Morning music
Saturday quiz
Well, this week is one of those rare ones when political journalist John Rentoul has managed to beat me. He scored, he says, 6.5/10; I scored a modest 4/10, knowing the answers only to questions 2, 6, 8, and 10. I also came close on questions 5 and 9, but a miss is a miss…
Tweets seen
As I blogged yesterday, the events of 1944 (which really are, in 2024, rather overdone anyway, bearing in mind that only people born before about 1936 or 1937, i.e. those now at least 87-88 years old, would personally remember them) naturally mean nothing to Sunak, who after all is not really British and was only born in 1980.
Ha. Looks as though Andrea Jenkyns is going to have to find one of those jobs the Con Party wants the disabled and sick to do, such as stacking shelves. Hard to imagine that she would be qualified for anything else, and her seat is gone, for sure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_South_West_and_Morley_(UK_Parliament_constituency); the former Morley and Outwood constituency, but with a new added area which is generally anti-Conservative Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnley_and_Wortley_(ward).
I wrote about Andrea Jenkyns on the blog years ago. I was probably too kind about her: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/05/21/the-andrea-jenkyns-story/.
Andrea Jenkyns, with her husband (or ex-husband; it seems unclear), Jack Lopresti [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Lopresti] are both Con Party MPs, and both are also members of Conservative Friends of Israel. His constituency (also to be fought on new boundaries) may be “safer” than his wife’s or ex-wife’s, but whether safe enough to save Lopresti from also having to stack shelves is an open question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filton_and_Bradley_Stoke_(UK_Parliament_constituency). His only real job prior to becoming an MP was in his family’s ice-cream business (he is of Sicilian origin).
Andrea Jenkyns and Jack Lopresti. Both pro-Israel and the UK Jewish lobby? Kick them both into the political gutter, dear voters.
Ha. Engaging vision— Sunak in a chariot, throwing gold coins at the plebs and soldiers lining the roads, and shouting “50 gold sesterces for every man!“, as near the end of the 1964 film, The Fall of the Roman Empire:
More music
How long will our present-day Europe last in its present state?
More tweets
“Boris” Johnson channelling his inner Yiddish-speaker, it seems. He is of course, partly Jewish.
I remember when I first heard the word “Schnorrer“. It was just after a Jew who was Director of Public Prosecutions, one Green, had been caught “kerb-crawling” at King’s Cross in 1991: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Green_(barrister).
At that time, I was often to be found, on quiet weekday mornings, in Raoul’s Cafe, Little Venice. One of the several Jews who were also regular patrons was someone called Jerry (I never knew his surname), a former Royal Navy Lt.-Commander (perhaps surprisingly), and one-time scholar of the Jewish house at Clifton College (Bristol)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_College]; [https://www.thejc.com/family-and-education/clifton-colleges-jewish-family-q7qjk71c].
That “Jerry” person happened to be at the same large cafe table as me that morning and, he somehow knowing that I was at the Bar (very recently Called, I think), started to talk about Green. His words stuck in my mind. Green, said he, “is what we [Jews] call a Schnorrer“, though his brief explanation of the word was even less polite than that of Robert Peston.
Instructive in two senses. First, look at that horrible little “journalist” careerist. Typical. Never give a “journalist” (whether scribbler or TV monkey-on-a-stick) the time of day. They have an agenda, and are enemies subservient to the “usual” lobby.
Secondly, it shows, yet again, that Reform UK is merely “controlled opposition”, and with no loyalty to its own members and candidates. Still, I hope that Reform UK does well enough to help kill off the Conservative Party, as well as moving the “Overton Window” a bit.
Just saw the above tweets, posted on Twitter/X in 2023.
Austin, now unmeritoriously in the House of Lords (thanks to “Boris” Johnson), actually wrote at least one letter to the then Director of Public Prosecutions sometime in recent years, and on behalf of the malicious “Campaign Against Antisemitism” [“CAA”], which letter or letters demanded that I be prosecuted for allegedly having posted “antisemitic” tweets and/or blog comments.
Incidentally, the same Jewish girl student who spearheaded Zionist complaints against the later and wrongfully sacked Dr. David Miller at Bristol University, one Sabrina Miller (no relation), actually defended Austin in relation to the pornography matter, and appeared to be, in a post or posts I saw online, not unsympathetic to his views at the time. She is now a scribbler for the Daily Mail.
Strangely, Austin’s Wikipedia entry seems not to mention his views on the rather unpleasant pornographic matter in question.
“Jack Monroe” (Melissa Hadjicostas) is no more “trans” than I am. A “grifting” cheat, liar, and fraudster, yes.
She is now falling back on previously-deployed (several times; indeed, many times) lies: she is “persecuted“, “having to hide” (“with her son”, who is now about 20 years old and who was mainly taken care of by others in his earlier years) “in safe houses“.
Not forgetting the Press apparently doorstepping her (she’s used that lie several times too) and “stalkers” stalking her in her home area (yawn…another much-trotted-out invention). Oh, and her alleged need for “bodyguards“. Would they be private ones, costing hundreds of pounds per day? Police ones, like some of the royals, and some Cabinet ministers, sometimes have? And does anyone not feeble-minded believe a word of all her nonsense?
“Jack” also claims, yet again, to be under police protection and, yet again, has no idea at all where the last year’s donations from well-meaning but brainless mugs have gone…
Of course she doesn’t…
As for why those utter mugs are still —after years of “Jack” being exposed as a dishonest cheat and fraud— sending her money every month, that is hard to say (beyond simple naivety and/or stupidity). I am not a psychiatrist.
Yes. It has been puzzling to me why the Essex Police, so hot on “racist” teddy bears and “antisemitism”, can find no time to investigate a woman who has ripped off hundreds of thousands of pounds from people, often genuinely poor people, over about 10-12 years. Whether it has anything to do with freemasonry (I think that her father, a former high-ranking fire officer and residential property landlord in Southend, is a freemason, though I am ready to be corrected if that is not so), I have no idea.
The only danger “Jack” is in (excepting possible arrest and/or quite likely civil legal action soon), is that she might be poisoned by the swill she pretends to cook.
As I have blogged in the past, I could imagine “Jack Monroe”, under other circumstances, being a far more serious kind of criminal.
“Jack Monroe” reminds me (her incredible portfolio of lies, and screamingly implausible tales and fantasies, remind me) of the Fawlty Towers episode where, looking at Basil, the psychiatrist says to his wife, “there’s material for an entire conference there“.
Whereas the main System parties have detailed, properly costed, fully or largely worked out policies…most of which are never implemented. Isn’t “democracy” wonderful?…
Late tweets
When “they” have power and others do not…
If that were to occur, it would be absurd. An election for Conservative Party leader could not happen (could it?) until after the General Election. It is uncertain at present even who will or will not retain his/her seat.
In any case, who would want to apply for the job, facing certain defeat in 3.5 weeks’ time? Traditionally, leaders resign after a lost election, so the idea makes no sense.
I suppose that Sunak might resign as Con leader, but retain the Prime Ministership until the General Election on 4 July.
Were Sunak to step down as PM as well, I suppose that the brainless Oliver Dowden might become caretaker Prime Minister. After the inevitable loss of the election, Dowden would then cease to be PM (and, ludicrously, be eligible, as was Liz Truss, for the ex-PM’s £125,000 or £150,000 p.a. for life!).
Re Dowden, I saw this: “Dowden is a former officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel, and has twice chaired the APPG for British Jews. Dowden has said he feels a “cultural affinity” with the Jewish community – his constituency of Hertsmere has the largest Jewish population outside of London.[18]” [Wikipedia]
Nein danke…
Were Sunak to resign as Con Party leader and/or PM prior to 4 July 2024, the Conservative Party might, quite seriously, be left with only a handful of MPs. I think that, for many voters, it would be the last straw.
As it is, we see people at Cabinet level attacking Sunak, the Prime Minister. Con Party discipline is non-existent now as the Titanic prepares to sink beneath the waves.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
Yes, it is true that we have a crisis in NHS dentistry and many people some of whom are sadly in great pain can’t find an NHS dentist to treat them. However, the Left doesn’t tell the whole and true story here. This crisis started under Tony Bliar’s government which changed the contracts for NHS dentists and no government has rectified it since. His government was more interested in wasting billions on an unnecessary war in Iraq than ensuring NHS dentistry was maintained at a decent level.
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John:
I have always had quite good teeth, except for one at the front which I had to have replaced by a crown after having had an argument with a soldier when I was 20 (I got hit in the face with a rifle-butt…not very good from a dental point of view).
When I was at the Bar, I always had good private dentistry (mainly check-ups and cleaning). My one-time head of chambers when my chambers were in Exeter (2002-2008) was a vain fellow (he is now a Circuit Judge), so I knew that he would recommend a good dentist.
After my return to the UK from France in 2009 (I think that you know that I lived p/t in Brittany from 2006-2009), I more or less had to have NHS dentistry, which I found acceptable for my purposes, though basic, and only changed to private again about 2 years ago because my wife was badly treated (not treated, indeed) when she had a painful problem on a Friday late afternoon. Since then, we have both been treated privately.
I think that the State must subsidize State, i.e. NHS, dentistry to the extent of at least having one or two or three NHS dentist surgeries in every defined area, such as every local council area.
It brings to mind the Red Cross reports re. soldiers captured in France (mainly) in 1940. The German POWs were in general good health, and *with good teeth*, but the British soldiers often showed signs of the poverty and malnutrition of their childhood and youth, and often had bad teeth or no teeth.
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My teeth aren’t all that brilliant and one side of them occasionally causes me a bit of pain. They flared-up uncomfortably the other day but soon settled down with the aid of some Sensodyne toothpaste, mouthwash, Paracetamol tablets and rinsing my mouth with warm, salted water.
We British are famous worldwide for having rubbish teeth and are made the butt of many American jokes for this. However, one could say that Americans have teeth that look unnaturally white and are too perfect in many instances!
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John:
Sounds as though a thorough dental check-up might be in order.
You may find that brushing gums with salt water (with electric toothbrush) helps, if done daily. I did that a few years ago, on dentist’s advice. Useful.
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Sorry for barging in, but, how did you get into an argument with a soldier? To make things worse he was armed! You sound like an Italian hothead (like me! 😁😁😁)
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Claudius:
Oh, it is a long story. It happened in Africa, in 1977. I must have been less diplomatic back then! Still, once bitten twice shy, as they say…Like many worse things, a moment’s problem turns out to be a lifetime’s damn nuisance!
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Boris rants about Remainers supposedly being on Labour’s front bench as if that were true. No one in this country with any sense of political realism truely believes that Keir Starmer would apply for renewed EU membership OR that the EU would ACCEPT our application. It is likely they would turn it down flat seeing as one of the requirements for a new state to apply is that a potential member state has to be a functioning democracy and in the Continental EU viewpoint Britain IS NOT to be classed as such due to using the ridiculously archaic, unfit for purpose, undemocratic, mass vote wasting rubbish of ‘pure’ First Past The Post which puts us in the same dubious company of Belarus (Putin’s only real friend in the world).
Put simply, the EU would wish to see Britain become a genuine, modern democracy at long last so as to reduce the risk of us being a troublesome irritant to them as an EU member.
By the way, Mr Johnson, you must be aware of the fact that many used that now infamous EU referendum as a protest vote against Cameron and Osbourne’s austerity and also as a kind of ‘proxy vote’ against mass immigration. These factors amongst others enabled the Leave option to gain a narrow victory. Leave voters expected immigration to fall once we left the EU yet your government raised the level hence the now deep disappointment with the results of Brexit and an attitude that if Labour were to apply for renewed EU membership would that really be the end of the world?
https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk
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Of course, Channel 4 News could never be accused of being entirely objective, having no hidden agendas or being biased towards the left-liberal, PC globalist side of politics! Though they are usually a bit more classy about it than the BBC and are more subtle.
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I expect those Jews in the United Kingdom who speak Yiddish on a daily basis or do it quite often ie the Ultra-Orthodox/Strictly-Orthodox ones you would find in Stamford Hill find Boris Johnson as much as an national embarrassment as we gentiles do.
If the Tories wish to retain a reasonable number of parliamentary constituencies in this election I would kindly suggest they hide that clown until it is all over on July 5th.
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Boris talks in his piece about a genuinely independent foreign policy. We have the capability and sovereignty to have that but we HAVE NOT exercised it. We are still basically following the USA around like a demented lost puppy like we have been doing since May 1940 when his political hero, Winston Churchill, became PM hence our stance on the Ukraine which he praises and which may, God forbid, involve us in a nuclear war with the world’s PRIMARY nuclear power.
If that is his idea of a so-called benefit of leaving the EU we may as well rejoin.
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Is this THE MOST UNDERRATED COUNTRY in Central Asia? See why!
Fascinating scenery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE6EchFozAY&t=21s
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Pretty spectacular scenery and the locals show a large amount of hospitality and friendliness to their visitors.
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I think that pretty much everyone in the country would be delighted to see Iain Dumbo-Smith lose his seat. That would be some excellent payback for the heartbreak and worse he has left behind through the trail of destruction he has weaved at the Department of Work and Pensions.
If only we had more stringent punishments available nowadays for politicians than merely losing their seats. Well, he is said to be a supporter of the return of the hangman’s noose!
The hanging of Iain Duncan-Smith! Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is worth paying a tidy sum for on Sky Pay Per View!
https://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org
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John:
I suppose, though, that Dunce may retain his seat at Chingford now that there is a split in the Labour/socialist vote. Well, in the old saying, “the Devil looks after his own”…
Maybe Reform can even power through…now there’s a thought…after all, if Reform can take half of the 2019 Con vote, and if Labour’s vote is split as well…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chingford_and_Woodford_Green_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s
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Yes, perhaps your scenario is a realistic possibility but I don’t think his constituency is one particularly favourable to Reform UK. Undoubtedly, most of their votes will be coming from disenchanted Tory voters no longer prepared to put their X next to Dunce’s name.
Just imagine if you were unemployed, disabled or someone else on benefits living in that seat and you needed to see your MP. You would be reluctant and probably a bit nervous and even scared to meet him to seek his help what with his callous and bigoted attitude problem towards vulnerable people. As our archaic, unfit for the 21st Century and undemocratic electoral system is made-up of exclusively single MP per seat constituencies you would have to see him and couldn’t meet another more sympathetic MP as you would be able to do under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) or Mixed-Member Proportional Representation (MMP) systems.
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John:
It occurs to me that there might be not only MPs of the present sort, elected to “do politics” but then also MPs of a secondary category, elected to be “ombudsmen” for their constituents and to handle the administrative problems: NHS, DWP, HMRC etc.
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How many of those cabinet ministers now attacking the diminutive despot/extra from It Ain’t Half Hot Mum were dim enough to vote for him to be leader in preference to the obvious candidate ie Penny Mordaunt?
It looks like their ‘woke’ PC globalist experiment to look ‘modern’ and ‘in touch with the hip youths’ has disastrously backfired as it was always going to do and will lose them their seats!
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John:
Penny Mordaunt has only two points of note: first, she is actually British; second, she has at least seen some “real life”. Is that enough?
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Well, it would be a start!
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Is Boris-Idiot EVER going to avail himself of the services of a decent hairdresser? It isn’t as if he couldn’t pay for a celebrity hairdresser in somewhere like Chelsea or Mayfair on his ex-PM’s funds.
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John:
Coco the Clown had a red nose, “Boris” the clown has the hair and the deliberately sub-Churchillian shambling gait. Incredibly, millions of poor saps are fooled by him, or were.
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Sadly, that was the case with too many. Needless to say, I wasn’t fooled.
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Even his support for Brexit hasn’t been consistently sincere. He changed his views very late in the day and only done it as he could see it was a potentially good route to becoming PM.
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John:
“Boris” is a complete fake in every way. A human onion, with nothing in the middle.
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Ian: That analogy between Boris “The Clown” and an onion was brilliant. Mind you, at least an onion is useful and has a purpose…
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Claudius:
Thank you. I could have said “matrioshka” but, apart from that being the wrong sex, has a certain charm which, to me at least, “Boris” entirely lacks.
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