…The reason I consider this particular example is that one source high up in the care sector texted me earlier regarding the Home Secretary’s comments to say “She hasn’t got a clue the damage she is doing!” They’re already desperately clinging on to staff.
A side-effect of workers moving out of care work to other work would be that care work would then only attract people with no other choices, forced to do care work by being, for example, pressured by the DWP.
It’s astonishing but amazingly people allowed it to happen as they believed the hype. There was a spike in deaths in all western countries around April 2020.
Interesting video, rather idealistic. If the British Empire still existed and still ruled, the Arab-Jew problem in Palestine would be contained, and Israel would not be a centre of a manipulative web across the world.
Why have I just lost 500 followers? Is it because Elon’s waving his chequebook around again?
That report reminded me of when I was first in Almaty, Kazakhstan (in 1996 and 1997). I lived on one of the main boulevards, Prospekt Lenina. There were frequent power cuts or, as the Americans say, “outages”.
I bought some candles for my 12th-floor Soviet penthouse apartment, and that was OK, though I nearly got stuck in the lift one day when there was a power cut the moment I stepped out of that lift, having returned from my office. The power did not return until about midday the next day, so that was a lucky miss for me.
In fact, my area of the city was not so badly affected as others, being within the “Presidentsky” district, where the then Presidential Palace and major embassies were located. Usually, the power cuts involved one or two areas at a time, with other areas continuing to receive electrical supply. Where I lived was certainly given preferential treatment, but still lost power fairly often.
I remember well that I was due to dine with three people one evening at a small and little-patronized Georgian restaurant in a quiet lane not too far from my home, a place almost in the countryside.
When the time came to meet those people, I was sitting in the empty restaurant. They arrived together, a young American in the Peace Corps, and two local Russian girls who were employed by an American organization; I had met them previously.
No sooner had they sat down than the electricity was cut off. The owner of the place, a Georgian lady called Bella, hurried to put out quite a few candles.
In the restaurant, with its wooden walls and lack of traffic noise (the lane outside was deserted), this created a kind of 19th century environment. One of the Russian girls started to play the piano which was there. Mainly Chopin.
In the candlelight, it was like being in a scene adapted from Chekhov or some other pre-revolutionary author; perhaps a country estate circa 1860 and in a Russia not yet hit by modern warfare or the shocks of violent revolution. Charmant…
Still slightly favourable on defence and “terrorism”? How? Why? The armed forces seem incapable of stopping migration invasion across the Channel, and are too small to stop any conventional invasion. The present ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government) is pledged to continue to waste billions funnelling money and arms to the Jew-Zionist regime in Kiev.
What about “terrorism”? The Muslims are not taking over the British cities via “terrorism” but via their birth-rate. The Jews continue to send their teenage children to Israel, there to be trained in the use of firearms, as well as in techniques of streetfighting, but are not even monitored (much) by the UK Security Service on their return to the UK.
More tweets
I honestly can’t believe Liz Truss is leader of anything or anyone. Just can’t believe it
BREAKING: The Tories have banned laughing, humour and comedy! 🤬
Three brilliant Parody accounts I follow have been wiped off Twitter in the last 3 day’s. They all had over 100,000 + followers. Parody Liz Truss, Kwasi and Mancock 🙇🏻♂️#GeneralElectionNow#WhoVotedForThis
James Cleverly, proud possessor of a McDegree (in Hospitality Management) from a McUniversity, and who has never done much else (except work his way up in the TA) drones on. That half-caste is Foreign Secretary, believe it or not. This country is so screwed, and in so many ways.
I must do a blog article, in my Deadhead MPs series, about Cleverly.
Liz Truss Should Fear Homeowners and Rising UK Mortgage Rates – Bloomberg https://t.co/DBSr2c3Tzp
Some would. People whose income is well above the norm, perhaps; those on £150,000+, and who are also voting out of purely personal self-interest . Then —the largest group— those who want to vote specifically against Labour, and see a Con vote as the only effective way to do it.
Are there any other groups of “Conservative” voters now? I think not. The last 12 years have seen no effective policy or action on the immigration problem, whether in general or specifically re. the cross-Channel migration-invasion. As for that trad Con strongpoint, “law and order”, we have seen police numbers cut, courts (in the hundreds) closed down to save money, a huge backlog of trials, and legal aid cuts which have effectively denied millions the right to access the legal system.
Yes, a lot can happen in the two years before a general election has to be held, but it cannot really be said that Liz Truss has any popular mandate, and things look likely to slide even further from here: utility bills, mortgage payments, whatever may hit the UK by reason of the wrongheaded anti-Russia sanctions and military adventurism.
Even the mainly self-interested “grey vote” of pensioners and those nearing State Pension age might pause before placing their crosses next to the Conservative Party candidate, now that it has emerged that the young Liz Truss actually wanted to abolish the State Pension, and who intends to slash other benefits relied on by pensioners.
‘She’s seeking comparisons with Singapore or an economy like the United States.’
Saw an episode covering 2020. Not as good as the previous episode. Too many scenes with patients suffering (supposedly) from “Covid”, not enough scenes about the political infighting. The drama stuck to the official or accepted (?) narrative(s). Not much questioning of that.
Late tweets seen
Started with a sore throat on Sunday, then a tickly cough for a couple of days, now a bit of a runny nose. Someone asked me how I know it's not Covid. I replied 'why does it matter?' My natural immunity will sort it.
“Jack Monroe”, the “Bootstrap Cook”: an assessment
I have blogged (briefly) previously a few times about the person known as “Jack Monroe” (originally Melissa Hadjicostas, half-Greek Cypriot), whose rather clever nom de plume is “Bootstrap Cook”.
The name Jack Monroe is now her official name, it having been adopted by deed poll.
In the past, I was content to be at least neutral towards “Bootstrap Cook”, in that I felt that anyone putting almost anything into the public domain that might help the millions of financially-struggling people in the UK deserved at least a chance.
Incidentally, this blog is written in the English language, and therefore does not refer to a woman (whatever her views or proclivities) as “they” or “them”.
“Ideological” criticism of “Bootstrap Cook” has come mainly from two directions. The first group would be those connected to or supportive of the “Conservative” regimes of 2010-present. They tend to say that there is no justification for the campaigning of “Bootstrap Cook” to raise State benefits etc, and that any food poverty that exists exists because the individuals subject to it cannot “budget” properly, or do not know how to cook cheap wholesome food.
An ignorant point of view (though not without a small kernel of truth, as with many basically lying narratives), which infuriates many, especially when expressed by the likes of Iain Dunce Duncan Smith, the MP who has also been a huge expenses blodger and fraudster, and who claimed vast amounts on his Parliamentary expenses (even a £39 hotel breakfast) while —as Secretary of State for the DWP— taking money away from people living in real poverty.
The second group who tend to criticize “Bootstrap Cook” are those who agree with much of her campaigning on benefits etc, but who say that she actually “enables” attacks on benefit recipients by reason of her claims that a family of 4 can be fed well on £20 a week or less.
Now, however, a third group has joined the fray, being those who claim that they and/or others have been taken for a ride by “Bootstrap Cook”, and that she is a “grifter”, or even an outright fraud, who has sold goods and services which were never delivered. These critics also claim that much of the “Bootstrap Cook” back-story is untrue, or embellished.
For example, it is said that “Bootstrap Cook” was either never in poverty herself, or was so for no more than 18 months. It is said that at least part of her financial difficulties were caused by her own (apparently past) alcohol and/or drug abuse. It is said that she makes up implausible stories about her past financial predicament, such as “having to” sell her little son’s beloved dinosaur toy to raise money (really? How much money would that raise? £1? £2? And how cruel is that, assuming the story to be true?).
It is also said that her parents are not badly-off financially, that they own buy-to-let property, and that her paternal grandfather was a millionaire. In other words, that “Bootstrap Cook” always had a financial lifeline. I have no idea whether, or to what extent, that may be, or may have been, the case.
Recently, following a storm of criticism on Twitter, “Bootstrap Cook” deleted her Twitter account, though others claim that she is merely taking a 40-hour “rest” from Twitter, and will return. Why 40 hours and not (as with Jesus Christ) 40 days, or whatever, I have no idea.
One aspect that interested me, as a former barrister, was the tendency of “Bootstrap Cook” to threaten some of her critics with legal action. A few years ago, “Bootstrap Cook” sued Katie Hopkins in libel.
Ms. Hopkins had libelled “Bootstrap Cook” entirely mistakenly as to the facts, had no defence whatever, and should have backed down and got out with minimal damage when she could have but, like many maximalisti, found sorry the hardest word, and so was hammered: £24,000 in damages, and very large legal costs. Ms. Hopkins had to sell her house in St. Leonard’s (the best residential district in Exeter) in order to pay those legal costs.
“Bootstrap Cook” retained as her solicitor Mark Lewis, the Zionist Jew who now lives in Israel, though he has also a professional foothold in London. His no-win no-fee cases have often been controversial.
I have to wonder how nice a person “Bootstrap Cook” is, if she is on friendly terms with someone such as Lewis.
As soon as people started suggesting, a month or two ago, that “Bootstrap Cook” was somewhere between “grifter” and fraudster, out came the Twitter threat that Mark Lewis and libel would be wheeled out (frankly, not so much of a threat— by no means have all of Lewis’s cases been brought to a successful conclusion, and when he was censured and fined by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority about 4 years ago, his Counsel said that his fine should be reduced because his only possessions were his clothes, a mobility scooter. and a private pension worth £70 a week).
In fact, when “Bootstrap Cook” threatened libel action against Conservative Party MP Lee Anderson [Con, Ashfield] (in May of this year), nothing ever came of it, as far as I know:
“Food journalist and activist Jack Monroe hinted at legal action against Anderson after he commented in an interview that “She’s taking money off some of the most vulnerable people in society and making an absolute fortune on [sic] the back of people”.[36] [Wikipedia].
The Guardian says “sues“, but the Independent said “hints at suing“, and I have seen nothing on the Mark Lewis Twitter output to the effect that he ever was “instructed” (the Guardian, again) on the matter. He may have been, he may not have been. I might add that all the news reports are from 15-16 May 2022; nothing since then.
Was Anderson right, though? As I have said, I was willing to cut “Bootstrap Cook” some slack, because in recent years, the past ~15 years, the social security system has become inadequate, pay for work has also become generally inadequate, and millions are struggling both to eat and keep sheltered and warm. My view was that any useable advice was, well, useful.
I still think that (despite the fact that, to me, many of the recipes of “Bootstrap Cook” do look like a dog’s dinner, and despite the fact that many disagree with her costings etc).
More serious criticism is that she has actually been making a pretty good living out of Patreon donations, while never or rarely providing the extras offered in exchange.
When I last looked, “Bootstrap Cook” had at least 800 Patreon donors giving a minimum of £1 a month. £800 a month. In itself not bad. When you consider that the suggested minimum is £3 a head, the total increases to £2,400 a month (perhaps). I have seen a tweet where the tweeter claims, truthfully or otherwise, to have been donating £44 a month. Well, you see the point. “Bootstrap Cook” must have an income from Patreon alone of between £800 and (?) perhaps as much as £8,000 a month. Or more. That’s before one takes into account book sales, other donations, paid (?) TV appearances, other appearances etc. We do not know.
Not that “Bootstrap Cook” claims poverty, these days. No, she claims, as I understand it (and perhaps truthfully) a degree of “precariousness” in her life and finances, and she is certainly not alone in that. It is almost the norm in the Britain of 2022.
“Bootstrap Cook” has a number of defence mechanisms. One is to threaten defamation actions, but the more usual tactic is to claim the shield of disability, and she has about two dozen options there.
A further defence tactic is, I read, to set her fanatical fans (she apparently calls them “flying monkeys“) onto any critics, and I have certainly seen tweets where mentally-disturbed fans have come close to suggesting violence against anyone daring to utter critical words.
The problem here is that “Bootstrap Cook” has become a totem for a certain tribe of virtue-signallers. Not really “the poor” but more the sort of people who like to think that they are socially-progressive etc. Facts do not matter to those people, belonging to the “right” tribe does. cf. “Covid”, Ukraine, “Black Lives Matter” and, of course, “FBPE/Remain/Rejoin” etc.
When you consider that someone who claims to be able to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week might be said to be, arguably or in effect, saying that UK benefits are perfectly OK and need not be increased, is that really something positive or not?
I simply don’t understand how you can read this article, made from HER OWN TWEETS, and think Jack Monroe is anything other than a grifter https://t.co/WTCmHTdHD5
— Kelly Jackson | It’s More Fun In Your 30s (@Kelly_Jackson88) September 19, 2022
Why on earth would any Tory politico want to silence Jack Monroe? She plays straight into their message that ‘the poor’ can eat on £20/wk and are just too thick to budget & cook. Plus, she has made little to no impact on public policy. (Rhetorical tweet, obvs!)
Claiming you can't afford to put the hot water on, have unscrewed the lightbulbs and are using solar lights, and haven't bought shampoo for two years in order to gain internet points and cash donations, is also wrong.
Giving people "money-saving" advice that is going to cost them *more* money is wrong.
Not making an effort to make sure people understand that you've mistakenly given the wrong advice and pointing people to more accurate advice, is really, really wrong.
I have very good intentions. I *intend* to write book reviews and advice for people querying, to be supportive of other writers, especially those newly agented.
I don't actually do that, though. And because I don't, I don't expect to be held up or praised for it.
Jack Monroe wasn't hounded off of Twitter because of some anaemic roast potatoes. She's left because too many people were raising questions about her lucrative Patreon, murky charitable donations and questionable finances. Jesus, people are gullible.
As many have noted, this whole Bootstrap Cook thing is more like a creepy cult than anything. It’s as if a lot of fairly affluent or at least not poor people have decided that supporting “Bootstrap Cook” —right or wrong— validates their evenings of going out, their Netflix subscription, their holidays in Cuba or Costa Rica, their new cars, and in fact their whole comfortable existence.
In fact, it reminds me of the “indulgences” sold by the Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation.
Not that that is necessarily the fault of the “Bootstrap Cook” herself.
I've not much to say on the Jack Monroe issue except that if a government minister tries to tell someone how to survive on a box of cornflakes and a tin of sardines, they tend to get pilloried for it.
(Past caring if Jack Monroe's fans abuse me as did for 48 hours few week back).
Authentic, knowledgeable women in poverty now could offer useful, genuine insights into experience but overlooked and devalued while Monroe's more acceptable celebrity face of poverty is prioritised.
Well, if you can believe that the “royal” Mulatta is a sadly-abused “princess”, then believing that a poverty campaigner, who seems to be making “a nice little earner” out of it and naive followers, is a modern Joan of Arc, must be easy enough.
It was absolutely nothing to do with “the far right” and everything to do with the revelations that she’s lied about a lot of things and taken money off a lot of people in very shady ways.
Let's say you agree to pay the Times £x per month and in exchange they promise to send you a code to access their online issue – but they never send the codes. Would you see a problem there? Read the Patreon page and see if you agree the comparison.https://t.co/LUPccSWorV
No John, it appears that you don’t understand what it is. Each payment tier system means a certain amount of rewards/content in return. Jack has received money every month & has not honoured the obligations that Jack pledged. No rewards/content for TWO years.
How had she helped others? I’m seeing a lot of upset people who have given her money over the years. They’re feeling ripped off. pic.twitter.com/H6Y00rtGVs
There's a whole community of Jack watchers on a website called Tattle. Any updates are there. Have to say, they don't seem a right-wing crowd. Better characterised as working-class mums who seem pissed off about what they see as grifting.
Her recipes are shit and she only keeps within budget because the portions are toddler sized. Totally dishonest and unsustainable. No one uses her recipes though, because as mentioned, they're shit.
Because you need to be a parent in order to… count calories. Some of Jack Monroe's meals are less than 200 calories per portion. Her best meals are in the region of 400-500 per portion. It's not enough. You too can eat cheaply, if you starve.
Well, that’s enough. There are hundreds of other tweets in similar vein.
As blogged previously, my view is that Bootstrap Cook’s stuff may well be of interest to many, though —as already said— much of it looks to me like carbohydrate-heavy food often presented like a dog’s dinner.
I do not think that “Bootstrap Cook”set out to defraud anyone, and it may be that she has no such intention now, but it does seem that legitimate questions about her fundraising have been asked by a number of donors, but not answered by her.
If people think that they are somehow accomplishing something by subsidizing the not-uncomfortable lifestyle of that person, then that is their business, in a sense, but it is legitimate for others, arguably more clear-minded, to ask “where is the money going?“, “is any of this true?“, and “are people being tapped for money under false pretences?“.
I can also see that her fans seem to be, almost entirely, not the truly poor but more those who are not “poor” but who support her “non-binary” profile, the “gender bender” aspects, and the general “government must do more for the poor” activism aspect.
I think that it is legitimate to question, not only “where the money went” (or goes), but also, whether in reality Bootstrap Cook has actually influenced government, or large enterprises such as ASDA (it seems that one or two supermarket chains were actually paying her for advice or consultancy or something).
Poverty is a huge problem in the UK now. Anyone claiming to be expert in it must expect searching inquiry.
Is this all really just a morning TV virtue-signal writ large? After all, at the end of the day, the decisive question is what government does or fails to do.
I personally have no animus against “Bootstrap Cook”, but my view of her has certainly become far less positive over the years since I first heard of her.
I do think, also, that if you claim that a person can feed healthily on £5 a week, you are really playing into the hands of swine such as Dunce Duncan Smith, Esther McVey, Therese Coffey etc.
I think that anyone wanting to help “the poor” could probably do so more effectively via GoFundMe or local foodbanks than by subsidizing the lifestyle of “Bootstrap Cook”. Perhaps I am mistaken, but that is my firm view and opinion.
On a wider point, we have in the UK this msm thing whereby TV channels or shows like to have a “go-to” list. Brexit discussion? Call Farage. Free speech discussion? Call Toby Young. Poverty discussion? Call Jack Monroe. And so on.
Thus you get “activists” who are really just “famous for being famous activists”. The Caroline Criado-Perez phenomenon. A hundred thousand or a million Twitter followers but, outside Twitter etc, really unknown and without real influence.
Of course, the msm now like to feature (supposed) “experts” who are, if possible, young, female, and black. “Bootstrap Cook” is not black, but as “Meatloaf” once opined, “two out of three ain’t bad“…
Well, there it is. I prefer to concentrate on other and larger issues really, but felt that I should examine the above first, after the recent Twitter storm in a teacup.
For clarification purposes this is a live poll so results don't necessarily represent public opinion. However, the latest results are: * still 81% re bankers bonus cap * still 82% re 45% tax cut for the rich * 88% re recall of parliament * 87% re govt loss of control of economy
All that the doomed “Conservative” Party had to do, to consign Labour to the bin, was select a leader to succeed “Boris”-idiot who was even slightly competent. It failed to do so. Endex.
Here's what the UK's new electoral map would look like if tonight's YouGov poll were repeated at a general election. pic.twitter.com/HbGJQywCB2
The implications are clear: either the Con MPs get rid of Liz Truss as soon as they can, and put in someone who at least looks semi-competent, or the Con Party will be near-finished by next year. Same goes, of course, for Kwarteng, Cleverly, and Coffey.
Jack Monroe pulls apart tweets that suggest people can live off a cheap bag of pasta or oats (rightly so) but SHE reinforces this ideology with her £20 weekly Asda shops. They do not contain enough nutrional/calorific value for one person, never mind 2 to 3 people!
Look at ANY of the weekly shops she has posted. There is a good reason she doesn't follow it through with a FULL meal plan for the week. She states a few times that she'll post a meal plan or recipes for the week later on but they never appear. The idea that you can continually
COVID held a mirror up to society. As most of us were forced to slow down, we noticed it was not the mega rich or obscenely paid super stars that we relied on, but the dismissively termed ‘unskilled’ front line workers. We can’t now allow them to be forced into ‘working poverty.’
Ha ha. Yes, that ghastly little bastard Schofield is one of the worst people on TV in the UK; and, yes, it is peak contemporary Britain, just like…well, there are just too many examples around…
An eloquent warning from the former British ambassador to Moscow, in 1997 'Does Nato really have a future at all? Is enlargement really no more than a substitute for policy, the thrashing about of an organisation which has lost its raison d’etre? 'https://t.co/p1MZFFPTCG
: 'Over the centuries one great power after another has threatened the stability of Europe….in 1815 and…1945.. the victors were intelligent and self-interested enough to bring the defeated as equals into the comity of European nations.' https://t.co/p1MZFFPTCG
A good example was seen the other night. A new detective drama called Karen Pirie.
Set partly a few decades ago, partly in the contemporary era, even the older setting, in St. Andrews, Scotland, decades ago, had a black character appear. In a small town in what seems to be a bleak part of Scotland (I have never been there). Then we are introduced to the two detectives now investigating the cold case. One a small Scottish woman, the other a black or half-caste…
I do not have a great deal of patience with films or TV shows. If they do not catch the interest after 15 mins, switch— OFF. I gave this one 20 mins. A bloody bore, poorly conceived and worse-acted.
This evening, I saw an old episode of Wycliffe [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wycliffe_(TV_series)]. All characters more or less credible, and what I like best about Wycliffe is that it manages to catch the atmosphere of Cornwall well, from what I recall from when I lived there. It does not rely on cliche (most of the time, at least).
Late tweets
The UK's economic woes appear to be a story of fiscal recklessness that's forced the Bank of England to stabilize crashing financial markets by buying up government bonds.
The real story is actually more complicated, and it all comes down to pensions https://t.co/H0wFKJe8IQ
But you’ve now borrowed short-term money to buy volatile financial assets.
The thing that was so good about pension funds — their structural long-termism, the fact that you can’t have a run on a pension fund: You’ve ruined that! https://t.co/Q6dEeBI8Ztpic.twitter.com/qTFzhEjNYT
➡️A margin call earlier this year when rates rose, which depleted the pensions’ collateral buffer ➡️Liz Truss's catastrophic mini-budget led to long-term interest rates spiking 100 basis points https://t.co/8vucDdxTDQpic.twitter.com/PeAj4jmPt1
But the questions about what happened in recent days run deep, are far from relevant only to the UK and are most certainly not over https://t.co/25jsfBV8mH
The BOE may have left itself hostage to misfortune with its actions.
The risk is that it finds itself in a standoff with markets, with pressure increasing to hike borrowing costs before its next meeting, which might tip the economy over the edge https://t.co/FLzsjzcWzr
In the month since I wrote about “Jack Monroe”, the “Bootstrap Cook”, the storm around her murky financial arrangements has become fiercer yet. A few tweets:
Oh look, yet mire Jack Monroe bootstrapcook lies exposed. She's gifted donations to fund legal action and not even followed any pre-action protocol & got in touch. That money's been spent…. ❄️❄️❄️❄️⛄️ https://t.co/LrXqDsDB1b
In light of Jack Monroe @BootstrapCook's latest "working class" lies, it's worth retweeting her dad's comments regarding his professional landlording, which also reveal he has no bank debt, ie mortgages. Not surprising given he inherited 3 of his millionaire dad's 12 properties. https://t.co/7BrPnLiVtA
He is sometimes described, inaccurately, as having become a “pro bono” lawyer who works for free, out of quasi-charitable motives, whereas he in fact seems to work on a “no win no fee” basis, which is not at all the same thing.
“Jack Monroe” has tweeted that she still has several/many months in which to sue the MP Lee Anderson and the politico Martin Daubney. In theory, up to a year after the alleged libel, but the relevant Practice Directions do say that the courts will still expect any claim to be made expeditiously, so not, e.g., 10 or 11 months after the alleged libel.
The courts may (probably will) penalize even a successful defamation claimant (“plaintiff”, as was) in both award and costs if the action is not brought expeditiously.
Why are you tagging bootstrapcrook? ,she is literally doing the tories work by claiming you can feed a family on 20 quid a week, she has ripped of 1000s of working class people who have been paying into her patreon and received NOTHING, people are complaining and getting refunds
“The System needs at least two “major parties” (even if their combined membership is only about 600,000, i.e. 1% of the UK population) because it preserves the facade of a binary choice, the facade of supposed “democracy” etc. So fake Labour has to exist, just as fake Conservative Party has to exist, in order to fool the mass of the people into thinking that they have a real choice. They do not have any such choice.“
Also:
“Labour, like the “Conservatives”, has to exist and pretend to put forward a bunch of policies, when really both parties have been stripped of real policy, real difference, and even real politicians (look at the pathetic deadheads now crowding the Commons and Lords alike). You want to see what “ZOG” looks like? Just look at “British” political parties and MPs today.“
Leaving aside the immediate issue reported on (fuel inflation), it should not be possible to “cash in” a private pension below X-age. If I am not mistaken, the right to cash-in was brought in, or made much easier, when the part-Jew, George Osborne, was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
A private pension is to help someone of pensionable age, clearly. It is not just a long-term investment of some kind. It is against public policy in the broad sense to allow pensions to be simply cashed-in.
In fact, it is contra public policy in practical terms as well, quite apart from the ethical aspect, or impact on the individual, because someone who cashes-in a private pension but then later, at or above pensionable age, becomes poor enough to require State “Pension Credit Guarantee”, will have his or her State Pension augmented by Pension Credit so that he or she receives a minimum of £185 per week (as well as other benefits, such as Housing Benefit etc if applicable).
In other words, not only the individual but also the State itself will, in that instance, lose out financially.
The 32-year-old – real name Sophie Hinchliffe – has left the property which helped make her famous after making a fortune offering cleaning hint and tips to her online followers. pic.twitter.com/9OmbTNfnE8
“The world is not without kind people“, says a Russian proverb. One sees that constantly, despite also seeing contrary news.
Look at the story about “Mrs. Hinch”. She has given away a £600,000 house simply because she wants to help a family, and “does not need” the capital proceeds of any sale.
Remarkable. I have no idea whether her husband is wealthy; she herself is said to be “worth” about £1.5M (presumably discounting the donated house).
It was not clear to me, on skimming the report, whether the house donated has actually been transferred, or just given to live in rent-free for as long as permitted. Either way, very generous.
If only the very wealthy of our society, those possessing tens, hundreds, or thousands of millions, were as kind-hearted.
More tweets seen
This is just ONE of the boats that landed at Dover yesterday. I find this stressful to watch, because I am genetically programmed to sense danger and repel hostile invasion, but my treasonous government will send me to prison if I do. pic.twitter.com/EXy52IP4dy
“Full-term abortion“. Murder of babies born, or being born, or about to be born, and perfectly capable of living a full human life in most cases. Straight murder. Legalized.
Will any of those Australian MPs be held to account in an appropriate way?
“Racism” against white Europeans is now considered OK; but any perceived mere criticism of Jews, or non-whites, is not only not approved of by the System, but may even be criminalized by biased law and enforcement.
Why’s the sister of Ghislane Maxwell…the World’s most notorious Child-sex Trafficker…still the Global Leader of ‘Technology’ at the World Economic Forum? Will she be in charge of the Global Censorship Policy?
Educated guess: of those 19,000 or more migrant-invaders, not one will actually be —in any way— someone who benefits the British people, but let us be kind, and assume that 1% benefit the UK (somehow). What about the other 99%? Guessing (but I think reasonably) further: of every 100 migrant-invaders, at least 10, maybe 20, will turn out to be criminal and/or terroristic; the remaining 79 or more will just be completely useless millstones round our collective neck.
🚨 ICYMI…
Neil Oliver: 'We are no longer being treated as individuals entitled to try and make the most of our lives – but as a barn full of battery hens, just another product to be bought and sold – sold down the river.' pic.twitter.com/n6EovkfKWP
I was not too pleased about Neil Oliver when he did Coast, especially his —not always well-informed– occasional anti-“Nazi” historical (or ahistorical) comments, but he has certainly redeemed himself in the past couple of years.
Not that I agree with everything he now says, but no matter. He is in general on the right track. I may be an “idealist”, as some have called me, but I do have pragmatic aspects as well.
Ask “Robert Maxwell” or Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, no— you can’t, because they snuffed it under mysterious circumstances. Ask Ghislaine “Maxwell”, then. Oh, no— you can’t, because she is in prison for much of the rest of her horrible life, and afraid of being murdered (as was, she thinks, her father) by Israeli Intelligence killers.
Liz Truss and Priti Patel, and Keir Starmer (etc) should be wary of being puppets of Israel and the Jew lobby. It’s one rouble to get in, but two roubles to get out…
We as a people need to start making our own systems starting with our own JUDICIARY and begin with trials firstly for the people involved with coving, vaccines etc as we cannot trust our servant s to do it as they are involved. Just a thought.
Incredible how varied the UK can be in terms of temperature. Where I live (Hampshire coast) the temperature at 0900 hrs this morning was 22C, in London at same time it was 33C, but in Edinburgh only 16C.
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We live in an age where Eddie Izzard is allowed to be a woman but Joan of Arc isn’t. Think about that.
— Taylor- Mother, daughter, woman🦖 (@Taylor_Advocate) August 13, 2022
Eddie Izzard is as much a woman as a pantomime horse is Red Rum.
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Better late than never. If we can get him to condemn the climate change fraud as well then I might take a day off to celebrate.
Hearing that Johnson is getting booed and heckled by British holidaymakers on his Greek trip has cheered me up no end. It will not get shown in the UK of course but Italian TV just now had a British man shouting, "Get back to work you fat ponce" pic.twitter.com/Rt5ur4gQED
I do not usually approve of rowdy behaviour, but if a few frustrated Brits in Greece were to give the idiot a kicking, I have to admit that I would not be upset about it.
The Tories .@arthurhomermol1 are in fact a Eurocommunist Blairite party . Their dim careerist leaders and their ageing non-political members have no idea this is so, and do not care. But in govt, they do what Blair would have done. https://t.co/BHXrrMxZ55
Footage captured by a bystander shows dozens of African street vendors clash with the police inside Barcelona metro station, leaving one officer injured and multiple turnstiles damaged. pic.twitter.com/wjRxIyolrj
Incapable of creating a civilization, incapable of maintaining one even when provided to them, and most of them incapable even of simply living decently as unwanted “guests” in the civilization created by white Europeans.
Still, a hosepipe ban in London is unlikely in the immediate future
While most would agree that London is in a climate drought — just look at the yellow grass — it would take critically low reservoir levels before measures like that were implemented https://t.co/9ZoRfAdZbWpic.twitter.com/dTPcWlune6
Where is the strategic direction from government? It is hard to think of a more basic function of government in the modern era than the supply of plentiful and clean water. Of all necessities, water supply is the most basic.
Measures that should be taken in the UK (southern England, really) include water-retention projects in upland areas, new dams and reservoirs, and construction of desalination plants for emergency use (Israel has some of the best technology for that; worth looking at).
Other measures would include those to minimize leaks. London may be losing a quarter of the water available and piped by reason of leaks.
Also, the UK population has increased by many millions in the past half-century. Stop importing unwanted people.
Cape Town nearly ran out of water 2015-2018, partly by reason of low rainfall, but also because (quelle surprise) African government has proven incapable of planning ahead: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town_water_crisis.
Cape Town was saved partly by severe restrictions on use, but mainly because the rains started to arrive again from 2018. Los Angeles was in difficulties too over the past decade, but again was saved mainly by renewed rainfall.
In principle, I think that water, at least for domestic users, should be free or very inexpensive, but the reality is that there is a cost attached to the storage and supply of water (and also to the disposal of waste water). There is a debate to be had as to how to manage those costs.
Factors: abundant surface water, and a relatively small population, which until recent decades was mostly poor. Incidentally, it was not so long ago that most of the Irish population did not pay income tax.
I oppose meters for water, and I oppose the profiteering by the present privatized water companies in the UK. There should be a national water authority and, if water is to be charged for at all, a set amount —the same amount— paid for water (either per person or per household) over a determined period.
Water pressure can be reduced to save water in times of drought, though that is easier in some countries than in others. I recall a friend in New Jersey telling me in about 1991 that he had seen a special episode of This Old House [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Old_House] from London, which included the information that water pressure was 18 pounds per square inch.
My friend said that “to us, that’s a trickle!“. I think that water pressure in the NY/NJ region is nearer to 80 pounds per square inch, so 4x higher than in London, thinking back to that conversation.
I make no excuses for the outrage I express in this film. It shouldn’t be left to me to say these things. @UKLabour need to condemn what Sunak said last night immediately https://t.co/WSRj3Uwqf9
Mostly right, though not mentioning the huge —and possibly irreparable— damage done to the UK economy by the ridiculous “panicdemic” measures of 2020-2022, particularly the “lockdown” shutdown(s).
How low has the UK sunk, that it could even contemplate having a Indian as its Prime Minister?
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The founder, Hayden Wood, was still being paid £250k a year, funded by the taxpayer, when he stepped down at the beginning of July. Somehow he failed to negotiate a severance package.. https://t.co/dlzqwrhEXi
This is the sort of thing, or one type of thing, that happens when you mix up capitalist enterprise (economic zone or sphere) with the zone or sphere of social rights, politics etc. In the Threefold Social Order proposed by Rudolf Steiner, those zones or spheres (and the spiritual/cultural/etc zone or sphere) should not be confused. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_threefolding.
Bulb Energy was originally a mixture of economic enterprise and social do-gooding to do with “reducing emissions” and similar nonsense.
Other examples of “social entrepreneurship” have abounded in the Britain of the past 20 years. A swamp of fraud, chicanery and chaotic mismanagement. One of the worst types of the phenomenon has been the “social entrepreneur” company that presents itself as quasi-charitable but makes millions for its major shareholders out of public funds.
The maladministration and incompetence of Iain Dunce Duncan Smith at the DWP from 2010-2015 allowed dozens if not hundreds of such organizations to flourish. There were and maybe still are many examples, funded by not only the DWP but also other parts of government. I am not even sure that “Kids’ Company” was the worst: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_Company.
Another one, the name of which escapes me for the moment, made millions for its controllers out of DWP funds; one of those ridiculous outsourcing companies finding “make-work” non-jobs for the unemployed and disabled.
The fat young woman who owned it with her husband (fortunately for them, their names also escape me right now) was on BBC Daily Politics and other TV shows between 2010-2015, talking about how good it all was. Only Andrew Neil was sharp enough to (obliquely) question the amount said woman was making (out of the taxpayers). She and her husband bought a large country house in Derbyshire before that particular house of cards collapsed. They made millions upon millions, were never prosecuted for what I consider an outright fraud, not to mention exploitation of desperate people, and still live in luxury today, I believe.
Call me a #racist, call me a #fascist. I don't care. What I am though is a native #British subject of this island & I do not welcome or want #immigrants. You can offer me no justification for allowing immigrants to land on my beaches everyday..NOTHING!
Well, this week, political journalist John Rentoul scored the same as me: 7/10. I did not know the answers to questions 2, 3, and 7 and, if truth be known, my correct answer to question 4 was an educated guess.
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The march towards a cashless society is progressing well in the apartheid fascist state! https://t.co/MwJzARJ1Z1
"effort to fight against money laundering and criminal activity" my arse!!!!
In fact, the NWO/ZOG agenda is now accelerating, now that we are in 2022, the primary year of the 33 year-cycle ending when the next such year starts in 2055.
Already, banks in the UK have introduced restrictions on transfers of cash and other payments, and note a range of other transactions. It’s coming. Slow enfoldment.
2022, the most significant year since 1989. Previous such significant years were 1956 and 1923.
https://t.co/RDWhAFfs3K this is a problem with the labour party right wing MPs with no policies. They should be using this time in the media to say we are going to to nationalise our Utilities, fully funded NHS, education look after the children living in poverty.
— CoolSocialistGrandad man of peace (@cool_grandad) July 29, 2022
"I'm so gritty and working class because my kids swear"
The quality of our MPs is absolutely dire – they are unserious, ridiculous and don't appear to be very brighthttps://t.co/96SAU5u9LH
A researcher has compared mortality rates and Covid vaccine uptake in different Dutch municipalities and found no mortality-reducing effect from vaccination. In fact, the higher the vaccine uptake, the higher the mortality https://t.co/G8hgE63kOC
I have wondered why Jews, especially, are and have been among the most fanatical for the “vaccines” and other “measures”, including the facemask nonsense. You see tweets from them claiming that they have, have had, or are afraid of getting “Covid”, as well as tweets (even now) fervently urging compulsory mask-wearing etc.
I think that this can all be traced back to an ingrained wish to be seen as the perennial “victim”, even when that is extremely implausible.
Wikipedia changed the definition of recession that has been used for 50 years and then locked the page. Does this remind anybody else of Orwell's 1984?
Somewhere in a future dystopic society our grandchildren will be paging through an old bootlegged 80's edition of Webster's dictionary and discovering long forgotten words like " freedom" and "liberty".
1945 was a setback, but not the complete defeat that it seemed at the time. The Reich was crushed, but the essence of National Socialism has survived in other forms, other places. It is still possible to create the basis for the necessary quantum leap in human evolution.
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[Levitan, 1897, The Great Road, Avenue of Birches (the Sibirsky Trakt)]
“Giles Coren“, in that tweet, could be replaced by many another name with equal truth: to name but a few, Boris Johnson, Dido Harding, and The Royal Cuck, Harry of that ilk, Formerly Known as “Prince”.
“Russian [sic] has cut off gas to Latvia amid growing energy concern for winter in Europe after supplies to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Netherlands and Denmark were also axed.
Europe is facing an acute energy crisis as Putin weaponizes energy supplies in apparent retaliation for leaders defying him over Ukraine.”
[Daily Mail, in great need of sub-editors].
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I’m taking next week off so there won’t be any new cartoons from me. I need a break. Just want to say how grateful I am to those who support me on here, particularly when the psychotic loons enter attack mode. It means a lot.
This hideous nonentity has ‘psychology’ and ‘human rights’ in her bio while she waddles about Twitter attacking people who have spent two years trying to protect human rights and highlighting dangerous mass-psychosis by calling them Nazis. What an absolute turd for brains. https://t.co/n8tiS6a948
Stuchbery used to call himself “historian“, but was only ever one in the manner of someone who travels around (Germany, mainly), copies tourist information he sees here and there, then collates it into tweets.
Nothing wrong about that, in itself; in fact I have always said that I enjoy his tweets on mediaeval and Renaissance history (he is usually wrong about history after about 1880), but he is no historian.
As a former police officer, I’m ashamed of being associated with the modern force. It’s ill-disciplined, politicised, divisive, is failing the public, too many officers are unprofessional, look unkempt and scruffy and many can hardly speak or write English pic.twitter.com/nnuoToCb41
Exactly. I read the local newspapers online, the ones for coastal Hampshire and Dorset. The court reports are interesting inasmuch that, even for me, a one-time barrister (albeit far more civil and commercial etc than criminal), the sentences often surprise by their leniency.
I am far from being a “hanger and flogger”, and I favour clemency where possible, perhaps even too much, but I now read of people who have committed crimes of considerable violence and brutality, not to mention egregious theft, being effectively “let off”.
You have to work quite hard to get imprisoned in the UK these days (unless the Jews say that you have been rude about them).
Example? A few years ago, I heard tell of a man, an accountant aged in his 40s, who had a paid job, I think part-time, with a really worthwhile hospice charity not far from where I myself live (about 2-3 miles away). That person stole (embezzled) £40,000 from the charity.
In court, the embezzler must have had Counsel very good at mitigation because, on the premise that the defendant’s parents had stumped up the £40,000 to compensate the hospice, the defendant got off with a suspended sentence, despite the egregious breach of trust, despite also the fact that he was only caught by chance or Fate, and despite the fact that he had initially tried to blame more junior staff.
No. Far too lenient.
How can this be? Nearly one fifth of GPs work on average 26 hours a week as 50% of all patients struggle to get through to their family doctor.
For once I agree with that stupid woman. GPs, at least many, may be overpaid, and those that want an easier life may find it congenial to drop by the surgery a couple of days a week and still pick up a gross pay of about £60,000 in many cases.
Incidentally, I have no animus against my own GP, a very polite person whom I have not actually seen face to face for years, but with whom I am reasonably satisfied, and who monitors me via routine blood tests etc, and sends the odd letter.
As we know, the UK has been cutting defence for years, indeed decades. Large numbers of Army, RAF, and Royal Navy bases are now private housing tracts, and the graphic above makes clear how deep the cuts have been.
At the same time prime ministers of the UK have taken to talking big on defence and war. We have seen, for example, how David Cameron-Levita wanted to get rid of Gaddafi (or rather, the Israelis did, and “Scameron” was but one useful idiot there to do it). Disastrous, allowing millions of migrant-invaders to flood through Libya to Europe, apart from anything else. Leave that aside, though, and look at the forces used.
Even in 2011, British forces were actually incapable of launching an invasion of a state even as weak (beyond outward show) as Libya. They would have been unable to transport enough soldiers by air or even by sea, if they had enough front-line soldiers to transport in the first place.
Thus it was that Britain relied on French and Italian help to refuel the small RAF forces deployed, mostly bombers. The French Navy also had greater resources to deploy than the British.
In the end, as we know, rebel Libyan forces, semi-barbaric, overthrew Gaddafi, brutally killed him, and instituted a period of chaotic lawlessness which today, 11 years later, still reigns.
This is not an analysis of the results of the pathetic strategic ineptitude, but of the fact that Britain was weak in 2011; it is far weaker today. Still, it is worth just looking at the results of David Cameron-Levita-Schlumberger’s stupidity (though I am sure that his Israeli relatives and their government were pleased).
Migration-invasion through Libya to Europe; also, human rights abuses inside Libya, dwarfing those perpetrated by Gaddafi.
Environmental disaster too:
“Libya was a pioneer state in North Africa in species protection, with the creation in 1975 of the El Kouf protected area. The fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime favoured intense poaching: “Before the fall of Gaddafi even hunting rifles were forbidden. But since 2011, poaching has been carried out with weapons of war and sophisticated vehicles in which one can find up to 200 gazelle heads killed by militiamen who hunt to pass the time. We are also witnessing the emergence of hunters with no connection to the tribes that traditionally practice hunting. They shoot everything they find, even during the breeding season. More than 500,000 birds are killed in this way each year, when protected areas have been seized by tribal chiefs who have appropriated them. The animals that used to live there have all disappeared, hunted when they are edible or released when they are not,” explains zoologist Khaled Ettaieb.” [Wikipedia]
What I find risible about Admiral Lord West’s Daily Mail article is that he (perhaps understandably) thinks in terms of fighting a seaborne or other invasion force, as in the days of the Armada, Napoleon, or the wars against Germany in the 20th Century, or conflicts such as that of the Falklands Campaign in which he himself served (the ship he commanded was sunk under him, he being the last to abandon the vessel). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_West,_Baron_West_of_Spithead.
For one thing, Britain now faces no threat of the traditional kind from any quarter. The expansionist Soviet Union ground to a halt in the 1980s, and was replaced in the 1990s by the present Russian Federation, which has no intention of occupying Central and Western Europe; moreover, it no longer has any ideology (akin to the old Marxism-Leninism) that might underpin such an intention or wish.
Likewise, I doubt that any serious person imagines that China has any intention of invading Western Europe, let alone the UK. Why would it? Anyway, remember the most famous words of Sun Tzu: “to win without war is the highest excellence” [Sun Tzu, The Art of War: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu.
When we look at Western Europe, at the UK, do we see Chinese battle fleets or air fleets approaching? No, but we do see not only Chinese manufactured goods everywhere, but actual Chinese people everywhere. That process of gradual and peaceful colonization has increased in flow in recent years. “Boris-idiot” has even invited potentially millions of Hong Kong Chinese to settle in the UK, to add to the very large numbers already here.
Whatever may be said about all that, the fact is that the UK armed forces could not stop such migration-invasion. Au contraire, the modest Royal Navy forces available in the English Channel are actually helping the multikulti “dinghy people” or “RIB people” of many origins to cross over, land illegally, and then claim (usually bogus) “asylum” here.
The only country which has any desire to occupy Western Europe has, in effect, already done so. The USA has bases and personnel all over Europe, including the UK, and treats the UK more or less as a colony. However, Admiral Lord West’s suggested larger armed forces would be expected to work with those American occupation forces, not against them. Take another look at the graphic; the huge military power available to the USA’s leaders is inescapable.
Yet we see Boris-idiot vicariously fighting Russia by supplying arms and ammunition to the regime of the Jew Zelensky in Kiev. We see intellectually-challenged MPs such as Johnny Mercer crowing “bring it on” (war with Russia). Same with Ben Wallace, the current Defence Secretary. Both ex-officers, though not senior ones.
Williamson wanted both to cut defence spending and to challenge both Russia and China!
No, Lord West, the present and future battle for Britain lies within our own society, and will not be won (or lost) by the number of soldiers, battleships, or bombers that “we”, as a state, may possess.
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[Dnieper dam, 1947]
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I cannot even begin to understand how anybody still thinks Brexit is relevant. From either perspective. Why are they still trying to have the debate? Their total denial of what's unfolded over the past two years is just astonishing.
It is the same problem in Sweden,the queues are growing year after year, people have to wait, suffer unnecessarily and there have been reports of deaths that could have been avoided.We are stuck in regions and must not seek care ourselves where queues are shorter. That's damn it.
— Margareta Aronsson (@Arons2Aronsson) June 10, 2022
Starmer is just a Jew-lobby puppet, little more. Better-put, a System puppet, which is pretty much (not exactly) the same thing. The System is suffused with both Zionism and freemasonry.
…except that the perpetrator then walked off, to repeat his crime tomorrow, or the day after…
In America, the public is given zero information on the "Weimar Republic," the period in Germany post-WWI that led to the rise of the NationaI SociaIists in 1933.
This is deliberate. The period holds too many secrets to the modern world.
Ukraine court decides final ban on biggest opposition party, confiscates all its property. Defending western values, by closing down democracy? https://t.co/QZjiyi1axK
There are two possibilities for the future of the UK, assuming that there is still a country and a population left at all: the first would be the mixed-race, decadent, hopeless swamp envisaged as “ideal” by Coudenhove-Kalergi , the other possibility to be part of a germinal European super-race, which can be the foundation for a quantum leap in evolution.
Incidentally, the Jewish influence on Wikipedia is very obvious when you look at a topic such as the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalergi_Plan. No objectivity.
In fact, re. the reality or otherwise of the Plan, you only have to look at what is happening in the world, and especially in Europe, to see the truth.
I was looking at the TV earlier. Almost every ad had a black man and a white woman, with (usually) mixed-race children. Not (yet) reflective of reality in the UK, but an attempt to normalize mixed-race families, mixed-race children. Aimed not at people of my age (65) but at —mainly— children, so that they grow up brainwashed into believing that a mixed-race society is not only worthwhile but the norm.
A contrived society, which only exists because it is protected and fed US government money in vast amounts, as well as money that Jews send from all around the world.
An eyewitness saw Zeid run into the garage and heard him plead for his life. "He was screaming and kept saying, 'I didn't do anything! Don't shoot me!'" she told CNN. https://t.co/4xamgXyO1x
I have blogged a few times recently of the survival of the facemask nonsense among the more feeble-minded of our citizens.
Today, I went early to a routine appointment at the local hospital, a small, architecturally-pleasing place, with a very green and treed car park, and a building designed to allow hundreds of birds to live among specially-designed rocks, covering the exterior (and held in by a kind of metal mesh). The birdsong was very loud, almost overwhelming, but beautiful.
I marched in unmasked, and to my surprise was not greeted (as on a previous and recent visit) by a proffered facemask and a prim, “this is a hospital” (Oh, really? I thought that it was a Cuban piano bar…).
At the appointed department, a nervous-looking lady waited, unmasked, and reading a magazine. As I sat down at the other side of the waiting area, she picked up and donned her thick cloth facemask! At that point, the nurse or technician came to the waiting area and called that lady’s name.
As they exited, the patient said (for my ears?) “are masks still compulsory in the hospital?“, to which the nurse said “no, not any more. The policy has been changed.” Shocked silence. The nurse then continued, “but you can wear a mask if you want“, to which the lady quickly replied “ooh, well, I would be glad to wear it if you like“, obviously gagging to be effectively told to continue to wear the mask.
In one small incident there, you see the pathology of the facemask nonsense: the wish to be regulated and controlled, the virtue-signalling, the censorious attitude to facemask non-wearers, and the wish to have them controlled. The pathetic grovelling to authority was patent.
There is a small minority of nutty people to whom the facemask nonsense has given a kind of spurious self-identity. I saw another one a couple of days ago; a cyclist, in the open air, riding along an empty road, while wearing one of those thick black wraparound cloth facemasks seen on Boris-idiot and Starmer.
“Against stupidity, the Gods themselves struggle in vain” [Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans].
— “STRAIGHT SHOOTER” (@Goalkickingguru) June 5, 2022
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[German, 16th Century, Three Couples in a Circle Dance, c. 1515; pen and brown ink with watercolour on laid paper; Rosenwald Collection]
Carry on up the Nile
Just saw today photos of the Luxor Hilton, several miles from Luxor itself. When I first visited Egypt, I think in 1994, I stayed there. Unlike most Hilton hotels, quite low-level (4-storey).
I didn't think I'd ever agree with Esther McVey, but the only case for HS2 was to increase connectivity between the North and Midlands, east/west connectivity in particular. HS2 from London to Birmingham is an eye-wateringly expensive, environmentally destructive white elephant.
The real core vote for both of the main System parties is around 25% of that part of the eligible electorate that actually bothers to vote. The aim, for both parties, is to get another bloc of voters, between 10%-20% of that whole, to bring their actual vote to between 35% and 45%, and so probably achieve a Commons majority via FPTP.
Both main System parties now have a further aim— to prevent their core vote from dwindling at a time when the voters either hate them or despise them, as well as seeing them as useless.
The volatility of the electorate should be good news for social nationalism but is not, because there is no credible social-national party. Look, for example, at the candidates for the upcoming Wakefield by-election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Wakefield_by-election#Other_parties
As for Labour, it is up to those old Blairist, Jewish-lobby, tricks again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Wakefield_by-election#Labour_Party, but has a good chance of winning the by-election in view of recent events both nationally (Boris-idiot, “Partygate”, continuing mass immigration and migration-invasion, cost of living etc) and locally (the former Conservative Party MP, a Pakistani, is now in prison, having been found guilty of the sexual assault of a teenage boy: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_Ahmad_Khan).
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Please could people stop interviewing Matt Hancock as though he’s a valued member of society with something useful to contribute.
The only time and place it’s ok for him to be interviewed is in a police station following his arrest.
⚡️ https://t.co/EaiFUiscxz — is a joint database of foreign mercenaries and volunteers, participating in the hostilities on the Ukrainian side collected by Telegram-channels 'Rybar' and 'Vatfor'.
Well, this week, political journalist John Rentoul scored only 4/10, but I did little better at 5/10; one of my worst efforts. I did not know the answers to questions 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10, and though I did get the answer to question 7, it was a pure guess (having said that, I really knew the answer to question 1 but, by reason of tiredness, could not bring it to mind).
I happened to see on TV a minute of some meaningless speech by the part-Jew, part-Levantine liar and chancer currently posing as Prime Minister.
One often hears that “all politicians are liars“, with which view I do not agree anyway, at least not un-nuanced, but even in the ranks of what Hitler called “dirty democratic politicians“, “Boris” Johnson stands out as a liar on an epic level of untruthfulness.
What does “Boris” sell? Hope? Not really. Just a vague “it will all be OK” nothingness. There is not even any skill to his untruthfulness. It is the lying of the con-man whose victims really know that they are being conned.
In the speech, of which I saw and heard a short TV clip, “Boris” emitted words empty of meaning, belief, or even basic plausibility. He is someone who (contrary to what was said about him by the sycophantic msm years ago) has little real culture or education, or even intelligence.
The prime ministers of the past certainly varied in ability, culture, and intelligence, but most of them, in retrospect, were at least plausible as real prime ministers. Take the 1960s/1970s: Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Wilson (again, by then in poor health), Callaghan, and finally Margaret Thatcher. All very different inter se, but all able to lay claim to at least some genuine weight. What a contrast to Boris-idiot.
Incidentally, I noticed that that TV report showed “Boris” either arriving or leaving somewhere. Surrounded by guards. At least half a dozen; I think maybe seven or eight. Very indicative of the fact that not a few people would like to have a go at him. Again, a huge contrast with the past.
Look at the picture below: September 1966, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson is holidaying modestly in the Scilly Isles. Accompanying him at the quayside at Hugh Town, St. Mary’s (island) is one solitary bodyguard (almost out of shot, at right), pistol concealed under a jumper tied around his waist in cricketing style.
[Prime Minister Harold Wilson, 1966, Hugh Town, Scilly Isles. Always willing to pose with members of the public, even those without a vote. I am the (just)10 year-old boy on the far left of the photograph]
Wilson was far from universally-popular. In the area where my family lived (Berkshire/Oxfordshire border) he was pretty well disliked, to say the least. Not despised though (by most), I think, and no-one (as far as I know) wanted to attack him physically, or assassinate him.
People in the 1960s might not all have supported, or even trusted, Wilson, but few would think that he was nothing but a total incompetent, who had lied outright to become PM, and then continued to do so while in office, and while accomplishing absolutely nothing.
That kind of criticism of Basic Income always comes from those who have never been desperate for a few pounds, and/or those who have never been angry at being stuck in the Kafka-esque bureaucratic snoop-state which is the world of the DWP.
for @IndyVoices@JohnRentoul gently demolishes idea that a minority Lab gov would go for PR. I read @JGForsyth Times article + it was stock op-ed piece used when there is little else much to say. Had PR come in in 2010 biggest beneficiaries would have been UKIP, BNP not LDs
…which is why System creatures such as Denis MacShane (fraudulent ex-MP, Jewish-lobby puppet) oppose proportional representation— it is too democratic.
There have been growing parallels, since the late 1960s or early 1970s, between Britain and the society of Weimar Germany in the 1920s. Not exact parallels in all areas, but enough to make one think.
There’s one answer only, but one cannot promote it online…
Hey Biden, Bojo what about sanctioning Israel? What about confiscating Zionist oligarchs’ assets? Don’t you want to apply the same rule to Russia and Israel? pic.twitter.com/nr7K2pnKth
It is not down to the British government to rebuild Ukraine, it is the British government’s duty to make sure that Brits have enough cash to feed their children… pic.twitter.com/jw7DgQlkJm
Everyone in Britain still acts as if this was a normal government. Instead it is a project of deliberate destruction, of laws, of institutions, of anything that stands in the way of a PM who just doesn’t want to be held to account. https://t.co/4SL5k12M0m
— Annette Dittert (@annettedittert) May 20, 2022
In other words, a pseudo-elected tyranny, with part-Jew, part-Levantine criminal “Boris” as pathetic yet sinister tyrant.
Had the GRU and other Russian state organs done their job properly, Zelensky and his cabal would have been eliminated days before any Russian troops crossed the artificial frontier.
We've seen far too much of this bloody nonsense on our visit to the Llŷn Peninsula, North Wales. pic.twitter.com/EpLRFDw9zK
— TheEndOfEverything (@EternalEnglish) May 14, 2022
People who scarcely (if at all) knew of the very existence of Ukraine last year are ready for nuclear war with Russia over the Ukraine situation this year. Mad.
The United States did not have a surplus or a balanced budget since 2001 and in the last 50 years it only had 4 years of profit. In fact all profit the US had in the last 50 years wouldn’t be enough to pay for 6 months of the current yearly deficit. So what do they do? pic.twitter.com/45wKeyUMfF
The total value of ALL companies listed on the US stock market is $53 trillion.
The real value is much lower because the US has been printing trillions to provide interest free loans to investment banks to pump up the stock market. It’s a scam.
The perception is that the US has the largest economy and the strongest military in the world. But in reality the US is broke and can’t afford its army.
The denial is that all nations depend on a strong US or else the global markets will crash.
Without a controlled demolition the world will collapse for all, including the elites.
The world has changed so much, nothing seems to make sense anymore, the blatant corruption is out in the open, the obvious propaganda media, the erosion of our rights.
2/2 Maybe the gutless wonders in the council can explain why this has happened? Or maybe local MP @GarethBaconMP can explain why? OUR FLAG IS NOT RACIST pic.twitter.com/a2cVvSm0dU
Well, not so good this week, though I still managed to beat political journalist John Rentoul, who scored a mere 2/10. I scored 4/10. I did not know the answers to questions 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10.
Rentoul is rather odd. He claims that “star signs do not count“. I am prepared to concede that popular newspaper-style astrology is almost worthless, but I say that it stands in the same relationship to real astrology as newspaper political journalism stands in relation to serious analysis…
What a tasteless and horrible thing to do. I hope that that cruel bully gets what’s coming to him. Soon.
⚡️Russia hits Vinnytsia with 6 cruise missiles, some shot down by air defense.
According to the defense ministry, Russians targeted the territory of the Air Force Command in Vinnytsia, a city in west-central Ukraine. The rockets hit several buildings causing significant damage.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 25, 2022
Those who are pushing for war or near-war with Russia over Ukraine (a territory with which, historically, the UK has had little connection, ever, incidentally) should realize that even actual chess games and poker games have led to death of participants in the past, when one player is pushed and pushed and pushed…
A few more thoughts about Ukraine strategy
This invasion was mishandled from the start by the Russian General Staff and Russian intelligence orgs. It should have been meticulously planned, but obviously was not. It has more in common with the pathetic and botched Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939-40 than with, say, the Blitzkrieg advances of the German Reich in 1939, 1940, and 1941, or indeed with the well-planned and executed Red Army advance into the Reich from 1943 to early 1945. Terrible. Heads must roll.
The Russians should have planned this so that they could have pressed a metaphorical button and said…GO!
The invasion only came after weeks of pointless sabre-rattling. Why? It should have come, as far as possible, as a bolt from the blue.
The first step, before ANY ordinary military or naval action, should have been the assassination of Zelensky and other leading political and military executives of the Kiev regime.
I have no idea whether the Russians now have much in the way of the old Spetsnaz and “Olympic Spetsnaz” special forces. In Soviet times, “Olympic Spetsnaz” units (largely composed of Olympic athletes and persons on a similar physical level) were reserved for tasks of the highest strategic importance, such as (against NATO states) destruction of missile launch sites and early-warning stations, elimination of important communications hubs, and the assassination of heads of state, heads of government, and the highest-ranking military officers.
The elimination of the Zelensky cabal should have been top priority, not just one extra idea.
Once Zelensky and his cabal were no longer active, or almost simultaneously, the Russian Spetsnaz could have taken down any civil and military communications not rocketed, and created chaos, especially in Kiev.
The Russians could then have concentrated all available forces on capturing Kiev by Blitzkrieg attack, starting with overwhelming long-range missile attacks on all important government, communications and TV/radio buildings (including police stations and Army headquarters etc), followed by a mass parachute descent by the VDV (Russian parachute shock troops) direct onto those open areas not too heavily-wooded around Kiev, such as airports. Even onto wide roads and into main squares. Among the areas and facilities to be secured— airports, main railway stations, bridges, major routes going north and east.
A risky plan, true, but the shock value of thousands of parachutes descending would have been enough to cause mass panic in Kiev. Roads jammed with destroyed cars, buses, and trucks, a headless Ukrainian government apparat, and any Ukrainian military and police personnel eliminated on sight.
Long-range rockets would have taken out at least some of Kiev’s air defences, as previously located by intelligence work.
At that point, before NATO, Biden, Boris-idiot etc even had time to say anything, let alone do anything, the main Russian invasion contingents should have swiftly begun to approach Kiev, from the north especially. At the nearest point, the distance from the Russian border to Kiev is 200 miles.
With Kiev’s airports under command, and air defences damaged or destroyed, more Russian forces could have been flown in, fighting their way into the heart of the city and to nearby strategic areas such as the already-secured bridges over the Dnieper.
On the same day, or the following day, Russian naval forces should have begun to blockade and attack the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coastal areas, while other forces began (as they have done in the real invasion) to encircle or attack the main cities of the east, notably Kharkov. Strategic targets in the west and centre of the country should have been attacked at the same time, or not long after.
The Donbass should not, in the short-term, have been a priority. Even had the Ukrainian forces stationed there for 7-8 years broken through, they would have nowhere to go, Donetsk being a border city, except into the “endless” and sparsely-populated prostor (open space) of southern Russia.
Kiev is the jewel in the crown.
Once the above had happened, there should have been the installation of, and proclamation of, an outline puppet government. Any resistance put down firmly, using pre-gathered intelligence.
With no Kiev government, with communications in chaos, with Russian troops pouring into Kiev, the remnants of the Ukrainian Army and its ragtag volunteer forces would have been leaderless, in the dark, and easily overwhelmed, at least east of the Dnieper.
As we know, the above reads like a pipe-dream compared to what actually happened.
The one single aspect that has all but killed the Russian invasion has been delay. It was delay that enabled the Kiev regime to start organizing a defence, delay that enabled the cities to be turned into fortresses, delay that enabled Zelensky to parade on the world, media (and social media) stage, delay that enabled NATO and others to start to send advanced weaponry.
As things stand, the Russians are still just keeping things stable, overall, but that is not enough.
Below, the Daily Mail assessment:
It can be seen that even the Daily Mail, while noting everything that has “gone wrong” with the invasion (with most of which assessment I can agree), still also notes that, on almost all active fronts, Russia is “winning”, albeit at a terrible cost (both for Russia and for Ukrainian civilians— and I can only agree with that, too).
There are pieces available to Putin which he has not as yet played. The first is that of the Belarussian armed forces. Relatively small, the regular Belarus Army nonetheless could exert pressure in the north/northwest, which might help the Russians in that region.
There are advanced Russian planes that have not yet been much used because they might be shot down by Ukraine’s donated NATO weaponry.
Putin can call upon reserves amounting to several million, in theory, but any fresh levies have to be equipped, transported, and fed.
Putin can, if he so chooses, flatten Ukraine’s main cities without using nuclear weapons. A terrible thing, and not at all what he wants, but he might still do that rather than “lose” the war. If he did that to all the large unoccupied eastern/central cities except Kiev, then his forces would be able to focus on and take Kiev without destroying it (and its historic landmarks).
Above all, whatever happens, Putin and Russia retain their ace-in-the-hole, the Russian strategic rocket forces and nuclear-capable air force and navy. 6,200 nuclear missiles and bombs. That power may not be useful directly in Ukraine, but keeps NATO out of the war, so far.
The “great fact” of popular strategy is that “Russia cannot be conquered”, and both Hitler and Napoleon were defeated trying to beat the odds on that.
An interesting thing is to pick any random area of Russia south or east of Moscow and look at it on Google Earth. Cities exist, yes, but once you are outside them, in the country, you are quickly in the vast landscape that made battle-hardened Wehrmacht officers tremble.
That vastness, with the Russian people (and their sense of nationality) makes Russia the toughest nut of all.
Even a nuclear war would probably not entirely destroy the essence of Russia.
State of play at Kiev, as of 25 March:
In the Kiev area, Russia is not pushing forward, and may not even be maintaining position.
I still say that, in the overall war, and despite the limited Ukrainian counter-attacks, Russia is slowly winning this, though —as also said before— at a terrible cost in human and animal suffering.
The Kiev regime must be running out of fuel in the east and centre. Fuel dumps and storage areas have been rocketed by the Russians. Food is also running out, perhaps has run out, in most of the besieged cities, though not, it appears, in Kiev itself.
Russia will not have “won” this war unless and until it has taken over and occupied all of Ukraine east of the river Dnieper (and Kiev) and, realistically, all of the coastal regions and ports, including Odessa.
For Russia simply to retain the Donbass would be unsustainable, both militarily and politically. This is now, pretty much, a fight to the death.
Anything less than occupation of the half of Ukraine east of the Dnieper, and south of a line 50-100 miles north of the Black Sea/Sea of Azov, will surely mean the end of Putin, not only politically but actually, literally. If Putin were to go into exile, a very unlikely thing, where would he go? What state would shelter him? Not Belarus, I think. Not China. North Korea? An unappealing prospect for someone akin to a modern “tsar”, to live in some remote, and guarded, North Korean villa.
No, I think that Putin will fight this war to the bitter end, even if that means nuclear war with “NATO” (the USA).
Looking a few weeks ahead, we can see the prospect that, for all of the Kiev-regime propaganda, Kharkov and most of the other cities presently besieged will be controlled by Russia, and that resistance will be confined largely to the west of the country, to Odessa, and to Kiev. By that time, Putin will presumably have decided how to take Kiev, or what else to do to bring this terribly-mismanaged episode to a close (at least in the short term).
More music
[London under attack from V1 and/or V2 rockets, 1944]
More tweets
Inconvenient Truth 2.
Pentagon sources say "carnage and destruction could be much worse than it is … This suggests … that Putin is not intentionally attacking civilians, that perhaps he is mindful that he needs to limit damage in order to leave an out for negotiations."
I have had a letter from my ophthalmology clinic eye warning about wearing face masks. Some patients have developed endophthalmitis (infection imperilling sight) because “exhaled air & bacteria funnel towards..eye area”. Masks can hurt vulnerable eyes.
Exactly. False freedom(s). Even as a teenager, in the 1970s, I could see that all that almost all the pop/rock stars wanted was to acquire a lifestyle and, to get it, money. They could not be compared to the great composers, even the most venal of those great composers.
Burgon’s tweet is a good example of the sheer unreality animating the self-describing “Left”.
Implied (by his other tweets etc), open borders and mass immigration (of lower cultures and races, at that), yet at the same time a better, more advanced, more prosperous, and more relaxed, society. Can’t be done. It is like pulling and pushing simultaneously at a door.
I have little quarrel with Burgon’s actual comment, taking it as it stands, but pious hopes and wishes count for little if not grounded in reality.
With the ending of the Cold War, it would have been possible for the advanced parts of the world to remove the backward Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis etc from rulership over the Gulf, and just use “their” hydrocarbon resources (entirely discovered, developed, refined, and utilized by Europeans and Americans) for the purposes of civilization. Instead of which, those backward and arrogant wastes of space have misused the monies garnered to build tasteless sprawling cities which only work because non-Gulf Arabs keep them going.
I may not like Israel and Jewry, but I dislike the Arabs too, as a group, or in general cultural-historical terms.
Late tweets
Everyone please watch this before you go for anymore boosters. These jabs will be stopped very soon!! https://t.co/nFbHvW2uIJ
How can this he going on everyday? Makes me feel anxious, why doesn’t someone in power put a stop to this. These aren’t refugees, I just don’t understand the agenda. Do we need these young men here for a reason I don’t know about? Do they give more than they take over time?
That poor bamboozled second tweeter, one Annie Sheffer, still does not know that this is part of a transnational conspiracy, of which the misnamed “British” Government is but part. Will someone let “Annie Sheffer” know the truth, and that she should google “the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan”, “The Great Replacement, or just “White Genocide”…
Yes, it’s all connected, meaning the weaponization of climate change, and of Covid, and the plan to destroy or subvert Russia, as well as the destruction of white European race and culture.
Ian Robert Millard 