Morning music
Battles past
Tweets seen
Nadine Dorries?! Unexpected.
Goodnight VIenna Kiev?
Alarming indeed. If there is a nuclear attack, though, there may be no warning at all.
The world has managed to avoid nuclear war so far, at least after 1945, and more by luck than judgment, arguably. Will that luck continue?
Looks as though “the musicians” are about to start playing again…
More music
From the newspapers
Pushback may be, at long last, starting.
Eliminate drug abusers. They drive the whole illegal-drug economy.
More tweets
Just visualize that— a million new, and also unwanted, inhabitants in the UK in the space of a couple of years. The equivalent of a city such as Birmingham.
Anyone who supports or promotes mass immigration or migration invasion into the UK is, in real —not legalistic— terms, just a traitor.
I recall that Michael Palin, about 18 years ago, in Michael Palin’s New Europe, sympathetically interviewed both Yulia Tymoshenko (at the time, Prime Minister of Ukraine) and her then very attractive daughter, who was about 25 and was a former student at the LSE and, according to Wikipedia, Rugby School (I had thought Cheltenham Ladies’ College; maybe I mixed her up with someone else).
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Tymoshenko; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenia_Tymoshenko.
At that time, Eugenia Tymoshenko was married to an Englishman called Sean Carr, a rock music singer, who was then in his late thirties. He was also featured on Palin’s show. A bearded motorcyclist. The couple divorced about five years later.
Since Palin did his TV show, Yulia Tymoshenko has been convicted of corruption etc, been imprisoned, appealed, been released, and is now an MP again, and the leader of a political party. Her daughter has remarried and has a high profile but is not a politician, and the English (I think Yorkshire) rock music person, Sean Carr, died in 2018 at the relatively early age of 49 or 50.
Ha ha…
https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1679525038465118208?s=20
One of the five (5) tweets that resulted in my unjust and in fact unlawful disbarment in late 2016 (8+ years after I gave up Bar practice) was that describing Gove, entirely accurately, as something like a freeloading, fraudulent puppet of Israel and the UK Jewish lobby. At that time I had no idea that he was also both a drunk and a cocaine abuser. A country less decadent than the UK would have dealt with Gove long ago, and certainly would never allow the bastard into government.
Silver Skates
Saw a Russian film this evening: Silver Skates, set in 1900. Rather un-Russian in that it was quite watchable, had a plot that was not obscure, and a relatively happy ending. Not bad. Well put-together.
There were a couple of small historical errors, but overall it was a fairly impressive effort. Slight, though. Not in any way deep or thought-provoking. As I say, rather “un-Russian”.
Late tweets seen
Second tweet not entirely accurate. While it is true that GCHQ was established under that name only in 1946, it seamlessly took over the similar though (in the pre-1939 era) much smaller org known as the Government Code & Cypher School, which operated from a number of places between the two world wars, one being a station or outstation located in the Dog Kennel Hill (East Dulwich borders) and Denmark Hill border of South London. That base, not mentioned in the Wikipedia entry below, was active certainly until the late 1980s, though I think not used by GCHQ (possibly by MI5 or other org ) at that time. For all I know, it may still be in use, if not turned into a housing development as has been almost everything else in Southern England.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCHQ.
Well, after all, that was the status (in the UK) of SIS until about 30 years ago. A real organization that operated under the legal fiction that it did not exist.
I have repeatedly blogged to the same or similar effect.
The “Parliament” of Kosovo. What a joke.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
Yes, Mr Rand Paul, it IS cheeky of Rat Face but this is an American proxy war against Russia so the US could be said to be benefitting from it when push comes to shove.
What about we poor buggers in Europe though? We get ZILCH from this war only high bills, massive energy costs worsening an already existing ‘cost of living crisis’, refugees and above all an ever present threat of the war widening to include our part of the same Continent that Russia partially inhabits with us which could result in nuclear armagheddon.
This latter scenario is not as much of a risk for you 3’000 miles away across a vast ocean.
As ever, Britain is once again playing the role of the faithful Yankee Doodle Poodle as it has done virtually constantly since Churchill became PM (pretty much the only exception was about the only good thing Harold Wilson done ie keeping Britain out of Vietnam) yet your president can hardly hide his utter contempt for us.
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John:
The USA and its people are *not* benefiting from the Ukraine war. Far from it. Only the arms manufacturers and (((the usual))) lobby. NWO/ZOG.
Imagine what the American *people* could have done with USD $100 Billion…schools, libraries, parks, town planning etc. You name it. Instead of which, it goes to the corrupt and brutal dictatorship of the Jew Zelensky and his cabal in Kiev.
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That is true to an extent yet the US has a very powerful and influential military/industrial complex and I am sure US arms manufacturers are making a good amount of quick bucks.
That will benefit the overall American economy. America doesn’t enter wars unless they can see dollor signs. WW1 and especially WW2 made them a tidy sum.
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Yes, drug legalisation doesn’t work. If something previously illegal becomes legal you take the aura of ‘forbidden fruit’ away from it, remove a societal shame from consuming it and possible legal action against you so, naturally enough, more people will try it.
To deal with drug abuse successfully you have to take a comprehensive multi-pronged approach targeting BOTH angles ie the dealers with tough legal sanctions applied against them even up to the death penalty and also some tough actions against the consumers and possesors of illegal narcotics though less severe. A comprehensive educational and societal programme warning young people in particular against taking drugs is also useful.
Singapore does all of this. Contrary to popular belief here their anti drug abuse strategy doesn’t just involve making use of the hangman’s noose on a regular basis. That would be far too simplistic and wouldn’t work all by itself.
Getting public bodies, employers etc to shun drug abusers in order to promote societal disapproval of drug abuse can be beneficial in reducing the numbers of abusers in society too. This is what happens in moral and safe Japan.
Cocaine abusers such as George Gideon Oliver Osbourne and Michael Gove would have seen their political careers rapidly ended once their abuse of these drugs became known in Japan.
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John:
Where I differ from you is that I would hit the *users* the most, because they drive the *trade*, and it is a *trade*. The users are the consumers, the customer base. Take them out, and there is no trade.
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I would say the dealers are the most morally degenerate hence they deserve the most stringent legal sanctions to be applied to them up to and including the admittedly immensely severe penalty of death. These scumbags are making a deeply cynical, calculated and considered CHOICE to make money, occasionally a great deal of it, out of inflicting emotional and physical harm which can often lead to death to others, harming not just individuals but also these individuals’ families and the wider community/society. Drug abuse is so often a contributory factor to other crimes taking place.
The illegal possession of drugs should also be punished.
Abusers do deserve some stringent actions to be taken against them but not as much as the dealers.
The dealers are the most morally culpable and despicable people in this sad, overall situation.
An interesting speech on Singapore’s approach from a minister there:
https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/Teo-Cheo-Hean-at-the-CNB-Workplan-Seminar-2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/Central_Narcotics_Bureau
https://www.cnb.gov.sg
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John:
My prioritization is based not on value-judgments about which group is more naughty but on the *fact* that the consumers drive the trade. Eliminate the consumers, and you eliminate, automatically, the dealers, wholesalers, importers and growers, and/or (in the case of synthetic drugs) chemists.
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Even the most comprehensive educational and broad societal efforts won’t be enough to get everyone to ‘just say no to drugs’. There will always be some people feeling depressed or who are weak-willed ect to take drugs thus providing a market for the dealers. The drug dealers and the abusers are self-reinforcing. BOTH drug supply onto the streets AND dealing with the market for these illegal drugs need to be tackled. Having decent border controls can help with the supply onto the streets but as we know the Border Force here under the grotesquely irresponsible globalist Tories should be renamed Border FARCE.
This entire problem is very difficult to deal with but the dealers WILL have to be treated harshly and if that means some of them are executed then so be it. Tough measures against them are not entirely avoidable.
Overall, as Singapore as so ably shown, executing a couple of drug dealers per year SAVES many more lives overall. No decent or civilised society should ever rejoice in its use of capital punishment and Singapore doesn’t but, sadly, this is not a zero-sum game.
As their excellent Home Secretary, Mr K Shanmugam, has said:
“A misquote to a well-known quote a single hanging of a drug trafficker is a tragedy; a million deaths from drug abuse is a statistic”
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John:
OK, so we would need twice the amount of ammunition…(only joking, of course…)
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The use of hanging in Singapore has had a clear deterrent effect upon the commission of serious crimes including drug dealing:
https://www.mha.gov.sg/home-team-real-deal/detail/detail/the-death-penalty-in-singapore
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/more-than-80-of-sporeans-surveyed-believe-death-penalty-has-deterred-offenders-shanmugam
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Another excellent speech made by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of Communications and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs in the law and order state of Singapore:
https://www.mha.gov.sg/mediaroom/speeches/asia-pacific-forum-against-drugs
If only ‘Tory’ ministers at our utterly dysfunctional sick joke of a Home Office could speak with such clarity and commonsense.
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Some more conmonsensical remarks this time by the PM of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsein Loong:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/tough-laws-death-penalty-pivotal-in-keeping-number-of-drug-abusers-low-pm-lee
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I have a small measure of sympathy for SOME drug abusers ie poor, badly educated people who are unemployed, very depressed about their poor financial situation, prospects at being able to lead a fulfilling life etc.
However, I have ABSOLUTELY NOT A SINGLE OUNCE of it for wealthy people who have often had an excellent and expensive education at some of Britain’s finest public schools such as George Gideon Oliver Osborne had at St Paul’s taking drugs. Someone like that really should know better as should Cokehead Michael Gove.
Can’t the good people of Surrey Heath not find themselves a decent representative in parliament?
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John:
As said before, for me this is not a judgmental question, as such, but one of public health.
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The supply of drugs onto the streets (drug traffickers) and the demand for these illegal drugs (drug abusers) is rather akin to the demand and supply of expensive cars.
Recently, Rolls-Royce launched a very pricey 100% electric vehicle ( their first) called the Rolls-Royce Spectre. No doubt it is great demand from the very rich both here and abroad and the company has big orders for it already.
However, despite the fact it is in huge demand from very wealthy people the company can only supply so many vehicles because the factory making them only has strictly limited capacity to produce them.
Therefore, despite many customers with the means to buy it the supply won’t be able to keep-up with the demand.
These very rich Rolls-Royce fans desire that model greatly, very much want to own it and have the ready cash on hand to buy it but if the supply simply isn’t there then they CAN’T have it.
It is the same with drugs. The abusers want their supply of drugs from the dealers but if the supply is restricted because the dealers are executed or put away for seriously long prison terms then they won’t be able to buy the drugs they want.
The supply of drugs onto the streets has to be seriously restricted by various methods ie tough treatment of the dealers and some other ways such as PROPER BORDER CONTROL.
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Tough sentences regularly enforced such as hanging or very lengthy prison sentences as in the great nation of Singapore are needed to deter would be drug dealers from entering in the first place or remaining engaged in this wicked and despicable ‘trade’/CRIME of drug dealing.
Without such actions and other stringent measures too we as a country and society are going to get absolutely nowhere near dealing properly with this big problem.
Paltry and derisory prison sentences of five years here, ten years there as I have seen on far too many occasions looking at drug dealing stories on google image search by putting in the words London/Birmingham etc and drug dealers are simply not going to cut it to deter these people.
You have to deprive these people of their liberty for a significant amount of time ie at the bare minimum twenty years, thirty years plus to provide for a sufficient deterrent.
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From regularly looking at the images thrown-up by Google image search when you put in the words London, Birmingham, Manchester etc and drug dealers to look at the stories on these people not only greatly increased in time served prison sentences or executions are in order but also a greatly reduced supply of ‘Tory’ and Labour ‘cultural enrichers’ from abroad could well make an appreciable dent in the levels of drug dealing in this blighted country.
Too many of these people do seem to have a greater propensity to become drug dealers.
Why was Crime Watch taken off our screens by the BBC by the way? That programme was used by the police to catch many of these drug dealers and those committing other serious offences. Was pattern recognition a problem?🙄🙄🙄🙄
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John:
As you say. It became an embarrassment when the “most wanted” list on Crimewatch was usually 90% non-white.
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Even though the Beetles were and still are very popular in Japan, Paul McCartney was deported from there in 1980 after it was revealed he had consumed drugs in the country.
So, even Mr McCartney fame, fortune and immense popularity as a member of one of the world’s most successful and well-liked bands didn’t prevent the Japanese government deporting him.
Japanese official disapproval of drug abuse was shown by this action thus strengthening the social stigma against drug abuse and helping to reduce illegal drug consumption there.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in Singapore has very recently amended the country’s already notoriously tough Misuse of Drugs Act in order to make the penalties for possession of drugs more severe and this has come into effect in the last few weeks.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/drugs-new-laws-punishment-caning-nps-pyschoactive-substances-3299316
https://www.mha.gov.sg/mediaroom/press-releases/commencement-of-the-misuse-of-drugs-act-2023
https://www.mha.gov.sg
https://en.wikipedia/wiki/Caning_in_Singapore
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Yes, Ian, I keep an eye in the USA and I had a couple of good contacts there. The majority of the American people are suffering greatly from a brutal increase in the cost of living, decadent infrastructure, high unemployment, etc. This is FAR worse for the hated White Americans who openly and brutally discriminated against when it comes to jobs, admission to universities, social benefits and medical care.
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Hello there! Here is a very nice video about a beautiful part of one of the nicest suburbs of Buenos Aires. The suburb is called Caballito (Little Horse) and this particular section you are going to see is the so-called “Barrio Inglés” (English Neighbourhood) The average price of a 3-bedroom house in excellent condition in this beautiful area is U$S 370.000 (a bargain compared with the UK) The biggest bonus is: There are no Untermenschen!
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This excellent article tells you the story of the incorrectly called “English Neighbourhood” in Caballito; it also has some beautiful photos. The article is in Spanish; therefore, you will need automatic translation.
PS: When you read this article and watch the video you will understand why I consider this area one of the most beautiful of BA. If I could afford it, I would live there!
https://cadaviajeunmundo.com/barrio-ingles-de-caballito-un-rincon-londinense-en-buenos-aires/
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Claudius:
Looks nice. A few of those white houses remind me some of those in Kropotkinskaya (at least as it was in 1993), I think the most beautiful part of Moscow (again, as it used to be, at least).
https://rusmania.com/central/moscow-federal-city/moscow/khamovniki
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Thank you very much for that excellent page about Russia and Moscow. Just one detail; when I said that the average price for a very good 3-bedroom house was U$S 370.000 I meant Caballito in general. The price range for houses within the so-called “English District” is between 600.000 and 1.000.000 US dollars. Ouch! 😱 😱 😱
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Claudius:
Well, I can see why. Every city, pretty much, has its luxury neighbourhood(s), whether London, LA, BA, or Tangier…
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