News Round-Up
- “Secret letters that show Iran’s £200 million payments to Hamas” – Israel has recovered correspondence that shows the extent of Tehran’s support for Hamas, reports the Times.
- “Israel is running out of options” – Everyone who stands any chance of leading Israel knows that the only way to stop the ‘cycle of violence’ is for Israel to win, says Douglas Murray in the Spectator.
- “U.K.-funded French cops watch migrants illegally cross English Channel” – British-funded French police have been filmed standing by and watching as dozens of migrants sprinted across beaches to board small boats and cross the English Channel, reports the Mail.
- “A new survey that may be of interest” – Is there anybody in the country who doesn’t laugh or sneer when our intelligence services or some quango tell us, with a straight face, that the greatest threat in this country comes from Right-wing extremism? asks Rod Liddle in the Spectator. In fact, a new survey from the Henry Jackson Society shows a substantial minority of British Muslims revere Hamas, hate Israel and wish to see our own country governed by Sharia law.
- “U.K. ONS denies request from seven MPs by claiming that the vaccines are safe so there is no need to do any analysis that might show otherwise” – There is a huge excess mortality problem in the U.K. Nobody can explain it. The reason is simple: the staff at the U.K. ONS is standing in the way of transparency, says Steve Kirsch on Substack.
- “Hate crime call handlers given script defending Humza Yousaf” – Police Scotland staff have been given a script defending Humza Yousaf after he faced a deluge of hate crime reports for his 2020 ‘white’ speech, according to the Telegraph.
- “The real reason why Angela Rayner won’t reveal her tax affairs” – It appears that Ms. Rayner did not pay any capital gains on the £48,500 profit she made on the sale of her home in Stockport because she nominated it as her main residence to HMRC, says Ben Wilkinson in the Telegraph.
- “Starmer refuses to say he has ‘100%’ confidence in Angela Rayner” – Keir Starmer’s not coming out and saying he’s fully behind Angela Rayner in the row over the sale of her former home, reports the Telegraph.
- “Punishing non-doms is class war populism” – Both the Labour and Conservative parties are engaged in an unedifying bidding war as to which of them will tax rich foreigners the most, writes Harry Phibbs in CapX.
- “Liz Truss was right about the creeping dominance of the OBR” – The Office for Budget Responsibility has become a super-modeller, set to work on everything from immigration to house prices, writes Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph.
- “The Free Speech Union’s key role in developing government legislation” – In the Byline Times, Karam Bales exposes the Free Speech Union’s dastardly role in persuading the Government to protect academic freedom.
- “Harold Wilson had secret affair in No.10 – and this one wasn’t with his secretary” – Former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s closest surviving aide reveals that he confessed to an extramarital affair with a woman 22 years his junior while in Downing Street, according to the Telegraph.
- “Telegraph suitor Marshall to quit board of GB News owner” – Hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall is preparing to step down from the board of GB News’s parent company as he eyes a renewed bid to acquire the Daily Telegraph, reports Sky News.
- “Royal Navy recruits no longer need to prove that they can swim” – Anyone seeking to join the Royal Navy will no longer need to prove they can swim, in what one defence source called a “desperate” relaxing of standards to tackle a recruitment crisis, say Sky News.
- “Heat pump owners host visitor days in scramble to increase demand” – Heat pump owners are set to open their homes to prospective buyers as Britain aims to increase demand for the technology in its push towards Net Zero targets, reports the Telegraph.
- “Net Zero ban on petrol cars is wrong, says Aston Martin owner” – Aston Martin’s boss says a Net Zero ban on petrol cars would be “premature” due to the current weakened demand for electric vehicles, according to Proactive Financial News.
- “The irresponsibility of ‘two years to save the planet’” – It is easy to condemn young climate protesters for their incoherent ramblings, but they have been traumatised by the sensationalist rhetoric of UN officials and others vying to outdo each other in apocalyptic language, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
- “Streeting admits he was wrong to say transgender women are women” – Wes Streeting admits he was wrong to say that “trans women are women” amid a major Labour row over the Cass Report, reports the Telegraph.
- “Father Ted’s Graham Linehan demands crime probe into trans charities” – Graham Linehan is demanding criminal investigations into pro-trans charities Mermaids and Stonewall in the wake of the Cass Report, says the Mail.
- “J.K. Rowling’s magic circle of trust: who backed author during trans row?” – J.K. Rowling has lost the support of many stars whose careers were launched by the boy wizard, but she can count on a close network of supporters to back her up, writes Jon Brady in the Mail.
- “The Cass review shames the gay-rights establishment” – ‘Gender-affirming care’ has always been gay conversion therapy by another name, says Andrew Doyle in Spiked.
- “Those in the sceptical movement must stop fighting each other” – Valuing diverse perspectives is crucial, but attacking characters and outright dismissing differing opinions is unjust, counterproductive and harms our cause, argues Dr. Gary Sidley.
- “Neurologist reveals how much time you should spend on social media” – A neuroscientist lifts the lid on how much time you should spend on social media per day, detailing why endless scrolling can cause serious issues, says the Mail.
- “How America’s next Civil War could unfold: ‘It’s looming – the battle lines have already been drawn’” – Alex Garland’s new film Civil War imagines sectarian conflict tearing apart the United States. How realistic is its vision – and could it actually happen? asks Colin Freeman in the Telegraph.
- “All these gender critical figures are now being proved right” – Nick Dixon, Leo Kearse and Scott Capurro on GB News praise J.K. Rowling for saying she’s in no mood to forgive the Harry Potter actors who turned on her.
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Bell’s Palsy Explodes After Covid Jab – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, including your local Reform Party candidate, your local vicar, media and friends online.
What’s really going on? ‘We must restore American deterrence.’ ‘I would remind my colleagues that nearly all the money we’re spending to arm Ukraine doesn’t leave this country. It goes directly to U.S. companies and American workers to produce more weapons at a faster pace. This funding is revitalizing our defense industrial base after decades of atrophy. It’s exactly what we need to do to prepare for potential conflict with China. But we can’t do it all. The President needs to force our European allies to do more. While the UK, Poland, the Baltic states, and the Czech Republic are punching well above their weight, there are some European countries that can and must do more’ ‘Iran and North Korea are arming Russia with deadly effect. In return, they are receiving advanced technologies and other illegal aid from Putin. And while China has not yet provided weapons to Russia, Xi is providing Putin critical economic and security assistance. This includes dual-use materials and components for weapons. Kim, Xi, and the Ayatollah are eagerly aiding and abetting Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine because they know a Russian victory there will seriously… Read more »
This war has seen Ukraine used as a proxy for western/NATO and I would think any negotiations would need recognise that reality, I doubt Putin would be interested in any direct negotiations with just Ukraine. It seems to me that as things stand at present if we (the collective west) went to Russia and said; We accept Crimea as Russian territory. We accept the 4 disputed eastern regions of Ukraine as either Russian or some self governing status under Russian oversight. The rest of Ukraine will be a demilitarised zone, either as an independent Country or some sort of self governing region under the oversight of ??????????? to be decided. We wish to establish sound trading partnerships with Russia and improve transport links with improved rail links between Russian and Europe. We wish to improve the cultural links, music, literature and the performing arts between Russia and Europe. A. Why would Putin not agree to such a deal? B. Why would such a deal not be in the best interests of the ordinary people of the UK? C. Why through skilful diplomacy, statesmanship and trade deals could we not hold Russia to such a deal? It does strike me that… Read more »
The Russian invasions of 2014 and 2022 were in direct conflict with the assurances it had given to Ukraine with the west years before.
What point is there in another such assurance?
Aren’t you forgetting the CIA initiated coup in the Ukraine to oust a pro-Russian government, democratically elected by the people? Also, the assurances that the West gave to not advance NATO one inch further eastwards? We need a new era of glasnost and perestroika but this time by the West also. It’s clearly not going to happen because the will on the part of the Western leaders to actually find a peaceful route is absent. Putin has said – believe him or not – that he wishes to negotiate. Talk is the only way to resolve this conflict. It needs adults in the room not the paranoid war hawks in the US and each side needs to trust each other. Most people affected by this conflict actually want peace. They want to get on with their lives. People like Biden, well those behind him, Zelensky, Macron and our own government, that paltry shower, are not sufficiently decent and honest enough to try and broker peace. Not saying that Putin is decent and honest but he did mention negotiations and that’s something not mentioned by the West. It’s more weapons and money, insane amounts of money. A never-ending black hole of… Read more »
‘The CIA initiated coup’: an unevidenced assertion; easily dismissed.
If you have evidence, I would be interested to see it.
Everyone, including Liz Truss, certainly Macron, has tried to broker peace.
Far more sensible to listen to someone who knows what he is talking about:
‘(The 2022 invasion is) the latest phase in a rising momentum of power imposed by violence starting from Chechnya to Syria and now Ukraine…..I don’t think he’s a madman at all and everyone always says that about leaders whose motivations and culture they don’t understand…….He’s not crazy at all, he’s projecting a vision of Russia that he was brought up with that many people in Russia still adhere to – a vision of the Russian state as an empire that has to expand, and expansion is how you judge leaders……It’s not quite a tsar, it’s not quite Stalin, it’s something 21st century. He’s of our time, but he’s also very old-fashioned…….A man of empire.”
Documentary evidence from inside the Kremlin backs that up.
I don’t believe that Macron and Truss tried to broker peace. Why didn’t they continue to try and broker peace then – like now for instance? I’m not convinced. They seem like people with no real convictions. Isn’t it Macron who is planning to send French troops to Ukraine? Doesn’t sound like a peacemaker to me. Personally, I don’t think you know what is going on even though you say you do. I don’t claim to know what is going on either but the CIA has been behind most political coups and unrest and would undoubtedly have had a hand in this. They wanted Ukraine and its resources, they wanted to weaken Russia. They would not have sat idly by.
The CIA has not been ‘behind most political coups’; another unevidenced assertion and even sillier than the previous one. The thing is, all of this information is readily available to you to discover for yourself….. ‘According to the insider, a kind of “duel” for leadership has now broken out between Paris and Berlin……Macron is also seeking to become the leader of not just a European coalition supporting Ukraine, but to lead these processes on a global scale. Another reason, according to The Telegraph, why Macron decided to shake things up is his desire to force Europe to make a “mental leap” from the cosy tranquillity of recent decades to the harsh realities of the new era. The French leader fears that russia will not be satisfied with conquering Ukraine and will move further into Europe. Macron’s radicalisation reflects a new stage of internal political struggle in France itself, where the main rival for the ruling party is the right-wing led by Marine Le Pen, known for her sympathies for russia and putin. In this way, Macron allegedly wants to radicalise French voters and put them before a choice – for putin or against putin.’ Truss? ‘Truss (in Moscow), who became… Read more »
What invasion in 2014? What actually happened is that pro-Russia gunmen within the Ukrainian armed forces defected (following the CIA-initiated coup in Kiev) and took control of government buildings and airports in Crimea.
What about the assurances given to Russia? That Ukraine would not join NATO and that Russians living in eastern Ukraine could live in peace and not be shelled by Ukraine-backed forces.
Clearly you are still on holiday on North Sentinel.
“In order to block and disarm 20,000 well-armed [Ukrainian soldiers], you need a specific set of personnel. And not just in numbers, but with skill. We needed specialists who know how to do it,” Putin said in the documentary……..That’s why I gave orders to the Defense Ministry — why hide it? — to deploy special forces of the GRU (military intelligence) as well as marines and commandos there under the guise of reinforcing security for our military facilities in Crimea,”
Putin March 2015
‘”I’m the one who pulled the trigger of war. If our unit hadn’t crossed the border, everything would have fizzled out, like in [the Ukrainian city of] Kharkiv, like in Odessa”
Aug. 2014
Igor Strelkov, veteran of the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s, both Chechen wars, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Whataboutery is not an argument. Where is your evidence of assurances given to Russia? Who gave such assurances?
Love your optimism, Steve. But the diplomacy skills of yesteryear are dead and gone: it’s the insanely Russophobic neocon way or the highway for the crumbling West. I don’t know the terms of the current Russian negotiating position, but with the EU applying more and more restrictions to Russian citizens – including sanctions, asset freezing, restrictions & bans on travel, etc etc – I can’t see new cultural ties being forged any time soon, let alone social & economic ones. And the rest of the world is watching.
I’m surmising that putin, and to some extent, Xi, are waiting to see the outcome of the US elections!
If Trump wins, Putin will know he can immediately negotiate a new border in Ukraine based on land taken by Russia (at that time, so the further he can gain ground now means a bigger area for Russia)
in return for a guarantee on Nato not expanding any further!
Guaranteed by Trump, who he knows he can trust!
Not sure Putin trusts Trump: in the Tucker Carlson interview he implied, in a very roundabout way, that he preferred known enemies (ie Biden and his Deep State) to unknowns, probably because he knows that the Deep State will do all it can to stymie anything Trump might want to do that could derail their plans. (Not taking troops out of Syria springs to mind.) I suppose we could take heart that Cameron got a big flea in his ear on his recent visit to the US where he said that the thousands of Ukie corpses are ‘good business’ for the West which might indicate a potential direction of future travel, but who knows.
I think both RFK Jr and Trump, if elected, would strive for peace and much warmer relations with Russia.
I’d like to think so too, but both will have to overcome the neocons and neither are flavour du jour in the capital..
Putin will agree to that deal. He already agreed to it in 2014…..regrouped and invaded again in 2022.
Putin has invaded Chechnya 1999, regrouped, invaded Georgia 2008, regrouped and invaded Ukraine 2014, regrouped and invaded Ukraine again in 2022.
That is why no-one has any confidence in negotiations. And documentary evidence from inside the Kremlin as to the planned extent of Putin’s expansionism back that up.
Sorry, but you don’t end wars with more weapons!
The idea is to prevent them starting in the first place……and it works.
Look up ‘The long peace’: 1945-2022.
‘….another paradox: why the decades following the introduction of nuclear weapons — weapons that, in their most maximalist effect, could conceivably bring an end to human civilization — also saw a historic fall in the number of war-related deaths around the world.’
‘These decades go by another name: “the long peace.” The name can be a bit misleading — for much of the world, these years have been anything but peaceful, with the number of discrete conflicts beginning to rise in the 1960s and staying high ever since.
These ranged from large conflicts like America’s decade in Vietnam and the 1980s Iran-Iraq war to countless small skirmishes, often conflicts within countries, that barely penetrated the international media.
But compared to the blood-stained decades that marked the first half of the 20th century — which saw more than 100 million deaths in World Wars I and II combined — let alone humanity’s tremendously violent past, these years have indeed been a holiday from history.
And…..the invasion of Ukraine marks a decisive end to that holiday……’
Nukes did just that but can hardly be used to bargain anymore, they’ve even created and used the next best things like MOAB fuel air bombs which are damn well disgustingly indiscriminate as it is!
in fact nukes allowed conventional weaponry to become more acceptable in many wars during the long peace. Once every one has them they are no longer viable to use, so more and more conventional weapons will be poured in to any ongoing conflict, gaining any ground at all may become ‘the new win!’
The situation regarding nuclear weapons in Europe is more stable now than it was in 1990.
When the U.S.S.R. disappeared, 3,200 strategic nuclear warheads remained in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. All nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus were deactivated and returned to Russia.
Ukraine was given security assurances by Britain and the U.S. in order to convince it to hand back its nuclear warheads.
Where nuclear weapons are in play, conventional deterrence becomes a great deal more important.
Gorbachev warned of Russian revanchism in 1990:
‘You have the same explosive mixture you had in Germany in the 1930s. The humiliation of a great power. Economic troubles. The rise of nationalism. You should not underestimate the danger.’
Dim and incompetent politicians chose, instead, to proclaim a peace dividend and disband the conventional deterrent forces that had proved so effective in achieving ‘the long peace’.
So there you have it, in stark clarity: strong conventional forces in Western Europe and a long peace 1945-2008…..weak conventional forces in Western Europe, the British Army on the Rhine disbanded in 1994 (just as John Major gave security assurances to Ukraine!), and subsequent wars in Georgia, Ukraine twice.
The conclusion is blindingly obvious.
You make a very strong point👍 I was just referring to a single action of pouring more weapons into an already ongoing conflict and the doubtful hope it will end it, but certainly, strength in the conventional military is essential
You deserve ten upticks, if not one hundred. Simply move the decimal point to receive your just deserts.
Another poem by Margaret Anna Alice: Lament of the Vaxx-injured. Brutal.
Inspired by Cody and his mother, Heather Hudson, this poem is dedicated to them as well as Brianne Dressen and React 19; Real Not Rare; and all the innocents injured, killed, and bereaved by the “safe and effective” injection.
https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/lament-of-the-vaxx-injured?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
God help these people!
And God help the ones who caused this, boy ,they, are going to need it!
Another day in our new dimension dawns!
Everyone knows steam trains run on coal and are universally loved and cherrished so it will be a tricky job for the climate lunatics to get rid of them, so, turn to the law! just like in Switzerland, The door locks are not safe BAN STEAM TRAINS!
https://www.gbnews.com/news/steam-trains-railway-ban-door-lock-rules-orr
D’you think JK’s turncoat actors are now going to apologise for the Hogwarts Express, by any chance?…..
Nice one! they made so much money and fame out of the very subjects they hate so much didn’t they?
Ooh and don’t forget, it was a petrol Ford Anglia they did their flying in!🤭
Hmmm, the Henry Jackson Society, let’s take a quick look…
https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-henry-jackson-society-hjs/
https://henryjacksonsociety.org/statement-of-principles/
Right, so they’re a ‘non-profit’ ‘think-tank’ that don’t disclose their donors. Interesting. Pretty clear what they’re thinking about in their ‘think-tank’ though, and it’s globalisation – they want to further empower the EU and NATO, while attempting a little obfuscation. This gem in their ‘statement of principles’ is one of my favourites:
Answers on a postcard please. The fact they’ve managed to shoehorn ‘capitalism’, ‘democratic’ and ‘environment’ into the same nonsensical statements tells me everything I need to know though, so I’ll reword it for them – “Give two cheers for propaganda. Use the environment to serve a socialist (or communist, that goal isn’t clear yet) agenda that can be used to reinvent ‘democracy’.
Choose your propaganda.
“Harold Wilson had secret affair in No.10 – and this one wasn’t with his secretary”
Question: Who the f@#k cares?
Go on then downticker, are you a distance relative or something? Oh no, your not Harold Wilsons Love child are you?
Re:
heat pump owners ‘show’ days – RSVP – don’t bother getting any tea and biscuits in for me because I won’t be attending!
👍 😁
Same here! I’ll be sitting in front of my real fire with my tea and biscuits 😋
And as the weather now gets slightly warmer, isn’t it timely to now invite people in to find out how amazing these heat pumps actually are? I’m basking! I’m sweating! Turn it down! Absolute piffle and nonsense. Anyone going to an ‘open day’ seriously needs their head examined.
Imagine future generations telling stories to their young ones about how they used to huddle round the heat pump outlet trying to get a waft of tepid lukewarm air… “Eee, them wert days!”
“The irresponsibility of ‘two years to save the planet”
I can trump the UN on this one, I say the world is doomed in 1 year 32.5 days from now, and I should know because I’m a qualified carpenter and joiner!
By this time next year, we’ll all be sitting in our underpants gasping for air and panting like dogs as we look at our flooded homes…
Or shaking like a shi#ting dog because it got colder instead of hotter!
“J.K. Rowling’s magic circle of trust: who backed author during trans row?”
I think Jon Brady will find that the vast majority of the population backs JK Rowling, not just a few of her closest mates.