and their sycophants still inside. Then plant a wood on the hill of rubble.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060047698
In fact, both the German movements for organized youth, and those of the Soviet Union, were inspired by and loosely based on the ideas of Baden-Powell and his Boy Scouts and Girl Guides movement(s): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Baden-Powell,_1st_Baron_Baden-Powell.
In Germany, the NSDAP set up both the Hitlerjugend [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth] and the Bund Deutscher Mädel [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_German_Girls].


What is less-known is that the German Communist Party [KPD] in the 1920s, early 1930s, and 1949-1989 also had such an organization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Communist_League_of_Germany, members of which included some persons later prominent in the post-WW2 DDR (East Germany), such as Erich Honecker [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Honecker] and Markus Wolf [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Wolf].
Subject to correction, I believe that the (German) Social Democrat Party [SPD] also had its own youth movement in the 1918-33 period.
In the Soviet Union, the equivalent organization would be the Young Pioneers [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin_All-Union_Pioneer_Organization]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artek_(camp)

More music
These people should be on our side!
More tweets seen
Batley and Spen Labour Party by-election candidate Kim Leadbeater runs away from Muslims (and others?) who do not want their young children taught about lesbianism etc. She is said to be a lesbian.
This must damage her campaign, especially with Muslim voters.
I note that System politics website Politics for All is careful to note that Ms. Leadbeater is “Jo Cox’s sister“. Labour is still hoping that the sympathy vote (if it exists), 5 years on, will win the by-election for Ms. Leadbeater. I have no idea whether or not there actually is, or ever was, a “sympathy vote” for Labour arising out of the assassination of the MP Jo Cox by a dissident in 2016. Now? Doubtful, though Ms. Leadbeater is obviously helped by her local roots.
Labour is totally desperate. I wonder, though, what real impact the Conservatives are making at Batley and Spen. All the noise is about either Kim Leadbeater or George Galloway. Is that the Conservative tactic, to keep quiet, and let Galloway bleed Labour of Muslim votes, rather than the Conservatives making noise and so perhaps triggering at least some white voters to vote Labour? Or is that too Machiavellian?
Looking at the past decade, and leaving out the rigged by-election of 2016, the Conservatives have been between 30% and 40% at Batley and Spen [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batley_and_Spen_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s], Labour between 42% and 56%. If most of the Muslim vote abstains or votes for Galloway, that must take Labour down to somewhere around 30%. That gives the prize, probably, to the Conservatives. If most of the Muslim vote abandons Labour, and many 2019 Labour white, i.e. English, voters also abandon Labour, then the Conservatives will win easily.
I cannot see Galloway actually winning. He would have to get almost all of the Muslim vote and quite a lot of English votes to do that. Never say never, of course, but it is very unlikely. Having said that, I started off thinking that he might get 5%, then thought maybe 10%. Now I am wondering whether he might not top 20% or more, but the truth is that I am guessing.
Having now read the above article, I cannot say that I am much impressed. I have (if I say so myself) made the same points previously, and better. The point about whether a Conservative Party MP would be better-placed to attract central government support in a Conservative Party-dominated Parliament is a good one, though again one that I have myself made several times in relation both to this by-election, the recent Hartlepool one, and generally.
I have never been to the Batley area. I have no idea what kind of personal popularity Ms. Leadbeater has. She seems very odd to me, at times leaping in the air as if at one of her gym classes; and despite her entourage, she seemed frightened when being challenged by Muslim anti-LGBT etc people. Of course, she is not a politician, as such, and has been parachuted in (for all that she is local) to try to capitalize on the supposed “sympathy vote” (which I frankly do not believe exists anyway).
I can see that there are logical reasons why voters in the by-election might vote Conservative; I can see that there are ideological reasons why voters, especially Muslim voters, might either vote Galloway or abstain. I can see no reason why many voters, English or Muslim, would vote Labour in the by-election.
A supposed leading political scribbler, but he cannot even spell properly the name of the candidate…
What “debate”? The “rules” are for the mugs and scared rabbits…
Boris-idiot’s charmed life continues. Hancock has been approved by “Boris” despite the scandal. He will now be kept on by “Boris”, like a fly kept alive but doomed in a spider’s web, ready to be utilized. Once the moment comes when “Boris” needs a sacrificial victim, there will be a reshuffle and Hancock will then be finished off (sacked and/or demoted).
Late music

What a truly REPELLENT and EVIL CUNT (a word I rarely use about females) you are, Kathy Gyngell!🙄🤬😡
For your information, people aged 80 plus still have a little thing called the right to life and may well be someone’s much loved mother, aunt, sister, grandmother or even a great grandmother! They are NOT just ‘useless eaters’ and certifiable losses on the national Tory accounting charts and who knows whether they will become centenarians and get their celebratory message from the Queen?🙄🙄🙄
I must say. I really do wonder at times how your party, the CON Party, ever acquired its pretty well deserved reputation for being ‘Britain’s Nasty Party’ Frankly, that is a real,mystery- NOT!🙄🙄🙄🙄
Haven’t you all meant to be good little boys and girls over the last fifteen years or so as to rid your party of that label and yet here we have one of many examples since this crisis erupted of a Tory proving how right those accusations are!🙄🙄🙄🙄
No wonder the decent and well-educated denizens of Chesham and Amersham rejected your party in their thousands a week or so ago and elected a Lib Dem instead!👌😎🍷😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣😷😷😷😄😄😎😎😂😂😂😞😞👌👌😎😎
LikeLike
Those over 80 year olds can still pass the virus onto someone younger and kill them even if they don’t die themselves or give them a serious illness with sometimes life long consequences such as weakened lungs which may mean they die younger than they should have done.🙄🙄🙄
Ever heard of ‘long Covid’ you utterly thick and evil Tory bitch?🙄🙄🙄🙄
LikeLike
If only we could be more like the ever so efficient Chinese and Russians at times and utilise firing squads to execute patently evil Covid-19 deniers/intentional minimisers and all round vicious and evil Tory scum like that wretched woman above.
This country would be so much better off with firing squads or mass hangings to execute Tory scum.
I see that the Republican governor of South Carolina has ended the unofficial moratorium on executions in that state by putting his signature to a bill enabling capital punishment to go ahead via the use of the electric chair or a firing squad when the state can’t obtain the drugs for lethal injections which often happens nowadays:
https://en.wiki.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_South_Carolina
LikeLike
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_South_Carolina
LikeLike
That Muslims are attacking the Labour candidate for being? a lesbian is outrageous and is deplorable but frankly I am not surprised at it. Muslims in West Yorkshire in particular seem to be very intolerant on the whole and this is a LONG STANDING problem in that part of the country ie Muslim murders of young white lads in Batley (a part of the constituency) those demonstrations involving teachers in that town AND how they reacted at the time The Satanic Verses book was published in the late 1990’s.
We had the so-called ‘Iron Lady’ in power then and I remember her government doing nothing to address what was even then a growing problem.😡🤬😞☹️
You CAN’T teach anybody to be a lesbian, gay man or a bisexual. That is a scientific impossibility. These Muslims and others need to learn to be a bit more tolerant towards people of different sexual orientations.
The only gay rights I have had misgivings or concerns about are gay adoption and the age of consent being reduced to 16. Parliament in 1994 voted to reduce it from the old age of 21 to 18 and I think that made for a good compromise. 16 can be characterised as too young. Boys especially are sometimes ‘late developers’ in this regard and aren’t sure about what orientation they have until they are 17 or 18.
The specific issue of transsexuals should be kept apart from the LGB part of the issue. This is an entirely different matter.
LikeLike
M’Lord of Essex: I do not think that the Muslims (and others) object on the basis that their daughters will *become* lesbians, but on the basis that they will be exposed to inappropriate ideas and “facts” at a very young age.
LikeLike
Education about LGB people should happen but it needs to be at an appropriate age ie in senior school not younger. Young children should be allowed to keep their innocence about the world.
LikeLike
From what little I have read or seen about the Labour candidate, she seems to be quite a nice person and that is in stark contrast to many Labour MPs and candidates and those of other parties as well. She is obviously not a professional politician, is local and may make for a good local MP for the constituency.
Looks like the Tory candidate, Ryan Stephenson, has been not too accurate with telling the truth regarding police numbers on his party’s election placards:
https://Twitter.com/InspectorGadgetBlogs
Hmm, telling fibs about ‘more police’ when your so-called ‘party of law and order and the police’ has brutally sacked tens of thousands and shut down numerous police stations including the fine 1930’s built dedicated one we had in my Tory stronghold seat of Brentwood and Ongar!🙄🙄🙄🙄😡😡😡🤬🤬😞😞😞☹️☹️☹️
The Conservatives shut down police counters in Chesham and Amersham too which is one more reason they lost that safe seat.
LikeLike
Hello Ian: Some wonderful news from the USA. This is what I call “poetic justice”! (LOL)
LikeLike
Claudius, you are a hard man indeed!
Having said that, one American saying is very true: “what goes around comes around”…
LikeLike
It should be very hard to sack police officers. To be sacked as one should require an officer to have done something seriously wrong in their job rather than be ‘surplus to requirements’.
Recruitment to police forces needs to be on an almost continual upward path.
Britain needs much larger, less PC, more well led, more highly paid, more professional and more effective at fighting crime police forces.
There needs to be at least another 30,000 recruits if not considerably more than that ie 40,000 to 50,000.
We need to remember that the potential criminal fears that their crime will be detected, they will be arrested and charged and put before a court before they think about what sort of sentence they might receive from a normally lenient and left wing judge.
Certainly, harsher sentences and more consistency of them can play their part in deterring crime from happening but larger and more effective police forces and a consequently higher rate of detection and being caught make for great deterrents as well.
If I were Home Secretary my motto and that of the Home Office would be ‘hang ‘em, flog ‘em, incarcerate ‘em and ‘don’t unpack you are going back’.😂😎👌🤣😆🍷😂😎😎👌👌😂😂😂👌👌🤣🤣😂😂😎😎😂😂
Yes, in the manner of lthat famous phrase of Stonewall ‘Some people are ‘Right-wing’ and ‘authoritarian’ GET OVER IT!😂🤣🍷😎😆👌😂
LikeLike
I would absolutely support your motto.
LikeLike
Thank you!👌🍷🤣😎 I think it would make for a great motto and signify a REAL determination by a Home Secretary and the Home Office to seriously tackle criminal scumbags who make the lives of too many in this country, particularly the more vulnerable, such as our elderly people a misery and to secure our very leaky borders at long last.
Sadly though none of this will happen under the so-called ‘party of law and order and the police/party of immigration control’ with their succession of bad Home Secretaries with the latest one, Priti USELESS, being the worst of the lot.
It is a shame there are not more winnable by-elections for the Lib Dems on the horizon as another huge defeat may mean the ‘Wicked Witch of Witham’ is justly sacked. Surely there is at least ONE ‘Right-wing’ person left in the Tory Party who could do a better job as Home Secretary? They haven’t ALL left the party, have they?☹️😞
LikeLike
The last Home Secretary who I can remember who was even faintly good was (in Ann Widdecombe’s oh so witty and memorable phrase😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😆😆😃😃) ‘Something of The Night About Him’ 😂Count Dracula otherwise known as Michael Howard.
At least he done some good work in starting to stiffen-up sentencing policy.👌 Also, I very much enjoyed his famous ‘Prison Works’ speech to the Conservative Party conference in 1993.🍷👌😎😂
Yes, I am not a fan of the Howard League for Penal Reform!😂 I have an admiration for how countries like Singapore and Japan deal with the criminal fraternity!😄
LikeLike
Under Priti USELESS a policeman’s lot is not a happy one! If I were Home Secretary I would be a determined friend of the police officer and aim to make this occupation a respected one once again with the public as it should be and as it was once justly regarded by the law abiding.
Being an officer of the law should be one of the most noble jobs and up there with being a doctor, nurse, surgeon and a teacher of the next generation.
LikeLike
Dear Ian: I am researching English law in the 18th century and, as I do not understand many of the expressions or titles used then I must look further. Looking for the etymology of “attorney” I came across this very curious and interesting bit of information.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/attorney#:~:text=attorney%20(n.)&text=(mid%2D13c.,appointed%20to%20represent%20another’s%20interests.%22
Did you know this?
LikeLike
Claudius: I knew the basic facts though not every detail.
As in many other areas (eg military, Parliamentary, monarchy) the 19thC crystallized the legal profession in England (Scotland has a slightly different system).
There were once also other lawyers called “sergeants”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law
LikeLike
Is me again! Maybe this could be of interest to you (if not, just delete it) Is an interesting paper about the origins of barristers and attorneys and the legal profession in England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3938&context=ndlr
LikeLike
Claudius:
Thank you. Well worth reading. An impressive outline.
I see that it is from the American university of Notre Dame, known for Roman Catholicism and American football: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Notre_Dame
I have to say, looking at that Wikipedia entry, that the American universities’ facilities put any English universities to shame…
LikeLike