News Round-Up
- “Britain is about to be pushed over the edge” – A Starmer Government is destined to be vulnerable to the bad influences of the Blob in all its facets, warns the Telegraph’s Sherelle Jacobs.
- “Farage calls for voting system change saying the public will be angry if Reform wins few seats” – The Reform leader predicts pressure to change the “absolutely bankrupt” First Past the Post system if his party gain millions of votes but wins only a handful of seats, the Telegraph reports.
- “Reform puts British people first – how is that a wasted vote?” – The Telegraph‘s Allison Pearson says it’s time to send a message to the Tories that their disregard for the British people is unacceptable.
- “Meet the next lot of ministers to ruin the country” – In the Spectator, Gareth Roberts takes a close look at the incoming Labour Cabinet, as “we’re going to be lumbered with them for at least five years”.
- “Is the U.K. heading for a Bidenesque Government?” – Keir Starmer has been at great pains to reassure voters that the hard Left is under control in his party and he is the choice for stability and unity. However, that’s what Biden promised in 2020, and look how that turned out, says C.J. Strachan.
- “J.K. Rowling agrees to meet Labour – but sets conditions over labelling of ‘hate groups’” – The Harry Potter author has responded to Rachel Reeves offering to provide “assurances” over protection of women-only spaces by demanding the Labour leadership first meet with gender critical organisations and Angela Rayner apologise for branding them ‘hate groups’, the Telegraph reports.
- “Trans women with penises can use female toilets, says Shadow Education Secretary” – The remarks sow fresh confusion over Labour’s gender stance, says the Telegraph.
- “This must be Labour’s most disturbing policy yet” – Labour’s commitment to a new ‘trans-inclusive’ conversion therapy ban would make it even harder to protect children from gender ideology, says Miriam Cates in the Telegraph.
- “Labour has lost women’s trust over trans issues, admits Streeting” – The Shadow Health Secretary says Labour has struggled to navigate “a pretty complicated and at times toxic debate”, according to the Telegraph.
- “Kate Forbes backs J.K. Rowling in Labour row over trans rights” – Scotland’s SNP Deputy First Minister has praised the author’s bravery and admits she shares her views on transgender issues, the Telegraph reports.
- “The unbelievably hilarious collapse of Corbynism” – When will the Left learn that if you screw over the working class, there’ll be a price to pay, asks Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
- “The Private Education Policy Forum shows its true colours” – Harming independent schools and families isn’t an unfortunate ‘cost’ of the Education Tax, or ‘the means that’s justified by the ends’ – for the architects of the policy, it’s the whole point, says Mr. Chips on Substack.
- “Julian Assange released from prison after reaching plea deal with U.S.” – The WikiLeaks founder boarded a flight to leave the U.K. on Monday after agreeing to plead guilty to a charge for which he is deemed already to have served time, the Telegraph reports.
- “The Assange compromise leaves a lot to be desired” – In the Spectator, Mary Dejevsky argues the Assange deal is probably the best that could have been achieved in the circumstances but far from perfect.
- “Joe Biden has failed Israel” – Those who shout loudest about Israel and international law have been shamefully silent about Hezbollah’s unprovoked aggression that now threatens to escalate into regional war, says Jake Wallis Simons in the Spectator.
- “Sentenced to death – the lonely thousands in care home lockdowns” – Sally Beck in TCW looks at the harrowing plight of the elderly during Covid ahead of the inquiry hearings later this summer.
- “Tommy Robinson arrested in Canada for ‘immigration offences’” – A video shows the 41-year-old activist being handcuffed by two plain-clothed police officers for an unspecified immigration breach, according to the Telegraph.
- “ITV News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby says ‘there aren’t many white, male anchors left’” – The 57-year-old speaks out as he prepares to host the channel’s election night coverage for the fourth time, the Telegraph reports.
- “Why it’s time to demand true gender equality… for men” – The Telegraph’s Michael Deacon wonders why the V&A is only aiming to get its proportion of male staff up to 30%.
- “RFK, Jr. Is Right: NATO Must Be Disbanded –” – On Dr. Robert Malone’s Substack, Jason Scott Jones suggests the alliance has morphed into a suicide pact.
- “A College Reunion” – Paul Sutton returns to his Oxford alma mater, now a “citadel of wokedom”.
- “It’s time for gay people to turn our backs on Pride” – The month-long orgy of virtue-signalling, fetishism and gender ideology is taking gay rights backwards, says Andrew Doyle in Spiked.
- “Watch Michael Portillo nail the lie at the heart of Net Zero. Our politicians’ obsession with this self-harming lunacy is one of the biggest mysteries of our age” – In a clip posted on X, Portillo tells GB News that nothing Britain is doing will save the planet, but it will destroy the economy.
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Good news. Malcolm Kendrick and Zoe Harcombe have won the first stage of their libel action against the Mail on Sunday who effectively called them liars and ‘purveyors of misinformation’ about statins. The paper had claimed a ‘public interest’ defence but this failed.
As the judge said
There is perhaps a palpable irony in the fact the Defendants, in Articles that so roundly denounced those alleged to be the purveyors of misinformation, so seriously misinformed their own readers
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2024/06/25/we-have-a-judgment-part-1/
https://www.zoeharcombe.com/2024/06/harcombe-kendrick-vs-associated-newspapers-the-judgement/
“Watch Michael Portillo nail the lie at the heart of Net Zero. Our politicians’ obsession with this self-harming lunacy is one of the biggest mysteries of our age” This clip links with a news item mentioned by a commentator yesterday that Stellantis (Vauxhall) are threatening to mothball plants and cut back on car and van sales in the UK due to the effect of the Governments zero emissions mandate. There is a report on this in the Telegraph; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/06/25/vauxhall-stellantis-threatens-stop-making-electric-vans-uk/#:~:text=The%20car%20giant%20behind%20Vauxhall,electric%20vehicle%20(EV)%20sales. Ford have already stopped making the Fiesta and VW are ending production of its ‘Up’ city car. This assault on private motoring is an assault on the low and middle income people who rely on cheap and cheerful low end vehicles to get to work and school and generally live their lives. Many UK citizens live in housing estates where you need a car to get around, many work in businesses where you need a car to work, many businesses are set up so that their customers need a car to come and do business. If an incoming Labour Government are really going to mount this all out assault on the car then the effect on the UK economy and the… Read more »
Well, when they are cheaper to make and sell in terms of percentage/multiple of average annual wage, people might buy them if they’re as usable and flexible and durable as modern petrol cars.
Of course electric cars will be cheaper to make if we drive up the cost of making a petrol car.
The second hand market for Khan-proof old cars has already risen sharply. The term ‘beyond economic repair’ is becoming more tightly defined as people will go to greater lengths to avoid expensive EVs. I believe we’re also seeing more corruption in MoTs with unsuitable cars passing for favours given.
”A Labour spokesman said:
“Electric vehicles are already cheaper to run, ”
This quote ties in with the news item above;
“Meet the next lot of ministers to ruin the country”
Many commentators have made the point that as the huge lithium-ion batteries that power these EVs are increasingly an integral part of the cars construction it does mean that if the battery gives up the car is most likely scrap. Consequently the value of an EV will decline rapidly once the battery warranty runs out. If you cost in this rapid depreciation along with high insurance costs and public charging points at 75 pence @K/watt then it is hard to see how electric vehicles are already cheaper to run but then I am not a potential cabinet minister and do not have their special insight.
Or maybe they know that an incoming labour Gov is going to up the car tax on ICE cars and up the fuel duty on petrol and diesel to ensure ICE cars are more expensive!
They’ll make it illegal for the insurance companies to charge more to insure EVs.
Top Scientist Ban mRNA Jabs Now – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, including your local Reform Party candidate, your local vicar, online media and friends online. We have over 200 leaflet ideas on the link on the leaflet.
RFK, Jr. Is Right: NATO Must Be Disbanded Let’s try this a different way. Reform should be disbanded. Reform has moved from 4% to 12% in the polls, trebling its support! Reform’s membership is up 50% since Mr Farage took over the leadership! And you want to disband it. You must be batsh*t crazy! Okay. NATO won the cold war. It won a war! NATO’s membership has increased from twelve to thirty two members since its early days, gaining two members just in the last year. Fourteen new members have joined since 1990. And you want to disband it………. Oh for heavens sake! Do you realise how stupid that makes you look? But NATO provoked Putin into invading Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine (twice) and annexing Belarus into the ‘Union State’! ‘The Helsinki Conference (1 August 1975) established the respect of borders in Europe and gave birth to the OSCE, of which Russia is a member. Its Charter confirms the above-mentioned principles.’ ‘Through its actions, Russia, with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and with its renewed threat to the Ukrainian border since December 2021, is ignoring all parts of this treaty, which already addressed issues that apply to Ukraine today, such as:… Read more »
All this is way outside the my level of understanding and so I was just wondering how this all compares with Kosovo, where the conclusion was;
”In its Advisory Opinion delivered on 22 July 2010, the Court concluded that “the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law”.
Please don’t expect me to defend the (or any) actions of Blair and Clinton.
I entirely accept that an agreement could, and should, have been reached at Rambouillet.
The bombing campaign in Serbia set a very bad precedent, which many illustrious commentators, and myself, pointed out at the time.
But the idea that the Kosovo crisis may have ‘provoked’ Putin into invading Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine (twice) and annexing Belarus is manifest nonsense; very silly indeed; ‘weird’.
All of those invasions have their roots a great deal further back in history.
As the man said:
‘By annexing Crimea and by participating in the challenge of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s Russia is violating the fundamental texts of the United Nations, the statutes of the Council of Europe, of which Russia is a member, at least two regional treaties organizing peace in Europe and two bilateral treaties signed with Ukraine.’
‘Justifying the military gathering at the Ukrainian border by claiming a feeling of insecurity, is an attempt to dissimulate a conscious and complete violation since 2014 of all the provisions of this text.’
Reference above.
All of the situations you cite had their roots in differences between different, broadly ethnic, groups in those countries who preceived themselves to be ill-treated by their government and wanted to go their own way.
The Chechen dispute ended at the same time as Putin first came to office, and I note that large numbers of Chechens have volunteered to fight as contract soldiers with Russia against Zelensky.
I note also that Georgia is an independent self-governing country and that Russia did not annex it, but intervened as a peacekeeper, although many in the West describe it otherwise.
In Crimea the Russians were welcomed with open arms by the vast majority of the occupants.
You would be OK would you if the EU invaded a Reform majority cinstituency and annexed it.
The Chechen war (dispute – sic) ended becaise Putin did a deadly deal with the war lords there.
A riduiculous analogy.
And because the Tiny Tatar had secretly married a Muslim athlete who bore him two sons, being raised as Muslims. All his troubles with the Muslim Chechens suddenly evaporated.
I should add that Belarus was annexed by nobody. They are a sovereign government which an American funded colour revolution failed to oust.
It is all too obvious that so many on here have done little or no research, have no idea what they are talking about.
‘No one is against Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation……If someone is worried … (then) it is very simple: join in the Union State of Belarus and Russia. That’s all: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone.’
President of Belarus, Lukashenko 29 May 2023
‘The union of Belarus and Russia has an ethnic and economic basis. The countries pursue a concerted foreign policy and have a common defense space. It is very important that the parties were able to create a common humanitarian and cultural dimension ensuring equal conditions for their citizens.Now, due to close integration, there is no border between Belarus and Russia, there are no restrictions on the freedom of movement, transportation of goods and services, change of residence, employment and education for citizens of the Union State.’
https://academic.oup.com/book/57361/chapter-abstract/464660394?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Wake up!
Lithium-ion battery fire
There was a large explosion and battery fire at a South Korean lithium-ion battery factory on monday;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMAs8GLgcB4
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/about-20-bodies-found-after-fire-south-korea-battery-plant-yonhap-reports-2024-06-24/
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-advisors-ukraine-peace-talks-ultimatum-weapons-russia-1917011
What’s really going on?
Trump has a peace plan. He’s even given it a catchy name: ‘Peace in our time’
(Explainer, clearly much needed on here: I made the ‘catchy name’ bit up, for, you know, what we call fun).
The plan is to freeze the conflict and then turn Ukraine into a ‘porcupine’, too strong to be attacked but without the means to attack.
Brilliant! Genius! What could possibly go wrong?
Oh! Hang on…….that’s the same brilliant idea the bozos had after the last invasion in 2014…..
P.S. The U.S. will definitely now pressure Ukraine to make peace because………
Russia just signed an MOU with Venezuela……..!
Impossible to make this stuff up.
9.3 million Venezuelans are moderately to severely food insecure – one-third of the population.
7 million Venezuelans urgently need humanitarian assistance.
More than 5.4 million Venezuelans have fled the country.
Venezuela sounds a bit like Ukraine from your last 3 sentences.
“Food insecure” – what does that mean. You mean they have been driven to starvation by a socialist government.
https://www.gbnews.com/royal/king-charles-private-secretary-keir-starmer-state-banquet-pictures A top-end betting gamble, or just Royal common sense? The story speculates about the built in assumption that Starmer is worth negotiating with already, with who sits next to whom.
I think I know why Governments are pushing electric cars. If enough of us buy them they might just be able to act as storage for windpower.
Whenever the wind doesn’t blow driving will be banned and you will have to stay home to power the grid from your mobile storage battery.
And it doesn’t cost the government a penny.
At least one of the utility firms (Octopus energy) is already doing that. I’ve no idea whether it’s a wise investment supplying an at-home battery for the grid though!
If you can by an old EV cheap enough it does make sense to park it outside your house and use it as a personal back-up supply coupled with an inverter. I see a a business opportunity for someone to supply conversion kits/services.
The idea of using it as part of the grid is already under consideration, a smart meter being just the start of it.
But old EVs are cheap because the battery is clapped out aren’t they?
They are only clapped mas far as driving range is concerned, especially when driving can demand high currents from them. They are still eminently usable as comparatively low drain sources for mains inverters.
What about the disposal of them at the end? A battery recycling depot was on fire in Scotland Firefighters battling blaze at battery recycling plant two days on | STV News
What are the insurers going to do about it and what is the potential insurance risk to your house/property?
If the government forces us down the ev road then they should be responsible for all the forseeable consequences, and battery disposal has been the elephant in the woodpile since day one.
Have you seen this commentator on Youtube? IT HAPPENED: One defective lithium-ion battery cell just killed 22 people | Auto Expert John Cadogan (youtube.com)
I have heard before the idea of smart meters in some way draining EV batteries to support the grid. Solar panels on houses and buildings already use batteries I understand. Given the fires we have seen I am surprised any insurer would cover the house, certainly one would expect a total exclusion for any damage caused by a battery fire.
“Solar panels on houses and buildings already use batteries I understand”
Not necessarily and they don’t need to be lithium.
“Britain is about to be pushed over the edge”
Britain is going to have to suck it up for the next 5 years because your going to get labour like it or not! It’ll take decades for whoever the next government is to put the destruction right! F the king, God save the good salt of the earth British people!
“Trans women with penises can use female toilets, says Shadow Education Secretary”
Oh my god!
Penis= man
Vagina=woman
Simple’s
“RFK, Jr. Is Right: NATO Must Be Disbanded”
Correct, nato has poked the bear and broke its own rules since its conception!
Right this moment, someone is trawling through Michael Portillo’s past statements mining for something that can be twisted into anti-semitism.
“Julian Assange released from prison after reaching plea deal with U.S.”
“Tommy Robinson arrested in Canada for ‘immigration offences’”
Assange released but Tommy arrested, almost on the same day.
Was some kind of deal done between Biden, Smarmy Sunak & Trudeau?