— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
The Pentagon chief will for the first time ignore the meeting of the international coalition to provide military support to Ukraine, scheduled for April 11 in Brussels
Defense News notes that Hegseth does not plan to join the meeting, either in person or remotely, and that the… pic.twitter.com/kMYxHKGYxK
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
Kharkiv under massive drone attack. There were 14 strikes on the city in 40 minutes pic.twitter.com/CjPR9sOGcC
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 2, 2025
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 2, 2025
French Foreign Minister Barrot threatens Iran with war: The window of opportunity to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue is narrow. If negotiations fail, military confrontation will be an almost inevitable price to pay at the cost of destabilizing the region. pic.twitter.com/WNT2wQj3t3
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 2, 2025
"Iran will disappear by September"🤦
The US expects to defeat Iran by September if it rejects the deal and dismantles its nuclear program, the Daily Express claims, citing an unnamed source in the US administration. 🤦🤦🤦 pic.twitter.com/weXy5O17la
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 2, 2025
Europe should declare neutrality in respect of all current wars and other conflicts; however, it seems to be going the other way…
NWO/ZOG…
Putin is a dictator?
Meanwhile in Europe:
France 🇫🇷: Marine Le Pen sentenced and barred from running in the elections. Romania 🇷🇴: Elections canceled, winning candidate arrested and imprisoned. Germany 🇩🇪: Preparations for a similar scenario against the AfD party. Slovakia 🇸🇰:… pic.twitter.com/gTp0To4U4p
[“Meanwhile in Europe: France— Marine Le Pen sentenced and barred from running in the elections. Romania— Elections canceled, winning candidate arrested and imprisoned. Germany– Preparations for a similar scenario against the AfD party. Slovakia— assassination attempt against anti-war Prime Minister Robert Fico. Hungary— Continued attacks against Orbán and pressure to exclude Hungary from EU decisions. Estonia— 25% of Russians barred from voting in the elections.”]
❗ By effectively equating any form of engagement with Russia with a potential offence, the UK authorities have further cemented Britain's status as one of the most unfriendly Western jurisdictions.
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 3, 2025
[“By effectively equating any form of engagement with Russia with a potential offence, the UK authorities have further cemented Britain’s status as one of the most unfriendly Western jurisdictions. The move leaves little doubt that the UK intends to further escalate its confrontation with Russia. http://t.me/RusEmbUK/2086“]
“More than half of LabourList readers expect Labour to lose the Runcornand Helsby by-election and anticipate the party will lose a “significant number of seats” at the local elections, exclusive polling by Survation for LabourList has revealed.
Around 53% of those surveyed believe Reform UK candidate Sarah Pochin will win the first Westminster by-election of the parliament, taking place on May 1.
Less than a quarter said they expected Labour to hold the seat when voters go to the polls, with around one in five (19%) unsure as to which party will emerge the victor.”
[Labour List]
[“No, wait! I have always voted Labour! My parents, grand-parents and great-grandparents also always voted Labour in Runcorn!“]
Late tweets seen
its not really failing as they never had any intention of addressing it
Tomorrow, I’m publishing the latest bonkers stats on how Keir Starmer and Labour are utterly failing to control immigration, the borders and, by extension, our country. Get it straight to email (free)https://t.co/liUeIhMiRY
It’s going to be a type of referendum on labours performance
— Common Sense Is Dead (@commonsense1191) April 3, 2025
Israeli media publishes a list of possible targets for a strike on Iran in the form of infographics: it includes military bases, nuclear and other strategically important facilities pic.twitter.com/idNNoHcRcL
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
In Russian translation; includes Teheran and Isfahan.
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
The editor-in-chief of the Middle East Eye warned about the consequences of a strike on Iran, stressing that such a war would be existential in nature , and Tehran would strike with everything it has .
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
Israel continues massive bombing of residential areas in Gaza Strip. Middle East channels sadly note that Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have ceased to be covered by international media. pic.twitter.com/yhFERPCKDg
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
NATO Commander-in-Chief Cavoli said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were incapable of launching a major offensive pic.twitter.com/RQ5sOAamWd
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) April 3, 2025
As frequently said before on the blog, Russia cannot lose this war and will not lose this war.
Late music
[Akademgorodok, near Novosibirsk, Western Siberia]
[Hitler enters Vienna in 1938, after the Anschluss, and to general acclamation]
Tweets seen
"Terms like 'far-right' are now being stretched by liberal progressives to try and silence, stigmatise and shut down voters who question the established consensus among elites. Many voters can now see this"https://t.co/dmSQkhk9mG
By my use of Electoral Calculus, that might translate to Lab 476 Commons seats (overall majority 302), Con 68 (official Opposition), LibDems 62, SNP 13, Reform UK 4, Plaid Cymru 4, Greens 2 (Northern Ireland 18, Others 3).
What kind of “democracy” is it, though, when a party (Labour) might get 39% of the popular vote, yet get about 72% of the seats in the House of Commons (476 seats)? A strict 39% of seats would be 253 seats.
Another party (Conservatives) might get 19% of the popular vote, meaning, on strict mathematical equivalence, about 124 seats, not the mere 68 conferred by FPTP voting.
As for Reform UK, its present or forecast 17% should confer (under proportional voting) about 111 seats. The forecast under FPTP voting— a mere 4.
There again, the LibDems, with only 10% of the popular vote, are forecast to have 62 seats, almost the same as under a strict proportional allocation (65).
Can such an electoral system even be called “democratic”? Open question.
The DDR was a strange little country, in which I spent a couple of days in 1988; actually, not quite as small a country as commonly imagined: about 42,000 sq. miles, as against England’s 51,000, but with an overall density of population about a third of England’s (the UK as a whole has about 94,000 sq. miles).
Thérèse Coffey's constituency is on a knife edge. Lib Dems, lend your votes to Labour and a grateful nation will thank you. This needs to be reciprocated by Labour up and down the country. This is a generational opportunity to crush the Tories once and for all.#politicslivepic.twitter.com/yuNfo47v8l
— paulusthewoodgnome 🇺🇦💙 (@woodgnomology) June 12, 2024
Interesting both in itself and re. the tactical voting point.
“Two men have been jailed for a total of 67 years for shooting and stabbing to death an 18-year-old in east London.
Awadh Saleh and Rio Burton-Devine, both aged 25 from east London, were found guilty of the murder of Abubakar ‘Junior’ Jah, 18, at the Old Bailey today.
Judge Mark Dennis KC sentenced the pair to 36 years and 31 years respectively for the ‘brutal and cowardly’ attack in 2021.”
[defendant]
What will London be like in 2034 or 2044?
The System parties have no real answers.
Late tweets
This seems like a bit of a tipping point / watershed moment. My gut tells me that a decent proportion of Tory voters were waiting on this moment – using it as a test to see if Reform really could be considered a legitimate political force.
By my use of Electoral Calculus [https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll.html], that actually puts the Cons in a marginally better position than other recent polls, by reason of the slip in Labour’s position, but it still means Lab 466 (overall majority 282), Con 70, LibDem 70, Reform UK 4, Greens 2.
Were Labour to recover to 40%, the number of Con MPs would reduce to 51; were Labour to rise to 41%, the number of Con MPs would be a mere 42.
https://t.co/ImFdML1ebM Nigel Farage’s Reform party has overtaken Conservatives in a poll for 1st time. Tories were pushed into third in the survey, by pollsters YouGov.The findings will come as a blow to Rishi Sunak after a disastrous election campaign & risks triggering panic
— ML ie @randlight which has been deactivated why ? (@LightfootMarg) June 13, 2024
ITV Debate tonight – When questioned by Reform UK's Nigel Farage on why should the public trust the Conservatives on immigration, Tory Penny Mordaunt calls on the recent Prime minister's record to defend her – the Tories are a joke!#itvdebate#VoteReform#NigelFaragepic.twitter.com/DdEiD5IEPk
Penny Mordaunt is campaigning not so much for the Conservative Party as for her own political career (in fact, her career full stop, for she has no other). It seems 50-50, at best, that she will be re-elected anyway.
Labour is as dull as ditchwater, as witness its pathetic Manifesto for the General Election, but I do not think that it much matters now. The main aim of 80%+, maybe even 90%, of the electorate is to get rid of the Conservative Party not just for the next 5 years but permanently. Starmer and fake Labour will only fail to sweep all before them —by default— if something so devastating happens to their campaign that it is hard to imagine what.
Late music
[a rainy night in Tunis; I last trod that pavement in 1986]
Ukrainian resources report additional reconnaissance of targets in Odessa, a subsequent strike by land-based and sea-based cruise missiles cannot be ruled out
A military train with the Russian MLRS "Uragan" and other equipment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was sent to help the RF military in the SMO zone. pic.twitter.com/9udrRjDxCg
So the “Conservative” Party has now alienated the” “young” generally (maybe 90% of those under 30), the working families, the unemployed, most voters under 60, both those who support “refugees” incoming and also those who do not want more migrant-invaders, those renting properties because unable to buy, those wanting clean rivers and other environmental improvements, and now those who are sick and/or disabled and who are not already anti-Con.
Many, perhaps most, of those getting disability benefits are over 60, i.e. the only demographic until recently still supporting the Conservative Party.
The trend of things electoral seems to be that the hard core of Conservative Party support for the expected 2024 General Election will be persons over 60 who 1. have no opinion either way about the migration invasion, who 2. are homeowners without any mortgage obligation, who 3. are not short of money, 4. who do not receive any State benefits at all (beyond the State Pension itself), and 5. who do not object to a government (at Cabinet level) largely composed of non-whites.
There is at least a possibility that Sunak will suspend the Triple Lock on State pensions, as he did when Chancellor. As I predicted on the blog at the time, that first decision cut away the bedrock of pensioner electoral support for (and trust in) the Conservative Party; the fall in Con Party fortunes dates from that time a couple of years ago.
I begin to think that Sunak will be lucky to keep even 20% of the popular vote, though I still see Labour as not offering anything much to the British people (and, after all, Starmer’s policies are not, in reality, going to be much different to those of Sunak).
I should think that, despite the fact that the Sunak government is doomed, the next election in terms of seats will be decided by many voters making their decision in the final days of the campaign.
Dawn Butler… The disrespect is not because of your colour it is because of your extreme anti white, anti British agenda and that big chip on your shoulder not to mention your incompetence as an MP
The Russian Armed Forces attacked the port infrastructure and fuel depots in the Odessa region with the help of 15 Geran drones pic.twitter.com/wgQOog5z19
WSJ: Western policy towards Ukraine only delays its defeat
This was stated to the newspaper by the former assistant to former US President Donald Trump for national security, John Bolton . “The failure of the Ukrainians to make significant progress was a natural result of the… pic.twitter.com/HTIMmKLOkk
The US said that Ukraine needs to “forget” about Crimea in order to end the conflict with Russia
This opinion was voiced by the political consultant of the State Department and the US Department of Defense Edward Luttwak . “The infrastructure of Ukraine is being destroyed… pic.twitter.com/hvr6dfDPvo
I did not know that he was still around; I recall reading his book, Coup d’Etat, around 1978. Some British Army fellow “borrowed” it, and I was unable to get it back.
Poland is preparing for a military parade. It is especially amusing to see German Leopards regularly burning in the fields of Zaporozhye. pic.twitter.com/Fmj11ihwan
It is a notorious fact that armies and states often prepare to fight the last war, the war already fought. In 1939, Poland collapsed within 5 weeks after powerful German forces invaded from the west, indeed from west, north, and south simultaneously on and after 1 September 1939.
The Polish forces were hopelessly outmanouvered and outgunnned. They withdrew to the southeast, only to be outplayed when Soviet forces invaded from the easterly direction on 17 September 1939. Faced with attacks from all sides, the Poles had no choice but to surrender de facto by 6 October 1939, though there never was a formal surrender.
Notoriously, the Poles, in one famous engagement, made a hopeless cavalry charge against the latest German tanks. The Germans were fighting (as it turned out) the Second World War, whereas the Poles were using the tactics not even of the First World War but of the 19th Century.
Scrolling on to 2023, we see the Polish Army more powerful than it has been for centuries, but its strength lies in armour, and in numbers. Second World War strengths. The Russians may or may not be able to equal that, not without general mobilization, but Russia also has well over 6,000 nuclear weapons of various kinds, mostly missiles. Nuclear missiles (etc) against tanks?
The old Soviet Union also had “suitcase bombs”, capable of destroying city centres to a diameter of perhaps two miles. Does Russia have a similar programme now? I do not know, but would not bet against it.
What is disturbing at present is that, even more than in 1939, the war drums are beating far louder than the plaintive cries for peace.
Not just in Poland and Ukraine, but across the world, especially in the USA and UK, and in the EU.
The EU is in big trouble as Poland calls referendum on illegal immigration for October. The ref seeks to defeat the EU's plan to force EU nations to take illegal immigrants against their will. The EU will lose badly. When can Brits have the same vote? https://t.co/DjI2AfpQHL
It is a warning, “a shot across the bow”. The fastest, most advanced Russian missiles, with nuclear warheads, cannot be intercepted at present. Stop fuelling the Kiev regime, stop getting entangled in war with Russia.
Late tweets seen
On UAF troops powerful arrivals in Kramatorsk
Fire and smoke can be seen from miles away.
Presumably, there are hits on the objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the workshops of the Energomashspetsstal machine-building plant and the Kramatorsk heavy machine… pic.twitter.com/3T4h0CragF
The monitoring resources of the Armed Forces of Ukraine report the take-off from the Olenya airfield of Tu-95MS strategic bombers and the entry into the Black Sea of the frigate Admiral Makarov
Was just watching one of those Michael Portillo rail journeys on TV, Vienna to Trieste. Interesting. Vienna railway station looks better now than the old one that I saw a couple of times in the 1980s.
More interesting to me was when Portillo mentioned that, in the several decades before the First World War, the population of Vienna had increased by 5x, but that the Jewish population of Vienna had increased by no less than 35x! That explains much.
The six cities of Europe with the greatest (absolute) numbers of Jews today (as of a couple of years ago) are Paris, Moscow, London, Kiev, Budapest, and Marseilles. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population_by_city.
Apart from anything else, older British people do not want to work for rubbish pay or, if on better pay, to be taxed through the nose so that money in huge amounts can be wasted on the sort of rubbish we saw during the “panicdemic” of 2020-2021, or on migrant-invaders posing as “refugees”, or on any other rubbish.
I agree with them (though I am now 66 anyway): I say— live on a lower spend-level, re-evaluate, live (as far as you can) off-grid (or at least cut off from the HMRC, DWP, professional and other leeches such as lawyers, accountants, estate agents etc), and plot the end of this society while seeding a new one.
“The city [Bakhmut] sits on an important confluence of supply routes and, when fighting started at least, was seen as a vital staging point for assaults further into Donbas – particularly the nearby cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.
Now, though, the battle is more symbolic than practical. Most analysts agree the blood price that Russia has paid trying to take Bakhmut – thought to be more than 100 troops per day – is not worth the value of capturing it.“
[Daily Mail]
Perhaps but, if that city is so unimportant, why are the Kiev-regime forces also trying so hard to win there —at the cost of a similar number of casualties, probably— ?
[state of play as of 2-3 February 2023]
Kiev remains the jewel in the crown. If Russia can take Kiev and Kharkov, the war will be almost over. Maybe later this year.
Tweets seen
How do you know? Are you her GP now? Have you any clinical qualifications or are you just another troll? What's the matter, you upset she has more reach than you given that no one knows who you are?
Jack stated in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago that she’d spent the money given to her for campaigning on drink and expensive sideboards. That was money people like I gave her to make a difference, not to waste. When did she last campaign on anything poverty related?
I don’t sleep at night, I’m busy caring for someone seriously ill and working out how to stay afloat. I gave to Jack thinking she’d help people like me, I feel so much better knowing my money went on booze when it could have done good elsewhere or stayed with me.
If she is that mentally ill she shouldn’t be online and her family should be stepping in. She hasn’t been “hounded off” her lies and cheating has been called out and instead of apologising she laughed, laughed at those in poverty who gave to her thinking she made a difference.
How do you know what I have or haven’t done? Or will do? At least I’ve never taken donations from the poorest in society to campaign to make things better for them and then laughed about wasting that money. That’s low and you defend it!
You’ve no idea when I donated it to which of her many money making schemes it was. Was it Teemill with the missing donations? Was it jar rattle? Was it buying an extra book? Patreon? Crowdsourcing for books? Sue 30p Lee? Fix her website? So many options! So much grifting.
I have no idea whether “@ChrissieClarky” is another “Jack Monroe “sock account” or just another pro-“Jack Monroe oddity. Birds of a feather flock together, after all.
Actually, the “mental health” defence is quite clever because, first of all, it enables “Jack Monroe” to do more or less as she pleases— take money from the naive and well-meaning, drink herself silly, take drugs, spend money (mostly donated) like a drunken sailor etc; secondly, it gives a “reason” for the above defaults and, thirdly, makes any critics (or even those just trying to get their money back) seem like “bullies” and “trolls”.
When “Jack Monroe” closes down her Twitter account (as she has done at least three times even in the last few months) her supporters blame “trolls“, “bullies” etc, rather than noticing that, that way, she can avoid answering embarrassing questions about her extraction and misuse of money…
I see plenty of the well-meaning saying that “Jack Monroe” should stay off Twitter, and/or get “help”. Why would she do that? It has been Twitter, and her whole social media facade, that (together with msm promotion) has built her “career” as a supposed champion of the food-poor, and has given her (via Patreon etc) an income of —at least— several thousand pounds a month and possibly as much as £40,000 a month, but probably around £6,000 a month.
There were at one time 800 “mugs” paying “Jack Monroe” between £3.50 and £44 a month via Patreon alone! Partly due to Jewish TV cook Nigella Lawson’s promotion of her; Jay Rayner, the Jewish restaurant critic, was also applauding her at one time, but seems to have belatedly seen the light in recent months.
Even at time of writing today, 497 utter mugs are still signed up to her Patreon “grift”. That is actually a couple more than yesterday! Average (?) £10 a month = about £5,000 a month. A “nice little earner”…
New Russian “Marker” robot that’ll be sent to Ukraine war. Former Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin says “it’ll be taught to hit Leopards and Abrams”. pic.twitter.com/B3AZNzqEsO
— #CeasefireNow #BDS #Yemen #Kashmir #Assange (@ChristineJameis) February 3, 2023
Shaftesbury is one of the highest towns in England, standing as it does at 750 feet above sea level. The beautiful village was founded by the Saxons. Dorset 🏴 pic.twitter.com/Sd0jTQ0Rv3
Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England 🏴 pic.twitter.com/btVYuEPea5
Can you imagine the outcry from Labour and The Guardian if the Tory Government said it was going to prioritise government contracts for firms led by the white working class? How about we offer taxpayer cash to the best firm for the job, regardless of immutable characteristics? 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/Q5kIhAOolY
Now they've found Ernest Shackleton's ship Endeavour, it won't be long before Dan Snow and Channel 4, make the documentary telling how it was originally crewed by Jamaican Lesbians.
To send men into battle without #artillery cover is murder. So we can add conspiracy to murder to the other crimes of the Sunak regime (of British soldiers, as well as the Donbass civilians the Azov nazis will kill before these guns are quickly destroyed)https://t.co/C6VEJsyiBm
Let's get this straight: We had artillery, but no ammunition for it. Now the politicians have given away the artillery, so even if we had shells there's no way to fire them. Even if we could buy the (Russian) chemicals to make them. Couldn't make it up!https://t.co/ljhY8Pq8x4
Another US insider publication spells it out. The #UkraineRussiaWar is all over bar the dying of more poor Ukrainian conscripts. Russia has won, and a deal will be done. Watch for Biden to declare victory and leave. It is, after all, the American way!https://t.co/Hu7zrwdmZ9
I too make a living off donations from the public (due to an actual service I reliably provide, unlike her) and if I frittered it away on expensive sideboards and booze at least I would not talk about it online. Esp if posing as a champion of The Poors.
She’s absolutely 100% deluded!! I did ask her before if she believed her own bullshit. I think she’s so far up her own arse that she actually does believe it. Then there’s the few sad sacks out there who defend her to the hilt!! They are as bonkers as she is
Back in May 2022, “Bootstrap Cook” was threatening all and sundry (including MP Lee Anderson) with her Jewish lawyer, but since then the lawyer in question (Mark Lewis), who may or may not be retained at present, has not emerged from his kennel to bark at anyone, at least not publicly, and it is now pretty obvious that, despite more “Jack Monroe” Twitter lies from time to time, Lee Anderson and Martin Daubney are not going to be sued by her.
Hang on…. so let me get this right. Jack Monroe posted a pic off Google of some sobriety chips to try and win an argument, got busted as having done so, and has now flounced off again?!? The scam's crashing down around her now isn't it. Desperation. https://t.co/y71c7A8UGO
I've literally lost track of the sheer web of lies that Jack Monroe has spun. Seems safest bet is to file anything she tweets, writes or says into the box labelled "bullshit" 🤣🤣
Partly true, though not the full picture. There is too much housebuilding, especially in the south of England; there is too much pesticide/herbicide use; the water companies are a disgrace; there is still a push for ever-more-intensive farming.
#Britain should engage directly in war against #Russia, says Tobias Ellwood, head of the British parliament's defence committee. "We are at war in Europe, we need to move to martial law". pic.twitter.com/4mibIJqECW
So Vallance has morphed from being a “Covid” scaremaster and “vaccine” cheerleader to being a “climate change”/”net zero” propagandist. That fits, as one would expect. I wonder what he thinks about “Black Lives Matter”, Ukraine etc.
Yes, wake up, English “conservative nationalists”! The Indians are not your allies, any more than are the Pakistanis; incidentally, neither are the Jews and/or Israel. Don’t be fooled.
😡Jeezo do they not understand main reason for bankers bonus cap was to reduce excessive risk-taking. We need a steady ship in these stormy times Instead weve got a bunch of anarchic ideological psychopaths loading the ship with dynamite and sailing us towards a firework display https://t.co/VJ6FFAlA8i
So speaketh the “Levelling Up Secretary” and, prior to that (incredibly), Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
When you look at the pack of cretins now running this unbelievable bad joke of a government, you realize anew how truly unfit for purpose our political system has become.
💬 President #Putin: No one will ever be able to ban or cancel our unique civilisation and Russia's rich culture, just as it is impossible to rattle or even less so to destroy the values that make Russian society one and make us one big, united nation. pic.twitter.com/M9eziboKNW
💬 FM Lavrov's interview with the @Newsweek magazine
❗️ Washington is not interested in establishing peace and tranquillity in Ukraine. That became clear already in March, when Moscow and Kiev came close to reaching mutual agreements.
The UN Centre in Vienna (actually on the edge of the city) is an odd place; at least that was my impression when I saw it in the mid-1980s. A concrete fortress or “island” (not literally, though actually on a large island in the Danube), set in quite a green area between the old Vienna and a newer section.
I used to swim, almost every day during my visit, at the not-far-away Alte Donau Strandbad, a closed-off section of the Danube that is either an “oxbow lake” or an artificial version of one. Superb place. Clean river water, a green park, properly-run facilities for changing etc and, best of all, few people. I was there on weekdays, when even in high summer the bulk of the hardworking population were at their jobs.
You cannot just wander into that UN Centre. Even in those days you had to have a pass issued by the security kiosk there. I did not have to get a tourist pass because someone I knew who worked there got me a different kind of visitor pass. The difference was that tourists get a guided tour, whereas I was fairly free to wander around.
A large collection of buildings.
I remember trying to get a sense of what is quite a confusing set-up. I remember seeing a noticeboard with ads for various kinds of local staff. The rates of pay, as far as I could see, were far better than the same people would get in Vienna itself, and were of course not taxable (UN employees do not pay national income tax but only a kind of UN tax, which is far lower).
Another thing that struck me was the Commissary, which no doubt had its origins in the immediately postwar 1940s days when almost everything was unobtainable, but what is odd about that is that the UN Centre in Vienna was established only in 1980, a mere few years before I visited! So a mystery. Maybe there was an earlier, smaller mission.
That Commissary, about the size of a medium-level convenience store, sold duty-free food and drink (including booze) to anyone who was a UN employee or, I think, accredited diplomat. A strange “boondoggle”, in the American phrase. I noticed (I think on a Friday), a couple of (from their stature and looks) East African women, buying Scotch.
[UN Centre, Vienna]
[Alte Donau from the air; UN Centre in distance]
[Alte Donau, Vienna; when I swam there, far fewer people were around]
Not sure I would call them “happy days”, but not very unhappy, anyway.
Comparison
The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation is Sergei Lavrov.
Now let us examine his present opposite number in the UK, James Cleverly, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
[James Cleverly]
Cleverly, a “half-caste” (in the old term), with a British father and a mother from Sierra Leone, seems to have wanted an Army career.
According to Wikipedia, Cleverly “trained in the Army“, whatever that may mean (no detail of whether he was training to be an officer or as an enlisted soldier, presumably the latter, nor of where he trained, nor in what regiment or corps), but suffered a leg injury in 1989 and had to drop out. He would have been 19 or 20 at that time.
Cleverly was involved, not terribly successfully (one can surmise) in business and executive activities during the years up to about 2008, but by then was involved in two side-activities which proved more fruitful for him— politics, and the then Territorial Army (now, Reserves).
Cleverly’s leg injury had obviously been resolved by the time he was commissioned in the TA as 2nd lieutenant in 1991. He stuck at that for the following 14 years, reaching the rank of Lt. Col by 2015.
In politics, Cleverly was a London Assembly member for 8 years from 2007. Cleverly then benefited from the scandal around the ineffectual Jew sex pest and pervert Brooks Newmark, who had to stand down as MP for Braintree (Essex). Cleverly replaced Newmark.
Cleverly’s time as MP has not been distinguished, but the upheavals within the Conservative Party led to him being appointed as a Minister of State in 2020 and now, under Liz Truss, as Secretary of State. His appointment dates from 6 September 2022, about two weeks ago.
Well, there it is. Sergei Lavrov’s background, languages, and 18 years of experience (and many successes) in post, as against James Cleverly’s background, lack of success (other than in narrow career terms), two years of arguably relevant experience, and time in post as Secretary of State five minutes (putting it flippantly).
It will be recalled that when (also absurdly) Liz Truss was Foreign Secretary, Lavrov easily made a fool of her, inducing her to say that quite well-known cities in Russia should be given “back” to Ukraine (the stupid woman had no idea that they never had been part of Ukraine; one was not far from Moscow).
Liz Truss was an embarrassment as Foreign Secretary; she is just ludicrous as Prime Minister. Now someone even less educated is Foreign Secretary. This country is screwed.
Sergei Lavrov will win no plaudits for his kindly good nature, but on whom would you bet your money?
Late afternoon music
[“The Golden Wheat”]
More tweets
Excess deaths: Nearly 90,000 more people died at home from non-Covid causes during the pandemic. We need some answers as to why this has happened.
While it may seem cruel to mock someone who, quite obviously, is not always compos mentis, that person, Biden, heads the most powerful country on Earth, with enough nuclear weaponry to send us all permanently into orbit. It is all very well to say that he is not really in charge, but that simply raises the question, “who is?” or “what cabal is?“, and what is the real agenda?
1/2 .@alastairromanes. So 30 years of NATO expansion, of arming & equipping Ukraine,of billions spent on 'civil society' orgs, culminating in the violent overthrow of Ukraine's legit government because it woudln't align with the West, neither affected events nor were intended to? https://t.co/QfOe1GQZ65
2/2 .@alastairromanes And pouring in military equipment, real-time intel, ammunition and (I think we may confidently say ) 'advice', since February has not in any way lengthened or sustained the war? Golly. Cause and effect must have changed a lot since I were a lad. https://t.co/QfOe1GQZ65
It can use its diplomatic heft to begin peace talks. Ukraine's government, probably the only body which might now oppose seeking peace, would not get far in opposing such a move. @GaryFlo29335543https://t.co/ChUniwCIfB
“The Germans have a Health Minister who’s only qualification is a Certificate in Business Studies and a so called Covid expert working at the Robert Koch Institute who’s only qualification is having one in Veterinary science.” [the published comment of a Daily Mail reader]. (reader’s spelling, not mine).
People across Europe are starting to fight for freedom. A small minority, yes, but backed by many millions of others. There is always a vanguard ahead of the mob.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch police fired at random into the crowd, killing two protesters. So much for the superficially “caring sharing” Dutch state…oh, and incidentally…the Daily Mail chose not to report that fact.
This is the demo in #Vienna against forced vax in #Austria. Since you didn't see it on the news tonight, are you happy that the #MSM so blatantly refuse to let you see the truth & make up your own mind? pic.twitter.com/NeOSU8f02d
That is where we are in the UK: suppression of real news, endless (and endlessly dull) recounting of the official versions of “fake news” (mainly “Covid” nonsense, with some “climate change” stuff tacked on, and there is little or no real difference among the main System news outlets: BBC, Sky, ITN etc. Britain is now largely (((occupied))) territory. ZOG.
More than half of Britain's lifeboats are run by independent local communities, without any support from the #wokeisajoke#RNLI. Find one and transfer your support to a proper charity. pic.twitter.com/jatFCeYDxZ
I was going to add something about Brenton Tarrant, but the repression of free speech in the UK is now such that a degree of self-censorship afflicts even me…
Anyone who has visited an NHS hospital in the past 18 months (as I have, several times, as a specially-permitted visitor) must have noticed that hospitals have been largely empty, the few staff almost unoccupied. There are, probably, exceptions to my impression(s), perhaps in a few large cities, but I have seen what I have seen.
When confronted with the total hypocrisy of private jets and 50-vehicle motorcades for oligarchs and imperialists attending a "climate change" conference predicated on demonizing a carbon gas "emergency"… this is how a socialist responds: "Did you expect them to walk?" https://t.co/LYJ1smgpDipic.twitter.com/IYrXr1oyJM
The pseudo-socialists on Twitter are just me-too idiots, whose only aim is to “deplatform” those with whose views and ideas they disapprove. No ideas about society, except that everything would, they imagine, be much better if advanced white societies were flooded even more by the backward and unpleasant from the black/brown areas of the Earth. They are basically “useful idiots” for those pushing the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan.
In fact, there is a need to depopulate, but the devil is in the detail. What is needed now is for the European populations to stay pretty much at their present levels, but for there to be a large-scale diminution of the non-European populations.
They changed the definition of case. They changed the definition of infection. They changed the definition of herd immunity. They changed the definition of vaccine. And they wonder why so many people are suspicious that something odd is going on.
Ecce, the complete unreality of the pseudo-socialist Twitterati. Wales as an independent country? It never has been, unless you count its prehistoric origins: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales#History.
Wales is small (the same size as New Jersey, at about 8,000 square miles), and has three million people. Its resources traditionally lay in sub-surface minerals and rocks: coal, slate etc, now not hugely valuable or competitive internationally.
The agricultural sector relies on subsidy, much of Welsh agriculture consisting of uneconomic hill farms.
Tourism exists, mainly in some coastal towns but also elsewhere.
An independent Wales would be a very poor little state.
Aaron Bastani’s tweet, above, seems to envisage an independent socialist Wales. It seems to me that Wales is better off as part of the UK. After all, without UK (English) subsidy, Wales would have little money to subsidize its farming sector, the coal mines are merely historical now (and part of the “heritage tourism” trade), the slate mines still exist here and there but are hardly the basis for statehood’s necessary income, and tourism could not bear the financial load of true “statehood”. What else is there? Not much, I think.
In my view, a truly independent and socialist Wales would be as poor as North Korea after a while. An extreme view? Not really. How would the Welsh Government fund hospitals, schools, and so on?
Not that it could not be done. Will is all. If the 3,000,000 people resident in Wales (many of them now English) were to vote for real independence, they could make it work, up to a point. Why not? However, they would have to accept living standards far below even the modest ones now existent.
A good example of the political, or social, or ideological cover the “Covid” “panicdemic”/”scamdemic” gives to political apparatchiki. Had those “Abos” been detained for any other reason, or under any other excuse, the pseudo-socialists, “human rights” bods etc, even the msm talking heads, would have been outraged and up in arms against it. Not this time, because…”Covid”…the magic word that quells all opposition.
James O'Brien caller: 'The tolerance for antivaxxers may fall down when ICU beds run out and they're occupied by the unvaccinated.'@mrjamesobpic.twitter.com/uhzzKEh2mS
System mouthpiece James O’Brien expressing support for “more meaningful measures“, meaning forced “vaccination”, camps for dissidents etc.
O’Brien says that only a “tiny minority” oppose such measures. Not true, but, how strange, the vast majority in England want NO MORE MASS IMMIGRATION, yet when it comes to migration-invasion, msm/System mouthpiece O’Brien seems to prefer the views of the “tiny minority” (the “refugees welcome” dimwits, the Jewish lobby —mostly pro-immigration— etc)…
'When dementia hits me at least they can't take my house away…'
Useless (at his job), irritating, ignorant (but paid a few hundred grand a year anyway…) Jeremy Vine, showing incredible (?) bias, with guests the hugely ignorant scribbler (poses as “journalist”) Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, and Daily Mail scribbler, something (?) Pierce. That is what the msm serve up to the watching populace as a “discussion”, with the presenter, Vine, advocating that the government use “snitches“, fines, prison, “spot checks” of documents etc to repress those who defy “vaccination” with useless fake vaccines.
At least the DDR [East Germany] did not seriously pretend to have “civil rights”…
When the Hungarian Uprising occurred in 1956, those most closely involved with the repression of the population (secret policemen etc) were caught, and some of them suffered the supreme penalty at the hands of the rebels.
Britain was once proud of its civil rights. Even during WW2, when rights were partly suspended, few openly called for the introduction of a complete police state…yet here now in the UK, we see mediocre System msm mouthpieces openly calling for a system of secret informers, denunciation of neighbours and family members, authoritarian police presence on the streets and checking “papers”, and “volunteer co-workers” helping the State to keep the population repressed.
All that, notionally, for suppression of a virus which has (supposedly) killed about ONE in every FOUR THOUSAND people in the world (1 in 1,000 in the UK)…
A little Ostalgie?
Afternoon music
[Mill Colonnade, Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czech Republic, Europe]
I caught a few minutes of Diane Abbott on Newsnight, still defending the migration-invasion. That stupid bitch must have been worth a million votes to the Conservative Party in 2019!
I have not been to the Imperial War Museum since the mid-1980s when I was frequently in the vicinity. Since then, the IWM has, I believe, given over a large area to a permanent “holocaust” propaganda display. Once you start purveying that kind of ahistorical fakery, there is no going back, and you end up inviting a taxpayer-funded (why?) bunch of cretins to shout out “anti-racist” (in reality, anti-White and anti-British) black “rap”-crap on Remembrance Day.
The Daily Mail, of course, completely tied in with the Jewish lobby, would never make the connection…
In fact, the nonsense reported on is but part of the frenzied racemixing and anti-European agenda now being promoted everywhere— in TV drama, TV ads, across all msm platforms. The very significant year 2022 is fast approaching, the next key year in the 33-year cycle, and with it the agenda of the transnational conspiracy usually abbreviated to NWO/ZOG.
Not that I favour Churchill’s misconceived and evil war against the German Reich, of course, but I doubt that the rap-crap mentioned that.
Incidentally, imagine the (much greater) furore if a “rap” or other group had launched, at that museum, a satirical or other attack on the baleful influence of Jews or, indeed, blacks, at some point in history. That’s right, neither of those would happen. Then ask yourself why…
Ehrentempel
[“Feierlichkeiten zum 9. November in München. Ehrentempel auf dem Königsplatz”]
I cannot read the names on the U.S. military document below, but some persons without military rank are suggesting destruction of the structure. Probably Jews; who else, arguably, would make such a vandalistic suggestion? “…most offensive” and “dangerous“? Typical language, also arguably. We see the same terms used by the Zionists in 2021 Britain.
In the UK, Jews are at the forefront of the free speech battle, constantly trying to use “lawfare” and undue influence to shut down free speech, in particular any mention of Jews that is not laudatory, as well as any critical examination of their history and behaviour.
I have already blogged to the effect that only a massive window-breaking event (“Kristalltag“?) in Vienna, and soon, might wake up the Austrian people before the biosecurity police state’s grip tightens yet again.
Do you remember the Wuhan videos of people dropping dead? Same strategy to scare and demoralise. Austria is a psyops.
The System will say anything, and apparently do anything, to get enmeshed in Eastern Europe. Remember 1939 (or at least remember reading about it)? The governments of Britain and France gave the government of Poland a worthless guarantee, that is that Britain and France would come to the aid of Poland were it to be attacked.
Well, we know what happened. Germany did attack, and that triggered declarations of war against Germany by Britain and France, but —crucially— no troops or ships were sent to aid Poland. None.
The British and French governments used Germany’s invasion as an excuse to declare war, but Poland was left to sink or swim. It sank, partly because the Soviet Union also invaded, scarcely opposed, from the East. Britain and France did not declare war against the Soviet Union. Poland had no chance. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland.
The upshot of the above is that Britain did not help Poland and —again crucially— never could have done. Neither Britain nor France could have opposed the massive forces of the German Reich and the Soviet Union, yet it was the worthless joint guarantee which (together with the refusal by Churchill to conclude armistice in 1940, after the Fall of France) condemned much of Europe to years of war.
Surely the “British” government is not about to repeat in some farcical form its mistakes of 1938 and 1939? NATO is becoming aggressive in the East.
War with Russia could trigger a massive conflagration in which, inter alia, the UK might be almost entirely destroyed.
Trading standards in Wales shut down Cinema & Co @cinemacoswansea because they wouldn’t comply with vaccine passports. Meanwhile, here’s First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford dancing indoors without a mask. #IStandWithCinemaCoSwansea@cinemacoswansea
The Austrian government on Friday announced that the country will go into its fourth nationwide lockdown and will make Covid-19 vaccines compulsory. The Local is following the press conference announcing the measures and will bring you updates. https://t.co/mkkAvJXlNJ
After a bitter standoff between the outgoing conservatives and the incoming government, Germany has signed off on a reform of infection protection laws which will introduce sweeping measures to combat the Covid fourth wave, such as 3G on public transport… https://t.co/2lb1tDerjQ
Eventually, the problem (and similar problems) will only be solved one way, but that is something that cannot (in the new unfree UK) be expressed publicly.
Yes, and ‘The Last Battle’ as well. Lewis often links evil with the unnecessary murder of trees. https://t.co/E28cqTvDzz
Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men and wounded another, was found not guilty of intentional homicide and four other felony charges in a deeply divisive case that fed a national debate over vigilantism, gun rights and the definition of self-defense. https://t.co/5MDh8OyguOpic.twitter.com/8kz9duMhyQ
Kyle Rittenhouse stood before the jury as the verdict was read. He was found not guilty of all charges against him including intentional homicide. https://t.co/tKTlXtpmpdpic.twitter.com/kOSQ2kiRx1
Three very violent assailants attacked Kyle Rittenhouse during the 2020 riots. One was permanently maimed. Two paid for that assault with their lives. Kyle gets to go on with his. #Justice
I have only one problem with the young man who was on trial, which is that he should have shown more of a stiff upper lip at that trial.
As for Paul Mason, and as I have blogged previously, some of his writings on economics have been interesting, but from the political point of view he is a complete idiot.
Incidentally, I often wondered, when Mason was on TV regularly, and when he posted on Twitter, why he is so venomously against social-nationalism. I discovered that he is part-Jew. That may account for it.
“The charity that employs Carrie Johnson paid more than £150,000 to its chairman’s wife for interior design services last year.
The figure paid by the Aspinall Foundation equates to ten per cent of all donations received from public and corporate donors in 2020.
The organisation and its sister charity the Howletts Wild Animal Trust are already being investigated by the Charity Commission over their spending and financial management.”
The Daily Mail report triggers thoughts about several different areas: the present rotten government, headed by part-Jew, part-Levantine chancer, “Boris” Johnson and his Cabinet of clowns; the whole area of charities and “good causes”; and a few personal reminiscences.
Aspinall’s mother was later married to Sir George Osborne [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_George_Francis_Osborne,_16th_Baronet], one of their 3 children being Sir Peter Osborne, who married a Hungarian-Jewish woman, that couple then having 4 children, one of whom is Gideon “George” Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer under David Cameron-Levita.
In other words, George Osborne is related to the present head of the Aspinall Foundation, Damian Aspinall (son of John Aspinall).
Around 1995, when I still lived in Little Venice, West London, I was acquainted with a lady of middle age called…well, let’s just call her by my nickname for her, “Mouse” (probably now-deceased). That lady had known John Aspinall’s brother or rather (I think) half-brother, rather well, and had stayed at the country house in Kent which also houses the zoo:
Over drinks at “the Bunker”, our name for the cellar bar at the Colonnade Hotel in Little Venice, I was told Mouse’s assessment of John Aspinall: ruthless, someone who much preferred animals to people, and who regarded the death of keepers at the zoo (five of whom were killed by the animals) as not very important; collateral damage, if you like.
[Colonnade Hotel, London W.9. “The Bunker” was under the garden area shown]
Apparently, in his early days as an illegal or near-legal gaming operator, in the 1950s, Aspinall had more than once had to ask his wife for her jewellery, to cover outstanding gaming debts.
By 1960, though, Aspinall’s activities had brought fortune, if not always a good name.
The present Aspinall, Damian Aspinall, son of John, is extremely wealthy, and his wealth is said to have come from real estate operations unconnected, originally, with gambling as such: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Aspinall.
Whatever may be said about the way in which the Aspinall Foundation is said to be run, the work it has done with wild animals is said to have been very good, and in some respects pioneering.
Judging from what I have both read and been told, it seems that both Aspinall father and Aspinall son could say, “I did it my way“…
What about charities generally? There has been much criticism over the years of the loose oversight exercised by the Charity Commission.
Charity was originally a matter for the individual or the (Roman Catholic) Church. Taxation scarcely came into the matter. Once England started to become a more secular society, in Tudor times, legislation had to regulate what was or was not a “charitable” activity. The Statute of Elizabeth [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_Uses_Act_1601] set down a list of “charitable” activities.
The Statute of Elizabeth was repealed in the 19thC, but the list of what is considered charitable still largely stands, clarified (or not) by case law precedent.
That is why, for example, the National Lottery of the UK has a fund not for “charity” but for “good causes”, a far wider ambit.
Many of the public concerns around charities have been caused by the way in which the larger charities soliciting money from the public pay their top-level employees. For many, it was shocking to learn that the husband of assassinated MP, Jo Cox, one Brendan Cox, was not only a sex pest and rapist or near-rapist [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5404241/Jo-Coxs-husband-admits-sex-pest-resigns.html] but was being paid something like £200,000 by the charity Save the Children, which churns out tearjerk TV ads and so on, which ads solicit donations and bequests from kind-hearted members of the public.
There seems to be no good reason why such high salaries are paid. Brendan Cox, for example, had a rather modest academic and work background: see https://uk.linkedin.com/in/brendan-cox-433b364.
I was myself shocked to learn, many years ago, that the (effectively) fraudulent MP and expenses cheat, Derek Conway [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Conway], after he was first removed from Parliament in 1997, had not only been appointed as Chief Executive of the Cats’ Protection League [now Cats’ Protection], but also been paid, if memory serves, something like £150,000 a year, a not inconsiderable sum in the 1990s. I favour that charity, which like many others has collecting tins here and there, but some of these executives, in the British Army phrase, really “tear the arse out of” their appointments.
This is very negative to the image of all charities, and leads to public distrust, thus hampering the valuable work that so many charities do.
No-one expects executives of large charitable organizations to work for nothing, or for peanuts, but there is a case, as elsewhere in our society, for decent measure.
It may be time to look again at what should constitute a charity, and to regulate the big charities, especially, more closely.
Surprised this morning when watching a few minutes of BBC TV News (something I rarely bother with these days), and to hear the BBC reporter say that the (presumed) terrorist bomber in Liverpool had “sadly” died. What?!
No need, I think, for me to expand on my point.
Covid nonsense
While watching some news on TV briefly, also saw and heard that absurd van Tam person talking (seemingly endlessly) about “Covid” statistics. Something about how one group of people in one area had extremely high rates of hospitalization, “7.1% per 100,000 people“!
[7.1 or 7.1%?]
So, in a town such as Reading, of over 200,000 inhabitants, about 15 people might be hospitalized over the period mentioned (and almost all recover after a few days or a week or so).
[So either 15 people or 15,000 people! The latter would surely be absurd, nicht wahr?].
This is a public health problem that is nowhere near existential. Scrap all “measures”, fake laws, “rules” and all but mild advice.
The bigger the lies the bigger the desperation and in the last few days we've had some whoppers.
In a week that saw doctors caught lying on numerous occasions we also saw 60,000 NHS workers given until April 2022 to get jabbed or get to the job centre. pic.twitter.com/EVGkB4fQPr
By the way if you are one of the people who willfully misinterprets critics of vaccine mandates or Covid passes as “antivaxxers” – ie traitors to a broader cause – you’re doing what every passive enabler of totalitarianism has done before you and it won’t end well.
This will only end when people, in numbers, not only start to say “NO!” but also start to punish the “authorities”, i.e. the System, and the “facilitators” of tyranny.
If even 10,000 Austrians were to go to the centre of Vienna, each armed with a mallet or hammer, and then were to break as many shop windows, and windows of government and police offices, as possible before being captured, that would make history. 10,000 freedom fighters, each breaking (say) 20 windows. 200,000 windows! Wien— Freiheit! Wien— das ist’s!!
Not that Austrians breaking windows will be sufficient, but it would be a start…
Late tweets
The change of blue of the flags adorning the Elysée Palace was first made a year ago but went largely unnoticed.
Previously, the shade was lighter to match the blue of the EU flag as decided by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1976.
Ian Robert Millard 