Sunday 3 August: The situation in Gaza is dire – but Starmer should be clear about who is to blame

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

507 thoughts on “Sunday 3 August: The situation in Gaza is dire – but Starmer should be clear about who is to blame”

    1. Did they consider how 'community tensions' would be inflamed further when, inevitably, the news leaked out?

  4. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. Only just did Wordle today (a double Bogie) but without looking at Hints.

    Wordle 1,506 6/6

    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good day, Elsie (I'm way too late to wish you good morning 🤣).

      A quick question, if I may: does Wordle give you a clue as to the word sought? If not, where's the fun in guessing something at random?

      1. You need to Google WORDLE, Katy. This will explain to you how you are given clues. You start with a 5 letter word (mine is usually but not always AUDIO) which you can see contains 4 vowels (A, U, I and O) and one consonant (D). If any of these letters occurs in the correct word, then it will either show them in green (which means that they are in the final correct word in that exact position) or in yellow (which means that that same letter does occur, but not in that position). So, for example, if the word is “BILKO” then the O shown in my starter word would be in green because it DOES occur as the final letter, but the letter I (capital i) which in my starter word is shown as the fourth letter would be in yellow. This means that in the final solution the letter O does in fact occur at the end, but that the yellow letter I does not occur as the fourth letter, but does appear in the solution, so it is up to me to suggest another word with the yellow letter I in a different position.

        I might then try as a solution RINGO to see if this is in fact the solution. I would then see both I and O in green. So I now know that the second letter is I and the fifth is O. I then have to work out what the first, third, and fourth letters are. Any letters tried which do NOT occur in the final word (such as A, U, and D in my starter word – or R, N, and G in RINGO) will be shown in BLACK on the bottom table of letters so that I clearly see that there is no point in using those letters in my next attempt. But I always need to bear in mind that there is one vowel which might occur in the final solution (E) which is not in my original starter word, and the “kind of” vowel (Y) which also might act as a kind of sound-alike “I”. I might then try to see if I can try to find either letter to try; perhaps I might try MANEO or even YASTO to see if that helps. (Of course, neither MANEO nor YASTO are real words, but If I do try either of these two, then the entire unreal word would start to flash telling me that such a word is not recognised). I do hope that this basic explanation helps, and I urge you to have a go at Wordle.

        One final hint: I might just try to use a letter which has already been ruled out in order to see if I can find some more help. An example might be CONDO (short for Condominium) which would be acceptable as a word by Americans who run WORDLE. In this case, although I know from my starter word that the letter D does not occur, and from my RINGO attempt that the letter N does not occur, it will at least show me whether the letter C occurs in the final solution.

        1. Thank you so much for your wonderfully detailed explanation, which makes me feel a little ashamed that I evidently phrased my question inexpertly. I can see from your workings what the challenge may be in getting from initial guess to the answer, and how, given a peculiar word, skill is involved in guessing, but given that the initial proposition appears to be “a five-letter word”, with nothing but chance to guide one’s first try, I can’t get why holes-in-one are celebrated.

          I think I shall stick to my beloved cryptic crosswords, and the challenge of trying to explain the same to people of different cultures. 🤣🤣 (Argentinians get the concept far better than Americans, on the whole. 🤣)

          Wishing you a lovely day and much enjoyable wrestling with Wordle.

          Katy x

  6. Especially for BoB of Bonsall

    Massey Ferguson
    8h
    In Jamaica, you can get a steak and kidney pie for $1.75, a chicken and mushroom pie for $1.60, and an apple pie for $2.15. In St Kitts and Nevis, a steak and kidney pie will cost you $2, a chicken pie (without mushrooms) is $1.70, and a cherry pie can be yours for $1.95. In Trinidad and Tobago, that steak and kidney pie comes in at $2.50.
    Them's the pie rates of the Caribbean.

    1. Ho, ho, ho. Very good, Citroen1. You got me there! Lol. (Good morning, btw.)

    2. On the tropical fiscal paradise of the Cayman islands, a packet of frozen fish fingers can easily cost about $10.

        1. My guess is that she will be released without any warning. If her release were to be announced in advance, I think there would be a huge crowd outside the prison to welcome her. Starmer won't allow that.

          1. 410613+up ticks,

            Morning A,
            BIG CROWD alright,
            Be a far BIGGER crowd when starmer goes in.

  9. Good morning all.
    A dry overcast start but with blue patches and a tad under 14½°C.

    A bloody knackering day yesterday at Litchurch Lane. Photographs later.

  10. 410613+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The big stick is near in place and still being added to daily, via Dover.

    The invaders are still coming The covert drums rum-tumming Evrywhere.
    So prepare, say a pray’r,
    Send the word, send the word to beware.
    We’ll be over, we’re coming over,
    And we won’t come back till it’s over
    Over there. https://x.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1951540901823611113

    1. And if you didn't bother to vote for an alternative party or failed to vote at all, it's your fault too.

      1. Morning. 🙂
        Typical of our society these days Elsie, everything is everybody else's fault.

      2. I voted Lib Dem at the last general election, but it only made a token dent in Dame Harriett's majority.

        There are two elected Labour county councillors in the whole of Worcestershire, the same number as there are Independents, and a quarter of the number of Greens.

        Nevertheless, I am guilty by association with somone living somewhere else.

        1. After the former Leader of the Conservative Group in Worcestershire wrote to the Minister co-operating with Labour's plan to postpone elections here (he was subsequently unseated by a Green), I wrote to my MP giving notice that had the election been postponed, I would be withholding the County precept on my Council Tax with effect from the date of the cancelled election on the grounds that there was no longer proper representation.

          The elections here went ahead, and the Tories were trounced, along with Labour. Reform ended up the biggest group on the Council, with substantial gains also made by Greens and Liberal Democrats.

          One of the two Independents had the biggest majority. He turned down a Reform offer to lead the council in return for going into Coalition, and instead is spending more time with his music.

          1. labour, Tories, Lib Dems and the greens are all as bad as oneanother I cannot understand how anyone votes for them.

          2. Dan Boatright-Green was the best candidate the Lib Dems have put up since Tom Wells in 2005. Likewise Chris McSweeney seemed pretty good at county level, and there was no Independent standing this time.

    2. I wonder what Lord Kitchenor of Khartoum would make of what Khartoum and the Sudan have become since the British left in the early 1950s.

      When my father retired as the governor of the Northern Province of the Sudan and left a group of elders said:

      "The only thing you have done wrong is to leave us." History has proved the elders right

  12. Morning All 🙂😊
    Very high cloud 12 c and parts of the country are in for a battering later.
    Lovely afternoon yesterday meeting people we haven't seen for many years all seem happy with their lives and plenty of grandchildren playing happily.
    My old buddie's 80th birthday celebrations at his eldest son's house.
    But……
    How much longer do we have to put up with these people who dangerously think they are a government.
    The last mob were bad enough, what are we paying for ? They're all a disaster.

  13. Nowt better to do
    9h
    Our leadership must be so proud of their handling of this, along with France and Canada. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a68c0c8b366c89281fa8816b99e7bd45540a0a3bfa48999e40bc03866fd7d7e.png
    Omar Gawd
    Nowt better to do
    9h
    He could be the new H/m/s ambassador to Britain if Labour carry on with their unhinged plans. I wonder how much money L*mmy will give them?

    Colin Macinnes
    10h
    Well done liberals you’ve made it worse.
    Hamas says it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.

    The statement, which reasserts a long-held demand by the group, seemingly came in response to a declaration by the Arab League last week that called for Hamas to lay down its weapons and release all remaining hostages. On Tuesday, the 22 member nations called for Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank.

      1. Never a mention of exactly who is supplying these vile and horrible people with all the weapons of hate.

    2. Firstly, that photograph of someone purporting to lead Gaza seems oddly intact and comfortable when considering the carnage reported in the province. I suggest that he is speaking from somewhere far removed from the consequences of war, and has no sympathy for those actually living and dying there. Nor does he seem to have much sympathy for those Israelis who risked approbation from extremists in the Knesset by going out of their way to live, work and trade alongside Palestinians in a spirit of friendship and reconciliation. How shabbily these enlightened Jews were rewarded for their efforts!

      Secondly, the Palestinian Authority offices in Gaza were bombed out by Israeli terrorists a generation ago. The PA seems to have shown themselves quite useless at preventing enemy incursion on their land, or atrocities on their people committed by enemy settlers, who themselves have the support of the most powerful nation on earth, and eager to arm and export terrorism if it is good for business and a powerful lobby back home.

      It seems to me that the force with the best record in maintaining peace, law and order was the British Mandate, but that is considered "colonialist" these days, and I very much doubt the British have the capacity any longer. I have little confidence in Starmer doing any more than using his authority in order to push the growth of organised crime and the suppression of the decent and honourable with punitive taxation to pay the criminals market rates.

      At the heart of the problem is organised religion, and as a Christian myself, it may also offer the solution if only they had ears to hear. Unfortunately, Christianity also gave us Richard the Lionheart, whose exertions were every bit as bloody as those of his Muslim and Jewish adversaries, but he was a poster boy for Gay Pride in his time.

      1. If there is such universal revulsion over the killing in Palestine, why has nobody proposed a UN force be mobilised there to enforce a cease-fire, so that the food and medical situation can be stabilised, and hopefully meaningful negotiations as to "what happens next?" started? It seemed to work in Cyprus decades ago, for example.
        I don't see anything in the Press about calls for that, nor see any reports about discussions in the UN itself. Consequently, my conclusion is that, despite all the hand-wringing in public, governments are happy for the Israelis to blow the Bejesus out of the Palestinians and Hamas… and, after all, who is selling the weapons over there?

          1. Then the countries vetoing must be happy with the status quo. Or, they'd want to change it.

    3. Recognising a Palestine State is one of the fruits of October 7th.

      I hope that Macron, Carney and Starmer will now come out and declare unequivocally that Razi Hamed is right and that rape, murder and kidnap are 'honorable' means of getting what you want.

    2. Oscar and Lucy got into a barking match earlier. Mongo walked between then, looked at one. Looked at the other. Whuffed and walked off.

      They both slunk away.

  17. Good Morning!

    During the madness of the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Yingyue, then a teenage girl in Beijing, risked all to listen to those fearless voices of reason and freedom, the BBC and Voice of America. But in From Freedom's Whispers to Tyrant’s Tools: How the BBC and VOA Lost Their Soul she laments their decline into a stultifying woke orthodoxy she finds every bit as dangerous as Mao's lunacy.

    Graham Bedford returns with the second part of Should I Go Or Should I Stay but this times talks of Pride in being British and in The AI Illusion: Convenience, Catastrophe, and the War for Young Minds Roger Crawford warns that constant use of AI rots the brain, especially in the young,

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 12.5%; Solar, 10.7%: Wind 25.9%; Imports, 25.6%; Biomass, 8.3%; Nuclear 14.1% and Miscellaneous, 2.8%.

    1. But British Nationality is given away so easily that yesterday's British will be in a minority in their own country tomorrow.

      Our two boys were born in France and we, their parents, ran our business and paid tax in France and yet this did not entitle our sons to French nationality. They could have applied for it at the age of 18 but even so certain stringent conditions applied.

      Caroline has spent far more years in France than anywhere else. She was born in Holland but only lived there as a very young child as her father worked in a large multi-national company and her schooling was in India, Iran and Spain and her university education was in Britain and France. She is thinking of applying for French nationality but she is aware that the application process will be tortuous.

      1. Caroline, although as beautiful as ever, would now probably be considered too mature for the French military service, but back in her youth (pre 1996) that could have been an issue. Although there was a civil version.

  21. Ernest Nowell
    17h
    The great difference between the pro immigration crowd and and those complaining about immigration. Those against, live in the area, are having spontaneous protests with homemade placards. The the pro immigration lot are organised, paid, transported to the demo and given placards and seem to have stewards.

    keith waites
    Ernest Nowell
    15h
    And have a police escort

  22. Morning all – just having a bit of breakfast before heading off for another long day. It's started to drizzle too.

      1. Couldn't they just use a bucket to pee in? Both are empty. There's a choice of colours instead of just black, too.

    1. What did you expect her to say? They never address the problem, they always attack an unrelated oblique related issue. With the nonsense of 'climate change' rather than abolish it and make energy cheaper, they gave pensioners more money. At every turn, they just make the problem worse because that's politicall palatable. Solving the cause is, for some reason, never considered.

    2. Not even Amazon or the knife are the problem, it's the bloody voters who dare to complain all day long.

    3. Yvette isn't fit for anything. She should wind her (tortoise) neck in and just retire quietly , but she likes the sound of her own voice too much for that.

    1. The Eu exists to provide a retirement home for communists who have utterly failed in their national political careers. In the politbureau they find the corruption incompetence, stupidity, greed, avarice, power and hate they so adore and could never get hold of – utterly unfettered by the annoyances of an electorate.

      1. With respect, the EU is a bunch of member states, but the European Commission is a home for expat functionaries and unwanted politicians (eg the Kinnocks), effectively forming an EU priviligentsia.
        Did you know that Commission salaries and pensions are taxed internally at generally lower rates than those paid by the typical member state taxpayer, and that the arrangement is protected by Treaty?
        The late Christopher Booker exposed that some years ago, and the so-called Community rates range from 8% to 45%.
        Even with AI I have not yet identified the tax bands.
        Commission employees apparently pay pension contributions of circa 10%, with expectations of up to 70% final salary after 30 years service.
        A case of 'Je suis alright Jacques'.

    1. Breathe in …. Breathe out ……
      Breathe in ……
      On second thoughts – don't bother.

        2. We do at work. And the. Have to explain it to the youngsters/non-English (of which there are many many)

    2. Be fair.

      Either it'll be one of those pens that can be erased later, and all he's doing is erasing his signature, so a U-turn can be performed.
      Or
      He's using it to track what he's reading in the same way a primary school child uses a finger to follow the words.

    4. He is being seen signing something he pledged himself to during an election. He'll uncap the pen for the actual document.

    4. We have just been on a bike ride to Marlow. We sat outside the Church. A taxi pulled up and disgorged a man, his fully-covered wife, his mostly-covered 12-ish year old dUghter and a 5year old. Marlow. We are nearly back home so expecting to see the hordes in Richmond Park

  29. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny. Warm. Great evening out yesterday, celebrating Firstborn's 34 birthday with SWMBO & 2nd Son. Went to a Brazilian restaurant, where they just kept coming with huge skewers of meat and sliced some off for you – until you couldn't eat any more! The protein farts in the car on the way home were something else! 🙁

    1. Morning Rik,

      Just wondering , do these so called 12 year old girls wear their ages on their heads ..

      How do these migrants know what is what, there are many girls who are just children , I was a child at that age , and not mature in growth or height , yet there are many of other cultures who appear to be almost twenty years of age .

      Is it child girls those monsters are after ?

      1. Yes. They're vile savages. A start would be castrating them with bolt cutters but people think this is unfair. I ask how unfair it is for a child to be raped.

        Lefties just squeal and complain at that.

        1. Squealing is about all lefties can utter. They can't actually say anything that corresponds with what they are being asked.

    2. Carswell is right. It's about the hegemony controlling the narrative. Every last criminal dindu must be removed along with the Left wasters supporting them.

  32. Good morning, all. Blue sky criss-crossed by the sprayed trails. Been some time since I've seen this much activity. Following on…

    Attempt at a very good analogy re Net Zero nonsense. According to Grok (AI) the maths is out by a factor of ten – Bernie acknowledges her mistake in a later comment. Nevertheless, the analogy works as 10 pixels not working out of 8.3 million would be imperceptible.

    https://x.com/Artemisfornow/status/1951746527245815893

    As this comment states:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ed65f8a2c9a5ee97d537aa4f18c6de66880bb18586395f98e486694d32d61d1c.png
    And Miliband is spending wasting umpteen billions on "9 tenths of bugger all".

    "The adults are back in charge". Yeh, Right!

    1. Oh Bernie. Net zero has nothing – not a thing – to do with the environment or ecology. There are far better, cheaper things we could do if it were- popluation control being the most obvious.

      No, net zero and the 'climate change' agenda is a social and economic weapon designed solely to control you, to remove your freedom of choice and behaviour.

    1. The Home Office Muslim majority is NOT an accident. All planned with useful idiots assistance.

    2. Slight number problem.

      As of March 2024, the Home Office employs over 51,000 people. This includes staff working in various roles across the UK and overseas. The number has increased from March 2023, with a significant growth in the Migration and borders operations area, according to GOV.UK. The Home Office is a major employer in many towns and cities, with over 40% of its workforce based outside London and the South East.

      Of course the important aspect is not the absolute number but where in the Home Office they are working and what powers they have.

      1. 51,000 people. What do they all do? What use are they? That likely doesn't include plod or prison officers, so what do 50,000 bureaucrats do all day?

      2. AFAIK the figure of 700+ refers to a particular group, not the total number.
        Bames will always be overepresented in the Control (or Public) Sector because indigenous private firms, eg SMEs, may perceive it as risky to employ them. Not for any issue with their skills, but with their potential grievances and the costs of redress.
        That's from hearsay, in case Stig is still on NTTL.

        1. I have a distant recollection that it referred to asylum claims/monitoring etc.
          Hence my bit regarding positions and powers.

          He still looks in.

    4. There is no difference between their personal opinions and their religion just as in islam there is no separation between mosque and state.

  35. We know Lefties don't do history n stuff..
    Let's hear the story of Hamtramck in Michigan that became the first known city in the US with an all-Muslim City Council and a Muslim mayor, a government made up entirely of Muslims.

    Betcha you can't guess.

      1. It's a pity that the people who should be listening to that, won't – simply because the message is delivered by an older, white man.

          1. Allo Allo!

            [Von Klinkerhoffen accuses Flick and von Smallhausen of withholding information]

            General Erich von Klinkerhoffen:
            Clearly, you are giving us these ludicrous descriptions because you wish the Gestapo to take the credit for the capture of the Resistance people. I'm warning you; you'll be kept under very close observation. You will not be able to go to the bathroom without me knowing about it. Meanwhile, Berlin will be informed of your perverse antics and your recalcitrant demeanour, which has exacerbated the quid pro quo, vis-?-vis inter-departmental relationships.

            Herr Otto Flick:
            Come, von Smallhausen. To our dictionaries!

            [Flick and von Smallhausen limp away]

          2. A number of the cast of the superb BBC wartime drama series 'Secret Army' joined the cast of its spoof parody 'Allo Allo', including Hilary Minster, who played Major Reinhardt's deputy in 'Secret Army' and General Von Klinkerhoffen in 'Allo Allo'.

          4. For much the same reason the £3 Tories voted Corbyn to lead the Labour Party ten years ago, rightwingers must be welcoming the Fruit & Nut Party as being the Left's answer to Reform, and about the same size in terms of number of MPs.The biggest threat is to Labour, which once took its Muslim vote for granted.

            The Greens too might be worried, if they aspire to outflank Labour to the Left, but less worried if their target vote is middle class rural environmentalists, and taking votes largely from Liberal Democrats and rose-growing Tories. The splendidly bovine symbol of Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns, is there mostly because she enjoys getting paid to wander around Ledbury and Leominster chatting with locals.

          5. It has the support of over 80% of the population. Your error, mr Lefty, is that you thought you were in the majority just because you're gobbier than everyone else.

      2. It's a bizarre conflation of desperately spoiled Lefties rebelling about an authority while supporting an appalling regime that would hate everything they do and destroy their very freedom to write such bilge.

        I hate Lefties. They're damned thick, hypocritical and tediously ignorant.

  36. Recognising Palestinian state would destabilise international law, Starmer told

    Sir Keir’s plan to recognise Palestinian statehood may have ‘unintended consequences’, leading lawyer warns

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/cf71891f5d56afed

    Julie Paul
    58 min ago
    Just what does he intend to recognise?

    There has never been a country called 'Palestine'.

    There are no established borders.

    There are no acknowledged leaders.

    There are no elections.

    There is no capital city.

    There is no Parliament.

    There is no currency.

    Excuse me, Mr Starmer, just what is there that you are acknowledging?

      2. I can't quite work out whether "her publications" are trying to point out the absurdity of so much academic research into such things or whether "HPs" are supportive.
        She seems to be belittling the things done and conclusions drawn as clear nonsense.
        The tone of the interview lacked the hostility/defensiveness one might have expected for a supporter of the research and its conclusions

        1. She seems to be pointing out that the research was nonsense and that no one is questioning it – which is a good thing.

          However, it isn't reaching the right conclusion: the reason the nonsense is being ignored is because no one cares any more, not because it isn't being considered.

          1. She was pointing out that the journal, its peer review system and its readers should have picked up on the absurdities yet (due to implicit bias? 🤣) failed to. She's one of the good guys.

          2. Yes, exactly.
            When this was first made public I laughed my socks off at the stupidity of those they fooled.

        2. It was quite well publicised at the time.
          She was part of a group who thought up absolutely bat-shit crazy ideas for research, created several papers using totally concocted, fake research findings and written with a strongly feminist bias.
          They was successful at getting several of their papers accepted and reviewed by various journals, some with great acclaim and when the full story came out caused a LOT of red faces.

      4. She actually is one of the good ones. She exposed the madness of academic feminism.

        1. Feminism is one of those things that has morphed from equality to special treatment. I remember watching a young woman saying that women should automatically start their careers at director level because they're women and are suffering form 'oppression' by default.

          She was a lazy, entitled whelp.

    2. Feminist geography? Dogs bonk one another as a dominance gesture. 'Black feminist criminology'? Train men like dogs? And they wonder why Andrew Tate is so popular.

      Ah. A few of our papers had data that wasn't real….It wasn't questioned, you stupid woman because no one reads the utter tripe you spew out. No one cares what you say, do or think. You're not feminists, you're an idiot.

  38. Nobody understands the electoral cost of failing to tackle the migrant crisis more than Sir Keir Starmer’s powerful right-hand man Morgan McSweeney.

    Hailed as a genius strategist, he was bending his boss’s ear about it more than a year ago.

    We need to be tough from the start, the Irishman told the future Prime Minister in a memo. Regain control of borders, he said, smash the gangs, tackle small boats – noble exhortations Sir Keir would later parrot.

    And The Mail on Sunday can reveal there is something closer to home that might cause McSweeney, if not outright embarrassment, then surely a twinge of unease.

    His father Tim McSweeney, a County Cork-based accountant, has his part to play in the asylum gravy train causing resentment in his homeland.

    Sharply rising immigration coupled with a housing crisis has fuelled protest across the Irish Sea. As in the UK, there is much criticism of those who have got rich quickly on the back of the influx of new arrivals.

    Mr McSweeney, 73, helped set up a company that received £6million from the Irish state to house asylum seekers.

    He incorporated Togail Veilbhit Glas Teoranta in February 2023. He and wife Carmel are the only listed directors and it is registered at the same address in Macroom as his accountancy firm. Macroom is where his son was raised before moving to

    England as a 17-year-old, initially working on building sites and later joining Labour after university. He now earns between £155,000 and £160,000 as Sir Keir’s Chief of Staff.

    Public records show Togail received £6million for provision of ‘international protection accommodation and/or related costs’. Typically, accountants advise on company structure and handle registration and incorporation obligations.

    But Mr McSweeney senior dismissed a suggestion he was benefiting directly from the contracts. He said: ‘Do I look like a wealthy man? I don’t think so. It is just a job I have. It is not unusual for accountants to fulfil roles like this.’

    It is not easy to fathom who gets the money. The company’s owners are hidden behind a labyrinthine corporate structure.

    It leads – via two other Irish shell companies, both linked to Mr McSweeney – to a web of Cyprus-registered companies. Asked how he became involved, Mr McSweeney said it was ‘nobody’s business’.

    In addition to its ties to No 10, the McSweeney family is linked to the upper echelons of the Irish government. Morgan’s cousin Clare Mungovan is a special advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris.

    In June, thousands took part in an anti-immigration protest in Dublin, some wearing hats with the slogan ‘Make Ireland Great Again’. Others held banners declaring: ‘Ireland is full’.

    Ireland’s spend on accommod- ating migrants hit £900million last year – up 54 per cent on the £569.14million cost in 2023.

    The country’s Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan wants to see more of the 25,000 hotel beds occupied by Ukrainian refugees returned to the tourism sector, calling it ‘hugely important’ to the Irish economy.

    Back in the UK, Mr McSweeney’s son looked on helplessly last week as Sir Keir’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ blew up in his face after a new record was set for Channel crossings.

    More than 25,000 migrants have now arrived in the UK in small boats this year, the earliest that this milestone has been reached. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14965707/Keir-Starmer-aide-smuggling-gangs-asylum-seekers.html

    2. Shell companies routed through Cyprus – all to trough off the tax payer. It really is an obscenity.

    3. Mr McSweeney is de facto an immigrant; why would any immigrant, or offspring of living immigrants, wish to limit immigration, legal or illegal? It would be hypocrisy.
      Never forget the Tebbit test.

    1. Is there an equivalent organisation to the RSPCA in any Islamic countries?

      2. Apart from the Brooke charity in Egypt, I doubt it.
        It would be difficult for a charity's policies to reconcile animal welfare with 'halal' slaughter.

      3. A long time ago (long before we were “enriched” and learned Arabic words), I read that muslims wouldn’t put down suffering animals because it was the will of allah that they should suffer.

      1. Happy birthday.
        I hope you have a great day.
        Off fishing or merely sunbathing while you swim?

        It took me quite some time to spot the face, but once seen it pops out immediately on subsequent looks.

          1. The goat's hind leg is her throat.
            The tree trunk is the back of her neck.
            The tail and backside form her nose and mouth.
            The first leaf forms her eye and the rest of the leaves her hair.

          2. Thank you! Still can’t make it out! I’m normally quite OK with those trompe l’oeil!

          11. Me neither but then i struggled with the forks last week. Now they are obviousl!!

          12. Took me a while, Sue….there's a small downward line, slightly at right angle, on his back leg below the tail …that's her nostril, with lips just below, tree is her head of curly hair…(that's what I see, anyway :-))

          17. If you focus on the white space between the goat's bum and the tree trunk and ignore the dark areas you will see it.

          23. Thanks Alec x….it’s too hot here, I have harvest mite bites, dog more fed up than I am..😄 hope you’re doing ok x

          28. Hertslass explains it, Alec. And, as Anne Allan impliess, the leaves on the tree represent the woman's curly hair.

          30. In the pic. she is rather fat with a very porky neck. The nose is just under the goat's tail (she is facing left|) and she is white…The tree trunk is goodness knows what – I think it's quite poor.

          31. In the pic. she is rather fat with a very porky neck. The nose is just under the goat's tail (she is facing left|) and she is white…The tree trunk is goodness knows what – I think it's quite poor.

        2. Thanks, neap tides at present which isn’t conducive to good fishing. Some big tides coming later in the coming week.

    1. Happy Birthday Molamola! Have a wonderful day! 🎉🎈🍰🥂🍾🍨🎊🎉🪅

    3. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Mr Sunfish! Hope you have a wonderful day, and all goes swimmingly! 🎂🥂🍺🍾

    7. Happy, Happy Birthday to my favourite fish!! Singing loudly from the rooftops of Buenos Aires.

      Have a wonderful day, my friend, and here's wishing you a year of health, happiness, and great catches x x

    8. Happy Birthday Molamola and of course a 364 Happy Unbirthdays, 'til the next anniversary.

      Remember, ia OLTspeak, you are only 21, so you get the Key to the Door

    1. It won't stop the invasion of filth.
      Starmer doesn't care, he wants to force the gimmigrant on us
      He will simply become more authoritarian until the dissent stops.

      1. Indeed, and the facial recognition data plod will have collected will give them a plump database to identify any faarr right activists who might need a knock on the door.

        1. Ditto with thousands of pro-Gazan terror demonstrators in London, whose mobile details should have been captured by GCHQ.
          Unless the security services have already been populated by wokery.

          1. Terror Demonstrators… nah they are peaceful ones who are on board with Starmer and his support for the Palees.

          2. The Linda La Plante interview in today’s Terriblegraph was interesting. She lives in Kingston upon Thames and says she doesn’t go into London now, Soho is dangerous etc.

        2. At least there's an inkling of 'hard Left' being used rather than just the desperate 'far Right'. The problem is, Lefties think being Right wing is bad. It isn't. We've not really done much except stop slavery, wars and such like. It's Lefties who've caused all the problems.

    2. I saw the scenes on Chris Cork's IG, ('The Lion has woken'). Also saw a short video of Andrew Marr, speaking about Starmer – Marr says Starmer speaks to no-one, not his advisors, not the Civil Service, not his Ministers, not Lady Vic…..could it have been AI? looks realistic and sounded believable.

  43. Chris Bryant: I was sexually abused by National Youth Theatre founder
    Labour minister reveals he was just 16 when the abuse took place by Michael Croft, the leader of the prestigious drama group
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/03/chris-bryant-abused-by-national-youth-theatre-founder/

    Why is this repulsive man telling us this story? He used to be a public schoolboy who then became a priest in the CofE – he 'came out' as being homosexual but this seems to be the only honest thing he ever did. Remember how he told lies in the HoC about Nigel Farage (saying he had received money from Russia) using Parliamentary Privilege to protect himself from legal slander/libel action. Farage quite rightly asked for a retraction of the lies he had uttered which he refused to do and refused to say what he said outside Parliament because he knew he would lose in a legal action against him. Not only a completely disgusting sub-human being but a coward with it.

    Now in this sordid account Bryant said he was "left to feel like a “16-year-old whore”. He certainly is now happy to prostitute himself with what he he says to gain notoriety and sympathy.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/253a9733def6c8fb17992027f70aa9cc1934181c2bc17fdb89233fdce29cb9cf.png

    1. I… don't care. The time to complain was then. You're not as stupid as you look, so you chose to do nothing. Bug off.

    2. Same over here. Frank Stronach (founder of major auto parts manufacturer Magna) is under investigation after a woman claimed that he had sexually assaulted her in 1986. Stronach is over 90, he probably has trouble remembering what he had for breakfast today let alone a possible grope 40 years ago.

  44. The NHS app is all well and good but it's no good reminding me of an appointment next Friday, today. I'll forget what I had for breakfast by lunchtime.

    1. You'll likely find a Calendar App in your playstore, wibbling – it may already be included in your phone package. Put your appointments on there and set up reminders at the time of your choosing. Or maybe you don't have a mobile phone, in that case make notes on an ordinary wall or table calendar. You're not alone with memory loss, mine caused by vaccine – someone told me memory is a muscle, has to be exercised daily…good luck.

      1. A long time ago my folks had me 'tested' as my brother started to show his signs of autism and aside from much the same aversions to bright lights, loud noises and difficulty with people )I find crowds very difficult) one thing they did uncover was an eidetic memory. When I had my ear infection that nigh went, and I find myself confused and muddled more.

        I put all my appointments in my work calendar. This is one where a sensible AI would be able to know what it was, put it in my calendars (personal and work) and have alexa announce them.

        1. Autism seems a broad spectrum, wibbling…genius to lunatic to dummy etc. I've been told I am, but then I've been told a lot of different things about me by people who scarcely know me/don't know me at all. I've learned to smile, say thanks, and move on. One thing I've found helped me post-vaccine – walking, I try to walk/take exercise at least one hour daily. And no stimulants. I don't trust AI, at all. Good luck 🙂

        2. I use Google Calendar. It's on my phone, home PC and loaded on work PC as well – so I have my appointments wherever I am. Otherwise, I forget.
          I also use Google Keep (with alarm as necessary), to keep notes on specific subjects, work & private – things like what's left to do in my monitoring design (there are checkboxes that allow you to keep progress).

          2. I have a slim pocket diary with 8 "slots" over 2 facing pages (for the 7 days of a week plus a slot for notes). Thus I can always check what is coming up, and turn the page to see approaching things to remember.

        3. The eidetic memory should gradually recover when you improve your health, especially your gut health.
          Try taking some inulin or similar.

    2. And if when you reply and don't stick to their own adgenda they can't understand what you mean.

      1. Ah, you can't reply. That's the genius. The NHS is designed for itself, not the patient.

        Having had this abscess cleaning and dressed nigh daily, before that blood clots and before that a form of ulcerous colitis, ear infections it works, but it is lumpen when you think they'd be eager to treat and get rid of you.

    3. They will remind you on the app about 3 times and then call you the day before, too. They did for me and my cardiac appointment last Friday, anyway.

    1. The entire UN also feels the same.

      The Left are still fighting WW2. They're very much missing their camps and just hate Jews. Call me odd, but I can't see why they can't all just shut up and live their own lives without bothering any one else.

    2. Stupid Sainsbury's. The lefty enterprise does not understand its customer base. Thinks that if these invaders have a British passport &/or right to remain they will behave like Brits. They deserve every penny of loss that they get screwed for.

      1. Typical of lefty enterprise and thinking in general. Superficial, to the point of absolute stupidity.

      1. A woman? One of those who needs to be hidden so as not to inflame uncontrollable lust in men. Well, not real men as we knew them.

    4. It's a wonder they haven't complained about the name White-Chapel.
      I bet they don't sell pork or bacon in there.

    5. How very diverse. Diversity used to mean a range of different things. Now it just means non-white, which is not very diverse if there are only foreigners..

  49. https://x.com/MartinDaubney/status/1951930334162935832
    The Silent CEO
    @sp33dyeah
    I want to weep at the scale of lies Starmer is telling to maintain his Jihad against the British people. As a Trotskyite revolutionary he does not give a single fuck about how voters feel. He will do maximum damage until he either a) shuts down democracy and assumes dictator powers or b) meets the traditional dictators end as he makes the acquaintance of a street lamp
    10:41 AM · Aug 3, 2025
    ·
    108
    Views

    2. Funny how the arabs never help themselves – although they are very good at helping themselves especially the scum who come over here

  50. Kate and William's potential new home sparks row as King Charles ‘concerned over cost’
    https://www.gbnews.com/media-library/fort-belvedere.jpg?id=61340080&width=800&quality=90 GETTY Fort Belvedere is located in Windsor Great Park

    I very much like the battery of canon emplacements and hope they are aimed at the Royal Apartments in Windsor Castle. Am not so sure about the line of outdoors privvies at the back of the rear courtyard on the left of the picture. Damned draughty in winter.

    1. I'd like to live in something that looks like that, but has modern insulation and heating.

      And cooling, as it's muggy today.

  51. AJ London
    1 day ago
    Peter Hitchens came right out and said it on Talk Radio the other day: "When I was a revolutionary Trotskyist, we advocated for mass third world immigration not because of any love for the immigrants but because of our dislike for Britain"

    I wish more people realised how dangerous these people are.

    James Edwards
    23 hrs ago
    Reply to AJ London
    Nailed it, this is what the Left and the Liberal mindset want, they are truly rotten to their core. And I would not count the BBC out of this equation either.

    2 replies
    72
    0
    report
    Reply by Telegraph Telegraph.

    TT

    Telegraph Telegraph
    22 hrs ago
    Reply to James Edwards – view message
    It is very odd, I grew up in Jersey – a predominantly white place but with a mixed-up culture including a large, fluctuating population of seasonal workers from Madeira/Portugal and also a number of mid/white collar workers from the UK working in banking and other office style jobs – later also a number of Polish doing many hospitality jobs. Then the tiny cohort of K category millionaires coming in every year — but almost no/zero non whites.

    Nothing right or wrong with that, it was just as it was. Now there is a concerted effort to ONLY recruit from non-white countries – generally Africa but also India and Asia – I believe to "increase diversity" and to "fix" the imbalance — but why? Why not just leave it to develop naturally ….. it is as if any place that is simply homogeneous and white by circumstance MUST be changed. Very peculiar.

          1. Why the h£ll should we? Even in the times of the Empire we didn't swamp the indigenous populations of the countries that we (incidentally) gave education, irrigation, rights and food to. Ungrateful br*ts.

          3. Ah, OK. I guess, I’ve seen too many post saying it like Starmer did – that if WE didn’t like it, there was the door…

    2. But there is no imbalance. The country is white by virtue of simply living here. We don't want them here. There is no need to pollute society with foreigners.

      1. Didn't see your comment here, wibs. Of course there is no imbalance, the imbalance is in the minds of the enablers of mass take-over by third-world, low IQ hoards.

      2. The country is white because it’s in the European zone. Lack of sunshine = white skin.

      3. The country is white by virtue of the high northern latitudes at which they, and their ancestors, have lived over millennia.

    3. Communism throws out both Creation and Evolution yet continually serves to confirm both, since the harder it tries to destroy the created order, the more evolutionary principle asserts itself. Human society cannot thrive when mixing of the races goes beyond naturally occurring exceptions.

    4. Peter Hitchens is right. This government is making every effort to destroy Britain.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5cf47ff9106c4a2c84ba7bde32eb9e6f2db336c0e1e68bfcc67f1837e09a4e3e.png
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5c3fdcbd4fa3a1bb14d8f40b7dd894d24d241bd0e21a76508cbe880a92e2ac5.png
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32c973bb6f65daa525e56bea29167e77c5bb617c111e9363ea7e90e9d9be7c9d.png
      Ernest Nowell
      4h
      Ed Moribund has refused to publish details of the Green Energy Deal he made with China earlier this year. Why would that be?

      Send in the Clones
      Ernest Nowell
      4h
      Errrr…….who makes our solar panels might be a clue?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/940710fbf1baff0b48115e96d1e5247b75936c1e7d899b650f598c920ce014b3.png
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4c99a4b240a8a34987dd6e3ffb1555d2a058680fe7df25fc76442efbb7f9841f.png

      Philipson in Ministry of Education?

      Reeves as Chancellor? She is clueless about economics, finance, taxation and commerce.

      Lord Hermer as Attorney General?

      It's all Trotskyist Heaven…destroy Britain before the next General Election.

  52. Warmed up(!) to 17C, and tipping it down with rain. Not conducive to getting useful painting done outside.

    2. That's a good crop. I have one pear on mine. Though i did only plant it late last year.

      1. This is the first time since MOH planted the tree that it has produced a decent crop – usually half a dozen fruits at most.

        1. It’s been a good year for pears. All my trees have had a bumper crop except for one that is in a pot. That’ll be planted in the garden in the autumn.

        2. Any idea what to do with them? Lightly poached in wine is a favourite but lobbing them at any passing MP’s would be good too.

          1. Comice pears apparently need to have a long time on the tree before they are delicious enough to become succulent and juicy.
            Juicy pairs are hard to come by.

    3. Cox apple tree had to be propped, so much fruit. Neighbour makes delicious apple juice every year. Expecting him any day……

    2. Only just come on here – many happy returns, mola. Hope you are having/have had a lovely day!

      1. Easy enough.
        The Human Rights Act (1998) was only brought in to allow govt a legal vehicle through which they could suspend your freedoms.
        This is the murky pond in which the yuman rights blaggers operate.

        1. That and a money spinner for Mrs. B, who was busy setting up Matrix Chambers before the proposals for the Bill had even gone through Parliament. Sick, sick, sick.

      2. Starmer 'For me but not for thee'. According to Andrew Marr, Starmer only listens/talks to himself. Rayner busily talking with Muslims…what could possibly be on the cards……..

        1. Rayner is so thick that she doesn't realise that she will be one of the first to go when the caliphate arrives.

    1. They fear the Musloms more than than they fear the indigenous. And rightly, because the judiciary is willing to jail the indigenous but not the Muslims

          1. Because the judiciary are also prepared to sacrifice what they see as "lower class" white girls, in the name of "community harmony". Evil, all of them.

          2. 410613+ upticks,

            Afternoon LIR,

            Demoralizing / annealing a nation for what is coming shortly as in, the abrupt termination of all hotel bills
            as in, the indigenous being "kettled" via the police and "guests" and introduced to flat pack camps to be erected on "the day"

            That is the reason they are here the one that the herd is avoiding right up until they hear it via a loudspeaker in the camps, HEAR THIS HEAR THIS.

    2. I don't understand this – no, not my usual ranty, but I really don't.

      As I see it:

      1. Plod are deliberately protecting muslim rape – as they have done before. Why are they still doing so? Not only is this a crime (aiding and abetting/perverting the cause of justice) but it's utterly putrid.
      OR
      2. They are genuinely worried about muslim getting violent because slammers are violent savages. In which case why are they not being removed in droves and/or if they do get uppity beaten black and blue so thoroughly they never, ever – literally – get up again?

      In either situation, they're dangerous and have to be dealt with – not ignored, not 'managed'; dealt with. muslim has to learn its place: in the mud.

      1. The Police know that if the truth comes out about rapes by migrants, things will kick off. So for a quiet life, they cover it up.

      2. They are genuinely worried, but they are not thinking things through beyond preventing immediate trouble. This is not only impractical because it will encourage more rapey behaviour, but it is morally unjustifiable because it puts more people at risk.

        1. Surely though it is illegal? Who cares if muslim kick off? If they can't behave then they need to be put down.

      3. They are prepared to sacrifice a young girl for a bit of peace and quiet. Such utter shits they are.
        I've not been so furious for a long time – the stress is making sparks come out of my fingers.
        The two of them should suffer not only personal humiliation, but a similar fate as the 12-year old lass.

        2. I'd settle for them being charged with the crime they're protecting. Once most of the home office and plod squad have been found guilty of rape the invasion might stop.

      4. Hear you, but where should they be removed to, wibbling? many second/third generation UK. HR lawyers like Starmer have a field day defending them. Keep an eye on Rayner – and she could be even worse…..

      5. It's because many of the so-called "peaceful ones" so often aren't peaceful that the police sacrifice our little girls to those uncivilised animals. No, police, you won't escape – the crocodile will eat you too. When your little girls run crying home to you because of what has happened to them – then look in the mirror and despair of what you are.

    3. BBC reporting that Imam said:

      "Please stop it"

      What he really said:

      "Please stop it" "you're giving the game away"

    4. So we have to be quiet about what those animals do – case it inflames the others? What kind of morality is that?

  67. We were driving through Eton today on our way back from our bike ride, stopped at some lights with the window open when our daughter’s ex-boyfriend came past. We still don’t know why they split up (back in February last year). She has a new one now.

    1. Oddly enough, I could see the SYP being exceptionally vigorous over this, because they are all tainted and it's in their interest to wash all the dirty laundry very publicly.

          1. There will have to be a cataclysmic upheaval before anything happens about it. It won’t be pleasant.

    2. In the City, we have to abide by the “Senior Managers and Certification Regime”. And if you don’t, you lose your job and pension. Unless you are Alison Rose and work for Nat West.

  69. Lovely O'jubbly.. splash the €€€€€€€€.
    I've got Dublin covered, you deal with London.
    Starmer’s Chief Of Staff Linked To Illegal Migrant Smuggling

    Morgan McSweeney's family have been paid €8.4million to house Asylum seekers ..
    Cork native is the British prime minister's most trusted political advisor

    1. Sinead McSweeney in on the act as online safety guru in tandem weaponising Dublin’s tech and regulatory space against any mention of anti-migrant talk.
      Claire McSweeney too.
      His father Tim McSweeney, a County Cork-based accountant, has his part to play in the asylum gravy train causing resentment in his homeland.

      It is not easy to fathom who gets the money. The company’s owners are hidden behind a labyrinthine corporate structure.

      It leads – via two other Irish shell companies, both linked to Mr McSweeney – to a web of Cyprus-registered companies. Asked how he became involved, Mr McSweeney said it was ‘nobody’s business’.

      So basically Downing Street are part of the gang they are 'trying to smash'. No wonder they are getting nowhere.

      1. Ffs. Nasty horrid greedy hypocrites, the lot of them. I hope they choke on the while bl**dy mess of potage.

    2. A leftie with his fingers in the public purse. Well I never.

      My son was telling me today how easy it is to get a loan from a bank.
      I wonder if this is all just about hidden money printing?

  70. Lovely O'jubbly.. splash the €€€€€€€€.
    I've got Dublin covered, you deal with London.
    Starmer’s Chief Of Staff Linked To Illegal Migrant Smuggling

    Morgan McSweeney's family have been paid €8.4million to house Asylum seekers ..
    Cork native is the British prime minister's most trusted political advisor

  71. Lovely O'jubbly.. splash the €€€€€€€€.
    I've got Dublin covered, you deal with London.
    Starmer’s Chief Of Staff Linked To Illegal Migrant Smuggling

    Morgan McSweeney's family have been paid €8.4million to house Asylum seekers ..
    Cork native is the British prime minister's most trusted political advisor

  72. Wordle No. 1,506 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 3 Aug 2025

    Porridge for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done, not so good here.

      Wordle 1,506 5/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      3. Mola

        Was the sea to rough for a trip to catch tuna?

        Bit of a stiff breeze here at the moment , and sadly lots of heath fires .. I reckon an arsonist has been working hard , 50 fire crew are trying to control the blazes that have taken hold in different parts of the Purbecks .

    2. #MeToo – unlike yesterday I managed to guess the right one of two (possibly three) – about time……

      Wordle 1,506 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Much better forms ax well.

        Wordle 1,506 4/6

        ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
        ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,506 4/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. "We speak your mind" – yeah about 27 years too late, when you've been supporting mass migration all this time.

  75. Ooh er?

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/army-will-give-soldier-names-to-the-kenyan-children-they-fathered-2fkz7ft37
    British Army will tell Kenyan children their soldier fathers’ names
    A High Court judge granted a plea by 11 alleged offspring who believe they were abandoned by troops stationed in the country.
    The names and addresses of 11 British soldiers will be handed over to the children they are suspected of fathering while stationed on a base in Kenya.

    In an unprecedented legal case defence officials, as well as those from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue & Customs, have been told to disclose the last known contact details for the men by a High Court judge. The oldest child in the case was born in the 1990s, the youngest is still an infant.

    While the initial ruling covers the cases of only 11 children, lawyers believe there could be hundreds more who have been fathered by British soldiers posted in Kenya. Some may not know that they have children.

    The children are also seeking to bring legal action to have the fathers named as their legal parents, which will be ruled on at a later date. If granted, the decision could mean the children are entitled to British citizenship, as well as inheritance rights and child maintenance payments.

    The court judgment comes after The Sunday Times last year tracked down and interviewed Kenyan women who say their children were fathered by British soldiers.

    The women were in consensual relationships, but say that the soldiers eventually returned to the UK and abandoned their child, leaving the women to raise them on their own. Some had tried to make contact with the fathers, who were now married and had other children, but heard nothing back.

    The children being represented in the High Court last week were all born near a British Army base in a region where the only non-black people are military personnel. Their mothers are Kenyan and the children are “mostly of mixed race,” the High Court was told on Monday.

    Rob George KC, for the children, told the court that DNA testing showed that their fathers were not Kenyan, making it “likely” they were members of the British Army or civilians connected with the base.

    Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the family division, granted the application for the information to be disclosed and government officials have about one month to pass on the information.

    While the case relates to 11 children, who are all in receipt of UK legal aid and cannot be identified for legal reasons, lawyers have told The Sunday Times that “many more will follow”.

    “The cases before the court at present represent just the tip of the iceberg,” James Netto, the children’s solicitor, said. “For too long, men in the British Army have acted with outrageous, brazen impunity — buoyed by the huge power imbalance in their favour, and their misbelief that their actions abroad have no consequences for them when they return home.

    “They have been fathering children and simply abandoning them — leaving the children, and their families, in extraordinarily challenging circumstances in an impoverished part of rural Kenya. As the Ministry of Defence knows all too well, this has been happening for generations.”

    Hearings in Kenya recently have revealed tales of heavy drinking and sexual misconduct by other British soldiers posted there, including testimony that many had fathered children with Kenyan women whom they later abandoned.

    In December, Netto and a professor of forensic genetics from King’s College London took about 30 DNA testing kits to a small town north of Nairobi, where approximately 10,000 British soldiers are stationed every year.

    The solicitor used the public website Ancestry to link the DNA results from the Kenyan children to other tests available online. When he believed he had identified a match to a British soldier, he found him on social media and messaged him. However, some of the men blocked him from contacting them further.

    In one case, a young woman believed her father had worked on the base and had died. Testing revealed that 31 per cent of her DNA relates to England and northwestern Europe, with 8 per cent Welsh and 6 per cent Irish. The results also found that her closest living relative resides in England.

    George told the court that the woman “has never had the ability to find out anything in relation to her heritage or her paternal family. She is missing a fundamental part of her heritage and her identity as a result.”

    He added: “The main issue for the applicants is to seek disclosure orders to allow them to identify the appropriate respondents to each application and serve them with the relevant papers.”

    In a written statement to the court, Netto said that a “significantly and unusually high proportion” of the children were born either in the months of October or November.

    “It was later explained to us that British soldiers usually begin their stint … some nine months earlier, in January/February each year,” he said.

    A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “While paternity claims against UK service personnel are a private life issue, the government co-operates with local child support authorities where there are claims relating to paternity. For this particular case, we won’t comment further while legal proceedings are ongoing.”

    A spokesman for HMRC declined to comment.

    UK
    Defence
    Armed Forces
    PROMOTED CONTENT

    1. "… all in receipt of UK legal aid". As an aside, I'm surprised we still have 10.000 troops that we can deploy anywhere!

      1. The UK is run by lawyers for lawyers.
        It sometimes appears that every single new law passed serves to enrich more lawyers and if there is any doubt, then the High and Supreme Courts open the floodgates even further.

        Lubbly Jubbly.

        1. First, we kill all the lawyers….

          CALM DOWN, 77th Brigade! It’s a quote from Shakespeare. He used to write plays, over 400 years ago.

        2. Just look at who the applicable lawyers are. Notice anything – they are a diverse lot…?

    3. "Suspected of fathering"??? How about certain immigrants (and their descendants) who are responsible for the largest number of single mothers in this country.

    1. She looks like The She Devil.

      I suspect that she is every bit as evil as she looks.

  78. Prison officer sacked after refusing to call male-born inmates ‘she’
    Army veteran David Toshack taking security firm to employment tribunal for unlawful discrimination and harassment
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/03/prison-officer-sacked-male-born-inmate-she-fife/

    A few years ago this would have surprised me. Now it is just the sort of thing I expect.

    BTL

    Those who took the decision to sack him should not only be sacked themselves but they should also lose their pensions.

  80. My friend is a beer sommelier. She has given me this. Like Schwarzbier. I lived/worked in Germany for a long time and particularly love Altbier. It is such a shame Germany is on a par with the UK in terms of self-destruction.

    In other news, i have baked two loaves of bread, made two different types of beany/tomato soup, kebabed-up some lamb, marinaded some chicken and said goodbye to my brother, who is going back to Oz. I am going to open my beer and buy a flag now.

    Edit. And i cleaned the kitchen floor and did a load of washing. Work tomorrow!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/383d4e64c0284a178d001bff9d04eae5ff43ae68bc3b1b2de5e4da0bf186db7d.jpg

  81. Enormous 22 inch RAT as big as a dog found in home as councillor issues giant rodent warning for thousands of residents
    Are you the homeowner where the rat was found? E-mail: cameron.roy@mailonline.co.uk
    By CAMERON ROY

    Published: 13:31, 3 August 2025 | Updated: 17:01, 3 August 2025

    Residents have been left disgusted after an enormous 22-inch rat was found in a home in Redcar and Cleveland.

    Hundreds expressed their shock and disgust after a picture of the supersized rodent was posted on social media by local politicians.

    Conservative Party councillors David Taylor and Stephen Martin criticised the Labour-run council for its inaction and called for a full vermin study to be carried out across the borough.

    The rat, which has a potentially record-breaking size in UK terms, was discovered recently in a property in the Normanby area by a pest controller who had been called to investigate.

    It is unknown how it accessed the property, which it is believed to have been nesting in, but rats had been reported in back alleys nearby.

    In their social media post, Mr Taylor described public bins in parts of the Eston and Whale Hill area as 'overflowing', with shops, particularly takeaways, dumping items in them and providing 'easy food' for rodents.

    He wrote: 'It's almost the size of a small cat. And it's not a one-off.

    'The longer this is ignored, the worse it will get. We need action — not just advice..

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14966503/Enormous-22-inch-RAT-home-councillor-issues-giant-rodent-warning.html

    PS, we are watching the crickeeeet!

    Huge crowds .. rat attractors?

  82. 410613+ up ticks,

    Are we to suffer from the, ALL eggs in one party syndrome going forward with Reform,with no safety net party, or are we going to give the old proven treacherous political bastards lab/lib/con one more chance to prove they ARE treacherous beyond doubt after forty years of treachery ?

    Or,
    https://youtu.be/cGaCjZW5uy8?si=rbwepu0SwCwpVCiY

  83. That's very brave of you, Minister.

    Labour MP Cat Eccles, who represents Stourbridge, undertook a trip to Israel sponsored by Labour Friends of Israel.

  84. That's very brave of you, Minister.

    Labour MP Cat Eccles, who represents Stourbridge, undertook a trip to Israel sponsored by Labour Friends of Israel.

    1. Obviously has not worked out that Youtube recommendations are based on popularity, plus where the person is logged on from.

      p.s. and previous viewing record…

    3. Cabinet ministers and Chiefs of police relying on social media to spread their propaganda on sites owned and controlled by other countries.

      Not very bright are they….

  86. Re my comments the other day about sickles, hooks, etc. The small one is the old sickle we dug up from the garden in Essex. It was old then and that was close to 60 years ago. The middle one is the "hook" I bought in Maldon, probably around 1970, with a "kink" in the handle to offset the blade, and the last item is the $6.99 machete I bought here a couple of years ago. The deckboards by the way are nominaly 6", so that machete has an 18" serrated blade. Great for getting rid of undergrowth.

    No restrictions on buying knives here. Since any citizen who does not have a criminal record can buy a gun, "blades" are only used by our illegal "friends" from south of the border.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d17f3118f7a6e9169525b395efa053e0d24932d1f7a080ee423523012ea92554.jpg

  87. Evening all. Not long back from a pet service where, I am pleased to say, Winston and Kadi were well behaved.

    Kier Starmer is too anti semitic and pro muslim to admit who is to blame.

    1. According to Andrew Marr, KS neither listens to or talks to/with anyone – Ministers, Civil Service. Victor or loser, seemingly all down to him.

  88. Anything I should know about the cricket? My (other) friend is the Times correspondent and I can’t be bothered* to look up what’s going on, but want to ask how she is (doing her correspondence on said subject).

    *refer to previous comments about beer

    2. It's not over yet – rained off until tomorrow.

      And for those who have been watching, here's a thought from a Cricinfo viewer: "Harry Brook – 80% Don Bradman, 20% Mr Bean."

      1. Yes his dismissal was quite comical – but he'd opened the door for an incredible potential England win by then!

    3. It's very tight – it looked like England were romping to victory and the biggest run chase in history at the Oval (374) with a terrific stand from Brook and Root – both are now out and England still need 37 with 4 wickets left, although Woakes is unlikely to bat unless absolutely necessary (whatever that means). New ball due in about 4 overs so it really is in the balance. Another terrific Test Match……..

      1. Oh, Woakes will play for sure. The extra overnight rest might make all the difference. 35 to win.

        1. Hmmm, he was wearing a sling when I last saw him – I guess if there are 1 or 2 runs to win he might just come out…..

          2. Woakes wont punch anybody – he has the (dubious) title of 'the nicest man in cricket'……..

          3. I’m obviously overwrought and tired, Vlad…I meant Ben Stokes (who I think is pretty cool..)…anyhow, sport is the alternative to war along with jaw-jaw, yes? :-))

        1. Not sure Katya, they only scored about 8 runs in the last 10 overs of the day, and every other ball looked like it would be a wicket – it's going to be very close…..

          1. I take you at your word, Vlad…I’m hopeless at sport (both as player and commentator), although I will place a bet with my husband on the outcome and he doesn’t always win 🙂 I draw and paint a little, think I’m possibly looking at the physical shapes as much as anything. Also, I think sport is important nationally and internationally…winner winner chicken dinner good for morale..enough rambling, hope tomorrow a good cricket day 🙂

    2. I'm still going for my favourite: Jezzbollah. Has anyone suggested national socialists?

      1. I've suggested the New Anti-Zionist Intifada Party on a few comments in various places.

      1. Nah, what about the democratic people's front?

        What is democratic about him though? They won't be giving their constituents a chance to get rid of them.

      1. Good one, Rastus. When I showed the pic to my husband, he couldn't stop laughing, even though he guessed it straightaway when I told him the name of the new party.

    1. The sad thing is they think they're the great righteous heroes. That's why they're so dangerous.

  91. I can see them losing from here.

    There was only 20 minutes to go to tea when he did what he did. Stupid.

    1. I know, he can be infuriating, but he can also turn Test Matches on their head with his blistering batting.

      I dont think he's going to change, and, to be honest, I'm not sure I'd want him to!

    1. Of course, it would be muslim who complained and began the witch hunt. That pollution must be burned out of this country. They're a plague.

    2. Disgraceful. He should take immediate legal action. Perhaps the Free Speech Union will back him.

      1. Seconded – you beat me to it, Aeneas – FSU have had quite a few successes. (I think Daily Sceptic started by Toby (now Lord) Young, originally titled Lockdown Sceptics, where I read my initial suspicions confirmed re virus/vaccine.)

  93. https://davidturver.substack.com/p/what-if-we-ditched-net-zero

    Mr Turver writes extremely well, I don't pretend to understand the cheats and fiddles around CFDs and AR, but the fact remains that energy is too expensive. Imagine if our bills – all our bills – halved overnight. How much better off we would all be. How much less we would have to waste on 'discounts' and tariffs. That's another – for us £80 going into the real economy, not some Lefty waster's back pocket. For the company some £200. It's the economy, stupid.

    However, the greeniacs have a weapon. They call it 'climate change'. It's really just another miserable attempt to enforce socialism.

    1. I think the gov are still raking off a winfall tax on energy companies, so there will be no rush to lower bills and hence profits. Let us not also forget that wind and solar costs have not increased by one cent as a result of Ukraine, the entire energy market is a scam.

  94. https://davidturver.substack.com/p/what-if-we-ditched-net-zero

    Mr Turver writes extremely well, I don't pretend to understand the cheats and fiddles around CFDs and AR, but the fact remains that energy is too expensive. Imagine if our bills – all our bills – halved overnight. How much better off we would all be. How much less we would have to waste on 'discounts' and tariffs. That's another – for us £80 going into the real economy, not some Lefty waster's back pocket. For the company some £200. It's the economy, stupid.

    However, the greeniacs have a weapon. They call it 'climate change'. It's really just another miserable attempt to enforce socialism.

    1. The police have legal powers to manage or prevent demonstrations under inter alia the Public Order Act 1986 and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

      1. 410613+ up ticks,

        Evening WS,

        Did these acts the Public Order Act 1986 and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.take in and give consent to the concealment of paedophilia via the police, and police actions that are seen as blatantly morally wrong by the mass public ?

        1. A silly argument on a serious subject. The police do not have arbitrary powers to stop demos.

          We can agree it might become ugly soon.

          1. They have done it to themselves. It is by their own actions using damage limitation PR and showing themselves to be not impartial. To promote and protect certain minority groups.
            To disregard the people they are supposed to defend.

            The people that do pay their wages.

            There will be many more awakenings and those won't prioritise those in uniforms.

      2. Might be too large to control, possibly even use water cannon. Be a huge loss (even larger than at present) of trust in the police.

    2. It used to be that the police were a part of the citizens of the country and a worked with the consent of the populace. Not anymore, the are labours attack dogs, and cannot be trusted.

      1. I am reminded of Catalan where local police and firefighters stood in front of the locals protecting them from the violence of the police forces brought in from Barcelona.

        I remember one particular video of an elderly woman remonstrating with the armour clad thugs and they attacked her. Throwing her off her feet while she had her little dog on a lead. They both went spinning.

        The social contract was broken years ago.

    2. I want to know who the five MP's are who apparently sexuality assaulted Chris Bryant.

  99. The dark genius of Billy Joel, the most underrated man in rock
    Despite 33 hit singles and 160 million record sales, Joel has become something of a critical whipping post.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/billy-joel-underrated-rock-genius/

    The director of Music produced an a cappella version of And So It Goes for the choir to sing at the end of year concert when Christo was in the choir in his final year at Gresham's.

    He and his wife went to a Billy Joel concert in Cardiff last year.

    So I would choose to be with you
    And if the choice were mine to make
    And you can make decisions too
    And you can have this heart to break

        1. Love this arrangement, and the sentiment 😊 what a lullaby, thanks Alec…after midnight..sleep or turn into a witch 🧙‍♀️ goodnight xx

  100. Ooh! I’ve just been ‘disappeared’ again by the DT! Perfectly reasonable comment about their dreadful headline on the Tommy Robinson article. The assault was alleged, but you wouldn’t know that, so I posted again. Taking bets on how long it lasts!

  102. Family arrived around 3pm, having not seen them for a couple of weeks, ex chief cooked a chicken and lot's of veg and 10 of us sat down to eat 3 hours later. They drifted off around 21:00. My word those grandchildren can be hard work 😊🤗🤔

    Oh and that horrible thing on the shit house front bench has now declared war on allotments.
    She probably didn't work it out herself but there's a lot of very cheap well tended easily cleared land out there. Pitch forks at the ready.

    2. Indeed. Easy pickings for councils, as they don’t bring in much income. Think of the illegals you can house!

      1. A few years ago Watford Council removed allotment holders telling them that they were going to a much needed new hospital. The allotment holders were given some unused agricultural land.
        The old hospital was bodged up and new houses were built on the allotment site.

      1. What about when Plod brings agents provocateurs to the peaceful protest with the express intent of fomenting unpeaceful protest?

  106. Well, I spent so much time attempting to explain to Ashes Than Dust exactly how Wordle works, I will have to quickly sign off as it is now well past my bedtime. As usual, I bid you all a Good Night; sleep well and see you all tomorrow morning.

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