[F.B.I. special agent, 1930s, practising at the range, probably at Quantico, Virginia, and using the famous Thompson sub-machine gun, probably the 50-round drum magazine version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Academy#History]
Tweets seen
Watched The Cranes Are Flying (1957) for the first time last night and still thinking about the astonishing cinematography. How did they do this shot? pic.twitter.com/RZfdJpqXIw
Dan Hodges seems to have forgotten (assuming that he ever knew) that, in the Soviet Union, in Stalin’s day and even afterward, ordinary criminals were often treated better than “politicals”.
In any case, the “police state” aspect in question is not Hodges’ “early release” red herring but the incarceration of people for minor disorder, or for tweeting comments etc.
The present UK situation is similar (don’t forget Starmer’s extreme pseudo-socialist ideological background): the real criminals are being released after having served only 40% —with other measures in place, as little as 20%— of their headline sentences, but —by any other name— political, or treated as political, prisoners are being swiftly incarcerated, and are being more harshly sentenced as well.
Incidentally, not only those convicted following the recent protests and/or “riots” (nb. I myself do not consider saying “boo!” to a police riot squad operative, pushing at his plastic shield, looting a sausage-roll shop, or even overturning the odd police car, a “riot” nor indeed a “political protest” as such).
A while ago, I read that a young man had served his entire headline sentence (6 years, I think), having been convicted on one of those trumped-up bs pseudo-“terrorism” charges the UK police and Clown Prosecution Service seem to love today (they often involve an accusation that the accused shared some or another “terrorist” material online, and at the same time owned completely lawful objects such as copies of Mein Kampf or a picture of Hitler; random pieces of circumstantial “evidence” put in to bamboozle a typical low-IQ rubber-stamp “British” jury).
More broadly, the lack of real knowledge of history is widespread now. As G.K. Chesterton said, he feared the uneducated less than he feared the badly-educated.
The “Chaser”, Jenny Ryan [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Ryan], fluffed the question “which of these three was first to be named as Time magazine Man of the Year in 1923?“, the three being Mussolini, Hitler, or Stalin.
I thought Mussolini (because of the October 1922 March on Rome, after which Mussolini became Prime Minister), and that turned out to be the correct answer. However, it occurred to me that there was at least a possibility that the correct answer would be Hitler (because of the Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923).
However, Jenny Ryan, “the Vixen”, thought that Stalin was the right answer, afterwards commenting that she had “thought that Stalin was a much bigger figure back then“, thus showing ignorance of the history of all three countries concerned (Stalin’s more or less supreme power in the Soviet Union only dated from about 1928, though it increased from 1924; in 1923, Lenin was still alive, and the leadership still somewhat collegial). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin#1924%E2%80%931927:_Succeeding_Lenin.
“The Vixen” later made another mistake on the same show, in failing to choose Offa as the answer to a question on Anglo-Saxon history; she chose “Cnut” (Canute), but he was not even an Anglo-Saxon king (though admittedly a king during the Anglo-Saxon period). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offa_of_Mercia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnut.
That’s the problem with such quiz shows, esp. The Chase. The “Chasers” and others have memorized lists, and (some) facts, but generally have no real in-depth background. I have noticed that with other Chasers, such as “The Beast”, Mark Labett.
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing“, especially in political journalism.
Au contraire. Starmer and his pack (Yvette Cooper etc) do care about free speech— about shutting it down, that is.
This government response to a letter from over 500 academics concerned about the repeal of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act is disappointingly partisan and ill-informed. https://t.co/ingyVTTbaWpic.twitter.com/9GqW8udVrO
In the end, though, the Starmer-Labour government, for all its “massive majority” triumphalism, only got the votes of 4 people out of every 20 (eligible), 4 out of every 12 people (that voted). Quite a number of even the voters that voted Labour only did so to make sure that the Conservative Party lost the election.
The real support for Labour is about 10% of the population. The real support for the attack on free speech etc is even smaller, only a few percent of the whole population.
Starmer and Labour have no legitimate mandate.
Israeli media is scrambling to remove the “Hamas beat me” references 💨 Screenshots and the internet archive are forever 🥲 pic.twitter.com/u0Cx5LKzlK
The “British” mass media is utterly infested, of course. The UK msm routinely parrots Israeli and UK Jewish/Zionist lobby propaganda.
As of today, this is how women must dress in Afghanistan, according to the Taliban's Supreme Leader.
The following rules are now in effect: The full face must be covered—no hands, nothing visible. The black veil was presented as a "recommendation" a year ago, now it is the law. pic.twitter.com/GmqupXlJms
Being one of these pretend Deputy Mayors has to be the best jobs in Britain.
A total doddle, spending your time going on jollies, taking home six figure. Truly the modern aristocracy. Don’t pretend you aren’t jealous. https://t.co/C3lrODx1mB
“Storming a plane, arresting someone, & sentencing them to prison for 20months…For being ‘among a group of people’ & ‘throwing a single item’… Then Police making a social media boast video, complete with music, about it (while turning comments off). http://What.On.Earth ?! Did I fall asleep & wake up in China or something.
Meanwhile… A) You can literally be filmed (allegedly) battering police officers in an airport & be released on bail to do press conferences etc, whilst still weeks later remaining uncharged. B) You can sexually assault children in the sea and go without even being described in the press. Tho people are supposed to be ‘helping look for you’. C) You can be a convicted child rapist and avoid jail if you break your license terms ‘because there is no space’.
This country is becoming a complete basket case. Shame on anyone who celebrates this situation.”
I agree.
The police and Clown Prosecution Service love the “performative” stuff such as “storming” a plane to arrest someone (rather than waiting until the passengers disembark and go through immigration in the normal way, then quietly detaining the suspect).
It’s all part of the Starmer-Labour poundland police state and TV/Press show for the masses. Pretending that throwing a plastic bollard or a wheelie bin is “terrorism” etc.
A Muslim guy hit a waitress in the face with a plate in Nando's in front of his wife and child. What a wonderful example of an integrated community. The police have done nothing because they couldn't find evidence of right-wing opinions. https://t.co/lp20EubGjr
— Leo Kearse – on YouTube & Saturday Night Showdown (@LeoKearse) August 23, 2024
Import them, and you also import their behavioural patterns.
Didn’t have this on my 2024 bingo card, but here we go…
Chris Cuomo actually speaks the truth, exposes Democrats/Republican Uniparty swamp. 👏 pic.twitter.com/deE7HhrhnE
— David Morgan 🏴 #StayFree (@david_r_morgan) August 23, 2024
If you are struggling to put food on the table, take comfort in knowing over the last two years we’ve given Ukraine $2.3 trillion.
— Kamala Harris Press Release (Parody) (@joebldenpress) August 18, 2024
If ever you needed confirmation that Lily Allen is a truly awful human being it’s her getting rid of her dog because her own stupidity meant she left passports in a place that the dog could get to them https://t.co/97M5QPM5iM
I know (and want to know) little about Lily Allen, but everything that I have heard or read about her makes me despise her.
*MUST LISTEN* Lily Allen adopts puppy from a shelter. Creates an insta for the puppy to get likes. Leaves passports within puppies reach, when puppy chews the passports she returns puppy to the shelter, then laughs about it on a podcast whilst discussing getting a new puppy. pic.twitter.com/wa3Kkg9FTp
Let us hope that something unpleasant happens to Lily Allen.
I shall be hoping that bad luck strikes her.
cosplay council estate accent ✅ blamed her kids for cancelling a tour ✅ evicted a family in time for Xmas ✅ not-so-secret-anymore Tory doner ✅ and now she mistreats animals too ✅
is there a worse female celebrity anywhere on earth?
That whole area of complex-sounding but meaningless bs is its own “industry” of nothingness now. It has ballooned over the past half-century, mostly in quiet corners of academia and the civil service. People may call me “biased”, but I should like to bet that much of it (if not all) started with “the usual suspects” (((them))). (cf. Freudian psychoanalysis).
Talking point
“Them”…
Condemned out of their own mouths.
More tweets
Keir Starmer’s failure to protect public safety while targeting social media critics is disgraceful, especially given his long tenure as a prosecutor. His problem is he’s a prosecutor trying to play PM with a lock-'em-up attitude, betraying public trust.
Who would have thought it? Still, no doubt (in the tiny little minds of Starmer, Yvette Cooper, and ludicrous “lord chancellor” Shabana Mahmood) that real criminals doing real crime is the better option, as compared to middle-aged housewives and others being released and then making socio-political remarks on Facebook or Twitter.
Late tweets seen
‼️ Brian May documentary shows Government and its agencies are letting everyone down on bTB
Government departments are not fit for purpose and need a complete overhaul to end misinformation and confusion about bovine TB crisis for farmers
Basically, 1,000+ people have now been arrested following the recent protests and connected minor “riots” (or violent outbreaks) here and there.
Many of those people have been charged, and many of those have been remanded in custody, meaning put into prison until trial (which might be as long as a year or more later, unless fast-tracked). Those who have pleaded guilty so far mostly seem to have been imprisoned anyway.
The fact is that many (probably almost all) of those imprisoned, either pending trial or after having pleaded guilty, are not in any way, even in the lay sense, “dangerous”. Many have no previous convictions, and even those who do (and the sentences of which have been reported after guilty pleas) have convictions mainly for non-violent offences (shoplifting, drugs etc).
What Starmer, Yvette Cooper, and (absurdly) Shabana Mahmood, have done is to release known and active criminals early (many non-white, and after they have completed only 40% of their sentences), in order to free up space which is now being used to incarcerate English people who are, almost all, not active criminals.
Those released early under that scheme will, many of them, re-offend within a fairly short space of time, whereas relatively few of those arrested in the aftermath of the recent protests will re-offend at all, ever, and certainly not in terms of violent disorder. That of course applies even more to those arrested/charged/imprisoned because they merely made comments, justified or otherwise, on social media.
It is beginning to look very much as though Starmer, Yvette Cooper, and the ridiculous Shabana Mahmood (currently posing as “Lord Chancellor” and Secretary of State for Justice) have no idea what they are doing. To me, their over-reaction to the recent minor disorders that took place (by English people— those done by Roma Gypsies in Leeds, and Pakistanis in Birmingham etc, have gone largely unpunished) seems much like that of the Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “Off with their heads!“
[“Off with their heads!“]
Incidentally, was there ever a “Lord Chancellor” and Justice Secretary less qualified? A moot point after some in recent years, I concede. However, Shabana Mahmood is an absurd choice for the role. She was only at the practising Bar for a few months, if that (after a year of pupillage), and then worked as a salaried gopher in a firm of solicitors, and only for a couple of years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabana_Mahmood#Early_life_and_career.
Shabana Mahmood’s entire legal career only lasted about 3-4 years.
She was probably appointed to placate the Pakistani Muslim element in the UK.
Pakistanis as such are now about 3% of the population; Muslims as a whole (many of which are also Pakistani but born in the UK) comprise 6% of the UK population now. Both anyway are significant voting blocs, and important in general political terms.
“Nearly early two weeks after its surprise incursion into Russia, Ukraine finds itself struggling to find a balance between seizing territory across the border in Kursk and losing it at the heart of the eastern front in central Donetsk.
On Friday, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed advances were being made of up to two miles a day inside Russia, but Moscow’s forces have gained about three miles this month as the Kremlin bets heavily on capturing the hub of Pokrovsk.
In Pokrovsk, meanwhile, officials have stepped up civilian evacuations. Serhiy Dobryak, head of the city military administration, warned that Russian forces had “almost approached” the city and that alarm about its future was growing.
Until a year ago, Pokrovsk was considered safe enough to act as a regional base where journalists and aid workers could stay overnight. Its road and rail connections link the central city of Dnipro with Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Capturing it would in effect cut the part of Donetsk oblast still in Ukrainian hands in two.
There are persistent rumours that Col Emil Ishkulov, the popular commander of Ukraine’s 80th brigade, now among those involved in the incursion into Kursk, was removed from his position at the end of July because he was opposed to the incursion into Russia – unsure his unit had the strength for the task. At the time, soldiers from the unit issued an unsuccessful public appeal for him to be reinstated.
Sumy, which has a population of about 250,000, has remained busy and lively in the summer heat, though the noise of explosions from Russian glide bombs in the distance stepped up over last week. Its hospitals, though, have been filling up with frontline casualties, and an appeals for blood donations went out to help treat wounded soldiers a week ago. It took an hour for the need to be met.
The city has also received about 4,000 people fleeing the agricultural villages in the area towards the border in the north, many of whom plan to rent apartments.
In the border zone, six miles from the boundary, meanwhile, only a tiny handful of civilians and little functioning infrastructure remain. One shop with smashed windows was still selling groceries, but most places were boarded up. An aid agency, Global Empowerment Mission, supplies nearly 26,000 food rations every month because market supplies are absent, visiting frontline villages every week to distribute to the remaining population.“
[Guardian]
I recently examined this situation on the blog. My thoughts were that either Putin might push the incursion forces back using conventional military means, or blast the entire area from the air, destroying the Kiev-regime forces (as well as any unfortunate Russian and Ukrainian villagers still trying to live there).
Another possibility, less likely, would be a massive bombardment of either Kharkov or Kiev, using bombers and missiles.
Now, I have come to think that there is a fourth possibility, one which has roots in Russian and Soviet history.
When, as Tolstoy put it, in War and Peace, “the forces of Western Europe invaded Russia” in 1812 (the forces commanded by Napoleon were not all French, though about two-thirds were), the strategy adopted by the Russian leadership under Kutuzov, once he was appointed, was to withdraw and withdraw out of reach, while carrying out some limited flanking attacks and what we might now term “special operations”.
According to the preferred strategy, St. Petersburg, the capital, was protected both by troops and by distance, and so was never threatened by the Grande Armee. Moscow, however, was abandoned and set on fire.
Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow was famously disastrous, his armies all but destroyed by attritional flank attacks, cold, lack of food, and by disease.
Of the initial half million men, only about 100,000 made it back to France or other countries.
“On 24 June 1812 and subsequent days, the initial wave of the multinational Grande Armée crossed the Niemen River, marking the entry from the Duchy of Warsaw into Russia.
Employing extensive forced marches, Napoleon rapidly advanced his army of nearly half a million individuals through Western Russia, encompassing present-day Belarus, in a bid to dismantle the disparate Russian forces led by Barclay de Tolly and Pyotr Bagration totaling approximately 180,000–220,000 soldiers at that juncture.[21][22]
Despite losing half of his men within six weeks due to extreme weather conditions, diseases and scarcity of provisions, Napoleon emerged victorious in the Battle of Smolensk. However, the Russian Army, now commanded by Mikhail Kutuzov, opted for a strategic retreat, employing attrition warfare against Napoleon compelling the invaders to rely on an inadequate supply system, incapable of sustaining their vast army in the field.“
[Wikipedia]
In the German invasion and war of 1941-1945, the Wehrmacht advanced to within sight of central Moscow, but were then held and pushed back. Stalin was unwilling to abandon Moscow, the capital, for reasons of morale and administration.
However, elsewhere in European Russia, the Stavka (high command) allowed the Germans to advance and advance into the apparently limitless space (prostor, in the Russian word), as the German supply lines became elongated and eventually unable to supply enough food and ammunition; this came to a head particularly during the battle for Stalingrad.
Reverting to the Kursk situation in 2024, it can be seen that the operation was designed by Zelensky, against the advice of some of his commanders, as a public relations exercise. The suppliers of arms and vast amounts of Western taxpayers’ money had to be shown that the Kiev-regime forces were not beaten. Those forces achieved surprise, and, at first, considerable success.
The Kiev-regime forces were advancing several miles a day in that Kursk border region, but have probably now almost stopped.
Russian forces far to the south, in the Donbass, are advancing 1-3 miles a day, apparently. The Kiev-regime forces are outmannned and outgunned there, a situation made worse by the use of some experienced Ukrainian troops for the Kursk incursion.
What Putin could do (though it might be politically difficult) would be to do little but just about hold the line in the Kursk region, or even fall back on Kursk city (about 30-40 miles from the present front-line), while pounding the Kiev-regime supply lines and rear echelon areas. The Kiev regime forces do not have the manpower or ammunition etc to advance endlessly. Their tide may already have reached its fullest extent.
In other words, Putin could almost let those Kiev-regime forces in the Kursk region “die on the vine”, in MacArthur’s memorable phrase.
Once those Kiev regime forces are stuck in the Kursk region, or have retreated, or are destroyed, those forces will not be able to be deployed, or re-deployed, on the Donbass front. Even now, it looks as though Russian forces will soon split the Kiev-regime forces there into two. Once that results in further crumbling of the front, startling Russian advances may be seen, either in the next few months or next summer. All of Eastern Ukraine may fall to Russian forces in 2025.
Tweets seen
🇬🇧 UK : Liverpool – Mohammed Arazul, illegal immigrant from Iran, attempted to rape a 13-year-old British girl, caught and arrested. Mohammed says, "Respect me. I am new here; I don’t know it’s illegal." pic.twitter.com/LDE9o28MTA
The British people are becoming more sceptical of immigration at exactly the same time as Starmer’s Labour is doubling down on an extreme policy of mass immigration https://t.co/bt5seb8wMzhttps://t.co/B69OP48ooL
“A source told the newspaper [defendant’s immigration] appeal was ongoing when he pushed Mr Potoczek on the tracks and added: ‘It makes you wonder what exactly you have to do to be deported from the UK.‘
Shorsh had 12 convictions for 21 offences including assault, anti-social behaviour and outraging public decency.“
[Daily Mail]
Put him up against a wall.
Notting Hill Carnival starts in seven days. I hope it’s peaceful and have enjoyed it in the past. But last year the disorder was terrible. 71 knives were recovered and 'one or two firearms'. Labour have set the bar high – or rather, the threshold low – for arrests. Let’s see. https://t.co/HbM9XS9Q0Rpic.twitter.com/Unjvl7iYoL
The Notting Hill Carnival should never have been allowed in the first place, and should be terminated now but will not be, because the Government is afraid of weeks of rioting and looting by blacks if such a step were to be taken.
I attended that carnival once, out of curiosity. In the early or mid 1980s. Absolutely ghastly. Intolerable noise, mostly from horrible amplified “music”. Intolerable crowds. Also, no way of getting out without walking miles. In the end, I walked all the way back to Little Venice.
492 illegal migrants entered Britain on small boats yesterday, taking the total since Labour's election to 5,492, & the total this year to 19,066. As I've said, with no serious plan it's only going to get worse … https://t.co/NmI46TvxuA
He did however remember this woman and her partner, because these were the very people who disrupted his humorous stories. He ALWAYS remembers people who disrupt his humourous stories. He loves telling humourous stories. pic.twitter.com/DptzEKs1xN
So it seems that the “poor and victimized” Jewish couple, supposedly targeted by an American black comedian, then booed out of an Edinburgh Fringe comedy show by the irritated audience, were none other than Mark Lewis, the egregious self-promoting solicitor, and his wife/partner/carer Mandy Blumenthal. They made a big fuss about emigrating to Israel six years ago. They said that Britain was too “antisemitic” for them to remain here, and so were, in effect, getting out while they could.
A pack of lies. They spend quite a bit of time here, and do not seem to feel any obligation to stay and help Israel in its hour of need.
If those tweets by Reginald D. Hunter are true (accurate), that puts another complexion on the “victimized Jewish couple” story as first published and broadcast recently.
First of all, one has to ask why Lewis and his companion went to such a show in the first place, if the comedian, one Reginald D. Hunter, is known for being “antisemitic” (I have to admit that I had never heard of him at all).
What was their motive even for going there if they were aware of the comedian’s expressed views?
It will be remembered by some that Mandy Blumenthal deliberately tried to book passage, quite many years ago, on a Middle Eastern airline operating out of Heathrow, and made it known that she was Jewish (perhaps using her Israeli passport rather than her UK one). Once refused by the airline, a “typical” fuss was made, both at the airport and in the (((Press))), and the airline quickly stumped up, apparently, quite a few thousand pounds by way of “compensation” (to shut her up).
Is this yet another cynical way to get money, this time out of the comedian, the promoter or the theatre? Was the whole thing contrived in advance, like that airline scam, or not? We do not know, and can only try to draw logical conclusions from what we know.
Reading about what the comedian said on stage, it seems that he recognized the “anonymous” Jewish couple of the Press stories, and that that is why he said that he had been “waiting” for Lewis, assuming that it was Lewis, to turn up:
That’s even before one considers the way in which he treated his ex-wife, one-time low-level TV face, and radio voice (now washed-up and over the hill), Caroline Feraday. I have little time for her anyway, so let’s leave that aside for now (she joined with Lewis in abusing me very unpleasantly on Twitter, about 12 years ago, so she deserved to suffer once she married him, in my view).
Sabrina Miller, when a vociferous Jewish girl student at Bristol, found time to defend Jewish-lobby-puppet and then-MP, Ian Austin, who had tweeted that bestiality pornography and other similar material should be decriminalized. Now she is a “journalist” with the Daily Mail.
The Mail might not have the best reputation, but it really should draw the line at contrived “stories” such as this Edinburgh Fringe scam.
Looks to me as though the audience recognized Lewis specifically, and were loudly disapproving for that reason.
As for the comedian, the promoter (if any), and the theatre, they should resist any contrived legal claim that “any” ambulance-chaser might make…
This all makes me feel that “a certain person” was right (about “them”)…
And as you probably know, Sabrina Miller has form: see her role in trying to smear @Tracking_Power (David Miller – no relation) as an antisemite when he was working at Bristol University (claims which were destroyed in court).
There’s an air of unreality to prosecutions designed to nip unrest in the bud by handing down disproportionate sentences. English law, honed over centuries to match punishment to evidence, is misfiring. Many defendants have pled guilty without trial. Cases need testing by juries. https://t.co/ykuP6ExHuX
What does Starmer think those imprisoned protesters, tweeters, Facebook posters feel about the UK government of traitors now? Happy? Angry? Determined?
"More than 1,000 people have been arrested, with almost 600 charged so far. Some of those charged have been children, including two 12-year-old boys, a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy."
God help John Betjeman, were he still alive. “Come, friendly German bombers, and drop your bombs on Slough“… he would probably be arrested by the “Anti-Terror Command” or other poundshop UK Stasi police, and/or imprisoned for years.
Misleading headline. She’s talking about the dangers of deifying the NHS.
Also look at this nuts analysis from Sky’s Health correspondent. “The health service is our most cherished institution. Very few people would dare to attack it.”
Almost anything now published or spoken by msm scribblers and talking heads can be discounted. If they ever cross the line into uncomfortable and “unapproved” reality, they soon lose those lucrative jobs— and they know it.
Quote: ‘A report two years ago by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terror legislation, revealed that Muslim terrorists had been able to seize control of prison wings and set up sharia courts behind bars because prison staff were so concerned about being accused of…
The Ukraine calls on the residents of Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian: Pokrovsk), Dimitrov (Mirnograd) and Selidov to evacuate because the front line is approaching them pic.twitter.com/PfEZtK9NIU
All in the Donbass, where Russian forces are now steadily advancing at a rate of up to 3 miles per day.
Bundeswehr: The attack on Kursk did not stop the Russian offensive on the central front in Donbass RUSSIANS SUCCESSFULLY BYPASS UKRAINIAN POSITIONS FROM THE FLANKS, SO THEY HAVE TO LEAVE THEM General Christian FREUDING, who in the Bundeswehr is responsible for the coordination of… pic.twitter.com/R2eKodQw7m
🇺🇦 Ukraine is threatened with disaster – the Kiev regime welcomes winter in fear. The energy system of Ukraine is in a critical state, and the current production represents only half of the amount that will be necessary for the winter, announced the European Commissioner for… pic.twitter.com/HJNCkFkI2X
— Newspaper articles collection (@NewsArticleColl) August 18, 2024
Russia cannot lose this war and will not lose this war.
“The chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission has rejected calls from the justice secretary to resign after a report on its handling of the Andrew Malkinson case laid bare “a catalogue of failures”.
The new justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said Pitcher was “unfit to fulfil her duties” and that she was seeking her removal in light of the findings. It is understood that she made her position clear to Pitcher on Thursday morning in the hope that she would resign.
But Pitcher said she was the “best person” for the job and that she had no intention of standing down.
James Burley, who led Appeal’s investigation into Malkinson’s case, said the report was “utterly damning” and detailed “a catalogue of failures by the CCRC”.
He said: “No one can doubt now that the CCRC is a broken safety net which sets the bar unreasonably high for innocent prisoners trying to clear their names. The CCRC must be completely overhauled.”
“Helen Pitcher OBE Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission talked to Bhini Phagura from Raydens solicitors about her career.
Tell us about your career progression which led to your appointment as the Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission:
“I studied law at QMC London and used this degree as a basis for a career in commerce, where I rapidly progressed up the ranks to become an Executive and Divisional Director in Grand Metropolitan. I retained a footprint in the law in various roles related to Standards, Fairness, Equity and Diversity.“
Well…wouldn’t you just know it?
There’s more:
“The first role I held in parallel to my Commercial career was as a lay representative of the Professional Conduct and Complaints Committee of the Bar Council.” [now split into the Bar Standards Board and the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal].
Yes, there is usually at least one useless woman of this sort sitting (well-paid, too), but doing nothing, when a Bar Disciplinary Tribunal sits. In 5-person tribunal cases (as mine was, in fact wrongly— it should have been a 3-person tribunal, which has no power to disbar) there are usually two such women (they always seem to be women, as on benches of lay magistrates), invariably a pair of unsmiling and stupid “bookends”. Useless box-tickers. See also https://ianrobertmillard.org/2017/07/09/the-slide-of-the-english-bar-and-uk-society-continues-and-accelerates/.
“I also became a lay representative on the Employment Appeal Tribunal and still hold this office.
I then joined the Queens Counsel (as it was then) Selection Panel and rapidly became its chair. Whilst there we improved the Diversity Statistics.“
Again the “diversity statistics“… Why am I not at all surprised?
“I held this role for 9 years. On stepping down, I decided not to apply for another role as I also had a burgeoning Consultancy and Portfolio Career. About 18 months later, however, an advertisement for the role of the Chair of the CCRC (Criminal Cases Review Commission) was brought to my attention.
Last year the role of Chairman at the JAC (Judicial Appointments Commission) became available. A Headhunter contacted me having uncovered my background on LinkedIn. I checked with the MoJ that there was no conflict of interest and submitted my application. On December 31st following a Justice Select Committee earlier in the month, I was appointed and took up the post on January 16th [2023].”
My role as chair involves leading the Board, ensuring appropriate oversight on governance and providing appropriate challenge and support to the executive. I am also involved in some of the most senior appointments.
I have rationalised my portfolio (which was a Commitment I gave to the JSC) in order to ensure I have the appropriate amount of time to devote to this key role.
You are holding this role for 3 years from January 2023, what are your aims/goals?
The strategic aims were already set, however they are due for a refresh as the period they covered draws to a close. These aims, which are developed in conjunction with the Board and executive, are on our website and thus in the public domain.
Our primary purpose set out by statute is to recruit on merit, our secondary (and no less important role) is to assist the rest of the judicial system to increase the diversity pool. It is for this reason that I also chair the Judicial Diversity Forum, which has a clear action plan to achieve its aims.”
So the secondary role is as important as the primary one? How muddled and wrongheaded is the stupid woman?
[Legal Women (online-only) magazine]
The interview is rather badly written, unfortunately, with superfluous upper-case here and there; as can be seen, it is the product of an Indian woman.
Well, there we have it. That greedy and plainly incompetent Pitcher woman has made a whole career, and no doubt a very lucrative one, out of “diversity”, tokenism etc. First of all, in her own person, by being a “token woman”, or one token woman, on commercial and quango boards. Secondly, by being a Trojan horse for more “diversity” and “inclusion” (etc) in important public offices.
Helen Pitcher, who seems to me to be a useless “diversity” box-ticker, has, inter alia, sat in the seat of judgment over employment appeal cases, over the cases of supposedly defaulting barristers etc, and has even been (and apparently still is) the head of the body which appoints judges, including those at the highest level.
Helen Pitcher is, at time of writing, doing, and of course getting paid for doing, several different jobs simultaneously. She is probably making between half a million and a million pounds a year. For what? Ruining various bodies? Ticking various “diversity” and “anti-racism” boxes? Shoving our society further into the mire?
Look at how Helen Pitcher is clinging on to her CCRC role, presumably in order to maximize the money she gets before she is forced out. At least, that seems to me to be her motivation. Very telling, if so.
This latest scandal, including Helen Pitcher’s “march through the institutions”, is so typical of the way in which things generally have been allowed to develop in the UK in the past 30+ years.
You can see the way the UK is going, at least partly because of stupid and over-promoted women such as Helen Pitcher (and, yes, also men, not infrequently)— straight down.
God knows what state this country will be in in 2029 or 2034, let alone 2054 (which last I shall not have to witness, thank God, not from the Earth plane anyway).
Andrew Malkinson has called the former head of the miscarriage of justice watchdog “shameless” as she resigned from the job saying she had been “scapegoated for entirely legitimate decisions” taken over his case.
Helen Pitcher handed in her resignation as chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) on Tuesday afternoon after learning that an independent panel had concluded by a majority of two to one that she was no longer fit to be chair.
In a letter to the justice secretary she said she felt that she had been chosen as a “scapegoat at an early stage” for the Malkinson case and that “a head had to roll and I was chosen for that role”.
Malkinson said: “Helen Pitcher’s attempt to portray herself as the victim here is shameless.
The Guardian revealed thatPitcher had been in Montenegro promoting her property business in the weeks after Malkinson’s conviction was overturned and the organisation was in crisis after its failure to apologise to him.“
[Guardian]].
“Her property business” (as well as all the rest)?
Helen Pitcher thus managed to blag another 6-7 months’ pay and expenses, and pension contributions, when she should have resigned in mid or early 2024.
“Shameless” indeed, the horrible and avaricious old hag.
Tweets seen
Summary of the Israeli strike according to what is known so far:
– Approximately 25 F-15 and F-35 aircraft, accompanied by refueling planes, flew about 2000 kilometers toward the city of Hodeidah in Yemen.
“Summary of the Israeli strike according to what is known so far: – Approximately 25 F-15 and F-35 aircraft, accompanied by refueling planes, flew about 2000 kilometers toward the city of Hodeidah in Yemen.
– The strike was carried out in 8 waves.
-The attack destroyed fuel depots, inflicted damage on the port, and destroyed a power station north of the port.
– The fire is still burning and is expected to continue for several more days.
– There is a power outage across the entire region.
– The message of the strike is clear: this is not a strike on military targets (which has been done by the coalition over the past 9 months) but an attack on the already struggling Yemeni economy, causing significant economic damage.
– The attack on the port is a direct response to the damage Yemenis have caused to the port of Eilat.
– The message to the rest of the Middle East is also clear: the Bandar Abbas port and the Kharg Island, from where most of Iran’s oil is exported, are in Israel’s sights, as well as the port of Beirut.
– Israel has decided to take off the gloves; this is not a minor strike like those in Iran.
– The Houthis are threatening to retaliate, but it is unclear what the threat entails, as they have already attacked Israel 200 times.”
[Open Source Intel]
Middle East, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Far East. All now under threat of major regional wars.
Even worse, those maniacs are actually considering Hillary Clinton. Direct war with Russia will then be a certainty.
There are too many egos at stake, and too many sunk costs. What this means is that the pro-Ukrainian true believers won't concede anything has collapsed until Kiev is under Russia's control.
“Ukraine lines are collapsing. After 380 billions of aid pledged to Ukraine since the war begin; 118 billion are direct military aid; many countries literally emptied out entire inventory countless military units to give their weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine is STILL losing grounds everyday. Lost 5 towns in the past 48hrs. The fortress city of Krasnohorivka is falling as we speak; Russia threatens cut the Oskil Frontlines in half with the likely capture of Pishchane. Still not collapsing? This is not collapse of frontlines, then what is?“
I'm no military man, but from a purely common sense perspective, assessing the saleability in terms of effective manpower Ukraine has left, disregarding poorly trained conscripts thrown uselessly into the meat grinder, then the rubber and road meeting indeed appears to draw near.
If anyone has something cheery to say let me know 😅😔. But honestly, it just feels like the baddies keep winning. I really don’t know where this is all heading.
“Back to the UK tomorrow. I’ve never had such dread about Britain. Coming back to London and knowing how unpleasant it’ll be. The demographic changes and feeling that [the UK] is most against Brits. The lack of functional media. The feeling something big has to happen to restore order.“
London is turning into an unaffordable shit-hole with the "enjoyable" parts closed off to an elite minority. Everybody who lives there can see it even if liberal progressives will never accept it bc to do so would shatter their worldview. Charlotte is just saying out loud what we… https://t.co/sqNOr5KBhR
I have not been to London since that brief visit in 2022, and am glad of it. I no longer have the Rolex watches I had 25+ years ago (or want them, or need them, or can afford them) but, if I did, I think that they would not stay on my wrist very long in the London of 2024.
Why can people who should know better not accept the truth that is in front of their eyes? In a word, deluded.
One aspect of London that seems to have radically improved in recent years, though, is the public transport network. New lines, new trains, new ways of travelling around the conurbation. Crossrail/Elizabeth Line for one. I do not speak, however, from personal experience of the new lines, just from what I have read online.
Universities are the Home Office basically, and their policy is open borders – often with taxpayer funds. https://t.co/AxJRdv9XFd
Well over 20 years ago, in 2000, I happened to meet and get to know (somewhat), in Bournemouth, a young blonde woman (20 or so) I first encountered in a photography shop, and who was very proud of her father, vice-Chancellor of (if I remember aright) Lancaster University. She talked about him rather a lot, and thus I learned that (again, if I remember aright) his salary was over £200,000 a year, which would be pretty good even today, by most people’s standards. In fact, the Bank of England online calculator shows that you could almost double that in today’s money. So today— maybe £400,000.
The tertiary educational sector in the UK has been a kind of “rotten borough” for a long time. At least 30 years.
Matt Goodwin
I notice that the “alt-Right” (?) academic and commentator, Matt Goodwin, has retweeted a tweet about the UNRWA by the malicious and publicity-seeking Jew-Zionist org, “Campaign Against Antisemitism”. Foolish. The credibility of that malicious cabal is shot; even most pro-Israel Jews are against its activities and behaviour. By retweeting the “CAA”, Goodwin risks his own credibility too.
More tweets
According to Danish news @DRNyheder#paulWatson will be heard at the court in Greenland, and that the decision of whether to hand Mr. Watson over to the Japanese authorities will be taken by the Ministry of Justice, @justitsdkhttps://t.co/DXeiZVGH4u
The Japanese only have one new whaling ship, though…
And where is our Home Secretary Yvette cooper. West Yorkshire mayor? Thought they were going to support the police? How can a person stand on a British street and scream at a British policeman numerous times, Fuck off, you are bastards? Any white English man would be arrested!
I agree with that. Michelle Obama? Maybe not so easily defeated. All the blacks would vote for her, for a start.
If anyone other than Trump takes on the U.S. Presidency, the Americans will be staring civil war in the face. The rest of the world (as well as the USA) will be staring at, quite likely, a world war, starting (like the first two “world” wars) in Europe.
In anticipation of the Yemeni attack on Tel Aviv, the settlers reported that they saw a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles in the sky, which later turned out to be a flock of birds 😂 pic.twitter.com/GrjGmK4Tzh
Ian Robert Millard 