Morning music
On this day a year ago
Interesting blog post about Russia and Ukraine
Tweets seen
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Barclays bastards
I have just seen an online ad for Barclays Bank. An adviser (black) talks to a young couple (woman white, man black). A typical example of the racemixing propaganda now being pushed out ever-more blatantly. Part of the conspiracy around the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan: http://adam.curry.com/art/1543753587_mkXBrvrY.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalergi_Plan; https://ianrobertmillard.org/2018/12/10/tv-ads-and-soaps-are-the-propaganda-preferred-by-the-system-in-the-uk/.
What is especially interesting and telling about those “normalizing of racemixing” ads (and TV dramas,” and “soaps” etc) is that the actual black population of the UK is “only” about 5% of the whole (non-whites of all types comprise about 20% of the whole population now), yet almost every TV ad, online ad now has at least one actual black in it.
Munich 1939: interesting colour film documenting historical events
Stretford and Urmston by-election
I usually assess by-elections prior to polling, but missed this one.
A safe Labour seat since its creation for the 1997 General Election, Stretford and Urmston has never come close to being captured by the Conservative Party.
This is a “machine Labour” constituency. The by-election was caused by the former MP, Kate Green, half-Jewish and (I think) a member of Labour Friends of Israel, stepping down in order to be able to take up the role of Deputy Mayor of Manchester. The present Deputy Mayor is Beverly Hughes, who also preceded Kate Green as MP for Stretford and Urmston.
Both of those Deputy Mayor appointments were nominations by Andy Burnham, also of course a former Labour MP and still a possible future Labour Party leader: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverley_Hughes; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Green; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Burnham.
The 2022 by-election saw Labour at its highest in the constituency, at 69.6% (lowest was 48.6%, in 2010).
The highest Conservative Party vote in the constituency was in 1997 (30.5%), the lowest in yesterday’s by-election (15.9%).
The Labour vote has been above 60% in the last three elections in the seat: 2022, 2019, 2017.
Before yesterday’s by-election, the Conservative vote has been between 27% and (about) 30% since the creation of the constituency in 1997.
Conclusion as to numbers: the Labour vote has somewhat increased, but the Conservative vote has almost halved since 2019. The former Conservative Party voters have mostly abstained, but with some voting elsewhere.
The numbers tell the story: in 2019, just over 50,000 voters voted, as against about 18,400 in the by-election, but at the 2019 General Election, 13,778 voters voted Con, as against only 2,922 in yesterday’s by-election, a far steeper fall. In other words, former Con voters have voted with their feet.
The LibDems and (other?) minor party candidates are not worth discussing; Reform UK yesterday got exactly the same as Brexit Party managed in 2019— 3.5%. The same voters? Underwhelming.
As for the new MP, it is one Andrew Western, another product of the Labour Party machine, and office-holder in local politics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Western.
What does this tell us about overall trends? In my view, that Labour, though not exciting, is consolidating its core vote. Also, that the Conservative Party is not at all enthusing even those who voted for it previously, not only in 2019 but even in elections prior to that. Also, that the LibDems are pretty much dead in the water in much of the country. Also, that Reform UK is obviously not going to get anywhere.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Stretford_and_Urmston_by-election; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretford_and_Urmston_(UK_Parliament_constituency).
More tweets
Unexpected. I had not thought that Woollyhead Trussbanger (Kwarteng) was a cocaine abuser, though other former and existing Con ministers and MPs certainly have been and probably still are, that little pro-Jew bastard Gove for one. As for Liz Truss, thinking about her erratic behaviour, maybe.
Christmas University Challenge
Well, watched the Grand Final (Edinburgh v. Hertford College, Oxford). As on previous occasions, my wife and I scored better than the winning team. Surprising ignorance shown by both teams, bearing in mind that these are prominent and/or famous people, including the Political Editor for BBC News, one Adam Fleming, who (as in the previously-shown contest) displayed painful ignorance even in areas bordering on his own work.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 