Morning music
11 September 2001
Well, here we are again. On the “original” 11 September, meaning “9/11” 2001 (in the American format), I was in the back of a taxi driving down the Strand in London, with an American colleague. Mid-morning. He received a call from his wife in Charleston, South Carolina. Something about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
My colleague relayed the news to me, and the typically know-all London taxi driver told us that he already knew all about it.
My American colleague asked me where we could get to a TV. I replied that our office in London (off Berkeley Square in Mayfair) had one, but that there used to be a Dixons (electronics and home electrical goods store) in the Strand. We saw it, disembarked and went into that store. Hundreds of TV sets, all showing what looked like a disaster movie. A few customers wandering around, looking at the goods, seemingly unaware of the enormity of what was happening, vicariously, in front of them.
After about 10 minutes looking and listening, we left and went to my then office. The staff there were getting the latest on-the-ground and diplomatic news.
My American colleague was both grim and angry, and muttered something about how “we” should respond in the same way the Israelis always did. Needless to say, I disagreed, though as politely as I could. For one thing, the origins and motives of the perpetrators had not yet been established (he was saying that it must be the Iraqis, which of course turned out to be wrong). I do recall remarking that if a state was proven to have been behind the attack, then it was undoubtedly an act of war in terms of international law.
Of course, the 2001 WTC attack was used as the fuel for the American-led invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
I well remember my American colleague’s anger, which I think was general across the USA, from what I not only saw on TV but also what I noted once or twice in the USA not long afterward; I flew to Washington about a week or so after the attacks.
I myself was relatively unemotional about it, despite the horrible images and evident suffering etc. That’s just me, I suppose. After all, many horrible things happen in the world, and the Americans themselves perpetrate quite a few of them. Having said that, the attack was an appalling outrage from almost any point of view.
Since then, of course, the Trade Center attack has spawned a hundred “conspiracy theories”, including the so-called “Dancing Israelis”: see https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12768362.five-israelis-were-seen-filming-as-jet-liners-ploughed-into-the-twin-towers-on-september-11-2001/.
That report is really worth reading. The Israeli intelligence connection to the “9/11” attack is more than a simple “conspiracy theory” that can be simply laughed off.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks_advance-knowledge_conspiracy_theories.
“After the attacks on New York and Washington, the former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was asked what the terrorist strikes would mean for US-Israeli relations. He said: “It’s very good.” Then he corrected himself, adding: “Well, it’s not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy for Israel from Americans.”
[Herald Scotland]
As with the Kennedy assassination, some of the “9/11” conspiracy theories, mutually contradictory as some are, cannot be entirely discounted.
One thing that I found odd at the time was that members of the bin Laden family living in the USA at the time were flown out of US airspace on private jets only a day or two after the attacks (the Pentagon also having been hit), and authorized in person, it seems, by George W. Bush, the U.S. President, and at a time before ordinary commercial flights were allowed to resume.
Of course, since the attacks of 2001, the area of the attack has been redeveloped.
The original “Twin Towers” complex was a very powerful architectural statement, partly because of the two almost identical main buildings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_(1973%E2%80%932001)
In fact, there were minor differences. I went up both towers. Once only, in 1989, onto the open observation deck of the South Tower:
…and also once only to the Hors d’Oeuvrerie and Cellar in the Sky near the top of the North Tower, where I enjoyed the view and a couple of glasses of Californian Chardonnay with my first wife, an employee of the Federal Government. That would have been in 1990 or 1991.
In fact, during the years 1989-1993 I was occasionally at the World Trade Center, but only because I sometimes used the PATH line from Newark (New Jersey) into Manhattan, a service that terminated either at the WTC or at 33rd Street/Herald Square in Midtown (I more often went to Midtown).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_(rail_system)
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Silverstein#September_11_attacks
The rebuilt area is still quite striking but perhaps not quite so much as the original:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_(2001%E2%80%93present)
Incidentally, one of the things I noticed about the South Tower was the speed of the very large express lift/elevator (the size of a room), which transported tourists to the floor below the Observation Deck in a matter of only a couple of minutes, if I recall aright. I think 107 floors. There was a staircase from there to the outside Observation Deck.
Tweets seen
I did not see the U.S. Presidential TV debate. Such “debates” are always rubbish (going back as far as the famous Nixon-Kennedy ones). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_United_States_presidential_debates.
Having said that, such shouting matches and trivia do have their effect on voter response.
At this point, I have no idea who supposedly “won” the TV debate, or who is going to come out on top in the election.
The “Twitterati”, or Twitter/X twits, heavily pro-Kamala Harris, think that she has “won” the TV debate, but that is near-meaningless: they were also sure that the Remain side would win the Brexit Referendum, and that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.
America is now so polarized that it would take a President ten times better than the two present contenders rolled together to patch it up.
Starmer-Labour is a Labour Friends of Israel project.
More reminiscences
It seems that today is a day for Memory Lane.
I notice that Larkbeare House in Exeter, not far from the barristers’ chambers where I was professionally based during the years 2002-2008 (though actually resident much of the time after 2005 and until mid-2009 in France), is up for sale.
Larkbeare House was, at that time (and, indeed, since 1876), the Judges’ Lodgings. High Court and Circuit Judges on the Western Circuit of the Bar [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuits_of_England_and_Wales] would stay there when sitting at Exeter.
I attended a couple of receptions there in 2006/2007.
Judges’ Lodgings, which go back hundreds of years, came into existence as a way of isolating judges from the opinions and potential pressures of the local populations, and also protecting them from potential intimidation or protest.
The sale is a sign of the times. The misgovernment of David Cameron-Levita and George Osborne decided to sell off most of the remaining Judges’ Lodgings. Judges now often stay in hotels when on circuit; to my mind not entirely satisfactory.
Incidentally, if anyone wants to buy the property, the “guide price” is £4M.
More tweets
More tweets
Listen to that little bastard (Hamish Falconer MP). Parroting the exact same words that many “Conservative” MPs did 2010-2024. No difference whatsoever. “Tough choices” etc. The little bastard has never had to make a “tough choice” in his life, let alone one that impacted him personally.
Incidentally:
“The son of Charlie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, who served as Lord Chancellor under Tony Blair, Falconer attended Westminster School and then St. John’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 2008 in Human, Social and Political Science,[4] before joining the diplomatic service. Falconer worked in the UK government’s Department for International Development from 2009 to 2013, and then the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 2022.[5] His diplomatic career centred on national security and humanitarian relief, including hostage recovery.[6][7] Whilst in the Foreign Office, he spent a year at Yale University as a “World Fellow”.[8]
Since leaving the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, Falconer worked as an associate fellow at the IPPR,[6] and was a Policy Fellow at the think tank Labour Together alongside standing as a candidate for Parliament.“
[Wikipedia].
A horrible little System-careerist bastard, in short. Moreover, one born with a double-size silver spoon in his mouth.
Starmer and his cohorts, including the said horrible little careerist bastard, are sending £3 BILLION a year to the brutal Jewish dictatorship in Kiev, apart from anything else. More than they are confiscating from British pensioners.
The “Conservative” government of that little Indian money-juggler had to go, had to be binned, but what has replaced it (as I predicted, though not alone) is a kind of useless, pointless, sleazy, box-ticking Blair Mark Two government of would-be dictatorial idiots, headed by chief idiot Starmer.
Everyone and every organization helping to facilitate evil rubbish of that sort should be purged.
Also seen there, jeering, is bad-joke “Lord Chancellor” and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, a Pakistani woman whose entire “legal career” (even including Bar pupillage) lasted for only about 3 years, mostly spent being a “gopher” at a firm of solicitors.
What a line-up of unpleasant individuals. Look at sour-faced would-be dictator Yvette Cooper! Has she been told that her Labour Friends of Israel subscription is due? Have some of her latest fake expenses claims been queried?
They are already worse. Starmer-Labour, Friends of Israel-Labour, has nothing it really wants to do, except sit as a “government”, get paid well, make connections with big business, and “govern “, punishing anyone who expresses alternative views of the world.
They have no policies worth a plugged nickel, and they have no mandate— only 4 out of every 20 eligible voters voted for them, and most of those were people wanting only to bin the “Conservative” Party.
Starmer-Labour has a list of people they want to kill off or at least imprison and/or silence: pensioners (hardly any of whom vote Labour now), alternative political voices, those opposed to Israeli war crimes and the UK Jewish lobby.
This is a (barely-)”elected” dictatorship, composed mainly of people who can fairly, if loosely, be described as traitors.
Talking point
Britain (and some other countries, such as Sweden) in 2024?
More tweets seen
That Dunt individual is not objective. I believe that he tweeted or retweeted about me a few times in the past. Unpleasant, and usually wrong in his views.
Starmer and his cabal think that the recent protests and their “riotous” offshoots are as bad as it gets for him and Labour. Think again. 4+ years of this type of quasi-tyrannical misgovernment and anything could happen.
From the newspapers
“Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are set to be insulated from the impact of energy bill hikes as pensioners face a struggle without winter fuel payments.
The PM and Chancellor only pay a taxable benefit on running costs at the grace-and-favour apartments – capped at 10 per cent of their ministerial salaries.
It means that they contribute around £3,000 to cover all utilities and other expenses, and the sum will not go up when the Ofgem cap increases by 10 per cent next month.
…critics have warned that thousands of pensioners on low-incomes could die through lack of heating when the weather turns.”
[Daily Mail]
Late tweets
Well, here she is: aged about 28, and her only work experience has been a bit of “intern” and “volunteer” activity: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Dollimore#Political_career.
These are the know-nothings that purport to rule over us (of course, just lobby-fodder; and a kind of much better-paid advice centre worker).
As I have said, Iran’s tactics of uncertainty keep Israel off-balance, but such tactics cannot be kept in deployment forever. In the end, Iran will have to either put up or shut up.
The way things are going, Britain’s future looks very dark (literally), but I should still much prefer this country not to be blasted and irradiated by nuclear war…
The UK must withdraw all support from the Kiev regime.
Tell me about it!
A few of my own experiences of persecution over the past decade:
I shall have a little more to say about all that either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
“Interflex a success, but training Ukrainians means fewer opportunities for Army”
Incredible. Our own soldiers are missing out on training due to us prioritising Ukrainian soldiers.
https://www.forcesnews.com/ukraine/british-soldiers-eight-times-more-likely-miss-out-training-interflex-constrains-resources
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If ever England needed a new (but successful) Guy Fawkes is now!
My wife and I also ignored the so-called “debate”. A total waste of time, two despicable puppets playing their roles in a very clumsy manner; for what I have heard and read Trump was even worse. Like you, I wish Trump would win only because he seems to be commited to end the war in the Ukraine and avoid WW3.
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Claudius:
Quite…
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The only people who have tried to bomb Parliament, who did bomb Downing street and in fact all over London have been Catholics.
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A nice story about a beautiful, fluffy ginger cat…
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Claudius:
Thank you.
To quote Dr. Johnson (about his cat, Hodge) “…a very fine cat indeed”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodge_(cat)
BTW, saw this about Argentina:
https://twitter.com/BTudbubble/status/1834017661652791425
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Thank you for the story about Dr Johnson´s cat.
Regarding Milei what you have seen is correct, we are in an awful state. In March this bastard brutally cut down the rates on fixed interest deposits that enabled millions of us (including myself) to keep up with the terrible inflation. We lost nearly 70% of our income and the inflation keeps growing. My electricity bill for July was $ 7.800, the following one was $17.720. Like many of my countrymen I had a special subsidy and I paid a fixed monthly rate of $2.600 for water. Two months ago the subsidy was scraped and now I am paying $16.520. Millions of us have started to use our savings to cover the huge gap between our income and the monthly expenses.
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Claudius:
Sorry to hear that you have such a problem, and that Argentina has such inflation, which is (it seems) not far from hyperinflation. As Lenin said, when a country’s currency becomes worthless, the State collapses.
I saw that syndrome myself, in Poland in the years 1988-1989. At that time, Poland seemed to have two main classes— those with access to hard currency and those who only had zloties, local currency. Those with U.S. dollars or West German Deutschmarks could go to hard currency-only shops called Pewex, and buy a range of foreign drinks, foodstuffs and other items otherwise unobtainable. Also, they could use dollars for almost everything else, but only unofficially (aka black market).
Most of those with dollars were those with relatives overseas, mainly in the USA, who received remittances from them. That was lawful in Poland (unlike the Soviet Union, where it was usually not).
Taxis in Poland in those days had a little sticker by the meter, i.e. how many times the metered sum you should pay. In summer 1988, it was x4; by winter 1988, it was (I think) x8; and by autumn 1989, x40…
Example. In 1989, I was in an official taxi (you could also flag down ordinary cars and pay an agreed amount). The taxi driver could not find the address in Warsaw because the road was not on his streetmap (because the address was where government officials at a high level lived), and he had never heard of it. Eventually, though, thanks to my good sense of direction, we found it. The taxi meter showed some high amount, which I covered with local currency exactly. For his tip, which I think he was not even expecting, I dug out a single U.S. $1 bill. His face! I could have given him a gold bar, he was so pleased.
Example: in 1988, in a smallish town, late morning, I got a bus from the place just outside the town where I was staying. From the town centre I got a taxi to a large modern hotel for Western tourists (effectively empty, I only saw one other customer) on the other side of town. I went in, had a belated breakfast (in the empty bar/restaurant) of scrambled eggs, some Polish cheese slices, pickled cucumbers, and bread, and a bottle of good-quality imported (from Czechoslovakia) beer (Radegast)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radegast_(beer)
I paid for that, gave a decent tip, then got a taxi all the way back to the obscure institute, on the edge of the country, where I was (unofficially) staying. The bill for that entire jaunt? In English money, about £1/£2. That was nothing much even back then.
The drawback was that, in the ordinary shops that took local currency, goods were becoming more and more scarce and (in local currency) very expensive.
Incidentally, by winter 1989, the socialist government had been replaced by a Solidarity social-democratic one under the former dissident, Lech Walesa.
When inflation destroys value and savings, the State cannot stand.
The same happened of course in Germany in (mainly) 1923
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_the_Weimar_Republic
The German hyperinflation, as you know, did not *immediately* destroy the Weimar Republic but it fatally weakened the basic trust in its institutions on the part of the people. Adolf Hitler was not to be Chancellor for another decade, of course.
Having said that, Argentina has some way to go before it copies Germany in 1923:
“In order to pay the striking workers the government simply printed more money. This flood of money led to hyperinflation as the more money was printed, the more prices rose. Prices ran out of control, for example a loaf of bread, which cost 250 marks in January 1923, had risen to 200,000 million marks in November 1923.”
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Regarding 9/11 Cui Bono?
Whatever people believe really happened, or who did it, jews were the only beneficiaries. Both the owner of the buildings who received insurance money and Israelis who said “now you know what we have to put up with”.
On social media (facebook) I have tentatively probed Americans as to why they are so extremely pro their military. I have asked why they needed to invade Iraq, apparently it was due to 9/11. When I point out that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 they don’t want discuss further. They have obviously never thought about the circumstances, or tried to join the dots.
If I ask why America needed to invade Afghanistan, they usually claim something like “so we could keep our freedoms”. So stupid. If I ask how killing Afghan families keeps Americans free, they have absolutely no answer.
It really is absurd that they have never pondered these questions, never had a moment of guilty conscience for the people killed and never considered if the official narratives are plausible.
What have Iraqis or Afghans done to Americans in America? Nothing tangible, but the spectre of “taking away our freedoms” is written through their minds like Blackpool on a stick of rock.
Americans have never been invaded or occupied, when I mention that, they seem confused and almost unwilling to recognise that.
The supposedly ‘Most Powerful County in the World’ is full or morons who possess no ability to think. The leaders are equally moronic. What to make of it all?
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I have never been a religious person and I will always be grateful to my parents for not having ever attempted to make one out of me. In fact, as a teenager I developed a deep dislike towards Christianity in general, perhaps because I resent people imposing ideas or attitudes based on superstition and not on reason. Having said that I have met and befriended many excellent persons who happen to be religious but do not have the nasty habit of preaching to the non-believers.
The purpose of the previous paragraph was to make clear that I do not have any religious bias as you seem to do according to your spiteful observation about the Catholics. Whereas Guy Fawkes and his friends were Catholics inspired by religious fanaticism, the despicable bombings that afflicted the English and Irish people between the 1960s and the 1990s were carried out by psychopaths driven by an insane hatred based on a political ideology. An old friend of Anglo-Irish descent told me “to describe the Irish troubles as religiously motivated is a simplistic and foolish explanation”
Catholics and Protestants killed each other by the thousands but in the 16th and 17th centuries. Luckily Christian religious fanatics of that kind do not exist anymore.
I have found this in a forum about the Irish troubles and I believe describes the situation quite rightly:
The conflict in Northern Ireland wasn’t a religious one. You’ll hear the terms “Protestants” and “Catholics” a lot re the two sides of that conflict, but in this context those are cultural distinctions, not religious ones.
Compared to, say, Islamic terrorism, the religious component just isn’t there; none of the terrorists in Northern Ireland were using religious texts to justify their nonsense, nobody was trying to oppose specific sets of religious practices on other folks, etc. While religious figures and clergy were involved (usually as peacemakers and mediators), it was in a general “pillars of the community”/”respected individuals” capacity, not as religious authorities.
The nationalist/unionist cultural divide in Northern Ireland ran roughly along Catholic/Protestant lines (with some exceptions). Most of the folks involved were at least notionally Christian, though not especially devoutly religious most of the time. The two communities involved would describe themselves and each other in terms of Catholic and Protestant, but it never had anything to do with Christianity per se; those were just labels for cultural groupings.
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Claudius, you have taken on board quite a lot of the zio/jew/neocon messaging that Muslims are dangerous due to their scripture and religious beliefs.
Stating that terrorist attacks on the UK were done by Catholics is not “spiteful” as you claim, rather just the plain facts. I did not write anything about motivation.
No terror attacks in the West by Muslims were motivated by religion, all of them were motivated by the fact that Western armies were bombing their lands and killing their family members.
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Hello: I strive to be fair and I consider that labelling the hateful IRA terrorists as “Catholics” is not fair neither correct but absurd/spiteful. As I said, and proved, the only terrorist attack in British history carried out by Catholics for religious reasons was “The Powder Plot”.
Secondly, I never said anything about the Muslims committing terrorist attacks motivated by their religious beliefs. I never believed in that.
The numerous attacks perpetrated by Muslim fanatics (like the stabbing of French children in a park earlier this year) are the product of religious fanatics. We DO NOT need those f… psychopaths in Europe, right? Having said that I always pointed out that the vile puppets of the Jewish lobby (Farage, Le Pen, Wilders, Tommy “Robinson”, etc.) use these attacks to channel the anger of the people towards the Muslims in general (which is unfair) while covering up the Israeli crimes. Last but not least I also pointed out that Farage and Co. NEVER mention the (((people))) behind the massive Muslim/African “immigration” to Europe.
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With regard to 9/11: The vast majority of Americans were stampeded by the media and the government into mindlessly believing that al qaeda was responsible, despite various (((strange and unexplained issues))) surrounding the 9/11 attacks.
I would hope that many Americans are wiser and more suspicious of the (((official narrative))) these days.
It may be that the (((globalists))) are aware that most Americans won’t fall for the 9/11 gaslighting again.
That may explain why there has not been an “Iranian terrorist attack” on US soil, so far.
Some American patriots are suspicious that the (((globalists))) want to elect Trump so he can start a war with Iran. Unfortunately the average Trump supporters are so dumb and mindless that they will support Trump no matter what he does.
Some more thoughts:
“I did not see the U.S. Presidential TV debate. Such “debates” are always rubbish (going back as far as the famous Nixon-Kennedy ones).”
Precisely. The only thing a debate determines is who is more skilled and adept at public speaking.
Winning a debate does not mean that a politician will be a good leader, or that the politician is honorable or patriotic or honest.
Charismatic charlatans are very good at winning debates.
The arch-traitor Winston Churchill was famously skilled at giving speeches and debating, skills that he eagerly used to shill for the interests of his (((globalist owners))).
Debates are totally useless in terms of determining who will be a good leader.
I suspect that the statesmen of yesteryear would have considered televised game show style debating to be crude and unseemly.
It’s difficult to imagine George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or the 1st Duke of Wellington or William Pitt deigning to participate in a the circus of a televised debate.
-Regarding the Winter Fuel Allowance vote, the only reason the Traitor Tories voted to keep the winter fuel allowance is because they are in opposition and desperate to win back support. The Thatcherite Traitor Tories are no doubt secretly celebrating that lots of elderly White people will freeze this winter.
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Friend of Britain:
Yes to all that. As you say, in public at least, the rump “Conservative” Party in Parliament needs to retain or win back the over-60 vote. Without that late middle-age/elderly vote at GE 2024, there would now be not 121 “Conservative” MPs but about 21.
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Hello: Excellent analysis of yours about Trump, his dumb supporters and the whole shameful and farcical show known as “political debates” where puppet “A” argues with puppet “B” while both are controlled by the same (((Master)))
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With regard to keeping warm this winter, the pensioners who are being deprived of Fuel Payments (and everyone else, since who knows what might happen) should stock up on alternative sources of warmth.
Wool blankets are very warm, and are available relatively cheaply on sites such as Amazon. For example:
Wool blankets can be used in conjunction with mylar emergency blankets (which trap in heat) for extra warmth. Mylar emergency blankets are also available cheaply on Amazon etc. For example:
Sleeping bags that are rated for low temperatures are also very useful.
Wood-burning stoves are also very useful for keeping warm, and are cost-effective since wood is relatively inexpensive (or free, for people who live in areas with lots of trees).
Just make sure that the wood stove properly ventilates to outside the residence, to avoid carbon monoxide buildup indoors.
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Friend of Britain:
Many UK areas are officially smokeless.
“Heat lamps generally consume less electricity than bar heaters, which makes them a cost-efficient option. Typically, they’re used in places like showers and bathrooms, which are often the coldest places in the house. Heat lamps provide fast, radiant heat and are fairly economical when used for short periods.”
[seen online]
I have not seen a heat bulb for decades. I suppose people mostly have central heating. I seem to recall that they at least took the chill off quite well.
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“Incredible. Our own soldiers are missing out on training due to us prioritising Ukrainian soldiers.”
At the rate things are going, it really won’t make a difference, since these days the British (and American etc) militaries are only used to fight wars for (((REDACTED))) supremacy.
Besides, an increasing percentage of the military is filled with diversity these days, so the less training they have the better.
The less training the soldiers have, the less useful they will be for oppressing the indigenous British population in the event of a patriotic uprising.
For the same reason, the declining number of police officers doesn’t bother me, since fewer police = fewer globalist enforcers who go around arresting patriots for telling the truth on the internet.
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