#UPDATE Power outages were reported in several regions across Ukraine following multiple Russian strikes on Monday morning that targeted energy infrastructure, Ukrainian regional officials said. 📸 Vehicles destroyed in Kyiv on October 10 pic.twitter.com/k03NAqL5dw
Power out all over Kyiv now, with people reporting outages across the city. Had a few sporadic outages during air raid, but now its been down for a while.
“More than 1,000 people crossed the English Channel yesterday, adding to the record number who have made the perilous journey this year – which now stands at over 34,000.
Some 1,065 people made the treacherous crossing on Sunday in 25 boats and inflatable dinghies, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), meaning each boat carried an average of about 43 people.
With a break in the poor weather yesterday, the first groups were seen being escorted to shore by Border Force officials in the early hours of the morning.”
[Daily Mail]
[the “Border Force” ferrying migrant-invaders to UK shores yesterday]
The migration-invasion continues, aided and abetted by the System via the Border Force, RNLI etc.
Google “Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan“…
Late tweets
Democratic politics has already debased itself beyond redemption. Bubble insiders defending the paradigm with sententious tweets are part of problem https://t.co/68rWCHDzpz
I always disliked that Alastair Stewart hypocrite, but of course he is a drunk (not sure whether he is actually “alcoholic”), so may lose control of what he says or writes at times.
This genius is here to tell you why your experienced reality is a lie and what's actually happening is whatever he decides to post on a website. https://t.co/JVPpD04idg
2/2 .@jameshandscombe. Go on, tell me that from your Panglossian tower you have not noticed that following the dilution of exams at 16, then of exams at 18, then of university entrance in general, there has now been severe inflation of university degrees. https://t.co/gYVWdiKLvN
.@musingsofadr If it was getting dark in the evening and someone said 'It's gettng dark' , you'd want a light meter to make sure. How *anyone* can seriously believe education in this country is improving, I have no idea. https://t.co/5lDd2rJMr1
Well, there it is. Anyone not wealthy, and over the age of 65, as well as quite a few people of lesser age, who votes for the Conservative Party, is now a turkey voting for Christmas.
During the currency of the 2010-2017 governments, David Cameron-Levita realized that the only reliable demographic voting Conservative was that of “older people” generally— the older the voter, the more likely was he (or she) to vote Con, and also the more likely that that voter was to actually vote at all.
UKIP and, also, Farage’s other and later vehicle, Brexit Party, were mainly made up of fairly grey-haired and mostly ex-Conservative members and voters, people who at least vaguely realized that the Conservative Party was actually helping to destroy Britain, as the young Disraeli once wrote [“the great Conservative Party, that destroys everything“] and wanted a party that reflected their views better.
The trend is more or less the same now, except that UKIP and Brexit Party do not exist in any real sense, though Reform Party has taken up some of that slack.
Cameron-Levita and his cronies knew that fewer and fewer “younger” people, especially voters under the age of 30, were voting Con. That underlined the need to consolidate the Con vote in older age-groups, and especially the group that not only mostly voted Con, but could be relied upon to cast a vote, those in receipt of a State Pension, meaning those over 65 and some over about 62 (the eligibility age being slowly raised over time).
There were other factors: the older sections of the population were also those more likely to own a house or other dwelling outright, having either never had a mortgage or having paid it off while in their fifties, typically. The rise in nominal money-value of residential property therefore benefited that same group of older people.
The older sections of the population, especially the pensioners, were also those who favoured Brexit the most.
It is widely accepted that the general elections of 2015 and 2017 were won by the Conservative Party entirely by reason of the pensioner vote.
The data shows that there are still some clear patterns along these lines, although the waters are somewhat muddied by a move away from two-party politics.”
“The average age of the Conservative voter is such that the steepness of its “age curve” (the increasing probability of a person at 2017 voting Conservative given their age) is now almost certainly steeper than the natural degree to which people “get” more Conservative as they age. This is important as it suggests that new cohorts of voters cannot replace and replenish the ranks of the Conservatives, even if they do naturally get more Conservative over time.”
The Conservative Party induced that reliable pro-Con voting bloc to carry on voting Con by introducing the “Triple Lock”, by which State Pensions would rise by the rate of inflation, or average pay, or 2.5% a year, whichever of the three was the greatest.
That obviously suited most pensioners very well, and secured those two election victories.
Poorer pensioners who received both State Pension and Pension Guarantee Credit were also served not badly, because the State Pension was covered by the Triple Lock, while Pension Guarantee Credit would still increase in amount, though only in line with inflation.
Rishi Sunak suspended the inflation part of the Triple Lock in 2021 (for financial year 2022-2023) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53082530], thus —if you like— cheating pensioners; he also thereby broke the election pledge the Conservative Party made during the 2019 General Election.
Sunak, best known for his “panicdemic” “free money” giveaways, probably has that Triple Lock default, or sleight-of-hand, to thank for his not being ushered in as Conservative Party leader in 2022.
The vast majority of actual Conservative Party members are either pensioners or not far from becoming so. The, so-to-speak, “Indian giver” was basically given a slap by the Conservative Party pensioner membership. Had he not cheated the pensioners, Sunak would almost certainly be Prime Minister by now.
I’m laughing…
Now, it seems that the Liz Truss government may or may not continue with —that is, reinstate— the Triple Lock after 2023 (she still says yes…), but State benefits including Pension Guarantee Credit may or may not be uprated in accord with inflation— they may even be frozen.
“Under the triple lock, pensions increase by the highest of earnings growth, price inflation or 2.5 per cent a year.
The government temporarily suspended the wages element of the pensions triple lock for 2022-23 to avoid a disproportionate rise of the state pension following the pandemic.
…“With inflation into double-digits, average earnings (total pay) of 5.5 per cent isn’t expected to be the deciding factor in next April’s state pension increase. The state pension is likely to increase by around double this at over 10 per cent, confirmed in September’s inflation figure published next month.”
…“While prime minister Truss committed to reinstating the triple lock in the immediate term during her leadership campaign, questions will remain over its affordability and whether the triple lock will survive in its existing form in the manifestos of all parties ahead of the next general election.”
[FT Adviser]
Can Liz Truss be trusted or relied upon? I think not (and her husband knows not!).
One thing is for sure— if Liz Truss or woolly-head Kwarteng short-change the “grey vote” any time between now and the next general election, that “grey vote” will either vote elsewhere or even just abstain, though it is ingrained in most of those of pensionable age that they should at least vote, as a civic duty.
There is also the point that house prices are forecast to fall, perhaps significantly, in 2023.
The Conservative Party is now around 20% in the opinion polls. Most of that hard-core 20% is composed of the “grey vote”. “Mess them about” by interfering with the State Pension and/or Pension Guarantee Credit, and the Con vote nationally, at a general election, might fall to as low as 10%. Then it would be “Goodnight Vienna” for the Conservative Party.
But what are these qualifications worth? @tabitasurge. Before hyper-inflation was introduced in 1920s Germany, that country had very few multi-millionaires. After hyper-inflation, everybody in Germany was a multi-millionaire. See the point? https://t.co/2VibqSWtfU
Quite. Meaningless “exam passes”, “degrees” etc. Is James Cleverly any better or worse a Foreign Secretary for having a “degree” in Hospitality Management? It might even be “worse”…
She was groomed by dark-money lobby groups working for Big Tobacco, Big Oil and foreign oligarchs. Now Liz Truss is in office and trashing this country on their behalf. pic.twitter.com/vFkobN8euo
What's heading our way? Apart from the detail that NATO sanctions that are 'starving Europe' of Russian gas, every word of this article is true. While the MSM gloats over the 'success' of Ukraine's 1916-style offensives, economic disaster is hitting home.https://t.co/iu64xiD59u
Some tough questions this week. Political journalist John Rentoul only scored 1/10 (and credit to him for admitting it). I did better, though not much better— 3/10. I did not know the answers to questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 (though, in the oft-heard phrase, I “hit the post” on questions 4, 6, and 10; I knew them in the back of my mind).
Ukraine
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee says that a truck exploded on the bridge which led to damage. Presumably a truck bomb by Ukrainian SSO. https://t.co/VUkjlMvIj5pic.twitter.com/B1hThAqNp6
With commentary by people supposedly investigating the explosion. They are talking about a truck coming from the mainland into Crimea. Posted by Rybar. pic.twitter.com/MrCs99HO6E
The Crimea bridge was an expensive personal project of Putin’s. An attack on it is a direct hit to him and his annexation claims. Militarily, it’s a major supply route for Russian forces in the south, so if it’s out of commission, that’s a big deal.
As Peskov announces a government commission into the Crimean bridge incident, nationalist voices are calling for a “crushing” retaliation strike on Ukraine. “The whole of Ukraine should become a bridge for Russia … to Poland, Transnistria” pic.twitter.com/jlUoIBZYGp
We may be not far now from the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian side. Putin cannot allow either the capture of Crimea or the capture (or sinking) of the Black Sea Fleet.
“Thinking the unthinkable”, obviously the Russians have the capability of actually destroying all major cities in Ukraine, using tactical or strategic nuclear weapons. The question is whether the Russian leadership wants to do that, or is willing to do that if pushed and, if so, is ready to accept what might be the “NATO” (NWO) response.
“Cosmetic doctor Dr Tijion Esho, who often appears on the ITV show alongside hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, currently ‘has restrictions on his practice’ as the GMC probe allegations made against him and is not permitted to carry out consultations with female patients without a chaperone present during the investigation.”
[Daily Mirror]
[Dr. Tijion Esho]
Comment unnecesary.
More tweets
Video of the damage done to the Kerch Strait bridge by a blast this morning. Bridge will be unusable from the look of things — this leaves Russia with a corridor through occupied land in Ukraine & shipping to resupply Crimea. pic.twitter.com/6O5lkGFUx9
Kaluga (city) is only 93 miles southwest of Moscow. If the Kiev regime has the wherewithal to bomb Kaluga, it has the capability to attack Moscow.
Head of occupation authorities of Crimea Aksyonov – ferries will be launched later today – anyway there is hard link with Russia via newly annexed territories – as there is no way to leave, all tourists can stay in Crimea, govt will pay https://t.co/Gf01c6JXa4
🔴Liz Truss will reportedly water down existing plans to slash 91,000 civil service jobs.
The Government has set out an ambition to slash the public sector workforce back to 2016 levels after the number of public sector workers swelled during the pandemic pic.twitter.com/PDQEO4FMRR
So it turns out that the bomb was on a truck. Was this a suicide bombing, as used by the Tamil Tigers and the ISIS barbarians?
Bridge terrorism, bombing of an airfield in Kaluga, and the slaughter by Kiev-regime forces of civilians opposed to the Kiev regime. It all reads as if the Kiev regime is trying to provoke a massive Russian attack using tactical nuclear weapons, in order to bring NATO into the war directly, fighting directly with Russia.
Jewish cabals have been a major cause of two world wars— will there now be a third?
More tweets
the viciousness of the faux austerity celebrities on twitter has been astonishing. The harm done by the Jack Monroe/Owen Jones school of selling poverty is immeasurable. Its immeasurable. 330thousand people are dead because of austerity while they made a mint from it.
Certain key elements of our society have to be either nationalized or very very tightly-regulated by the State: utilities such as water supply, drainage, electricity and gas supply; also strategic transport, such as the rail network.
Electrical power: if people want to go off-grid, or work with the National Grid while producing their own domestic supply, then fine. I am talking about the large-scale producers— power stations, the distribution network, energy security.
Ukraine
BREAKING: President Biden said the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in Ukraine. https://t.co/r6A6wmnSgl
If that is so (and I believe that it is), then why oh why keep poking and pushing Russia, arming the forces of the Jew Zelensky (armed to the teeth by the USA and UK), and supplying billions in money as well?
Liz Truss, surely a political imbecile, thinks that Ukraine can be her “Falklands Factor”. I doubt it, credulous as much of the British public often is.
Ukrainian counteroffensive efforts picked up steam over the weekend, forcing a Russian retreat from the city of Lyman, which Russia had used as a strategic transport and logistics hub. https://t.co/YMDtNYP5hNpic.twitter.com/EfcMreWGXJ
As I blogged weeks and indeed months ago, the Russian high command needs to pull something out of the hat. That is now urgent.
At first there was delay, incompetence, and an inability to move quickly and to seize the initiative. Then came attritional warfare east of the Dnieper and along the Sea of Azov and Black Sea littoral. The Russian superiority in numbers and armament slowly won the day, but then that attritional superiority and movement, glacial as it was, stalled. The Western states began to supply good-quality and/or high-tech weaponry to the Kiev regime, as well as money and other supplies (eg medical supplies).
Russia has lost the initiative now. The Kiev-regime forces have the initiative, and are pressing forward. When they take a town or village, they shoot any people living there who do not want war with Russia.
The Jew Zelensky has declared it his aim and intent to take not only all the territory gained by Russia in 2022 but also the pro-Russian areas of the Donbass etc, and even the Crimea, where the population is at least 90% Russian, maybe even 95%.
I note that the Jew Zelensky is asking the USA to attack Russia as a “warning” not to use tactical nuclear weapons. Nothing would be more calculated to cause WW3. Zelensky is only a puppet of the New World Order, and he knows that his regime can only win by riding on the back of NATO power.
As things stand, the best result for Russia would be some kind of WW1 stagnant front. That is why the Russian high command needs to think outside the box, to regain the initiative, to unbalance the Zelensky forces, and/or to completely gain control of the theatre.
[“Russia has no borders; it is wherever there are Russians“]
“A Russian soldier’s wife broke down in tears during a wiretapped phone call to her husband after hearing of mystic Baba Vanga’s predictions for the Ukraine war.
The woman seemed wrought with emotion during the call which was uploaded to YouTube by the Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.
The Bulgarian mystic made a series of predictions about the world before her death in 1996 – with claims that many have come true.
Among many major events, the mystic has been credited with accurately predicting 9/11, Brexit and Covid-19.
“According to Vanga’s predictions, this will all last until 2024,” the wife said on the call.
She also predicted that Russia would become “lord of the world” after Europe is reduced to a “wasteland”.
She reportedly told writer Valentin Sidorov: “All will thaw, as if ice, only one remain untouched — Vladimir’s glory, glory of Russia.”
Of course, tweeter “@Scam_Watch_Ltd” is (apparently) under a misapprehension: Martin Daubney and Lee Anderson could not bring any counterclaim as such, because there has not (yet) been a claim by “Jack Monroe”. It is true that a counterclaim is merely itself a kind of claim, legally, and capable of being self-supporting, but I doubt whether either Daubney or Anderson are silly enough to sue “Jack Monroe”, bearing in mind her uncertain solvency and the sheer pointlessness of doing so.
The “Bootstrap Cook” did successfully sue columnist Katie Hopkins, but there were special factors: Katie Hopkins libelled Jack Monroe, because she, Katie Hopkins, was simply mistaken on the facts. She, Katie Hopkins, should have swallowed her pride and compromized on the basis offered by Jack Monroe. That not having been done, the matter went to the bitter end (never in doubt), and Katie Hopkins ended up having to sell her house to pay Jack Monroe the £24,000 damages and also, more importantly, the lawyers on both sides. Sometimes discretion really is the better part of valour.
There never was any doubt that Jack Monroe was libelled, and that that was obvious from the start. A child could have litigated that case, so there is no need to think that her self-promoting solicitor, Mark Lewis, now resident and/or domiciled in Israel, is any combination of Oliver Wendell Holmes and Perry Mason.
Katie Hopkins was stupid to defend the matter because, firstly, she had no defence and also, secondly, had valuable assets to cover any loss at court.
It seems unlikely, to me, that Martin Daubney and/or Lee Anderson will really be sued in libel by “Jack Monroe”. As previously blogged, it is even in doubt, despite her tweets, whether her previously-used lawyer, the egregious Jew-Zionist solicitor, Mark Lewis, has been “instructed” (though he may well have been consulted).
Not that I much like Anderson, or Daubney, either.
More tweets
Wow.
Like many I am sure, I have often ignored or dismissed Barry Gardiner as something of a ridiculous windbag. This however was exceptional & authentic oratory, perfectly capturing the reality of where we currently are as a nation.
What lie @ethan_odin ? All my foreign policy views are based (as they must be for a patriotic Britsh person) on the interests of my own country. The continued existence of NATO, not to mention its expansion, have caused grave difficuties for Britain and will cause many more. https://t.co/UYS8K9RkpX
As I have pointed out a hundred times, @evolutionplants, even Robert Kagan, husband of State Department senior official Victoria Nuland and strong supporter of the USA's hard line against Moscow, has conceded in 'Foreign Affairs' that there was provocation. So not unprovoked. https://t.co/wGHiyoXM9M
‘Where others see a bare plain, those with the gift of verse can remember it when it was a great forest’. @ClarkeMicah lamenting the revolutionary dismantling of English literature curriculum. One of many self-inflicted wounds explored in his The Abolition of Britain. pic.twitter.com/DLSey1vCtd
The ESO said: “In the unlikely event we were in this situation, it would mean that some customers could be without power for pre-defined periods during a day – generally this is assumed to be for three-hour blocks.”https://t.co/IxmPQnLdl3
Russia stands ready to supply the UK with all the gas it needs, but not while the ruling circles of the UK, USA etc persist in a near-war against Russia.
Today, a plumber charged a 81 year old lady £486.00 for a new pump & manifold. He did not change it, this is the original pump, he sprayed it with WD40 to release the motor.
“Alongside his work as an MP, Burns works as a consultant for Trant Engineering Ltd., earning £10,000 quarterly for 10 hours’ work a month.[24] He acts as a consultant for the Quantum Group, real estate developers, working six hours a month for a quarterly fee of £6,250.[24] In 2015, an article in Private Eye[citation needed] implied that Burns’ opposition to Navitus Bay Windfarm and subsidies for renewables was due to his connections to the oil and gas industry through Trant Engineering.[25][26]” [Wikipedia].
So… from just two (of several) enterprises which have been giving him money, Burns has been, for years, blagging a total of at least £65,000 a year (quite possibly far more now),for only 192 hours work per year, i.e. less than five 40-hour weeks per year.
Plus his actual pay as MP (plus, also, intermittently, ministerial and other salaries; plus inflated expenses claims).
Hundreds of thousands of pounds per year.
Another Conservative Friends of Israel member, as well:
Do “they” pay him too?
For once, Liz Truss manages to do something useful.
I have been pronouncing on this for many many years, and online for the past ten or twelve.
https://t.co/StS4MZ02ea Piers Morgan a man without shame. Any right thinking person knew what the mammoth cost of lockdown would be ,Peter Hitchens outlines everything that is now occurring. Morgan, hysteria monger in chief #thegreatinsanity
Indeed @hublok. The Walter Wolfgang incident was a symbolic rite of passage, of Labour from anti-war party to active warmonger party. https://t.co/M1NmeEv6dq
That made me really laugh. Britain 2022, the home of “slacktivism” and “clicktivism”.
They keep printing money. Things are getting worse all over. We are to be colder, poorer and living lesser lives. We are led by inadequates the world over. Did I miss anything?
…and much of what is now pumped out by (UK) government, and msm TV, radio, and Press is designed to condition the public to getting used to a poorer life in every way. Examples include such as the NHS providing ever-worse care; the police rarely doing their proper job but also acting as a poundland KGB; lower pay; lower State benefits; power cuts and blackouts; a more meagre choice of supermarket foodstuffs etc.
I disagree with the idea that this is only because we are (notionally) “led” by idiots such as “Boris” Johnson, David Cameron-Levita, Liz Truss —Liz Truss!…Jesus Christ!— etc. Behind those monkeys stand the organ-grinders, and their several but connected agendas. “The Great Reset”, the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan etc form one overarching cabbalistic agenda.
Listening to speeches from front bench politicians at party conferences is like hearing kids read out letters to Santa.
“Poland says it has asked to have US nuclear weapons based on its territory, amid growing fears that Vladimir Putin could resort to using nuclear arms in Ukraine to stave off a rout of his invading army.“
The Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan aims to destroy the racial and cultural integrity of the European peoples by importing vast numbers of blacks and browns, who will then, over time, breed with the white European peoples, producing a black/brown racial group easily ruled over by the mixed Jewish/white stratum controlling the “Money Power”.
Already we see in the UK that that group has been at the centre of power in the past decade or so: David Cameron-Levita, George Osborne, Theresa May, “Boris” Johnson, to give only a few of the most obvious names.
The imported blacks and browns are willing to accept far lower living standards; already we read stories of 20 or more Indians or Pakistanis living in one house, working all hours for peanuts etc. Likewise, the NHS may be poor and declining in standards, but for the migrant-invaders, it still looks good, compared to where they have come from. The same in all areas.
We now have persons of Indian and African origin in the Cabinet. They have no real connection to European standards. Their origins naturally lead them to dismiss any rights for workers, any environmental concerns etc. Aliens.
It’s these ‘think tanks’ the msm should be telling us about @Peston@ChrisMasonBBC@krishgm@BethRigby@bbclaurak How about a BBC Panorama special? Or a C4 Dispatches? Or an ITV Tonight? The media know about these organisations, and everyone else needs to know it too. https://t.co/A20ZBTZq0V
“The Vatican Museums described it as “the act of a deranged person.” The statues were not severely damaged, according to the museum, though one of the busts may have lost a nose. The artwork has been sent to the museum’s restoration department.
Rome has been subjected to a number of acts of vandalism in recent months. In June, an American couple threw their electric scooters down the famed 18th century Spanish Steps, causing damage estimated at about 25,000 euros, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica. That same month, a tourist from Saudi Arabia wrecked the famous site by accidentally driving his Maserati down the Spanish Steps.“
[Religion News Service].
More tweets
How many momentous news moments in our history have been posed or faked? They say the camera never lies…. The woman with her shopping made sure of that. The world is but a stage and journalists are but actors peddling a message. 🤣
— Wilkie (Richard Wilkinson) (@WilkieisBack66) October 6, 2022
Late tweets
#blackouts this is what happens when you privatise essential public services, Water, Gas, and Electricity should always be in public ownership they are the basic essentials of life, It’s time the majority were put first not the minority.#energybills#EnergyCrisispic.twitter.com/NlIWwjOo7g
As the National Grid warn we could have regular blackouts this winter, here's a reminder of what Liz Truss said this summer when asked about the possibility of energy rationing. pic.twitter.com/xNYMMMg12R
MP Johnny Mercer’s wife, livid at Liz Truss sacking her husband a few weeks ago, called the new Prime Minister “an imbecile“.
Give that lady a cee-gar!
Liz Truss is asking European countries for gas supply to avoid blackouts. Britain has one of the lowest gas storage capacities in Europe. UK’s biggest gas storage facility closed in 2017 due to cost concerns, while she was Chief Secretary to the Treasury.https://t.co/6zLJpTLaRF
One often encounters people who “want nothing to do with politics” (as they naively protest). The problem with that is that you might end up (by default) being misgoverned by an imbecile such as Truss, not to mention her black/brown pack of idiots.
Blackouts? Who cares? Giles and Penelope got to feel smug about themselves while flying a Ukraine flag outside their second home in the Cotswolds, which is fully powered by off-grid eco-energy. pic.twitter.com/dK2wePjdDN
If Britain had fostered better relations with Russian over the past 30 years, Russia would be supplying us with cheap gas now, maybe even free or near-free.
At least £300 billion was wiped off the combined value of British stocks and bonds in the first month of Liz Truss's government, as investors turned away from "uninvestable" UK https://t.co/XWQi98IdVN
Western globalists can deny it all they want, but Russia has achieved a fait accompli. You're not pushing back a nuclear-armed power without risking full-scale war.
It's not worth it. Make peace and save the world precious time, money, and lives!https://t.co/iBlf5NciVD
This is exactly what is wrong with UKR discourse. @elonmusk puts forth a bitter diplomatic solution for the conflict in lieu of nuclear war and Zelensky accuses him of support Russia for even suggesting it. The media/foreign policy elite will now parrot the Zelensky position pic.twitter.com/dhs48fKRGz
Western msm etc— mainly Jewish, or under Jewish (Jew-Zionist) control.
Idiots such as (retired) General Petraeus in the USA should shut up, or be shut up, before their unwanted “advice” creates a massive nuclear war over all of Russia, Europe, and the USA itself. Do the Americans think that their way of life could survive a nuclear attack of perhaps 2,000 nuclear missiles on their 200 top cities, towns, ports, and air bases?
Russian nuclear submarine armed with 'doomsday' weapon disappears from Arctic harbor: report https://t.co/niJO1i9Fqc
Professor Jeffrey Sachs [Columbia] on Bloomberg causing chaos saying US was most likely involved in Nordstream leaks according to data & other experts 😂😂😂 “even reporters tell me …. privately of course …” and that we are on a pretty dangerous path to a nuclear conflict pic.twitter.com/U6FsC2tdp6
Rumours are swirling that MPs – remember most did not back Truss’s leadership bid – are beginning to coalesce around Gove and Shapps and see them as safe pairs of hands.
#vicderbyshire#Newsnight#bbcnews Stop allowing CONservatives feeding the view that working people and benefit claimants are rivals in our economy. There are more working low paid reliant on benefits than unemployed people. Cutting benefits because wages are falling is wrong.
Svante Pääbo is a pioneer in paleogenetics, and has previously revealed early humans interbred with Neanderthals and discovered a whole new type of hominin from its DNA alone
In 1990, Pääbo – who founded the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany – pioneered methods to sequence ancient DNA by attempting to sequence that of Neanderthal mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of cells
“Pääbo finally achieved the [what was thought to be] impossible sequencing and assembly of the Neanderthal genome… and discovered a completely new hominin entirely [the Denisovans] by analysing and comparing genome sequences,” said Anna Wedellhttps://t.co/Y8X1HU2Z96
Very important work. SS-Ahnenerbe, in the 1930s, began the work of investigating ancient origins of European humanity. It is equally important to look to the future, meaning— how can the foundation for a quantum leap in human evolution be laid? It does not matter whether you call that an “evolutionary development” or “the basis for a super-race”.
Heard an interview with Liz Truss; Nick Robinson as interviewer.
My impressions: Liz Truss sounds completely without character. Her voice is a near-monotone (my own thought as I listened was “soulless“). Not in the slightest compelling, or even slightly interesting. A not very pleasant droning, slightly hectoring noise. Classless…not obviously “educated”, and certainly not in any way “upper crust” but, at the same time, not a voice coming from the popular masses either.
As to the substance of what Liz Truss said, I should say that she came across as someone saying nothing of any weight whatsoever. Bland or bald statements of general intent, meaning nothing. Nick Robinson tried to get Liz Truss to pledge to one or two specifics, but without much success.
Nick Robinson encouraged Liz Truss to answer his questions, but without success. In the popular phrase, I do not detect a lot going on in her head.
Liz Truss sounded like someone whose level was, at best, a county council, not being a Prime Minister or anywhere near that elevation.
I predicted on the blog, when Liz Truss was selected/elected as Conservative Party leader, that I would be surprised if she survived past Christmas 2022, and astonished if she survived in post past Spring 2023. I see no reason to change that view.
Stupid “ho” Truss pledging her fealty to the Jews and Israel.
Suella Braverman
Saw a short piece on the TV news featuring Suella Braverman. Britain now seems to specialize in elevating, from total mediocrity, persons like this. “British” politics elevates a Suella Braverman from obscurity to Attorney-General and now Home Secretary. The same circumstances, more or less, elevated that other waste of space, Priti Patel, to the same Cabinet office. We now also have James Cleverly posing as Foreign Secretary. Another non-white. Only stupid Liz Truss is even English.
Suella Braverman seems to get her view of the country’s social security system from trash TV shows such as Benefits Britain.
This is a car crash of a government that surely cannot last long. Even the Conservative MPs are mostly unhappy about it.
Teatime. I was doing a roast chicken. Knock at the door. Two coppers. There’s been an allegation of harassment and malicious comms and we’ve come to arrest you.
They seized all my devices including my work chromebook and “the homework iPad”. Which will upset the 10 year old with autism even more because all her Harry Potter audiobooks are stored on there. And now she can’t do homeschooling.
Husband was furious. Videoed the whole encounter. When read my rights and told that what I said could be used in evidence against me, I replied that women don’t have a 🍆
I got shown another cartoon and asked to explain what was going on in it. I wasn’t really sure. I had to put my glasses on to squint at the text. #gettingold
Police probably thought they had a right lunatic here, because I kissed my cross necklace before putting it in a plastic bag. I’ve never taken it off since it was given to me.
At least they kindly let me leave my wedding ring on.
As I was released the sarge asked me if I had thoughts of self harm. I replied I did. He then said he would send me back to the cells to think about my answer and that he would section me.
I had to clarify that I wouldn’t actually do anything but that I am extremely distressed.
I do not know any of the background to the above tweet-thread, but such occurrences (citizens being harassed by the police acting as a poundland KGB at the instigation of malicious individuals or groups) have become all too common in the Britain of recent years. My own experiences have included:
Malicious Jews and others make false allegations with near-impunity, thus wasting the time and money of the true victims (the people questioned or even arrested by police), and also that of the police forces concerned.
James Lang opened a shop and bakery in Gallowgate in 1817. His nephew, John Macfarlane, joined the business and took over when James died. A new bread factory was built at Wesleyan Street in Calton in 1880. pic.twitter.com/TEoTgX4sam
In 1925 a new Victoria Biscuit Works with modern equipment was opened in Tollcross. The Osterley factory opened in 1931 and replaced the Imperial Biscuit Works in Fulham where production had doubled during WW1. Both had extensive staff recreation facilities. Osterley closed 1980. pic.twitter.com/Thu3hwHHdr
Macfarlane Lang merged with another Scottish family-owned biscuit manufacturer, McVitie & Price to form United Biscuits in 1948. United Biscuits soon expanded to become one of Britain's leading food firms with brands including Jacob's of Aintree, Carr's of Carlisle and McVitie's. pic.twitter.com/0Z789jYvni
A selection of biscuits manufactured by Macfarlane Lang & Co, advertised in the Commercial year book of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce & Manufactures in 1915.
A proud Glaswegian industry callously discarded by faceless men in a boardroom far from our city. pic.twitter.com/AcIFIvtTf6
I intend to continue to press the joint trade union, council & government working group to secure the Victoria Biscuit Works in Tollcross as a viable production site for any new owner to bring new life to this great site, with such an esteemed heritage in Scottish biscuit-making.
Globalism at work…again. That, and a country (the UK) where people are now taught from childhood to be ashamed of their race, culture, history and former Empire. Also, the fact that much of the UK economy is in the hands of various kinds of foreigners, in this case Turkish, but more often Chinese, Jews, whatever.
Could there be anything worse than unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy? Liz Truss has come up with the answer. Tax cuts for the wealthy funded by cuts to public services #kuenssberg
Lots of people Tweeting that only 80,000 Tory members voted for Liz Truss’ policies. Excuse me but no. She didn’t advertise her plans to cut taxes for top earners or much else that was in that mini-Budget. She has no mandate for any of this.
Remarkable, coming from a long-term Con mouthpiece and supporter.
Say, for e.g., a job or research grant applicant shows insufficient "support" (defined by who?) for "anti-racism" (defined by who?) they will not get job/grant. In this way academe becomes monoculture & guiding telos of truth is subverted. Also explains why so few call it out
The time is coming when free speech, open debate etc will be banned by stealth and Lilliputian ties. To a large extent, in the UK and elsewhere, it has already happened— in the msm, in publishing, in academia etc. All areas, incidentally, where the Jew-Zionists often hold sway.
When Alexander the Great was confronted by the Gordian Knot, he realized that there was only one way to win— he drew his sword and cut the knot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_Knot.
“They are also the most highly-educated generation on record. This year, a record number of 435,000 18-year-olds in Britain —like my students— will arrive on campus. And this higher education, for many, helps to explain why, alongside the slightly older Millennials, they are also the most socially liberal generation in history.“
[Matt Goodwin blog].
The idea that attending a “university” (whether an ancient one or a 5-minute-old “McUniversity”) makes the attendee “highly-educated” is risible, looking at most of the graduates, let alone undergraduates.
“Consistently, Zoomers are the most supportive of Britain re-joining the European Union, the most likely to think immigration is having positive effects, and to voice strong support for rising diversity in all its forms. When I asked my students to name the most pressing problems facing the country today they either said climate change or racism. Nobody, interestingly, mentioned the economy.“
[Matt Goodwin blog].
Actually, his students sound like complete idiots. Obviously spouting the simplistic ideas pumped into them, for about 13 years, by semi-educated teachers, or via the BBC and other mass media..
“Many of these Zoomer graduates are also coming of age amid what philosopher John Gray has called ‘hyper-liberalism’ —and what others call ‘left modernism’, ‘progressive authoritarianism’, or ‘woke’ politics. While its supporters are often driven by good intentions, this is a more dogmatic, moralistic, and polarising brand of politics which promotes much looser definitions of terms such as ‘racism’ and much stricter, if not oppressive, speech codes that are used to try and curtail discrimination.”
“Personally, I suspect we are on the cusp of an entirely new cultural revolution in the West which will not only be driven by demands for more radical economic change but far more radical cultural and social change, too. And the Zoomers, as they trickle out of the universities into the institutions, will be in the driving seat of that revolution.“
[Matt Goodwin blog].
Well, it may be possible to turn the current in a more social-national direction. If not, those people will not be required.
Tweets seen
If that actually happened, we would have no social care, no functioning schools or hospitals, postal workers, junior doctors, supermarket workers – basically none of those keyworkers who we all clapped 2 summers ago.
This would be a good time for voters to ask themselves why a free-market idealogue committed to removing EU workplace regulation on pay, hours and safety might say she plans to create conditions that will encourage more foreign migrants into the job market.
…and all of [see above] Matt Goodwin’s eagerly “woke” students can then clap the “diversity” —and their own “tolerance”— as a torrent of cheap non-white labour continues to flood in, rendering their useless degrees about as valuable as a used bus ticket.
My mother is 94 – was a teacher – and now can’t afford her heating. Which job does Jake Berry suggest she can do? pic.twitter.com/I8RIZiGDW6
— Jane and Zoé 🇪🇺 🇧🇪🇮🇪🇵🇹🇫🇷🇮🇹🇿🇦 (@JaneRackham2) October 2, 2022
I am happy to see the fake “Conservative” Party about to go down the plughole, hopefully for good. Downside is, of course, that equally-fake and wrongheaded Labour will thereby grow stronger, in a basically rigged and binary system.
Still, if the Con Party can be reduced to somewhere below 200 MPs (1997-2005 levels), perhaps to as few as 100, that would be a good start to breaking up the whole rotten system.
‘Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get even worse.’
“Alt-right” schoolboy and “controlled opposition” GB News talking head, Tom Harwood, reports from the Con Party Conference.
What strikes me is how few delegates and visitors there are. Only the central part of the hall full. Would assess it as no more than 500 people. Not many, considering that the Conservative Party has 357 MPs.
Meanwhile, a Spectator scribbler thinks that the market should rule:
What do the Conservatives have to show for 12 years in office?
Police numbers were cut and restored. Promises to cut immigration were replaced by efforts to increase it. Austerity was replaced with massive spending. NHS performance steadily deteriorated:https://t.co/8dA0jPTBMY
Reverting to his energy price theme, he writes (I have highlighted the key fact):
“The core problem is that without Russian gas there isn’t enough energy to go around Europe. It’s a problem that has been compounded by the fact that half of France’s nuclear reactors have been offline this summer and Norway, a major supplier of hydroelectric power, has had record low rainfall. With limited supply and high demand, people are bidding against one another for energy use. Prices will rise, and keep rising, until demand is reduced sufficiently to match supply. That’s if the market is allowed to function.Part of the problem is that the Conservative party is just the Labour party on a five-year lag...
A far better idea would be to scrap the price cap entirely, letting households pay the full cost of their energy use while doling out massive quantities of cash to those on lower incomes or with higher needs. This would preserve price signals and the incentive to use less, while also giving people enough money to keep their homes warm.
…Instead, Liz Truss is apparently planning to freeze household bills at or below £1,971, well below the actual market price of supply; the wholesale price alone for October-December is expected to be £2,491. The Times carries a slightly different version of the story where the cap is allowed to rise to £2,500 – still below the total cost of electricity.“
[Sam Ashworth-Hayes, in the Spectator].
I agree with his first sentence, and have been —probably pointlessly— blogging (for 5 years) and tweeting (until the Jew fanatics had me expelled from Twitter in 2018) about how the UK should be getting closer to Russia and, indeed, leaving NATO in return for, (among many advantages) getting cheap or even (it is possible) near-free gas from Russia, which would solve our energy problem overnight.
Instead of which, “Boris”-idiot, and now the stupid Liz Truss “ho”, have been giving billions in various ways to the Jew dictatorship in Kiev, and even threatening Russia with nuclear attack via “our” (controlled in reality by the USA) Trident nuclear submarines.
In fact, that Spectator article is worth reading in full. Ashworth-Hayes concludes by looking at the wider background:
“Part of the problem is that the Conservative party is just the Labour party on a five-year lag; once Starmer suggested freezing prices, the blue team were inevitably going to follow along at some point. But a bigger problem is that the Tories are increasingly the party of the non-working and economically inactive.
The Tory vote is old. Pensioners don’t work and don’t pay much in taxes. They certainly don’t benefit from investments that pay off 20 years down the line. They’re very happy to rack up massive bills in the present day and pass them off to their grandchildren. And they vote in massive numbers.
This gives Conservative politicians strong incentives to find ways to take from the young and the future to give to the old and the present-day. It is toxic in the long term – we have a dysfunctional housing market, twisted to prop up pensioner assets, and high taxes to fund pensioner healthcare and pensions that are destroying family formation and living standards among young people. This is the only way the current Conservative party can see itself clinging on to power. Changing the prime minister isn’t enough to change that.“
Well, there is much truth in all that, and if the “grey vote” wakes up to the fact that Liz Truss —albeit in 1995, aged 20, so be it— suggested scrapping the State Pension entirely, then the Con Party will rapidly pass into history.
The one demographic that votes Con heavily and actually votes is the (mainly) English “grey vote”, however defined (I am really talking about the 60+ age group). If that goes, the Conservative Party also goes.
I'll be at Conference Sunday-Tuesday, and making the case against the Online Safety Bill as it stands on Monday. Let me know if you're around (so I can shame you into attending) https://t.co/lqyQG5K4PQ
People who warn of the Tory’s cruelty are often accused of hyperbole. But I don’t know how else you can explain cutting benefits for the poorest to give tax cuts to the rich, all as bills rise. It’s not accidental. It’s cruelty. And it’s about time commentators admitted it.
Given what is happening this year and what a well regarded minster he is – quite incredible that the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is essentially talking to a near empty hall at #ConservativePartyconference 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/rBlevobuok
“Well-regarded“? That idiot who, after a few too many glasses of whisky, shouted out that the Scottish regiments had beaten Russia in the Crimean War (according to him) and so the British Army could beat Russia today. 170 years later.
Britain has 60-200 nuclear weapons and a land area of 93,600 square miles. Russia has about 6,000 nuclear weapons and a land area of 6,601,000 square miles (about 71 times the size of the UK).
As to the “conference”, looks as though only a few dozen people are bothering to do more than drink in bars.
Hi Danny. We are very sorry for this error and for any offence caused. We have immediately removed this product from sale whilst we update our website. Thanks – Vang
Is there anything the Jews will not complain about? The fact is that Schindler’s Ark, the novel (yes, novel) on which the film Schindler’s List was based, is a work of fiction: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_Ark. The fact that Jews have “edited” the Wikipedia entry for Schindler’s List, the film of the book, to refer to the book as a “non-fiction novel” is meaningless, as is that term itself, the more usual term being “faction”.
The famous “faction” novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal, is not “non-fiction” just because a few characters in it (eg President de Gaulle) actually existed. The book is still basically fiction; so is Schindler’s Ark and the film based on it.
As a matter of fact, Schindler’s Ark was not even written by someone who experienced Germany or Poland during WW2; it was written by an Australian, Thomas Keneally, who, at the material time, was 5-10 years old and who only left Australia for the first time in 1968. Schindler’s Ark was written and published in 1982. Keneally seems to have visited Poland in or about 1980, not long before the novel was published.
“Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style“
Can you explain why Jack Monroe, a public and political figure who makes money based around the issue of people in poverty shouldn't be transparent and up for scrutiny?
Person who has done the most damage to poor people is Jack Monroe🤥 her tall tales about a family being able to manage on £20 shops and her clearly made-up poverty porn has A) helped justify the miserly UC rates and B) Convinced millions of people single mams just make ++++ up 🧐
Saw the first episode of This England, following the pretty disastrous tenure, as Prime Minister, of “Boris” Johnson.
It kept the interest. The casting was remarkably good, headed by a performance by Kenneth Branagh that was amazingly like the real “Boris”, to look at. Other leading characters were also well-portrayed.
I felt that it could have been harder-hitting in some areas. Still, good overall.
People on £150,000 a year are of course not the “super-rich”, but they are still making several times the average, and 10x the amount earned by huge numbers of people in this country.
Only 1% or so of the population earn that much in terms of income.
That Tony Parsons tweet shows the gulf between the msm cosmopolitan talking heads, scribblers, entertainers etc, and the vast bulk of the British people.
A train operated by the secretive nuclear division and linked to the 12th main directorate of the Russian ministry of defence was spotted in central Russia over the weekend heading towards the front line in Ukraine.https://t.co/NfTI1gMQZ0pic.twitter.com/e3keOpOTsf
These latest manoeuvres could signal an increasingly desperate Mr Putin’s willingness to escalate the war following a series of embarrassing defeats on the battlefield, including the loss of a key city in Donetsk.
The war can be brought to a halt by the West/NATO/NWO simply cutting off supplies of money, arms and ammunition to the forces of the Kiev regime. The fake state and failed state of post-1991 Ukraine will then crumble within weeks if not days.
If escalation continues, there will eventually be a strategic nuclear exchange between NATO/NWO and Russia, after which anything could happen.
Woolly-head Kwarteng “…is said to have told attenders at the reception of austerity-style budget cuts to come while guests drank wine, champagne and cocktails as they congratulated him on the measures announced in the House of Commons, according to the Sunday Times.“
Not a complete list; don’t forget “create the basis for a future super-race” and “eliminate Jew-Zionist exploitation” etc.
This is the extraordinary Al Jazeera documentary on the Labour Party which I mention in my Mail on Sunday column today . Sorry about the foul language at the start. https://t.co/a6cc8apLYN
This is the problem. It was just a fucking disgusting, abusive, inhuman thing to do. We didn’t need ‘evidence’ or ‘studies’ or ‘proof of benefits’ any more than we need those things before deciding whether it’s ok to kick a child repeatedly in the head. https://t.co/aXRp0GSfbk
Reading some of the tweets by hard-core supporters of the “Bootstrap Cook”, it is clear that quite a few of them are mentally-odd people desperate to “support” (even if only via “slacktivism” and/or “clicktivism”) something vaguely (as they imagine)”progressive”.
For example, I saw some tweets by an elderly Swedish woman resident in the UK, possibly an aged lesbian. People like that just want to “believe”, a bit like the British supporters of Stalin in the 1930s. They do not want dissonant facts to disturb their belief-system.
If you have legitimate questions regarding Jack Monroe’s financial impropriety, pile ons and blockings, please do not dilute the message with bullying, sniping, irrelevant nasty messaging.
1. It’s not fair. 2. It totally blurs the real issues. 3. It adds to ‘victim narrative’.
— Michelle dw i, dw i’n byw yn Ynys Môn (@michelleHR0803) October 2, 2022
➡️ Papa Francis, Twitter hesabından barış çağrısı yaptı.
For once, I agree with the Jesuit anti-pope, but in this situation, one might reiterate Stalin’s rhetorical question, “how many divisions has the Pope?” (referring to Pius XII).
The last 30 years in South Africa are a salutary warning of what happens when blacks and other non-whites take political and judicial power in a country previously run by Europeans.
If subjecting people to lectures that tell them their race is "a problem of our time" and mistreating them when they complain is not unlawful discrimination then anti-discrimination law is not fit for purpose. https://t.co/6pwonuEFL9
— Dat Brown Skin Gal 🐾🎸🇬🇩🇻🇨🇳🇬🇵🇸 (@missdemenor) October 2, 2022
Following this tweet, several Corbynists replied that I'm lying. This follows a day of foul abuse to me and others, yesterday in particular. It's there for anyone to see. I'm reminded that not only did Luciana & Ruth get foul abuse but were accused of lying about it.
“Foul abuse“? I still have a screenshot of a tweet from several years ago, in which that Lazarus individual tweeted to other Jew-Zionists (connected with the small but well-funded malicious Jew-Zionist pressure group, “Campaign Against Antisemitism” [“CAA”]) that I and another then Twitter user (the same pack of Jews had me expelled from Twitter in 2018) should be given strychnine to drink. Nice “people”…
A pretty silly tweet from former ITN talking head Alastair Stewart. Talk about autres temps, autre moeurs— as a student, he was elected to the NUS on an extreme Marxist ticket. Just another hypocrite of that type, I suppose, like Tony Blair and others.
Imagine thinking that someone is OK financially just because that person has a telephone or laptop computer! I believe that it is virtually impossible even to claim State benefits, let alone get or hold down a job, without them. Stewart is only 4 years older than me, but in his tweets really shows his age, I think.
So a horrible little Jewish “oddity”, who has supported political selfishness for decades, was shouted at and supposedly assaulted. Quite funny but, more seriously, when you trample on people’s lives and rights, expect some pushback. I expect that other MPs will be watching such incidents with interest.
In case anyone feels too sorry for Fabricant:
“Fabricant has frequently caused controversy through his use of social media.[23] In June 2014, he came under criticism when, following an exchange between Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Rod Liddle on Channel 4 News the evening before, he tweeted that he “could never appear” on a discussion programme with her, as he “would either end up with a brain haemorrhage or by punching her in the throat.“
[Wikipedia]
I admit that I also disapprove of “journalist” (ignoramus) Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
Imagine understanding that thousands and thousands of people, including children, had been deliberately condemned to death by politicians in this country, but then when somebody shouts 'WANKER' at an MP, you say, "This is totally unacceptable and has no place in a democracy."
I'm really confused by people who claim to have understood just how morally repugnant and deceitful politicians have been over the past two and a half years – the horrific and inexcusable harm they endorsed – who then get all outraged and upset when they see one being harassed.
It is either white rule or brutal chaos. Note that even the supposedly pro-Brit Daily Mail will not print the likely truth, that the victim was white (ie English) and the bullying thugs black and/or half-caste.
Like a metaphor for anything created by white Europeans that falls into the hands of non-Europeans, whether it be a large house or an entire country.
Tweets seen
If you support Ukraine joining NATO then you support the US fighting a hot war with Russia right now. I don’t care what your reasoning is. If you support that, you are a dangerously insane person who should never be allowed to make these decisions.
Fiona Hill, an expert on Russia, says that we are already fighting in the Third World War, whether we acknowledge it or not. “We’ve been in this for a long time, and we’ve failed to recognize it,” she said.https://t.co/mwmAgy80HD
Angela came to the food bank after illness left her unable to work. “This is what I got from the food bank. Staff are friendly there,” she said. pic.twitter.com/zim994p8cJ
Daniel’s household costs are more than he can afford, so @HackneyFoodbank helps him out with food and essential items. “I’ve always wanted the chance to be a photographer,” he said. pic.twitter.com/uAwkLJWSm1
A decent society should not need foodbanks. In the UK, they scarcely existed before 2010 when the part-Jews, David Cameron-Levita and George Osborne, managed to trick their way into government.
However, they are now —as things are— an essential component of society for many.
More tweets
'The Russians feel badly used. We should forgive them. If they had done the same to us, we would denounce them bitterly.' An amazing prophetic article written in 1997: https://t.co/p1MZFFxKoy
It has emerged that the young Liz Truss, aged 20 in 1995, wanted to actually get rid of, inter alia, the State Pension.
All very well for her gophers to say that her views have matured since then, but who would trust this bitch, really?
It is only the pensioner or “grey” vote that has kept the so-called “Conservative” Party in power for the past 12 years. Now, it seems that Liz Truss, woolly-head Kwarteng and the rest of the present simply ridiculous Cabinet are about to throw pensioners under a bus. However, those over-65s have a sting in their tail. Their votes may not go to Labour (or anywhere else) but even mass abstention would finish the Conservative Party.
The latest opinion polls put the Conservatives on about 20%, with Labour well over 50%.
Just 37% of 2019 Conservative voters still intend to back the party.
17% now intend to vote Labour – this has doubled in the space of a week
Of course, Labour is a poor choice, but for most voters, an election in the UK is a choice of evils. The Conservatives have just got to the point where not only have they lost all credibility, but where very many people hate them and in fact fear them. Far more than in 2010.
If the “grey vote” abandons the Conservative Party, there is actually no other demographic of any real size that can keep the party in more than dormant existence. It simply does not deserve to exist any more.
If there were a credible social-national party, it could rise up as far and as fast as did the NSDAP in the 1929-1932 period.
If…
More music
Late tweets seen
Of all the words written about the catastrophe of the past week, this letter in the FT sums it up best of all. And it’s worse than we might have thought. pic.twitter.com/i35O9VlHPt
Truss, Kwarteng, and Clarke doubling down on their ‘small state’ ideology and rolling the pitch for spending cuts is totally detached from reality on at least three fronts:
2. We are in a highly volatile age. Russia, China, covid, an ageing population, technology, and, of course, the climate crisis. How, practically, does a smaller state fit with that context?
So they default to attacking welfare spending. But as many, many people have highlighted, most of this is a combination of pensions, in-work, and housing benefits.
As the response of almost every other European and North American country has shown, covid and the energy crisis has made the need for such a strategy even more compelling.
The cleverest thing that @Keir_Starmer could do right now is to commit to proportional representation and a full review of our constitutional arrangements. This must never ever be allowed to happen again.
Whether it's an accurate prediction or not, it's an insight into the feelings of the Tory Party right now. The fact they'd tell me – who they know to be a Labour backer who will blab on Twitter.
What amazes me about Liz Truss is that she must know that, at best, only a fifth of the people support her, and that about 80% if not 90% of the people are going to start hurting badly pretty soon, yet she seems to believe that she has some kind of entitlement to carry on with her package of wrecking policies, come what may, and without even the rough mandate of a general election behind her.
I am old enough to remember the Poll Tax riots of 1990 (though I saw them at a distance, on TV news in the United States). The population is now generally more quiescent (as witness the “panicdemic” compliance) but this might just be bigger than the Poll Tax, if people start hurting enough.
Liz Truss might have to “double and triple the guard”, before someone makes a —shall we say?— very personal and very effective “protest”.
“Jack Monroe”, the “Bootstrap Cook”: an assessment
I have blogged (briefly) previously a few times about the person known as “Jack Monroe” (originally Melissa Hadjicostas, half-Greek Cypriot), whose rather clever nom de plume is “Bootstrap Cook”.
The name Jack Monroe is now her official name, it having been adopted by deed poll.
In the past, I was content to be at least neutral towards “Bootstrap Cook”, in that I felt that anyone putting almost anything into the public domain that might help the millions of financially-struggling people in the UK deserved at least a chance.
Incidentally, this blog is written in the English language, and therefore does not refer to a woman (whatever her views or proclivities) as “they” or “them”.
“Ideological” criticism of “Bootstrap Cook” has come mainly from two directions. The first group would be those connected to or supportive of the “Conservative” regimes of 2010-present. They tend to say that there is no justification for the campaigning of “Bootstrap Cook” to raise State benefits etc, and that any food poverty that exists exists because the individuals subject to it cannot “budget” properly, or do not know how to cook cheap wholesome food.
An ignorant point of view (though not without a small kernel of truth, as with many basically lying narratives), which infuriates many, especially when expressed by the likes of Iain Dunce Duncan Smith, the MP who has also been a huge expenses blodger and fraudster, and who claimed vast amounts on his Parliamentary expenses (even a £39 hotel breakfast) while —as Secretary of State for the DWP— taking money away from people living in real poverty.
The second group who tend to criticize “Bootstrap Cook” are those who agree with much of her campaigning on benefits etc, but who say that she actually “enables” attacks on benefit recipients by reason of her claims that a family of 4 can be fed well on £20 a week or less.
Now, however, a third group has joined the fray, being those who claim that they and/or others have been taken for a ride by “Bootstrap Cook”, and that she is a “grifter”, or even an outright fraud, who has sold goods and services which were never delivered. These critics also claim that much of the “Bootstrap Cook” back-story is untrue, or embellished.
For example, it is said that “Bootstrap Cook” was either never in poverty herself, or was so for no more than 18 months. It is said that at least part of her financial difficulties were caused by her own (apparently past) alcohol and/or drug abuse. It is said that she makes up implausible stories about her past financial predicament, such as “having to” sell her little son’s beloved dinosaur toy to raise money (really? How much money would that raise? £1? £2? And how cruel is that, assuming the story to be true?).
It is also said that her parents are not badly-off financially, that they own buy-to-let property, and that her paternal grandfather was a millionaire. In other words, that “Bootstrap Cook” always had a financial lifeline. I have no idea whether, or to what extent, that may be, or may have been, the case.
Recently, following a storm of criticism on Twitter, “Bootstrap Cook” deleted her Twitter account, though others claim that she is merely taking a 40-hour “rest” from Twitter, and will return. Why 40 hours and not (as with Jesus Christ) 40 days, or whatever, I have no idea.
One aspect that interested me, as a former barrister, was the tendency of “Bootstrap Cook” to threaten some of her critics with legal action. A few years ago, “Bootstrap Cook” sued Katie Hopkins in libel.
Ms. Hopkins had libelled “Bootstrap Cook” entirely mistakenly as to the facts, had no defence whatever, and should have backed down and got out with minimal damage when she could have but, like many maximalisti, found sorry the hardest word, and so was hammered: £24,000 in damages, and very large legal costs. Ms. Hopkins had to sell her house in St. Leonard’s (the best residential district in Exeter) in order to pay those legal costs.
“Bootstrap Cook” retained as her solicitor Mark Lewis, the Zionist Jew who now lives in Israel, though he has also a professional foothold in London. His no-win no-fee cases have often been controversial.
I have to wonder how nice a person “Bootstrap Cook” is, if she is on friendly terms with someone such as Lewis.
As soon as people started suggesting, a month or two ago, that “Bootstrap Cook” was somewhere between “grifter” and fraudster, out came the Twitter threat that Mark Lewis and libel would be wheeled out (frankly, not so much of a threat— by no means have all of Lewis’s cases been brought to a successful conclusion, and when he was censured and fined by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority about 4 years ago, his Counsel said that his fine should be reduced because his only possessions were his clothes, a mobility scooter. and a private pension worth £70 a week).
In fact, when “Bootstrap Cook” threatened libel action against Conservative Party MP Lee Anderson [Con, Ashfield] (in May of this year), nothing ever came of it, as far as I know:
“Food journalist and activist Jack Monroe hinted at legal action against Anderson after he commented in an interview that “She’s taking money off some of the most vulnerable people in society and making an absolute fortune on [sic] the back of people”.[36] [Wikipedia].
The Guardian says “sues“, but the Independent said “hints at suing“, and I have seen nothing on the Mark Lewis Twitter output to the effect that he ever was “instructed” (the Guardian, again) on the matter. He may have been, he may not have been. I might add that all the news reports are from 15-16 May 2022; nothing since then.
Was Anderson right, though? As I have said, I was willing to cut “Bootstrap Cook” some slack, because in recent years, the past ~15 years, the social security system has become inadequate, pay for work has also become generally inadequate, and millions are struggling both to eat and keep sheltered and warm. My view was that any useable advice was, well, useful.
I still think that (despite the fact that, to me, many of the recipes of “Bootstrap Cook” do look like a dog’s dinner, and despite the fact that many disagree with her costings etc).
More serious criticism is that she has actually been making a pretty good living out of Patreon donations, while never or rarely providing the extras offered in exchange.
When I last looked, “Bootstrap Cook” had at least 800 Patreon donors giving a minimum of £1 a month. £800 a month. In itself not bad. When you consider that the suggested minimum is £3 a head, the total increases to £2,400 a month (perhaps). I have seen a tweet where the tweeter claims, truthfully or otherwise, to have been donating £44 a month. Well, you see the point. “Bootstrap Cook” must have an income from Patreon alone of between £800 and (?) perhaps as much as £8,000 a month. Or more. That’s before one takes into account book sales, other donations, paid (?) TV appearances, other appearances etc. We do not know.
Not that “Bootstrap Cook” claims poverty, these days. No, she claims, as I understand it (and perhaps truthfully) a degree of “precariousness” in her life and finances, and she is certainly not alone in that. It is almost the norm in the Britain of 2022.
“Bootstrap Cook” has a number of defence mechanisms. One is to threaten defamation actions, but the more usual tactic is to claim the shield of disability, and she has about two dozen options there.
A further defence tactic is, I read, to set her fanatical fans (she apparently calls them “flying monkeys“) onto any critics, and I have certainly seen tweets where mentally-disturbed fans have come close to suggesting violence against anyone daring to utter critical words.
The problem here is that “Bootstrap Cook” has become a totem for a certain tribe of virtue-signallers. Not really “the poor” but more the sort of people who like to think that they are socially-progressive etc. Facts do not matter to those people, belonging to the “right” tribe does. cf. “Covid”, Ukraine, “Black Lives Matter” and, of course, “FBPE/Remain/Rejoin” etc.
When you consider that someone who claims to be able to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week might be said to be, arguably or in effect, saying that UK benefits are perfectly OK and need not be increased, is that really something positive or not?
I simply don’t understand how you can read this article, made from HER OWN TWEETS, and think Jack Monroe is anything other than a grifter https://t.co/WTCmHTdHD5
— Kelly Jackson | It’s More Fun In Your 30s (@Kelly_Jackson88) September 19, 2022
Why on earth would any Tory politico want to silence Jack Monroe? She plays straight into their message that ‘the poor’ can eat on £20/wk and are just too thick to budget & cook. Plus, she has made little to no impact on public policy. (Rhetorical tweet, obvs!)
Claiming you can't afford to put the hot water on, have unscrewed the lightbulbs and are using solar lights, and haven't bought shampoo for two years in order to gain internet points and cash donations, is also wrong.
Giving people "money-saving" advice that is going to cost them *more* money is wrong.
Not making an effort to make sure people understand that you've mistakenly given the wrong advice and pointing people to more accurate advice, is really, really wrong.
I have very good intentions. I *intend* to write book reviews and advice for people querying, to be supportive of other writers, especially those newly agented.
I don't actually do that, though. And because I don't, I don't expect to be held up or praised for it.
Jack Monroe wasn't hounded off of Twitter because of some anaemic roast potatoes. She's left because too many people were raising questions about her lucrative Patreon, murky charitable donations and questionable finances. Jesus, people are gullible.
As many have noted, this whole Bootstrap Cook thing is more like a creepy cult than anything. It’s as if a lot of fairly affluent or at least not poor people have decided that supporting “Bootstrap Cook” —right or wrong— validates their evenings of going out, their Netflix subscription, their holidays in Cuba or Costa Rica, their new cars, and in fact their whole comfortable existence.
In fact, it reminds me of the “indulgences” sold by the Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation.
Not that that is necessarily the fault of the “Bootstrap Cook” herself.
I've not much to say on the Jack Monroe issue except that if a government minister tries to tell someone how to survive on a box of cornflakes and a tin of sardines, they tend to get pilloried for it.
(Past caring if Jack Monroe's fans abuse me as did for 48 hours few week back).
Authentic, knowledgeable women in poverty now could offer useful, genuine insights into experience but overlooked and devalued while Monroe's more acceptable celebrity face of poverty is prioritised.
Well, if you can believe that the “royal” Mulatta is a sadly-abused “princess”, then believing that a poverty campaigner, who seems to be making “a nice little earner” out of it and naive followers, is a modern Joan of Arc, must be easy enough.
It was absolutely nothing to do with “the far right” and everything to do with the revelations that she’s lied about a lot of things and taken money off a lot of people in very shady ways.
Let's say you agree to pay the Times £x per month and in exchange they promise to send you a code to access their online issue – but they never send the codes. Would you see a problem there? Read the Patreon page and see if you agree the comparison.https://t.co/LUPccSWorV
No John, it appears that you don’t understand what it is. Each payment tier system means a certain amount of rewards/content in return. Jack has received money every month & has not honoured the obligations that Jack pledged. No rewards/content for TWO years.
How had she helped others? I’m seeing a lot of upset people who have given her money over the years. They’re feeling ripped off. pic.twitter.com/H6Y00rtGVs
There's a whole community of Jack watchers on a website called Tattle. Any updates are there. Have to say, they don't seem a right-wing crowd. Better characterised as working-class mums who seem pissed off about what they see as grifting.
Her recipes are shit and she only keeps within budget because the portions are toddler sized. Totally dishonest and unsustainable. No one uses her recipes though, because as mentioned, they're shit.
Because you need to be a parent in order to… count calories. Some of Jack Monroe's meals are less than 200 calories per portion. Her best meals are in the region of 400-500 per portion. It's not enough. You too can eat cheaply, if you starve.
Well, that’s enough. There are hundreds of other tweets in similar vein.
As blogged previously, my view is that Bootstrap Cook’s stuff may well be of interest to many, though —as already said— much of it looks to me like carbohydrate-heavy food often presented like a dog’s dinner.
I do not think that “Bootstrap Cook”set out to defraud anyone, and it may be that she has no such intention now, but it does seem that legitimate questions about her fundraising have been asked by a number of donors, but not answered by her.
If people think that they are somehow accomplishing something by subsidizing the not-uncomfortable lifestyle of that person, then that is their business, in a sense, but it is legitimate for others, arguably more clear-minded, to ask “where is the money going?“, “is any of this true?“, and “are people being tapped for money under false pretences?“.
I can also see that her fans seem to be, almost entirely, not the truly poor but more those who are not “poor” but who support her “non-binary” profile, the “gender bender” aspects, and the general “government must do more for the poor” activism aspect.
I think that it is legitimate to question, not only “where the money went” (or goes), but also, whether in reality Bootstrap Cook has actually influenced government, or large enterprises such as ASDA (it seems that one or two supermarket chains were actually paying her for advice or consultancy or something).
Poverty is a huge problem in the UK now. Anyone claiming to be expert in it must expect searching inquiry.
Is this all really just a morning TV virtue-signal writ large? After all, at the end of the day, the decisive question is what government does or fails to do.
I personally have no animus against “Bootstrap Cook”, but my view of her has certainly become far less positive over the years since I first heard of her.
I do think, also, that if you claim that a person can feed healthily on £5 a week, you are really playing into the hands of swine such as Dunce Duncan Smith, Esther McVey, Therese Coffey etc.
I think that anyone wanting to help “the poor” could probably do so more effectively via GoFundMe or local foodbanks than by subsidizing the lifestyle of “Bootstrap Cook”. Perhaps I am mistaken, but that is my firm view and opinion.
On a wider point, we have in the UK this msm thing whereby TV channels or shows like to have a “go-to” list. Brexit discussion? Call Farage. Free speech discussion? Call Toby Young. Poverty discussion? Call Jack Monroe. And so on.
Thus you get “activists” who are really just “famous for being famous activists”. The Caroline Criado-Perez phenomenon. A hundred thousand or a million Twitter followers but, outside Twitter etc, really unknown and without real influence.
Of course, the msm now like to feature (supposed) “experts” who are, if possible, young, female, and black. “Bootstrap Cook” is not black, but as “Meatloaf” once opined, “two out of three ain’t bad“…
Well, there it is. I prefer to concentrate on other and larger issues really, but felt that I should examine the above first, after the recent Twitter storm in a teacup.
For clarification purposes this is a live poll so results don't necessarily represent public opinion. However, the latest results are: * still 81% re bankers bonus cap * still 82% re 45% tax cut for the rich * 88% re recall of parliament * 87% re govt loss of control of economy
All that the doomed “Conservative” Party had to do, to consign Labour to the bin, was select a leader to succeed “Boris”-idiot who was even slightly competent. It failed to do so. Endex.
Here's what the UK's new electoral map would look like if tonight's YouGov poll were repeated at a general election. pic.twitter.com/HbGJQywCB2
The implications are clear: either the Con MPs get rid of Liz Truss as soon as they can, and put in someone who at least looks semi-competent, or the Con Party will be near-finished by next year. Same goes, of course, for Kwarteng, Cleverly, and Coffey.
Jack Monroe pulls apart tweets that suggest people can live off a cheap bag of pasta or oats (rightly so) but SHE reinforces this ideology with her £20 weekly Asda shops. They do not contain enough nutrional/calorific value for one person, never mind 2 to 3 people!
Look at ANY of the weekly shops she has posted. There is a good reason she doesn't follow it through with a FULL meal plan for the week. She states a few times that she'll post a meal plan or recipes for the week later on but they never appear. The idea that you can continually
COVID held a mirror up to society. As most of us were forced to slow down, we noticed it was not the mega rich or obscenely paid super stars that we relied on, but the dismissively termed ‘unskilled’ front line workers. We can’t now allow them to be forced into ‘working poverty.’
Ha ha. Yes, that ghastly little bastard Schofield is one of the worst people on TV in the UK; and, yes, it is peak contemporary Britain, just like…well, there are just too many examples around…
An eloquent warning from the former British ambassador to Moscow, in 1997 'Does Nato really have a future at all? Is enlargement really no more than a substitute for policy, the thrashing about of an organisation which has lost its raison d’etre? 'https://t.co/p1MZFFPTCG
: 'Over the centuries one great power after another has threatened the stability of Europe….in 1815 and…1945.. the victors were intelligent and self-interested enough to bring the defeated as equals into the comity of European nations.' https://t.co/p1MZFFPTCG
A good example was seen the other night. A new detective drama called Karen Pirie.
Set partly a few decades ago, partly in the contemporary era, even the older setting, in St. Andrews, Scotland, decades ago, had a black character appear. In a small town in what seems to be a bleak part of Scotland (I have never been there). Then we are introduced to the two detectives now investigating the cold case. One a small Scottish woman, the other a black or half-caste…
I do not have a great deal of patience with films or TV shows. If they do not catch the interest after 15 mins, switch— OFF. I gave this one 20 mins. A bloody bore, poorly conceived and worse-acted.
This evening, I saw an old episode of Wycliffe [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wycliffe_(TV_series)]. All characters more or less credible, and what I like best about Wycliffe is that it manages to catch the atmosphere of Cornwall well, from what I recall from when I lived there. It does not rely on cliche (most of the time, at least).
Late tweets
The UK's economic woes appear to be a story of fiscal recklessness that's forced the Bank of England to stabilize crashing financial markets by buying up government bonds.
The real story is actually more complicated, and it all comes down to pensions https://t.co/H0wFKJe8IQ
But you’ve now borrowed short-term money to buy volatile financial assets.
The thing that was so good about pension funds — their structural long-termism, the fact that you can’t have a run on a pension fund: You’ve ruined that! https://t.co/Q6dEeBI8Ztpic.twitter.com/qTFzhEjNYT
➡️A margin call earlier this year when rates rose, which depleted the pensions’ collateral buffer ➡️Liz Truss's catastrophic mini-budget led to long-term interest rates spiking 100 basis points https://t.co/8vucDdxTDQpic.twitter.com/PeAj4jmPt1
But the questions about what happened in recent days run deep, are far from relevant only to the UK and are most certainly not over https://t.co/25jsfBV8mH
The BOE may have left itself hostage to misfortune with its actions.
The risk is that it finds itself in a standoff with markets, with pressure increasing to hike borrowing costs before its next meeting, which might tip the economy over the edge https://t.co/FLzsjzcWzr
In the month since I wrote about “Jack Monroe”, the “Bootstrap Cook”, the storm around her murky financial arrangements has become fiercer yet. A few tweets:
Oh look, yet mire Jack Monroe bootstrapcook lies exposed. She's gifted donations to fund legal action and not even followed any pre-action protocol & got in touch. That money's been spent…. ❄️❄️❄️❄️⛄️ https://t.co/LrXqDsDB1b
In light of Jack Monroe @BootstrapCook's latest "working class" lies, it's worth retweeting her dad's comments regarding his professional landlording, which also reveal he has no bank debt, ie mortgages. Not surprising given he inherited 3 of his millionaire dad's 12 properties. https://t.co/7BrPnLiVtA
He is sometimes described, inaccurately, as having become a “pro bono” lawyer who works for free, out of quasi-charitable motives, whereas he in fact seems to work on a “no win no fee” basis, which is not at all the same thing.
“Jack Monroe” has tweeted that she still has several/many months in which to sue the MP Lee Anderson and the politico Martin Daubney. In theory, up to a year after the alleged libel, but the relevant Practice Directions do say that the courts will still expect any claim to be made expeditiously, so not, e.g., 10 or 11 months after the alleged libel.
The courts may (probably will) penalize even a successful defamation claimant (“plaintiff”, as was) in both award and costs if the action is not brought expeditiously.
Why are you tagging bootstrapcrook? ,she is literally doing the tories work by claiming you can feed a family on 20 quid a week, she has ripped of 1000s of working class people who have been paying into her patreon and received NOTHING, people are complaining and getting refunds
Ian Robert Millard 