Listening to the BBC Today Programme, heard a representative of the criminal Bar talking about how members of the criminal Bar are now suffering heavily from lack of work, and so fees. The courts have been closed or largely closed for 6 months. Barristers in private self-employed practice are subject to Lenin’s dictum, “he who does not work does not eat“— Кто не работает, тот не кушает [Кто не работает, тот не кушает]. How well do I remember that! I mean life at the practising Bar (1992-1996 and 2002-2008).
My Bar practice, especially in earlier years, in the early 1990s, was very much illustrative of that. I was in pretty poor London chambers at first, which supplied equally poor work, mostly criminal. I had to hustle, as the Americans say, to get work of my own in various ways, because chambers had poor work and the single Clerk was almost useless.
Before very long (it seemed long at the time), the magistrates’ court and Crown Court appearances gave way to High Court (i.e. non-criminal) cases, mostly judicial reviews, and other non-criminal work (mostly contract cases) in the County Court, as well as Tribunal appearances of various kinds. Quite mixed.
One day, a High Court brief marked at (for preparation time and first day or part) maybe £2,000 or even £5,000 for half a day or a day (this was about 25 or 27 years ago; today, it would be far far more), the next day a tiny magistrates’ court appearance at perhaps £100 (or less), or a “Mention” (a brief Crown Court appearance which might be only a few minutes in length), with criminal legal aid fee officially fixed at £46! The following day? Maybe nothing at all. The week after? Sometimes, still nothing at all! Followed by…whatever. Some weeks, one might do work in the thousands or even more; more usually, the fees would amount to a few hundred or a thousand; not rarely, I would make absolutely nothing in a whole week.
My spending was likewise up and down; one week, Rules restaurant, the River Room at the Savoy, Julie’s in Notting Hill, and a weekend at Cliveden [ https://www.clivedenhouse.co.uk/]. The next week might be an egg-on-toast breakfast at a workers’ cafe, and maybe a loaf of bread and a tin of tuna (plus decent red wine, though!) for the evening, and a walk in Regent’s Park for weekend recreation (depending on luck…).
Reverting to the Today Programme, my reaction (apart from Memory Lane reminiscence) was two-fold. I recognize that a civilized society needs a cadre of criminal defenders. Likewise, they need to be paid at a reasonably generous level to reflect their years of study, continuing study, and their responsibility.
Of course, many at the civil, Chancery and other parts of the Bar are not affected much, or even at all, by “the virus”. Still, the criminal Bar and maybe the family-law Bar are affected severely. A serious problem for society as a whole.
On the other hand, when I was attacked by a malicious pack of Zionist Jews, a persecution which led eventually to my unjust disbarment in October 2016, not one barrister spoke up for me, for freedom of socio-political expression (“free speech”) generally, or for fairness. Not one who had known me personally. Not one who poses as a champion of “free speech”, political liberty etc, and virtue-signals accordingly. Not one.
That being so, I have to admit that, harsh though it may be, I am laughing now as many members of the Bar are suffering, nearing penury and even bankruptcy. What goes around comes around, and I am not going to shed too many crocodile tears for people who failed to say one word for me or for free speech.
In fact, a few barristers, either Jews or very tied up with Jews and/or (probably) dependent on Jewish solicitors for work, tweeted joyfully about my getting disbarred; one or two were even gratuitously rude to me directly, either then or much later. Don’t worry— you happy few have not been forgotten.
Incidentally, the five tweets which resulted in my disbarment were all general comments; not one was addressed to any individual, and they were all true! Example? Michael Gove as “a pro-Jew, pro-Israel expenses cheat“. That was all demonstrably true, yet was deemed “grossly offensive“! Now, of course, we know that Michael Gove is also a cocaine-snorting drunk, who was even filmed not so long ago drunk and/or drugged, and staggering, in the Chamber of the House of Commons! Ye Gods!
…and it would be nice if the young wannabees who now pose as “journalists” could spell, and if they knew the difference between “praying” and “preying”…Stand up, Hull Daily Mail! [Update, 27 November 2020: the Hull Daily Mail must have seen my blog comment (or maybe others complained); they have now replaced “praying” with the correct “preying”…].
#covidcops raid a church in Cardiff to enforce lockdown. West Midlands police commissioner says they will smash their way into family homes on Christmas Day.
Yes, if you made mock of the Jews the way that the Jew Sacha Baron Cohen mocks the Kazakhs, you would get prosecuted (if supported by a well-funded pressure group). That’s no “conspiracy theory”: look what happened to Alison Chabloz…and “they” are still trying to get her.
Incidentally, I know Kazakhstan, having lived there for a year (1996-97).
Yes, I recently read Peter Hitchens’s “The Phony Victory” — excellent book; highly recommend. Disabused me of Churchill lionization & much else.
Lord Sumption's devastating lecture on the government's rule by decree and grasp for despotic power. Here you may find a transcript and a YouTube recording: https://t.co/rygjTN4q5Z
Lord Sumption's devastating lecture on the threat to our freedom from the Johnson government . In written form https://t.co/Sf5v5JeP7N *and* on: YouTube (for as long as it stays up) https://t.co/mZpdtr9h2G
Fantastic lecture, completely explained the motives of Alexander 'Boris' Johnson and friends, and expressed when 'decrees' held no legal basis but have been treated as such. Excellent and very insightful and informative.
Everyone in the country should be aware of the conspiracy behind all of this. Resistance must emerge, before we are all just complete serfs of a dystopian nightmare.
It never seems to occur to that type that “lockdowns”, however strict, merely delay the viral progress without “curing” the situation. Look at Spain now. And France. And Germany.
People who have not thought this through.
What has to be factored in is that anyone who has died within 28 days of a positive Coronavirus test is now deemed to have died of “the virus”, even if, in reality, their reaction to infection was slight and they died of other conditions! It’s mad.
Meanwhile, huge numbers of people are suffering and dying because undiagnosed, untreated, not operated upon etc for non-“virus” conditions. The NHS is limping along not doing its proper job.
In the world in general, only one person in every 8,000 has died from “the virus”; in fact, the statistics are so unreliable that it may be one in 10,000, or twenty thousand for that matter..
More tweets
Great video activism as good citizens film empty covid testing centres all over England.
You think this will be over by April? No, this has become the real-life country where it is always winter and never Christmas (which is now an arrestable offence). By not standing up to this Moronocracy, we have ensured that we must endure it for years, perhaps for good. https://t.co/RlFv7MCgvH
Once again, the political pygmies of 2020 Britain are playing at being petty tyrants, issuing decrees and ordering people about (or pretending to). Look at this idiot!
“Welsh supermarkets have been ordered to only sell ‘essential goods’ to customers during the country’s 17-day lockdown.
First Minister Mark Drakeford will tell stores they are unable to sell items such as clothes to shoppers, and to prioritise other products deemed to be more important.” [Daily Mail]
I have to admit that I had never heard of Mark Drakeford. The sort of person who, before devolution, would have been something like a county councillor, rather than “First Minister” of the Welsh “Government”.
When I read about some silly little person like this laying down the law (probably invalid law at that), I am torn between laughing and being infuriated.
In fact, Wales is a bit of a rotten borough. I just saw that the present Police and Crime Commissioner (and what a stupid idea this “PCC” nonsense is anyway) is one Alun Michael, a Labour Party drone and a former, repeated, and proven, expenses cheat! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alun_Michael#Parliamentary_expenses_claims.
Great. The Police and Crime Commissioner for Wales is himself little better than a fraudster…
Reverting to the ridiculous Drakeford (purported) decree, what possible use can it be to insist that shops only sell “essential” items? Is the hope that fewer people will bother to go to shops? “Essential” is not even defined. Will we once more have police personnel checking purchases? In what little Welsh world will that prevent “Coronavirus” infection? It’s just mad.
So when the Welsh economy completely collapses, which cannot be far away anyway after the stupid 6-month “lockdown” (shutdown) imposed by Boris-idiot, who will pick up the pieces financially? The English taxpayer?
Thing is, you give silly little people like this Mark Drakeford real powers, and then they cannot exercise them usefully or intelligently. They have neither the background nor the common sense and intelligence. “Decrees” are made which are senseless.
Look at his other recent “decrees”, e.g. that people cannot travel from some parts of England to Wales. How is that even enforceable? It isn’t…
This whole “virus” panic in the UK and by that I mean the Boris-idiot “laws”, “rules”, and “advice” (and the way in which the police have acted as a poundland KGB militia) has damaged the rule of law, possibly permanently. You have a government that believes in power and only power, untrammeled by law. What do they think will be done to them should they ever be in the power of a dictator?
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 21, 2020
I had never heard of The Chop until the malicious Jew-Zionist cabal known as “Campaign Against Antisemitism” started screaming about it recently. I also have effectively no interest in woodworking. Oh, well, now “they” have managed to have The Chop chopped, thus spoiling the innocent pleasure of many people. It’s what “they” do best. That should give a nice little boost to “antisemitism”…
So…what percentage of guests on TV shows should be professional criminals? 1%? 2%? More? What percentage should be xyz? Based on recent elections etc, maybe 10% of TV guests should be social nationalists. Will never happen. Well, only when we purge the msm and the swine now running TV stations, and profiting from all the decadence.
You really shouldn't be surprised. Just another example of how the elite despise the heterosexual natives whose taxes they throw at 'minorities' and snort up their arrogant noses.
Incessant coverage of Sweden claiming Covid upsurge and imminent 'lockdowns'. Here are the facts about Covid deaths in Sweden https://t.co/Cz5AqDhs9x Supposed 'lockdowns' are voluntary recommendations. Note to editors: 'Voluntary Lockdown' is an oxymoron. https://t.co/CT0bzGmmC9
She did @snrlaboursauce. You just don't realise it yet. Check in with me in March, when Johnson and Hancock have totally wrecked the country for no good purpose. The sad thing is, if you'd see it now, we might save ourselves from utter ruin. https://t.co/C6PWNsxBL3
I am still waiting for my fellow journalists in Britain to defend Julian Assange against extradition, even though such an extradition would be a grave threat to free journalism in ths country. https://t.co/pJrphsW9J1
They will be. China’s power is already reaching into enfeebled Western societies which have ceased to care about or protect their laws and liberties. https://t.co/630ycf2aEg
Bob Moran gets it. Rishinomics solves nothing, saves no business or job permanently, just postpones the wrath to come. And there is wrath to come. https://t.co/1nKcwbUlFB
The System msm is now puffing Indian “clever boy”, Rishi Sunak, as Prime Minister in Waiting, just as they puffed Boris-idiot for years. Take a look at the recent tweets of, for example, John Rentoul. They can see that “Boris” is not only incompetent (so was David Cameron-Levita, so was Theresa May) but looks it. Answer? Replace “Boris” before too long. Anyway, if that fails, the Labour Party is once again (((occupied))) territory, so if necessary Keir Starmer will do what the System wants.
You would imagine that Labour Party “socialism” had been a great success “up North” in recent decades…
If the Labour Party is so wonderful, why did the voters of 2019 abandon Labour (mostly in fact not voting “Conservative” but more usually just abstaining)?
As for “Comrade Geordie”, his heroes are thus: “heroes Bruce Lee , Tony Benn, Clem Attlee, Trotsky Marx Engels.” An idiot…
For “Corbyn’s Jewish Cat”, “@ChampagneDosser”, the UK is “a shithole”, which he intends to improve by smuggling in blacks and browns, i.e. completely useless hordes, who mostly hate us as well as want to leech on us. I agree with him on one thing only, about those who combine the Israeli flag with the Union Jack on their Twitter profiles…
Another idiot, in short…
The radio announcement of the death of Adolf Hitler
Quite often, the revolutionaries on the ground are not theorists, philosophers or theologians; often disruptive social dissidents, angry young —or old— people, or even criminals of a sort…
At last . A 'mainstream' i.e. conformist political reporter, in this case @peston, begins to grasp the blazingly obvious truth about British politics. The Tories are not conservative. Gosh. Soon he will find out sun rises in east, not west. https://t.co/PhwEFvl9Ij
Those following the progress of the latest ridiculous prosecution of satirical singer-songwriter Alison Chabloz should be aware that her trial (and application to dismiss the charges) has been adjourned, on Crown Prosecution Service application, until 17 November 2020. May victory be hers.
Listening to Radio 4 Today Programme, as I write. An elderly lady was called by her GP and more or less forced to agree to forgo treatment if she became unwell by reason of bloody Coronavirus! So much for the NHS! All the rabbits “clapping for the NHS” are zombies as far as I am concerned. Yes, the NHS is a very good idea, yes many of the staff —not all— are also very good, but the NHS is not only underfunded but maladministered, and seems to have the corporate attitude “like it or lump it”.
We (i.e. as a society) have had to accept (though many prefer their illusions) that the NHS is actually not better than the health services available to people in most other European countries…Indeed, it is often nowhere near as good.
What is happening in the UK is that all of our cherished illusions about our own society are being tested to destruction. Bluntly, the NHS is letting people suffering from anything other than Coronavirus die, while prioritizing (some of…) those suffering from the virus, which people however cannot actually be cured or even treated (except by administration of oxygen or air).
Other institutions in the UK have also been found wanting. The police, in particular. We have had Derbyshire police using drones, spying on elderly fell walkers and then “shaming” them on Twitter. We have had the police of various forces, including Devon and Cornwall, setting up road blocks to snoop on whether the journeys of motorists are “necessary”. We have even had one particular “muppet”, the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire, saying that his “officers” (police woodentops) may start to rummage through the shopping trolleys of people leaving supermarkets to “check” whether this or that item bought is “essential”! This is not only the behaviour of a police state, but of one that has lost its mind! A Toytown police state and a poundland KGB.
“In the South West, Chief Superintendent Ian Drummond-Smith, police commander for Cornwall, warned non-residents to stay away from the area.
He said: ‘Our officers will be patrolling this weekend, firstly on the M5 and A30 in an attempt to prevent visitors from entering the force area, and then locally to enforce the restrictions.
‘We will do so in a fair and balanced manner, but travelling down to the West Country is a serious breach of these restrictions and those doing so can expect to receive a fine.‘”
[Daily Mail]
So how long before we need “internal passports”, in the manner of the Soviet Union?
The police are now making up the law, making up their own powers, as they go along. Lord Sumption, former Supreme Court justice, has now remarked about this unlawful arrogation of power by the police.
I was talking a few days ago to a lady of my acquaintance, aged about 90. She likes to drive her little car to a coastal car park, usually (on weekdays) containing about 3 cars, elderly couples sitting in them and gazing at the view, or strolling on the grassy clifftop. Well, now the local council has taped off that car park, and the police have put some kind of stupid “Stay at home, Protect the NHS” bs notice there. Does that in any way stop the spread or supposed spread of the virus? No. So why do it? Petty jobsworth zombie behaviour.
Other long-cherished British illusions have also been cruelly exposed as illusory or exagerrated. One is that the UK is “a society under law”. Courts are either closed or operating as “virtual” courts, in which the justice available is also often “virtual”, meaning more apparent than real. Some district judges (paid magistrates) have been behaving like poundland Judge Jeffreys clones.
Government too. It seems like they too are making it up as they go along. Floundering idiots posing as “statesmen”
There’s a massive scare campaign going on. I myself thought, at first, that Coronavirus was a huge threat to Europe and the world. I have been on a journey (one which most, it seems, have yet to make). I now have a very different view.
Let us look at the deaths from Coronavirus in the UK: so far, about 8,000. That is out of about 70 million inhabitants. In other words, about one person out of every nine thousand, so far.
Coronavirus does not affect all people equally, despite what the government is saying in what amounts to a propaganda campaign. In the 1980s, when AIDS first emerged, the System claimed that it, too, was a threat to “everyone”, when in fact HIV/AIDS was almost entirely confined to a few groups: gays engaging in anal sex, sub-Saharan Africans, persons given contaminated blood, to a lesser extent other blacks and browns. It was thought impolitic to speak the truth, that heterosexual European (white) people, especially persons of Northern European race/ethnicity, were almost certainly not going to get HIV/AIDS no matter what they did in bed or elsewhere (so long as they avoided the groups already mentioned).
At this time of year, in the UK, about 10,000-11,000 people die every week as a norm. Coronavirus has increased that by about 500. In other words the increase, i.e. increase on the norm for this month’s average over the past 5 years, has been —is— about 5%.
The Today Programme had some “expert” on, talking about the “risk” to certain age groups. However, that was the risk of being infected, not the risk of serious illness, let alone death. Most people infected with Coronavirus are unaware of being infected with anything, or have mild symptoms commonly also suffered via other conditions, or have distinct symptoms but recover after a week or two without any medical intervention at all.
At present the risk of being killed in the UK by (or with…) Coronavirus is about 1 in 9,000. For anyone under 70, bar a relative few with particular and serious pre-existing health conditions, the real risk is nearer to 1 in 40,000, if that. For those under 40, the risk of death is vanishingly small. For anyone under 20, we are talking about one chance in a million, or several million. Lightning-strike territory.
Incidentally, the Radio 4 Today Programme bimbo who did its superficial little piece about Oberammergau this morning made a few schoolgirl errors:
While the “Black Death” was a form of Plague, and basically bubonic plague [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death], it was current in the mid-14th Century, peaking around 1347-1351;
the Oberammergau Passion Play dates from an outbreak of plague in Bavaria in 1634 and was not, as such, the “Black Death”. Also,
contrary to what the Today Programme bimbo said (and so thinks), 1634 was not in the “mediaeval” period!
The international Jew lobby forced the people of Oberammergau (I think around 1990) to take out from the Passion Play the bit of the Gospel text where the Jews choose the robber zealot Barabbas to be granted clemency (instead of Jesus Christ), they then crying out to Pontius Pilate, “let His Blood be on us and upon our children!”
[above: Adolf Hitler says hello to a couple of local young children at Oberammergau, in 1934]
“Lockdown”?
Look at this graph:
The West has shut down its economy to try to flatten the curve, but it is arguable what effect this has had on the medical or health situation. The effect on the economic situation, however, is more easily determined. Dire…
As can be seen, the UK will be one of the hardest-hit economies, down by about 27%. Interestingly, Germany is forecast to do even worse. Our time is coming. We’re back!
In fact, even the medical or public health questions are not straightforward:
PLEASE, When studying figures of Covid-19 deaths, PLEASE note words of Deputy CMO Jenny Harries at govT briefing 5th April (11 mins 16 secs) 'for the UK these are Covid ASSOCIATED deaths, they are all sad events, THEY WOULD NOT ALL BE A DEATH AS A *RESULT* OF COVID (my emphases.
@ClarkeMicah There are around 165,000 cancer deaths in the UK every year, that's around 450 every day (2015-2017). Doctors are concerned that early stage cancer diagnosis is failing during lockdown.https://t.co/GbNTMqPWX9
Please always remember. Imperial College, whose work is the basis of UK govt’s destruction of the economy and attack on personal Liberty, are not universally regarded as infallible. pic.twitter.com/xlBx1zauxJ
It's not just me. Even the supine government broadcaster reports that catastrophe is coming( just doesn't put it on the big TV bulletins). What do people think will happen to the NHS under these conditions? https://t.co/VPjUIvs7Rp
No doubt the rabbits and zombies will keep on “clapping for the NHS” as it falls to pieces. Anyone not clapping will be noted and subjected to online “shaming”…
Paranoid? Maybe, but who would have predicted that, in 2020, UK police would be intimidating citizens walking in their own gardens, or in local parks, or stopping people taking a harmless drive or motorbike ride on an early Summer day? Who would have predicted the the police would use loudhailers and/or drones to bully sunbathing girls in parks or on empty beaches, old ladies resting on park benches, middleaged couples walking on deserted moors? Who would have predicted that police would threaten to check people’s shopping to snoop on whether, in the opinion of the police “officer”, the items just bought are “essential”?
You are hereby forbidden to read my columns and books in future, as you plainly haven't understood a word @shmaob49. And please stop being a 'big fan'. I don't want you. I'd so much rather have you as a foe. 'Back to normal'! I wish. What you think of as normal is over for good. https://t.co/AYbcRNd2cF
There is a difference, @lordruncibald, between taking something seriously, as we all do, and assuming that the government's policy of crashing the economy and impoverishing the country( and the NHS) is wise. Do at least try to *appear* to think before you tweet. https://t.co/KBK3HiW6Mf
I have no idea. Difference is that I admit it, and the government(which also has no idea) thinks the best thing to do is to crash the economy for decades to come, and shout at people when they leave their homes. I do wish people grasped what a crashed economy is going to be like. https://t.co/emHl9bbU4z
It is natural, though mistaken, to assume that those “working in the NHS” know better than, say, me about Coronavirus etc. Mistaken because, though not a medic, health specialist or scientist, I have recently at least read things written or said by leading (real) experts in virology, epidemiology etc, which most people, inc. most NHS people, have not. About 2 million UK residents work “in the NHS”. Everything from lawyers and accountants to cleaners and porters, as well as, obviously, doctors and nurses.
Most of those people, though mostly no doubt competent in their own work, know as little –or less– about “Coronavirus” than I do. The few who have a better claim are the tiny handful who are virologists, epidemiologists and genuine experts in allied fields.
I am not going to be shouted down, either by “me-too” conformists, whether they be the usual Twitter mob or others, or by “people who work in the NHS” (unless, as aforesaid, genuine experts— and who in any case hold differing opinions inter se).
Britain in the political near future
I do not have the means to start a new political-social movement, in fact I have fewer means than almost anyone in the UK in financial terms, but it must be done, and soon. Before very long, by the coming winter, the time will be right, the situation ripe. It will spread like a wildfire once started.
Peter Hitchens is ahead of the curve here. He sees that [what we think of as] “normal” is over, probably permanently. Europe (not just the EU) is heading for a massive depression. In 1945 the USA was able to regenerate Europe in economic terms, using the Marshall Plan, but now the USA may well hit the economic buffers as hard as Europe and so be unable to help (and probably unwilling, to boot).
By the way, many people think that the reason that Germany (West Germany) pulled ahead of the UK after WW2, at least after about 1956, is because Germany had Marshall Plan money and the UK did not. This is, in fact, yet another myth of the period. A very convenient myth for many in the UK.
In fact, the UK not only did have Marshall Plan aid but had more of it than Germany. The greatly undervalued historian Corelli Barnett examined that, inter alia, in his works:
Barnett has made the point that Britain post-1945 had a choice:
To maintain its Empire; or
To regenerate its industry and economy generally; or
To create a Welfare State.
Barnett’s view is that the UK had the possibility to do one or perhaps two of those things immediately, but not all three. Britain tried to do all three things simultaneously…
One might cavil that a welfare state could only be maintained by a functioning economy anyway. True, but what is a “functioning” economy ? What is a “welfare state”, indeed? Present-day Cuba has at least the bare bones of a welfare state despite being economically a “basket case”. Wriggle room exists. There are questions of definition.
A few more tweets seen:
They may be in for a shock, in that case @pmcalver. There is *no* part of this country that will be immune from the crisis Rishi Sunak is stoking. No job, no salary, no savings, no pension, in public or private sector, is now safe. Check out 1931. https://t.co/vs3T7DVD6v
My father was a career naval officer, not a conscript, @zxcallum cleverclogs. But I think most of his ship's company would have agreed with him that they were fighting for Britain as a free independent country. Not a place where you need police permission to leave your house. https://t.co/ExtyFtj0bN
Precisely. Man gets chicken pox. Dr says : 'This is incredibly serious. To cure it I must cut off your leg'. Patient 'Well, if you say so, doc'. Dr amputates leg. Patient recovers. Dr claims to have cured chicken pox, demands huge fee. Patient is left with one leg, and bankrupt. https://t.co/OEUvhn1HA2
2/2 @RPBlackburn. Should we have trusted the government (for example) over the blood transfusion scandal, the Iraq and Libyan wars, the handling of the Foot and Mouth outbreak? This serf-like complacency is not just weak. It's irresponsible and lazy. https://t.co/KEZBnExSp6
Public attitudes and government decisions can be simply mad, deluded…
Yes, I am talking about the Coronavirus situation (“crisis”, “scare”, “scam”, “emergency”…you choose).
However, this has happened at various times in human history and not only in relation to “pandemics”. Take the First World War. It is common knowledge (and so probably wrong) to say that WW1 started because, once one empire started to mobilize, the others had to follow suit or be rolled over. Trite. There are elements of truth in that view, to be sure, but when we ask why the war both started and then continued for over 4 years, the answers are absent.
If you read the books of the period, such as the John Buchan stories, Greenmantle etc, you see that there was a panic, an absence of reflection, as well as a moral certainty that the British (or, in their countries, Germans, or Russians) had the moral high ground.
In fact, the First World War need not ever have happened, had people really thought.
Now look at the Coronavirus situation, eg in the UK. No-one knows much about the virus, though scientists are learning now. We know that it is transmitted in water droplets, eg if someone sneezes or even breathes. It is not transmitted in air, as such, so people sunbathing in parks or walking in the Peak District are not going to get it that way, or give it to anyone. Likewise, no-one can transmit the virus by driving around alone or riding a motorcycle. Has that knowledge changed government advice or police actions? Not a jot.
On the other hand, it is known that the UK “lockdown” (same elsewhere) is going to depress the economy and all but kill it for years, decades. Does that change the mind of this government? Not a jot…
So…what has happened is that the well-known bakery shop chain has been given the right to draw on £150 million of public funds over a year. Despite it being merely a retail outlet. Despite it having closed all 2,050 of its shops.
Almost all the 24,900 staff have been placed on “furlough”, meaning that the government (and taxpayers) will be paying 80% of their pre-furlough pay; Greggs is allowed to pay the other 20% of their previous pay level but in most cases will not be doing so.
What about the head of the organization, oneRoger Whiteside? Oh, he’s OK, because he is of course not being “furloughed”… and has decided to take 80% of his usual pay of £1,503,440, i.e. £1,202,752! Coronavirus Britain, 2020…
Stanley Johnson tried to get elected as MP, for the second time, in a new constituency, Teignbridge (Devon), in 2005, but failed (he came in a poor second). Voters described his appearance at a hustings with “Boris” as “a couple of public entertainers”, and unimpressive.
Talking of “unimpressive”, news now of that horrible little pissant, Robert Jenrick:
I suppose that the person most pleased that Boris-idiot is recovering is his fiancee. I am sure that her main concern was and is personal, but it must have occurred to her that, should Boris die (from any cause), she would be left dependent on her own resources, though I believe that her father is wealthy anyway.
In fact, Ms. Symond’s situation is a cautionary tale for other young women who, pregnant or not, are not married to what was once termed their “significant other”. Indeed, “Boris” is still, as I write, married to Marina Wheeler (his second wife), I believe, though divorce proceedings were instituted some time ago.
Had Boris Johnson died from Coronavirus his week, Ms. Symonds would have been entitled to not a penny of his estate, unless Boris has made a will in her favour, or a codicil to an existing valid will. In fact, Ms. Symonds would not even be allowed to stay at Downing Street and would be removed fairly swiftly.
I note the above not because I feel sorry for Ms. Symonds, who has wealthy connections and at least some monies of her own, but to caution others who are in similar non-marital relations (perhaps quasi-marital, so be it) and who are poorer than this lady.
When I was at the Bar, though I did almost no directly family law-related work (and in fact never even studied Family Law at university or Bar school), I did encounter the occasional similar story. I even met one lady, aged 40, who had been in a relationship for 20 years, had two or three children and lived with her quasi-husband in a house bought many years before via a mortgage. A married life in all but name (they did marry a few years later) but, had the husband died before the actual marriage, there would have been some headaches, especially financial, for the lady in question.
Priti Patel
“Downing Street is under growing pressure to explain the continued absence of Priti Patel from the government’s daily coronavirus press conferences.” [Daily Mail]
It is quite obvious why her colleagues do not want Priti Patel there. She is as thick as two short planks and, unlike some others (eg Iain Dunce Duncan Smith), unable to conceal the fact.
Police “muppets”, version 2, 3, 4, whatever…
Coronavirus: Cambridge Police checks no one is in non-essential aisles at supermarket https://t.co/ixe3frfuOs
Now Cambridgeshire Police have had to “clarify” why one of their officers “checked” supermarket aisles to see whether the slaves of finance-capitalism, oh, sorry, no wait….the citizens of the UK’s “free country” had been buying “non-essential” items (which, btw, is not unlawful anyway., not even in the new Coronavirus Police State…). The woodentop even tweeted about it! Dumb police woodentop klaxon…
My thoughts about this latest unpleasant absurdity from our uniformed zookeepers…I mean the police:
Why is a policeman wasting his time on duty “checking” anything lawful on private shop premises?
Why is that police narcissist tweeting about his activities?
Does the woodentop actually know any of the law(s) that he is supposed to be enforcing?
Does the woodentop in question know that he cannot simply make up laws and his own (in this case, non-existent) powers as a police constable?
Why does Cambridgeshire Police employ someone as a constable (I presume constable…God, could he be a sergeant?!) who a. seems devoid of common sense and b. seems to be power-mad?
Cambridgeshire Police say that the “officer” was “over-exuberant” and “has been spoken to”. Really?…So why are you, you police “muppets”, even employing an “over-exuberant” idiot who also seems to have no idea of a. the law, b. the limits of the law, c. the limits of his own powers as a police employee? Has the “muppet” recently come back from a taxpayer-funded “Common Purpose” course where he was told to “lead beyond authority“?
“Common Purpose is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1989 that develops leaders who can cross boundaries. This enables them to solve complex problems both in organizations and in cities.”
I think that a few things will need to happen down the line. First thing? Find a suitable wall…(make that “walls”…there are 85,000 Common Purpose “alumni” worldwide, many of them in the UK).
I’m not a great one for sharing FB screenshots, but the Cambridge Police tweet fits nicely with this post. If I’m doing my weekly food shop and decide to buy some non-essential plant pots and seeds to calm me the fuck down, I don’t see that that’s a disaster. pic.twitter.com/glMenZAtgm
So glad that Cambridge Police are checking that people aren't buying non essentials, that must mean every rape, murder and burglary is solved and you've got fuck all better to do, right fellas?
…and look at this ridiculous police bimbo! [from South Yorkshire Police] [link to video to see said policewoman]
After Cambridge Police searching supermarket aisles for non-essential shoppers this morning, South Yorkshire police have outdone them by threatening people in their front gardens.
Something has gone seriously wrong with the entire police approach here. https://t.co/St3K2bqR73
— Lineal Conker Champion of the World (@NUFC_OurClub) April 10, 2020
INSANE.
First, this ‘policing’ defies minimal expectations of common sense.
Second, the nation is under house arrest – we’re restricted to our homes *including gardens obviously* and this is crystal clear in the regs.@syptweet will you apologise?
Not only does this (more or less) female police “muppet” from South Yorkshire Police argue with and try to bully people standing in their own garden (!) but approaches them, shouting in their faces, behaviour which really might spread Coronavirus…and yet the idiotic policewoman tries to lecture the householders (incorrectly, at that!) about the virus! One of the householders is standing inside the doorway of his own house!
Watch that too [above]. Stunning. Toytown police, this time from Wales. Three police “muppets” harassing a man out walking his dog in a deserted park. The policewoman (who is leading this farce) tries to claim that the man (fully clothed) is “sunbathing” (which he is not, and that that is illegal (it is not).
It does not help that the Home Secretary Pritti Patel has gone AWOL. No leadership for the police nationally although with her record perhaps it’s just as well she is silent because she’s authoritarian & not very bright. But someone needs to lay out police powers clearly now.
It occurs to me (usually after a beer) that this Coronavirus thing is being used as an experiment to see how far the public will wear being told to stay in their little boxes and spin…
Another conspiracy theory
The Chinese government started the Coronavirus pandemic in order that the West would shut down its economy. After shutting down one province for a while, China then re-emerges, to take over much of the crippled world.
I suppose that the flaw in the above theory is that, without Western nations to which to export, China’s own economy will fall flat… In other words, China would be cutting its own throat.
Twisting the theory again though, one recalls that someone (Pat Nixon?) asked Chou-en-Lai what he thought of the French Revolution. Answer: “it is too early to say“. Could Pat Nixon really have asked such a question? The point, though, is that, of all peoples in the world, the Chinese take the long view.
As with most conspiracy theories, one ends up in a wilderness of mirrors…
Q&A session, Daily Telegraph:
“Fly fishing is a solitary pastime. Am I allowed to partake of this as part of my exercise regime? I have to drive half an hour to get to the river but once there, I will not see any other people.”
Daily Telegraph: “No. It is not exercise and you have to drive to get there. The Government has been clear that it does not want people to drive anywhere to spend time outdoors.”
Is there no-one in government, police, or the msm with the nous and courage to stand up and say “THIS IS BULLSHIT! DRIVING SOMEWHERE DOES NOT SPREAD ANY VIRUS. FISHING ALONE DOES NOT SPREAD ANY VIRUS! SUNBATHING ON UNCROWDED LAWNS OR BEACHES DOES NOT SPREAD ANY VIRUS!”? Apparently not. We are no more free now than Soviet citizens were, it seems, and there is no “free Press” or radio or TV worth a plugged nickel. Temporary, of course. Or is it?
As for the police, I do not know what is more irritating, the fact that some police are exposing themselves as petty and power-mad bullies, or the fact that Britain’s police (including their commanders or top brass) seem so utterly stupid and devoid of commonsense.
Latest government bs
They are talking about extending the “lockdown” bs for another three weeks! Maybe even longer! I hope that the zombies and rabbits, all clapping etc, think to blame themselves and also this government of incompetents, when they emerge blinking into the sunlight in May, June or July, for the fact that they have lost their jobs and maybe homes because of the unproven “lockdown” policy. I was not completely against it for a brief period, a week or two, but it is now going to destroy the UK economy, society and any remaining civil rights.
The West has shut down its economy to try to flatten the curve, but it is arguable what effect this has had on the medical or health situation. The effect on the economic situation, however, is more easily determined. Dire…
Ian Robert Millard 