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Diary Blog, 29 May 2024, including a look at Natalie Elphicke

16 Comments

Morning music

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant_Lambert]

Tweets seen

I never believe “them” without corroborative evidence.

Not “the world”; just some of the “occupied” UK/US mass media.

Exactly. Eternal “victims”, even when they are victimizing others.

A mere caution, for attacking an elderly man in the street.

Natalie Elphicke

Whatever the facts of that, there are facts that are indisputable: Natalie Elphicke could have stood at GE 2024 as Con Party candidate. She received 56.9% of the vote in 2019 under that aegis.

I was puzzled as to why Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor, she after all knowing that a general election had to be called sometime before a date in January 2025. Does she have some better offer from outside Parliament? Seems doubtful to me.

Natalie Elphicke gives me a dual impression: not particularly intelligent, but particularly focussed on her own ambitions.

Incidentally, many may be misled by the academic section of her biographical details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Elphicke#Early_life_and_career.

As a former member of Lincoln’s Inn, I have met several people over the years who were (as was Natalie Elphicke— see the Wikipedia entry) beneficiaries of Hardwicke scholarships. None impressed.

I saw this comment:

“Hardwicke Scholarships aren’t that prestigious. A mere submission of an application is more than enough to win one. They give about 150 away each year, and not many more people apply to each inn for a scholarship, surprisingly enough.” [online commentator].

I think that the real figure is nearer to 100 than 150.

To intrude a personal comment, I recall a young blonde lady barrister who (unsuccessfully, in all cases) opposed me in court a number of times during 2002-2008 when I was in chambers in Exeter (she was in another set, also in Exeter). She was a former Hardwicke scholar, just like Natalie Elphicke. I used to think of her as “Mrs Malaprop”, because her use of English was so poor. Comically so. A pretty poor barrister in terms of both legal knowledge and presentation, in my view, though wearing a sense of self-importance as thick as a suit of armour.

I had better not name that lady, mainly for reasons of propriety (I am too poor now to be worth suing; and there would be no basis for such a suit anyway). I just looked her up online for the first time, and found that she is still in Exeter, and still in the same chambers as she was 20+ years ago, apparently flourishing like the green bay tree.

I note that, having been Called to the Bar in 1994, only a few years after me, Natalie Elphicke decided to leave the Bar and to convert to be a solicitor (something that, at least then, basically meant filling out a few forms).

Natalie Elphicke only worked as a lawyer for a year or two, as a salaried employee of the Inland Revenue (as was; now HMRC) during 1995-1997. She married her now ex-husband, Charlie Elphicke, in 1995. They have two children. She appears to have returned to legal work for a year or two during the years 2011-2013, before helping to found a company which was dissolved 2-3 years later.

After that, her husband’s connections seem to have got her a couple of brief public appointments in the years 2016-2019, as well as the CEO job at the Housing and Finance Institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Finance_Institute. This may not be very lucrative, though, looking at the Institute’s funding. Hard to say.

Ah…[10 mins later…]… seems that my hunch was correct: that HFI CEO position is entirely unpaid: see https://members.parliament.uk/member/4795/registeredinterests.

Many will know that, though having displayed (performative?) “loyalty” to her disgraced MP husband, Charlie Elphicke, during his trial, Natalie Elphicke had by then already taken over as MP for Dover in 2019. She separated from him in 2020, and later divorced him, prior to which she sold her story to the Sun “newspaper” for £25,000. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/deal/news/mp-wife-of-naughty-tory-paid-25k-to-tell-all-234749/.

I have to say that I agreed (and still agree) with Natalie Elphicke’s comment at the time of her husband’s unsuccessful appeal (against sentence only— he had been sentenced to 2 years, plus £35,000 costs, and was released after a year) that the 2-year sentence was harsh. He had really done very little: “During his trial the court heard how Elphicke groped one of his accusers, chased her around his house, and sang “I’m a naughty Tory, I’m a naughty Tory.” [Wikipedia].

I should have thought that a suspended sentence would have been enough. From what I read at the time, his three crimes were all just silly, really; almost identical, too, and surely only just coming within the “sex crime” area. Pathetic more than anything, in my opinion.

To my mind, if crimes and criminals can be divided into “bad, sad, or mad“, Charlie Elphicke’s conduct was surely “sad“, with a dash of “mad“, but nothing seriously “bad“.

Having —whether rightly or wrongly, and I think rightly— identified Natalie Elphicke as a “go for the main chance” opportunist, why on Earth did she defect to Labour? Looking at the electoral statistics for Dover, she had a very good chance of being re-elected. Maybe Starmer offered her a peerage (seems unlikely, though), or some quango chair (more likely), or a safe Labour seat (relatively unlikely, surely?).

I admit, Mrs. Elphicke’s motivation is still puzzling to me.

As to Charlie Elphicke, I had little time for him when he was an MP, but I have to say that his fall from status and relative affluence has the elements of a minor Greek tragedy. Apparently, he now lives in a small rented flat somewhere like Earl’s Court, and may (I do not know) be either unemployed or working in some obscure occupation. I can find no record of him still on the Solicitors’ Register, and the same is true of Natalie Elphicke, but as far as I know both are still able to practise; again, I cannot say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-61276734

While looking up the above details, I noticed this story from the Daily Mail in 2022: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10367265/Naughty-Tory-Charlie-Elphicke-makes-700-000-profit-selling-cliffside-home-Kent.html.

Turns out that the Elphickes bought a house on the Kent coast for about £800,000 in 2010, and were able to sell it only a decade later for over £1.5M. The house almost doubled in value in 10 years. A commentary upon the house-price madness in this country.

More tweets

There is also no evidence that Reform UK is getting anywhere. Nothing lower than an across-the-board 20% will win any seats; even a few percent more may only win a small handful, maybe 3-5. 11%, 12%, even 15%, is “nowhere” territory in seat-winning terms.

The LibDems and Greens are on a lower nationwide support, yet have seats in the Commons because their vote is concentrated, here and there.

Having said that, I make two points. Firstly, most intending Reform UK voters know perfectly well that RF is not going to win many, if any, seats. Their vote is a protest vote and/or a way of kicking the Sunak government and Conservative Party, by weakening greatly the Con Party vote in almost every constituency, but without voting Labour.

Secondly, as mooted yesterday, there may be a number, perhaps even a large number, of “secret Reform UK voters”, who do not show up in the opinion polls because they say “Don’t Know” or nominate a mainstream party out of embarrassment. Very English, arguably.

I doubt whether the usual general election convergence will happen this time. People hate and despise the useless Conservative Party governments of the past 14 years, and especially the past 5 years. That includes a huge number of 2019 or previous Con voters.

In fact, I should not be surprised were the Lab-Con gap to widen, though more because the Cons may slide again rather than because Labour increase their percentage.

A plurality of voters do not know where Starmer stands. For Starmer, that may be what he wants.

Telling…

That must be “value” olive oil. The last bottle I bought (extra-virgin olive oil, first cold pressing, but not a single-estate or special one) was nearly £13.

“Incredible posting by Simon Myerson (1) @JewishMirelle’s statement can be opinion and defamatory. (2) Myerson is re-publishing a likely defamatory statement. (3) He’s a KC suggesting to someone on twitter that their statement might not be defamatory. (4) He’s the KC who acted for Pete Newbon according the Telegraph. #GroundhogDay“

Myerson again.

Honest opinion is now a defence [Defamation Act 2013, s.3].

I think that I shall quit now, while I am ahead. I have not been in Bar practice for 16 years, and do not, in general, keep up with changes in the law.

General Election news

According to my use of Electoral Calculus, that might result in a House of Commons with 541 Lab MPs, 46 LibDem, 28 Con, 12 SNP, 3 Plaid Cymru, 2 Green, and 18 various Northern Irish.

On those figures, what Disraeli described as “the great Conservative Party, which destroys everything“, would be itself almost destroyed, reduced to a rump of 20 MPs; not even the official Opposition, which would be the LibDems.

Such a result would be a strategic defeat for the SNP too. 12 MPs, down from 56 (out of 59) at the 2015 peak, and 48 at the 2019 GE.

I get the impression that the SNP’s version of fake “nationalism” (blame England/the UK for everything, keep importing non-whites into Scotland, and think it normal to have a Pakistani as First Minister) has well and truly foundered on the rocks of socio-political reality). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Party#House_of_Commons.

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll.html.

Of course, a change in the Labour vote of even one point either way would add several to (or subtract several from) the Conservative total, and even more to or from the Labour total.

More tweets

A twisted and evil woman.

“Ukraine knows that it’s all over” While the UK is preoccupied with the general elections, Kyiv “cannot withstand Putin’s brutal attack,” reports the British The Telegraph. Main points:

Kiev was forced to transfer thousands of soldiers to the northeastern part of the front line to try to slow down the advance of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kharkov region.

The war is reaching a critical point as Western interest in helping Ukraine risks weakening again.

Zelensky seems to understand that time is running out for Ukraine: over the weekend he called on Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to take part in the upcoming “peace summit” in Switzerland.

Zelensky’s team is concerned about the shift of attention in the United States to internal elections: Ukraine is receding into the background.

The harsh reality is that Ukraine risks simply running out of people to fight.“

Exactly.

I have, on the blog, been saying for 2 years that Russia cannot lose this war, and will not lose it.

Alt-Right, daily blog, diary blog, environment, free speech, Ian Millard, Jewish lobby in UK, Mark Lewis, Matt Goodwin, Party Politics, society, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 21 May 2024

21 Comments

Afternoon music

[painting by Volegov]

Tweets seen

“Mark, rather than making witless jokes about a helicopter crash, please can you focus on giving instructions to your solicitors about my claim for costs against you and your firm Patron Law. Your former client – the one who is still alive – is vulnerable. He and I need some explanation as to why you insisted I give you huge sums of money to settle my claim.“

This will probably end up with the egregious Jew-Zionist solicitor, Mark Lewis, and/or his colleagues, having to settle a professional negligence claim.

Where Goodwin goes wrong is in failing to see that only some form or forms of social nationalism can save Europe as anything much more than a geographic space inhabited mainly (after about 2100, possibly before then) by non-Europeans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalergi_Plan

Goodwin is also entirely in consonance with the Jew-Zionist/Israel lobby. That means that he gets an easy ride from the mass media, but also means that he has hitched his wagon to the “controlled opposition” populists such as Reform UK. They cannot appeal to the bulk of the people, but can only hoover up votes from disenchanted people who were, mostly, Conservative Party supporters until recently. Some were also Labour voters, true, but not so many. Maybe —at peak— 20% of the electorate.

“I’m less worried about Lewis’ slips with the date and the grammar, and more worried about his grasp of the law! It seems Lewis thinks when that when you sue for libel, you are not entitled to an undertaking from the defendant saying they won’t further publish the libel because it is you that has put the libel in the public domain.

So if you don’t sue for an undertaking/injunction, they can further publish. And, er, if you do sue for an undertaking/injunction, there’s no need for one because you’ve put the libel in the public domain. No doubt libel lawyers will be scratching their heads at this.”

Ha. The fact is that, for all his brief “celebrity” about 10-12 years ago, Lewis is not much of a lawyer, in my opinion. That is even if we leave aside Lewis’s own admission, before the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal in 2018, that at times he had no idea what he was saying, writing, or doing (by reason of his intake of prescription drugs).

“A tale in four acts.

1. In Nov 2021 I suggested a nominal (say £5) settlement with Mr Cantor.

2. Mr Lewis rejected it in principle, apparently on Mr Cantor’s instructions.

3. Mr Cantor now says Mr Lewis said the only way to get a zero money settlement was to ask me for £5k.

4. Because I could never offer Mr Cantor anything better than a nominal settlement, and that was explicitly rejected by Mr Lewis, Mr Cantor lost at trial and is likely to lose his home. What was going on here?“

This is far from having been the first time that “Mark Lewis Lawyer” (his old Twitter/X name, now supplanted by “@MLewisLawyer”) has acted entirely unprofessionally, but up until now the fanatical and semi-loonie Lewis has managed to wriggle out of professional sanction, except in 2018, when the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal fined and censured him for having tweeted violently-abusive things on social media.

Even then, supportive Jews stumped up, via a crowdfunder, the £12,500 penalty (being a fine plus costs). Lewis’s fine itself (£2,500) had been reduced by two-thirds because he had effectively no money. His own Counsel said to the Tribunal that Lewis had not only been affected mentally by his (prescription) drug intake, but that “his only assets” consisted of his own clothes, a mobility scooter, and a private pension worth £70 a week.

Lewis’s honesty, as well as his competence, has been in question for many many years.

See also: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/01/11/update-re-mark-lewis-lawyer-questions-are-raised/

In the Wilson case, should the recent defendant, Cantor, wish to have reduced his liability for the costs of the successful Claimant (Wilson), he has (it seems) little choice but to go after Lewis. Should Lewis have no or not sufficient means to satisfy the costs, then I suppose that Cantor’s remedy would be, in principle, to go after Lewis’s legal partners in the law firm to which he is now attached, Patron Law.

It will be interesting to see what eventually happens. Unfortunately, the costs will be less than they normally would be (had solicitors and Counsel represented the Claimant); it seems that Wilson represented himself much of the time.

Still, Cantor and maybe Wilson can both complain to the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority. I hope they both will.

Late tweets

“Israel has shut down a live video broadcast by the Associated Press of Gaza, where journalists are barred from entering.

Israel claims that this broadcast was used by Al Jazeera after the medium was banned in Israel, and that it was used by Hamas for military planning.

Since the start of the war, international journalists have come under increased scrutiny from the Israeli government for reporting on the conflict and have faced increasing restrictions on their activities, drawing condemnation from the United Nations and media freedom groups.“

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot equip recruits with heavy equipment , writes Forbes.

Despite the help of the West, the shortage of armored vehicles in Kyiv has become even more obvious against the backdrop of combat losses and increased mobilization, the publication notes. For example, the recently formed 153rd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had to be retrained as an infantry brigade.“

Looking at that photo, I am assuming that the “tart-on-a-stick” in the blue outfit is his daughter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrylo_Budanov

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67552036

Gove is a complete puppet of the Jew-Zionist/Israel lobby, and has been for many years, even long predating his time as MP and then government minister. A drug abuser, a shambling drunk, an expenses cheat/fraudster, and more besides.

Could the Federal Government —and whole society— of the USA be any more penetrated and occupied by “them”?

Late music

[David D. Pearce, Bird Souk, Cairo; https://www.daviddpearce.com/workszoom/4737386/cairo-citadel-bird-souq-and-buses#/. The artist is a former U.S. diplomat]
Alt-Right, Campaign Against AntiSemitism, daily blog, Defence, diary blog, elections, free speech, historical, historical revisionism, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Labour Friends of Israel, Matt Goodwin, Nick Griffin, Party Politics, Russia and Russian relations, society, Starmer, The Great Replacement, the Great Reset, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 15 May 2024

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Afternoon music

From the newspapers

The Shadowy Conglomerate Behind LBC

I have noted previously on the blog the Jew-Zionist ownership of LBC radio (the Jewish aspect is not expressly noted by Byline Times). I do not think that it is a co-incidence that the propaganda of the malicious cabal known as “Campaign Against Antisemitism” or “CAA” is mostly now broadcast by LBC, Murdoch-owned “no-one watches” Talk TV and —less so after “CAA” creature Gideon Falter was caught out lying about a contrived incident recently— Murdoch-owned Sky News.

Tweets seen

Well, all right, but what part of “a million non-white invaders are entering the UK every year under a supposedly Conservative government” has Matt Goodwin missed?

Is Goodwin saying that even more invaders may enter the UK under the next Labour Party government? I do not dispute that that is possible, but once you get to where we now are, the difference is slight. We are, as a decent European society, going down, fast. Labour misgovernment after 2024 may accelerate the process, but not hugely, to be honest.

The number one aim in 2024 has to be to crush the Conservative Party, even at the expense of a Labour Party “elected” dictatorship under Israel puppet Keir Starmer. That will unbalance the rigged “two main parties” System, and make it easier for a real social-national movement to emerge.

“Swiss intelligence:

Lloyd Austin was unable to tell the Senate what would be considered a victory for Ukraine.

JACQUES BO WARNED: TACTICS WITHOUT STRATEGY ARE JUST VANITY – BEFORE DEFEAT FORMER.

Swiss intelligence officer Jacques Beau has announced that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was unable to answer what “victory over Russia” in Ukraine should look like. He stated that Austin was asked at a meeting of the NATO Armed Forces Committee to define what would be considered a victory in Ukraine. And that he had no answer or deliberately avoided answering.

On this occasion, Bo pointed out and warned: “If the West does not know what it is fighting for in Eastern Europe, then it will not be able to fight any longer and gain an advantage.” In his opinion, tactics without strategy are just futility in the face of defeat.“

Quite. As pointed out on this blog for the past couple of years.

The dying “Conservative” misgovernment wheels out scribbler (((Sarah Vine))) in a desperate attempt to blame midwives for 14+ years of government cutbacks.

More music

More tweets

That is in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/live/gaza-live-israel-bombs-unrwa-clinic-gaza-city

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-69015371

[Northern Gaza]

Arguably akin to the Reduction of the Warsaw Ghetto by German forces in 1943.

[Ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto, 1945]

Late tweets

Whether or not what the Israeli Jews have done in Gaza over the past 7 months can be, legalistically, labelled as “genocide” (and there are legions of Jewish lawyers in the UK and elsewhere weaselling to try to convince people to the contrary), the Israeli war crimes surely speak for themselves; just look at the damage.

The same with the numbers of women and children killed. So if the number stands at, say, 10,000, or 20,000 rather than 30,000, is that OK? Is it only “genocide” if the number is [notional hundreds of thousands, or millions], or if the victims are Jewish?

All charities and other NGOs in the UK need a massive purge.

It’s like a Hammer horror film poster from around 1972.

The Dutch police and army are very brave when facing unarmed civilians, but either run away or surrender when faced with determined armed opposition (as in Bosnia in the 1990s).

2024 could be the year when the stalemate on all fronts is broken, and when Russian forces can make a massive general advance north and west, across all of Eastern Ukraine.

Late music

Crowdfunder

https://www.givesendgo.com/GC14J

Alt-Right, animal welfare, daily blog, David Icke, David Icke, Defence, diary blog, elections, environment, Eva Vlaardingerbroek, free speech, historical, historical revisionism, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Laurence Fox, Party Politics, Rishi Sunak, Russia and Russian relations, society, The Great Replacement, Uncategorized, wildlife

Diary Blog, 5 May 2024

7 Comments

Talking point

See also: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13383283/migrants-illegal-Channel-small-boats-rwanda.html.

The cross-Channel migration-invasion is about 5% of the entire migration-invasion.

Within 5-15 years, this will be existential for British society.

Tweets seen

Agree with about 90% of that, maybe more.

One thing she leaves out is which “demographic” is, ultimately, behind the attack on Christian culture(s) that she mentions (clue: not —most importantly— the Muslim demographic).

“HEART specialist waiting lists are up by 75 per cent, according to NHS figures.

Health authorities have admitted that mRNA jabs can cause potentially fatal heart issues, and published post-mortems have recorded heart-related vaccine deaths.

Despite this, not one mainstream news outlet has looked at the role covid vaccinations could have played in the huge increase in heart problems. Instead, our health watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), continues to call vaccine-induced myocarditis and pericarditis ‘rare’, despite admitting a 90 per cent under-reporting rate (it could be as high as 99 per cent), and continues to blame SARS-CoV-2 infection.

This is a disingenuous assessment, according to top US cardiologist and epidemiologist Peter McCullough.”

I was unaware that Amsterdam is now 56% migrant. That figure does not even include all migrants who arrived over the past 50 years, or their offspring.

Very sad. When I first and briefly visited the Netherlands, aged maybe 8, in 1964 or 1965, there were no migrants, effectively.

When I returned alone, in 1975, aged 18, there were few. Later, on trips in the 1980s, Dutch friends of my family were complaining about the behaviour of the few (I think Turks, or possibly others from Turkey) who had somehow moved to their part of Amsterdam (a relatively-new suburb in or by North Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Noord): thefts of bicycles, littering etc— maybe “petty”, but already slowly changing their decent (and fairly new) neighbourhood into a declining and less pleasant one.

My last visit to the Netherlands, other than using Schiphol airport a number of times, was in the mid-1980s. More recently, I heard from Dutch friends how things had changed, and not for the better. Drugs, crime generally, an immigrant takeover in some parts of the city etc. This all co-incided with economic problems, housing shortages (mass immigration again), considerable job insecurity, and a general cultural decline.

Sad.

As with the Swedes, the Dutch made the mistake of allowing decent tolerance to become indecent licence, and of allowing a kind welcome for a few non-Europeans to become an open invitation for any and all, millions of them.

Britain made, and is still making, the same or similar mistakes, and is also indoctrinating its young people with the same pathetic and weak pseudo-ideology that is eroding white Europe from within.

Incidentally, I just saw this, about WW2 bombing of Amsterdam-Noord:

“In the Second World War the industry fields in Amsterdam-Noord were the target of the air bombings by the Allied Forces.[1]

The Fokker factories were the 17 July 1943 bombings’ goal, but the bombs of the United States Army Air Forces fell on the surrounding residential areas, causing 158 deaths and 119 seriously injured as a result.

The British’ Royal Air Force and Free French Air Forces both did another attempt to bomb the factory on 25 and 28 July, resulting in the death of 200 citizens in total by the three raids.[2]

Only the British Forces managed to bomb the targeted airplane factory, all other bombs fell on residential areas in Amsterdam-Noord. This is the heaviest air bombardment that ever hit Amsterdam. 106 houses were destroyed, 206 houses heavily damaged and 676 houses suffered glass and roof damage. Every year a memorial ceremony takes place on 17 July at De Nieuwe Noorder cemetery.”

[Wikipedia]

Sunak is a little Indian money-juggler, who neither looks, nor behaves, nor thinks like a prime minister.

Talking point

There should be a general chistka within the UK’s security and intelligence services. I have no idea, of course, which of the two main ones is the more infested; I suspect SIS/MI6.

Partly so, but not the whole reason.

“It ain’t half hot, mum!“

Late music

Crowdfunder

https://www.givesendgo.com/GC14J

Alt-Right, animal welfare, Campaign Against AntiSemitism, daily blog, Defence, diary blog, free speech, historical, Ian Millard, Jewish lobby in UK, Matt Goodwin, Reminiscences and Musings, Rishi Sunak, Russia and Russian relations, society, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 21 April 2024, with more about the legal case Wilson v. Mendelsohn, Newbon, and Cantor

12 Comments

Morning music

[Lazienki Park, Warsaw]

Tweets seen

More about the legal case Wilson v. Mendelsohn, Newbon, and Cantor

I pity anyone using Mark Lewis as their solicitor…

See my blog posts from yesterday (20 April 2024) and 18 April 2024: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2024/04/20/diary-blog-20-april-2024/; https://ianrobertmillard.org/2024/04/18/diary-blog-18-april-2024/, also my posts from a few years ago, and especially https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/01/11/update-re-mark-lewis-lawyer-questions-are-raised/. Also: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2023/09/16/diary-blog-16-september-2023/.

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/KB/2024/821.html

Those self-describing “left” people, such as Maginn and Dr. David Miller, always call their persecutors “rightwing“, when really the said persecutors are mostly Jews, with a few non-Jewish pro-Israel “doormat” types as makeweights.

The old “right”/”left” descriptors were out of date a century ago.

“Academic James Wilson wins defamation case against Zionist trolls Mendelsohn and Cantor. Judgment speaks volumes about methods and attitudes of so-called ‘campaigners against antisemitism’.

It’s worth posting this Skwawkbox report in full so people can appreciate what those of us critical of Zionism are up against.

The academic James Wilson was defamed, bullied and lied about by a phalanx of Zionist troll merchants including some who had, or have, jobs in academia – such as the late, and not lamented, Pete Newbon, and the Zionist regime asset David Hirsh.

I have highlighted the names of this Zionist hyaena pack in bold for ease of reference. [Link to the Skwawkbox post at the end.]

University lecturer James Wilson has been awarded £30,000 in damages against James Mendelsohn and Edward Cantor for defamatory material published about him during an argument about supposed antisemitism in the Labour party.

The false claim, that Mr Wilson was a ‘freak [who] takes pictures of kids’, put Mr Wilson and his partner in fear of physical danger, as well as seriously damaging his reputation.

The judge had previously rejected an attempt by Mendelsohn and Cantor to quash the lawsuit. The judgement lays bare that: Mendelsohn and Cantor kept private information and recycled it to the late Dr Pete Newbon – a director of the anti-left group ‘Labour against Antisemitism’ (LAAS), so that he could use it to defame Wilson – the information was untrue and based a) on statements from someone the judge found to have lied about Wilson and b) on false claims about a university disciplinary investigation.

Newbon was described by the judge as ‘bullying’. That Newbon, who committed suicided in 2022 after a row with his wife and has been lionised by so-called ‘antisemitism campaigners’ despite his awful record as a serial troll repeatedly disciplined by his employers Northumbria University for his appalling social media conduct, had not told her of Wilson’s lawsuit against him for the defamatory posts.

Mendelsohn and Cantor refused to apologise, mediate or settle, forcing the legal action to proceed to its conclusion. A key witness for the defendants said that she had been offered £5,000 by Mendelsohn and Cantor to testify for them (though the judge did not make a finding that her claim was true).

The defendants further abused and insulted Wilson in the course of their defence – despite, in the case of Cantor, being warned by the judge not to do so.

The defendants – who represented themselves in court apart from the use of a barrister to cross-examine Wilson – wheeled out a number of figures who are well known for their attacks on the left in an attempt to shore up their defence. The judge dismissed them:

*University lecturer David Hirsh, a prominent, pro-Israel proponent of supposed ‘left antisemitism’, who wrote an unintentionally revealing elegy to Pete Newbon after his suicide. Hirsh was called to bolster the defendants’ claim that Wilson had shown ‘unwarrantedly aggressive and belligerent conduct’. The judge rejected Hirsh’s evidence that Wilson was ‘aggressive, unpredictable, persistent and irrational’ and found that Wilson’s communications with him over the spreading of a crowdfund for the defendants’ legal costs were ‘not unreasonable’

*Nathan Comiskey, another advocate of ‘left antisemitism’, who claimed that Wilson contacting him about insulting remarks was ‘highly intrusive and upsetting’ and that he had felt ‘harassed and targeted’. The judge ruled that there was nothing unreasonable in Wilson’s communications and that Comiskey’s testimony did nothing to support the defendants’ claims about supposed unwarranted aggression or belligerence.

*Simon Myerson – a founding signatory of LAAS and supporter of Israel, and a part-time judge recently sanctioned for judicial misconduct for abusive social media posts. Myerson was also a vocal supporter of Newbon, trying to link Jewish author Michael Rosen to Newbon’s suicide, despite a coroner not mentioning Rosen at all in his inquest findings. Mendelsohn and Cantor put forward Wilson’s communications with Myerson, who had shared a post describing Wilson as ‘scum of the earth’, as evidence to support their claim of aggressive behaviour.

The judge ruled that it did nothing of the sort. Joanne Bell and journalist Adam Cailler – more well-known anti-left activists whose correspondence with Wilson was put forward by the defence as supporting evidence. The judge ruled, “I can find nothing in the emails which is particularly aggressive or which points to conduct of the kind said to demonstrate the pleaded propensity [to aggression]”.”

A Myerson attack on Michael Rosen:

The findings, as well as being clearly welcome to the smeared and endangered James Wilson, illuminate much of the approach of the right-wingers who created and propagated the ‘Labour antisemitism’ smear. While so-called ‘antisemitism campaigners’ – lauded by Hirsh in his document supporting the creation of the so-called ‘Pete Newbon award’ – are ready to doxx, insult, smear and abuse those with whom they disagree, the conduct of the defence and the witnesses it put forward or quoted reveal a group that is quick to describe their supposed hurt and fear when someone challenges them and, even in the most reasonable terms, takes issue with the smears and abuse.

Happily, the judge saw through such asymmetrical nonsense. Mr Wilson, in a statement about the result, said: The Judge has found that Mr James Mendelsohn gave Dr Pete Newbon confidential and defamatory information about me. It included a screenshot of a Facebook post that said I was “a freak who took pictures of kids” outside a school with a clear photo of me.

The impression was, as the Judge decided, like a ‘wanted’ poster. When the Facebook post was published originally, there were incidents that made me fear for the safety of me and my family. The police secured its deletion within 24 hours.

The Judge found that the allegations in the Facebook post were untrue. Mr Mendelsohn took a screenshot of the Facebook post in the 24 hours it was published and, having kept it for 19 months, gave it to Dr Newbon in August 2020 knowing Dr Newbon was making abusive attacks on me on Twitter/X and so he could use the screenshot as a weapon against me.

Dr Newbon and Mr Eddy Cantor then published the screenshot on Twitter/X too, as the Judge has found, abuse and bully me. When Dr Newbon realised the screenshot he and Mr Cantor had published put the safety of me and my family at risk, he took no action. I suspect this was on the basis of advice he got from his solicitor [Mark Lewis of Eilat, Israel].

Even when Dr Newbon deleted the screenshot from his feed, he sent it to other people by private message. He also invented seriously defamatory allegations about me that he sent to other people.

I did not want the litigation to start. The Defendants could have settled for zero damages and zero costs, and an agreement to delete and not to further publish the screenshot. Litigation only started because all the Defendants, presumably on advice from their solicitors [Mark Lewis of Eilat, Israel, and the Jewish law firm in London with which he is connected], insisted that publication of the screenshot was in the public interest.

They claimed this despite knowing of the intimidatory incidents. I did not want there to be a trial. What made a trial inevitable was the conduct of the Defendants. I suspect some of the Defendants’ conduct was the result of advice from their solicitors [Lewis, again].

The Defendants’ conduct included:

*Refusing to comply with the Civil Procedure Rules on pre-action conduct.

*Refusing mediation in favour of litigation to drive up my costs and to try to bankrupt me.

*Making repeated threats to bankrupt me, explicitly referring to the impact this would have on my employment and children.

*Making false allegations of anti-Semitism to try to get me to abandon my claim.

*Making misogynistic allegations about my partner and falsely accusing her of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and breaching professional conduct rules.

*Taking the case to trial having stated: (a) they had no money and I would not recover any costs or damages; (b) they did not care about the outcome (they were “blasé about the result”); (c) they saw what they were doing as some sort of revenge (they “regard this as payback time”).

*Refusing to engage sensibly in negotiations to settle the whole claim when both Dr Newbon’s widow and I wanted to quietly and cheaply settle the claim and avoid further publicity after Dr Newbon’s tragic death.

The Defendants received encouragement on social media and financial help in pursuing their defences. The crowdfunding claims made by the Defendants were outrageous. The most distasteful aspect was using Dr Newbon’s death to raise money (“One of us is now sadly silent. Those remaining must today come together and fight”).

The reality was that, having used Dr Newbon’s death to raise money, no serious effort was made to defend Dr Newbon at trial. I tried to protect Dr Newbon’s posthumous reputation by settling the claim without a trial and judgment.

Mr Cantor rejected in principle a settlement for nominal damages and zero costs in November 2021. Rather than getting Mr Cantor out of the litigation for a nominal sum, [his lawyer] [Lewis, again] insisted I would have to pay him money before Mr Cantor would settle the claim.

I do not know whether Mr Cantor himself knew about this, given his subsequent expressions of bemusement about being involved in the proceedings at all.

Both Defendants refused an offer to settle before trial for just a quarter of the damages the Judge has awarded. When the trial started, I avoided seeking a finding of harassment against Dr Newbon. It is unfortunate that detailed information about Dr Newbon’s conduct has been put in the public domain after his death.

In my opinion, the Defendants and/or their solicitors tried to cause me devastating reputational and, through the costs of the proceedings, financial harm because they disagree with my views on the State of Israel. The Defendants’ conduct was encouraged by others who share their views.

Dr Newbon also brought a separate defamation claim [against author Michael Rosen, who had complained about the antisemitic editing of an image showing one of his books].

He had intended to apologise for the conduct which was the subject of that case, but seems to have received dreadful advice [from Mark Lewis, again] to sue rather than simply say sorry. He ended up involved in two completely unnecessary and hopeless legal cases.

As the Judge found, it seemed the Defendants were motivated by an intense dislike if not hatred of me. For my part, I have no antipathy towards the Defendants despite their conduct and its impact on me and my family. I have never published confidential or defamatory information about the Defendants. I have never been abusive to them. I never retaliated to the Defendants’ abuse and bullying. It is ironic that while the Defendants are convinced that I am motivated by prejudice against them, it is they who had an obsessive and irrational dislike of me

[typical of “them”, of course— Ian Millard].

I find it sad that the Defendants, their former legal advisers [Lewis etc], and others believed that defending the State of Israel from criticism justified their conduct to me and my family. It is my hope that what has happened to the Defendants and their families, and me and my family, never happens to anyone else again. Please do not use the judgment in my case as a reason to attack or abuse others on social media. Mr Mendelsohn and Mr Cantor definitely do not deserve to be attacked or abused and I urge people not to do so.“

[really? Mr. Wilson may be “too nice” to that pack who have savaged him]

[the above (except for the few additions in square brackets) posted by Dr. David Miller, the academic sacked from Bristol University after a vicious campaign by Jew-Zionists, a campaign led (ostensibly) by a Jewish girl who also, inter alia, tweeted and/or wrote in favour of the decriminalization of bestiality pornography (as also did, incidentally, former MP and Israel supporter Ian Austin, who is now, absurdly, a member of the House of Lords, and who also wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions demanding that I be prosecuted for “crimes” connected to “antisemitism”).]

Surely it is time that the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority took Lewis in hand and (again) to a Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal; he should be struck off the solicitors’ roll. He has been lucky in that respect in the past, several times. He may have been cut slack by reason of his various chronic physical and mental problems (multiple sclerosis being one).

Myerson is a lying hypocrite, of course; I have various examples of that. He used to tweet frequently about me, and is a supporter of the two main Jew-Zionist groups that have attacked me (and my free speech rights) for the past decade— “Campaign Against Antisemitism” [“CAA”] and “UK Lawyers for Israel” [“UKLFI”].

The Bar Standards Board and Judicial Conduct Investigations Office should both take up (as to the latter, again) the case of Myerson, who has been a Recorder as well as working as a barrister, and who possibly still does sit as a Recorder (“part-time judge”). I do not know whether he still does.

I know only the outline of the other Jew-Zionist false witnesses mentioned. Adam Cailler is a scribbler for the Daily Star “newspaper”, while Joanne Bell is prolific on Twitter/X and, until someone was rude to her in a pub, used to describe herself as a “beauty junkie“.

Most of those false witnesses have at some point tweeted against me, many times in the case of Myerson.

The Jew-Zionist lobby, also known as the Israel lobby, abuse law (they call their activities “lawfare”) against both the perceived enemies of the Jews and also against those trying to exercise free speech on various matters social, political, historical etc. An evil pack. I myself have been the Israel lobby’s target for about 12 years (online), if not 48 years (offline).

Incidentally, this may be of interest to many: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/07/18/theyre-coming-to-take-me-away-ha-ha/.

More music

More tweets seen

“The condition for the new delivery of weapons to Kiev by the NATO countries was the adoption in Ukraine of a strict law on mobilization in order to compensate for the losses of Ukrainian forces , “TASS” states, referring to an unnamed diplomat in Brussels. ” The adoption of a new strict law on mobilization in Ukraine was a condition for new deliveries of weapons from NATO countries. The delivery of weapons makes sense only if there is a significant number of trained military personnel who can use these weapons in defensive or offensive operations, as well as with timely filling losses, which is why it is necessary to actively recruit new soldiers,” the diplomat pointed out.”

In other words, and as this blog has repeatedly pointed out, the Kiev regime is running out of cannon-fodder, despite press-gangs hauling people off the streets to serve on the collapsing front-lines, and despite the forced recruitment of the middle-aged (even those 60+) and disabled.

Unsurprising that few volunteer to serve: open-ended commitment, with poor pay and poor living conditions, as well as incompetent senior officers.

Soon, there will probably be a general Russian advance in Eastern Ukraine.

It is a terrible situation. Russia should have struck early and hard at Zelensky and his cabal in Kiev, using Spetsnaz forces, and parachute forces en masse, thus decapitating the Kiev regime. This present ghastly attritional war, with its huge destruction, and harm to both humans and their animal companions, would then have been averted.

More tweets etc about that legal matter

Well, guess what general (((group))) controls or strongly influences the “British” Press, radio and TV?

Note also the threat by Myerson to involve the police. Again typical of “them”. I have endured the same over many years: false and malicious complaints to police etc by connected packs of Jew-Zionists. After a decade of conspiracy, and whining demands to police and the Crown Prosecution Service, they finally succeeded in having me prosecuted. I was eventually convicted in November 2023 and, in March 2024, sentenced to a 9-month “community order” of 15 days or part-days of meetings with the Probation Service etc, as well as costs amounting to £734.

Incidentally, my crowdfunder is still open, should anyone want to help: https://www.givesendgo.com/GC14J. You can donate, or share the link. Thank you.

Myerson, despite his almost non-stop vituperation of others, is quick to play the “victim” (((victim))) card when on the defensive; he has done it previously when he thought that the Bar regulator was going to take up a case against him.

I hope that Mr. Wilson or others make what would surely be a thoroughly-justified complaint about him to the Bar Standards Board and/or the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Incidentally, it is only just after midday; so far today, in only a few hours, Myerson has already tweeted about 20 times. As he does most days, it seems. Obsessed?

Andrew Davis, famous orchestral conductor

When I was about 16, I owned a 1972 vinyl containing short works conducted by Davis; a potboiler selection but very good all the same, called Crown Imperial:

Later, in (I think) 1988, when I was just 32 and had a beard (a bad mistake with which I persisted from about 1983 to late 1988), I looked quite like also-bearded Andrew Davis in that same year. I was unaware of the temporary resemblance (the 1972 vinyl had a pre-beard photo of Davis) until an amusing incident happened.

I lived in Little Venice, London, and had the use, at the time, of a box at the Royal Albert Hall. I went there occasionally. One summer evening in 1988, I did just that. Andrew Davis was not conducting, but he was conducting on other nights at the Albert Hall in that same season, notably at the famous Last Night of the Proms (September 1988).

I breakfasted daily at the fashionable and nearby Raoul’s Cafe in Little Venice in those days. One day, a few days after I had been to the Albert Hall, I went into the cafe, sat, and noticed a young couple almost staring at me, smiling as if trying to catch my attention. I politely smiled back, at which the young woman said “we saw you at the Albert Hall the other night!“

I had no idea that Andrew Davis had just conducted at the Albert Hall, and no idea how much like him I looked at the time, so replied “oh, yes, I was there. I am there occasionally.“

The young couple, who told me that they were just visiting from New Zealand, said that they were staying one or two houses down from the semi-detached Victorian villa in Lanark Road, a stone’s throw from Raoul’s, in which I lived, and they thought that they had seen me. They continued:

“Are you often at the Albert Hall?“, to which I replied, in my innocence, “yes, when I am invited.”

After a few more pleasantries, the conversation ended, and the young couple departed from the cafe, though I saw them once or twice in succeeding days, as they entered a house; they were indeed staying almost next door to me. They smiled at me in an oddly awestruck way, though I took it to be mere courtesy.

Scroll on a day or so, and I encountered a friend of mine, whom I had met, along with the girl whom he later married, when we were all Bar Finals students at the Inns of Court School in Gray’s Inn (at the time, all prospective English barristers had to attend there). His first words were “Helen and I thought you were conducting the Last Night of the Proms on TV the other night! You have an uncanny resemblance to Sir Andrew Davis!” Others later made similar remarks, having also seen the performance on television.

No doubt the young couple returned to New Zealand telling people that, on their trip to London, they had encountered the famous conductor Andrew Davis, and what a modest fellow he was…

My little story has a twist. Almost a decade later, maybe in 1995 or 1996, I was having a drink with a lady and a few other regular habitues of “the Bunker”, our name for the basement bar at the Colonnade Hotel, Little Venice, when a bearded fellow entered from the hotel. The bar was a small and intimate one, so I said good evening, but then exclaimed “you know, you look just like Andrew Davis, the conductor“, to which he replied “I am Andrew Davis“…

Well, I bought Davis a beer (I offered Champagne, but beer was his modest choice), and gave him a few (no doubt, to his mind, both simplistic and unwanted) thoughts about my taste in music, and he eventually exited.

I presume that Davis had been recording at the BBC Maida Vale Studios not very far away. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maida_Vale_Studios.

Das ist’s…

A pretty fine conductor.

[Colonnade Hotel, Little Venice, London. The street entrance to “the Bunker” was through that entrance marked “2” in the photograph, then down steep steps]

More tweets

That refers to the recent provocation staged by the evil “Campaign Against Antisemitism” pack, in this case fronted by their chief spokesperson, one Gideon Falter. In at least one previous case, a Crown Court judge found Falter’s sworn testimony not credible.

I have not seen anything about that context or background in the msm reports about the recent incident, though. What a surprise (not)…

True. Curious, though. I thought that Jayda Fransen was pro-Israel. Maybe her beliefs are more nuanced. Don’t know. See https://ianrobertmillard.org/2020/09/11/diary-blog-11-september-2020-including-a-few-notes-about-jayda-fransen-and-her-new-british-freedom-party/.

Falter is an out and out Jew-Zionist liar. If he was willing to lie on oath in a criminal case (against Rowan Laxton, a British diplomat https://www.gov.uk/government/people/rowan-james-laxton–2, whose initial prosecution Falter had procured by making a malicious complaint about Laxton to the police…”their” tactics yet again…), then lying on TV and Twitter/X will be easy enough for him. See also https://www.thejc.com/news/foreign-office-man-wins-appeal-against-race-abuse-claim-gyp2ql35.

Had Laxton not won his appeal to Crown Court from magistrates’ court, he would probably have been dismissed from the Foreign Office, or at least demoted; his career would have ended. “Their” usual tactics, again.

The Crown Court judge did not believe Falter’s testimony.

Note also how the initial conviction was reported in all of the msm newspapers, but (ironically) only the Jewish Chronicle reported the success of the appeal. That newspaper however failed to name Falter at all, or as to Falter having given testimony that the court decided was “unreliable” (to put it diplomatically).

Seems, though, that I am not alone in recalling Falter’s “perjury” (though he was never charged with that) or his “unreliable testimony” (that is a much more “diplomatic” way of putting it, I suppose):

“Where are the journalists?“, asks tweeter Jackie Walker. There are no real journalists these days, just laughable 20-somethings, semi-literate scribblers, who want not to impede their pathetic careers by going up against the Israel lobby; also, older scribblers with similar motivations and inhibitions, who know that going against the Jewish lobby or Israel might mean the loss of very high salaries, in the hundreds of thousands in some cases.

I have a very good cartoon about (((control))) and/or (((influence))) over the “British” msm, but after my recent free speech conviction think it more diplomatic not to republish it…

Apologies for living in a country where “a certain element” has killed off free speech over the past 30+ years.

Falter has bodyguards from Jew-Zionist strongarm and snoop organizations whenever he makes a public appearance.

Incidentally, Falter is involved in activities which, were they Islamist, would be called (and treated as) support for terrorism: see below

Incidentally, the news editor posting that Novara Media piece, Rivkah Brown, is herself Jewish, though anti-Zionist.

Guess what types own LBC? Yes… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBC#Global_Radio; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Tabor-King.

“Tabor-King has lived in The Knightsbridge Apartments complex since 2006, in an apartment he bought for £15 million.[14] In 2017 he bought the next-door apartment for £90 million.[14] Tabor-King also owns a mansion in Los Angeles. The site was purchased from Megan Ellison, daughter of Larry Ellison, for $26.25 million. Tabor-King also owns a $21 million apartment in Barbados.” [Wikipedia].

Who are their presenters? Among others, Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, Lewis Goodall…

Get the idea?

More tweets

The U.S. Congress easily passed the bill to supply more huge amounts of money, arms, ammunition etc to Israel. American politicians are as, or more, “owned” even than the ones in the UK.

Late tweets seen

Falter trying to dominate the radio caller by speaking over him. Impudent bastard. Look at (part-Jewish) Rachel Johnson too, making faces when that caller speaks. She is both “entitled” and very very stupid.

Quite. As for “Lord Walney” (former MP, doormat for Israel and the Jewish-Zionist lobby, and sex-pest depressive, John Woodcock), I penned an assessment of him some years ago: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2017/05/04/john-woodcock-barrow-and-furness-and-the-general-election-2017/.

The mass media, the police, and the “Clown” Prosecution Service should all wake up to the manipulations being carried out by the Jewish/Israel lobby in general, and the malicious and dishonest “Campaign Against Antisemitism” [“CAA”] in particular.

There is a hidden agenda (not deeply hidden though): if the Metropolitan Police Commissioner resigns, or is dismissed, because of the present contrived “CAA”/general Jew-Zionist storm, the “CAA” will have sent the message to the police (and “Clown” Prosecution Service) “do as we wish— or else”…The police and CPS will then cower whenever the “CAA” or other Israel-lobby creatures write a letter or pick up the telephone.

Late music

[Prague, Vltava bridges from Hradčany]

Alt-Right, Campaign Against AntiSemitism, daily blog, Deadhead MPs, Defence, diary blog, free speech, historical, historical revisionism, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, MPs, Reminiscences and Musings, society, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 1 April 2024, with thoughts around Will Hutton’s latest thesis

26 Comments

Morning music

The state we are in?

I happened to see the following piece by Will Hutton [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Hutton].

“The UK is trapped in a cycle of political, social and financial turmoil. But there is a way out.

If there is any consensus in our otherwise fractured, toxic national debate it is that we cannot go on like this. Our economy is in crisis, exemplified by an annual £100bn shortfall in public and private investment, which must be lifted decisively for Britain to break out of today’s triple whammy of stagnant growth, productivity and living standards.

Society reels from alarming gaps in the provision of crucial public services and the yawning unfairness in the distribution of income, wealth and opportunity.

Our democracy and state seem incapable of acknowledging the full extent of these deformities, let alone adequately responding to them.

Our international standing has plummeted at a time of geopolitical peril. A transformative response is an imperative.

My new book, This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain, tries to address the origins of this interlinked crisis – and offer a feasible way out. Nothing is immutable. We are agents of our own destiny.

The heart of the problem is a misconception about how capitalism and society work. Capitalism must be managed and regulated to work for the common good, just as society has to be curated to provide fairness and opportunity for all. Crucially, the vitality of the two are interdependent. Capitalism must be organised so it provides economic ladders that every individual can climb while a social contract must offer a floor below which they cannot fall. Britain’s problem is that the Conservative party, in power for all but 13 of the last 45 years, does not accept these truths or interdependencies. Worse, even if it did, neither the dominant culture and practise of our capitalism, nor the structure of our democracy, state and media would have made it easy to fashion the necessary responses.

Conservative ideology has been in thrall to the contrary proposition that markets will self-organise to produce the best economic and social outcomes propelled by individual energy and ambition alone. The British state confers near-continual unfettered power to the Conservatives, and so in their view needs no reform. Yet the reality is that capitalism’s unchecked rollercoaster rhythms create instability, inequity and monopoly and so must be managed and counteracted. Nor can capitalism be relied upon to best organise how firms are governed and ownership responsibilities discharged; how workers are properly trained and paid; or to ensure that fair dealing is the norm between firms and their customers. Of necessity enter the state, much better designed than at present.

The UK has its back against the wall to a degree unparalleled in its peacetime history, facing economic problems more acute than the successive sterling crises of the 20th century or the trade union militancy that prompted the general strike of 1926 or winter of discontent in 1979. The level of our national debt has climbed alarmingly over the past quarter of a century, with no compensating increase in public assets, so that the net worth of the public sector – assets less liabilities – is more dangerously in the red than any other country bar Portugal. Similarly, more than 20 years of imports of goods and services exceeding exports has meant our international debts have climbed by £1.5tn, so that our balance sheet – positive for centuries as a result of empire and as pioneer of the Industrial Revolution – is now dangerously negative. Fifty companies that could have been in the FTSE 100 were sold abroad between 1997 and 2017; we are running out of assets to sell. At the same time almost every metric on the economic and social dashboard – whether social mobility or the number of new companies launching on the London stock market – is flashing amber or red.

Rightwing ideological maxims, initiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and continued by her imitators, have led to a sequence of policy disasters – monetarism, wholesale financial deregulation, austerity and then Brexit. Far from launching a renaissance, Thatcher was the author of pernicious decline. The doctrine is that the private “I” is morally superior to anything public, that the state’s “coercive” proclivities must be reined in to promote a “free” market, that regulation and taxation stifle enterprise, that unless ferociously means-tested and minimalist, welfare creates a huge underclass of undeserving “shirkers”, and that good public services follow from a successful economy rather than being integral to it.

Little of the policy that flows from this jumble of ideology and prejudice has any evidence base. As the totality of the failure has unfolded, so the Conservative party’s unity has fragmented into the blind alleys of libertarianism and the debacle of the Truss government, ongoing phobia about all things European and the temptations of anti-immigrant, anti-foreigner, anti-woke populism. It has become an ungovernable federation of cults.

In the 1980s, monetarism did not contain inflation as billed, but rather prompted mass unemployment, hollowed out much of our productive economy – manufacturing employment nearly halved in a decade – and eviscerated public investment. The areas so scarred by the experience would, 30 years later, vote for Brexit. Financial deregulation led to the fastest rise in private indebtedness in our history, propelling illusory economic growth buoyed not by investment and innovation but a flood of credit. It could only end in tears. Writing The State We’re In in the mid-1990s, to warn of an impending tragedy without a change of course, I did not anticipate the great financial crisis of 2007/8, felt most acutely in Britain, although it was obvious the whole rickety structure could only fail in some way. Nor did I imagine that Britain would repeat the failures with the economically illiterate budgetary tightening of austerity and then torch the one successful economic policy asset it had remaining, EU membership, which had boosted GDP by 10%. Yet such was the grip of the right on the Tory party that their bad ideas, once unthinkable, became our lived reality.

And Britain’s liberal left cannot absolve itself of blame. If Conservatism has over-emphasised the “I”, the left has not yet found an electorally attractive way of making the case for “We” – or, better still, blending it with the “I” to create a political philosophy, and attractive policies that flow from it, that would appeal to the majority. My proposition is that the “We” should be built on fusing an ethic of socialism grounded in profound human attachment to fellowship, mutuality and co-operation with the ethic of progressive or new liberalism that emerged 150 years ago as a challenge to classic liberalism. Essentially, liberal thinkers such as Thomas Hill Green and Leonard Hobhouse (forerunners of progressive liberals Keynes and Beveridge) argued that individuals and society were in a constant iterative relationship. Individuals shape society, society shapes individuals, and each and everyone has an obligation to make the social whole as strong as possible, which they are obliged to recognise even while they pursue their own ambitions and interests. Green called this the politics of obligation, which not only the great reforming 1905-15 Liberal government would follow, but later the Keynesian economic revolution and Beveridge’s welfare state.

Labour, as Tony Crosland diagnosed in the 1950s in The Future of Socialism, was founded on being all things leftist to everyone to encourage as big a membership as possible. It was a coalition of Marxists to gradualist Fabians – so laying the foundation for more than 100 years of feuding. Only the ethic of socialism, which has deep roots in western philosophy, the great religions and the Enlightenment, stands the test of time. It was Aristotle who declared that those who deny the primacy of a healthy society to their individual wellbeing are either “a beast or a gods”, while the father of British empiricism, Francis Bacon, would write “wealth is like muck. It is not much good but if it be spread.”

Progressive liberalism and an ethic of socialism are not incompatible value systems: they are complementary. Progressive liberalism leans into the individualism that propels capitalism while accepting social obligations; an ethic of socialism leans into the foundation of a social contract and infrastructure of justice that underpin the sinews of a good society. Ideological socialism’s hostility to capital and liberalism’s association with the upper class and upper middle class initially made a rapprochement between the two impossible. Today those obstacles have faded. It was Tony Blair who saw the opportunity that could be grasped, and perhaps his best contribution to progressive politics was his rewriting of Labour’s infamous high socialist clause IV to articulate the fusion. New Labour may have shrunk from the full implications; it will fall to successors to make it live.

The vision is of a “we society” – a high investment economy populated by companies that take their social responsibilities seriously, underpinned by a rejuvenated social contract in which health, housing, education, justice, welfare and the labour market all combine to offer every individual the chance fully to participate in work, social and civic life. No more lost Einsteins and Marie Curies.

The starting point must be to raise public investment decisively and so “crowd in” private investment radically to lift productivity and real wages (wages adjusted for inflation). Three targets select themselves – the vital need to close the disgraceful gap in productivity, infrastructure and economic performance between London and the regions; the commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 given the alarming rise in global temperatures; and the need to lift research and development spending dramatically. To move the dial in all these areas will require public borrowing for such investment to rise by at least 1% of GDP, or between £25bn– £30bn, with fiscal rules organised around real-world, rather than accounting, goals. The financial markets will be reassured if they know that the investment they are supporting is strategic and thought through. Britain can break out of its low growth trap without financial mishap.

Shibboleths about taxation need to be put to one side. Taxation represents the “we”, and as long as the demands on all sections of society are reasonable – involving at present a greater contribution by the wealthy, whose assets in relation to GDP have doubled since 1980 – there is no evidence that tax receipts at today’s level or even marginally higher will damage growth. What matters is that Britain does what it must to lift its growth rate. A “growth commission” should establish rolling targets for public investment and be held to account to achieving them – the means to vitally needed change.

Importantly, the savings and investment system must be reshaped to drive credit and equity investment to support the financial needs of the companies big and small that we need to feed off the surge in public investment. Two young institutions – the UK Infrastructure Bank and British Business Bank – must be turbocharged so they can operate at the multibillion-pound scale necessary. Banks must be incentivised to supply business loans on much less onerous and flexible terms, and the pension system must be boosted and organised to invest in fast-growing companies based on frontier new technologies. A big multibillion private sector wealth fund – already mooted by some in the City – must work in concert with a public sector wealth fund to invest in what will be the great companies of tomorrow, ensuring they stay British-owned to anchor our economy.

The law needs to ensure that companies make their prime objective the achievement of great social purposes rather than short-term self-enrichment. This should especially apply to all our regulated utilities. The best in British business and our utilities have already begun to move in this direction, putting achievement of great purpose at their heart: it needs to become the general rule. Competition policy must be stepped up so that there is much less incentive and capacity to rig prices in monopoly or quasi monopoly positions. This is particularly important for those businesses and sectors whose business models depend on strength in “intangibles” – intellectual property, human skills, data and digital advantages, research – whose growth has been cramped by so many financial and regulatory biases that favour incumbents. British capitalism, in short, needs to be repurposed both to grow and to work for the common good.

No less essential is to repair the threadbare social contract. The new risks and inequalities that every citizen will confront in an ever faster moving environment, along with new centres of prosperity, need to be mitigated and managed to ensure the new economic world is underwritten by great education, health and housing – and income support when for any reason people find it impossible to work. The workplace needs to be reconfigured so employees are conferred dignity and voice, with trade unions as active partners of purposeful companies. There must be a proper system of social care. We cannot have children going hungry in their millions, with schools, training institutions and further education colleges allowed to decay. And lastly, housing must be restored as a central pillar of the good society. Council tax, the mortgage market, social housing and the system of tenure all require a major overhaul. It would all be integral to a British-style New Deal.

The British state that perforce must catalyse and lead all this must be reformed and recast. It needs the capacity to act strategically, but with far stronger mechanisms for being held accountable for what it does. Parliament must recover its capacity to deliberate and scrutinise along with making law. The reduction of MPs to mere lobby-fodder ciphers to service the transient whims of an unprecedented churn of ministers is surely one reason why nearly 100 this parliament – a record – have been sanctioned for gross lapses in their behaviour. Our second chamber, the Lords, must be democratised. Ethical standards, from conduct in office to political donations, need to be respected and enforced. Boris Johnson’s abuses cannot be allowed again. The independence of the judiciary must be better entrenched. The tone and content of our national conversation, framed by a dominant and frequently hysterically biased rightwing media magnified by social media, needs to be hosed down – a revival in public service broadcasting and regulation of content is a necessity.

Britain has the potential to become an envied European economic and social model. Indeed to re-engage with the European Union is another indispensable part of recovery. The case is not only economic, recovering lost markets, increasing trade intensity, and stimulating falling inward investment that are costing a lost 5% of GDP every year (and growing) but geopolitical. Britain must be “in the room” where the great decisions on Ukraine, defence, security, energy, climate emergency, and the regulatory standards are taken that will configure our continent. Empire and Commonwealth have gone; the 21st century will be shaped by three great blocs – the US, China and the EU. To be alone to assert a meaningless “sovereignty” to assuage the fantasies of rightwing populists is madness.

The emerging rightwing nexus of libertarian tax-cutters and immigration-phobes, so ready to put achieving those aims above the rule of law and respect for human rights, is unfit to govern. At the next election Britain needs a government that will sure-footedly reshape our capitalism and society to promote growth, enfranchisement and a country at ease with itself – respecting rather than deifying its past better to build the future. We can act to shape our destiny. This time no mistakes.“

[Will Hutton, in The Guardian]

I disagree with some of that; agree with more.

The most glaring near-omission is that Hutton scarcely mentions the fact that a million non-whites a year are entering the UK. Most of them are —at best— useless, and most of them are staying, and breeding. That alone would destroy any hope of his carefully-constructed “better-society” blueprint.

Hutton prefers just to look down his nose at what he terms “immigration-phobes“. That may cut it with dinner-party attendees wherever Hutton lives (Hampstead? Richmond? Blackheath? Muswell Hill?), but not with the British people. Things are too serious for that, and impact them directly as well as indirectly.

Hutton seems to think that the importation into the UK of a million persons per year, mostly from backward areas of the world, mostly unskilled, often not even speaking English, is either unimportant or actually desirable. He ignores the fact that few are really useful, many (most) parasitic, and not a few actively hostile and/or criminal.

Hutton also uses the term “rightwing“, which is both anachronistic and imprecise; almost meaningless. Disappointing in a former Master of Hertford College, Oxford.

Hutton is a dyed-in-the-wool EU-remainer. He cannot see any alternative to the UK being just a province of an EU bloc. There is at least one alternative which might fly, but he has obviously not considered it (joining with Russia in loose alliance, while keeping amiable relations with the European Union states and even with the USA etc).

The third problem I have with Hutton’s view is that he lays out broadly what he thinks should happen, but without saying how it might happen. How do we get from here to there?

As to the rest, I agree with almost all of it. It is not too far from the Threefold Social Order of Rudolf Steiner, or might be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_threefolding.

As a kind of manifesto, not too bad, but just a castle in the air viewed from an ivory tower, as things stand.

[see also: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1459551/Will-Hutton-is-the-Left-wing-commentator-famed-for-his-attacks-on-Britains-landlord-culture-…-yet-his-familys-housing-empire-is-a-monument-to-the-profit-motive.html].

Talking point

Some tweets seen

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Kai_Murros

An interesting Twitter/X account not seen previously by me.

The tweeter’s reference is to Germany (inter alia). Nearly 80 years after the disastrous end of the Second World War, Germany is still, to some extent, an occupied country.

5,000 in the three months of the year which have the roughest seas in the Channel. That probably means anything up to 50,000, maybe even more, by the end of 2024.

That figure is, however, dwarfed by the total of so-called “legal” migration: “high-skilled workers” (Indians who can work a computer), “fiances/fiancees”, “family members”, “students”, and the rest.

The two figures together will almost certainly top a million in 2024 alone. Totally unsustainable. British society will come apart by reason of the continuing migration invasion.

The SNP’s cartoon brand of Scottish “nationalism” has no problem with the leaders of two of the three main parties “up there” being of Pakistani origin, has no problem with a future “independent” Scotland (which will probably never exist anyway) being part of the EU and so largely ruled and regulated by that supranational body, no problem (in reality) with Scotland continuing to be a part of NATO (and so not “independent” in terms of military or naval strategy), and no problem with the Scots being slowly or not so slowly replaced in their own land by hordes of “blacks and browns”.

In short, the SNP is both a fake and a political bad joke. Its two previous leaders have faced, or are facing, criminal charges, and its brief time in the sun (from 2015 to 2024) looks set to descend into night.

My assessment of Esther McVey, from over 4 years ago: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/10/03/deadhead-mps-an-occasional-series-the-esther-mcvey-story/.

Just imagine— after GE 2024, that thick Israel-puppet, Lammy, is set to be the new Foreign Secretary. Unglaublich…

Mirabile dictu…I find myself in agreement with both J.K. Rowling and once-well-known tweeter Robbie Travers… and on the same day.

Quite.

Vagueness is the enemy of a “society under law”. I myself was convicted in November 2023 of breaching the Communications Act 2003, s.127, a law so unjust and poorly-drafted that the Law Commission has formally recommended its repeal.

I was supposed to have published, on this blog, a number of remarks, comments, and cartoons that were “grossly offensive“, and mostly, it was said, about Jewish behaviour.

Truth was irrelevant. Harm was also irrelevant (the Prosecution and the trial judge both accepted from the start that there was no “victim” in the case, and that no actual “harm” had been done to anyone at all).

The prosecution was procured (God knows how…) by the malicious cabal known as “Campaign Against Antisemitism”, a very small but very well-funded Jewish-Zionist group that has admitted, both on Twitter/X and its own website, that it has been trying to have me prosecuted on various bases for 7+ years; I think closer to 10 years.

In fact, the “CAA” has had only a notional victory.

Yes, the “CAA” managed to apply political pressure sufficient to make compliant police box-tickers annoy me with pointless and supposedly “voluntary” interviews in 2017 and 2021 (after the “CAA” made completely false accusations against me); yes, the “CAA” also managed to have political pressure applied to the Crown Prosecution Service so that I was eventually prosecuted (in 2023); yes, I have been inconvenienced by the whole process (though never arrested) and, yes, I was later convicted in the magistrates’ court, having defended myself alone and unaided from all those manifestations of Britain’s new poundland police state.

Having said that, the “CAA” has obviously been disappointed at the ultimate result. My sentence (15 days or part-days of so-called “rehabilitation” under the Probation Service, and a costs order amounting to £734) was clearly less severe than they wanted. It is a nuisance, and one that inconveniences me, yes, but no more.

The “CAA” has been so miffed at the sentence passed upon me that it and its Jewish supporters have not even tweeted about how I have been sentenced (they did tweet when I was convicted last year). Not one tweet from the “CAA” itself about me since the sentence was handed down, and only a couple (I saw 2 or 3 tweets) from stray frustrated “CAA” supporters saying how “derisory” was my sentence. I myself would not say that: the sentence was and is a nuisance, and has caused minor inconvenience, but not excessive inconvenience.

I suppose that the “CAA” will continue to push the police and CPS (when will the office bods of those two organizations realize that they are being “played”?), but I doubt that the “CAA” will get very far; we shall see.

Anyone wishing to help me out with the Court costs order mentioned can do so via https://www.givesendgo.com/GC14J. Thank you. If you cannot donate, please share the link on social media etc. Thank you.

I have already had a few meetings with the rather charming ladies of the Probation Service.

As for the supposedly “grossly offensive” blog posts which founded the November 2023 conviction, they are still extant and capable of being seen. I think that I shall not provide a link to them, in the circumstances, but they are all (all 5 of them) still on the blog, and will remain there indefinitely.

The blog continues to be published daily or near-daily and, while the conviction will, in effect, require me to be more cautious in terms of tone, the material covered will remain much the same, except that I hope to present more from the world of ideas and policy, and perhaps slightly less in terms of mere comment.

The sentencing district judge (on 14 March 2024) refused the Prosecution’s application for a Criminal Behaviour Order against me (which might have restricted my free speech on the blog even further), because it would have been pointless, and because it was so badly-drafted; pathetically poorly, in fact.

I am now under no greater onus, from the strictly legal point of view, than I was when this whole legal and juridical circus started in early 2023.

So there it is…

More tweets seen

…and the Americans continue to supply weapons and ammunition to Israel.

Laurence Fox is ideologically incorrect all the same. We have a right to be Europeans in a European ethnostate. Don’t use the language (e.g. “racist scum“) of the enemy.

Laurence Fox is also pro-Israel and pro-Jewish lobby. Sadly misguided.

Laurence Fox has nothing of interest to say; he should retire from politics (insofar as he is in politics in the first place) as gracefully as possible and as soon as possible.

“They” always try to destroy free speech.

Israel wants to provoke a situation in which the USA will back up Israel and maybe destroy Iran for the Israelis. Tail wags dog…

I hope that there are Scottish people who will not only oppose these police-state measures but who will also identify the most guilty behind the new repression.

A multifaceted civil/cultural war is not unlikely at some point. A society can only take so much without breaking apart.

Late music

[painting by Victor Ostrovsky]
Alt-Right, Conservative Friends of Israel, daily blog, diary blog, free speech, historical revisionism, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Labour Friends of Israel, Laura Towler, MPs, Nick Griffin, Nick Griffin, Party Politics, prepping, Reminiscences and Musings, Rishi Sunak, safe zones, Sam Melia, Sam Melia, society, The Great Replacement, the Great Reset, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 15 March 2024

36 Comments

Afternoon music

[Pushkin State Museum, Moscow]

Announcement

Most readers of the blog will be aware that I was sentenced yesterday for breach of the notorious Communications Act 2003, s.127, a law so defective that the Law Commission has recommended its repeal.

I shall blog about my trial and sentencing hearing etc either later today or tomorrow.

Today, the most important thing is to think about forward strategy.

We see, in the Britain of today, a level of repression on free speech and/or freedom of expression never seen previously, not even during times of war, at least since the 17th Century.

Countries which are not cohesive, and which are sometimes called “diverse”, always have to have tyrannical police and secret police, and repressive laws. The modern paradigm, I suppose, was the Soviet Union.

My trial last November, and yesterday’s sentencing hearing was only one small example of the repression which is still increasing. Israel-lobby puppet Michael Gove introduced his “extremism” proposals and was supported by such as “Lord Walney” (the former MP, John Woodcock, who had to step down as MP after sex-pest allegations etc), who has always been a vocal advocate for Israel and its lobby in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Woodcock,_Baron_Walney#Adviser_on_Political_Violence_and_Disruption.

In fact, Gove, a member of Conservative Friends of Israel, seems to be mainly targeting entirely non-violent British groups such as Patriotic Alternative, already attacked both by State agencies and private interests (as when Sam Melia and his wife, Laura Towler were “de-banked” for political reasons a few years ago). See also https://www.givesendgo.com/sammelia.

Incidentally, “Labour” supports the latest anti-free speech repression. At least, those with power in the Labour Party: Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper etc; all Labour Friends of Israel members.

I analyzed the question of “extremism” etc in the UK six years ago: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2018/05/30/one-mans-extremism-is-another-mans-struggle-for-liberty-and-justice/.

What I want to do here is look at “what now?“, in the context of a British society where free speech (especially speech critical of “certain groups”) is finished, at an end, extinct.

Nick Griffin was (also) on the right track when he tweeted (and I think that his views remain the same) that there was “no Parliamentary road” to power for us as social-nationalists, but that we should avoid getting involved in “terrorism” (hard to define, of course, but let that lie for now).

The Parliamentary road is no good mainly because the game is so rigged that the Chicago mobs of the 1920s would feel ashamed. Look at the latest Israel-lobby-procured “extremism” nonsense coming out of Gove and the rest. That means that entirely lawful bodies such as Patriotic Alternative (mentioned by name by Gove) would never be able to take part in elections (certainly not if they looked like having success), might well find it hard to hold bank accounts, or operate any “regulated” mass media etc.

Of course the “antifa” clowns (unwitting pawns of “others”) will think this all wonderful, at first. Later, of course, they will find themselves fed into the meat-grinder.

As for anything approaching the usual view of “terrorism”, that would have no chance even were it morally acceptable. The State holds all the cards— police, military power, secret and security services, arms and ammunition, the mass media (more or less), and pretty tight control over international travel; and so on.

Griffin is right when he suggests that the answer is to withdraw, as far as possible, from mainstream society. I have blogged a bit about that in the past: see, e.g. https://ianrobertmillard.org/2021/02/03/diary-blog-3-february-2021-including-more-thoughts-about-prepping/. The search box on the blog has many other relevant posts.

I think that that has to be the way forward. It is in concord with Clausewitz and his views (in another context) re. concentration of forces, sometimes referred to as a kind of Schwerpunkt, or focussed point or area.

Late music

[Hitler on the terrace at the Berghof]
Alison Chabloz, Alt-Right, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Campaign Against AntiSemitism, Colin Robertson, daily blog, David Atherton, Defence, diary blog, free speech, historical, historical revisionism, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Laura Towler, Millennial Woes, MPs, Party Politics, Rishi Sunak, Russell Brand, Russia and Russian relations, Sam Melia, Sam Melia, society, Sven Longshanks, the Great Reset, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 11 March 2024

14 Comments

Morning music

[Salisbury Cathedral, Cloisters]

Tweets seen

It has occurred to me that certain cabals actually want a nuclear war, but I cannot prove that.

See also: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/01/26/the-tide-is-coming-in-reflections-on-the-possible-end-of-our-present-civilization-and-what-might-follow/.

“Toad” is his right characterization. The fact is, that the “Free Speech Union” is part of the “controlled opposition” matrix: Breitbart, Toby Young, James Delingpole, Farage, Brexit Party, GB News, UKIP, Reform UK etc.

Anyone, or any organization, which adheres to pro-Israelism or pro the UK (or any other) Jewish lobby is contaminated and not worth taking seriously.

Here is Young, from 6 years ago:

“I’m currently in Israel on a press trip organised by Bicom — the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. Bicom does a good job of getting experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to give talks to journalists and I’ve attended a few in their London offices. But this is the first time I’ve been on one of their legendary excursions to the Holy Land, which they organise about six times a year. In essence, you’re given a whistle-stop tour of the country while being briefed at every turn by senior ministers and officials on both sides of the divide. It’s seventh heaven for foreign policy nerds, but I also have another reason for being here, which is to weigh up the pros and cons of emigrating to Israel.

Believe it or not, my entire family is eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return because Caroline’s father is Jewish. And the idea of moving here is genuinely appealing because I’ve been fanatically pro-Israel since falling in love with the place aged 17. I had just failed all my O-levels and was mooning about feeling like an outcast when my father decided to send me to a kibbutz. It turned out to be the perfect antidote to my adolescent funk.

I found everything about Israel, particularly its origins, deeply affecting, and in spite of not being Jewish I felt as if I’d discovered my people at last. I was inspired by the example of pioneering Zionists like Theodor Herzl to take control of my own destiny. I would return to England, retake my O-levels, go to a sixth form and, God help me, apply to Oxford. And when it all worked out, I felt as if Israel and the wonderful example of its founders had saved me and I swore an oath that I would always defend the country from its detractors.“

[Toby Young, in The Spectator, 2018]

‘Nuff said?

I have just read the article, or polemic, written by one David Hansard (real name David Johnson, it seems). Basic premise— cut back on free speech (labelled “hate speech”) in order to protect (approved) free speech. I have heard that before…

Like any msm-approved figure, “Toadmeister” runs scared of the Jewish lobby. If they were to turn on him, that would be his fake “free speech” and scribbling and TV talking head career over at once.

Sam Melia and his wife Laura Towler are heroic.

As for that “David Hansard” (David Johnson) character, his background seems opaque. More from him:

“Permitting someone…”— that is the wrong starting point. Free speech on social, political, religious and historical topics, is a right, not a privilege granted by some “authority”, not something that should be licensed or allowed on application, or risked on pain of punishment.

Like many people, “David Hansard” seem not to really understand the idea of freedom of expression. He is all in favour of it so long as it does not cause “problems” in society (for those in power, or profiting by exploitation), or cause “divisions”.

In fact, the “divisions” in society are not caused by those talking about things, but by the underlying realities:

A subject close to my heart. After all, later this week a magistrate will sentence me for deemed breaches of the notorious “bad law” Communications Act 2003, s.127, a prosecution procured by the malicious Israel-lobby pressure group (tiny but well-funded) which is pleased to call itself “Campaign Against Antisemitism” or “CAA”, and which has been boasting online about how it has been trying to have me prosecuted for 7 years or more.

“Hansard” once again throws in a typical argument often seen or heard: Melia’s case was “extreme”, and most people need not fear persecution or prosecution. Yeah, right!

Presumably, “Hansard” meant to tweet that “that does not mean every anti-immigration opinion will soon be prohibited“. His Freudian slip tells the truth, though, despite his intention. Every anti-immigration opinion will soon be prohibited. Melia’s case is a clear signpost.

Already, almost anything not laudatory, and said about Jewish or Zionist behaviour, is almost by default deemed “grossly offensive”.

Incidentally, I notice that “Hansard”, despite having been on Twitter/X since 2012, has only 461 Twitter/X “followers”. When a pack of Zionist Jews connected with the “CAA” had my Twitter account closed down in 2018, I had over 3,000 “followers”, despite my only following about 50 accounts, mostly organizations. If someone had 3,000 “followers” back in 2018, the same person has at least 6,000 now, usually.

I do not know who or what that “David Hansard” is. What is his locus standi to be published, and/or boosted by Toby Young etc? I have no idea. Well, there it is.

Speaking of Sam Melia and Laura Towler, their crowdfunder [https://www.givesendgo.com/sammelia] has, as of time of writing, smashed through the £60,000 barrier and stands at £60,374, and still increasing.

I urge everyone to send at least the minimum (£4) and a message of support. Stick it to the System and the “usual suspects”.

[Laura Towler and Sam Melia, with their little child; another is expected very soon]

More tweets seen

“Walked into a restaurant in London’s Chinatown last night, While waiting to be seated, some drunken fool, a person I’ve neither met before nor interacted with, sitting with other drunken fools, looks up at me out of nowhere, and asks rather loudly– “Are you Jewish?”

I was Stunned. I wasn’t dressed in anything traditional, nor had anything indicating my faith. The fact that it’s a bizarre thing to ask, not this idiot’s, business, and just a weird thing for him to have done, I was just shocked – realizing that fairly a year ago he wouldn’t have had the gall to do that 1 million different responses raced through my mind.

And to my surprise, (and I’m sure to my Mom’s satisfaction,) the one I chose was to just turn to my friend, carry on talking – and ignore the sheer stupidity I encountered. No point in wrestling with a pig. You both get dirty & the pig likes it. My pride in my Judaism is not going to override my common sense. Wishing you all a lovely Sunday.“

Strange how Jews, or many Jews, find it absolutely insulting to be recognized as Jews (as does the one tweeting above, notwithstanding that he claims to be proud to be a Jew).

I have lived in a number of foreign countries, and would quite often be asked, unexpectedly, “are you [whatever nationality]?” I did not find it insulting (as a matter of fact, I was often mistaken for American or German anyway, as well as, on other occasions, correctly identified as English).

Jews are different. They seem to find it a deadly insult to be identified as Jewish, no matter what.

What can one say? Not much, since free speech is all but dead in England…

Only now, writing that, did it come to mind that I had such an experience when hitch-hiking, aged early twenties, going between Hammersmith Flyover in London and Herefordshire late at night. 1980, I think.

I was picked up by a large truck, and that truck took me most of the way. En route, there was the usual desultory kind of conversation. Eventually, the driver asked me where I was from. I replied that I was presently living in London. The driver then asked, “yes, but where did you originally come from? What country?”

It transpired that that truck driver thought that I was not English but something else, but he could not guess what.

Not sure why the driver thought that I was from a foreign country; maybe because I was learning Russian and German (part-time). In fact, I had that very evening come straight from a small Russian conversation circle in Belgravia (at the GB-USSR Association, a cultural and para-diplomatic body funded by the Foreign Office). Maybe that had slightly affected my normal speech, though it seems unlikely.

An interesting weapon. If it is as good as the Israelis claim, it would be very effective (for either side) in the Ukrainian theatre, but at present it is claimed (in the clip in that tweet) that Israel alone has it.

I don’t see Reform UK making much headway, despite the inadequacies of the main System parties. Well, perhaps I am wrong; we shall quite soon find out.

I used to think that NATO would stick together in the event of conflict with the then Soviet Union (and later the Russian Federation), but that was assuming that NATO’s basic posture would be defensive, defending Western Europe from Soviet invasion, or (later) defending NATO’s new front-lines in the Baltic region.

Now? I am not so sure, and Macron’s belligerence looks more like an unnecessary attack on the Russian front-lines in the Ukrainian theatre. Will other NATO states directly support an attack of that nature or support France if Russia attacked its armies? I am thinking “not necessarily”. I certainly cannot see the USA going that far. If it did, of course, it might lead to a Third World War.

Calls to mind a (literal) “blast from the past”:

More tweets

The clip is worth watching.

[“Toby Young in a 2018 article: “I felt as if Israel and the wonderful example of its founders had saved me and I swore an oath that I would always defend the country from its detractors. In the 37 years since, I have done my best to keep that promise and been back several times to renew my vows.” Does anyone seriously think he would stand up for your free speech if you called out Zionist control in the West or Israeli war crimes?“].

What “founders” does he mean?

London. Zoo.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/four-jailed-stabbing-teenager-60-28789742?int_source=nba

[defendant]
[defendant]
[defendant]

What will London be like in, say, 2034? Or will it have been wiped out by nuclear attack by then?

More tweets

So what’s the plan? Depose the little Indian money-juggler, then…? Replace him with…?

Not that I oppose his removal in the slightest, but is there a credible replacement? Is there a credible English replacement? The only one that comes to mind is David Davis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis_(British_politician).

True, Davis is now 75, but he was fit enough to rescue someone from street thugs only a few months ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis_(British_politician)#Personal_life.

I expect that the rebel “Conservative” MPs have someone else in mind, probably one of the non-whites like Kemi Badenoch or Suella Braverman (or, even worse, arguably, the return of “Boris”-idiot).

Late music

[Victor Ostrovsky, The House]

Alt-Right, Brexit, daily blog, David Atherton, Defence, diary blog, free speech, historical, historical revisionism, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Labour Friends of Israel, Laura Towler, Mark Collett, MPs, Reminiscences and Musings, Rishi Sunak, Russia and Russian relations, Sam Melia, Sam Melia, society, Sven Longshanks, The Great Replacement, the Great Reset, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 9 March 2024

3 Comments

Saturday quiz

Damn. This week I was, for once, beaten by political journalist John Rentoul, who scored 8/10; I scored 7/10, and did not know the answers to questions 3, 8, and 9 (in fact, I should also have got no. 9 right, but I had forgotten about his existence).

Sam Melia and Laura Towler

[Laura Towler with her husband, Sam Melia, and their little child; another is expected within weeks, while Melia is in prison]

Most readers will know the facts of the case: Sam Melia sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years, of which he will probably have to serve 8-12 months, while Laura Towler struggles with her child —soon, two children— everyday life, her house (she may have a mortgage, I do not know), and her small business. Therefore, a crowdfunder was set up to help her at such a time of crisis. That fund has now reached, at time of writing, £58,972, and still rising. Excellent.

https://www.givesendgo.com/sammelia

The monies raised will go towards helping the couple survive the year ahead, and get them back on their feet after Melia is released. In addition, no doubt a small part of the money will be directed to helping him while he remains in prison.

Anyone can send modest sums to those in prison, via an official programme, using a debit card: see https://www.gov.uk/send-prisoner-money. To use that service, you need the prisoner’s name, his official prison number, and his date of birth. I have no idea of the date of birth of Sam Melia, but Laura Towler, Mark Collett, or Patriotic Alternative would be able to supply it (I am myself unacquainted with the couple, or Patriotic Alternative people, so have no contact details).

Message about Sam Melia from Laura Towler

Laura Towler has posted a message about her husband’s present situation:

“We can now write letters to Sam

I’ve just spoken to Sam. He is in HMP Leeds. He won’t be staying there for the whole of his sentence but it might take a while for him to move. He’s safe and has made friends. He’s been exercising and reading a lot. He says the worst thing (other than missing us) is that it’s quite boring, although the library is pretty good. He said he would appreciate letters from people to help pass the time. Please don’t get too political or the letter won’t get through.

Samuel Melia
A3370FC
HMP Leeds, 2 Gloucester Terrace, Stanningley Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS12 2TJ

You can include a stamped address envelope in the first letter if you want him to write back.

We can also send him books from their preferred suppliers and also email him. I’ll provide some more information on this shortly.“

The “men behind the wire”

I also happened to see the following, which may have been written also by Laura Towler (if not, then by associates of hers):

“I know I have posted about Sam a lot over the last few days but here are the addresses for Sven Longshanks and James Costello who are both serving time for the same public order offence as Sam. Sven will be out this summer hopefully but Costello still has over two years of his sentence left to serve, so he needs us the most.

It’s sometimes difficult to think about things to write as you can’t get too political but they are both intelligent men with an interest in history, literature and culture. They might appreciate a poem you like, information about what’s happening on the outside, or even just a message to say you are thinking about them and they are missed.“

Details below for both James Allchurch (“Sven Longshanks”), and James Costello.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/15/uk-white-supremacist-jailed-over-racist-podcasts

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-67443775.

Incidentally, “Sven Longshanks” (imprisoned for having published internet podcasts) also has a crowdfunder, both to help him survive in prison and to get him back on his feet when released (expected to be this spring or summer): https://www.givesendgo.com/SupportSven.

Also incidentally, I myself am due to be sentenced this week, in my case in the magistrates’ court, and for the political offence of having breached the Communications Act 2003, s.127 (recommended for repeal by the Law Commission but still at present on the Statute Book).

Tweets seen

David Atherton says that “the law” is trying to shut down “the debate“. Behind “the law” and the Bench, and the CPS, and the police, is (in 90+% of such cases in the UK) the Jewish/Zionist lobby.

Also, this is not a “debate” but a war (so far a cold war most of the time).

Ha ha! I’ll have whatever that Andrew Gimson scribbler is drinking! More seriously, where do they get these people from?

Ah, I see now: the Daily Telegraph and Spectator. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Gimson].

Is that the “Westminster Bubble” or a Conservative Party bubble? Both?

Imagine thinking that the little Indian money-juggler is the best available, or the best that the British people deserve…

Incidentally, many imagine that I just hate Israel and anything to do with it. Not so, as such. I like some of the Israeli town planning, and the efforts made to green the cities and towns; also, I like some of the modern architecture, and some of the agricultural, horticultural and hydrological techniques and projects (irrigation, de-salinization etc).

By the same token, I have only limited respect for many of the Arabs of the wider region (I have been to Egypt, Qatar etc several times, and, in the past, had occasional dealings with Kuwaitis and other types, as well as a few visits to Tunisia).

However, the Jews should never have been allowed or encouraged to take over Palestine and turn it into the state of Israel, and their brutal repression of the Arab inhabitants (including mass killings, deportations, and other “ethnic cleansing”) has been, in effect, a 76+ year war crime.

“What goes around comes around“, as the Americans say, and I think that the time will come when Israel will face fleets of drones and missiles, numbered in the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands.

Tel Aviv may, one day, look not unalike to Gaza today.

“Macron discussed with French politicians a possible French invasion of Ukraine.

The leader of the French Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, told reporters that the topic was raised at a meeting between the president and the heads of political parties.

According to him, Macron allowed the entry of French troops into Ukraine if the Russian Armed Forces break through towards Odessa or Kyiv.

“There are no restrictions and no red lines,” concluded Jordan Bardella (National Rally). “I arrived excited and left even more worried,” concluded La France insoumise coordinator Manuel Bompard,” writes L’Indépendant.

Also in Paris, they are now discussing issuing permission for French special forces to cross the Ukrainian border, to create a “strategic dilemma” before the Russian Federation. And French Foreign Minister Sejournet said that Kyiv has not yet asked Paris to send troops, but “nothing cannot be ruled out in the coming months.”

Ha ha! What’s that? Revenge for Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, 212 years on? Madness.

I shall be sorry to see Paris destroyed, if it comes to that, even though it has become largely a poubelle (rubbish bin). France may have its force de frappe (independent nuclear deterrent), but if it ever uses it, Paris and all other major French cities will be annihilated.

The French discussions, though, do seem to give the lie to the outpourings of Grant Shapps and others. Macron is obviously not expecting a Kiev-regime advance in 2024; au contraire… he expects Russian advances upon Kiev and Odessa. So do I, though whether they will be in 2024 or 2025 (after the US and UK elections this year) is an open question.

God. Biden is in a world of his own. He really is gone…

In respect of the Israeli war crimes in Gaza as well.

They show their true character…

Yet “they” (both in Israel and outside Israel, inc. the UK), continue to whine about (and demand “reparations” for) what Germans, Poles, Ukrainians etc did or did not do to Jews in Eastern Europe, 80+ years ago.

The Harry Formerly Known As Prince, and Meghan Mulatta. What a pair.

Now that the late Queen fades from memory, it is time to move to a republic.

Also, people from poorer countries outside Europe can live off small amounts of food-money, because they are accustomed to making their money stretch. I have had to do it myself a few times in the past, but it seems to come naturally to those such as a Nigerian girl I met in the 1980s, when she was a tenant of someone I knew. She would go to the street market a mile or so away in Peckham (South London), buy rice or potato by the sack, cook it with some hot spices and sauce etc, maybe add some small amount of protein, or not even that, and bingo…dinner served.

In fact, I seem to recall the same was true of a West Indian girl, another tenant of the same landlord, and also in the 1980s. She had been sacked for theft by her employer, the wife of an MI5 officer (she denied that she had stolen anything, but was sacked anyway), and was another one with basically no, or very little, cash.

I myself am not naturally a thrifty person, but I have blogged in the past about how I have had a few (in the American word) “hardscrabble” times in my life. You adapt, one way or another…

“Last week, I told you about the Labour Party’s plan to import divisive, America-style culture wars into Britain —how the party plans to hardwire a toxic woke ideology into our civil service, schools, universities, and prevailing culture.

This week, I’m going to tell you how Labour also plan to make their political and cultural revolution permanent —by taking power out of the hands of the elected government in Westminster, out of the hands of the masses, and giving it to unaccountable quangos and civil servants you will never be able to vote out of power.“

[https://www.mattgoodwin.org/p/labours-plan-to-upend-democracy]

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable” [John F. Kennedy]

The present “Conservative” Government has to be removed, and the Con Party stamped on, but Labour under Jewish-lobby puppet Starmer is going to impose an “elected” dictatorship. It will be all but impossible to change that path by the usual Parliamentary/electoral methods.

The SNP is led by a Pakistani Muslim. Scottish Labour is also led by a Pakistani Muslim. What is strange is that Muslims only comprise 1.4% of the population of Scotland (about 75,000 out of 5.4M), yet two out of the three main System parties in Scotland have Muslim leaders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland#Population.

I favoured Brexit, but saw that it was (deliberately) mishandled from the start. A journalist in 2017 visited the civil service office that was meant to be planning for a smooth withdrawal, only to find it shut. That says it all.

“We are where we are”, in the commonly-heard phrase. For me, Britain’s main strategic move must be to withdraw from NATO before some lunatic starts a Third World War, and at the same time to pursue an independent course combined with a close friendship with the Russian Federation.

Russia can supply us with oil and gas at cheap rates, maybe even cost-price or below. It could save us.

Yet those mild anxious or protesting tweets have led to a flood of Twitter/X “woke” idiocy, as in the tweet below by one Andy Walsh:

Ignorance posing as wisdom…

Money, in vast amounts, wasted on the “Covid” panicdemic/scamdemic, on no-hope stuff such as “Ukraine” (the Kiev regime), money wasted on Israel and the UK Jewish lobby, huge sums expended on the upkeep and health of millions of migrant-invader parasites, money in even greater amounts wasted on a largely-useless State educational system. Further vast sums spent on pointless “Defence” hardware.

As Goodwin says, all spent without much real benefit to the majority of UK residents, especially the real British.

As said earlier and previously, I shall be sorry to see Paris turned into a wasteland of irradiated ash, even if in recent years it has become rather a poubelle…

“The Russian Ministry of Defense publishes footage of the destruction of S-300 air defense missile launchers of the Ukrainian army using an Iskander missile in the area of ​​​​the city of Pokrovsk. Over the course of a month, UAF air defense systems and radars were systematically destroyed.”

Late music

[Yevgeny Lushpin, Rainy Evening]

Alt-Right, by-elections, Campaign Against AntiSemitism, daily blog, Defence, diary blog, elections, environment, free speech, historical, Ian Millard, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Labour Friends of Israel, Matt Goodwin, MPs, Party Politics, Russia and Russian relations, society, Starmer, The Great Replacement, Uncategorized

Diary Blog, 17 February 2024

13 Comments

Morning music

Saturday quiz

Well, an unusual week, in that I was outscored by political journalist John Rentoul, who managed 6/10; I only got 5/10. I nearly guessed the answer to question 1, but could not be sure, and also came close on question 7. As it was, I only knew for sure the answers to questions 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9.

Tweets seen

Exactly so. Labour actually offers nothing (except, possibly, arguably, tighter administration) that is not offered or done by the present “Conservative” misgovernment. Having said that, the voters plainly wish to punish the Government for being so weak and, indeed, hopeless.

It was surprising to see that just over a third of the Kingswood voters who voted, still voted Con, albeit that the turnout was well under 40% (so only about 10% or so of all eligible voters voted Con), but that may indicate that in a general election, the Con vote in that constituency (were it not being abolished) would be nearer to 20% or 25%, on a putative turnout of about 70%. However, that would still be not enough to win (were the seat to still exist at GE 2024).

All speculation, of course…

https://twitter.com/RespectIsVital/status/1758561747596710302

According to the malicious “Campaign Against Antisemitism” [“CAA”] cabal (on its website), “lord” Ian Austin, the notorious Israel-lobby and Jewish-lobby puppet who was once an MP, and who is one of the “Patrons” of the “CAA”, actually wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2022 demanding that I be prosecuted for expressing my views on this blog.

See https://antisemitism.org/former-barrister-ian-millard-found-guilty-of-five-communications-offences-after-seven-years-of-action-by-caa/.

Regular readers of the blog will know that I was tried last November, found guilty on all 5 counts, and will be sentenced next month. Freedom of expression is almost dead, and a large part of the reason for that is the existence of the Jew-Zionist lobby.

Austin is very odd. He once tweeted that pornography involving bestiality should be decriminalized, a view echoed by the Jewish girl at the centre of the campaign against Dr. David Miller of Bristol University. Those tweets were later deleted. At the same time, Austin thinks that “holocaust” “denial” should be criminalized!

Austin’s quite long Wikipedia entry says nothing at all about his personal life.

Austin, as MP, was also a hard-core expenses cheat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Austin#Expenses

You can bet that Austin makes sure to “sign on” at the House of Lords every sitting day, in order to get his c.£350 a day taxfree cash “allowance” and other freebies.

I wonder how many other lucrative part-time jobs (in the argot of today, “side-hustles”) Austin has. That housing chairmanship was almost certainly only one of several.

Austin almost personifies the corrupt pro-Israel political system of the UK today, as well as Starmer-Labour.

More music

More tweets

“Tories said they’d lower migration

Then put it on steroids

Tories said control borders

Then lost control Tories say we are sovereign

But won’t leave ECHR

Tories blame Labour

But won’t change New Labour law

Tories promised new economy

Then gave us more of the same

This isn’t hard. People are leaving the Tories because they promised one thing only to do the very opposite.”

https://mattgoodwin.org/p/sunaks-sinking.

Lack of funding is part of that, but I doubt that the tweeter (obviously Indian) would agree that another large part of the problem is the half-million to a million immigrants of various kinds every single year.

Yes, a tiny percentage of the migration influx consists of doctors and nurses, but the other 99.9% are those who will not work in the NHS but will use its services.

Then factor in the disastrous “lockdowns” and/or restricted service throughout 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Then factor in the other recent developments: the strikes in the NHS, and the explosion of part-time working by GPs and the better-paid clinical staff generally, and also the phenomenon of medical students getting trained here in the UK, mainly at UK taxpayers’ expense (despite student loans), then emigrating to countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc for more money and a better lifestyle. They should have to work in the NHS for 5-10 years after qualification and training.

“Here’s a chart I tweeted this week which went viral on social media. It shows rates of home ownership in Britain by age, from 1960 through to today. Take a look…“

[Home ownership rates by age. Source: Sunday Times]

“Highlighting the fact mass immigration is directly fuelling our housing crisis clashes with the elite’s “luxury beliefs”. Routinely, they demand more and more immigrants, looser and looser borders, to project their liberal beliefs to other elites all the while knowing they and their families will never be the ones to have to compete with immigrants and newcomers for a roof above their heads.”

“As Andrew Neil said in response: “And the Tories wonder why young folks won’t vote for them”. Indeed. At the looming general election just 8% of Zoomers from Generation-Z plan to vote Conservative.

This is why, last weekend, housing secretary Michael Gove went further, touring media in Westminster to warn if young British people and families remain unable to get on the housing ladder ‘they will abandon democracy’.“

Our day in the sun may be nearer than we ourselves, as social nationalists, realize.

Look at recent by-elections. Only a third of voters are even bothering to vote. They despise the System parties and refuse to validate those “elected”, who have no real legitimacy.

By that date (2036), UK society will have either collapsed into civil war or chaos, or be very close to that point.

Only social nationalism can save Britain; and, frankly, even that will be a struggle. Things are very bad and, equally important, getting worse, and rapidly.

“Scholz blocked the candidacy of Ursula von der Leyen for the post of NATO Secretary General, – Welt. According to the publication, there were two reasons for this:

Scholz considers the position of NATO Secretary General too important to give it to a Christian Democrat from Germany (opposition to Scholz’s party).

Scholz considers Ursula von der Leyen’s attitude towards Russia too critical.“

Die Welt is a heavyweight German conservative newspaper. Its business-oriented attitudes make it interesting that, recently, its coverage has mellowed towards Russia. The sanctions on Russia, and the general hostility to Russia from such as Ursula von der Leyen harm, not Russia, but Germany itself (and the rest of the EU).

Ursula von der Leyen always strikes me as —in the American phrase— “nutty”— excessively driven, and even mentally-ill. Another similar specimen is Christine Lagarde. NWO insiders.

It looks like Scholz and other major political players in Germany are waking up to the fact of the inevitable Russian victory in Ukraine, certainly in Eastern Ukraine. Realpolitik.

Unsurprising, given that Milei is a populist. However, this may be shadow boxing.

The UK now has not the power and global reach to defend the islands, certainly not to retake them after an invasion, as happened in 1982.

However, by the same token it may well be that the Argentine government does not today have the ability to launch such an invasion in the first place; I am unsure.

In the unlikely event that Russia starts to be pushed back significantly on the battlefield because of such weapons given to the Kiev regime, the escalation might result in Russia using ever-heavier missiles and bombs, even tactical nuclear weapons. Kiev could be completely flattened

There must be a peace process that leaves Russia with, at minimum, Crimea, the Donetsk region, and the Lugansk region, and at least much of the Azov Sea and Black Sea littoral.

https://twitter.com/simpatico771/status/1758880174374797514

That relates to the Russian victory in the devastated city of Avdeevka (“Avdiivka” in Ukrainian). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avdiivka. Victory was declared by the Russian side only today. The Kiev-regime forces not killed or captured have withdrawn in disarray.

[Avdeevka/Avdiivka before the present war]

War is hell. Avdeevka in that photo looks (i.e. looked, before the war) reasonably decent for a once-Soviet industrial town.

Interesting, if true. A few thoughts come to my mind. Firstly, what conceivable British interest was being served here? None, in my view. As to the alleged MI6/SIS officer, he seems to be a good listener (which must be part of his job) and is evidently trying to be non-committal yet friendly (also part of his job, I presume). Other than that, hard to say much about him. Maybe privately-educated but trying to flatten the accent (like the present Prince of Wales and his brother)? Maybe, maybe not. A suitably “grey” person…

Navalny and his group were playing for high stakes. They lost.

The msm in the EU, UK, USA etc all show the masses a series of pictures (on TV, in the Press) etc; metaphorical pictures; shadows on the wall of the cave, if you like. “Ukraine”, “Navalny”, “Black Lives Matter”, “Covid”, “far right extremism”, “Russia about to attack Western Europe”. Mostly lies, or the truth bent so far out of shape that it becomes a lie.

If that is so, the withdrawal order was just a figleaf to cover what was really an uncontrolled flight by the Ukrainian front-line forces.

Late music

[River Ob at Barnaul, Western Siberia. At that point, the Ob is still 1,200 miles from where it flows into the Arctic Ocean]