Tag Archives: State pension

Diary Blog, 8 May 2025

A few thoughts out of season

I read a couple of pieces in the online-only Independent newspaper and its connected Indy100 site. Semi-literate, semi-educated. Examples? In the Independent, in an interview with the ex-MP, Mike Amesbury, Amesbury described the three days he recently spent in prison as “…surreal…like an out-of-body experience“, which the Independent‘s scribbler, one Ellie Crabbe, wrote down as “an outer body experience“. No sub-editor (if they even have any) corrected Ms. Crabbe’s egregious mistake. Appalling ignorance. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/reform-labour-amesbury-runcorn-chancellor-b2745519.html.

Meanwhile, in the Indy100, one Harriet Brewis, described as “ the Chief Reporter at indy100, covering everything from scientific discoveries to online trends. She previously worked on the Evening Standard’s news desk, heading up the coronavirus blog throughout 2020 and writing the website’s leading stories“, writes that a lake in California has returned after long absence, the water having been extracted by “the greed of colonialists“! Ha ha… Is this an English news outlet, or a Cuban one?

The water extraction was in the USA of the late 19thC, as the article does say, so “colonialists” is a bit anachronistic, arguably, and not really accurate anyway, however bad the treatment of the local Indians/Native Americans may have been.

I might add that that report was published somewhere else a year or two ago. I recall reading it, or some version of it.

Ah, I see now that it was first published a year ago. Well, OK, and it is quite interesting, but do subscribers (I am not one) pay to read stuff recycled from over a year ago? https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/tulare-lake-2024-2671911762.

Standards in all areas are, overall and collectively, dropping like a stone, as I noticed and/or predicted many many years ago, in the 1990s.

Talking point— the decline of the Conservative Party

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/07/massive-earthquake-in-politics-could-lead-to-tory-extinction-says-hunt

Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the Conservatives cannot rule out becoming extinct because of a “massive earthquake” in politics that is seeing the fracturing of the old two-party system.

Senior Conservatives are increasingly alarmed about polls that show support for the party plummeting, while Reform UK is soaring.

Some Conservative party sources said there appeared to be “very little dynamism” within Conservative Campaign Headquarters about trying to turn the party’s electoral fortunes around, while many local activists and some agents have already made the leap to supporting Reform.

On Wednesday morning, a YouGov Westminster voting intention poll put Reform on 29%, Labour on 22%, the Conservatives on 17%, the Liberal Democrats 16%, and the Greens 10% – suggesting the Tories are now flirting with fourth place in popularity.

[Guardian]

In fact, the Conservative Party may well soon be in fifth place in terms of numbers of Commons seats (after Reform, Labour, LibDems, and the SNP).

Talking point— the decline of the Labour Party

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/07/disability-benefit-cuts-to-hit-700000-families-already-in-poverty-dwp-forecasts-show

The government’s planned disability benefit cuts will hit 700,000 families who are already in poverty, according to internal Department for Work and Pensions forecasts obtained by the Guardian.

The figures, sourced under the Freedom of Information Act, are in addition to the projected 250,000 people who will be newly driven below the poverty line by the cuts, as set out by the government’s impact assessment in March.

Disability rights campaigners called the new disclosure “truly shocking” and said the changes would push people even further away from having the means to find work.

The DWP estimates that 3.2 million families across Great Britain will lose out under the plans in 2029/2030, about three years after the cuts are due to take effect. Of those, 700,000 will be families already categorised as being in relative poverty, when taking housing costs into account.

[Guardian]

So that is some of the human and social cost of the policies of Starmer-stein, Rachel Reeves, and Liz Kendall (all members, incidentally, of Labour Friends of Israel). What, however of the political cost to Labour?

We see Labour already languishing in the opinion polls below 25%, in some at only 22%. I have already blogged about the fact that the UK population now has about 20% of its population non-white, and that those voters (those eligible and actually voting) probably now provide the vast bulk of Labour votes.

Since Starmer-stein lied his way to the office of Prime Minister in July 2024, his misgovernment has alienated the “average white families”, those above State Pension age, those approaching State Pension age, almost all British workers at or below average incomes, anyone concerned about the racial and cultural degradation of the country, anyone concerned about developers trashing the green countryside, and anyone at all concerned about the migration-invasion of between half a million and a million immigrants and/or invaders every single year.

Now, in addition to the above, Starmer-stein’s regime is about to hit not only the various types of disabled person, but also their families and others. The biggest hit will come in 2028 and 2029, just when the next general election is probably going to be held.

[“But I voted Labour last time! Never again!“]

The result of all of that is that Labour will quite likely have (a trend forecast on the blog quite a while ago, a few years ago) votes mainly from (some of) the “blacks and browns”, and (some of) the public service workers, including (some of) the NHS workforce. Even the 18-24 demographic generally is turning away from Labour.

The electoral result may be that Labour can only score 22%, maybe only 20%, at the next general election. The Conservative Party, on present showing, may not even achieve that. The LibDems are the default “alternative” or “dustbin party”, so will pick up votes from both, but mainly from disaffected Con voters; perhaps 15% or so overall. Greens and several others will take (combined) about 10%-15% of votes. That leaves maybe 30% of the whole available for Reform.

Nature abhors a vacuum. If Reform gets to 30%, with Con and Lab both in the 20%-25% range, the earthquake will have happened. Reform will be in government with a 30 or even 50-seat majority, Labour may have fewer than 140 MPs, and the Con Party may slump to as few as 25.

Once the main System parties are displaced, the only real alternative to Reform, after 2029, will be real social nationalism.

Tweets seen

So less money for the Treasury (which means it will have to be found from elsewhere), and more unwanted immigrants coming to the UK (and don’t believe the nonsense about “short-term working” etc…).

The Starmer-stein and Rachel Reeves fake “Labour” government is a disaster in every way.

Under the surface, its attitude is probably unchanged. Snoopers.

As blogged previously Matt Goodwin may be a Father Gapon for our times…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Gapon#Bloody_Sunday

The above nonsense is only part of huge wastage. The “Covid” scamdemic/panicdemic “Test and Trace” programme alone was 4x worse. About £38 billion. I favour government spending, in principle, but the devil is in the detail. The kind of idiots who get into System politics in the UK are simply not capable of running anything properly, or of making the right decisions.

Mason has been examined previously on the blog. A System asset of some kind or other, but one who, for whatever reason, likes to be thought of as radical or even revolutionary. He always supports police-state measures; he did it during the “Covid” scamdemic/panicdemic, he did so when the BNP was rising up, he even did so when UKIP looked like becoming a major party. He certainly did so in relation to Greece, when the popular Golden Dawn social-national party was repressed by the fake “Left” or “socialist” party, Syriza, when the latter was in power. Syriza quickly sold out to international banking and the EU. The Golden Dawn people, many of them, still sit in prison.

There is something deeply unpleasant about Paul Mason. Deeply suspicious, too. Look at his Twitter/X timeline over the past few days. Incidentally, he is part-Jew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mason_(journalist)#Early_life_and_education.

What interests me more, though, is the revolution after the revolution…

Late tweets

Electoral Calculus suggests that those numbers would result in a Commons in which Reform would have 421 seats out of 650. Labour would have 92, the LibDems 56, the SNP 43, and the Cons only 8. Eight MPs… Surely terminal for the Conservative Party. https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll.html.

Diary Blog, 19 January 2025

Morning music

[Coat of Arms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire]

Tweets seen

Does anything in this country work properly any more?

Who, really, would vote for a Nigerian woman who, though born in London, was brought up entirely in Nigeria and the USA, and only came to this country aged 16? That, alone…

Apart from underwhelming pay and conditions, at least for those enlisting in the ranks, who would want to join armed forces of a country that pretends to be squaring up to Russia and China (both of which have armed forces 20 or 30 times the size of the UK’s) yet cannot even defend its own shores against migrant-invaders?

What are recruits supposed to be defending? A multikulti, mixed-race population? The wealthy and selfish 1%, most of whom are not even British in any real way? The Jewish lobby? The completely rotten mainstream media, legal professions, and treacherous “political class”? What, then? The self-interested and pathetic “Royal Family”, now consisting of Charles, Camilla, the tame thick princeling William (now already 42 y o), the ridiculous entitled nobody, Harry, and of course Meghan Mulatta?

Forget it.

If Reform succeeds, but is then found wanting, the British people will finally turn to the only possible alternative except full Communism— social nationalism.

I imagine that the lesson learned by the Palestinians of Gaza (etc) is that, to match the overwhelming military power of the Israelis, the only way is to take and keep Jewish hostages. Not, of course, the lesson the Israelis wanted to teach…

Say what you want about those people, they are incredibly resilient.

Major political mistakes, banal corruption and simply poor analysis of the situation – ignorance of history and misunderstanding of the nature of ‘Ukrainism’ – played their role ,” Medvedev said.

– “Biden did the worst at one point, essentially starting a war between the collective West and Russia, which almost turned into a nuclear conflict with NATO.”

” Recently, he clearly did not fully understand what was happening. Yes, we must admit, such a war is economically beneficial for the United States. But the political costs and the real danger of a fatal conflict are much greater. But the old man was not ready for this. This is a case when the head of the world’s largest power completely failed to cope with the situation . As a result, the Democrats unfortunately lost the elections. If Biden’s problem is his inadequacy, then the fault of his administration is that it deliberately left a very difficult crisis legacy on the Russian track for its successors. The harmful side effects of Biden’s decisions will continue to manifest themselves for a very long time , “Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

– “That is why it will take decades for Russian-American relations to fully normalize. Although, in my opinion, in the current reality this is impossible in principle. And frankly, it is not clear whether it is necessary at all,” Medvedev concluded.”

[Medvedev]

More tweets seen

Even leaving aside her pro-Jewish lobby, pro-Israel, quasi-“Conservative” politics, Liz Kendall is as thick as two short planks. Who on Earth would make her a Cabinet minister? Ah, yes…”Tel Aviv Keith” Starmer.

…and who on Earth would make that the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? At least her present role cannot be lain at the door of Starmer; the “Conservatives” did that to themselves…

Like so many semi-educated blacks, Kemi Badenoch thinks that she is seriously intelligent. (cf. David Lammy, Shaun Bailey etc).

Look at what she did before becoming an MP. Another “diversity hire”.

Look also at the opinion polls! You can fool the British people much of the time (as the last 14+ years has proven), but there comes a point when even the British awaken from their sport and “celebrity” obsessions, and say “no, no, no”.

Late tweets

Beautiful rug. The tweeter sounds interesting; had not previously heard of him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Routledge.

Late music

Diary Blog, 14 July 2024

Morning music

Tweets seen

After Trump’s courageous immediate response to the attempted assassination, his stock among the American voters must surely rise.

This must surely seal the Presidential race for Trump, even if the Democrats replace Biden with someone compos mentis.

Having said that, were Biden to be replaced by someone such as Michelle Obama, popular —God knows why— among the non-whites who are now the majority of the American population, it is possible that Trump might lose, I suppose, but that really might see an actual civil war develop.

Have we just seen and heard, in those popping shots at the Trump rally, the first shots of the second American Civil War, akin to the shot fired at Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina in 1861, or even that fired by the cruiser Aurora in 1917?

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Embankment#Battleship_Aurora_during_the_revolution

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

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-shooting-raises-questions-about-security-lapses-2024-07-14/

Is anything Liz Truss may think even worth reporting? Her rise to prominence, then —briefly— power came as a result of peculiar and particular political circumstances; and, after all, she only became an MP in the first place on her back.

Were her crazy idea about pension age ever to be implemented, it would cause an electoral, and perhaps actual, rebellion that would make the rise of Reform UK look like the Teddy Bears’ Picnic.

More music

[Loon Lake, Oregon]

More tweets

Thick-as-two-short-planks “diversity hire” Lammy is not only a barrister and a member of Lincoln’s Inn (as I was from 1986 until my wrongful and unlawful disbarment in 2016, when I was automatically expelled) but I think now even a Bencher there. He is welcome there; I am not. Could one imagine a more absurd example of where our society has gone wrong?

Reminiscent of the famous WW2 photo from Iwo Jima:

The Trump photo will surely come to be regarded as equally historic.

More tweets

Quelle surprise…

As Matt Goodwin has predicted, the Starmer-Labour government will crash and burn very quickly. It has no real mandate anyway, despite its Commons majority. Only 33.7% of the popular vote. People wanted rid of the fake “Conservatives”, that’s all. Few really wanted Starmer-Labour. Don’t forget that Sunak’s “Conservatives” also had a large Commons majority.

How is it that a Zionist Jew such as Aaronovitch can post that, and nothing happens, but a comment or cartoon about Jewish behaviour, allegedly posted by an English blogger, causes the suborned UK police and/or CPS to go mad?

Oh…

I refer readers to the posts re. my free speech trial of 2023.

Quite.

Of course, both Biden and Trump kow-tow to the Israel lobby, but at least Trump would or will avoid war with Russia and, I hope, take away Zelensky’s ricebowl.

https://www.mattgoodwin.org/p/the-realignment-is-over-10-key-messages

The Labour hegemony in the younger age-groups (highest in the 25-34 age-group— 46%) will not last. The wider 18-44 group —where Labour support was, at GE 2024, over 40%— will soon defect or fall away when Labour fails to improve the housing crisis, or improve the poor deal renters get in the UK, among other issues.

Farage

I see that the little world of UK Twitter/X is going mad because Farage is going to visit Trump. According to those Twitter-twits, Farage is neglecting his duties as MP and, in particular, neglecting the constituents of Clacton by briefly going to the USA. They obviously have no idea that a great many MPs either do nothing at all for their (notional) constituents, or send pro-forma letters back to them, explaining why they can do little or nothing. There are exceptions, but those are exceptions to the general rule of uselessness.

Late tweets

I think so. Of course, it is a gamble, but one at reasonable odds.

Meanwhile, poor old Biden has decided to cancel his engagement tomorrow in Texas…

The GoFundMe appeal is already not far from USD $3M: https://www.gofundme.com/f/president-trump-seeks-support-for-butler-pa-victims

Late music

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

Diary Blog, 11 June 2024

Afternoon music

[Wien— das ist’s!]

Tweets seen

Stand by for Starmer’s fake Labour “elected” dictatorship…

Quite right. All sorts of people (often “you know who”…), such as Jonathan Portes, all terribly clever (in their own minds) will be saying, and have for years been saying, that the importation of a million (more or less) unwanted immigrants every year has little or no effect on housing demand. Hardy ha ha…

That useless and half-crazed ex-MP and Cabinet minister (incredibly), Sajid Javid, said something similar years ago, I think.

The “4 million” there should now be replaced by at least 10 million; soon 15 million and 20 million.

Ha. So the little Indian money-juggler “promises” to halve net migration? (“net” includes the 200,000-300,000, mainly real Brits, who leave every year for Australasia etc).

So “only” half a million blacks and browns etc (or more) will be coming in every year?

Oh…that’s not too bad…oh, no, wait a minute…

I have blogged previously about how, to my mind, Farage’s close protection squad seems not very effective. So far, it has been milkshakes and the like, but that may escalate to serious weapons such as knives. He needs to revamp his security to prevent that. The way the UK is going, nothing can be ruled out.

That Reform UK candidate was right in his original comments. Britain should never have declared war on the German Reich, and was not under attack at the time. In fact, the first British soldier was killed on 9 December 1939, over 3 months after war was declared, having stepped on a French landmine: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Priday.

In 1940, Germany made a number of peace proposals, both before and after Dunkirk, all of which were ignored. Hitler even ordered a halt to the German infantry and armour advance on Dunkirk, which allowed that very large large evacuation to occur.

Hitler wanted peace and, if possible, collaboration, with the British Empire. He wanted the two empires to rule most of the world together, or in parallel, opposing both Sovietism and Americanism.

Had peace or at least armistice been declared in 1940 or at the time of the flight of Rudolf Hess in 1941, most of the devastation of Western and Central Europe, including in the UK and Germany, would never have happened.

That peace would also have meant no Cold War, no Korean War, probably no Vietnam War (etc), no “Israel” and therefore no Middle East wars (because the Middle East would have been mainly under British and French control). It would have meant far less environmental degradation in Africa and Asia, and far less civil conflict on those continents.

Had such peace “broken out”, Sovietism would not have encroached upon Eastern and Central Europe, as it did after 1945. The whole of Europe and the world would have been in a better place.

At least one tweeter who has seen through the propaganda (((lies))).

…and another…

The former G.R.U. officer, and later defector, Rezun, under his nom de plume of Viktor Suvorov, wrote a book about Stalin’s plans to move west in and after 1941. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Suvorov; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Suvorov#Works_about_World_War_II.

Tactical voting

The above shows opinion polling re. the safe (?) Con seat of Tatton, presently occupied (or rather, formerly occupied, until 2024 Dissolution) by ridiculous deadhead Esther McVey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_McVey.

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

It can be seen from the graphic that Esther McVey is pressed closely by the Labour candidate, who is within a point or so of catching her. Also, that the LibDem is on about 12%, and has no chance of actual election.

Were the LibDem-intending voters to vote for Labour, Esther McVey would be turfed out; but will enough of them be sufficiently motivated to do that? Open question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatton_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s.

I do think that tactical voting will be a major theme of this 2024 General Election.

Late tweets

Mel Stride. Conservative. Deadhead. He must have nothing at all between his ears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Stride.

How does someone with so little intelligence become a Cabinet Minister? Still, look at his predecessors at the DWP, among them Esther McVey and Iain Dunce Duncan Smith…

Good grief. I even agree with Jess Phillips today.

Traitors. Simple as.

“Labour”, as I have repeatedly blogged, will indeed “stop the small boats”, and will do it by having some kind of mainland Europe “processing”, i.e. rubberstamping the applications of 90%+ of those wanting to come here. Maybe even 99%.

Crazy. The link between Jew-Zionism and mental instability is very obvious, and that also applies, very often, to non-Jewish “antifascist” types. See my (I think interesting, and also rather groundbreaking) study about all that: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/07/18/theyre-coming-to-take-me-away-ha-ha/ [constantly updated].

Talking point

Late music

Diary Blog, 7 December 2023

Afternoon music

[Robert Stack as Elliott Ness in The Untouchables, a favourite TV show of my childhood. Note the Thompson submachinegun with drum magazine, probably the 30-round version (there were 50 and 100-round drum versions, and both box and stick magazine versions)]

From the newspapers

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/06/the-britons-stockpiling-for-a-crisis-food-toilet-rolls-supplies

Kathryn is a firm believer in the 19th-century adage that we are only ever nine meals from anarchy. Having learned the skill of stockpiling from her wartime parents and grandparents, her first mini-foray was in preparation for Y2K.

“That was mainly candles and biscuits, because I didn’t really take it very seriously,” she said. “But it did mean that I was already halfway there when I realised I needed a substantial, genuine Brexit stash, which then morphed into a Covid stash, which in turn became a cost of living store, then an ‘Are we going to run out of electricity?’ store when the Ukraine war kicked off, and is now a general, all-encompassing everyday/WW3 stash.”

Kathryn could soon be joined by many more concerned citizens preparing for a worst-case scenario after the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said this week that people should stock up on battery-powered radios, torches, candles and first aid kits in case of power cuts or digital communications going down.

Not such a silly idea. I have examined that and other aspects of prepping on the blog (search via the search box).

As mentioned previously, the once very famous occult-thriller (etc) writer, Dennis Wheatley [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wheatley], in his very readable memoirs, Drink and Ink, recounted how, in his popular newspaper column of the late 1930s, he recommended to his readers that they “stock up” on tinned food (mainly) against the likelihood of a European war.

Wheatley followed his own advice, and thus was better prepared than most for the rigours of British WW2 rationing. Of course, he was in a better position than most, living in a country house at Lymington in the New Forest, and with both storage space and money with which to spend stocking up.

Not a bad idea if you have those two necessities. 20 years ago, I could have done that myself; I was then living in one of the largest houses in Cornwall (only leased, sadly) and was, if far from wealthy or affluent, at least not usually very short of money on a day to day basis.

[where I lived about 20 years ago]

Times change. The whole of my present tiny flat would fit at least twice over merely into the ballroom of that Cornish house. I now have no space (let alone money to spend) “stocking-up” for national emergency. Should my circumstances change, I would do that, though.

The Mormons, at least in their home state of Utah, make sure that they have in their homes a basic supply of dried and tinned goods sufficient for 2 years. Perhaps a legacy from the covered-wagon days of the mid-19thC in that part of the world.

I shall not go into great detail here about such prepping, but since Wheatley’s 1930s, the technology of canning has moved on, the variety of tinned goods has expanded, and the same is true of dried goods.

In the end, storing tins of food etc will not save you, years down the line, but it can provide a breathing space for you and your families.

Worth considering.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/man-banned-driving-after-killing-31545389?int_source=nba

A 31-year-old man has been banned from driving after he drove through a gaggle of geese, killing seven, a court heard.

Abraham Andemariam showed a “clear disregard for the animals in the road”, leaving a number of animals dead and others injured with “skin torn away from their limbs”, the court was told. Andemariam did not stop at the scene after the incident in Warrington in July, but the registration plate of his black Hyundai was captured on a Ring doorbell and given to the police.

Rebecca Templeman, defending, explained that Andemariam, who hails from Eritrea and needed a Tigrinya interpreter in court, confessed to the offences during an interview.

[Daily Mirror]

[defendant]

Yet another ******* nuisance who should not even be in our country.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12833065/NHS-doctors-missed-cancer-spotted-Turkish-masseuse.html

A woman’s cancer was spotted during a holiday massage in Turkey – after previously being misdiagnosed by UK doctors.

Claire O’Shea, 41, had previously been told by doctors the tummy pain she was experiencing was due to irritable bowel syndrome.

But during the treatment at a baths in Istanbul the masseuse spotted the mystery lump and questioned what it was.

‘I remember talking to my friends like: “My God. How is a Turkish masseuse doing a better job of telling me what’s wrong with me than my GP has for months?”

Despite having a scan when she returned home doctors continued to insist she was suffering from benign fibroids and showed no urgency towards her.

It was only when eight months later medics removed a lump the size of a grapefruit that she was diagnosed with an incurable gynaecological cancer.

[Daily Mirror]

The health service for the people, the NHS, will only improve when it stops being treated like a quasi-religion or sacred cow, one run largely for the benefit of those who work in it. Also, when it stops having to serve an ever-expanding number of clients, many not even British.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12833357/Asylum-seeker-raped-woman-seaside-40-days-arriving-UK-France.html

An asylum seeker raped a woman in a seaside town park just 40 days after arriving in the UK, a court has heard.

Saad Gomaa, 34, told the woman he was ‘illegal’, jurors heard, as he allegedly took advantage of her drunkenness to rape her.”

[Daily Mail].

The trial continues“…apparently.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12831923/OAPs-surveillance-Minister-admits-Government-snoop-bank-accounts-state-pensioners-battle-against-8bn-year-cost-welfare-fraud-despite-Mel-Stride-saying-theres-low-level-swindling-old-age-benefits.html.

MPs have raised the alarm about proposals for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to view benefit claimants’ bank accounts for ‘social security purposes‘.

There are concerns this would allow ministers to view the banking details of any state pension recipients, whose payments are administered by DWP.”

[Daily Mail].

More nonsense from the Cabinet of Clowns. Can this Government even last out until late 2024?

Tweets seen

https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1732480024060510358

[nb. the comment refers to London social housing].

[Update, same day: Seems that the tweet, showing political academic Matt Goodwin saying that “over 50%” of London social housing is occupied by immigrant families or individuals, has been deleted. He was only slightly out; seems that the true figure is about 49%…]

More music

[K. Kazanchan, Prostor (“open expanse”)]
[painting by Volegov]

More tweets

There are still innumerable pseudo-socialists and others who seem to think seriously that the UK, and the rest of Europe, can absorb waves of mass immigration without limit. How wrong they are. In the end, those waves will break down society completely, destroy our people, and smash our society into pieces.

From me, in my present circumstances (regular readers will know what I mean!), no comment…

The logical outcome is to allow anyone at all to participate, i.e. have no men’s or women’s individual sports. Let women and men (and “trans” types) compete together. That will delete the “trans” nonsense from the whole situation (though admittedly also at the expense of women athletes, of course).

Alternatively, just have proper men’s and women’s sports, as previously.

Britain built 200k houses last year. CPS estimate we now need to build at least 514,000 houses each year, more than half of which is just to keep up with record net migration (much of which is a fiscal drag on the economy). It’s neither “racist” nor “far right” to point to how immigration is fuelling the housing crisis.

It is, however, germane, to point out that a high proportion of immigrants (both “legal” and “illegal”) have no useful qualifications, and in many cases cannot even speak English beyond the most basic level. Apart from that, the fact is that “race is the root-stock, culture is the flower and fruit“. Race or “ethnicity” is central to the whole question.

Unsurprising. After all, Mrs Thatcher was called “the only man in the British Cabinet“. Nothing much has changed. I have observed these useless drones and those of similar type for 50 years, since I was a teenager. Members of the Bench and Bar, partners in firms of City solicitors, MPs etc.

Sunak and his Cabinet of Clowns become more pathetic daily.

This was the magistrate/District Judge presiding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Ikram.

The photograph is misleading. The case commented upon was in the magistrates’ court, not the High Court or Court of Appeal.

The commentary is right, though. Some magistrates do seem to want to guess what was in the mind of a defendant posting online.

There really is no longer “free speech” or freedom of expression in the UK. My own trial, last month, confirmed that. What was behind my wrongful prosecution? The Jew-Zionist Israel-lobby cabal called “Campaign Against Antisemitism”. You don’t have to believe me, incidentally. They have admitted it repeatedly on their own Twitter/X account, as well as on their website.

Talking point

Late tweets seen

Go woke, go broke“, some say. Let’s hope so…

A bad law. I should know, having been convicted under its stupid and badly-drafted provisions only last month. The Law Commission recommended its repeal (I was one of the lay consultees, and noted as such at the end of the Law Commission report).

As to my own case, I shall decide whether to appeal after I am sentenced in a couple of months.

I hope that those convicted will appeal to Crown Court.

Little Indian money-juggler Sunak reminds me of those hopeless contestants on TV quiz shows such as The Chase, the completely ignorant contestants, of whom you wonder “why are you even on a quiz show? You couldn’t buy a right answer“.

Had I been asked as recently as last month whether I thought that Sunak would lead his “Light Brigade” into the next general election, I would have replied that he would, if only because that election now looms large, with only a year or so to go, at maximum (I am told January 2025 would be the last possible month). There is a degree of “groundrush”.

Now? I am not so sure. The Conservative Party looks like getting wiped out, or at least reduced to as few as 50 MPs, unless its “leaders” can put forward something as a gamechanger. So far, every policy initiative run up the flagpole has been shot down by a public showing of thumbs-down. It may just be that the last desperate throw will be to change the leader (again).

Late music

[Lenin, with cat, early 1920s]

Diary Blog, 4 December 2023

Morning music

Tweets seen

https://twitter.com/RobertLindsay/status/1731439564063969288

More Israeli war crimes.

“…destroys his argument“? Ha ha…

I saw the clips, not the whole show. In that second one, Tice made a reasoned plea to save what is left of our culture and way of life in the face of truly massive migration-invasion.

A very stupid woman, of whom I had not previously heard, one Christina McAnea (Irish by way of Scotland) tried to make the hackneyed claim that Irish or Scottish culture was very different from English (and that the present huge invasion and replacement of…us…was therefore somehow OK)! If so, how much more different are the cultures of Afghanistan, the Middle East, black Africa etc?

I had not heard that kind of silly and ahistorical argument (as in “the Vikings and Normans invaded ‘us’, the Huguenots settled here, and that is not different from millions of blacks and browns coming here“) for some time. It was the sort of nonsense one heard in the 1970s from ill-educated types unaware that, for example, the Vikings and Normans were the same people in origin, or that they (and the Huguenots, for that matter) were racially very similar both inter se and to the then existing inhabitants of the British Isles.

I see now that the McAnea woman read English and History at Strathclyde University in the late 1970s or 1980s, at which time she was a member of the Communist Party (she belongs to Labour now). She cannot have learned much history from that degree course.

As a matter of fact, the McAnea woman seems also to have picked up little English, listening to her confuse “less” with “fewer“…

Looking at that McAnea woman was like going back to about 1978, and not in a good way. She is a total socio-political dinosaur, who seems to turn a blind eye to the disastrous consequences of allowing up to 20,000 migrant-invaders per week (“net”, at that) to settle in this country. She and her type betray their own countrymen and women, and their own trade union members, whose children may now end up living in a race-chaos dystopia because of her and people like her. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_McAnea.

More tweets seen

It may only be about 33% now.

That last would be so if Reform UK received an across-the-board vote share of <18%; above 18% or 19%, Reform UK would get some MPs.

I have not voted since I was first eligible in 1974 (my chosen candidate came last of 4 with 594 votes). I have no interest in voting at GE 2024 either.

Appalling. The Conservative Party now attacks pensioners. There just might be no-one left standing and ready to vote Con in 2024.

Harsh, but possibly the only way.

I recall reading, in the early 1980s, the biography of the head of the Cheka, Feliks Dzerzhinsky [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Dzerzhinsky], a book produced in Soviet days (around 1970, I think) but never translated into English. It described, inter alia, how “sabotage” and negligence in various industries, particularly the railways, in the years of post-revolutionary upheaval and civil war (roughly 1918-1923) were combated by shooting those who —allegedly— abused their positions.

Whatever the whys and wherefores, it is certainly true that, after the full establishment of Soviet power, the railways never failed to work satisfactorily.

[Dzerzhinsky]

In any event, the water industry of the UK should not be in private hands. That has not worked. Water, large-scale electricity generation and distribution, gas, offshore oil, and railways, should all be under State direction.

More tweets

The picture on the right is the former head of AIPAC bragging that he controls the president and can even pick his cabinet.

The left is Joe Biden’s cabinet, showing all his top positions are given to jews.

Could you imagine if it was Russia and China bragging about controlling our president then all his cabinet was Russian or Chinese.

I’m not claiming all Jews are Israel first but I’ve noticed a large amount seem to be.”

nb. “the picture on the right” cannot be seen.

If that is even the real figure; possibly higher. So there will be a “need” (contrived, or deliberately engineered “need”) to create a city the size of Leicester, or Wakefield, or Coventry, every single year? Madness, and in fact impossible.

That’s assuming that monkey-on-a-stick Cleverly’s “plan” will work. I doubt that it will. Nothing else this Government has done works. Indeed, nothing much at all, in general, works properly in the UK any more.

That could also be said of several other System political drones.

People in the middle-stream of events are usually unaware that they are. I am thinking of Soviet citizens, East German citizens etc in the few years before Sovietism collapsed. The late 1980s. Is that where we are now in the UK? Will we look back in 10, 20, 30 years, and say “that was Britain in the last few years before it collapsed socially and economically, just before the civil war(s) started“?

Except, the future of the British people has been largely chosen for the British people, by “others”…

Interesting that only 7%-21% of the population of the UK support the Israeli side alone. “They” will have to pump out more and more msm propaganda to get those figures to increase.

The problem the Israelis and their UK Jewish supporters have is that the British people are now aware that half the population of Gaza is 18-y-o or under, and that about a quarter of the Gaza population is under-12. British people just dislike the mass killing of small or smallish children by bombing, shelling, and shooting, and by the deprivation of medical care, food, and water…

Late tweets

…yet the Telegraph has been a loudspeaker for the Israel lobby for decades.

Starmer has no principles. A puppet for the Jewish/Israel lobby.

The Editor of the Jewish Chronicle complains about abrogation of the rule of law. He might like to consider how the rule of law in the UK has been corrupted by Jewish/Zionist cabals such as the “Campaign Against Antisemitism”, the members of which admit on their website and on Twitter/X that they have been trying to get me prosecuted for at least 7 years, even prevailing upon ex-MP expenses cheat “lord” Ian Austin to write to the Director of Public Prosecutions to demand the same.

“What goes around comes around”…

Just (as Hitler said of the Weimar Republic equivalents) “dirty democratic politicians“, though “democratic” might be merely arguable.

Which is the bigger “terrorist” effect, the recent Hamas actions, or the Israeli war crimes, bombing and otherwise killing literally thousands of small children, among others?

In a way, I am surprised at that poll. After all, the younger generations in the UK have been bombarded in their schools with Jewish-Zionist propaganda for many many years, albeit mainly confined to the years 1939-45.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Wars]
[Bela de Tirefort,1951, New York Harbor from the East River]

Diary Blog, 22 November 2023

Morning music

[VDNKh, Moscow]

Tweets seen

Incidentally, I am told by a reader of this blog that The Times has printed some kind of report about my recent trial. I refuse to pay even a small amount in order read the sort of rubbish put out by the contemporary “British” newspapers, so I do not know exactly what is the content of that report (I can guess, pretty much, anyway), but what strikes me is that it has apparently only appeared today, five days after the trial itself. Hardly “breaking news”.

I wonder what will happen with the newspapers in the UK. Several years ago, Rupert Murdoch gave the paper versions of newspapers only until about 2025 to survive, and certainly one rarely sees anyone buying a newspaper these days. I occasionally see an elderly person (always elderly, meaning 70+ if not 80+) buying a newspaper in Waitrose; not so often though.

The quality of journalistic language, let alone analysis, has fallen through the floor despite (?) the now almost exclusively graduate entry. Poor English, and little background knowledge, are patent.

I read somewhere that newspapers are still functioning because the online versions both take subscriptions, and make money out of advertisements; also, the mainly young “journalist” scribblers are paid very modestly. The only highly-paid scribblers now are the “celebrity” columnists, or so I read.

I myself last bought a newspaper about 25 years ago.

Hunt and Sunak had little choice, politically. Opinion polling puts the Conservative Party on about 20% for the 2024 General Election. Most of that consists of State Pensioners. Without the pensioner vote, the Conservative Party is toast. It may be that it is anyway, but being seen to pander a bit to the most obvious interest of those over 65 is a desperate way to shore up, at least to some extent, that core vote.

Incidentally, using Electoral Calculus, the difference between (A) a 20% vote and (B) a 15% vote is (A) 57 Conservative MPs (Lab 508) and (B) 19 Conservative MPs (Lab 541).

Were the Con Party able to rise to a support-level of 25%, the result might be 125 Con MPs (Lab 452); on 30%, 219 Con MPs (Lab 360).

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

For Sunak and Hunt, the (for now) retention of the Triple Lock is a no-brainer, of course. However, it will not save them. The best they can hope for, I think, is a hard defeat next year. It is an open question whether that defeat will prove almost, or actually, existential.

Isaac Levido“? Well, wouldn’t you know? Every. Single. Time…

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

London. Zoo.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/faces-london-criminals-who-ripped-28153239?int_source=nba

Three train robbers who battered a victim for their £36 chain in a spate of 14 violent thefts have been jailed...”

[My London]

[the defendants]

More “diversity” in our wonderful new multikulti society…

I wonder what our society will look like in 20 years? Or 50? Thankfully, I shall probably not be around to see 2043, and certainly not 2073.

Late music

[Paris under German military occupation, early 1940s]

Diary Blog, 20 November 2023

Afternoon music

Tweets seen

The Ukraine of the present Kiev regime is an object lesson in how “certain influences” can degrade and destroy a whole society within a few years, though in the case of Ukraine it had already been gradually degrading since at least 1989. The process accelerated after 2014.

That whole thing (policy, propaganda, intrusive snooping, “assessments” etc, and for both physical and mental sufferers) is a kind of macabre Roman circus for the “moronic masses” who read the tabloid newspapers. Labour under Jewish-lobby puppet Starmer seems even more likely to go further down that path than the “dead man walking” Conservative Party.

The mantra continues to be “get work, get work“, when paid work now, in the UK, for many, not only pays poorly (not enough to live on even modestly) but is not far removed from effective economic serfdom.

I should add that the above does not affect me personally— I have not had to suffer such bureaucratic tortures (much) in the past, and now at age 67 I have been a “State Pensioner” for a year or so, albeit that I get rather little in money terms, having been overseas for a good chunk of my adult life.

More music

More tweets

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

I have to agree. Certainly every Old Etonian I myself have ever encountered has been a nitwit.

See also: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/10/18/the-swedish-sickness-contaminating-the-rest-of-europe-what-is-it/.

Late music

Diary Blog, 29 May 2023

Morning music

[painting by Laurent Parcelier]

Reminders

Statement

Readers of this blog who spend time on Twitter may have noticed comment triggered by the tweet below, tweeted recently by the small but well-funded (and malicious) Jew-Zionist org known as the “Campaign Against Antisemitism” or “CAA”:

In fact, that report is not entirely accurate.

I was intending not to blog at all about the above-misdescribed matter.

For one thing, the whole thing is an absurd abuse of the law, and I was intending to simply ignore it, so far as the blog is concerned.

Secondly, though the matter is in the magistrates’ court, and so involves no jury (and is under the conduct of a single District Judge), I am very aware of the need to avoid publishing anything which might be taken to be a contempt of court.

Having said that (and contrary to what can already be found, misleadingly, on Twitter), I can say, for the record:

  • that I am presently charged with five counts under the Communications Act 2003, s.127, i.e. it is alleged that 5 of the (so far) over 1,500 blog posts published on this website contained material that was “grossly offensive“;
  • that the allegations relate to five alleged blog posts dating from 2021 and 2022;
  • that the complainant is, nominally, expressed as “The State“, i.e. not the “Campaign Against Antisemitism”, nor any individual;
  • that I have not been, at any time, actually arrested in relation to the present matter (a couple of Jews on Twitter have tweeted, falsely, that I was arrested); nor was I ever under arrest in relation to the equally-malicious and false claims made against me by the “CAA” (and/or its poundland inquisitors) in previous years, notably in 2017 and 2021;
  • that in fact, and in relation to the present matter, I was simply summonsed by post, a couple of months ago, to appear at the magistrates’ court at Southampton on 23 May 2023;
  • that I did appear on 23 May 2023, for half an hour;
  • that I have pleaded Not Guilty to all charges;
  • that, in relation to the present matter, I have never been interviewed by the police; in fact the police did not speak to me at all about the allegations wherewith I am now charged;
  • that any trial of the matter (if there is a trial at all in the end) will not take place until much later in the year, possibly November or December 2023, or even later, on some date in 2024; the learned District Judge has not yet made any order as to date of trial;
  • that the present matter, depending on whether a trial actually takes place at all, and on whether at any such trial I am found guilty on any or all charges, and on whether (if found guilty on any of the charges), I then choose to appeal any conviction and/or sentence, may only determine in 2024, or even 2025;
  • that there will be one or more preliminary (procedural) hearings;
  • that, in the meantime, I remain (since 23 May 2023) on unconditional bail; and
  • that this blog will continue to be published both before and after any such trial.

I regret that, for reasons to do with avoidance of any contempt of court, I cannot at present go into detail about a number of related facts which I daresay the readers of this blog would find interesting.

Eventually, meaning after the final determination of this legal case, I shall blog about it all.

In the meantime, I doubt whether I shall blog further about the matter at all, not until after any trial.

Finally, I have to say that that “CAA” website report itself does seem to come close to the line on contempt: see https://www.gov.uk/contempt-of-court, and some tweets by Jews supportive of the “CAA” have certainly crossed that line.

Incidentally, readers may be aware that, with the advent of an “Online Safety Act” (as yet only the Online Safety Bill, but expected to become law by late 2023 or early 2024), the very concept of “grossly offensive” online posting will have been superseded by a very different legal framework based around “harm done”.

Support “the men behind the wire”

Tweets seen

GB News, though, is 99% “controlled opposition”. Useless.

Anyone of or over State Pension age who votes Labour-label now is a turkey voting for Christmas, not because the fake “Conservatives” are somehow kinder, but because the Con Party desperately needs the pensioner vote, and will therefore continue to pay for it!

Without the votes of the over-65s, the Conservative Party would only have about 50 MPs, maybe even fewer. Call it a “devil’s contract”, if you like: the Triple Lock will continue only so long as there is a Conservative Party government but, conversely, the Conservative Party in government will only continue so long as the over-65s stay on board, and that means only so long as the Triple Lock stays in place.

If the “Conservative” Party loses the pensioner vote, that vote may not go to Labour, but mere mass abstention (or a LibDem protest vote) would be enough to sink the Con Party electorally, and possibly permanently.

More tweets seen

I never had much time for Trump, and for various reasons, not least the fact that, as President, he seemed to be a squawking parrot in a gilded cage, guarded by a troop of Jew-Zionists, but at least he, if re-elected, would not escalate the Ukraine war and would probably take away Zelensky’s ricebowl (arms, ammunition, other aid, cash bungs). That would effectively end the war.

For the infantry, warfare is changing fast, and becoming even more dangerous.

Look at that. The UK in the worst position, except for Poland.

London. Zoo.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12135751/EXCLUSIVE-Met-officer-allowed-shoeless-sweet-thief-drag-female-cop-hair-blasted.html

Britain’s Police Federation today blasted a Met officer who allowed a suspected sweet thief to drag a female cop by her hair and throw her into a wall in an attack that sparked ridicule on social media.

The video saw a female officer swung around by her ponytail by an enraged 26-year-old woman in Willesden, north-east London – while her male colleague repeatedly pleaded ‘madam’ in a futile attempt to calm her.

Chiefs say it is evidence of officers being too afraid of repercussions to use the force needed to apprehend violent criminals.

[Daily Mail]

The SS might have machinegunned not only the “suspect” but those standing around and cheering-on the untermensch…

More from the newspapers

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/we-need-to-talk-about-just-stop-oils-class-privilege/

Very true. I have blogged repeatedly over the past few years about the connected “Just Stop Oil” and “Extinction Rebellion” crazies: see, eg, https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/08/16/the-extinction-rebellion-levellers/; and https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/10/09/extinction-rebellion-greta-thunberg-cressida-dick-and-the-madness-of-protesting-crowds/; and https://ianrobertmillard.org/2020/09/08/diary-blog-8-september-2020-including-further-assessment-of-extinction-rebellion-as-well-as-of-tim-crosland-and-plan-b-etc/; and https://ianrobertmillard.org/2021/08/25/diary-blog-25-august-2021-with-more-about-extinction-rebellion/.

Incidentally, I have heard little of late about or from Greta Nut (thank God). I suppose that she is now yesterday’s news. Maybe she has served most of her purpose now.

A few tweets seen about Greta Nut:

Are (((they))) still promoting her from the shadows? Odds-on…

Greta Nut is but one of the monkeys put forward for msm use; look more closely at the organ-grinders behind her.

Note the “help me” (i.e. “send money to me“) gormless expression, similar to that employed by, eg, “Jack Monroe” (when extracting more money from mugs some years ago by pretending to have cancer).

Greta Nut is a total fake, a kind of promoted Schauspiel for the easily-fooled.

More from the newspapers

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12135667/Russian-leaders-former-supporters-say-faces-growing-threat-Wagner-mercenary-army.html

Vladimir Putin is facing a growing threat of a coup from the fearsome Wagner mercenary army and anti-Kremlin rebellions on the border regions of Russia, the despot’s former supporters have said.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is acting with unidentified figures within Putin’s circle in a bid to oust the dictator, war analyst Igor Strelkov, ex-defence minister of Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed.

[Daily Mail].

I do not know. It is true, though, that the central power of the Russian state has rarely been so weak.

More tweets seen

I suppose one could say “one out of three ain’t bad“. Pity the two women escaped being hit.

Interesting. I can recall having a few anxious landings but only as a passenger. In fact, I was once on the flight deck of a commercial aircraft as it landed at Heathrow (in good weather), but very long ago; as we all know, security concerns and regulations would make that impossible today. Really very interesting for me.

Late tweets seen

Ha ha! I like the sentiment at least…

In fact, it is the Zelzal: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelzal-3. The range, though, is below 150 miles, so (to me) of limited interest.

A typical Kiev-regime thug. He speaks as if Russia were not a nuclear power, and a major one.

It cannot have escaped Erdogan’s notice that the NATO, aka NWO, powers wanted him to lose the recent election, while Putin supported him.

Russia cannot “lose”, though admittedly that is, to some extent, a question of definition.

See also: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10531509/Senior-SAS-officer-vows-hang-doctors-politicians-nurses-responsible-plan-demic.html

Late thought

It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge” [Nietzsche];

Late music

Diary Blog, 23 January 2023

Morning music

[the Great Wall of China— what an incredible achievement]

We are now, apparently, in the Year of the Water Rabbit. I myself was born in the Year of the Fire Monkey [1956].

On this day a year ago

Tweets seen

Quite. What matters is that the people have a health regime that actually works, and which is actually available to people. The NHS is increasingly in a state where it really does not work properly.

That is not going to happen, for several reasons, but mainly because “Jack Monroe” now has only one substantial and regular source of income, i.e. the 635 utter mugs donating to her regularly on Patreon, and thus bringing in tens of thousands of pounds each month.

The propaganda is constant now, now that we are in the period 2022-2055. Look at the idea that people will be paid to turn off heating or electricity. It’s mad. The whole point of having gas or electricity is so as to be able to keep warm, use appliances etc.

…people giving a rentier-parasite maybe half their take-home pay in return for being allowed to occupy some cramped urban hutch. Sick society.

I have been, in the past (pre-2009) self-employed (as a barrister in England), employed offshore (i.e. not having to pay UK income tax), and at other times employed in the UK, paying UK income tax.

The worst of the three possibilities is when someone is employed in the UK, and having to pay UK income tax, especially when having also to pay out to rent a house or apartment, and/or commute, a fortiori when having to lay out money for a long commute by rail, perhaps even —as at times in my own case— for a long-distance First Class season ticket.

Once someone has paid income tax, he or she has those unavoidable chunks taken out: rent, travel costs, costs of suitable clothing, other costs such as lunch money etc. The last may seem small, and not everyone will have to pay for restaurants or whatever, but even a Pret or the like might add up to £5, or more, per working day, say £1,000-£2,000 a year.

No wonder many, especially on modest earnings, decide (if they can) to opt out, throwing themselves on the admittedly rather strained mercies of the State by applying for small State cash benefits, but also having most if not all of their housing costs paid, having Council Tax paid, and not having to pay out for long distance or other travel, nor for formal clothing, for lunches, and for other incidental costs. Also, of course, not having to pay income tax.

For many employed people, once those chunks are taken out of gross pay, there is not a lot left, especially when one considers that those on the lowest income levels do not pay for basic NHS dental work, or prescriptions.

Poor levels of pay in the UK are a disgrace, and poor-paying employers are having their profits underpinned via Universal Credit etc paid to employed but underpaid employees. It’s quite wrong.

In the case of a “poor” pensioner, just retired from, say, a modest or low-level job, that person will be entitled to, from April 2023, about £200 per week State Pension and Pension Guarantee Credit, Housing Benefit (if applicable), Council Tax Benefit, free medical and basic dental, various extras such as Cold Weather Payments, special one-off Treasury giveaways, free bus travel etc; the upshot being that that person might well be far better off (albeit on a low level) than he/she was the year before he/she reached State Pension age.

For younger people, the best option (especially if not paying out for rent) is to get off-grid as far as possible: do work that pays in cash or in kind, or start a small business that pays (eg car repair), use (if you can afford the capital outlay at the start) renewable heat and power via solar, pico-hydro and the like, and keep outgoings small. You do not need the often-useless “advice” of such as “Jack Monroe” to do that. Commonsense does most of the heavy lifting. Cheese rather than smoked salmon, water rather than wine.

True, that kind of “off-grid” lifestyle will not get you a Rolls-Royce, or a Mercedes SUV, or holidays in Barbados; you may have to settle for a £1,000 clapped-out estate-car, and no overseas holidays, but in return you have freedom, and that is worth rubies.

Incidentally, I am not exactly describing myself. For one thing, I am now already 66, and so beyond official “working age” anyway, but in the past have experienced almost every kind of working and non-working scenario.

So much depends on one’s own exact circumstances. For example, take the stringent rationing of the Second World War, as it was in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom. Not everyone was equal.

Those best-off in WW2 Britain were probably not only those with money (who could pay for quite good dinners and lunches in the better hotels) but also and especially those in country houses, who might have had the money and space to stock up on tinned food (as Dennis Wheatley —https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wheatley—had advised in his pre-war newspaper column).

Such people would have had enough land on which to grow fruits and vegetables for themselves, and might well have the possibility to shoot game birds, rabbits, hares, even deer, and also fish for trout, salmon etc. They could also easily raise chickens for eggs, despite the paucity of chickenfeed, while the rest of the population was rationed to 1 egg per week.

Anyone in a country house would quite likely also have a wine cellar, which, if replete with Claret, Burgundy or Champagne —and adapting Sam in Casablanca— “sure takes the sting out of being occupied ” [or rationed].

Today, the same applies, pretty much. Had I a country house today, I would certainly be stocking up on tinned food (which in many cases is OK almost indefinately from the safety point of view, though only at peak quality for 5 years or less). I should also be reserving at least an acre per person for vegetables etc, and would be planting, or maintaining any existing, fruit and nut trees and bushes.

I should also be filling my equally-hypothetical wine cellar. Basic or bland food tastes a lot better with a bottle of Chateau Margaux washing it down…

When my wife and I did have (a lease of) a country house (on the Cornwall/Devon border, about 20 years ago), there existed a large number of plum and apple trees, producing a quantity of fruit quite impressive, bearing in mind that they had not been maintained, pruned etc for decades.

With war again now looming on the horizon, together with social collapse, I would, were it possible, relocate back to the South West of the UK and also, were it possible, buy a country house (and follow my own advice above).

More tweets

Ha. Quite.

…and note my blog of yesterday’s date.

The floor is too low. I think that it should be somewhere around £10M. As to the percentage, probably 1%.

Early evening music

Late tweets seen

Important results.

Late music

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