On the first day of 2026, Happy New Year to all well-intentioned readers of the blog.
В первый день 2026 года, поздравляем всех доброжелательных читателей блога с Новым годом!
Morning music
Russian village life
Quite a pleasant little vlog.
It occurs to me yet again how incredibly useful is the Internet in linking people around the world, in this case linking a young couple in the deep obscurity of the Russian countryside with people in the UK, USA etc.
It may also be that, with 165,000 (albeit unpaid) subscribers on YouTube, the lady posting may be able to derive a modest income from the channel. (nb: since writing that last, a few hours ago, I have discovered that YouTube has cut off all income to Russia-based YouTube channels).
Tweets seen
What winter looks like in Yakutia — residents of the village of Tiksi find ways to break through snowdrifts two meters deep
The situation is worsened by snowstorms and severe frosts reaching minus 50 degrees. pic.twitter.com/VYvSF42vA0
Happy New Year everyone! If the establishment that has failed this country over the last 30 years thought 2025 was difficult, they’ve got no idea what’s coming in 2026 …
Ha. I bought a copy not long ago for £1 from a Tesco supermarket charity bookshelf. Interesting read.
I’m at RAF Wethersfield and the council is paying for migrants to shipped into Braintree with taxpayers money. This is insane. pic.twitter.com/oiKxaAfucR
The Ukrainian army carried out a drone attack on a cafe and a hotel in the village of Khorly in the Kherson Region, where civilians were celebrating the New Year, Governor Saldo said.
[“MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army carried out a drone attack on a cafe and a hotel in the village of Khorly in the Kherson Region, where civilians were celebrating the New Year, Governor Vladimir Saldo said.
According to preliminary reports, over 24 people, including a child, were killed, and another 29 people, among them five kids, suffered injuries.”]
The IDF has thermal scopes. They knew 6yo Hind Rajab was alive in the car, surrounded by 6 dead family members. They fired 335 bullets into the car, killing her. Now imagine the media coverage if Hamas had fired 335 bullets into a car, killing a 6yo Israeli girl #IsraeliTerrorismpic.twitter.com/zJwO6BK2MN
Looks as if, maybe, Russia is building up Iran so that American attention (and aid) is diverted away from the Kiev regime. After all, those planes may be carrying nuclear technology, fissile material, or even…nothing at all.
Impressive 😍. One of the world's largest fireworks , launched over Nagaoka,Japan pic.twitter.com/JPcxYc11I9
Gaddafi gave me his resignation letter. The US didn't want Gaddafi to resign, they wanted to kill him. They wanted control of his oil, and they wanted control of his wealth pic.twitter.com/5w1avdJCEq
Christmas University Challenge and Celebrity Mastermind
Watched another Christmas University Challenge match between teams of alumni now in prominent positions. Incredible ignorance. Same goes for the (supposed) “celebrities” on Celebrity Mastermind. Depressingly poor standard.
Late tweets seen
Zelensky, in impotent rage, decided to take it out on civilians, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in connection with the Kiev regime's terrorist attack in the Kherson Region of Russia:https://t.co/UQjDRixjeupic.twitter.com/0pCuxvdAaD
Like a David Attenborough programme, but without the greenery.
It’s more because we decided to give trillions in aid to these third worlders and they’ve spawned en mass whilst we’ve stopped having kids as we can’t afford it. We’re the host, they’re the parasites.
Enough is enough. Cut ALL foreign aid. Let’s put our good natured altruism to… https://t.co/Rgbf3h4tIY
It’s not just Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir or Smotrich who are the driving force behind Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza, warns American political scientist Norman Finkelstein pic.twitter.com/wuVouMRBCW
Not just Jews in Israel, but a high proportion of those living outside Israel.
That is especially true of the USA, where the major TV news networks never give a balanced view, particularly on the situation in the Middle East. There is always a pro-Israel, pro-Jewish slant, at the very least.
Ritter: No negotiations with Kyiv after the attack on Putin's residence
Negotiations with Kyiv are impossible after the Ukrainian attack on Vladimir Putin's residence, said former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter.
[“Ritter: No negotiations with Kyiv after the attack on Putin’s residence Negotiations with Kyiv are impossible after the Ukrainian attack on Vladimir Putin’s residence, said former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter. “The current Ukrainian government should not be seen as a party to negotiations, but as a terrorist organization that must be completely destroyed”, he wrote.”]
The Israeli TV channel Channel 12 made a prediction, citing senior government officials, that Israel will engage in new wars against the West Bank (the Palestinian Authority), Lebanon, and Iran in 2026. pic.twitter.com/4j0K1igSM1
2025 brought a new reality, though. Iran showed that it could penetrate Israeli defences. Iran is now building up its offensive capabilities. Hypersonic missiles etc. In the long term, maybe even medium term, Israel is doomed.
According to current trends 2026 will be the first year where the indigenous British will be in a minority of total 2026 births in the UK. The writing has been clearly written on the wall since 1997.
Kirill Dmitriev, Special Representative of the Russian President, Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, called for acknowledging the existence of well-funded and well-organized campaigns inciting war in the US, UK, and EU media:https://t.co/Xhf928BHjXpic.twitter.com/WT7GX1bTKf
The pernicious campaign inciting war between the West including, perhaps especially, the UK, and Russia, is ubiquitous. Such a war would be even more disastrous than the Second World War.
Far fewer than usual. Either the Kiev regime is running short on drones, or is planning a spectacular mass attack, using hoarded drones. Probably the latter.
Bondarenko: Western Europe is preparing for a new Northern war against Russia and therefore insists that Ukraine has 800,000 soldiers
The Ukrainian political analyst Konstantin BONDARENKO: The war will be fought for control over the Baltic Sea, to deny Russia access to that sea.… pic.twitter.com/mx7kCGpo3L
[“Bondarenko: Western Europe is preparing for a new Northern war against Russia and therefore insists that Ukraine has 800,000 soldiers The Ukrainian political analyst Konstantin BONDARENKO: The war will be fought for control over the Baltic Sea, to deny Russia access to that sea. This was confirmed to me by sources in the European expert community. They are not for peace there, only for a ceasefire. For freezing the conflict – with a subsequent thaw The Euro-Atlantic region is forced to watch as the Ukrainian project, once considered a pillar-support in the fight against Russia, turns into an uncontrolled and toxic mechanism capable of dragging down everyone involved in its artificial maintenance.”]
The Stuttgart "local residents" have started celebrating Catholic Christmas… Fresh shawarma and kebab – traditional German dishes – are waiting on the tables at home… pic.twitter.com/1665UPuoLV
The Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Army, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, warned that the army would strike at Israel's enemies "wherever necessary, both on the near and far fronts", apparently hinting that Israel would be forced to strike Iran again.
From the horse’s mouth. Israel will be using Jews who live outside Israel to “monitor” non-Jews in their own countries; that Israel/”diaspora” nexus will not only be “monitoring” anti-Israel content, but trying to suppress it, and to repress those posting it. That nexus will also be creating false narratives etc.
It is already happening, in fact. AIPAC in the USA, the “CST” and malicious “Campaign Against Antisemitism” [“CAA”] in the UK etc. You see it elsewhere too, France, Australia etc.
Ukrainian Jewish citizens in Dnepropetrovsk celebrated yesterday, and Ukrainians are wondering where the mobilization officials have disappeared to. pic.twitter.com/TZYeIIPmmb
let's be clear: Russia will never be defeated. We have withstood centuries of hardships, seen empires rise and fall, and we are still here. And tomorrow, we will be there, in this new multipolar world that is already emerging. pic.twitter.com/hyXNEBChl3
Russia’s world leadership will not arrive for another 1,500 years but, in the meantime, Russia must be allowed to develop in its own way, not as a field of exploitation by Western profiteers.
"Most people who enter Britain through asylum routes have low employment rates, low wages, are economically inactive, and if they are working then they earn a median salary of just £20,000 for men and £18,000 for women."https://t.co/5QluSPB5P1
It seems to me that both main (or formerly “main”) System parties are living in a world of delusion in which, after events or scandals or propaganda attack ads, the disenchanted British voters will ditch their new-found support for Reform and the Greens, and will return to the old comfortable (?) fold as Con and Lab voters. Not going to happen, in my view. The old loyalties and habits have been shattered by the betrayals by both Lab and Con (and their palpable incompetence, as well).
Andrew Neil is right. About absolutely everything.
When leaders start treating elections as optional…
They usually discover too late… that voters stop treating them as legitimate.
So the knackers yard boiling pots are warming up nicely for Starmer.
[“NEW: The Government is set to announce the “biggest animal welfare reforms” in a generation – Ban puppy farming by reforming dog breeding rules – Ban electric shock collars on pets pending a consultation – Ban trail hunting amid concerns it is being used as a smokescreen for illegal fox hunting – Introduce humane slaughter rules for farmed fish to prevent avoidable pain during killing – Phase out colony cages for laying hens, which restrict movement and natural behaviours like nesting and perching, and pig farrowing crates, which confine mother pigs and stop them turning around after giving birth – Ban snare traps that can catch pets and cause suffering for animals – Reform the use of carbon dioxide to stun pigs after evidence it causes distress and suffering – Ban shooting hares during the breeding season (roughly from February to September) so young hares are not left without mothers.”]
For once, I thoroughly approve of all the new government measures (re. animal welfare) but, as tweeter Sophie Meaden says, both Muslim halal and Jewish kosher slaughter must also be banned.
Naturally, Starmer-stein’s government would not ban “Semitic” forms of slaughter, because 1. this is a totally “occupied” Labour Friends of Israel government which 2. in terms of numbers of actual votes is dependent on UK-resident Muslims.
I might add that I suspect that these (otherwise welcome) animal welfare measures are being brought in partly to —so to speak— shoot the Green Party’s fox, and cut some support ground from underneath the Greens.
I genuinely can’t understand a word she says and that’s not me being cruel when I say that.
The comedy industry has been absolutely destroyed due to the Marxist ideologies being pushed throughout the West.
Quite. By the same token, while I am sorry for those with disabilities, I oppose the near-worship exemplified by the Paralympics. The Olympics are supposed to be “Faster, Higher, Stronger“, so having a kind of parallel for-the-disabled sports-fest does not seem to be quite right, though I take little interest in sports anyway, so that is not a major issue for me.
As to comedy, I have no idea who the featured individual is (or what she is saying, as tweeter Sophie Meaden says) but Ms. Meaden’s view is surely correct.
There is a kind of madness abroad in this country now. It is seen in various realms, and was very obvious during the truly ridiculous and absurd “Covid” panicdemic/scamdemic of 2020-2022. Examples: the range of ludicrous “measures” taken (facemask nonsense, “social distancing”, “furlough” payments, fraudulent business loans or grants, the toytown police of the toytown police state checking people’s shopping, and arresting people out of a drive or a walk or sitting on benches at the seaside).
Mad. All mad. Oh, and who could forget the ridiculous “clap for the NHS” nonsense?
As to comedy, it dies when the State, or the System, mandates what cannot be said, or who can or cannot be laughed at. Thus the Soviet Union had a magazine called Krokodil, supposedly satirical, but it could only laugh at approved targets, so not the CPSU (Communist Party), not socialism as a system etc. The same thing has now happened (since the early 1990s) in the UK. Example: the lame Have I Got News for You show. Private Eye magazine, too.
No comedian who wants to be on TV or radio, or even in theatres, can make fun of Jews, blacks, or a range of other groups or events or types.
We now have an ever-tightening noose of censorship. The “bad law” Communications Act 2003, s.127, for example, is frequently abused by the malicious Jew-Zionists such as, in fact mainly, the so-called “Campaign Against Antisemitism”.
In fact, the Jewish/Israel lobby is behind much, though not all, of the anti-free speech activity in the UK. The Muslim element too, though much less so. Then there is the pervasive “political correctness” or “woke” influence.
I have a few good cartoons illustrating all that but, because they featured as Prosecution evidence in my 2023 free speech trial, I prefer not to republish them at present. Q.E.D.
Poll by @LordAshcroft (not British Polling Council member) in Mail on Sunday has Reform 25% -2 Con 22% +2 Green 19% +1 Lab 18% nc Lib Dem 10% -1 11-15 Dec, change since Nov pic.twitter.com/YgP9t7N2wU
Somewhat different from other polls of the past few months. Translates to a Commons with about 283 Reform UK MPs (about 30 short of an overall majority), Cons 111 (far better than all other recent polls; not far short of their present position; and they would be the Opposition, if not in some kind of compact with Reform, which would be not unlikely), 64 Lab, 60 Greens, 50 LibDems, and 44 SNP [etc].
Lord Ashcroft’s polling has been accurate in the past. It may just be that the electorate is very volatile at present.
The Labour party’s decision to tie itself to the Netanyahu govt for inexplicable reasons has allowed the Green Party to surge and will lose them their seats in London and all the big cities. What a moral, strategic and political catastrophe that policy has been.
We have reached a crucial turning point. Is it a crime to criticize Jews? Poland has to break free of Jewish thought control by acquitting Gregor Braun. https://t.co/l43XzP4igI
[“Warsaw, Poland — In one of the most politically charged trials in recent Polish history, MP and nationalist leader.@GrzegorzBraun_ delivered a dramatic and controversial defense statement in court. He directly referred to the writings and teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson — whose portrait was displayed in the Polish Parliament — arguing that the ideology expressed in those texts discriminates against non-Jews and violates the Polish Constitution. Prosecutors accuse Braun of hate-motivated offenses and disruption of a religious ceremony during the 2023 Hanukkah event inside the Sejm. His immunity has already been removed by both Polish and European institutions, opening the way for a full criminal trial.“]