Friday 12 September: The Mandelson saga has cast yet more doubt on Starmer’s judgment

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.

583 thoughts on “Friday 12 September: The Mandelson saga has cast yet more doubt on Starmer’s judgment”

        1. Hi JR. One of my better days thanks.

          The Spring rolls exploded in the pan.

          Need more practice.

          Next time i will use the mini oven air fryer thingy.

    2. Good morning, the Met Office are amazing! On the one hand they claim to have 300 weather stations across the UK, on the other hand only 200 actually exist. Of those that remain, over 50% have a margin of error of ÷/- 5°C, and 30% have a margin of error of +/- 2°C. From these ridiculous figures the Met Office are able to extract average temperatures down to 1/100th of a degree! Rachel from Complaints would fit right in at the Met Office, once she's inevitably moved on from her present post.

      I have Paul Homewood at http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com to thank for the figures. A site well worth visiting, as is http://wattsupwiththat.com which is currently being overhauled.

    3. Worrying to see how many people are slagging Tice off for this – the climate crisis believers are out in force!

  4. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. Only a Bogey for Wordle today.

    Wordle 1,546 5/6

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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Very similar experience here
      Wordle 1,546 5/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
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  8. Oxford Union president who debated Charlie Kirk appears to celebrate shooting

    Message on student’s Instagram account believed to have stated ‘Charlie Kirk got shot loool’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/09/11/TELEMMGLPICT000439473592_17576017750450_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqTk2K637dSDjJ2AFGVNmmgopw6iu7s_ZxhI78UjEStzs.jpeg?imwidth=1280

    The Oxford Union’s incoming president appeared to celebrate the shooting of Charlie Kirk, the Maga influencer, just months after debating him.

    George Abaraonye shared comments after Kirk, the free-speech advocate and key Donald Trump ally, was fatally shot at Utah Valley University as he discussed mass shootings committed by trans people.

    In messages seen by The Telegraph, Mr Abaraonye posted: “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f—— go” – a common celebratory phrase among Gen Z.

    Another message, believed to be on the student’s Instagram account, stated “Charlie Kirk got shot loool”, an exaggeration of the abbreviation “laughing out loud”.

    Messages were shared in a WhatsApp group for Oxford Union members. At least one of his messages was soon deleted.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/09/11/TELEMMGLPICT000439472678_17576019333280_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqBrlO6rLdEORk7V2a5RFARlHwtdpQwyNje2OyIL7x97s.jpeg?imwidth=680 *
    *
    ********************************************

    Liya Zlotnik
    14 hrs ago
    Now if we ask ourselves had the situation been reversed and it was this Oxford Union person who was tragically killed, would Charlie Kirk share this demonic sentiment ?

    And therein lies the difference between us and them

    Big Vern
    14 hrs ago
    We can guarantee that a white student that celebrated the death of a black activist would be kicked out pdq.

    DEI double standards again.

    PJ Foster
    1 hr ago
    Reply to Michael Mulroy – view message
    Write or email the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University to express your views on this , her email address is

    irene.tracey@ndcn.ox.ac.uk

    1. He is the President Elect. The Union distanced itself from this post.
      Looking at the career of the trampish person on the right, the phrase "DEI" springs to mind. Goodness only knows what the Union will look like during his presidency.
      Oxford seems to be about five years behind, still stuck in the BLM time.

    2. By the way, the Union is completely separate from the University.
      The email address of the Union is enquiries@oxford-union.org
      If anyone wants to write, they could address their email to the Returning Officer and request that he or she starts disciplinary proceedings against George Abaraonye for bringing the Union into disrepute (it is in Union society rules).

      1. TY, will be writing. Its being highlighted on LinkedIn, I have reposted a powerful post there if you have an account. Feel free to pluck some choice phrases and send to the wokes at Oxford.

        For the attention of The President Oxford Union Moosa Harraj

        It is with great concern that your president elect, George Abaraonye, has publicly made disgusting comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk. He has brought the Union into disrepute and has contravened your Rule 71: "behaviour that damages the Societies Interests". Claiming that these comments were made in the heat of the moment and then deleted holds no water as has been shown recently in a certain high profile case.

        I realise that the president elect is voted in by the membership but I hope that you will seriously consider revoking the installation of George Abaraonye as president. He has certainly showed poor judgement, gutter values, to be against free speech, and is not fit to hold office. The Oxford Union deserves better.

        1. Good stuff. Ask for it to be copied to the Returning Officer – he or she is responsible for disciplinary matters.

          2. SOAS? How did you put up with the lefties….
            I think non members can also make complaints at the OUS iirc. In general, the elected officers may be prats but the Returning Officer is usually pretty sound – he or she is the one who oversees the election and the vote counting so is usually intelligent rather than a windbag trainee politician.

          4. oops sorry! I was a bit surprised….you probably had a better course. Ours were all out of date but the tutors were so full of themselves and out of touch they wouldn’t admit it.

          5. There were some top people there with groundbreaking techniques in 75-78. It is almost GCSE stuff now. Anyway, enjoyed living in Kensington for 2 years, last year was near Catford bus depot!

  9. Good morning all.
    11½°C outside first thing this morning with a clear sky, no visible cloud, a waning gibbous moon hanging high in the sky and no discernible wind.

    Stepson's Benefits paid into his account today, so just spent 40 minutes setting up payments from his reserve account for the next month to dribble the money into his spending account.

    1. Well, Citroen, I can see all three in your post. But, never having heard them speak, I will have to defer to your superior knowledge on the matter. (Good morning, btw.)

        1. Stitches out and wound healing nicely. Foolishly thought I was well enough to return via Westfield and the bus. Arrived back dizzy and worse. Was promptly showered, fed and sent to bed by the nurse and care assistant. Much better this morning. Will have an easy day today. Thank you for your concern.

          1. This is such good news, Sue. Thanks for the update, and be sure to take your own advice: "Have an easy day today". And for many more days in the future. Much love from Elsie xxx

          2. This is such good news, Sue. Thanks for the update, and be sure to take your own advice: "Have an easy day today". And for many more days in the future. Much love from Elsie xxx

          3. They didn't need 'T' plates to be recognised Grizz, it was obvious from their manner of driving. Another fatality a mile from me yesterday. Motorbike and (spit) campervan

          4. Thankfully I shall not be taking my motorhome back to Scotland now that I have visited all the racecourses.

    5. I love to see a pretty woman in a nice classic bob haircut.

      Unfortunately there are many whom the style does not suit, and most of those have flawed personalities to match their idiotic politics and their repulsive physogs.

    6. One can see that they've risen to the top of their career paths. They've all managed to dispense with the chunky jewellery. Saggy May obviously had further aspirations.

  11. Its biggest champion Lord Hermer has just demolished the case for the ECHR

    For the Attorney General to admit that British judges have been wrong, and Parliament should advise them, is sheer heresy

    Peter Lilley
    11 September 2025 5:26pm BST
    Peter Lilley
    If only Labour ministers would resign because their policies – not their dubious friendships or mortgages – are indefensible. Then we might be rid of the Attorney General, Lord Hermer.

    Appearing before the Lords Constitution Committee, he could not find a single legal reason why we should remain members of the ECHR. He claimed that leaving would have adverse diplomatic and political consequences (not his responsibility) – not that it would threaten our freedoms. Pressed by the crossbench peer, Lord Anderson, he admitted that if we left, Britain would be in the same “club” as Canada, Australia and New Zealand – who maintain exemplary rights without submitting to an international court.

    He admitted that the Human Rights Act, which was supposed to “bring rights home” by letting our courts interpret the Convention before cases reached Strasbourg, has backfired. Our immigration tribunals give even greater rights to foreign nationals than do Continental courts. So, he promised to give courts “guidance” on interpreting Convention rights, if need be, by Act of Parliament.

    That destroys the whole rationale of the ECHR. The central tenet of the human rights religion is that human rights are too important to be entrusted to elected politicians. Hence, the task of creating law defining each right and deciding how rights may be balanced against other legitimate objectives must be removed from Parliament and given to judges – unaccountable and therefore immune to political pressures. For Hermer to admit that British judges have been getting it wrong, and Parliament should tell them how to do it better, is sheer heresy.

    Hermer may have lost faith in the superiority of British courts, but his belief in the infallibility of the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights is unshakeable. That Court does allow member states some latitude in interpreting the Convention – “a margin of appreciation” in their jargon. But it defines retrospectively whether any national decision falls within that margin. As long as Britain adheres to the ECHR, if Strasbourg rules against decisions of UK courts and Acts of Parliament, we are Treaty-bound to change our laws.

    This is not an abstract possibility. The Strasbourg Court recently overruled a Swiss referendum, declaring that “Democracy cannot be reduced to the will of the majority of the electorate and elected representatives in disregard of the requirements of the rule of law” – as interpreted by the Court.

    None of his arguments for remaining in the ECHR related to our rights. If we left, he asserted, “it is inconceivable” that our European neighbours would enter into agreements with us on extradition. But France has mutual extradition treaties with Algeria, Morocco, the UAE and China.

    He repeated the fatuous claim that leaving would bracket us with Russia and Belarus. In fact, it would bracket us with the EU which, despite the Lisbon Treaty obligation to join the ECHR, refuses to accept any court as superior to its own.

    Once again, he asserted that “from its inception” Britain has been a “key promoter” of the ECHR. In fact, Attlee, Churchill and his Conservative successors refused to accept the authority of the Strasbourg court precisely because they foresaw it would transfer the power to make law from Parliament to the courts. The inexorable effect of which is to emasculate Parliament and politicise the judiciary – threatening the rule of law which is the the Lords Committee’s concern.

    ******************************

    Mr Sensible
    13 hrs ago
    We have a Home Secretary who signed a letter opposing the deportation of foreign criminals including child rapists, a Foreign Secretary who posed for a photo waving a far left “Asylum Seekers Welcome “ placard and a Prime Minister who was a human rights lawyer who fought for the right of foreign criminals to remain in the UK.

    This government welcome the invasion.

    1. Good moaning, Annie. Remind me again how you got to the theatre with the train and Underground strikes. (Glad you both enjoyed the show, btw.)

      1. Spent rather too much money on taxis. Chum has not been too well, so I didn't like to suggest a gentle stroll.

      1. Carol is the niece-in-law of my late Elderly Chum.
        We have been friends ever since she married EC's nephew.

  14. Friday 12 September: The Mandelson saga has cast yet more doubt on Starmer’s judgment

    I think we are well past the doubt stage

  15. I was just thinking this morning with the far Left hate and incitement laws in place that if there was ever a second coming then the son of Christ would be accused of causing division, extremism and incitement, then slapped in jail or even assassinated.

  16. https://order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Featured-Images-24-6.png
    Insiders Say Trump Visit Planning in Chaos as Starmer Faces Mandelson and Free Speech Onslaught

    The renowned champion of free speech speaks or is it trolls🙄
    https://talk.hyvor.com/media/website/14037/wz5HrO50O6ZKSeKQhEmTROpJLFTcglqkPIbkMex8.jpg

    21 hours ago
    What an absolute hypocrite. You and people like you created this culture of hate.

    Bruce Colin Everiss
    21 hours ago
    Tell that to Graham Linehan.

    Nobody Really
    21 hours ago
    Does political violence include being arrested / imprisoned for a tweet?

    M
    20 hours ago
    If that's true, Sir Queer, why did you ensure that Lucy Connolly was banged up for engaging in open and free debate, you hypocritical arsehole ?

    1. Lucy Connolly was not banged up for engaging in open and free debate. She posted an angry rant; an explosive diatribe which was not an invitation to share opinions and ideas.

  20. The Mandelson saga has cast yet more doubt on Starmer’s judgment.

    SIR – Peter Mandelson has been sacked as Britain’s ambassador to the United States ( r eport, September 11). It was clear that this would have to happen as soon as details about the extent of his association with Jeffrey Epstein became public.

    More serious, however, is the total lack of judgment displayed by Sir Keir Starmer in appointing him – despite a number of warnings, notably from Lord Glasman.

    The question arises: is Sir Keir fit to be Prime Minister? Already his premiership is strewn with bad decisions.

    G R James
    Barnstaple, Devon

    SIR – Angela Rayner sought to blame the situation with her homes on bad advice.

    Peter Mandelson said of his continued association with Jeffrey Epstein: “I relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false”

    How on earth do these people rise to such elevated levels of government when they appear to be so appallingly lacking in either judgment or common sense?

    Wesley Hallam
    Batheaston, Somerset

    It is not Starmer's, Rayner's nor Mandelson's judgment you should be questioning. It is the flawed judgment of the millions of brain-dead twats who consciously placed these despicable creatures into positions of power.

    1. Around a decade ago, the lamestream meeja used to print images of Gideon Osbourne on yet another Russian oligarch's super yacht. Attempting to smear the greasy clown in financial chicanery. Yet few, if any, of these commentators mentioned the fact that in nearly every image of Osborne there stood Mandelslime.

  21. 'Morning All
    "Charlie Kirk Assassinated: They Couldn’t Prove Him Wrong, So They Killed Him.
    Is the death of the man who created Turning Point, a tipping point?

    Charlie Kirk was murdered yesterday in Utah.many mns had some thoughts on that murder, which differ from mine. I’ll start with my thoughts, and end with his.

    So what is my view on Charlie Kirk’s horrific murder? It is this:

    He was murdered for talking to people. He was murdered doing what radical progressives do not want anyone to do-for thinking, for speaking, for debating, and for having his own ideas and opinions, rather than the ones radical leftist progressives insist everyone should have.

    Charlie Kirk had a strong Christian faith, shared with his wife and family. His wife has already referenced that faith in response to the cruel slaughter of her husband, and I hope it gives strength and support to her and, most importantly of all, to the children robbed of their father.

    Like early Christian missionaries, Charlie believed in spreading the Word. The method he chose to battle bad ideas and evil ideas was debate. He went on debate tours, discussing politics, faith and freedom. He went to places where he knew his views would be opposed. He asked his opponents to prove him wrong. He spoke for what he thought was right and good. He was a proselytiser.Prove me wrong,

    A characteristic slogan that said a lot about what Charlie Kirk was doing and believed in. Asking someone to prove you wrong shows faith in the power of disvussion to reach agreement, and trust in the ability of people of different politics to change when presented with compelling arguments from the other side. It’s a challenge, but an inherently peaceful one that admits the possibility of being wrong."
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/doWgSxXH_N0

    2. Even my chiropodist who isn’t political said today that we only have free speech if it doesn’t contradict what those in charge want us to believe. People are starting to wake up..

  23. Good Morning!

    Today, my old mucker John Surtees, a former soldier and policeman, writes a plea for a return to civilised debate and respect for political opponents, saying that their opposite, and the hate that stems mainly from the Left, is the root cause of Charlie Kirk's murder. So please read The Murder of Charlie Kirk: When the Public Space Is Silenced by Gunfire ; A Crime Against Debate and let us know if you agree.

    Nanumaga's report on his evening with Rajah Mia , the brave British Muslim campaigning against the largely Pakistani Muslim rape gangs and, more importantly, the shameful cover-up by all forms of governance in this country, Labour and Tory, is very much worth reading, again if you've already read it..

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 32.2 GW, sourced from Gas, 10.3%; Solar, 7.2%: Wind 56%; Imports, 10.2%; Biomass, 2.8%; Nuclear 10.2% and Miscellaneous, 3.2%.

    RIP Charlie Kirk.

  24. Morning, all Y'all.
    Only 09:30, and been busy. Day off to take both cats for annual MoT, plus bought decorating supplies on the way home. Now, coffee & NoTTL, whilst it monsoons down outside.

  25. Morning All 🙂😊🤗
    Sunny start again 11c it might make it to 12 later as it's the date I guess.
    Big Birthday treat this morning, after yesterday's frightening incident I'm off back to the GP surgery for an ECG. That's niasch eh 🤗😏
    I wont be having a hearty breakfast either. 🤔😆
    Slayders. 🤠🥳

    1. Grattis på födelsedagen, Eddy. Hope it's a good one and you soon feel much better!😊🍷🎂👍🏻🎉

    2. Good morning and happy birthday.
      I hope you have a most enjoyable start to the march unto four score.

      1. Of course, Sos, it's Ready Eddy's birthday today. I did see Mr and Mrs Tastey's post last night and wished him a Happy Birthday. So may I wish you a Happy Birthday once more today, Ready Eddy. (And Good Morning to you both, btw.)

    5. Happy birthday! Hope the ECG reading is good and they sort out your meds. I had a prescription issued by the GP practice for a drug that the hospital had already discontinued following my op. It’s all there in the discharge summary. Doh!

      1. MB is the grateful recipient of an "improved" service that threatened to leave him short of vital medication.
        You would impressed listening to me being "reasonable" on the phone.
        Still, all done and dusted (fingers crossed) and I can scoot off to Edinburgh with a clear conscioience.

          2. Phil. I don't know much – anything really – about your ailments. But you seriously need to rethink the Ramipril.
            MB has 'co-morbities'; he took the plunge and has been as fine as he'll ever be.

          3. I’m going yo ask them to change it. And the Clopidogrel which gives me bowel trouble at least twice every week.

    6. Happy Birthday, Eddy! Have a wonderful day and hope the ecg goes well! Take care! 🍾🥂🎂

    8. Happy birthday Eddy, hope all goes well with the medics, and that you can celebrate in a happy state of mind following the all clear. 🥳🎶🍻

    9. You sure know how to enjoy a birthday. Still, you have the rest of the weekend to make up for it.

  26. 412736+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    We had early warning signs and horns ahonking as shown on 24/6/2016 when 48%s chosen route was
    eu incarceration in my book little has changed.

    We have in point of fact GIVEN these Isles away already and now, realizing our criminal stupidity the fight for the return of freedom is, to be so much harder.

    Truth be told the starmie morally illegal army will be today on the crest of a wave as we type, daily reinforcements drain indigenous resolve as well as infrastructure power, leaving us finally with the options
    QUIT & FLIT or take our current stance for what it is, a fight for survival.

    https://x.com/Dai111/status/1966249270912364624

    2. 412736+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      As with treacherous treasa & the wretch cameron, the TOOL has done his bit aiddid and abetted by the 48 percenters.

      As a WEF / NWO political rodent active agent, he must be given credit for taking advantage of a very simple,
      feeble minded section of the indigenous peoples.

    4. Rayner was got out of the way so that she wouldn't be in the running to succeed him.
      Khan isn't in Parliament yet. Which horror have they got lined up next? One of the sixth form marxist women perhaps

  27. Morning all ,
    Another free and peaceful morning , golfer off golfing .

    Chilly breeze , cold night , summer duvet needs to be replaced .

    Here is a military area, we hear the sound of tanks and those strange looking wagons , as young soldiers are taught to drive the things on public roads.

    We see them stopping off in these local shops, they are wearing their uniforms , little union badges on the top of their sleeves ..yet how simple minded were the women who removed a display of little flags and bunting from one of our local roundabouts .

    The excuse was that they are a distraction to drivers , but hang on a moment , what about the companies that have little advertising boards on roundabouts , displays of flowers , Happy birthdays , and all that sort of thing .

    Why were people like Starmer and the Mandlebum knighted .. Why are Trotsky types awarded with knighthoods , what kind benevolent things have they done for their country of birth?

  28. Nadiya Hussain.
    And how many more are like her? 20% 50% 90%.
    Scratch the surface and the Oh so cuddly 'national' treasure.. is not so cuddly after all.

        1. A Horrible thing who should never have 'won' bake off….it was one of the most obvious fixes ever.

          1. Definitely. I'm told I can't cancel the tv licence because it's not solely for the BBC but for all terrestrial tv. I suspect more because him indoors watches MotD.

          2. I gave up the 'pleasure' of all livestream broadcasts (admittedly no hardship for me) around seven or eight years ago, rather than pay the bBC tv tax. Initially I was given a two year 'pass', but declined their offer to update my non-viewing pass as I don't consider the bBC tv tax sales database to be the equivalent of the Census. Now the 'legal occupier' gets a threatening letter each month, believing i could give a tinker's cuss if one of their commissioned salesmen should attempt to darken my door. I am not a number! 🙂

          3. 😆 they supposedly send out TV licence vans complete with aerials, to catch out any dwelling with a TV turned on, knock on the door and ask to see licence. Yeah right…I never watch BBC/ITV. Usually catch GBN online for news and Farage. Watch Netflix (Breaking Bad – again) or occasionally but not regularly Amazon. Or read – currently Vance’s ‘Elegy’. Or even play cards, as I used to with my dad.

          4. Some of their letters, from their rolodex of threats, ask if I’ll be in on such and such a date as they’re sending the boys round!
            Each threatening letter they send includes a sentence explaining that if you watch any livestream broadcasts then you must pay the bBC tv tax.
            I agree, but it therefore follows that those who do not view livestream broadcasts are not liable to pay.

        2. She aspires to be appalling. Cosseted by the marxist bBC and 'chosen' to bake a carbuncle for the late Queen. Now finally confident enough to show her true colours, which have surprised no one.

      3. My bet is she has no idea of who he really was but just believes what the usual left wing nutters have told her. When you listen to a lot of these pro Palestine leftist idiots it's obvious they haven't a clue, just parrots. And so it is the same for anything to do with the right. No idea, just crude cartoon depictions. Reason is the left have no intelligible philosophy of their own. She is just one of them, perfected and trained in being an air head by the glorious BBC. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, avoid the BBC. and the rest of those TV stations for that matter.

        But she is a Muslim and they really hated Charlie anyway.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0twS08uWU

        1. True, she epitomises the very people Charlie Kirk would be happy and willing to debate with. She, and her fellow travellers, know full well they cannot win against a reasoned and educated opponent. Hence, they cheer his violent demise believing the matter settled.

      4. My bet is she has no idea of who he really was but just believes what the usual left wing nutters have told her. When you listen to a lot of these pro Palestine leftist idiots it's obvious they haven't a clue, just parrots. And so it is the same for anything to do with the right. No idea, just crude cartoon depictions. Reason is the left have no intelligible philosophy of their own. She is just one of them, perfected and trained in being an air head by the glorious BBC. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, avoid the BBC. and the rest of those TV stations for that matter.

        But she is a Muslim and they really hated Charlie anyway.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0twS08uWU

          8. Because my grandfather owned a garage, he joined the RFC and spent his time in France mending planes.
            Presumably at that time there wasn't much difference between car and aeroplane engines.

    2. That'll do the pubs and bars some good. I remember being ashore in Den Helder when USS Somethingorother arrived. Farsands of Yanks out on the town. Mainly good fun and we had a good drunken chat with a group of CPOs.

  30. Reposted from late last night

    Friday 12th September, 2025

    Ready Eddy

    (aka Eh Calm Down)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/451b0df5a7c18debed370e03925e3c739625ebea4fb5f0999bef0a474d641a4b.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ab846f31e39007dfda6a2b7f0c3b316ea3163a235a52969acd55f188a814c072.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d5d0cd4ef0c7c9266e18864c21f45648875797fafb2d9bd8e7726254aac957c.png

    With very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    1. And again, a very Happy Birthday to you, Ready Eddy. PS – You've upvoted me again, Sue Ed. So do please let us know how things went for you at hospital yesterday.

    6. Thank you Richard and Caroline.
      I'm sitting in the doctors waiting room ready for my birthday treat 😆🤗🤩
      After yesterday's incident an ECG.

        1. We phoned the surgery yesterday as J is clearly unwell…….. the Dr phoned back and said he would send one of the doctors out to see him today………

      2. Happy Birthday dear Eddy!! What happened yesterday? I must have missed that. I hope you're ok. My neighbour is still in hospital after her heart attack the other day.

        1. “Yesterday (morning) all my troubles seemed to far away”…..
          I went for a walk along the river, bumped into an old friend I actually went to school with in North London.
          He lives locally now. Andrew a now retired architect.
          I was badly out of breath. After the rest I carried on but had to stop and lean on the fence to get my breath back. Bumped into one of our neighbours also named Andrew just said hello as we passed.
          Arrived at the end of the footpath crossed the second bridge and still had breathing problems and some chest pain. I sat on some timber surrounds for garden Arrangements.
          Two guys walking two dogs came past asked if I was alright ? Facing along walk up hill which I knew was going to give me a lot of problems. I told them I had chest pains and difficulty getting my breath. One of them said he would go home and get his car come back and pick me up and take me home. In ten minutes he was back in his range rover and took me home. I was so greatful he probably saved me from having to ring 111 or 999.
          His name was also Andy. An ex local fire officer. I managed to get an appointment in the afternoon with a local doctor.
          I’m feeling much better today Bob.
          Further investigation will continue next week.

          1. Heyup Eddy!
            I missed your response, but that sounds bloody scary and VERY worrying. Glad you’re ok now but take care.

          2. Morning Bob I’m beginning to think that it happened because I had run out of one of my Atrial fibrillation cardiac medications and because the pharmacy no longer provide any of the paperwork for repeat prescriptions. It took me longer to get them than it normally takes.
            I use to drop off the request at the GP surgery or order repeats on line, but it didn’t work properly on Wednesday and that was the result.
            Doxasosin is the med that I’d run out of. Fortunately I feel okay now today, I took one last night.
            Handy Andy eh, I’ll drop off a bottle of wine at his home next week.
            He lives nearby, Caesars Road
            Named after that Roman chap who entered the river Lea off the Thames, now opposite the O2.
            In 54 bc to check out what was up there. Look up Devils Dyke and Cassivellanuns….

  31. "Rule Britannia! shuts my family out of the Last Night of the Proms" – says Mrs Kanneh-Mason, the mother of the ubiquitous, very talented but slightly irritating musical family.

    Oh, how sad.

    2. I'm afraid I've never heard of the Kanneh-Mason Family Singers, Bill. Are they related to the Von Trapp Family Singers, of The Sound Of Music fame? (Good morning, btw.)

        1. On her side she is part white Welsh. So you can she why she is so prejudiced against the majority….

      2. There are seven children – all of whom are decent classical musicians. One (the most famous) is a cellist. Others play piano, violin etc.

        As fame grew – so their cries of "having to deal with prejudice" grew also. The irony is that – for intelligent people – they cannot see that their accusations about racism by white people are themselves examples of prejudice…

        Ho hum.

      3. They did make a programme a few years ago where they followed in the Trapp Family footsteps. But they are instrumentalists, not singers.

    3. I'm afraid I've never heard of the Kanneh-Mason Family Singers, Bill. Are they related to the Von Trapp Family Singers, of The Sound Of Music fame? (Good morning, btw.)

  32. 412736+ up ticks,

    The starmer charmer and the lab/lib/cons clear to see intentions are To "raze to the ground" to completely demolish or level a building or infrastructure down to its foundation, destroying it entirely. The phrase emphasizes the thoroughness of the destruction, leaving nothing standing or working.

    Why may one ask ARE THEY STILL IN POWER ?

  34. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8b7507a4adb4c9143a98154fdfb92d273f38a18138988c576151ede5e33a497.png I have just posted off a missive to the DT asking why Skåne, Sweden, where I live, is incorrectly labelled on their map as "Denmark".

    This is the second time this map has been published in that rag and they still haven't amended it.

    For their information (and education) Skåne was last owned by Denmark in 1658, when it was then ceded to Sweden under the Treaty of Roskilde. Although Denmark briefly occupied parts of the state during the 'Scanian War' (1676–1679), and again in 1710 during the Great Northern War, the Treaty of Frederiksborg 1720 confirmed Skåne's permanent status as part of Sweden.

    1. Stop trying to lay down a smokescreen of uninteresting trivia.

      We all know that it was you who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.

      2. Not good old Grizz, wouldn't be here with us if it was him. He has more fish to smoke, for one thing…

    2. Here ya go..

      It happened “overnight” on the 26th of September

      We have a US Navy P8 fly from the United States to a refueling rendezvous point over Grudziądz Poland at 0210 hrs GMT

      The two aircraft, Callsign N/A, and BART12 sync up at 26,400 ft for an extended 1:20 minute refueling, disconnecting at 0328 hrs GMT

      The BART12 air refueler RTB’d to Spangdahlem Air Base Germany and one should note the flight record has been wiped

      The Navy P8 then continues onto the Nord Stream Pipeline location and descends to an altitude of <10,000 ft at 0345 hrs GMT

      The Navy P8 exits the area just prior to 0700 hrs and is the only aircraft over the area the entire time

      At 0709 hrs GMT the Navy P8 returns back to the United States. Note: the US Navy P8 HexCode is AE6851 and is NOT listed in the aircraft database. Furthermore, the aircraft flew as “masked” meaning it did not want to be tracked

      Datapoint, there were recorded 2.3 magnitude shakes in the area at that same time

      The following morning NATO Forces announce that overnight the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline has been sabotaged

      On September 29th in front of the UN Security Council a Russian Federation spokesperson presents the known facts and asks the United States representative directly in a yes or no requested response, “did the United States take out the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline” in which the US representative did not confirm nor deny it and didn’t answer the question, but instead took an offensive posture

  35. Good Morning All 😊So far it seems to be a cool but sunny day. Hope it lasts. Particularly anxious that it not rain tomorrow because of the demo in London. So hope for sun tomorrow all you good folk.

    Update on Charlie Kirk killer. My bet is this is 100% correct

    The killer is likely Skye Valadez, a transgender activist belonging to a transgender gun group.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDC6OnG14Ao&t=18s

          1. To be fair the guy was wearing dark clothes and carrying a rifle. It turned out to be an air rifle. But the guy was up to something because he has now been charged with 'obstruction of justice'.

            Kash Patel is an OK guy. He puts Democrats in their place with a look that displays utter contempt along with his replies to their inquiries that makes it clear he regards them all as imbeciles. For that alone he is worth keeping in place.

      2. Well SOS, they haven't found him which makes him being captured problematic, to use a buzz word. He could be out of the country by now. But they will get him, I'm sure.

    2. The day before his murder, CK had given a talk to young people – subject: transgender, it didn't go well especially not with (apparently) female members of audience.

    2. Driving a bit fast, by the look of the spray. Is that the barge equivalent of a handbrake turn?

      1. The boat on the right has had a bit too much to drink. It's receiving the equivalent of a stomach pump out before being craned out for some surgery to repair a hole in the steelwork below the waterline….?

          1. Well as you know 9/10ths of an iceberg is below the surface of the water. And with an average depth of water of only 36inches in the canals at present its pretty difficult spotting less than 4inches of ice above the surface from 50-70 feet away. So it's not surprising that the boat was in collision with an iceberg!

  39. Starmer, appointed DPP during the Brown Government by Attorney General Patricia Scotland.

    Yes that one, now Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
    Another controversial figure closely involved with Starmer's rise.

    Is there anything "clean" about the man?

  40. "The only female president of Opec and her archbishop brother face trial over an alleged bribery scandal involving luxury homes, chauffeur-driven cars, private jets and gifts from Harrods and designer shops.

    Diezani Alison-Madueke has been accused of accepting bribes “in exchange for awarding multimillion pound oil and gas contracts” in her role as petroleum minister of Nigeria.

    Her brother Doyé Agama, the former archbishop of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress in the UK, is accused of accepting bribes for his church."

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37debe90e1dc87ed6fdd1f819726ac139967ac659ef0229996ae518cfa35ead8.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04ed947d0687b44c3779a96ac94aff4cba7685aeb093f578535f2d55607ddcac.png Diversity in action…..

  41. 412736+ up ticks,

    Are we looking at our domestic problems the wrong way in seeking a saviour from within the walls of parliament,as ALL have failed time & time again in their governing quest's.

    For domestic problems are at this moment in time top of our agenda, or should be.

    This Country is in dire need of a leader with NO political leanings as important as the nations welfare
    Hence vacancy for one of either sex, patriot to lead the freedom fightback.

    Domestic views, the berries on the trees tell me that it could very well be a pro culling winter especially so if the political stance stays as is.

    1. The recent Capitalist podcast with Steve Baker was good on what needs to happen. We need our own Milei.

  42. Good morning Nottlers, 13°C, forecast to be breezy and damp all day on the Costa Clyde. I had the joy of being on hold to the DWP yesterday for around half an hour, all in a good cause. I was attempting to claim my State Pension. Job done, after a pleasant chat with one of the staff providing them with the relevant details so that they could commence payments, as I 'qualify' in a fortnight's time.

    1. “National demo”. Ha ha ha! Rent-a-mob. They get a fee, don’t they? Same white/yellow/pink professionally produced placards? What are the odds?

    2. Tommy has said in an interview today that he is fearful of violence in the imminent Million Man March. Many others may think similarly, and stay away accordingly – doesn't mean they don't still support him and his cause though.

      1. 412736+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Kj,
        Tommy is right to worry as he is right about many issues BUT, staying away takes away the whole essence of the MMM.

        1. You’re not wrong, ogga. If there is any problem, it won’t have been caused by the (genuine) marchers. Countrywide, I hope it’s reported truthfully MSM – I believe it will, more are coming onboard. Be interesting to see if any politicians march, and who they are.

  44. Did anyone here used to listen to Cabin Pressure on Radio 4, when they uswd to listen to Radio 4? It was a fabulously funny sitcom about a small airline, written by John Finnemore, who is funny and, crucially (for me), apolitical in his comedy writing.

    if you know him, you know him. He has a new edition of his “John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme” out. It does help a bit if you are familiar with his work but it’s quirky funny (I think).

  45. Well. We seem to be going through a Profumo moment.
    Naively, I assumed that anyone chosen as ambassador – particularly ambassador to our most significant ally – would be very thoroughly vetted. Even if the nominee didn't have Mandelson's well known back history, anyone can have difficult moments in their lives that could compromise their position.
    So. Did this deep vetting take place? If not, why not? If it did, were uncomfortable discoveries made? If so, were they brushed under the carpet? If that is the case, why?

        1. It did and once the queer Keir established it still couldn't touch the sides Mandy was up pointed.

      2. …and Kweer reckoned that Mandy wasn't all that much further 'off-course' than Kweer himself, and that, being 8 years older than Kweer, far smarter (St Catherine's, Oxford vs. Leeds), plus a far longer involvement in New Labour, The Dark Prince almost certainly had a lot more dirt on Kweer than vice versa. Posting Mandy to Washington where his narcissism could be stroked by everyone addressing him as 'Your Excellency' had the benefit of removing the most accomplished back-stabber from the political salons of London.

        2Tier cannot spot unexploded time-bombs…such as his boring book on getting immigrants into Blighty.

    2. 'morning, anne…It's long been my belief that the Civil Service is our real and permanent government so it doesn't really matter if either Conservatives or Labour elected (Reform may be a different animal). There ls no way on God's green earth they didn't know about Mandelson and all his doings.

    3. "Did this deep vetting take place?"

      That conjures up an image of a vet slipping on a glove in order to check your dog's glands.

    6. He would have been DV'd. They would have known.

      That wouldn't stop him from getting the job though.

      The knowledge would be a club to beat him with when the time came. And it did when it became public knowledge.

      It is how the Security Service operates.

  46. A cathedral choir has been suspended en masse after singing a “highly inappropriate” song during a holy communion service and then walking out of the building to protest against redundancies.

    Bosses at Bangor Cathedral said they have “paused all choir activity” for a month after choristers sang a specially composed song they titled Canticle of Indignation, which included the words: “Lord, how long shall the ungodly triumph?”

    The cathedral had already been at the centre of a scandal that led to the resignation of the Archbishop of Wales this year, after a report found a “culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred”. The report found “conduct in some areas — relating to alcohol use and sexual behaviour — that did not reflect the professional standards expected in a Christian church”.

    Choir leaving a cathedral during Holy Communion service.
    The stunt was planned after the cathedral announced five out of eight staff roles may be made redundant
    WNS
    There was no suggestion that the archbishop, the Most Rev Andrew John, behaved inappropriately himself, but he said: “I recognise I ought to have done more to ensure such failings did not occur.”

    A separate investigation into the cathedral revealed “weak financial controls, unclear reporting lines and spending decisions that were insufficiently scrutinised”.

    Six serious incident reports had to be filed to the Charity Commission.

    The choir’s stunt, which took place on the final Sunday in August, was apparently planned after the cathedral announced that five out of eight staff roles could be made redundant, with plans to reduce the music director’s hours.

    The song included the lyrics: “How long shall all wicked-doers speak so disdainfully?”

    Interior view of Bangor Cathedral in Wales, showing the nave with people inside.
    The cathedral’s governing body said: “We do understand the strong feelings and anxiety which have been expressed”

    Simon Ogden, who wrote the song, said on Facebook: “There is a long history of protest through art, even through church music … and I am proud to be part of that. One of the clearest signs of tyranny is its desire to silence dissent and opposition — and that can never be tolerated.”

    The cathedral said in a statement: “[The events] included the choir singing a specially composed and entirely inappropriate piece — entitled Canticle of Indignation — whilst members of the congregation were receiving Holy Communion and the walking out of the choir immediately afterwards whilst the altar party were doing the ablutions.”

    It added that the cathedral was “experiencing a significant shortfall between expenditure and income” and said: “Despite improvements, salaried staff come with a price.”

    The operational deficit at the end of the year was projected to be £300,000, a situation that “would lead to bankruptcy by the end of 2026”.

    Members of the cathedral’s governing body, its chapter, said they were “deeply aware that this is an unsettling time” and said: “We do understand the strong feelings and anxiety which have been expressed.”

    A new dean, the Rev Manon Ceridwen James, was now set to take over and was “committed to patient listening and reconciliation”, the statement said.

    “The chapter took the decision to pause all choir activity for an initial period of one month with immediate effect whilst we reviewed what happened and considered appropriate next steps,” the chapter members added.

    “This pause will also provide an opportunity for dialogue between the chapter and choir. In the meantime, please note that Joe Cooper, director of music, is currently away from his duties.”

    P Jane
    14 hours ago

    I am so disappointed in them. I was expecting something really inappropriate, like a rugby song.

    Reply

    Recommend (103)

    Share
    Michael Howell
    13 hours ago

    I was hoping for Brittany’s Speers Baby one more time…. Or Mahna mahna, by the muppets…

    Reply

    Recommend (27)

    Share
    Chris Evans
    3 hours ago
    Replying to Michael Howell

    Now that’s a Bangor.

    Reply

    Recommend (7)

    S Lucks
    15 hours ago

    Would have been better had they sung “every sperm is sacred”. Then it really would be a story.

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/bangor-cathedral-choir-suspended-protest-b6swdnpl6

  47. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fd3350e7b769617727a7f083f549006075298a33ddee42e599f7bb30c1b7b3a.png
    Just looked in on a Facebook forum for former police colleagues of mine from back in the 1960s–1980s. One old colleague mooted the point about the first national Fire Service/Brigade strike that took place in 1977. He asked if anyone could remember the old WWII Bedford 'Green Goddess' military fire engines that were taken back into service for the duration of that industrial dispute.

    While that national firemen's strike was in progress, the government drafted in military personnel to man and drive those old beasts to the scenes of fires. Police officers were delegated to spend time with these military chappies for the purpose of using their local knowledge to guide them to reports of fires.

    In Chesterfield, where I was based, the local Territorial Army drill hall was commandeered and a squadron of air-force personnel was deployed to be billeted there in order to drive those Green Goddesses to fires. Call-outs to fires were, thankfully, few. I recall the solitary occasion I had to drive my panda car to the scene of a fire, escorting a Green Goddess. This old vehicle had a very low top speed and, when fully-laden with water, found it nigh-on impossible to drive up steep hills. I had to stop and wait every hundred yards-or-so in order for the damn thing to catch up!

    When we eventually arrived at the scene of the fire we were too late, the building on fire had completely burnt itself out. Happy days!

    In 1977 the UK Fire Service went on strike following the collapse of pay talks. Hundreds of ‘Green Goddess’ pumps were brought out of storage and issued to the Armed Forces to enable them to provide basic fire cover throughout the country. Minor modifications, such as blue beacons and two tone horns were fitted to comply with modern warning regulations. The vehicles were also issued again in 2002/3 when, once again, strike action was called for by the Fire Brigades Union. Eventually, all of the stored vehicles, the last vestiges of the Auxiliary Fire Service, were sold off soon after 2003. Some went to fire services in developing countries, many to collectors and also to companies that saw a use for them and others were sold for spares or scrap.

    1. I joined the RAF in September 1977 and, following Basic Training and Trade Training, arrived at my first unit in January 1978 to find around 40% of the Section had been deployed to man the Green Goddess'. Tales (some no doubt tall) from those 'volunteers' said that, when fully laden, the Green Goddess was indeed top heavy which made cornering at any speed very interesting.

      1. I joined a TA centre practice during the strike to ensure the safety of my family and home. I was trained in a two person branch hold with a jet of water delivered through a hose attached to a portable Coventry Climax pump from the Green Goddess.

      2. Cornering was not that bed, SO LONG AS THE TANKS WERE FILLED.
        Part full meant that the water surged through the balance pipe to the outside of the curve and THAT was when they went over.

    2. I was acting fire chief of a northern town (Pop 180,000) for the full duration of the strike and a couple of weeks afterwards. Just short of three months with three days off in the middle. All the lads thought it the best deployment they ever had in the army. I had 4 Green Goddesses to begin with but two of them were deployed to Manchester and Liverpool. The local police gave excellent support. I got a cheap trip to the USA and back as a thank you.

      1. PS: No modifications, such as blue beacons and two tone horns – brass bells and police escort only – if you were lucky.

    3. Oddly enough, I read the latest copy of QRV, the RAFARS magazine, while I was waiting and one of the articles was from someone who mentioned the strike and manning the fire engines.

  49. Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy condemns GBNews.

    "The government “intend to act” to end the “dangerouth” blurring between newth and “political polemic” on thome tv thannelth. Mr farage’th thhow, broadcatht four nightth a week, ith the prime example."

      1. My neighbour suffers from TDS. I kept having to steer the conversation away from the evilness of Putin, Trump is putting the world at risk and Nigel is a spiv (actually I don’t disagree with that one).

  50. The Left is celebrating Charlie Kirk's killing. Democracy's foundations are crumbling

    America faces a grim future of violence and counter-violence unless both sides understand the fundamental common ground of the US system

    Charles Lipson
    11th September 2025 8:22pm BST

    Political killings are among the vilest acts in a democracy, and among the most disruptive. The stable world of citizens – the essential backdrop of any constitutional democracy – is upended, its foundations shaken. After all, the heart of that democracy is free speech, free and peaceful assembly, and an orderly means of choosing leaders. Political assassinations strike at those foundations.

    The impact is multiplied when several killings (or narrow escapes) happen within a few years. In that perilous moment, the nation looks beyond each act and asks, "Has something gone badly wrong in our country? Will the latest violence lead to still more?"

    Those are the questions Americans are asking right now. They are especially urgent as the hunt for Charlie Kirk's killer continues and as the nation remembers the most catastrophic and consequential act of political killing in recent history, the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 2001.

    Charlie Kirk was a charismatic conservative activist, only 31 years old, but with years in the public eye and very close ties to President Trump and the Maga movement. At a time when that movement is flooded with articulate spokesmen, he was unique. Starting when he was only 18, he began building a following, a political movement, and an organisation, Turning Point USA. The result was impressive. It complements Trump's Maga base but with a much younger following. As one friend wrote me, "There are thousands out there inspired by Kirk. Shock and heartbreak will give way to righteous determination to see our country aspire to Greatness again. Kirk inspired a generation. That generation is NOT going to be silent."

    Polling reinforces the point. Even before this tragic event, opinion polls have shown younger voters shifting sharply away from the Democratic Party and toward Republican and Independent affiliation. They are also voting with their feet, leaving progressive "Blue" states by the millions for conservative "Red" ones. They are flocking South for college, too, having watched the suppression of alternative views in the Ivy League and beyond.

    How did Charlie Kirk inspire his followers? Not with vitriol or name-calling, but with engagement. His points were strong and clear, but they were not personal attacks. He often made them on college campuses, like the one in Utah where he was murdered. Instead of making speeches and long harangues, Kirk took questions, often hostile ones. He responded to students with a rare combination of coherence and courtesy, avoiding ad hominem attacks.

    That is where Kirk was killed, doing what he lived for: demonstrating the crucial importance of free speech in a democracy, especially one so deeply riven by partisan and ideological mistrust. His goal was to persuade his audience, not to demean or denigrate his questioners, not to distort their views so he could defeat "strawmen". In that respect, he was closer to our ideal of a good teacher than many in universities and high schools, the ones who have turned literature classes into indoctrination sessions and repelled so many young people.

    Kirk's assassination comes a little over a year after Donald Trump was nearly killed at a political rally in Pennsylvania, followed by yet another close call from a potential assassin on Trump's golf course in Florida. (That suspect is on trial now. The one in Pennsylvania was killed on the spot, with many questions still unanswered about his motives and the failure of the Secret Service to stop an armed gunman on a nearby rooftop with a clear line of sight to a presidential candidate.)

    These assassination attempts come amid increasingly harsh partisan rhetoric. Long gone are the days when adversaries were called "the loyal opposition". Today, the common term for those adversaries is "a fundamental threat to democracy". In that chilling context, violence is often justified, either explicitly or implicitly, as somehow protecting democracy, not undermining it. Both sides claim the other does it. And both are right.

    The other disturbing context is unchecked urban violence, with some criminals grasping for money and control of the streets, others seeking to make political points.

    The violence by youth gangs and criminal cartels is apolitical – at least in intent – but their actions have political consequences since Left-wing mayors and police departments have done so little to stop them. Like-minded prosecutors downgrade the criminal charges or drop them entirely. Local judges do the same thing. Since so many of the gang members are young, minority males, the lax treatment is defended as "social justice". Since the cartels are filled with illegal immigrants, the lax treatment is defended as protecting all immigrants. The predictable result is more crime and predation, with the worst impact in the poorest neighbourhoods.

    There has also been more explicitly political violence in some big cities, with repeated attacks on US federal buildings led by organised gangs like Antifa. Those attacks ramped up after the death of George Floyd in 2020 and have continued ever since in a few cities. In some, notably Portland, Oregon, the police are nowhere to be found. They simply refuse to intervene or arrest the perpetrators.

    The most predictable results are repeated violence, public revulsion at the disorder (especially on downtown streets, where homeless encampments are also a problem), and partisan efforts to capitalise on the divide, with progressives defending "social justice" and conservatives demanding "law and order". Restoring public safety, they argue, is the first responsibility of any government, local or national.

    Donald Trump has been especially effective at grasping the issue, highlighting both local crime and illegal immigration. These are lopsided "80-20" issues, and the president capitalises on them immediately and instinctively. His secret power is his ability to lock-in Democrats on the losing side. Trump knows the opposition party, now led by its Left-wing base, will lineup on the other side of every issue and punish moderates who beg to differ. Democrats can't escape, lest they be seen as allying with Trump.

    That's the position the Left now also faces after Charlie Kirk's assassination. They loathed him, both for his views and his popularity. A few dared to say so publicly immediately after his killing (some even blaming Kirk for his own murder) and were met with a wave of criticism. They are still saying so on social media and in private conversations.

    Celebrating the assassination of a political opponent is both morally repulsive and corrosive of democracy. It is important to call it out now and to do so regardless of one's partisan affiliation. That's the right thing ethically, and it's the right thing for the future of our country. The grim alternative is a future of escalating counter-violence.
    ________________________________________

    Charles Lipson is the Peter B Ritzma professor of political science emeritus at the University of Chicago. His latest book is 'Free Speech 101: A Practical Guide for Students'. He can be reached at charles.lipson@gmail.com

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/09/11/the-left-celebrating-charlie-kirks-killing

    1. I guess that was the official kick-off.. Patriots vs. The Globalist Alliance of Radical Lefties, Trans & Islam.

      As Matty Taylor says.. "It's gloves off time.. either deport or jail em.. or prepare your own body bags."
      (aka The Angry Bootneck).

    2. I guess that was the official kick-off.. Patriots vs. The Globalist Alliance of Radical Lefties, Trans & Islam.

      As Matty Taylor says.. "It's gloves off time.. either deport or jail em.. or prepare your own body bags."
      (aka The Angry Bootneck).

    3. The most egregious attack on a Federal building was the Oklahoma city bombing by two very far right individuals who stated aim was to bring the government down. They attacked in the belief that others would be inspired to do the same. Inspiration was a book called The Turner Diaries, which document s fictional right wing take over of the US, and the elimination of all people of colour and Jews. I've read it; it's a terrorist bible. There were 168 dead including 19 children. Then there was the Trump inspired attack on the Capitol building when he lost his re-election bid. He very publicly said people should march on that building to stop the vote being made official. And his officials refused the Mayor's plea for the National Guard to restore order.

      If we look at the history of political violence in the US, most has come from the (really) far right, the swastika waving nut jobs, which is why the FBI has consistently had undercover operations trying to get people inside groups like the Aryan Nation, Proud Boys, etc.

      As to the more obvious issue – uncontrolled gun ownership, many US politicians will quietly say there should be more control and proper vetting of gun purchasers, but consider it electoral suicide to try to do anything. As it is, it's easier to buy a semi automatic weapon than it is to get a driving liense. And of course, one van easily buy "bump{ stocks to convert an AR15 to automatic operation – used by the 2017 Las Vegas shooter to kill 60 people and injure hungreds more. In the run up to this event he had amassed 55 weapons, mostly rifles and over 20 of them were found with him in his Vegas hotel suite. Just go to a gun store, give your social security number and basically if you are not a convicted felon, you are good, no matter even if you already own enough weapons to start a minor war.

      The other issue is attitude – consider the following: "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." – Charlie Kirk 2023. And he is far from alone in that belief- it's basically de rigeur among MAGA supporters.

      1. It is now late on Saturday evening, and it’s your birthday.

        I always like to wish the birthday girl/boy all the very best on the day, but as you have not appeared today, many happy returns and may you enjoy many more happy birthdays.

  52. Well you wouldn't believe it.
    After checking in on screen and being recognised as there at the surgery. I Sat patiently for 35 minutes for my appointment.
    I went upto the desk to ask the receptionist if there was a problem because I was still waiting.
    Oh dear she said ah there you are, there were unusually quite a lot of people in the waiting room. She explained that there was no one there to carry out the ECG. And just now the doctor I saw yesterday phoned me asking why I hadn't been for the ECG. OMG no body had filled her in. Nice lady but a new appointment has been organised for early next week..
    And rest…..out for birthday lunch later phew.
    Thank you all for your kind wishes and regards for this old geezer. I've had a pile of presents and quite a number of cards.
    I'm still working on the notion aka realisation that I'm now 79 years old. I'll sit down with my acoustic guitar and play the Eagles 🦅 song Take it Easy. I can't sing……

    2. Happy Birthday, Eddy! Hope you have a great lunch you make up for NHS discourtesy, and don't worry about not being able to sing when you pick up your guitar – there are very many out there whom it never stopped. 😉

      All the best from Buenos Aires x

    3. Happy Birthday, RE. Enjoy your lunch.

      Are you expecting that girl "…on a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look…"? 😉

    4. Man… what a PITA for you, Eddy.
      Better luck next time! Have a good lunch!
      If it's any comfort, neither can I sing. Enjoy, give it full volume! It's allowed, it's your birthday!

      1. Don't know if you have seen it but i posted Jill's funeral 'pamphlet'. I will be donating to the community library which i know she used and supported.

        1. No, I haven’t.
          Can you post as a reply here, and I’ll pin it to the top of the page, that way all Nottlers will see it.

    5. Man… what a PITA for you, Eddy.
      Better luck next time! Have a good lunch!
      If it's any comfort, neither can I sing. Enjoy, give it full volume! It's allowed, it's your birthday!

  53. So near yet so far . . .
    Wordle 1,546 4/6

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

    1. He's right of course. But will it be enough to get rid of Starmer? What more needs to happen? Another juicy scandal?

      1. How many does it need? Six resignations, 1 sacking and now Mandleslime? Freebies, two tier justice, Chagos?

    2. 412736+ up ticks,

      Afternoon R,

      Or with winter approaching culling more elderly, whatever the tribal voters deem to be of more importance.

    3. Absolutely no chance of a general election. Liebour will stay until the – very – bitter end.

      1. But I fear you are right.

        What should happen, what does happen and what will happen are different things.

      2. If every current sitting Labour MP was to somehow 'disappear', then a tranche of by-elections would be better served by a new general election.

      2. I agree. I'd like to know why that aircraft is flying upside down.

        Any photograph of a real one transiting the sun would be seen from the underside.

    1. Note that some only seemed to go because other sheep were leaving! I wonder what the comment[s] they objected to were?

      Edit – many thanks for the comment above which clarifies the issue – how can someone 6 foot 3 inches with a beard be in a women's running club FFS!?

      1. Someone with XX chromosomes is female probably. Or it could be the notion that men shouldn’t be allowed access to women’s changing rooms even if they are wearing a dress.

    3. First world problems…

      We need cohesion, not division, says Bristol councillor amid council transgender fracas

      Alex Seabrook
      12th Sep 2025, 11:32 BST

      Several Green councillors walked out of the council chamber while hearing from gender critical activists talking about trans people.

      Greens said members of the public were making offensive statements regarding claims such as trans women allegedly harassing cisgender lesbians. In April the Supreme Court ruled that the word "woman" in the Equality Act refers only to women who were born female.

      This could lead to restrictions on trans women accessing female-only spaces, and Bristol City Council and other organisations are reviewing their policies. But in a full council meeting on Tuesday, September 9, campaigners criticised the council's response to the Supreme Court ruling.

      While they were speaking, Green councillors stood up and walked out of the room, waited outside until they finished, and then returned to their seats.

      Katharine Rogers, one member of the public, said: "The council will need to review and update its policies and procedures, but it's clear the response was made without consulting women other than those aligned with gender ideology. The idea that paternity services is a gender-neutral term, and the advocacy for phrases like 'people who chestfeed', raise huge concerns."

      The term 'chestfeeding' is sometimes used by trans and non-binary people, particularly those who have had top surgery to remove their breasts and might be able to still express milk to feed their baby. Another concern of campaigners was a lack of "spaces for lesbians to meet", although specific examples of where problems have taken place were not given.

      Elaine Hutton added: "Because of BCC's failure to comply with the legal definition of sex, there are no longer any spaces for lesbians to meet. Lesbians suffer harassment from men identifying as women who claim the right to enter lesbian spaces in Bristol."

      Also speaking was Stephen McNamara, the council's former top lawyer. He asked whether a women's running club should admit a "six-foot-three trans woman with a beard". This led to the lord mayor, Conservative Councillor Henry Michallat, telling him to be "mindful and respectful of colleagues across the council", then followed by campaigners shouting from the public gallery.

      Green Cllr Heather Mack, deputy leader of the council, said: "At a time when we're facing issues around community cohesion on many fronts in many ways, I must question the tone of these questions that are clearly intended to divide and hurt. I ask you to consider the pain experienced by young trans and questioning people, who would witness your questions.

      "And I would perhaps ask that you reach out and talk to some people impacted. I ask you to consider the vulgar and offensive comments, especially around the 'bearded' comments, judging women and trans women on their conformity to beauty ideals.

      "This has an impact on all women, especially those young and transitioning. If you really consider that facial hair is the issue that determines whether you should be in a female space or not a female space – then I would invite you to come up here and look at the hairs on my chin."

      "Deeply offensive and transphobic" comments from campaigners were also criticised by Labour. Cllr Tom Renhard, leader of the Labour group, said: "Respectful debate is fine. When it crosses the line, as it did tonight, it is not. We need to focus on fostering community cohesion, not stoking division."

      The comments sparked a wider row about who should be allowed to say what in a public council meeting. On the one hand, members of the public have the chance to tell the city's politicians about problems and issues they are concerned about. But on the other hand, the council must legally take steps to prevent harassment and discrimination, including against trans people.

      After the meeting, Green Cllr Ani Townsend said: "The council has legal obligations to staff outlined in the Equalities Act 2010 – e.g. to actively take reasonable steps to prevent harassment and discrimination. It is the lord mayor's duty to rule out statements that conflict with this legal obligation – and may do so if questions are vexatious or offensive.

      "This legal fact has repeatedly been made to the lord mayor in advance of the meeting to no avail. Therefore, Green councillors walked out of the chamber, our place of work which includes many trans colleagues, to make this point publicly."

      But Conservative Cllr Mark Weston, leader of the Tory group, backed the lord mayor, saying that he tried to "allow everyone an opportunity to air their views". The lord mayor plays a ceremonial role similar to the speaker in the House of Commons, such as chairing full council meetings. Councillors are chosen to act as lord mayor for a year.

      Cllr Weston said: "The ultimate authority for the admissibility of public forum matters rests with legal officers. While the lord mayor could have ruled out these submissions, they fell within the normal ambit of reasonable statements, questions and expressions of opinion. Criticism of ideas is not hatred and to suggest otherwise is intellectually dishonest.

      "It would not be proper to simply rule out critical or contrasting beliefs about which one can honestly and reasonably disagree. Clearly, any such expressions have to conform to appropriate norms of courtesy when they come to be debated. In this instance, the lord mayor sought to uphold freedom of speech – a difficult balancing act when dealing with controversial issues – so long as this right remained within the confines of acceptable behaviour.

      "When contributions made by members in the public gallery were deemed to have overstepped this mark, he quickly and decisively shut them down. I support his judgement in trying to allow everyone to have an opportunity to air their views. That is how a healthy democracy works."

      https://www.bristolworld.com/news/we-need-cohesion-not-division-says-bristol-councillor-amid-council-transgender-fracas-5314799

      2. They're nuts…or perhaps it's the ones who have nuts but pretend not to have nuts who are envious of the ones who have genuine Bristols.

        Really and truly, I can't keep up and haven't been able to for ages.

  58. Afternoon all. Back now from the hospital (I took my neighbour) and just cooking fish and chips. The chiropodist is due at 15.00.

    That anybody ever thought Starmer had judgement is pretty amazing.

    1. Better Half is a Type2, was told many years ago very important to look after feet health…consequently have chiropodist home visit, he visits other neighbours same morning/afternoon. Always a good time, lot of laughter (even when complaining about government/politicians).

  59. 412736+ up ticks,

    We burnt our boats many years ago we are now suffering the boats revenge which weakens our nation daily.
    I very much doubt we could stand, let alone stand robustly.

    Dt,
    Britain must stand robustly with Poland.

    Britain must urgently attend to its own welfare as a nation not interfere with Poland, we would only contaminate their current well being and success story.

      1. CK had given a talk about trans youth the previous evening, to a group of young people some of whom if not all possibly trans. It's been suggested the perp either trans or a sympathiser. There's footage online of what appears to be a young man (trans?) Truth will be told. RIP Charlie Kirk.

        1. There was video earlier, posted by johnathanrackham, suggesting someone called Skye Valadez was the killer.
          Tyler Robinson is the suspect in custody, although kowloonbhoy is hinting that they are the same person.
          Curiouser and curiouser

      2. Yes indeed. It may well have been a malicious post. There seem to be a lot of those sort of things. Red herrings thrown out there by jerks. I should know better and not have posted it.

        1. I’ve seen more recent claims that this may be an alias and both names apply to that individual, so who knows?
          I’m sure if they are it will be revealed at a trial, particularly if the prosecution is seeking the death penalty..

  62. BBC censures staff for calling Hamas a ‘terror group’

    Licence fee payers will be appalled cash is being wasted protecting the reputation of extremists, says former corporation executive

    Institutionally Marxist

    Marge Simpson
    16 hrs ago
    Hamas are terrorists!

    Say it the way it is!

    The IRA are terrorists (still are), Bin Laden was a terrorist…

    Stop this pretend approach now!

    1. Gosh, can you imagine that lot being transported back to the 1970s and having to report on Northern Ireland and interview Ian Paisley?
      Maybe I'll pitch that to the BBC as a comedy series….

  63. Ai is never wrong.. ever. Well may be on Gaza, Tibet & the Uyghurs.

    Reports on September 12, 2025, suggest that Skye Valadez and Tyler Robinson are the same person.

          3. I've just watched the trailer to Waltzing With Brando. The make-up is incredible. Pity about the voice.

        1. “You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it”

      1. It is actually Billy Zane not Marlon. I believe they are making a film about Marlon wanting to create a paradise island and Zane is to play the part following on from the filming of the Godfather.

      2. It was a great series, KJ200, but the actor pictured above was only in the first film in the series.

  67. Well – the doctor arrived…..preceded by an unscheduled visit from my elder son…..
    Anyway – a nice young Irish doctor – I suspected a urinary infection and he thought the same but would need a better sample taken over the weekend to collect in a pot from the surgery. In the meantime I will have to collect some antibiotic tablets from the pharmacy when they've had time to pick up his prescription.
    So hopefully that's all it is and can be dealt with.

    I also have to load up the car with all the stuff we need for the event on Sunday.

    1. I hope so too, Ndovu – I've had them in the past, now I drink more water than tea, coffee, juice. All the best, K x

  69. https://youtu.be/a7OLSN8BEic
    Ex-MI6 Boss: Starmer Showed “Appalling Judgement” Appointing Mandelson

    Former MI6 boss Sir Richard Dearlove has slammed Starmer’s “appalling judgement” for appointing Mandelson in the first place. He tears apart Number 10’s line that Starmer didn’t know about the ‘new’ material until Wednesday…

    Speaking on LBC, he explained that any US ambassador would need the “highest level” of vetting, saying that either Mandelson was “lying” or “there was a massive misjudgement made”. That’s the ‘robust vetting process’ Downing Street has been at pains to mention…

    Dearlove said:

    “He would have been interviewed or should have been interviewed and one of the questions that would have been put is: ‘Is there anything in your background that we don’t already know about that would bring the office of Ambassador into disrepute? Either he didn’t say that [about his relationship with Epstein], in which case he was lying or he did and there was a massive misjudgment made in appointing him Ambassador. So you couldn’t say that no one had worked it out. So I mean it’s pretty clear cut either way. It was appalling judgement in appointing him.”

    Meanwhile, Number 10 is reportedly in a panic that a betrayed Mandelson will try to bring down Starmer with him. This might not be the end of the scandal…

    September 12 2025 @ 10:13

    https://talk.hyvor.com/media/website/14037/aWYdieTbQCBwDtC8G81LB6iGUi154BA9eUVTKNnH.jpg

  70. Any ideas?

    "Former cricketer investigated over sexual assault and spiking allegations
    The well-known ex-player, a man in his 40s, was questioned by officers in early June after allegations that two women had their drinks spiked at a southwest London pub"

          2. I assumed it was.

            I have a dislike of posts being amended after someone has replied to them, without an explanation, particularly when the change alters the point or changes detail.
            I was unsure which post you had replied to, hence the comment.

          5. Most people do, my objection is when the change materially affects what was posted before and makes a response to the original post look foolish.

            Hence why I tend to put "edit for…"
            if I make a change

    7. The bowler's Holding the batsman's Willey…… (with due acknowledgement to Brian 'Johnners' Johnston)

    2. Thank you for posting! I published an article recently with quotes from her about this bill and the other end of life murder bill.

  72. https://order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Featured-Images-38-1.png
    IN FULL: Mandelson’s Long List of Scandals Starmer Ignored

    As ministers trot out the line that Starmer thought Mandelson’s abilities “outweighed the political risks”, Guido thought to give a timely reminder of the rows and scandals Mandy has been embroiled in over the last few decades. It’s a long read…

    1998: Resignation as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry – Mandelson stepped down after he bought a Notting Hill home with a £373,000 interest-free loan from MP Geoffrey Robinson, failing to declare it. He was only in post for five months…

    2001: Resignation as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – Mandelson quit after claims he fast-tracked a UK passport for billionaire Srichand Hinduja, whose brothers were under the corruption spotlight. An inquiry cleared him…

    2005: Yacht Holiday with Paul Allen – As EU Trade Commissioner, Mandelson spent New Year’s Eve 2004 aboard Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s yacht. Raised some eyebrows…

    2006: Free Cruise from Italian Businessman – Mandelson accepted a complimentary yacht cruise from Diego Della Valle, whose companybenefited from EU tariffs on Chinese shoes. Conflict of interest allegations were denied by Mandy…

    2008: EU Pension Row – After being handed a peerage and made Business Secretary, he came under fire for a £31,000 EU pension with a “duty of loyalty” clause.

    2008: Corfu Yacht Trip with Oligarch – Mandelson went on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s yacht shortly after EU decisions reduced tariffs benefiting Deripaska’s aluminum firm. He denied improper lobbying…

    2009: Expenses Scandal – Mandelson claimed nearly £3,000 in taxpayer money for work on his Hartlepool home in 2004. just days after saying he would step down as an MP. The claims came back into the spotlight during the 2009 expenses scandal. Though he maintained they were within the rules…

    2009: Bilderberg Meeting – Mandelson attended the “secretive” Bilderberg Group meeting while he was Business Secretary. Cue attacks for lack of transparency and potential influence from global elites…

    2009: Epstein – Began to attempt to broker a £1 billion US-negotiated sale of UK taxpayer-owned banking business with Epstein.

    2014: Declines to Address Russian Defence Firm Links – Mandelson refused to comment on alleged connections to a Russian defence company Sistema amid scrutiny of his post-government lobbying work. He faced calls to step down from his directorship role…

    January 2025: Lobbying ‘Conflict ‘as US Ambassador – After his appointment as ambassador, Mandelson was embroiled in a row over a potential conflict of interest due to his stake in Global Counsel, a lobbying firm representing TikTok, Palantir, BMW and Shell. It was reported yesterday that the firm is cutting ties with him after the Epstein emails were revealed…

    September 2025: Epstein Scandal – Called Epstein his “best pal” in the birthday book. Then admitted more embarrassing details of his close relationship would come out. They did…

    September 2025: Sacked as US Ambassador – After emails revealed Mandelson coached Epstein on his early release while he was in jail, Starmer finally sacked him. Less than 24 hours after saying he had “full confidence” in him.
    No wonder Starmer’s judgement is under fire…

    September 12 2025 @ 14:51

    2. If Starmer really thought Mandy had valuable expertise to offer, he could have appointed him to a more discreet advisory role. Did he not appreciate that or is putting such a person in a high profile role a deliberate attempt to rub noses in dirt?

  76. A spectacular steam train passed through Dorset on its way to Swanage station.

    The Swanage Belle, which thundered through the county on its way to Swanage, arrived in a seaside steam special visit on Wednesday.

    Admirers gathered to see the train, hauled by West Country Class No.34028 Eddystone, pass through Dorset stations.

    The steam-hauled beauty had the honour of using the re-opened rail link from Wareham to the ‘Heritage’ Swanage Railway, which is available only to specially chartered trains.

    The trip was organised by the Railway Touring Company.

    Passengers boarded at London Victoria, hauled by Eddystone and the train then called at Staines, Woking, and Basingstoke, on its way to Swanage and arrived at Swanage Railway Station at about 1.33pm.

    It returned at 4.35pm, and was diesel hauled until Southampton when the steam locomotive took over.

    A different route was taken from the outward journey, via Romsey to the outskirts of Salisbury where it joined the West of England Main Line at Laverstock North Junction.

    The next steam train to arrive in Dorset will be here on September 18.

    The Dorset Steam Coast Express will be calling in at Weymouth from London Victoria on Thursday, September 18.

    This train was postponed from Thursday, August 14.

    The train is due to arrive in Weymouth at 2.10pm and will pass through Dorchester at around 1.50pm.

    It will arrive in Weymouth diesel-hauled but will be steam-hauled on its return journey, organisers The Railway Touring Company says.

    It will return to the capital at 5.35pm, passing through Dorchester around 15 minutes later.

    Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
    Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
    And charging along like troops in a battle,
    All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
    All of the sights of the hill and the plain
    Fly as thick as driving rain;
    And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
    Painted stations whistle by.

    Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
    All by himself and gathering brambles;
    Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
    And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
    Here is a cart run away in the road
    Lumping along with man and load;
    And here is a mill and there is a river:
    Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

    Robert Louis Stevenson
    From A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)

    2. Who is in charge of the clattering train?
      The axles creak and the couplings strain,
      and the pace is hot and the points are near,
      and sleep hath deadened the driver's ear,
      and the signals flash through the night in vain.
      For death is in charge of the clattering train.

      Edwin James Milliken, quoted by Winston Churchill in the debate on the air estimates in the House of Commons, 19 March 1935

      1. I love the way the rhythm of the lines is just like an old train travelling over the rail joints (before the days of welded track – the diddly dee, diddly dah)

        1. This is the night mail
          Crossing the Border
          Bringing the cheque
          And the postal order
          Letters for the rich
          Letters for the poor
          The shop on the corner
          The girl next door

          W H Auden

    3. Yes. That would not surprise me at all.
      I think there are a great many "secrets" between them.
      Possibly that's why – if the news reports are correct – McSweeney pushed for Mandelson to be rewarded with the US ambassador post.

    5. Once the new deputy leader is elected we'll get a better idea if queerkeir could be toppled.
      An election at the party conference for the new leader could follow.
      Sunday 28 September – Wednesday 01 October 2025

      Does anyone really want Lammy as the new PM?

      2. Not sure of the protocol, but I thought the Deputy leader of the Lab party would eventually fill the PM role if Kqueer went. Phillipson would be far worse than the hapless Tottenham turnip.

        1. It’s slightly unclear.
          I believe that under the party rules that the DLotP outranks all but the PM, but the DPM is the HoC stand-in.
          Given how much they love their rules my money would be on the DLotP.

        1. And when he's given away all the UK's assets as slavery and colony reparations how funny will you find it?

  79. Wordle No. 1,546 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 12 Sep 2025

    Pulse for Birdie Three?

    1. Close, but no cigar! I think a number of people (judging by earlier posts) made the same wrong guess as me……

      Wordle 1,546 4/6

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

    3. Par today.

      Wordle 1,546 4/6

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

    4. Good one. Just back from early doors, think I made a 3.

      Wordle 1,546 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      And yes, I did.

  81. This vile little shit needs to be arrested pronto.

    Adrian Hilton
    The Oxford Union and the shameful response to Charlie Kirk’s killing
    12 September 2025, 1:50pm

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-12-at-13.47.21.jpg
    Charlie Kirk and George Abaraonye (Image: YouTube / Oxford Union)

    George Abaraonye was elected in June to be the Oxford Union president for Hilary term 2026. He is a PPE student at University College and was the Union’s director of press when he became president-elect. The Oxford Student reported that he ran independently ‘under the #RESET slate and endorsed by the #HOPE slate’.

    He has certainly called into question his suitability for the role of president, given his comments on the Charlie Kirk assassination this week.

    His response to the murder of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus has been published and circulated widely. Screenshots from WhatsApp and Instagram show him writing ‘Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s fucking go’ and ‘Charlie Kirk got shot loool’.

    Not being quite up on Gen Z patois, I had to look up the precise meaning of the first phrase, which is basically an infusion of extreme positivity or a celebratory toast to success. What the printed reports of this didn’t show was that Abaraonye ended that sentence with a praying-hands emoji, as if he were thanking God for the shooting. (Abaraonye says he ‘reacted impulsively’ to the shooting, and that his comments were ‘quickly deleted’.)

    This is all the more shocking because Charlie Kirk debated Abaraonye in the Oxford Union in May, on the subject of ‘toxic masculinity’. I wasn’t there, and I’m sure they disagreed on much, but I’m equally sure that Charlie Kirk was gracious in his robustness, and generous in his compassion, because that was his essential debating style. He was charismatic and combative, arguing passionately and provocatively with students, but always with patience and kindness. He taught students how to think, not what to think; offering more counselling and spiritual guidance than dogmatic instruction. I have no doubt at all that his assertions of truth were sometimes perceived as hostile and hateful, if not evil, by those who argued with him and lost. And in that losing, in that dangerous disagreement, Abaraonye seems to find justification for murder – just four months after meeting him and debating him face-to-face.

    The current officers of the Oxford Union issued a statement yesterday: ‘The Oxford Union would like to unequivocally condemn the reported words expressed by the president-elect, George Abaraonye, with regards to the passing of Charlie Kirk.’ There’s so much wrong with that sentence it’s hard to know where to begin. A split infinitive, ‘regards’ instead of ‘regard’, and the ‘passing’ of Charlie Kirk, as though he’d drifted peacefully into a dream of eternal sleep.

    But what they don’t – and should – say is that they are commencing an immediate investigation into the president-elect’s reported comments to determine whether he has engaged in conduct which might ‘seriously damage the Society’s interests or… bring the Society into disrepute’ (Rule 71).

    Since the president is responsible for inviting speakers for their term of office, it’s hard to see how he hasn’t damaged the Society’s interests by revelling in the murder of a recent guest. Who would accept an invitation from him, knowing that he supports the slaying of people with bullets if words don’t work?

    I’d be inclined to resign my life membership of the Society if he becomes president next year, but knowing how many of them operate and think, and how they despise any expression of the political right, I suspect think they’d welcome my departure.

    So, instead, I’ll watch out for his term card and personally make sure every speaker he invites is made aware that if he disagrees with their views, he may well go on to wish they were murdered. He will doubtless deny this, but he has expressed this view precisely in a previous debate:

    ‘To effectively create change in the world we desire… at times there is simply nothing else that can be required other than violent retaliation. And this is a view I wholeheartedly agree with: the view that some institutions are too broken, too oppressive to be reformed. Like cancers of our society, they must and they should be taken down by any means necessary.’

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1966432561732702339
    By any means necessary?

    There ought to be no place in Oxford – either the university or the Union (which is independent of the university) – for this intolerance of reasoned right-wing opinion. Disagreeing with someone does not make them evil, and it certainly doesn’t justify political assassination.

    ************************************

    Lamia
    3 hours ago
    Well-intentioned article, but far too weak. Abaraonye deserves not just to be expelled from Oxford but arrested and fast-tracked through the courts and into prison for several years. What he's said is far worse than what Lucy Connolly said.

    For those who keep insisting that we should 'rise above' holding Leftists to the same standards as they hold the rest of us to: you're wrong. They keep doing it to others precisely because they are never forced to live by their own 'standards'.

    This should be a police matter, there should be demands as to why Starmer and co aren't condemning this Far Left thuggery, and the gutless creep William Hague should speak up or resign. The Spectator needs to grow a spine.

    1. " ‘reacted impulsively’ …. and that his comments were ‘quickly deleted’." 31 months is the going rate, isn’t it?

    2. I wrote to the Union's Returning officer requesting the start of disciplinary proceedings as Abaraonye has transgressed Rule 71 and brought the Union into disrepute and I urge anyone else, whether a member or not, to do the same.

    5. Lamia was always an excellent BTL commentator at the Speccie – good to see she's still doing it!

  83. Three demonstrations organised by Tommy Robinson between July 27, 2024 and February 1, 2025, cost the force an estimated total of over £3.35 million to police.

    The cost of policing mass pro-Palestinian protests in central London had exceeded £53 million, the Met said in February.

    Diversity doesn't come cheap.

    1. It is interesting that the Met have allowed a counter march to that of TR. Given all the football that is on around London, I would have thought that resources are stretched to the limit and consideration should have been given to disallowing the counter protest. People like Katie Hopkins have their shows cancelled on the weak excuse that their 'security cannot be guaranteed'. I can only conclude that plod wish to see a good punch up with TR's marchers so that he will be banned next time.

      1. Plod can ban the counter march all day long, but do you really think anti-fa would pay the slightest attention?
        They can do as they please, they're "protected"

  84. The fuss nd bother made of Fond of Lyings executive jet "with GPS jamming" and "landing with paper maps" explained by an actual pilot – all a lot of hot flim-flammery, in fact.
    Worth a watch.
    Another attempt to paint Russia in a bad light? – I wish people would stick to facts, rather than politicising it. One day, that will get us all in the shit.
    https://youtu.be/J24RFDeph2A?si=xQ9xsMrpLFrFHgLt

  85. That's me for today. A day of leisure at resort – for me; the MR slaved away at work including an hour long zoom call. Then together to the butcher to buy a T-bone steak. Next week, beloved grand-daughter is coming for a few days. The MR asked her mum whether there were food things she didn't like – or DID like. I was delighted that an 18 year old modern young woman likes steak, salmon, meat of most kinds etc etc. None of this vegan/plant-based milk malarkey. Her late father – who liked his food – would be even prouder of her.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain. I hope.

    1. GenZ are either utterly dreadful like that loutish young man at the Oxford Union, or the future saviours of the human race. There has surely never been a young generation of such opposite extremes!

  87. John Doyle. "If you kill Charlie Kirk.. you won't get any more Charlie Kirks. They killed the last guy who's actually interested in changing their minds."

  88. Does the writer give Islam too much credit for some periods in history?

    Israel withdrew from Gaza once. It got Oct 7 in return

    The country has never recovered from what should historically be seen as the culmination of Israeli despair

    Jake Wallis Simons
    11 September 2025 6:30pm BST

    In 2008 Israel agreed to a swathe of Palestinian demands: a state on the West Bank with its capital in East Jerusalem, plus an Israeli withdrawal from settlements and the Old City. At Camp David in 2000, a similar offer was made. Both were disdained by the Palestinian Authority. Even more poignantly, 20 years ago today, Israel unilaterally withdrew from idyllic Gaza, which has a rich Jewish history, and handed the keys to the Palestinians.

    At the time, the disengagement was hugely traumatic, with IDF troops deployed to drag Jews living in Gaza from their homes and hand their villages to the Arabs. Their flourishing businesses, such as commercial greenhouses, were abandoned intact for the benefit of new Palestinian owners. Even Jewish graves were disinterred, the bodies transferred to Israel to give the Arabs complete domination of the Strip.

    Historically, this should be seen as the culmination of Israeli despair. The Oslo Accords were the final expression of the Left's great project for peace, with a framework that would allow for the phased implementation of the two-state solution. They collapsed, however, when the Second Intifada was launched and Palestinian militants placed suicide bombs on buses around the country. The Accords have been frozen ever since.

    The Left in Israel has never recovered from that spectacular failure, which had united most of the country in optimism for peace, only to have it dashed on the rocks of reality. It was in response to that disappointment that Ariel Sharon embarked upon a new attempt to win peace from the perspective of the Right.

    His strategy was simple: unilateral withdrawal. Whether the Palestinians signed an agreement or not, Israel would pull out of contested territory, give the other side what they wanted, then shelter behind an "iron wall" and leave the Arabs to it. In some ways, this was the inheritance of the philosophy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the ideological father of the Likud, who advocated secure separation from the Palestinians in an essay of that name.

    After the painful Gaza pull-out, there was a feeling on the Israeli side that they would finally be granted international legitimacy and support. After all, Israel had voluntarily accepted all demands upon it, regardless of Palestinian weakness, corruption and extremism. Now, Sharon said, if even one rocket is fired from Gaza onto our civilians, there will be zero ambiguity. The world would back us to the hilt.

    Indeed, it was only his incapacity due to a stroke in 2006 that prevented his government from implementing the same policy on the West Bank. Looking back at this history in the light of the catastrophe that is upon us today, it is not only unbearably poignant but also revealing of Israeli attitudes.

    The young life of the modern Jewish state has been one of idealism continually smashed by contact with a separate history of the Muslim world, which had left it with its own neuroses. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War was the fulfilment of a humiliation of Islam that had been underway for centuries at the hands of the Christian West.

    The dismantlement of the Muslim empire, which once stretched halfway around the world and ruled hundreds of millions of people, and the parallel decline in its formerly glorious record in the sciences, mathematics, philosophy and the arts, led to a deep identity crisis.

    Historians have suggested that the blood and soil nationalism of the likes of Adolf Hitler provided a vision of peoplehood to which Islamic societies – previously a network of tribal loyalties ruled by a distant Sultan – could readily relate.

    Into all this came the Jews. Notwithstanding various bloody episodes, for 1,400 years, they had existed in Muslim societies mostly peacefully, often thriving and making profound contributions of their own. They were seen as fellow Arabs who adhered to a different religion, not an inferior race; on the whole, they were given second-class status, often seen as both defeated by Mohammad in the Quran and feeble in the present.

    Christian anti-Semitism was initially resisted by much of the Muslim world, with the Ottomans generally siding with the Jews during the Dreyfus affair. But with the birth of Zionism in the 19th century and the rabid anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler, which filtered into the Islamic world through connections like the close relationship between the Nazis and Amin al-Husseini, the then-Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

    To this day, affection for the Führer not uncommon in the Muslim world, with Arabic editions of Mein Kampf often found on sale in bookshops. And the idea that the Jews, who for hundreds of years had been associated above all with weakness, often banned from bearing arms or even riding on horseback, could beat back Arab armies and establish a land of their own, was the ultimate insult.

    This, combined with the religious fanaticism of the Muslim Brotherhood, is what lies at the heart of Palestinian resistance to peace today. It is what led the Arabs of Gaza to respond to Israeli withdrawal by destroying their greenhouses in a frenzy of hatred. It is what led to the rejectionism of Mahmoud Abbas – who literally wrote a book about Holocaust revisionism – and the atrocities of October 7.

    How naïve the Israel of September 11, 2025 seems in retrospect. How sad. This is a democracy that did all it could simply to survive in peace; and when the rockets inevitably flew, the world betrayed it once again. Is it any wonder that it rages against the international community today, which continues to demand "solutions" that Israel has so painfully tried and failed?

    Of course, a second anniversary also falls today. Like Hamas, Al Qaeda, which was responsible for the attack on the Twin Towers, is a descendant from the Muslim Brotherhood. And the collision of these dates in a single day is a reminder that the West and Israel face the same threat.

    In truth, the attack on New York also had anti-Semitic motives. During the 2006 trial of Mounir el-Motassadeq, a surviving member of the 9/11 cell, in Hamburg, a fellow Quran student testified that Motassadeq and his accomplices had chosen New York as "the centre of world Jewry". Speaking in court, Motassadeq's housemates recalled that he had boasted about a forthcoming "big action", gushing: "The Jews will burn and in the end we will dance on their graves".

    Although Samuel Huntington was not entirely correct about the "clash of civilisations" – many Muslims oppose fanaticism and their blood is spilt as a result – today is a grim reminder that the forces that are clashing in Gaza, and in different ways across the world, are the result of a historical volcano that was long in the brewing.

    As Ariel Sharon discovered, however much Israel and the West may yearn for peace, it cannot be won with naïveté or wishful thinking, but only determination, resilience, conviction and creativity. Peace through strength. Those weakling and ignorant nations lining up to recognise a state of Palestine must take careful note.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/11/israel-withdrew-from-gaza-once-it-got-oct-7-in-return

    1. I would love that to happen.
      Let all those leftie students put their own accommodation requirements into the open market.

  93. Mandelson’s Sacking Reopens Chagos Deal in Washington DC

    Disgraced Mandelson was a key actor in convincing the US administration to initially cooperate on Starmer’s Chagos surrender deal, Guido can reveal. Sources in DC highlight his “intense personal lobbying” of members of the Trump administration to get the deal on their desks, so that Starmer would not be embarrassed by rejection in the Oval Office (many US officials were unaware of the UK Government proposal until Mandelson arrived in post). “He spent night and day on it because Starmer was pleading him for help when it looked like the Yanks would reject it”, says one official. Lammy and Mandelson worked extensively together to lubricate US officials, despite vocal opposition to the deal in Congress…

    Mandelson’s work on Chagos was seen in the UK government as a test case for his talents in DC and his proximity to Trump. He privately boasted that his interventions had helped secure US backing for the deal…

    With Mandelson gone, and now in disgrace in DC, the Chagos file could be reopened by the US administration, with a new (less Starmer adjacent) British ambassador. As Guido pointed out at the time, co-conspirators who listened carefully to Trump’s comments on the deal know that they were not conclusive. Could Chagos yet be met with US disapproval?

    September 12 2025 @ 13:54

    4 hours ago
    Please, please, please Mr Trump.
    Publicly reject this when in the UK next week?

    3 hours ago
    Preferably at the Royal Banquet.

    4 hours ago
    I sincerely hope Farage is speaking to Trump now, to tell him to Veto the deal, thereby finishing Starmer, Hermer et Al. It won’t cause a general election but it would be closer than it was.

  94. Some stuff actually did happen today:
    (from Alastair Macleod) "This morning, gold and silver ventured into new high ground after a week of minor consolidation. In early morning European trade, gold was $3650, up $64 from last Friday’s close and 39% since 1 January. Silver was $42.15, up $1.17, and 46% higher over the same respective timescales."

  96. Last time I was at Blackfriars was in the early hours, en route to file past QEII. The queue simply ground to a halt, not moving for at least an hour. There was nowhere to take the weight of one's (not necessarily biological), legs. In the end, I had to admit defeat. (de feet?). Tomorrow, I'm minded to return to where I left off.

    Anyone else going?

    1. If you do go, Geoff, take one of those wheely stabiliser jobs with a seat in the middle. They make life so much more feasible.

      1. Thanks, opoponax. In the end, I chickened out. I followed the event on Dan Wooton’s Outspoken site, and saw much more than I would have, had I been there in person.

    1. Blair and the wrecking crew laid all the foundations for this disaster, and mighty proud of it they are.

      1. 412736+ up ticks,

        Evening S,
        Old maranda done the 48 percentres proud,
        well as proud as you can be of an old cottager,
        Bow Street, guilty as charged.

  98. Reeves may be close to breaking a key manifesto promise
    The Chancellor has ruled out increasing income tax, but pressure is piling on her to change her mind
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/12/reeves-may-be-close-to-breaking-a-key-manifesto-promise/

    BTL

    We all obviously need to persevere at what we do but there comes a time when we have to admit that we are extremely bad at doing what we do do and stop doing it.

    Rachel Reeves must know by now that she is a complete failure as a chancellor and the sooner she has the integrity and courage to admit that to herself and resign the better it will be for her as well as for the rest of us.

    1. There is a slight problem with this:
      Who would her replacement be?

      Even Gordon Brown, raised to the Lords, might be a better bet
      At least he's experienced crashes before.

          1. And he was rubbish when he was in post. In fact, they're all incompetent on both sides.

            This is because the Treasury and OBR write the budget. Neither group has any measure of ability or competence. They all start with 'what we gave you last year + some more, then some more.

            They're inept.

    2. A country trying to tax it's self to prosperity is like trying to lift yourself out of a bucket by the handles.

      Reeves is a moron. If she does not understand that hiking taxes will simply destroy the country then she is a fool – her and the entire Treasury.

  99. Madeline Grant
    Theresa May’s attack on the Assisted Suicide Bill was phenomenal
    12 September 2025, 6:13pm

    ‘This was Parliament at its best’, so went the inane and factually incorrect mantra of Kim Leadbeater as her Assisted Dying Bill made its way through the House of Commons. It did so on the back of intense duplicity about its safeguards by its sponsors and by the simple fact that the vast majority of MPs are intellectually unimpressive and suckers for anecdote over evidence.

    The House of Lords was always going to be trickier ground. Their Lordships have their failings but they are less likely to be moved by the highly manipulative campaigns from pressure groups which have accompanied the bill. Many of them actually do know about medicine, the law and the plight of the sick and disabled, which is more than can be said for some of our parliamentarians.

    There were some truly phenomenal speeches. One of the best came from a most unlikely place: Theresa May. The former prime minister’s contribution was short. The Bill threatened, she said, ‘to reinforce the dangerous idea that some lives are more worth living than others.’ She then turned on the incredible linguistic obfuscation that has characterised its passage through Parliament: ‘this is not an assisted dying bill, it is an assisted suicide bill’. It was insanely hypocritical for society to claim it thought suicide was a thing worth preventing for the healthy and fit, while saying it was a moral good for those considered a burden.

    Another unlikely highlight was the Bishop of London, who normally sounds like she’s announcing a rail replacement bus service. The choice offered by the bill she said, ‘was an illusion’ given the failure to listen to healthcare professionals, to explain how it would be integrated into a struggling health service and without any provision for improvements to palliative care.

    https://youtu.be/fMn5hWr4Zag

    Baroness Monckton spoke powerfully of the bill’s dangers to adults with learning disabilities, including her daughter, whose Down’s Syndrome leaves her ‘highly suggestible’ to influence from authority figures. The Baroness told the House that the ghouls at euthanasia lobbying group My Death, My Decision had even urged peers to reject amendments that might give relatives any input or even notify them. ‘What a strange view of the very nature of what a family is.’ This isn’t the first time the death lobby have tried to reframe the natural human instinct of trying to talk a loved one out of suicide as morally suspect, but that doesn’t make it any less shocking.

    Alongside the high quality there were, of course, the string of anecdotes and emotional manipulation which we have come, depressingly, to expect from the bill’s principle agitators. Baroness Grey Thompson – who is actually disabled, unlike those who claim to speak on behalf of them – begged their Lordships to remember that ‘good laws are not made from hard cases’.

    Lord McColl, a 92-year-old retired surgeon who had previously worked with the founder of the UK hospice movement Dame Cicely Saunders, went a step further. He reminded their Lordship’s House that ‘anecdote comes from the Greek for ‘unpublished’ and ‘unpublished ought to be what most anecdotes remain.’ Alas these requests fell on deaf ears.

    It has not been a good week for the ghoulish remnants of the Blair administration but that didn’t stop bill sponsor Lord Falconer from peppering his speech with startling mendacity about the Upper Chamber’s constitutional role. ‘Do what I say or else’ was more or less his line. Given that was how he vandalised the constitution during his regrettable tenure as Lord Chancellor it shows that, as with Mandy, Blairite leopards do not change their spots.

    There were more shades of the Blair years from Margaret Hodge who told the house that ‘we should proudly be the standard bearers for this important societal change’. Yes! Onward privileged boomers, to the sunlit uplands free of the disabled and sick! That these people are incapable of seeing the obvious parallels for their creepy Utopian language in history is nothing short of terrifying.

    Some weren’t quite so terrifyingly Utopian, just monstrously selfish. ‘I want to talk about MYself. MY rights. MY autonomy,’ droned Baroness Featherstone, speaking immediately after the disabled Baroness Grey Thompson. That’s right Lynne – you get in there and make it all about you. Lord Cashman scoffed and shook his head throughout Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick’s remarks about the absence of proper palliative care in the NHS.

    Baroness Hunter of Auchenreoch rehearsed – in the classically unfeeling timbre of someone who had been a PR advisor to, you guessed it, Tony Blair – the experience of someone she knew who had been ill. She pronounced the words ‘wheelchair-bound’ with the practiced air of a professional apparatchik. You got the sense from some of those peers that, for all their appeals to dignity, they didn’t really think the sick, ill or disabled were fully ‘people’ at all.

    There were disappointments in the midst of the speeches: Lord Roberts of Belgravia may purport to be a Tory historian but he put forward a reading of history so drippingly Whiggish that it would have made even Gibbon blush. Apparently, it was necessary to pass the bill because of the great forces of progress. ‘Future generations will judge us,’ he cried. Yes, my Lord, they absolutely will.

    Still, the overall quality was markedly higher than the Commons, with considerably more detail, erudition and forensic examination going on in their Lordships’ speeches and questions. So much Commons business depends on whips and patronage: the government protested neutrality on this bill but anyone with eyes to see realised long ago that the porcine fingers of the PM are all over it. One of the ways doubting Labour MPs were enticed into the ‘yes’ lobby was by being reminded of Keir Starmer’s own strong pro-views. No such carrots or sticks exist in the Lords. Far more than the Commons, the way the House votes depends on its mood, its feeling and the quality of the debate. As the day went on, more and more impressive speeches were made against than for, and the ‘hear hears’ became more pronounced in that direction. If I were Leadbeater or Falconer listening today, I’d be worried.

    *****************************************

    Michael Williams
    an hour ago
    Well written as always, but I feel it particularly exposes the moral void that is the idea of "progress". The concept that a certain view is what will be accepted in the utopian future we are progressing towards, and any resistance is therefore backwards and regressive. It should be our purpose as conservatives to oppose this concept in all its political forms

    1. From Wiki

      Abortion in the United Kingdom is regulated under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 in Great Britain and the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No.2) Regulations 2020 in Northern Ireland. Across the United Kingdom, abortion is permitted on the grounds of:

      risk to the life of the pregnant woman;
      preventing grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health;
      risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family (up to a term limit of 24 weeks of gestation); or
      substantial risk that, if the child were born, they would "suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped".[1]

      The reality is that termination is now on demand.

      Give the proponents of the suicide bill their demands and the same will apply to killing the weak.

      "Poor granny too enfeebled to care for herself, please terminate her. Oh and by the way, can you expedite my inheritance?"

      I hate these murderers.

      1. That is exactly my fear. The same mission creep as has already been experienced in the abortion bill.

    2. May's intervention might exonerate a considerable number of the harms she/her government did elsewhere.

      But only if it leads to this ghastly bill being halted.

  100. We're running out of time to stop post-Covid mass migration from becoming permanent

    Those that arrived in Britain from 2021 will soon be able to apply to stay indefinitely. We must take action now

    Katie Lam
    12th September 2025, 6:18pm BST

    It's easy in times like this to become defeatist – to think that "what's done is done, and cannot be undone", as Lady Macbeth once had it. But that would be a terrible mistake.

    Take immigration. Over the past 30 years, millions of people have immigrated to Britain. The level of immigration has been too high for decades, and accelerated following the pandemic: over just the four years from 2021 to 2024, net migration was 2.6 million people.

    This has been a complete disaster. It has put huge pressure on our infrastructure, dramatically deepened our housing crisis and further strained an already overstretched NHS. It is impossible for so many people in such a short stretch of time to integrate and assimilate, which has serious implications for our national culture and identity. And it has the makings of a major economic disaster.

    This is because the vast majority of those who have come to this country since 2021 are not earning very much. Most didn't come to work, and even those who did are mostly not high earners. In 2022-23, nearly three quarters of those who came here on a so-called "skilled worker" visa earned below the average UK salary. Over a quarter of a million people came on the Health and Social Care visa, for which the minimum income threshold was between £20,480 and £25,000. For the more than half a million people who came here as dependents of those groups, there was no income requirement at all.

    Yet once they've been here for five years, all of these people (and a million more who came on other visa types) will be entitled to claim something called Indefinite Leave to Remain, or ILR. ILR means you can access the NHS for free, as well as claim benefits and social housing. It also means that you can remain here indefinitely, as the name suggests – and so it's sometimes called settlement. You can get settlement regardless of whether you've ever paid a penny in tax. Giving it to millions of people who will not contribute more to the country than they will cost is complete madness.

    But here's the thing, and why I say we should be hopeful – we simply don't have to do it. Settlement is a status granted by the Government based on rules that it sets. We don't actually have to give it to anyone at all, if we think it's better not to. And Parliament has the power to change those rules whenever it wants to.

    My Shadow Home Office colleagues and I have repeatedly argued that the qualifying period should be extended from five years to ten, but that alone is not enough. No new visas should be issued to, no new settlement should be granted to, and settlement should be revoked from, those who have committed a crime, accessed state support, or are unlikely to contribute more than they cost. Those who have no legal way to stay here would then need to leave. That is how immigration works.

    Implementing these policies in full would save the British taxpayer hundreds of billions of pounds. It would relieve pressure on our public services and lay the foundations for an immigration system that genuinely works in the national interest. More than that, it would give effect to the democratic wishes of the British people by reversing a costly disaster that nobody voted for and that most people now acknowledge was a catastrophe.

    We have proposed these changes repeatedly in Parliament and each time we have been voted down by the Government, who wish to have it both ways. They love criticising the last Government's record on immigration (and much of what they say is fair), but they refuse to actually undo it.

    They have done the bare minimum in agreeing to consult in the autumn on extending the qualifying period for settlement from five years to ten, but little else. Why won't the Government fix something they spend all their time criticising?

    The Minister confirmed to me in Parliament on Monday that this consultation will be open to members of the public. People must make their voices heard. The British people have never voted for mass, unskilled migration. They don't deserve to bear the costs for the rest of their lives. We can reverse this terrible mistake – and we must.

    Katie Lam is the Conservative MP for Weald of Kent

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/12/were-running-out-of-time-to-stop-post-covid-mass-migration

    2. Never mind there being too many to integrate, most of them have no intention of doing so. They expect us to accommodate them.

  101. What is so admirable about Labour supporters or Labour MPs when it comes to property is that they are all heart!

    'Hypocrite' Labour donor 'evicted family from £3m townhouse before relisting it for an extra £1,000-a-month' despite party's crackdown on landlords
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/86123ab18bc3fd38747dba1e771a1b5bd4f02aca07ad2c48b39601f847c16e3b.png
    Lord Waheed Alli, who has donated more than £500,000 to Labour over the past two decades, had let the five-bed north London townhouse to the couple and their children for the past four years.

    He needs more money to buy new informal clothes for the prime minister and his wife when they leave Downing Street.

    And another Labour landloord!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/665ef8a50e5a6d5270bbe7b44f2458be0623a64e80624872e15fa77b28b227f2.png
    Rushanara Ali has resigned as homelessness minister, Downing Street has confirmed. The move comes after she was accused of hypocrisy over the way she handled rent increases on a house she owns in east London.

  102. Forgive me if I am being another conspiracy theorist.

    Charlie Kirk 'killer's' chilling gun obsession as his parents gave their kids 'build your rifle' Christmas gift – as photos show him posing with machine gun and a bazooka

    I can't help think that the left-wing media will use this as a pressure point for more gun control in the USA.
    Almost the exact opposite of what Kirk stood for.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

    2. Leftists are maniacs. Their elation at murder of an opponent simply marks them as utterly malignant.

  103. GMB star Adil Ray stunned fans with his reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk (Image: ITV)
    Good Morning Britain host Adil Ray has split opinion after paying tribute to controversial Republican activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in a campus shooting this week. Taking to Instagram, Adil shared a candid message: “The death of Charlie Kirk is tragic. He said the worst possible things about my race, my religion, my worth and about millions of others. But violence to silence ideologies or challenge others is never the answer.

    "Treat others how you wish to be treated. As a Muslim and a fellow human, my deepest condolences to his family.” The post quickly sparked a wave of responses from followers, with some praising the presenter’s stance and others openly conflicted. One person wrote: “Exactly. I wasn't a fan of anything he had to say. I didn't agree with his position on most things, but I don't think he deserved to be killed. No matter what he was to the rest of the world, there are two children to whom he was just 'daddy'.”

    1. "GMB star Adil Ray stunned fans with his reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk"

      What a world we live in if it stuns people when someone regrets the assassination of a decent young father.

    1. I didn't get the ECG Sos, there was an admin cock up. Tuesday morning now. But the rest of the day was lovely. Thanks 😊

  105. Thank You all for your kind regards and birthday wishes for today.
    We had lunch with two old friends at a very nice Turkish restaurant in Harpenden. LOSH Bar and Grill. Came home and after putting my feet up for an hour we were 'invaded' 🤗🤭😊 by our lovely grandchildren.
    So it's good night from me and Erin.
    Thanks again 🤗😊

  107. Jews are now being persecuted all over Britain

    This is not only about one community, but the democratic norms that keep us all safe

    Danny Cohen
    12th September 2025, 12:30pm BST

    Last week a survey showed that more than one in five Britons now hold or agree with anti-Semitic views. This number has doubled in less than five years.

    When it comes to Jew-hate in Britain much of the focus has been on London. You can understand why. It was in London that groups of men gathered to celebrate on 7th October even whilst the Hamas massacre of Jews was taking place. It was in London where mass marches have included those openly waving antisemitic signs and showing support for murderous terrorist organisations. It was in the capital too where Jewish children were advised to hide the insignia on their school uniforms.

    Yet more focus is needed on Britain's smaller Jewish communities dotted around the country. These communities are even more vulnerable and isolated when it comes to the rise of antisemitism.

    In Bournemouth last month a Jewish child was shot in the head with an air-gun. Before firing the weapon, the suspect is alleged to have shouted obscenities at the child as he walked to a synagogue wearing a skullcap.

    Let that sink in for a moment. A child allegedly shot in the head for being Jewish. One might expect a violent incident like this to lead to serious national soul-searching, but it seems that antisemitism is becoming so embedded in British society that an attack of this nature causes little outcry and limited national reporting.

    Just down the coast in Brighton, the Jewish community has been experiencing a persistent wave of antisemitic abuse. Local Jewish residents tell me of a poisonous litany of hate crimes and destruction, with a local memorial to victims of the 7 October pogrom under consistent attack.

    The memorial has been vandalised over fifty times. Jews visiting the memorial have faced chants of "die die", with gun gestures pointed at the back of their heads. Faeces have been left on the book of the dead. Swastikas and Holocaust denial graffiti have been plastered nearby. It is only due to the dedication of the local Jewish community that each time the memorial is destroyed it is re-built with love and care.

    I have found it hard to stop thinking about this memorial. It is symbolic of the poisonous Jew-hate that has emerged from the shadows over the last two years. A quiet place to commemorate the murder of Jews in a terrorist atrocity has itself become the target of violent racism. A place to mourn has suffered serial vandalism, theft, abuse and destruction.

    These acts of violence have nothing to do with differing views on Israel's strategy to defeat Hamas. They do nothing to advance the Palestinian cause. They are a direct and calculated attack on Jewish people at their most vulnerable.

    We should be in no doubt that this is leaving Jews in a state of fear. Local Brighton and Hove Rabbi Dr Zanado reports that local congregants are taking off their Star of David necklaces when they go to the doctor and removing the prayer scrolls typically attached to the doors of Jewish homes. The echoes of historic persecution of Jews are chillingly clear.

    And so the days and weeks pass by and Jew-hate embeds itself more deeply in Britain. We must all ask ourselves what is happening to our society when antisemitism has reached these proportions, when Jews feel forced to hide their identity and face violent abuse on the streets. Ultimately this is not only about the Jewish community but the democratic norms that keep us all safe.

    The canary in the coalmine is almost dead. Has anyone in power in our country noticed?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/12/jews-hate-persecution-britain-smaller-communities

      2. Rayner vaping in a raft and Mandelson in his dressing gown by the pool in one of Epstein’s properties buried by the revelation that he had wished Epstein aka “my best pal” a happy birthday.

  109. 412735+ up ticks,

    Pillow Ponder,

    I was last in the UKIP fast rising, financially in the black Gerard Batten army and fell with many others along with Gerard via the party NEC, and farage treacherous input.

    The herd to my mind is rushing in once again where the cautious fear to tread, without a safety harness party formed via proven patriots over a great multitude of years namely THE FARMERS we have every chance of once again sampling failure. https://youtu.be/csn3CFP2_pc?si=cusBP1_FOGPO3cEw

    1. 412735+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Many moons ago I posted that the lab/lib/con coalition party were defunct, there was NO left / right political wings, only RIGHT / WRONG wings.

  112. Nkechi Ogbonna
    Lagos
    Published
    5 hours ago
    A pilot and co-pilot have tested positive for alcohol after the plane they were operating veered off the runway when landing in Nigeria.

    The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) screened the pair after the accident in July, at the Port Harcourt International Airport. In addition, a crew member tested positive for cannabis.

    All 103 people on board the Boeing 737 at the time of the incident were unharmed.

    Air Peace, the company that operated the flight, said the 64-year-old pilot has been sacked for failing to adhere to safety regulations, while the co-pilot has since returned to his role.

    In a statement, Air Peace said the co-pilot was acquitted by the national regulator, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), following preliminary investigations and a clean bill of health.

    Tests carried out by the NSIB found the pilot and co-pilot had tested positive for Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), which indicates recent alcohol consumption.

    A cabin crew member also tested positive for (THC), the psychoactive component in cannabis.

    In a statement, Air Peace said it had not received any toxicology test results from the NSIB.

    "We are yet to receive any official communication from the NSIB on such findings over a month after the incident and after the testing of the crew for alcohol which took place in less than an hour of the incident," Air Peace said.

    The pilot had a total flying time of over 18,000 hours, while the co-pilot, aged 28, had almost 1,200 hours.

    The NSIB says its investigations are still in progress. For now, it has recommended improved training and the reinforcement of internal procedures.

    Although there have been no plane crashes in Nigeria for several years, there have been cases of aircraft overshooting the runway and tyres bursting during landing.

    Earlier this month, aviation authorities launched a new flight data centre aimed at improving aircraft safety but stakeholders say further protective measures and improved technology need to be deployed in the sector.

  116. Well, chums, it's time for bed once again. So I wish you all a Good Night, and hope to see you all bright and early tomorrow morning.

  117. I am not sure whether or not the British public fully appreciate the extent of the Epstein tentacles in influencing our Establishment. We know about Prince Andrew and Mandelson but the whole of the British Establishment are implicated in the cover ups of the crimes of Epstein, Mandelson, Blair, Brown and the supposedly ‘innocent’ Starmer.

    The thought that Starmer was once in control of our judiciary and Crown Prosecution Service is worthy of investigation in itself. Second to that I would suggest Starmer’s devotion to the Ukraine project above all else, when the UK economy is crumbling into dust, is worthy of similar investigation.

    1. We know they are all enmeshed in shadowy international organisations like the WEF (notice how that's disappeared from alt media recently?) and Bilderberg group. Epstein and the blackmail was part of the darker side of that control mesh which is designed to dominate the common herd via law, media and entertainment.
      For sure Epstein wasn't the only one.
      The only way to break the stranglehold is to stop consuming media (mainstream or alt) with one's emotions. Emotions are too easy to manipulate.

Comments are closed.