Tuesday 29 April: Efforts to ‘smash the gangs’ have failed to halt the crisis in the Channel

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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335 thoughts on “Tuesday 29 April: Efforts to ‘smash the gangs’ have failed to halt the crisis in the Channel”

  3. Good Morning Folks,

    Another sunny day to look forward to, I hope it doesn't unleash a rare weather event on our power supplies.

  4. Something weird is going on with the power outages in Spain, Portugal and parts of France.
    Where is the news coverage?
    Lots of people must be dying or suffering terrible hardship and inconvenience, yet we just get random reports about rare weather events.
    Imagine if that happened here for any length of time, just the closure of Heathrow cost £ billions.
    Yet nothing much on the news this morning, just the same old anti Trump stuff.

    2. Net zero blamed for blackout chaos

      Experts say a reliance on solar and wind power left Spain and Portugal vulnerable

      Matt Oliver Industry Editor.
      James Crisp Europe Editor.
      Jonathan Leake.
      Gareth Corfield Transport Correspondent
      28 April 2025 9:15pm BST

      A reliance on net zero energy left Spain and Portugal vulnerable to the mass blackouts engulfing the region, experts said on Monday night.

      In what is believed to be Europe’s largest power cut, tens of millions of people were left without electricity, while flights were grounded, trains halted and whole cities were left without power, internet access or other vital services.

      The cause of the initial fault in the region’s electricity grid is still being investigated, and the EU has insisted that there were no indications that it was a cyber attack.

      However, energy experts have blamed a heavy reliance on solar and wind farms in Spain for leaving the region’s power grid vulnerable to such a crisis.

      A state of emergency was declared in Spain, while in Portugal, water company EPAL said supplies could also be disrupted.

      Queues formed at shops of people seeking to purchase emergency supplies like gaslights, generators and batteries.

      Energy operators are fighting to restore power in Spain, Portugal and parts of France, and residents are being urged to avoid travel and use mobile phones sparingly.

      Tens of thousands of British travellers could potentially be affected by airport disruption in the region.

      Spain has seen a massive increase in renewable and low carbon electricity generation in recent years. Two decades ago more than 80pc of its power came from burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas, as well as nuclear. Solar and wind provided less than 5pc.

      By 2023 renewable energy provided 50.3pc of power. On Monday, the proportion of renewables was far higher. Around noon, just before the crash, solar was providing about 53pc of Spain’s electricity with another 11pc from wind, according to Red Eléctrica’s own data. Gas was providing only about 6pc.

      On Monday, Spain was forced to activate emergency measures to restore electricity across parts of northern and southern Spain, including switching hydroelectric plants across the country back on and importing power through giant cables with France and Morocco.

      Traditional energy systems have mechanisms which allow them to keep running even if there is a shock, such as a surge or loss of power.

      However, solar and wind do not have the same ability.

      Electricity grids need what is known as inertia to help balance the network and maintain electricity supplies at a stable frequency. Inertia is created by generators with spinning parts – such as turbines running on gas, coal or hydropower – which wind and solar do not have.

      Britain’s National Energy Systems Operator (Neso) compares it to “the shock absorbers in your car’s suspension, which dampen the effect of a sudden bump in the road and keep your car stable and moving forward”.

      Kathryn Porter, an independent energy analyst, said: “In a low-inertia environment the frequency can change much faster. If you have had a significant grid fault in one area, or a cyber attack, or whatever it may be, the grid operators therefore have less time to react.

      “That can lead to cascading failures if you cannot get it under control quickly.”

      Duncan Burt, a former British grid operator and strategy chief at Reactive Technologies, said: “If you have got a very high solar day then your grid is less stable, unless you’ve taken actions to mitigate that. So you would expect things to be less stable than normal.”

      Richard Tice, the Reform party’s deputy leader and energy spokesman, said the events in Spain should be a warning to Britain and showed the risks of net zero.

      He said: “We need to know the exact causes but this should be seen as a wake-up call to the eco-zealots.

      “Power grids need to operate within tight parameters to remain stable. Wind and solar outputs by contrast, vary hugely over long and short periods so they add risk to the system. The UK’s grid operators and our Government should take heed.”

      There have long been warnings about this kind of vulnerability in net zero systems.

      The European Court of Auditors, an arms-length body that oversees EU spending, warned earlier this month that the growth of renewables was making it harder to balance the grids of different countries.

      It said in a report: “Renewable energy sources have higher intermittency and variability because their output depends on weather conditions, unlike traditional power plants that can adjust output to meet demand. This, in turn, makes balancing the system more challenging.

      “Consequently, grid reinforcement, the installation of specific equipment, and more modern, smart and innovative technologies may be required to accommodate these energy sources.”

      Under plans drawn up by Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, Britain is hoping to decarbonise Britain’s energy system by 2030. The plan requires a huge shift to renewable energy and will make the UK one of the fastest adopters of net zero in the world.

      Craig Dyke at Neso said: “We are monitoring the situation closely and are liaising with our counterparts in neighbouring European countries to offer any assistance that may be required.”

      A government spokesman said: “Our electricity network continues to operate as normal and there are no expected impacts on the UK.”

      On Monday night, Spain’s energy operator Red Eléctrica estimated it could take between six to 10 hours to restore power, while REN in Portugal said it could take up to a week for normal service to resume.

      Hospitals were forced to switch to emergency generators and traffic lights in the region were knocked out after blackouts swept the Iberian peninsula around midday on Monday. Mobile networks were also hit, leaving people relying on the battery-powered radios to get updates and news.

      Passengers were also forced to flee through dark tunnels on underground networks in Spain and Portugal, and emergency services workers carried out 286 rescue operations to free people trapped inside elevators across Madrid.

      Elsewhere, British tennis player Jacob Fearnley was forced to leave the clay court at the Madrid Open after scoreboards and a camera above the court were affected.

      The Portuguese cabinet convened an emergency meeting at the prime minister’s residence in response to the blackouts and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez visited power distributor Red Eléctrica to follow efforts at restoring grid operations.

      About three and a half hours after the blackout began, power had returned to parts of Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia, but officials warned it could be days before full normality resumes.

      In a televised address, Mr Sanchez called on the public to “cooperate with all authorities, to act with responsibility and civility”.

      Portuguese authorities said the blackouts may have been caused by a “very large oscillation in the electrical voltage” in the Spanish system.

      The cyber security wing of the European Union suggested a technical or cable fault was responsible for the outage.

      Preliminary findings from the The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) suggested it was not an attack and a spokesman told The Telegraph: “For the moment the investigation seems to point to a technical/cable issue.”

      Mr Sánchez said in a televised address on Monday afternoon: “We still do not have conclusive information about the reasons for this outage … It’s better not to speculate, we will know the causes, we do not rule out any hypothesis.”

      Ongoing issues raise the prospect of significant disruption for British holidaymakers and travellers in the region.

      More than 500 flights were scheduled to leave Britain for airports in Portugal and Spain on Monday, equivalent to almost 100,000 seats.

      Officials said flights would not take off from Lisbon Airport until at least 10pm local time. Madrid and Barcelona were both operating at reduced capacity until further notice.

      The blackout is thought to be Europe’s biggest ever, eclipsing a 2003 outage that saw 56m people in Italy and parts of Switzerland left without electricity for up to 12 hours.

      The largest power cut in history was in India in 2012 when 700m people, roughly 10pc of the world’s population at the time, were left without electricity.

      ************************************
      Louis Rodriguez
      8 hrs ago
      Reply to john blackall – view message
      Coming to the UK soon. Courtesy of Mad Ed and his gang (inc Lib Dems and Conservatives).

      I am in Portugal and in Lisbon we were 9.5h without energy. And no communication netween for about 8h. It seems that Portugal was buying solar energy from Spain as it was cheap (It's sunny and hot here). This distabilised the network and everything crashed. It then takes ages to reset the system as they need to start the reliables (Gas and Hydro in Portugal) and then restore energy bit by bit. One interesting fact is that politicians have refused to say anything about the causes – it tells you everything you need to know what the cause is. Unlucky for them, blaming Russia seems to be too farfetched a reason for them to try. Got a diesel power generator?

      Dave Brown
      9 hrs ago
      NetZero is the biggest con ever pushed onto the nation. It's a fraud of epic proportions costing trillions and our looney uniparty fell for it over the last 25 years.

  8. Efforts to ‘smash the gangs’ have failed to halt the crisis in the Channel. 29 April 2025.

    SIR – With a record number of migrants having crossed the Channel this year (“French navy escorts packed migrant boat across the Channel in ‘appalling’ conditions”, report, April 28), when does failure to provide an effective deterrent mean that the Government is
    complicit in the tragic consequences of many of these voyages?

    We are in a state of national emergency and decisive action needs to be taken. “Smash the Gangs” has been utterly ineffective. The only realistic answer is deportation.

    Lol. There was no “Smash the Gangs”. What does it take for these people to realise that the whole thing is fake? That the PTB intend what is in front of their eyes? That the whole state has been suborned and that the political process is a Potemkin construction?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2025/04/28/letters-smash-gangs-crisis-channel/

    1. Mornin' Minty. There's a corker from De Bretton the Cretin this morning in the DT, and the 77th have been kicked out of their beds early to flood the zone BTL and drown out reasoned debate. The Russiagate hoax might as well never have been debunked.

    2. Mornin' Minty. There's a corker from De Bretton the Cretin this morning in the DT, and the 77th have been kicked out of their beds early to flood the zone BTL and drown out reasoned debate. The Russiagate hoax might as well never have been debunked.

    3. It should be clear to anyone, who is at a minimum of being half awake, that whatever this government claims to be policy, the opposite will be the outcome.

      If a government is going to "smash the gangs" why would that same government be setting up a 5 year plan to house "asylum" seekers in rented accommodation with everything e.g. council tax, all services etc. paid for by the working people's taxes?

      If the onus is to be on the councils to pay for this largesse the local tax burden will escalate immensely.

      1. Just about nailed it there:

        We want growth – hikes every tax going
        We will build houses: massively taxes materials, house buying and moving
        We're halting immigration: buys up houses for rent.
        We support free speech: locks up political enemies
        We are for equality: stops an inquiry into pakistani paedophile muslim child rapists
        We support the supreme court ruling: a man is a woman.

        Everything is a lie to push the hard Left agenda.

    4. The authorities have found where the inflatables are being stored before use. Apparently the warehouses are protected under German statute and cannot be touched without the potential of law suits.

    5. There was never any interest in the gangs. You kill the trade by stopping the customer. That's the easy bit we could do. Get out into the channel, tell them to turn back. If they refuse, open fire.

    6. IIf The Froggie police are there handing out life jackets, why don't they all get issued with kni es instead to puncture the RIBs?

  9. Good morning, all. Just passing through – a demain.

    I see Canadians have a death wish.

  10. the lights are going out…but they won’t tell you the real reason why. please prepare.

    Here Prof Dutton gives a damning assessment of the outage and what's in store for the future.

    A sign of systematic failure of a fragile complex system all thanks to the competency crisis.
    A dramatic sign of the future.
    Induced atmospheric vibration with a flashover couldn't absorb then collapsed within seconds. A textbook normal accident and yet a cascade of failure. Fewer & fewer intelligent people trying to manage an increasingly complex structure.
    Blame it all on fertility & intelligence. Our becoming less intelligent plus bureaucracy plus DEI plus easier to achieve Eng degrees.
    .
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMkAgXUt2G4

    1. I'd put real money on 95%+ of the energy grid workforce is a white male.

      There'll be some women, who work in HR. I imagine there's also some black fellows who're pretty good but the majority will be white chaps.

  11. So it now looks like Carney is going to lead Canada which proves that Trump is pure genius, by getting the intransigent Liberals in Canada to elect another WEF commissar he has just lowered the value of Canada for any take over bid in the future.

    1. Carney is Peter Principle with knobs on. Not only does he rise to his level of incompetence but he does so repeatedly.

      Carney was a disaster as governor of the Bank of England. He is going to prove that he is an incompetent leader of Canada

  12. Good morning, all. Sunny.

    Some interesting threads on the power outage in Spain, Portugal etc. Sarcasm re the rush to Net Zero and others attempting to explain exactly what happened and the problems with a "black start" when the grid is too reliant on renewables.

    Bob3's comment below highlights the terrible consequences for the people and the financial impact. In view of what has happened has Miliband minor opined on how something similar couldn't possibly happen here or has he kept quiet? Maybe I've missed something?

    Latest blame claim is a solar flare, but according to sources, there hasn't been a flare in the last three days. With the cause known a responsible PTB should explain what happened, if unknown the same PTB should inform the people of the current ongoing situation. That there is speculation on a weather event and now a solar flare it appears that either the cause is unknown and the politicians are in a panic or the cause is known and the politicians are in a panic.

    Anyway, here's a selection from a long X thread:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/666bdb5488855b6fe5f9c66db1dafc63febab1a77d8b01614a9f23f59b93a052.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/180747c5226c25cb0a27fe4f6f3eb336fc6f399ad4595404988132914f847756.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5aa9e5f065e97dcfa22e2b493987d905600306e7999e484e589019a7d1258897.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b9672ac1dc623ddbbbb4e1ef232b20c7a0f15f4813ef33b6b8d7bac4bf664e23.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c691d215fa6b4fe5018324810d4348bef58733d6a10da3b97e3bb03fc1df0e67.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f79396e277778d55550097fbc28961e84f1012e177f5c302704c6b739bc39408.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8ecd3a486714b08f8e631ccaba2ce5f1b64e3a5189b36eb2d0ba9c521b53118.png

  14. 404829+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    Well past time ALL were singing from the same hymn sheet in regards to patriotic
    indigenous peoples, WE ARE AT WAR.

    The day war was declared was the day the political ghoul anthony charlie crept out of the public park crapper on a cottaging mission, to lift the Countries safety latch, he and his ilk, aided & abetted via the tribal voters and the polling stations have NEVER looked back and we as a nation have never stopped sinking into the shite mire.

    When the governing peoples political enemy, enemas are telling you, in no uncertain manner to EAT SHITE & DIE,
    don't you feel a teeny weeny bit uneasy ?

    Tuesday 29 April: Efforts to ‘smash the gangs’ have failed to halt the crisis in the Channel

    IT HAS NEVER BEEN ATTEMPTED.

      1. Mr Lowe is right. Reform need policies. They need to present an actual plan people can get behind. Real, battle tested policies.

        1. 404829+ up ticks,

          Morning W,

          Bypass farage, reform is currently tory (INO)
          party MK2

          Build on F F & F party, If Lowe is reluctant to lead then I am bloody sure we have a level headed, common sense farmer to take up the challenge.

          In my eyes as a nation we are sinking for a second time, third time and the prayer mat five times a day beconds.

  15. If Canada does become the 51st state of the USA it will not be hard to choose a nickname for it after yesterdays election result.

    The Dodo State

    1. Hasn't there been a rumour that at least one province is considering a break-away from the Ottawa regime? Trump could pick them off one at a time.😮

  18. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny and chilly. Menaced by two beautiful big geese "guarding" the main entrance to the office. Huge piles of gooseshit around… 🙁

    1. Morning, Paul.

      I have never been menaced by geese (nor swans). They may hiss and flap and make a lot of noise (and crap) but they are completely harmless and will soon piss off if you give them a kick up the arse.

      2. Indeed, but being subject to wide-wing flapping and short, aggressive rushes can be a tad unnerving when you don’t expect it.
        Lovely birds, though. In excellent shape, beautiful plumage.

          1. Always wantd crispy goose in an Indonesian restaurant – with LOADS of pancakes, strips of onlion, and a bucket of sause, too! Then there might be enough!

      3. When we lived out in the boondocks and had geese, I just used to look them in the eye and say "Bugger off".
        Then they always remembered they ought to be elsewhere.

        1. No doubt you came across as Alpha Head Goose. Some are not so fortunate, although I do agree that a firm command whilst standing one's ground, to any aggressor, is better than the alternatives.

        2. No doubt you came across as Alpha Head Goose. Some are not so fortunate, although I do agree that a firm command whilst standing one's ground, to any aggressor, is better than the alternatives.

    2. Our office has a house cat – one of the terms of the lease is that he can go anywhere he likes. He likes our server room as it's always warm.

      Once a while back a mother duck was herding ducklings across the road and this mangy beast stood watching them all in the car park daring cars to come in. Be assured, we didn't.

      However one downside is the cat doesn't like dogs – or other cats that're in the building so Mongo, Lucy and Oscar tend to avoid him lest he go for them.

  19. Expurts issue terrifying warning to America: Prepare for pandemic NOW

    The Global Virus Network is now calling on world governments to address the threat of H5N1 avian influenza by improving surveillance and implementing biosecurity measures. LOL

    They never give up.

  20. SIR — As a former director (ports) of the then UK Immigration Service, I was appalled to read that the French have been handing life jackets to migrants to ensure they can cross the Channel safely in small boats (report, April 11). The British authorities are then returning the jackets to the French, so that they can be used again.

    Why, instead, are the French not stopping the boats and returning them to France, especially as they are deemed to be unsafe? And, in light of the
    many millions of euros that Britain is giving France to help stop the traffic, how is the Government ensuring that it gets the service it is paying for?

    Peter Higgins
    West Wickham, Kent

    Surely, Pete, you are not so naïve as to be oblivious to the clear fact that France is heavily punishing the UK for the utter treachery of Brexit.

    Brexit was actually welcomed by a faction in the EUSSR since it gave the members of that sinister conglomeration of rogue states a golden opportunity to unload all their problems on a former — renegade — member state. How very convenient for them was that?

  22. Good morning dear souls. GBN have just reported that Spain and Portugal recently boasted switching over to 100% renewable energy. Nothing more to be said really?

    1. Folk are suggesting much f the problem is the inability for unreliables to… be reliable. There's no scaling them. They're either on, or off, and if the on isn't sufficiently managed then all the energy generated is consumed which causes problems of it's own. They can't be brought on line and ramped up – this inertia thing isolated from the grid.

      It's going to happen here – no amount of clever software is going to stop our utterly unreliable power grid from collapsing. I imagine at the moment the Leftist state are desperately fighting to argue that it's because of real fuels – coal, oil, gas, nuclear that the grid fell over.

  23. Yo and Good moaningall, from a sunny C d S

    We had half a day shopping in our Capital Town (Skeg) yesterday. The oldies still rule there, the invasion by the young has yet to begin.

    On the subject of the fire in Bethany Church

    Two teens have been arrested following a fire in Port Talbot town centre.

    Officers investigating the fire, at Bethany English Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Station Road last Thursday evening, April 24, arrested the two teenagers on suspicion of arson.

    A 14-year-old boy from Sandfields, Neath Port Talbot, and a 15-year-old boy from Bryn, Neath Port Talbot, were arrested on suspicion of arson.

    The investigation is ongoing.

    https://www.south-wales.police.uk/news/south-wales/news/2025/april/two-teens-neath-port-talbot-arrested-fire-former-chapel/

    2. Sandfields Estate always was the origin of most of the ill-doing even when I was growing up in Neath in the 70s and 80s

  24. "Rory Stewart, the Tory MP turned centrist podcast host, is calling for what he calls a “liberal compromise” over trans rights. On “a case-by-case basis”, he says, we should consider requests by male criminals who identify as women to be placed in a women’s prison."
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/29/truth-about-joe-biden-cover-up-finally-starting-to-emerge/

    BTL

    Rory Stewart is not happy that many people consider him to be mad.

    He will not be happy until he has convinced everybody that he is a raving lunatic.

  25. Just had a messag efrom my Buiding Society

    "Your maturity options are on the way"

    As I am 30, in my years (80), I think they are a bit late.

    No mention of an ISA!

  27. "…Rachel Reeves has repeatedly vowed not to raise key taxes such as income tax, corporation tax or VAT. But she may have to disregard Labour’s manifesto pledge if low economic growth forces her to put up taxes in the autumn Budget…."

    Yet Reeves has put up income tax and corporation tax by hiking the min wage. That makes goods more expensive, which is effectively a tax on income.

    I really am sick and tired of explaining how low economic growth is the result of high taxes, not the solution to.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/how-rachel-reeves-tax-you-pay-for-wealth-exodus/

    1. Income Tax thresholds were frozen in 2006. Reeves is freezing them to 2029. In doing so she has increased income tax for a lot of elderly pensioners, including me.
      Edited to put a capital at the beginning of a sentence.

        1. It pays to check one’s elderly memory. Thresholds were frozen in 2021 until 2025-2026. Hunt then extended the freeze until 2028. The present chancer of the exchequer has confirmed the extension to 2028.

      2. It's not just the freezing of the tax allowances, it's that every other tax has also gone up at the same time so even more money is taken from already taxed income.

        1. I have a modest index linked pension based on 30 years service rather than 40 years. Five years ago I paid £5,000 income tax. Last year I paid £9,000. I will be 90 years old next year.

          2. Jeez and I thought I’d got a raw deal. I only served for 16 years so didn’t get a pension (changed a year after I was demobbed)

    2. Income Tax thresholds were frozen in 2006. Reeves is freezing them to 2029. In doing so she has increased income tax for a lot of elderly pensioners, including me.
      Edited to put a capital at the beginning of a sentence.

  28. Except, Rory, this would be illegal as the supreme court has ruled that a man in a dress is still a man as everyone sane knew long ago.

    Why do these nutjob Lefties cling on to these stupid anti-social idea… ah. Just answered my own question.

    1. Never forget that our Joke Woke King Chuck hired the mini-monster to tutor his sons. The future direction of The Realm is Hades.

  29. Good morning all and many thanks for your birthday greetings a couple of days ago. The birthday was celebrated with a very pleasant trip away with family and I’m afraid NoTTL took a back seat. Back to (what passes for) normal now though! Thanks again and happy NoTTling!

    BTW there’s a bottle of champagne in my fridge with Ed Milliband's name on it. I wasn’t sure who was worse, him or the Chancer of the Exchequer.

  30. The truth about the Joe Biden cover-up is finally starting to emerge

    A top reporter now admits that the US media failed to give proper scrutiny to the former president’s cognitive decline. But why?

    Michael Deacon Columnist
    29 April 2025 6:00am BST

    Until July last year, the Democrats’ message at the presidential election was going to be as follows. “Our candidate is about to turn 82. Give him four more years.”

    Not a flawless sales pitch. Especially as the candidate in question was in very obvious cognitive decline. Yet, for a long time, startlingly few American journalists seemed to recognise this. Only now are some of them beginning to admit that they were blind to what was right in front of their noses.

    “We, myself included, missed a lot of this story,” confessed Alex Thompson, one of America’s leading reporters, in a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. Failure to expose the White House’s “cover-up” of “President Biden’s decline”, he went on, had undermined public faith in the media: “Some people trust us less because of it… We should have done better.”

    He’s certainly right about that. For at least two years before Biden’s enforced withdrawal from the 2024 election, numerous outlets ran articles suggesting that anyone who dared mention his failing faculties was guilty of ageism. Here are just a few sample headlines. “Should Joe Biden Run Again? Ageism Says No. Meritocracy Yes” (Forbes, April 2023). “From Joe Biden to Madonna: Ageism is Everywhere” (Guardian US, February 2023). “The Weaponisation of Biden’s Age” (Time, September 2023).

    Right up to the calamitous live TV debate of June 2024 – during which Biden stumbled over his words, lost his thread mid-sentence, and confusedly boasted, “We finally beat Medicare!” – many commentators kept insisting that talk of his decline was nothing but a wicked Right-wing smear. Shortly before that debate, Mehdi Hasan – formerly of MSNBC – tweeted that Republicans would “regret… helping spread the distorted image of [Biden] as a guy who is totally out of it, suffering from dementia, no grip on reality, no ability to speak. A very low bar for him to clear tonight.”

    But he didn’t clear it. He tripped helplessly over it. Even after that, however, a few writers still seemed determined to reject the evidence of their own eyes. In a column for Newsweek downplaying the debacle, one author desperately wailed: “The problem isn’t Biden’s age but our own ageism. It’s based on fear, and we’re on the verge of sacrificing democracy to it…”

    Four years earlier, she might have had a point. During the presidential campaign of 2020, I myself thought it was ageist of Donald Trump to tweet a mocked-up photo of Biden in a wheelchair, with the caption “Biden for resident” – as in, resident of a nursing home.

    By the second half of Biden’s presidency, however, his deterioration was unmistakable. At both press conferences and meetings with world leaders, aides slipped him cue cards to jog his memory. In February 2024, he referred to Macron of France as “Mitterand from Germany”, and to Angela Merkel as “Helmut Kohl”. Then, after a meeting with the widow of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, he said it had been an honour to meet “Yolanda”. Her name is Yulia.

    Yet even then, as Alex Thompson has now acknowledged, too many US journalists neglected to give Biden’s decline proper scrutiny. The question is: why? Did they really not see it? Or did they look away, because they didn’t want to see it? In other words: did they fail to expose the “cover-up” – or collude in it? And would they have been equally oblivious, had the same thing been happening to Trump?

    This is the thing about journalism. It’s not just about what you write. Sometimes, it’s about what you choose not to write.

    Rory Stewart’s trans brainwave
    Rory Stewart, the Tory MP turned centrist podcast host, is calling for what he calls a “liberal compromise” over trans rights. On “a case-by-case basis”, he says, we should consider requests by male criminals who identify as women to be placed in a women’s prison.

    That is of course wonderfully generous and compassionate of him. I have just one question. Is this the same Rory Stewart who, in April 2020, said the following to GQ magazine?

    “When I was prisons minister, we had situations of male prisoners self-identifying as females then raping staff in prison. So I think if somebody is biologically male, particularly in an environment like a prison, we shouldn’t allow that to happen… The important thing is: I think that the rights of women to feel safe trump the rights of somebody who’s biologically male to enter that space.”

    If this is indeed the same Rory Stewart, could he possibly enlighten us as to what has happened in the past five years to change his thinking? Has he perhaps managed to hit upon some revolutionary foolproof method of determining which male criminals can be trusted not to rape the staff (or for that matter the inmates) of women’s prisons?

    If so, I do hope he will reveal it in the next exciting edition of his podcast.

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

    Carpe Jugulum
    2 hrs ago
    I was a police officer for thirty years and a detective for twenty-five of those. Most sex offenders rely on deception, grooming is an exercise in deception. They tend to be quite capable liars and there is one truism common to all, if they see a pathway that facilitates their offending they WILL take it.

    At what depth of utter moronic stupidity does anyone even contemplate locking a man, who statistics tell us is LIKELY to be a sex offender, inside a cell with a woman?

    I have interviewed thousands of offenders, victims and witnesses and still would never risk a woman’s safety on my assessment of whether a man is genuinely delusional or a liar. Nobody can with an acceptable level of certainty.

    Andrew Brotherton
    2 hrs ago
    Two linked stories. A Liberal woke media protects a far too old and incapable president; and an affluent, woke grand standing ex politician who is making money out of a podcast that spouts Liberal left anti populism mantra without balance and with arrogant belief that their view is the only truth.

    Eric Morgan
    1 hr ago
    Rory Stewart was never repeat never a consertive. He admits that he was a liberal but realised he would never have any influence/power. So he became a very wet Tory and helped their demise. What a fraud

    2. No 'trans' male who still has functioning tackle should enter a women's prison or anywhere else set aside for females. Even those who have had it removed are still male.

      1. But I suppose a trans 'woman' who has been castrated and has had a willieoscopy presents less of a danger to women than one with a complete set of male appendages.

  31. Morning all ,

    Lovely day, the lilac , ceanothus bushes and yellow scented azalea look so pretty .

    April is my favourite month , yes okay, March, February , January .. new growth in the garden and all that .

    The moles have vanished, where do they go?

    Do you remember when the government told us to stock up on food , batteries , torches water etc , was that in January , I cannot remember , oh ye and keep the car topped up .

    So , has Marks and Spencer been nobbled by Gaza supporters, anti Jew people?

    1. Not clever enough, sorry. The pally whacks simply haven't the brains.

      A cyber attack that does this much damage is really sophisticated and implies having been inside the op for a while.

      1. M& S online system has always been poor so it would not suprese me if it was just a major system crash.

          2. I think because my ordered items are shipped from their warehouse in the Netherlands , they are usually here within 3–4 days.

          5. OK, good..just wondered if you'd perhaps taken a fall, similar to the one I did..(knocked myself out, two luvveryly black eyes) Yes, I'm OK x

          6. What? How did you manage that? Shame I’m not close, I’d bring three steaks. Two for your eyes and one for you to enjoy!

            You take care, y’hear? 😘

          8. Guessing you are UK as am I, Johnny. Me2. Think orders come from a central warehouse somewhere in the Midlands. Apparently Morrisons and M&S share the same Ocado warehouses.

    1. A large proportion of domestic and commercial premises have aur conditioning in Spain powered mainly by solar energy – a result of net zero policy. Sun goes out, A/C left on -> grid fails? 🤔

  33. Oh well, Carney looks like winning but the Conservatives hugely increased their numbers.

    1. Trump wil be pleased Carney won as it will ensure the futher decline for Canada. It will need all the help it can obtain from the US.

        1. No, he's not (an idiot). But I don't understand why he chose to do this to Canada, which was on the cusp of getting a decent government, at last. Now they have Carney and his WEF controllers in charge for the next few years. The damage will, I submit, overtake even the irreparable StarmerharmerHermerdamage done to the UK in less than one year.

          1. Me neither, opo. For some reason he seems to not have wanted Poilievre to win the election, I think he would have been the best bet. Maybe Trump thinks Carney will be weaker, and not as able, and therefore get a better deal for Trump. Doom and gloom everywhere.

          2. Are we beginning to suspect that Trump might not be the Saviour of the Western World for whom we hoped? I know not. Don't trust ANY of the buggers.

          3. Agree. I reckon he’s discovered Putin not the shoo-in he expected, say nothing of Xi likely ready to lash out – a lot of domestic unrest, what I read, diversion req’d….then there’s the UK, never known people so angry and upset.

          5. Agree, again. Right now, no-one seems to know what a paddle is let alone find one or how to use it.

      2. He's now going to have to play the Belgian, Luca Beccel, and Ronnie O'Sullivan is still in there.

  37. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/29/good-riddance-to-britains-most-over-hyped-company/

    When the City is forced into all sorts of pointless woke Left drivel like the number of women and diversity they employ people are not going to come here. It is idiotic to ram stupid, destructive, hard Left policies on to organisations and expect them to flourish.

    The point of business is to make money, not be an activist arm for low ability wasters to promote their latest dogwaffle.

    1. No argument from me on that.

      the company i work for sources summer interns from “10,000 black interns”. Both the ones we are getting have unpronounceable and unspellable names, which obviously makes me racist.

    1. 2nd rate mind. Tries to be mousey & school mistress at same time.
      David Starkey

  39. I see you have already commented on the disastrous election results over here in Canada.

    The liberals don't quite have a majority, we are still in the same situation as before but at least the arse kissing ndp leader no longer has a seat and he cannot prop up the libs..
    Left of left ndp completely collapsed – most of their pronoun loving weirdos voted liberal and the party lost official status.

    The Elections Canada web site went down yesterday evening so any idiot that delayed looking up their polling station until the last minute couldn't!

    Strange how many ridings showed a conservative lead until they added in the postal ballots when the riding turned liberal. It just goes to show that you don't need no electronic voting machines to start conspiracy claims.
    Poilievre has not officially lost yet, a group that protests the election proces entered 90+ candidates in that riding, the ballit paper was about 3 feet long and they are still trying to count.

    Our only hope is that Carnage is better than past experience shows but it might be worth buying shares in his old company Brookfield, they are probably going to reap the benefits of this wef lackey being in charge.

    if only Trump had kept his damned mouth shut!

    2. Yuan Yi Zhu
      Donald Trump was Mark Carney’s greatest asset
      29 April 2025, 10:33am

      This election could have been a lot worse for Canada’s Conservatives. As I write, they have taken 41.7 per cent of the popular vote, their highest share since 1988, and are on track to pick up two dozen seats. They have also managed to make inroads with young people and unionised workers – groups that are famously hard for right-wing parties to win over.

      Yet the victor of the night was Mark Carney, who will have a thin but real minority to work with as prime minister of Canada, and now the Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to lose his seat. Ill-informed pundits will say that the Tories threw away their double-digit lead ahead of the election, but it would be far more accurate to say that Carney’s Liberals closed the gap, and then some.

      The Liberals, of course, had help, in the form of the President of the United States of America. Whatever the reason for Donald J. Trump’s sudden interest in acquiring Canada – which if nothing else appears to be entirely sincere – his increasingly unhinged interventions since December, coupled with the punitive tariffs he tried out on Canada created a rally around the flag effect, which greatly benefited the Liberals.

      The Conservatives pointed out in vain that the last decade of Liberal governance has been a complete disaster. There has been almost no economic growth; runaway house prices have made home ownership impossible for an entire generation; Canada’s immigration system has all but collapsed; and there has been a steep rise in violent crime thanks to the government’s catch-and-release policies. Yet Canadian voters – particularly older ones (the young seemed more interested in quality of life issues) – decided that this was going to be a Trump election. And so it was.

      The Liberal party, possibly the most ruthlessly cynical political machine left in the Anglosphere, played the Trump card to its fullest extent. Not a day passed without some fresh accusation that Pierre Poilievre was a miniature Trump, ready to sell out Canada at the first opportunity (the fact that Carney was apparently far more conciliatory than he let on publicly in his only phone call with Trump was glossed over).

      At one point, Liberal staffers snuck into a right-wing conference and planted fake MAGA-themed memorabilia, so they could accuse the Conservatives of Trumpism. The operation was only discovered because some of the staffers involved – who still work for the Liberal party – bragged about their scheme in a pub. If the Trump connection did not exist, the Liberals would have to invent it.

      The Liberal party, possibly the most ruthlessly cynical political machine left in the Anglosphere, played the Trump card to its fullest extent

      Truth be told, Carney and the Liberal party did not run a particularly good campaign. He was accused of lying about his role in moving the headquarters of the investment company he chaired from Canada to the United States. He defended a Liberal candidate who said his opponent should be kidnapped and delivered to the Chinese government for a bounty. Carney snapped at reporters when challenged. He copied many of Poilievre’s policies, sometimes very crudely. But in the face of Trump, none of this really mattered in the end.

      What lessons are there for conservatives, both in Canada and elsewhere? First, Poilievre’s basic message worked, and would have made him prime minister at any other time. He managed to galvanise young people who aren’t on the housing ladder, as well as blue collar and unionised workers, with his housebuilding and growth message.

      But the headline takeaway remains Trump’s entirely negative role in the election. Last year, many conservatives outside America (including some in Canada) either openly or secretly welcomed Trump’s victory and hoped for some positive spillover in their own countries. But Poilievre’s defeat is a reminder that Trump has shown he has the reverse Midas touch time and time again, especially when it comes to right-wing movements outside his own country.

      To put it simply: if you are not American, America First is going to be bad for your country. Trump seems to have contempt for right-wing politicians elsewhere. Just as he spoke far kindlier of Carney than Poilievre (whom he repeatedly attacked), he has been notably warmer toward Sir Keir Starmer than toward Kemi Badenoch. Traditional centre-right parties that are serious about power need to insulate themselves from Trump. Canada won’t be the American President’s last foreign victim.

      Yuan Yi Zhu is an academic and writer. He was a policy adviser to Pierre Poilievre.

      1. Yes. It is a mystery why he did that. It guaranteed the election of Carnage the Snake. He had no legitimacy whatsoever before this GE. Now poor Canada is doomed to a similar fate to that of the previously United Kingdom

      2. Yes. It is a mystery why he did that. It guaranteed the election of Carnage the Snake. He had no legitimacy whatsoever before this GE. Now poor Canada is doomed to a similar fate to that of the previously United Kingdom

  40. Irony Alert.

    Leftie "comedian" & open border advocate Romesh Ranganathan is livid that West Sussex County Council has denied his son a place at the school of his preferred choice.

      1. I hope he reads the comments BTL.

        Sweary Leftie git because he didn't get his own way.

    3. He can't afford private schooling?
      Maybe the VAT has stretched his budget too far.

      1. He does of course earn too much money to qualify him for free transport of his offsprings. Oh how awful…a leftie having to pay for taxis. I do hope they are safe in Uber Paki private hires.

  41. Afternoon, all. Scorchio here! Took the dogs out before it became too hot and then tried to do a bit in the garden. After virtually no fruit last year I have had to shore up a branch of the President plum so we can get down the path.

    What attempt to smash the gangs?

  42. Jolyon: Men Using Female Public Toilets is “Civil Disobedience”

    The fox beater in chief is never shy when it comes to opining on the issues of the day. But has he finally gone too far?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d167410995e6301394d827f862f2a38ef79783482540340a4d2611cf3a5f8b6.png
    This weekend the failing lawyer appeared to call for men to go into women’s toilets (even if they are not trans) as part of “widespread civil disobedience.” At what stage does this all become too weird and he just gives up?

    The good news is if you are inspired by Jolyon’s latest intervention you can work for him as a new £68,000 equalities solicitor. Must bring own kimono…

    April 29 2025 @ 11:25

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

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
    55m
    Inciting people to break the law?

    James Stevenson
    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
    46m
    Think that carries 2 and half years, can't wait till the Met wakes up and nicks him and a special magistrates court is set up for him to jail him without pre sentencing reports.

    philip
    1h
    I heard a rumour that he'd transed his son, and that's why he's on this band wagon. I listened to an interesting discussion regards this, for those parents that have put their kids through this promising them they can become girls, they simply cannot ever let it go as that would involve accepting the fact that they have mutilated and sterilised their offspring, and that is too painful a prospect.

    Au Revoir
    philip
    11m
    ps. some receipts if anyone cares
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74a338312b4f005e6ac53e965edbc76cce86603c782ce5be155c12ffa5cfeff0.png
    Akron Bates
    philip
    17m
    his sibling is one too
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e171048b10082385b5f1f2746db7993f3d58bbd23563570e8cd3e2088bd3db2d.png

  43. I just received this email

    Have your say

    The next couple of years will decide the future of the BBC and we want you to have your say. What do you want the BBC to offer, what do we do well and what could we do better? Please take part by completing this short questionnaire.

    Take Part

    The BBC belongs to all of us, and wherever you are across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, your opinion matters to us. The questionnaire takes a few minutes; thank you if you have already filled it in on the website.

    Thank you for helping to shape the future of Our BBC.

    Tim Davie,
    Director General, The BBC

    Our Privacy Notice explains how we would use your personal information. If you choose to participate, we will keep your answers for up to 9 months from the date of the questionnaire and then delete them as part of our retention policy.

    I do not think, that they would like my view of them

      1. That expression takes me back to 1969 when it was the most common popular slang idiom in that year.

        Rowan and Martin's Laugh In started the craze with their "Sock it to me" sketches. And it became part o the lyrics of many popular songs of the tiem. One I remember is Joe South's Games People Play.

        "Singing, 'Glory Hallelujah', (ha ha),
        And they try to sock it to you …"

        Some of the others currently escape me.

        The other common expression of that year was, "Outta sight!"

        "Gonna love you every single night, (yes, I will),
        'Cause I think you're too outta sight…        " [Darlin', Beach Boys].

    3. I put in a complaint about a R4 comedy prog last week. The language was vile and I said it was worthy of a report under the Malicious Communications Act as it distressed and made me anxious. Their reply was that there were varying views on what is comedy. In truth, I found the content beyond acceptable for R4.

      1. If everyone started making complaints such as yours they would soon be overwhelmed and would need to hire another building for safe spaces.

      2. I haven’t listened to Radio 4 since 2016 but am curious as to the programme?

        1. Call Jonathan Pie. On BBC sounds R4 1100pm Sat 20 Apr. The language was that I imagine is used in dark leftie comedy clubs.

    4. I put in a complaint about a R4 comedy prog last week. The language was vile and I said it was worthy of a report under the Malicious Communications Act as it distressed and made me anxious. Their reply was that there were varying views on what is comedy. In truth, I found the content beyond acceptable for R4.

    5. Not "my BBC". No tv licence since April 2005. £2833.00 TV Tax saved to date. (Updated 30th April 2025).

      1. Not mine, either; I ditched the Bbc when Starmer stole my winter fuel allowance. I can't tax people more to make up the shortfall, so I had to reduce expenditure. Going beeb-less was an easy choice. I haven't missed it.

        1. My original beef was with the BBC itself and its left-wing biases. Only when I started getting threatening letters from TV licensing did I add that factor to my list.

          1. I hadn't watched the Bbc itself since about 1998. I kept the licence going because MOH watched it avidly. When there was just me, I kept it for the racing on ITV, but that became increasingly woke and pro-muzzie, so giving that up wasn't as hard to do as I expected.

    6. Not "my BBC". No tv licence since April 2005. £2833.00 TV Tax saved to date. (Updated 30th April 2025).

    2. Surely, in the long run, that would do him a favour? Anyway, these are his own people. What is the matter with the UK Judiciary?

  45. Is this 'door slamming' incident being promoted by Labour to encourage anti-Labour voters to vote Green and split the potential Reform vote?

    Minister and Runcorn Labour Candidate Get Door Slammed in Their Faces https://youtu.be/p7P4MDJoKq0 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7814accf8ce35b2f34d7e382e14ca70d95eb5dfa2713aa447d824615c09f9d41.png
    Beebsplaining
    56m
    Miliwatt in HoC not answering any questions put to him just like 2tier, apprently he has rung someone as an answer to what he is doing to secure our energy supply 🙄 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16e756e883c522b2ce372604af4e9331c89fb6c918af1d207f8e722b3b10414f.png

    1. I dislike them but they're just doing a job.

      Better to list all the things they are doing wrong for the cameras and then close the door.

    1. MB had trouble with his debit card on Sunday.
      The human being he spoke to (yes, I know) on the bank helpline had no idea why, but sorted it out anyway.

  47. In 2024, we will continue to ensure our human rights due diligence processes
    are sufficiently robust and proportionate to our risks. To support this, we will
    continue to work with the NGOs Action Sustainability and Slave Free Alliance
    to further develop our risk-based approach. Through these measures and
    by leveraging our 2023 lessons learned, developing our NGO partnerships
    and continuing external benchmarking with the UK’s Churches, Charities and
    Local Authorities (CCLA) and recognising the new BSI Standard (BS 25700
    Organizational Responses to Modern Slavery), we will continue to progress on
    our anti-modern slavery action plan.

        1. Unless you give me that tiara …… I will set Harry on you and call you ….. RASCIST!!!!!!!!

  48. Germans too mentally weak for war, warns former president. 29 April 2025.

    Germans are too “mentally weak” to cope with war, the former president has suggested, as he warned that his country needed to build up resilience as well as military strength.

    Joachim Gauck, who served as the country’s president from 2012-17, said he was concerned that Germany’s goal of becoming a major European security power could not only be achieved by ramping up weapons production.

    This would apply to the whole of Europe; apart from possibly Finland and the Visigrad States. They have all been corrupted. Their national cohesion deliberately destroyed. They are decadent shadows of their former selves.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/29/germans-too-mentally-weak-for-war-warns-former-president/#comment

    1. I'm happy to line the street when Gen Z march along to their destiny. So long, farewell, good riddance.

    2. Exactly so, Araminta. Bit scary to think the only option we may have is nuclear. It may not even work tho'…not much seems to now.

      1. Dunno, David…wouldn't that make them more susceptible to following orders….('afternoon btw)…

        1. Afternoon KJ – they've always been good at following orders, arbeit macht frei etc…..

  49. "A devastating cyber attack on Marks & Spencer that has forced it to halt online sales for five days has been linked to a notorious teenage hacking gang.

    Experts assisting the retailer with the fallout of the incident believe a group known as Scattered Spider – a disparate gang of cyber criminals thought to include British and American teenagers – may be involved in the breach, sources said."

    WHAT!?! You mean ….. it wasn't Vlad?

    1. Generally kids usually in Asia – Hikikomori…mums leave food tray outside bedroom door.

  50. One of the pleasures of growing older is to sit outside having lunch enjoying the delightful weather. Reading and painting watercolours are most agreeable ways of passing time. I'm awaiting a hip replacement operation so fly fishing has to take a back seat for the time being. It also allows one to gloss over the idiocy of politicians, both local and national, and even international. I'm sure times past had idiots as politicians but I doubt if there had been any as woeful as the current collection.

    1. From your great age and wisdom (I have achieved the first but not the second) do you think that everything will come out alright in the end?

      1. To answer that we need to define “alright”, which is not a simple task. But my simple take is I very much doubt it, I have never seen such a collection of lightweights as are in Government and the higher echelons of authority as we have at present.

  52. Leader of the Canadian conservative party, Pierre Poilievre, has not been re-elected to parliament.
    Oof!

    1. I smell a rat, Paul. He'd have been a lot of trouble for Carney, he'd already started on it.

      1. If you had been watching the live results coming in you might have well have had suspicions. Quite a few ridings were going conservative until suddenly, postal votes were added and the riding switched to liberal.

        all done with paper ballots, no voting machines here.

          1. A friend worked the local poling statio on Monday. After pols closed, they sealed the box and she had to take the box up to the count, she was not allowed to leave the box unattended until al of the ballots were dumped onto the counting table. Far easier to fix postal ballots in the background,

        2. Also have suspicions about the UK GE, richard. I think a lot of new voters, wonder what the deal is there.

    2. Poilievre got 46% of the votes, a liberal took 50 %.

      There were about 90 people on the ballot, a group protesting the electoral system packed the ballit with false candidates.

      At least the liberals only have a minority.

  54. Split Leftie vote.

    I notice many old skool Labour now voting for the other Marxists.. The Green Party.

    They don't realise that particular deformed cousin hates them even more so.

    1. These are a very bad mix of people, klb. Evil, predatory cynics at the top and a huge supply of useful idiots who will not or cannot see beyond the branding.

    2. Little Green
      by Joni Mitchell

      Born with the moon in Cancer
      Choose her a name she will answer to
      Call her Green, and the winters cannot fade her
      Call her Green for the children who've made her
      Little Green, be a gypsy dancer

      He went to California
      Hearing that everything's warmer there
      So you write him a letter and say "Her eyes are blue"
      He sends you a poem and she's lost to you
      Little Green, hе's a non-conformer

      Just a little Green
      Like thе color when the spring is born
      There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow

      Just a little Green
      Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
      There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
      And sometimes there'll be sorrow

      Child with a child pretending
      Weary of lies you are sending home
      So you sign all the papers in the family name
      You're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed
      Little Green, have a happy ending.

  55. This is bad. Very bad.
    "The Grangemouth refinery has now ceased processing crude oil, its owner Petroineos has confirmed. The industrial site in central Scotland was the last oil refinery operating north of the border. The local MP said Scotland “is a victim of industrial vandalism and devastation” as a result of the closure.
    In September last year, the company said the refining activities would cease in 2025 as it transitions to become an import terminal for finished fuels."
    from https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/oil-refining-comes-to-an-end-in-scotland-as-grangemouth-halts-processing-work-b1224910.html

  56. Wordle No. 1,410 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 29 Apr 2025

    Utopia for Birdie Three?

    1. Simply happy par

      Wordle 1,410 4/6

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

    2. Par for me. There were just two options left and I looked for a clue because I favoured the other one!

      Wordle 1,410 4/6

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

    3. More like 'ignorance' for me – another bogey!

      Wordle 1,410 5/6

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

    4. Well done, 3 here as well.

      Wordle 1,410 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  57. The Establishment have upped their intimidation & harassment of any high profile supporters of TR with constant police pullovers & airport detainment.. followed by no charges.

    The supporters are pleading with TR to delete the video "Silenced" after 166 million views. The point has been made. There are rumours Baron Von Harmer vill slap him with another two year solitary if he doesn't.. ad infinitum.

    1. If they dont get him for contempt again, there is still that 'terrorism' charge outstanding. They will never let him speak.

      1. Or.. eating a full English breakfast in an offensive manner.

        27 Nov 2023 — Robinson reportedly said he had ordered his breakfast, and subsequently refused to leave.

        1. Robinson? Which Robinson?

          Anne Robinson? Mrs Robinson? Nick Robinson? Tony Robinson? Robinson Crusoe? We must be told!

    1. They don't give a tuppenny F**k about the working class; the aim is to destroy capitalism.

  61. Former Mumford & Sons Rocker Winston Marshall Asks if Trump Will Give Asylum to Brits Arrested for ‘Hate Speech’
    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2025/04/WinstonMarshall-640×480.jpg
    MILAN, ITALY – APRIL 29: Winston Marshall of Mumford & Sons performs on stage at MedioSergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images
    Warner Todd Huston
    29 Apr 2025 2:26

    Former rock star turned podcast firebrand Winston Marshall amazed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when he asked her if President Donald Trump would consider giving asylum to U.K. citizens who have had their free speech cancelled after being arrested for social media posts deemed “hate speech.”

    Over the past decade, the UK government has ramped up so-called “hate crime” arrests and incarcerated thousands of citizens for posts on social media. This growing intolerance for free speech by British authorities sent former Mumford & Sons rocker Winston Marshall to plead for relief for his fellow countrymen.

    Marshall, who quit the band in 2021, was on hand during Monday’s White House presser and he had a very interesting question for the press secretary, according to the New York Post.

    He noted that scores of Brits are facing “extensive prison sentences for tweets, social media posts and general free speech issues” and then had a question for Leavitt.

    “Would the Trump administration consider asylum for British citizens in such a situation?” he asked.
    https://twitter.com/MrWinMarshall/status/1916925478461690220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1916925478461690220%7Ctwgr%5Ec8ebec4eed36299090d261edafdbf6cb6f194bfd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Ft%2Fassets%2Fhtml%2Ftweet-4.html1916925478461690220 Leavitt seemed a bit taken aback by the question, and replied, “I have not heard that proposed to the president nor have I spoken to him about that idea, but I certainly can talk to our national security team and see if it’s something the administration would entertain.”

    British authorities have been engaging in a serious curtailing of free speech in the UK in a supposed effort to stop “extremism” there.

    In February, Vice President JD Vance lamented the loss of free speech, not just in the UK, but all across Europe. “In Britain and across Europe free speech, I fear, is in retreat.,” he said in a speech in Germany where he took European elites to task for the “shocking” censorship that he feels threatens western civilization.

    2. Why has Starmer not been arrested and detained in custody for serially making decisions that are not in the best interests of British subjects?

      He is a nobbut a modern-day Guy Fawkes or William Joyce.

  62. Frustrating day today……. trying to get through to a deaf friend who uses the Relay system…….. meanwhile she was trying to get through to me. We kept missing each other……. I thought there was something wrong with our landline phone so tried to get her on my mobile, although I seldom use it to make calls…….. then finally she managed to get through and I managed to answer it! So I will go and see her tomorrow afternoon.

    Going out shortly to a meeting – I go to take the notes etc…… at least I don't have to drive or I'd get lost trying to find the venue. Couldn't print off the notes from last time and agenda for tonight as our printer appears to have gone wrong (it is 20 years old) or maybe has just run out of ink.

    Did a bit of weeding though – tackling the ivy which takes a lot of keeping down.

  63. That's a pi$$er. Just paid out £75 for an Abbot Freestyle 3 continuous blood glucose measurement gadget, feeling that my blood sugars are all over the place. The gadget was delivered yesterday, with a flimsy piece of tissue paper as instruction manual, with helpful advice like "Choose a suitable location!" – with no indication what the parameters for that might be. There's an app, equally useless. Lots of Youtube videos (I now find), but the main issue was that they say not to take the cap off the applicator, and then put it back on again – one of the first things I did, to see what the fucking gadget looks like. It's got a needle like a carpenters pencil, to stick the measuring thread into your body (fatty tissue behind bicep recommended by YT). Nothing in manual on the subject. Looks like instrument of torture.
    So, opening and closing it apparently damages it. What fuckwit designs a case like that?
    So, it's now in the bin and I'm filled with rage at the waste of money and that I'll have to puncture my finger daily to get a momentary reading, but be able to track my energy & mood with blood sugar as I'd planned.
    Medics are no help, either. They know even less about diabetes. Arseholes all.
    GRR!

      1. My major beef is their lousy manual, crap information, and apalling packaging that means the system is damaged when you open it.
        Amazon won't help with that.

    3. Damn thing's battery only lasts 14 days, too, apparently.
      £150 a month? Forget it!

      1. The Abbott FreeStyle Libre 3 system is primarily manufactured in the United States and in Europe, particularly in:
        – United States – Abbott has production facilities in places like California and Ohio, where components of the Libre system are developed and assembled.
        – Ireland – Abbott’s facility in Donegal is a major site for manufacturing FreeStyle Libre sensors and has been expanded to support global demand.
        – Germany – Abbott has had production and R&D operations in Wiesbaden, which also contributes to FreeStyle Libre manufacturing and support.
        This is the wearable gadget, with a thread stuck in your arm to measure blood sugar. Not the electronics control box.

          1. http://Amazon.com requires a prescription for the FreeStyle Libre 3 continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system because it is classified as a medical device intended for diabetes management. In the United States, such devices are regulated by the FDA and are available only by prescription to ensure they are used under appropriate medical supervision . ([FreeStyle Libre 3 Continuous Glucose Monitoring | FreeStyle Libre Providers]( https://www.freestyleprovider.abbott/us-en/freestyle-libre-3.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

            The prescription requirement ensures that users have a confirmed diagnosis of diabetes and that the device is medically necessary for their condition. It also facilitates insurance coverage, as most insurers require a prescription to reimburse the cost of CGMs . ([No Cost Shoes]( https://www.nocostshoes.com/post/do-you-need-a-prescription-for-a-freestyle-libre-glucose-monitor?utm_source=chatgpt.com) , [5 Must Know Facts Before Buying Freestyle Libre 3 Online In The UK]( https://www.pharmacyplanet.com/weightloss/blog/post/5-must-know-facts-before-buying-freestyle-libre-3-online-in-the-uk?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

            It's important to note that the FreeStyle Libre 3 system is indicated for use in individuals aged 4 and older with diabetes and is not approved for those without diabetes . Therefore, a prescription serves to verify that the device is being used by the appropriate patient population. ([FreeStyle Libre 3 Continuous Glucose Monitoring | FreeStyle Libre Providers]( https://www.freestyleprovider.abbott/us-en/freestyle-libre-3.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

            If you're considering purchasing the FreeStyle Libre 3, you'll need to consult with a healthcare provider to obtain a prescription. Once you have a prescription, you can purchase the device through authorized retailers, including http://Amazon.com . ([FreeStyle Libre 3 Continuous Glucose Monitoring | FreeStyle Libre Providers]( https://www.freestyleprovider.abbott/us-en/freestyle-libre-3.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

      2. The Abbott FreeStyle Libre 3 system is primarily manufactured in the United States and in Europe, particularly in:
        – United States – Abbott has production facilities in places like California and Ohio, where components of the Libre system are developed and assembled.
        – Ireland – Abbott’s facility in Donegal is a major site for manufacturing FreeStyle Libre sensors and has been expanded to support global demand.
        – Germany – Abbott has had production and R&D operations in Wiesbaden, which also contributes to FreeStyle Libre manufacturing and support.
        This is the wearable gadget, with a thread stuck in your arm to measure blood sugar. Not the electronics control box.

    5. I’ve fallen foul of something similar, can’t remember what but it is absolutely infuriating. Commiserations.

      1. I have one, but it's not continuous readout. When I feel low, I have to stab my finger and measure the blood, rather than going through the day and looking back, saying "I was pretty down between 3 and 4" and looking at the blood sugar levels. For example.

    7. Hi Paul. As a Type 2 on imsulin, apparently I don't qualify for Continuous Glucose Monitoring.

      I've had a Freestyle InsuLinx meter for the last decade. Frankly, it's more accurate than yours, and it will calculate a suggested insulin dose if I tell it how many grams of carbs I'm about to eat.

      My GP surgery tried to shift me onto a meter with none of that functionality because "cheaper strips".

      I resisted, and won.

      1. Excellent, Geoff.
        I’m very close now to just chucking the whole crock of shiite into the bin, and giving up. I got on OK before all this hassle, and so being quit it will be fine. I only need to lower the sugar levels for a PET scan in June (uses radioactive glucose to map blood flows in the brain), so that would be cancelled as well. I’m pretty sure I don’t give a flying one, I’m so fed up with it.

          1. I do it.. fortunately, I have a numb finger tip resulting from my stroke, so it’s less painful that it would otherwise be.

  66. Just back. Phew wot a scorcher. Essex NoTTLers will be glad to learn that Bury St Edmunds runs Colchester a very close second as far as traffic buggerment goes….

    So Canada goes from Trudopery to Carnage. One hopes that they live to see the error of their ways.

    A demain.

    1. Younger daughter works for Syngenta (formerly ICI agro-chem) in Grangemouth. Now it’s never been the prettiest place in the world but there is a very large Asda store with fuel station, pharmacy, clothing etc in the retail area. The rumour is that it will close, with Ineos going. Cue more depression and the inevitable closure of peripheral business.

      1. Oh, Lord.
        Sympathies.
        Maybe with her experience, she should try moving abroad – Germany, France, Italy…?

        1. She’s OK for now! Syngenta aren’t going anywhere as far as we know! They’ve been there in one guise or another since 1948

          2. Thank you! ICI have actually been in Grangemouth since 1919 when the company was set up by Nobel, who were already set up in nearby Maddiston.

  69. Our good friend died 5 years ago today so i arranged to meet my friend at 6:15 at Sheen Gate to go for a walk. She has just texted to ask why i am not at her house. Because i arranged to meet you at 6:15 at Sheen Gate and my route there doesn’t take me anywhere near your house, and neither does my route home.

    Seriously pissed off. At least the sun is shining.

    1. That's a bummer, LiR. Sympathies. I find my forgetfulness is working like that – I remember I have a Dr appointment, but not to take all the necessary with me.
      Don't be cross with her. It's not deliberate, it's actually really personally disturbing.

  70. Citroen1, comment down below, mentioned Miliband minor's inability to answer question s put to him.

    Here is Lee Anderson putting an obvious question to Miliband re his (Miliband's) desire to cover the Country with solar panels and at the same time supports the PM's desire to concurrently dim the Sun. Answer was there none, nonsense word salad was starter, main course and dessert. The man is beyond the pale.

    https://x.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1917221759675252878

    1. Blair attacks Starmer’s net zero plans as ‘doomed to fail’
      Ex-PM calls for overhaul of Government’s green agenda

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/29/tony-blair-starmer-net-zero-plans/

      Bob N A Long
      4 hrs ago
      Blair has done this before. He sits back and waits until the general public have definitively worked out the answer and then when he thinks the moment is right he steps forward and says out loud what the public already thinks as if it was his own idea.

      Ambivalent No-yes
      4 hrs ago
      Cannot believe I actually agree with Blair. No, he's agreeing with me I think!

      P G Jones
      4 hrs ago
      Reply to Ambivalent No-yes
      Actually, it is Blair who is very belatedly agreeing with you.

      Steven Cowcher
      4 hrs ago
      I think Milliband’s days are finally numbered…

    2. What an appalling response. Contemptuous, derisive, flippant and ignorant in the proper sense of the word, with his mad obsession over international gas and oil prices. Where is the BBC on this? If a Tory minister behaved like this it would be headline news.

    3. Good heavens, you expect the man to do joined up thinking – or even any sort of thinking? What on earth is wrong with you?

  71. Anas Sarwar's toxic sectarianism is the future of multicultural Britain

    The Scottish Labour leader embodies the worst elements of identity politics

    Rakib Ehsan • 29 April 2025, 10:34am BST

    Footage has recently emerged which should concern all of us. In an unquestionably sectarian intervention, the leader of Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar – speaking at a community event with the flag of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan draped behind him – urged more members of his own ethnic community to ascend to the "corridors of power." He also proclaimed that "change is coming."

    Sarwar, who has been leader of Scottish Labour since 2021, heralded a new era: the days that people of Pakistani (and more broadly South Asian) heritage lead countries and political parties is now upon us. This means that members of such groups will not only have more decision-making power over which schools their children go to, but what is taught to them in the classroom.

    Sarwar's speech has emerged on social media after footage from a couple of years ago was recently circulated which showed his father, ex-Labour MP and former governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Sarwar, calling for the international introduction of blasphemy laws through organisations such the United Nations and the European Union.

    While being a socially conservative Muslim who takes pride in their South Asian identity, it says a great deal about Labour that the Sarwar family – which includes a father with blatant Islamist tendencies and a son who readily indulges in ethnic identity politics – have made it as far as they have within a party that purports to be progressive.

    For there is something profoundly hypocritical about Anas. While calling for more people of the largely socially-conservative Pakistani-origin population to enter politics and shape education policy, he previously supported the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill which would have made it simpler for people to change their legal gender.

    Even Sir Keir Starmer disagreed with Scottish Labour's laissez-faire stance over gender self-identification – that is how much of a pro-trans zealot Sarwar was over the matter, while he is now acting as some sort of tribal leader for the Sunni-dominant, Pakistani-origin population in Britain.

    The reality is that multiculturalism has not provided us with a richly diverse society that coalesces around common goals and mutual obligations – it is responsible for normalising ethno-religious factionalism in various spheres of British life.

    The overemphasis on "difference" has given communities the green light to mobilise and order themselves as self-interested "collectives." We are all meant to uncritically celebrate the fact that some ethnic-minority politicians have reached lofty positions of public office. This was meant to show what an open and tolerant society we are.

    But while these politicians have appeased bleeding-heart liberals and radical progressives within their parties, they have also pressed ahead with their crudely sectarian vision.

    Anas Sarwar embodies the fascinating double-faced nature of much of the ethnic-minority politics which has taken hold on the contemporary British Left: a mixture of a progressive and woke exterior over matters such as gender self-identification, with an intensely reactionary interior that is reserved for "the community."

    As a patriotic social conservative, myself, who has no time for neither identity politics nor radical transgenderism, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party represents everything that is wrong about the politics of modern Britain.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/29/anas-sarwars-sectarianism-is-future-of-multiculturalism

    Sarwar is on record as making a similar observation to the SNP's Humza Yousaf about Scotland's establishment being 'white, white, white'.

    With a bit of luck they will make their own nooses…

    3. He’s an evil little man, same as his Dad and his brother – and Humza Yousaf!

  73. 404873+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Are we missing a lesson history could teach us ?

    As in medieval times bloodletting was used to seemingly relieve one of much
    pain and woe,could this not be re-instated in current times?

    1. The Nazis were Left wing.

      And note how quickly he was identified, promoted and charged. Compare that to the diversity.

      1. Indeed to both points.
        But the words “right wing” are a cue to trigger hate. So, they have to be there, whether factually correct or not.

      1. Not set here either, will have to wait awhile.
        I love beautiful night skies .

        2. #metoo.
          Midwinter, clear sky and no background light pollutions… you realise that the sky isn't black, but silver, there are so many stars.
          Makes one feel small, and perhaps a little closer to God.

          1. It makes you realise how endless and eternal the universe is,
            one of those great mysteries of existence.

  77. Trump has handed the woke brigade an almighty victory

    The Right shouldn't allow recent victories to blind them to the future battles needed to defeat wokeness

    Annabel Denham • 29 April 2025; 5:42pm BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/710f1c181d531d4633d426d3fd8781d96e5f424b4363c922e1778eee82ca64cd.jpg
    I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the dogma of progressivism is still alive and well in Britain today. The landmark Supreme Court trans ruling last week was a small, if very welcome, victory in a much wider conflict. And it was won, it is worth noting, by a cosy group of broadly Left-wing feminists, rather than the chocolate soldiers of the Right.

    How can we know that woke still flourishes? Here are some news stories published in the days since our top court decided trans women, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act (EA), are not biological women. Topless trans activists staged an all-purpose protest in Suffolk, declaring that they are among those "hardest hit by climate change". Cambridge's polar museum claimed that exploration of Antarctica was "colonial", even though only penguins lived there.

    And it emerged that engineering students at University College London have been asked to design a device to improve the lives of the LGBT community. The mind boggles: in the past such assignments have involved building and testing prototype robot drones. Heaven knows what they were meant to come up with for our rainbow friends. Incidentally, on the subject of academics being paid to waste time on non-issues, I recently came across a paper describing the term "white paper" as "problematic". The authors say it "evokes racism, privilege, power or oppression". Much like everything else in the bigoted 21st century West, from ballet to gardening and fireworks.

    Even the Supreme Court ruling may hang in the balance: London hospitals are reportedly attempting to defy it, whilst members of the BMA have denounced it as "scientifically illiterate". Further, there is the more fundamental concern that, while the Supreme Court ruled on the correct interpretation of the EA, it would be simple enough to amend the Act to change the definition. Meanwhile, Britain's first transgender judge will be taking the Government to the ECHR following the judgment. Who will cover the costs if said judge loses?

    Woke views are now firmly embedded in our institutions – the RAF, police, NHS, schools, universities, museums, the National Trust, the BBC – with hapless politicians all too happy entrenching those values with new policies or legislative frameworks. And most people just grumble when progressive lunacy comes their way, treating it as they might the weather. They're more concerned with immigration, tax and government incompetence than they are with men in frocks or the fatuous "decolonising" of subjects such as mathematics.

    Without a determined effort from conservatives to combat this idiocy, it will continue apace. Yes, your average voter, when asked, might say transwomen should be banned from women's sport. But the moderate views of the general public are no match for the vehemence of vested interests.

    In the US, Donald Trump is attempting to smash the ideologies of DEI, intersectionality and critical race theory. In his first 100 days he has closed all federal DEI offices. His administration is taking away $2.2 billion of federal funding from Harvard University, having accused the institution of being "more committed to activism than scholarship".

    How long these interventions will stick is debatable. But his bull-in-the-china-shop approach has already had the counterproductive effect of handing electoral victory on a plate to Mark Carney, that most dreary of grey centrist dads, in the Canadian elections. An aberration? Perhaps. We'll know more when Australia, another country wallowing in first-nation wokedom, goes to the polls.

    Part of the difficulty is that the electoral returns from quashing woke are probably limited, which is why it carries on: successful politicians are those who can exploit what the public is concerned about – for Canadians, it was Trumpian imperialism – while few were truly worried about gender neutral uniforms for the armed forces.

    But it's possible that, as voters lose faith that either of the main parties can improve living standards, their attention will turn increasingly to cultural matters. We saw something similar in the 1920s, when the issues that had dominated politics since the 1880s (Ireland, constitutional reform, the Church) suddenly disappeared to be replaced with capitalism vs socialism. It prompted a dramatic reorganisation of politics and voting patterns, with the old Liberal coalition torn apart.

    For now, however, we should accept woke has the advantage, and find the courage and tenacity, as For Women Scotland did, not to cede more ground.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/29/delusional-progressive-not-over-woke-left

    1. Winston Churchill once coined the phrase: –
      It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
      This is how I view the anti Trump TDS that is rife in our politics and mainstream media.
      We are suppose to have a left of centre government and a liberal elite with modern values, empathy and respect for people of other faiths, cultures and the protection of the environment,
      Yet we see them all falling over themselves to support communist China over the Trump led USA, China has no empathy or values, supports slavery, oppresses minorities, uses fossil fuel and slave labour to make all our cheap imports, that incidentally enriches our liberal elites and has no care for the environment.
      While in most western countries their Trump hating governments are using communist Chinese two tier tactics to silence and oppress their native populations
      Yet Trump is the one standing for Western values and standing up to the Chinese world hegemony the the West and the EU is siding with.
      How can this be?

      1. Perhaps the Left admire China's totalitarianism more than they hate its capitalism and environmental vandalism.

    2. The desperation to make Trump the bad guy is sad. As for objective reality being scientifically illiterate, that comes from the same place as claiming free speech is a threat to democracy. A device already exists to improve the lives of the rainbow people but it’s illegal to carry one in the UK.

    3. Actually, cardboard holder, you don't exist at all. You wanted, desperately to be special because your ego couldn't cope with mediocrity. You are lacking in self esteem and personal values so you decided to be something you're not to escape reality.

      You see, mental illness is literally in your head. It's not real. Your life choices are only real for you. It is brutishness, thuggery and arrogance – male traits, mind – that has forced your psychosis of your appalling fantasy nonsense on others.

      Finally, you're being put back in the box in your head – where you belong.

  78. Trump has handed the woke brigade an almighty victory

    The Right shouldn't allow recent victories to blind them to the future battles needed to defeat wokeness

    Annabel Denham • 29 April 2025; 5:42pm BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/710f1c181d531d4633d426d3fd8781d96e5f424b4363c922e1778eee82ca64cd.jpg
    I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the dogma of progressivism is still alive and well in Britain today. The landmark Supreme Court trans ruling last week was a small, if very welcome, victory in a much wider conflict. And it was won, it is worth noting, by a cosy group of broadly Left-wing feminists, rather than the chocolate soldiers of the Right.

    How can we know that woke still flourishes? Here are some news stories published in the days since our top court decided trans women, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act (EA), are not biological women. Topless trans activists staged an all-purpose protest in Suffolk, declaring that they are among those "hardest hit by climate change". Cambridge's polar museum claimed that exploration of Antarctica was "colonial", even though only penguins lived there.

    And it emerged that engineering students at University College London have been asked to design a device to improve the lives of the LGBT community. The mind boggles: in the past such assignments have involved building and testing prototype robot drones. Heaven knows what they were meant to come up with for our rainbow friends. Incidentally, on the subject of academics being paid to waste time on non-issues, I recently came across a paper describing the term "white paper" as "problematic". The authors say it "evokes racism, privilege, power or oppression". Much like everything else in the bigoted 21st century West, from ballet to gardening and fireworks.

    Even the Supreme Court ruling may hang in the balance: London hospitals are reportedly attempting to defy it, whilst members of the BMA have denounced it as "scientifically illiterate". Further, there is the more fundamental concern that, while the Supreme Court ruled on the correct interpretation of the EA, it would be simple enough to amend the Act to change the definition. Meanwhile, Britain's first transgender judge will be taking the Government to the ECHR following the judgment. Who will cover the costs if said judge loses?

    Woke views are now firmly embedded in our institutions – the RAF, police, NHS, schools, universities, museums, the National Trust, the BBC – with hapless politicians all too happy entrenching those values with new policies or legislative frameworks. And most people just grumble when progressive lunacy comes their way, treating it as they might the weather. They're more concerned with immigration, tax and government incompetence than they are with men in frocks or the fatuous "decolonising" of subjects such as mathematics.

    Without a determined effort from conservatives to combat this idiocy, it will continue apace. Yes, your average voter, when asked, might say transwomen should be banned from women's sport. But the moderate views of the general public are no match for the vehemence of vested interests.

    In the US, Donald Trump is attempting to smash the ideologies of DEI, intersectionality and critical race theory. In his first 100 days he has closed all federal DEI offices. His administration is taking away $2.2 billion of federal funding from Harvard University, having accused the institution of being "more committed to activism than scholarship".

    How long these interventions will stick is debatable. But his bull-in-the-china-shop approach has already had the counterproductive effect of handing electoral victory on a plate to Mark Carney, that most dreary of grey centrist dads, in the Canadian elections. An aberration? Perhaps. We'll know more when Australia, another country wallowing in first-nation wokedom, goes to the polls.

    Part of the difficulty is that the electoral returns from quashing woke are probably limited, which is why it carries on: successful politicians are those who can exploit what the public is concerned about – for Canadians, it was Trumpian imperialism – while few were truly worried about gender neutral uniforms for the armed forces.

    But it's possible that, as voters lose faith that either of the main parties can improve living standards, their attention will turn increasingly to cultural matters. We saw something similar in the 1920s, when the issues that had dominated politics since the 1880s (Ireland, constitutional reform, the Church) suddenly disappeared to be replaced with capitalism vs socialism. It prompted a dramatic reorganisation of politics and voting patterns, with the old Liberal coalition torn apart.

    For now, however, we should accept woke has the advantage, and find the courage and tenacity, as For Women Scotland did, not to cede more ground.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/29/delusional-progressive-not-over-woke-left

  79. Trump has handed the woke brigade an almighty victory

    The Right shouldn't allow recent victories to blind them to the future battles needed to defeat wokeness

    Annabel Denham • 29 April 2025; 5:42pm BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/710f1c181d531d4633d426d3fd8781d96e5f424b4363c922e1778eee82ca64cd.jpg
    I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the dogma of progressivism is still alive and well in Britain today. The landmark Supreme Court trans ruling last week was a small, if very welcome, victory in a much wider conflict. And it was won, it is worth noting, by a cosy group of broadly Left-wing feminists, rather than the chocolate soldiers of the Right.

    How can we know that woke still flourishes? Here are some news stories published in the days since our top court decided trans women, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act (EA), are not biological women. Topless trans activists staged an all-purpose protest in Suffolk, declaring that they are among those "hardest hit by climate change". Cambridge's polar museum claimed that exploration of Antarctica was "colonial", even though only penguins lived there.

    And it emerged that engineering students at University College London have been asked to design a device to improve the lives of the LGBT community. The mind boggles: in the past such assignments have involved building and testing prototype robot drones. Heaven knows what they were meant to come up with for our rainbow friends. Incidentally, on the subject of academics being paid to waste time on non-issues, I recently came across a paper describing the term "white paper" as "problematic". The authors say it "evokes racism, privilege, power or oppression". Much like everything else in the bigoted 21st century West, from ballet to gardening and fireworks.

    Even the Supreme Court ruling may hang in the balance: London hospitals are reportedly attempting to defy it, whilst members of the BMA have denounced it as "scientifically illiterate". Further, there is the more fundamental concern that, while the Supreme Court ruled on the correct interpretation of the EA, it would be simple enough to amend the Act to change the definition. Meanwhile, Britain's first transgender judge will be taking the Government to the ECHR following the judgment. Who will cover the costs if said judge loses?

    Woke views are now firmly embedded in our institutions – the RAF, police, NHS, schools, universities, museums, the National Trust, the BBC – with hapless politicians all too happy entrenching those values with new policies or legislative frameworks. And most people just grumble when progressive lunacy comes their way, treating it as they might the weather. They're more concerned with immigration, tax and government incompetence than they are with men in frocks or the fatuous "decolonising" of subjects such as mathematics.

    Without a determined effort from conservatives to combat this idiocy, it will continue apace. Yes, your average voter, when asked, might say transwomen should be banned from women's sport. But the moderate views of the general public are no match for the vehemence of vested interests.

    In the US, Donald Trump is attempting to smash the ideologies of DEI, intersectionality and critical race theory. In his first 100 days he has closed all federal DEI offices. His administration is taking away $2.2 billion of federal funding from Harvard University, having accused the institution of being "more committed to activism than scholarship".

    How long these interventions will stick is debatable. But his bull-in-the-china-shop approach has already had the counterproductive effect of handing electoral victory on a plate to Mark Carney, that most dreary of grey centrist dads, in the Canadian elections. An aberration? Perhaps. We'll know more when Australia, another country wallowing in first-nation wokedom, goes to the polls.

    Part of the difficulty is that the electoral returns from quashing woke are probably limited, which is why it carries on: successful politicians are those who can exploit what the public is concerned about – for Canadians, it was Trumpian imperialism – while few were truly worried about gender neutral uniforms for the armed forces.

    But it's possible that, as voters lose faith that either of the main parties can improve living standards, their attention will turn increasingly to cultural matters. We saw something similar in the 1920s, when the issues that had dominated politics since the 1880s (Ireland, constitutional reform, the Church) suddenly disappeared to be replaced with capitalism vs socialism. It prompted a dramatic reorganisation of politics and voting patterns, with the old Liberal coalition torn apart.

    For now, however, we should accept woke has the advantage, and find the courage and tenacity, as For Women Scotland did, not to cede more ground.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/29/delusional-progressive-not-over-woke-left

    1. It's night here. 2135hrs. It's dark outside now. And the crescent moon is still showing very well in my west-north-west sky.

      1. It's visible here now in the half-light but it'll be gone by 11.

        A good night for stargazing. And the air is clean.

    1. That's what's already happening in the police, firefighters and the rest of the armed forces. So that some people can feel that they are not discriminated against, they are potentially put into positions which they have not merited, putting both themselves and other people in danger. DEI and DIE.

    1. What business is it of the health chiefs in the first place? Do they tell muslims to give up something for Lent in solidarity with Christians?

    3. They can fuck right off.
      Will Muslims get drunk at Christmas in solidarity wih Christians?

      1. Great song, thank you Richard.
        He used to be a busker in the Leicester Square area.

    1. Farage would like Lowe to Swing but who would provide the funeral chariot!

      Whether or not the Reform Party does well in the coming elections I think that Farage and Zia Yusuf have destroyed the very soul and the whole raison-d'être of it.

    2. Farage appears to be playing the same game as Starmer in the run-up to 2024. Labour's support has actually dropped substantially since Corbyn's leadership in 2017, but the collapse in the Tory vote, the SNP vote, and the Lib Dem revival being strongest in the Home Counties delivered Starmer a landslide he did not deserve. In effect, the system transferred national support for Reform and the Greens to Starmer, which he exploited without presenting anything constructive in terms of policy. His determination to fund enough spending to correct Tory negligence with anything other than stealth charges was shameful.

      So what is different, at best, with what Reform is preparing for when Starmer's Labour goes the same way as the Tories?

      Rupert Lowe is right, and I am astonished they threw him out of the party.

  88. I hate what this country has become. I hate 90% of the people who live here. I am counting down my 2 years till i leave this embarrassment of a country. Goodnight. I may be some time.

      1. We are doing the boat trip down through France. And who knows after tgat.

    2. I still very much enjoy this country. It gives me great pleasure and I'm not entertaining any thoughts of living elsewhere. I will, in all likelihood, spend the rest of my days here.

    3. Get out of London, LIR, there are still many places in England that are good to live in. For how long, I don't know.

  89. My earlier post didn’t take. I went on a walk with my friend, to commemorate our dead friend. When i got back, my bike had been stolen (again). Am too cross to talk about it.

    2. And the police probably aren't interested.

      One of my sons bought a lovely new bicycle when he was at UEA in Norwich and he was very proud of it.

      A thief broke into the back yard of the flat which he was renting, broke the lock on the door of the shed in which he stored the bike and stole it. The police did not show any interest in the matter at all.

  92. Goodnight, all. I have to be up early in the morning to get to a meeting. Sleep well.

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