Morning music
Saturday quiz
This week, a narrow victory over political journalist John Rentoul. He scored 5/10, but I trumped that with 6/10. I did not know the answers to questions 2, 4, 6, and 10. I really should have got numbers 4 and 10, but there it is.
From the newspapers
“Two amphibious warships are set to be ‘mothballed’ in a move critics have said could spell ‘the beginning of the end’ for the Royal Marines, as the Navy tries to tackle a sailor shortage crisis.
HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark could be retired from active service under plans put forward by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, according to The Times.
The plans would be designed to help deal with the manpower crisis in the Royal Navy, freeing up more than 200 sailors for other ships – most likely the force’s new fleet of Type 26 frigates when they come into service.
But the move has been slammed by critics who say the ships are crucial to the functioning of the elite commando force, with experts saying their retirement would weaken the Marines by diminishing their ability to storm beaches from the sea.”
[Daily Mail]
Ha ha! In what world does Britain presently need the “ability to storm beaches“? Not the world where the only “storming” of beaches is by migrant-invaders invading the UK.
As far as I am concerned, the armed forces have virtually no useful role in a Britain becoming totally alien, and which soon will have nothing its inhabitants will wish to defend anyway.
Come to think of it, I was just watching an episode of Spooks, a TV series I did not see when it was first broadcast. That led me to thoughts around what use is MI5. The damage (possibly mortal) being done to the UK is not by spies infiltrating government offices, and not by anarchists or others wanting to assassinate MPs etc, but by a tsunami of immigration, and by the cultural trashing of our mass media, publishing, schools etc. About all that, MI5 has nothing to say, and even less to do.
“A man and a teenager have been convicted of murder after detectives used CCTV footage to track down their escape routes home.
Nah’shun Thomas, 20, of Bournemouth Road in Peckham, and a 17-year-old who cannot be identified because of his age were convicted on Friday January 5 of murdering Kalabe Legesse in Peckham Rye.“
[Evening Standard]
More “diversity”.
How on Earth can we create a more advanced society without —without creating— a more advanced population? Instead, the UK is nosediving to demographic disaster. The overall IQ of the population is sliding, and has been for some time. Not surprising when you look at specimens such as that in the above photograph.
More tweets seen
Interesting. Is there serious dissension in the Israeli Cabinet and/or Army high command?
“Douglas McGregor: The United States and NATO will not admit defeat in Ukraine. That’s not how it works in Washington. And do they admit it secretly? Undoubtedly.
It even became a proof of our weakness for the whole world. Our equipment, our technologies, our advice, even our assistance on the ground and in the air – all of it failed against the Russians.
The only thing we have achieved is that we have increased Russia’s prestige, power and influence in the world, which is exactly the opposite of what we said we wanted to achieve.”
Zelensky’s ricebowl is being taken away.
The facts would be even more striking if the msm etc stopped calling people “British” just because they have a UK passport.
Not yet sure what the Homeland Party might be, but they seem to be, overall, on the right side, anyway.
What a disgusting corrupt puppet of the Jewish/Israel lobby he is.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
Hello: Here is an interesting article where 2 Israeli generals said their army has failed and things look very bad indeed.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/is-israel-losing-the-war-against-hamas/3098045#
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Claudius:
Thank you. Interesting.
I speculated on the blog, years ago, that Israel would face what has now happened in terms of the Gazan militants and population (or part of) breaking out of their prison or ghetto and attacking Israelis.
I also noted the possibility that far deeper and longer tunnels might be being developed, leading into central parts of Israel. From Lebanon as well as from Gaza. Maybe even from places in the West Bank.
As also noted on the blog, the Israelis cannot use their most powerful weapons (eg atom bombs) on their own territory or close to it.
Also, the society of Israel has greatly changed since the 1960s and 1970s. As across the western world (which I suppose includes Israel to some extent), the population is basically softer than it was half a century or more ago.
Israel still (plainly) has the wherewithal to bomb the bejesus out of somewhere like Gaza, because Gaza has little or nothing in respect of ground-to-air defence, and no air force, but on the ground, the once (supposedly) “elite” Israeli army seems, for all its technological superiority, to be on the back foot now. Its tanks cannot be used to greatest advantage on the largely urbanized and now partly-devastated battlefield. The same is true of its armour generally.
It remains an open question how many miles of tunnel remain under Hamas control. I imagine quite many, in view of the fact that rocket launches are still taking place in Gaza. As to the rockets themselves, though primitive compared to those the Israelis have, they have developed from being near-fireworks a decade or two ago to having far greater power and range. Who knows what Hamas and Hezbollah might have available in another 5 or 10 years?
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