Morning music
Battles past
Neil Oliver
I noticed that a Twitter lynch-mob has been attacking dissident broadcaster Neil Oliver over the past day or two after he had a dialogue with a doctor who disagreed with him on one or two issues. The Twitter mob have been trashing Oliver not only about the medical questions which were the subject of the show (on, apparently, GB News) but also Oliver’s whole past history, his TV shows on archaeology, his views in general, the way he looks, speaks etc.
Many of the Twitter mob claimed (and at time of writing, are still claiming) that the doctor in question completely defeated Oliver. Also, that Oliver (and MP Andrew Bridgen) had no right to speak because said doctor is a doctor, and so of course (?) knew more than they do.
Well, is that last so? I did not watch the discussion (in fact I have never seen GB News and am unsure whether my TV can even receive its broadcasts) but the said doctor is, as I understand it, an ordinary GP, not a specialist in vaccines or, indeed, viruses.
What interests me is how there is this superficially huge number of persons on Twitter (though probably not even a tenth of 1% of the general population) who are willing to join in with others of their sort to create a Twitterstorm which, in terms of real effects in the real world, makes not a ripple in society or the body politic.
The sheer hatred of their vituperative tweets is incredible. These are, more or less, the “anti-racists”, and/or those who mostly believe every last (and latest, and unexamined) detail of the Jew-Zionist so-called “holocaust” farrago, and who “support” (by having little Ukrainian flags on their Twitter profile) “Ukraine” (the regime in Kiev). Most probably support such as the “Black Lives Matter” nonsense, no doubt echo “refugees welcome” slogans (and so what if most of the migrant invaders are in reality not “refugees”), and prefer not to think of the impact of the invading hordes on British health services, housing, social cohesion, crime and, down the line, pay and conditions of employment. Oh, no, that’s for “the Government” to worry about.
I would be prepared to bet that pretty much the same bloc of Twitter posters support the “trans” nonsense, are “anti-Tory” (while —most of them— somehow believing that Labour-label under Jewish-lobby puppet Starmer will be far better), and that almost all of them will identify with Remain/Rejoin and, of course, “FBPE”.
The Twit-mob lynch-mob of today is a contemporary version of the Stalinist or Orwellian “daily hate”. Examples seen today on Twitter:
“Work in a charity bookshop and it’s very noticeable that we can’t give Neil Oliver history books away. They used to be steady sellers. Same for Starkey and Johnson. History book buyers avoiding like the plague and GBNews viewers can’t read.“
“If there was ever going to be a Scottish UnaBomber it would be Neil Oliver.“
“Neil Oliver was always a biased clown, even on his “history” programs – now he’s just plain lost his mind.“
“No need to present evidence to dismiss the crazy claims of Neil Oliver and fellow loonies.”
There are hundreds of tweets like that, all from people who think that they know things, and they think that they “know” purely because they believe, by default, various System and msm sources.
They cannot bear even seeing a dissident opinion.
Opinion polls in the UK seem to be showing that censorship, “no-platforming”, “cancelling” etc are becoming more popular, especially among the young.
As far as I am concerned, if people are becoming more and more like easily-corralled sheep, then such people are not worth having in our society, and read that how you like.
Tweets seen
Is that true, or just jingoistic hot air? I have no idea.
I am unsure at present whether there are being concentrated Russian forces in Belarus with the aim of launching an offensive south, toward Kiev, or whether those forces are there to keep Kiev-regime forces tied down on or near the Ukraine-Belarus border, so as to prevent the deployment of the Kiev-regime forces to the southeast regions, notably Donetsk and Lugansk, where most of the active combat is happening.
Russia is obviously not short of trucks, which is interesting.
Another Kiev-regime press-gang. They have few volunteers now, and are running out of cannon-fodder.
Britain should be politely distant with China, friendly with Russia, and hostile only to (((you know who))) and other untermenschen…
There is no “after this conflict“. Either Russia effectively “wins” the conflict (whether by negotiation or in the field), or the whole thing turns into a general Eastern European and Central European war between Russia and NATO, which might or might not go nuclear.
Whatever or whichever, there will be few more UK troops in Ukraine. In any case, the British Army is almost non-existent now in terms of major field presence. Take away the office bods, clerks, rear-echelon elements, and the whole brass-hat staff officer element (etc, meaning all non-combatant units), and I doubt that the UK could field, overseas, more than about 20,000 active troops, at most.
Who cares what Ben Wallace says, anyway? His military service consisted of 7 years in the Scots Guards (1991-1998), during which he attained the modest rank of captain. His subsequent pronouncements have been mostly idiotic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wallace_(politician).
Incidentally, we need not take his decision to stand down as MP at the next general election (presumably in 2024) as having been prompted by anything based on principle.
Wallace’s Commons seat, Wyre and Preston North, is set to be abolished via boundary changes, so were Wallace to wish to stay in the Commons, he would have to find another seat quite soon, almost impossible in view of the expected Conservative Party mass wipeout at the (2024?) general election.
I suppose that Wallace will now be looking for some well-paid business sinecure, combined with a nice £350-taxfree-per-day House of Lords peerage in Sunak’s resignation honours list.
That’s 282 mph…
Puppet on a chain…
Late tweets
The Zelensky cabal counting their chickens before they are hatched.
No reaction so far from the usual Western “human rights” parasites about the plan to expel 800,000 Russians from their homes in Crimea, something akin to the deportations carried out by Stalin or (to a far lesser extent) Hitler.
In fact, the Kiev regime is engaged in “pie-in-the-sky” politics. Putin and the Russian Government (and people) will never allow the Kiev regime to annex Crimea again. If there were any real danger of that, the Russian forces would use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield and, if that were not enough to stop any annexation, a strategic nuclear missile or two on Kiev itself. In that event, “goodbye Zelensky” or at least his corrupt and brutal government.
A Spy Among Friends
Watched about 10 mins of the new TV spy drama, A Spy Among Friends. Had I known that it was about Philby, I should probably not have bothered. I do not have a lot of time for the so-called “master spy” whose reputation was and still is the most inflated since Mata Hari. No need to go into all that now, though.
I am rather impatient with films and TV dramas. If they bore or irritate me in the first 10-15 mins, I rarely watch on. In this case, there were invented scenes, which may have been inevitable, but some of them lacked any credibility. For example, there was a West Indian involved in the first few minutes, highly unlikely in 1963. Also, the show pushed, in those opening minutes, the buttons of all the known cliches about Philby— cricket, booze, womanizing etc.
It is true that Philby, had he become Chief of SIS, would have been a “master spy” or “legendary agent” (“legendary” in more ways than one). Not because (or primarily because) he would have been able to give the KGB secrets at all levels, but mainly because he would have been in a position to cripple SIS strategically, structurally; even more important, he would also have been in a position to deliberately mis-advise the Prime Minister and other ministers, and to point them in the wrong direction strategically.
It never happened. Philby was found by General Kalugin to be living in a permanently intoxicated state in his apartment in Gorky Street (now once again Tverskaya Street). Kalugin, and Philby’s last wife, Rufina, sobered him up somewhat, and Kalugin gave him mentoring work to do.
I myself was slightly acquainted in the early 1990s with a former KGB officer (turned businessman) called “Ed” (Edvard, from the Baltic regions or pribaltika), who told me at lunch in Hall at Lincoln’s Inn in 1994 (I think) that he had once heard a lecture by Philby at the Lubyanka. That lecture must have been late 1970s, or maybe early 1980s.
“Though Philby claimed publicly in January 1988 that he did not regret his decisions and that he missed nothing about England except some friends, Colman’s mustard and Lea & PerrinsWorcestershire sauce,[84] his wife Rufina Ivanovna Pukhova later described Philby as “disappointed in many ways” by what he found in Moscow. “He saw people suffering too much,” but he consoled himself by arguing that “the ideals were right but the way they were carried out was wrong. The fault lay with the people in charge.”[85] Pukhova said, “he was struck by disappointment, brought to tears. He said, ‘Why do old people live so badly here? After all, they won the war.'”[86] Philby drank heavily and suffered from loneliness and depression; according to Rufina, he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists some time in the 1960s.”
[Wikipedia]
Assuming that the above is accurate, Philby’s only very superficial understanding of politics, geopolitics, history, and economics is almost too obvious.
Even were A Spy Among Friends better than my first impressions, I would probably not bother with it, because at root, Philby just does not much interest me.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
I believe the T90 is an excellent tank, however, according to several specialized military websites I visited the Abrams M1 and the latest version of the Leopard 2 are slightly superior.
Of course, the Russian will say that their tank is “the best in the world” but that is rubbish. They will NEVER match the German high-tech, its extraordinary quality and attention to detail. Here is a very interesting analysis about the T90:
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/russias-game-changing-t-90-tanks-disappoint-in-ukraine-war/#:~:text=The%20T%2D90%20main%20battle,%2C%20and%20Leopard%2D2%20MBTs.
LikeLike
Claudius:
I am not qualified to argue the point, but I notice that the Leopard tanks and other armoured vehicles sent to the Kiev regime are now, many of them, burning in fields and on the sides of roads.
LikeLike
I loved your assessment of the useless, ballroom “soldier”, Ben Wallace (LOL). What a moron! I shall never forget his idiotic and offensive remark “we kicked the arse of the Tsar’s army in 1856 and we can do it again”. War-loving psychopaths like him should be given a rifle and sent to the front as soon as the war starts.
LikeLike
Claudius:
Wallace has, as I blogged, come to what the British Army call an “appreciation” of his “tactical position”, politically, and has evidently assessed it as hopeless. Therefore, he is going to step down before he is kicked out.
How volatile life is! Only a year ago, Wallace, despite his quite evident unfitness, was being touted as either future Prime Minister or as future head of NATO.
LikeLike
Wallace was being historically accurate to say that. I wouldn’t say it was offensive per se.
However, the Tory buffoon was an idiot to think we could accomplish such a victory today against Russia not least for the fact the British Army is now so small you could fit it into Wembley Stadium and still have room to spare.
This is in no small way due to HIS party failing to be the ‘party of defence’ just as they have failed to truly demonstrate over the last thirteen years they are the ‘party of law and order’ and especially the supposed ‘party of immigration control’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So does Starmer plan to engage this country in YET ANOTHER war in the Middle East like that evil, anti-British creep, Bliar did in Iraq?
Believing as he evidently does that Israel should come before Britain like Blair did he probably will. Iran is perceived by Israel as a massive enemy of theirs. New Labour Mark Two is just as virulently anti-British as it was the first time around and has just as shady, pro Israel financial backers.
More people need to realise Starmer and his rabble won’t do anything positive for Britain and might well involve us in serious danger in the Middle East.
After all, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
Let us steer clear of New Labour reheated. We have been there and got the T shirt already and the second installment won’t be any better.
LikeLike
Apart from opening the floodgates to yet more immigrants than even the manically socially liberal globalists of the fake Conservative Party, destroying the police still further by imposing even more ludicrous levels of PC onto them etc, WHAT, exactly, does Starmer’s 1990’s New Labour Tribute Act actually offer?
What this country needs is a socially conservative, anti-globalist, pro British national-conservative/nationalist party
LikeLike
Britain should be friendly with China within limits. We can and should be critical of them when they fail to uphold the agreement we signed with them over Hong Kong but, apart from that, we should keep out of their affairs.
Yes, there is no reason why we should follow America’s relentlessly anti-Russian posture. Unlike the US we have to live alongside Russia and we should try and be friendly with them as they are an important country with a very large population of 140 million plus people and a part of the Continental European landmass and community of European nations.
America’s ‘beef’ as it were with Russia need not be our ‘beef’ with them.
LikeLike
Very eloquently said, Paul Golding, especially your last line.
Yes, Priti Patel has a cheek to criticise Suella. She was one of Britain’s worst ever Home Secretaries and we have had a succession of Tory failures at the Home Office since 2010 starting with Teresa May and her brutal cuts to police numbers, then Amber Dudd to the latest one with her very BIG MOUTH but distinct LACK OF RESULTS.
LikeLike