Morning music
On this day a year ago
Tweets seen
Liz Truss made herself look like a complete fool when she met the Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov. He totally outclassed her. In fact, she looked more like a stray visitor or uninformed heckler than a supposed equal to Lavrov. As people now say, “cringe-worthy”.
It’s not just about Liz Truss, though. The whole system and way of life in the UK is running out of road.
Liz Truss might have done better not to have shown her face in the Commons yesterday. She looked (literally) drugged; quiescent. Very strange.
She might be OK at a parish or small local council level, or maybe even at county council level, but she just cannot hack being a minister, or being a Cabinet minister, let alone a prime minister. It’s ludicrous.
Liz Truss became Prime Minister on 6 September 2022. If she can last until 6 November 2022, she gets the cash. 19 days from today.
“Not a bad little earner“… especially when combined with her £84,000 MP salary, and continuing MP expenses payments, and whatever else the bitch has going on.
There are conditions, admittedly.
Ironically, South West Norfolk, her seat, is one of the safest the Conservative Party holds [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_Norfolk_(UK_Parliament_constituency)], so she herself may well, if not deselected, continue to be an MP even as literally hundreds of her MP colleagues go to the wall.
Once again, there are elements of Greek tragedy (and comedy) in all this.
I feel not a trace of sympathy for this stupid, over-promoted, self-publicizing bitch so typical of Parliament today. She has plunged this country into despair, and is now about to plunge many millions of British people into poverty and, in some cases, destitution.
She should be stamped upon. The same goes for woolly-head Kwarteng, “Boris”-idiot and many others. All the crazy so-called “free market” finance-capitalist pseudo-libertarians.
That piece by Peter Oborne is seriously worth watching. In fact, every single Conservative Party MP, ordinary member, and indeed ordinary voter, should watch it. Nine minutes of solid commonsense.
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Ha ha. Made me laugh, and it somehow encapsulates the present situation. Does anyone in the UK retain any confidence in Liz Truss (if they ever did have any— I myself of course never had any).
Over the past 12 years, the various “Conservative” governments have been called “a shitshow” several times, but this shambolic farrago must be “the shitshow to end all shitshows”.
Not that “Labour” is much better really, just less obviously rubbish (arguably)…
I am voting for the Guy Fawkes Party (a joke yet not a joke).
Our political system is broken beyond repair.
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“Retired senior officer” finds it perplexing that ex-RAF pilots might work in China for a quarter of a million pounds a year. Is that the kind of woodentop we have at the top of the air force?
“Appealing to…honour and patriotism“? Pretty hard to make such an appeal successfully, in view of the fact that real Britain is rapidly ceasing to exist. A population now consisting of demoralized, uncultured (and de-cultured) whites and huge numbers of blacks, browns, Chinese indeed, and others, ruled over by a political class which is just rubbish and, like the msm and much of the country, under the thumb of the Jew-Zionists.
I like it. I usually like it when people speak the truth.
I have, admittedly, seen little of Corden (and had never heard of him until a few years ago), but what I have seen I have not liked.
Russia needs a new start. It needs to free itself once and for all from Jew-Zionism, build a new society on a structural basis similar to the Rudolf Steiner concept, the Threefold Social Order, and bring far more equity and social justice into Russian society.
First, though, it has to beat the regime of the Jew Zelensky.
So good, I posted it twice.
Since 10 October, i.e. in the past week, 30% of the electrical power generating stations in territory held by the Kiev regime have been destroyed. This is the modern equivalent of a mediaeval siege, but on a wide geographical scale.
I cannot see “Western” (NWO) support for Zelensky’s regime continuing indefinitely.
Russia has to win this, or die, and it is clear that the gloves are coming off.
Railways are a strategic national asset, not to be sold off to foreign entities.
The better side of British farming
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The first reference is to the rather unpleasant lawyer, Jolyon Maugham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolyon_Maugham; the second to the supposed “poverty expert”, or “food poverty expert”, and recipe tweeter, “Jack Monroe”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Monroe.
I recently assessed the Monroe person for the blog: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2022/09/30/diary-blog-30-september-2022-including-an-assessment-of-jack-monroe-aka-the-bootstrap-cook/, my assessment following on from months of Twitter outrage seen about her and about how her life story and lifestyle somehow fail to add up. I suppose that the right word (and appropriately “Essex”) would be “dodgy”.
I should say that she has her defenders, people who seem to have elected her a kind of “Queen of Poverty Britain”. They themselves are very rarely poor, and many in fact seem rather comfortably-off. I question how many actually use her often very peculiar recipes. They seem to support her in a kind of unthinking way because she is perceived to be “anti-austerity” etc, though one could argue that saying (as she does, however absurdly) that someone can live on £5 a week, actually plays into the hands of such as Iain Dunce Duncan Smith and Therese Coffey.
All the same, Ms. Monroe has had published over half a dozen books and, apparently, has made £90,000 (and counting, continuing royalties taken into account) out of them. She also appears on TV shows, gives interviews etc
It seems to me that some people need a “hero” or “heroine”, even a fake one, and those people will shut their eyes to the seeming fact that they are perhaps being taken for a ride.
Many of her supporters also seem to like her “LGBTQXYZ” persona.
800+ people were apparently sending “Jack Monroe” between £3.50 and £44 a month via the Patreon donation website; about 700 still are, it seems (and the maximum suggested amount is now reduced to £10). Still, keeping with the Essex argot, “a nice little earner“, on the face of it.
The problem is or was that it seems that many of those donating received few if any of the items promised in return.
Search for “Jack Monroe” or “Bootstrap Cook” on Twitter, and you will see many of the arguments around her.
For myself, and as I wrote in that assessment, I do not think that she actually set out to defraud anyone, but she has obviously not delivered on her promises, as least to quite a few people.
As for the whole “eat well on 70p a day” idea, it just does not stack up. I am sure (well, it sounds plausible, anyway) that some of her recipes and ideas help some people. Far too many people in the UK live off takeaways and/or unnecessarily expensive packaged foods. However, no-one in the UK can live —even frugally— on less than about £3 a day for food (at minimum), and it is dishonest of someone with a public platform to suggest otherwise. £5 a week for food is certainly “for the birds”.
Some of her recipes are on such a level as “boil an egg, mash it up with mayonnaise, spread it on bread“. Similar to that, anyway. Well, thank you, Escoffier!
There again, the whole “Bootstrap Cook” thing was originally about how someone living off Britain’s pitifully-small basic State benefits could survive, and it is hard to maintain that ethos once you have thousands of pounds a month coming in on a regular basis, and tens of thousands in the bank.
Now, the Observer has actually given Ms. Monroe an award: see https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/oct/16/i-tweeted-and-life-went-nuts-ofm-awards-2022-food-hero-jack-monroe. As the Guardian said, “voted for by Observer Food Monthly readers“.
I have never met anyone who reads the Observer who has not been affluent. (actually, one scarcely ever meets an Observer reader anyway, the newspaper has such a low circulation).
Anyway, you see my point— virtue-signallers. The sort of people who live in Blackheath, or Hampstead, or near Stroud, drive an SUV when not showing off on a bicycle, and read the Guardian and the Observer.
As said in the assessment, I have no particular animus against Ms. Monroe, and I do not regard her as a fraudster, more just as someone not entirely to be trusted, but I do not think that her contribution, such as it is, to the social or poverty debate in the UK, is at all useful in terms of policy.
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I was blogging about that just a few days ago. I should put in for the job of Political Forecaster Laureate. A couple of hundred grand a year and the now-redundant lodge of Harry (Formerly Known As Prince) and the formerly “royal” Mulatta should suit, if Windsor Castle itself is not yet available.
“Liz Truss is no longer publicly committed to defending the triple lock – the guarantee that the state pension will rise every year in line with inflation, earnings, or 2.5%, whichever is highest. In their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives said they would “keep the triple lock” and in interviews only two weeks ago, during the party conference, Truss confirmed that she was still “committed” to it.
Not any more. At the Downing Street lobby briefing after cabinet, the PM’s spokesperson refused to say that Truss still feels bound by this. He did not say it would definitely go, but he clearly signalled that it is up for negotiation.“
[The Guardian]
As previously blogged, if the Triple Lock goes, the Conservative Party goes, probably forever. Sunak reneged, in 2021-2022, on the manifesto commitment to keep the Triple Lock. Result? Most (mostly 60+-y-o) Conservative Party members voted against him as Con leader. Sunak’s refusal to keep to the pledge cost him the Prime Ministership.
Only about 20%-25% of UK voters are now intending to vote Conservative next time, so say the opinion polls. That 20%-25% bloc is composed almost entirely of pensioners, and is the real hard core of the Conservative general election vote. Alienate that bloc, make them abstain or vote elsewhere, and the Conservative Party vote will collapse to 10% at top. Only a handful, or a few dozen, Con Party seats would remain. Ironically, as said earlier, one of the few left standing, like a pillar of salt, would be that of Liz Truss herself.
We therefore now know, for certain, that at least 40,000 members of the Conservative Party are so brainless that they should not be allowed out on the street alone (if they indeed are now).
A party in the UK stands or falls, more or less, as a party.
Look at this “shitshow“, to quote the open-mouthed Johnny Mercer. The Conservative Party was always admired for its ruthlessness in getting rid of unwanted leaders. Is it now falling short even in that?
Interesting Constitutional point too, that occurs to me: in principle, a general election need only be held within 5 years of the last one, so long as a prime minister can command the confidence of the House (Bagehot), so in principle Truss can be replaced by another Con MP who can rely on that large Con majority in the Commons. However, these circumstances of October 2022 are unusual.
Only the King can prorogue Parliament, and does so on the advice of the Prime Minister. What if Liz Truss refuses to vacate her office, and advises the King that she should remain, in circumstances where it is doubtful that she holds the confidence of even her own side? That might place the King in a very difficult Constitutional position: a choice between proroguing Parliament in effect on his own judgment and against PM’s advice, or not proroguing and then forcing the Commons to vote on confidence.
In such a circumstance, would the Conservative MPs vote “no confidence” in Liz Truss? That would mean a general election in which, on present polling, all but 50-150 out of 357 would lose their seats. Are they that altruistic? Most not, I think.
On the other hand, were those Con MPs to vote that they have confidence in Liz Truss, then no general election, but they would be stuck with her for at least a year, and possibly until the next general election, at least in my view. Awkward.
The new and as yet uncrowned King may find himself taking, or having to take, a far more active role in a party-political matter than he might prefer.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_British_prorogation_controversy
I did of course read Constitutional Law, at degree level, but would, naturally, not hold out myself as being in any way expert. Perhaps there are others, more erudite, who can solve the conundrum. If so, the comments section is open to the ocean.
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“Liz Truss is “charmless, graceless, brainless, and useless”, a former Conservative minister has said.”
Irony is dead…
Thought for the day?
A stupid “ho”, who only became an MP on her back, posing implausibly as “Prime Minister”, a woolly-headed n***** as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and moreover the latter —some say— banging the former…What could possibly go wrong?!
Now add to that a crazed and mediocre Indian barrister woman as Home Secretary, a useless half-caste as Foreign Secretary, and a drunken ex-Scots Guards junior officer as Defence Secretary.
Britain really is ready now for the Nuclear Age… as a target.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
A few months ago before this war in Ukraine started I used to think the relatively unknown and quiet Ben Wallace was one of the very few cabinet ministers with a modicum of seriousness, IQ or natural ability to do his job but then out came that profoundly silly and stupid rant about how his old regiment could kick Putin’s forces arses as they did to Russian regiments in the Crimean War over one hundred and fifty years ago!🙄🙄🙄🙄
Unless he has the excuse of having drunk too much whisky or another form of intoxicating liquid then, I’m afraid’, I am going to have to put him in the same dismal ranks of idiots like Boris, Patel and all the other wretchedly incompetent morons the Tories have foisted upon us these past twelve years.
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John:
I have little doubt that whisky played its part…
[from about 2 mins in, and then thereafter, eg at 8.20 et seq]
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Very well said! The man proved to be an idiot!
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Some Tories rate him as a potential PM still though he says he doesn’t want the job.
I would have been inclined to think similarly until I heard that childish, stupid and ill advised to actually say it in public even if you think it in private rant.
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John:
I am sure that, in the Kremlin and around, there were a few laughs at that.
I favour the idea that a Defence Secretary should have military experience, but the fact is that he has had little if any experience of command beyond the active junior level (his last rank was Captain), and no strategic education or experience.
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Yes, it is good to have a native Briton as Defence Secretary with some actual real experience of the military but can we have one who lives in the present day and can calmly assess the fact that Britain ceased being a military superpower at the end of WW2.
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John:
Quite, though I would date that demise as 1956, with the failure to secure Suez.
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Ha, ha, Edwina Currie! That was cruel but too accurate! Mind you, saying that, some people might think those words could equally apply TO YOU as well!
About the only time I’ve ever agreed with this typically pushy Jewess is when she voted for the return of hanging back in 1994 despite being against it previously.
She isn’t wrong with her remarks on Truss and yes, Edwina, Jeremy Hunt should be the next PM as he is one of the tiny handful of Tory MPs (less than ten) who is remotely able to do the job and can come across as a plausible PM.
Also, he is already effectively PM in all but name so why doesn’t the party forgive him for being a Remainer in 2016 as Truss was and give him the post?
This country is crying out for a COMPETENT PM.
It was a great injustice that utterly obsessed with Brexit to the point of madness UKIP infliltrators amongst Tory members rejected Jeremy in 2019 in favour of the buffoon.
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Yes, Liz Truss’s constituency of South West Norfolk is an immensely safe Tory seat. Infact, it is the eleventh safest in the country just one place behind my own of Brentwood and Ongar:
https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/defence/conservative
https://www.electionpolling.co.uk
According to this site which apparently has quite a good record of predicting general election results it will come very, very close to falling to Labour:
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/con_I_q.html
She will survive by just 0.2% of the vote!🥺🥺🥺
http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/newseatlookup.html
http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk
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John:
I am sure that all her colleagues, forced to find less congenial “work” will love it that Liz Truss is still in Parliament after they have all been booted out.
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Indeed. Would they still allow her to be Leader of His Majesty’s Official Opposition (assuming that the Conservative and Unionist Party has the second largest number of seats in the House and the SNP don’t) in that instance?
Selecting a new leader might prove to be extraordinary difficult to do when you have to choose from such a depleted number of MPs and certainly finding one with any decent IQ level or ability to do that job will be considering their recent track record isn’t exactly brilliant in this respect.
Why not just fold instead?
The Conservative and Unionist Party 1800- 2022 RIP!
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John:
I think that, even if the gene pool were reduced to 50, with Liz Truss as one of the remaining 50, the other 49 would depose her at once.
Your comment about the quality of Con MPs likely to be left after a massive cull reminded me of the old-style “hunting, shooting, fishing” Shires-Tory MP (I forget the name), an ex-officer of some sort, who died some 30 years ago and who was a Whip, possibly Chief Whip, circa 1960. Seeing (as he thought) an MP going home early, before a vote, he ran down a Westminster corridor after him and shouted out “oh, no you don’t, you lazy bastard!” as he kicked him in the rear.
Unfortunately, he had kicked the rear end, not of an errant Con MP, but of the Swiss Ambassador.
You might like these obituaries:
though I cannot remember which volume contains the MP mentioned by me.
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The Tories having 50 to 150 seats you say!
Ha, ha, DREAM ON!😂😂😂
With the present opinion poll ratings being utterly horrific and unprecedented in the case of some of the individual poll findings they would be lucky to have the former figure let alone the latter.
This site’s middle prediction which is, apparently, the most likely is that they will have 48 seats which is FOUR LESS than Nicola Sturgeon’s separatist maniacs of the SNP:
http://www.electoralcalculus/homepage.html
I am wondering if that dire prediction became a reality what the rules of the House of Commons would be?
Surely, even if the SNP had more seats than the Tories they couldn’t officially be classed as His Majesty’s Loyal (or, in their case, DISLOYAL) Opposition?🤔🤔🤔
With these crazy predictions becoming more and more prevalent it just goes to show how utterly ludicrous our present electoral system of FPTP is.
Could the Tories, finally, come into the 21st Century and endorse Proportional Representation as that may be the only way they will remain a viable party at this rate!🙄🙄🙄😂😂😂😂
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John:
Well, of course it is possible to retain the King of England as King of Scotland and yet be an independent state (as with Canada, Australia, NZ etc).
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Yes, indeed that is the case but I can’t see how rational it would be to confer official opposition status on a blatantly separatist party that only stands candidates in just one part of the United Kingdom? Surely, the next largest party in the House of Commons which isn’t separatist should have that title and role?
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John:
That is the choice of the SNP (to stand candidates only in Scotland) just as small parties only stand in other regions such as England, or part of England.
If it ever happened that the SNP were called the “Loyal Opposition”, it might wake up other parties and the public.
Until Scotland is “independent” (if ever), it remains part of the Union.
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Yes, it is, of course, the right of the SNP and Plaid Cymru to stand candidates only within their parts of the United Kingdom and they do that because of their political philosophy but should that extraordinary result actually happen with the SNP having the second largest number of seats in the House of Commons after Labour I can’t see how it could, constitionally, be right for that party to be called and have the special status of being the Official Opposition.
The Official Opposition is not just a mere title it has certain financial benefits to that party as well because of its role within parliament.
The Official Opposition gets Short Money to help it in its role.
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Unless the SNP in those extraordinary circumstances were to change the entire nature of their most fundamental political belief and were consequently to become a United Kingdom wide party and to stand candidates in the other parts of the country then I think the title of His Majesty’s Official Opposition would have to go to the largest non separatist party in the House which would be the Conservative and Unionist Party if this poll were to become reality.
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Yes, a very interesting and profoundly disturbing video by Peter Oborne. The Conservative Party is now heavily influenced by ultra-wealthy, often foreign, libertarian extremist crackpots and this is something they need to deal with before it destroys the party.
Of course, the Conservative Party has always been the ‘party of business’ and the wealthy and prosperous but at least in the old days it was the party of not just business but often of BRITISH business and productive industry eg I believe I am correct in stating that Neville Chamberlain’s family had British business interests.
Now, it has degenerated into being the party of on the make and dodgy City spivs like Hedge Funds etc.
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John:
As you say, the Chamberlain family were in various forms of business in both London and Birmingham, as well as Conservative politics.
At that time, when Britain had an empire, banks etc were useful (usually useful) parasites upon a thriving real economy. Now, the real economy is on life support, and the almost useless parasites are sucking out what is left of its life. Hedge funds etc are little better than riverboat gamblers.
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