News Round-Up
- “The people who backed Huw Edwards – from Andrew Marr to Emily Maitlis” – When allegations concerning Huw Edwards were first reported last summer several figures in the media industry came to his defence, including Edwards’s former BBC colleagues such as Andrew Marr and Emily Maitlis, writes Alex Farber in the Times.
- “BBC bosses’ ‘unforgivable’ handling of Huw Edwards scandal” – The BBC faces yet more damaging questions after another of its biggest stars was revealed to be a sex offender, reports the Mail.
- “The Huw Edwards cover up and why it proves the BBC is rotten to the core” – The idea that Brits should have to keep paying for this morally bankrupt broadcaster is a sick joke, says Dan Wootton on his Outspoken Substack.
- “Why the BBC is one of Britain’s greatest scandal magnets” – Huw Edwards is the latest in a long line of high-profile controversies at the Beeb, but will they ever learn from their mistakes? wonders Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph.
- “BBC Chairman accused of dismissing staff complaints of antisemitism” – “Jews don’t count” at the BBC, staff have warned as part of a complaint about “systemic antisemitism”, reports the Telegraph.
- “Labour face a brutal awakening about the realities of governing modern Britain” – The Government must address concerns over preferential group treatment, or risk more disorder on the streets, says Rakib Ehsan in the Telegraph.
- “What did you expect? Britain’s protests reflect decades of elite failure” – On Substack, Matt Goodwin shares his thoughts on the latest atrocities in Britain – and the reaction to them.
- “Political violence must never be tolerated” – It takes an authoritarian mindset to choose violence over the ballot box, says Andrew Doyle on his Substack.
- “How censorship made Tommy Robinson” – The attempts to silence Tommy Robinson have only fuelled his grift, says Fraser Myers in Spiked.
- “Jenrick overtakes Badenoch as bookmaker’s favourite to become Tory leader” – William Hill says the odds on the former Immigration Minister winning the Tory leadership battle have narrowed following Lord Frost’s endorsement, according to the Telegraph.
- “Don’t ‘drive me’ to join Reform, Braverman tells Tory MPs” – Suella Braverman says she hopes she is not “driven out” of the Conservative Party by Tory MPs, insisting that she has no intention of defecting to Reform U.K., says the Telegraph.
- “Bank of England cuts interest rates for first time in four years” – Rachel Reeves has indicated she might still raise taxes after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time in four years and more than doubled its growth forecast, reports the Telegraph.
- “Rachel Reeves has just admitted the grotesque truth about her plans for Britain” – The Chancellor has given the game away. She will punish the prudent and successful to reward the feckless, says Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
- “Hamas terror chief boasted of his freedom – hours later, he was dead” – The fear now is that the Hamas leader’s funeral could be the first of many, if his assassination triggers a wider war in the Middle East, write James Crisp and Akhtar Makoii in the Telegraph.
- “Israel has shown it can still hit back – and now the world can sleep safer” – Leaders in London and Washington don’t like Tel Aviv’s tactics. But Tehran’s losses are the West’s gain, says Douglas Murray in the Telegraph.
- “Giving up Ukrainian territories is ‘a very, very difficult’ question” – In an interview with Le Monde, Ukrainian President Zelensky discusses the possible outcome of the war and calls on China to put pressure on Russia to open the way to negotiations.
- “Biden hails ‘feat of diplomacy’ as U.S. journalist freed in biggest prisoner swap since Cold War” – The American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been freed by Russia as part of the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War, reports the Independent.
- “TV commentators silent on Olympics boxing gender row” – TV viewers were kept in the dark about the mounting Olympic gender row as a masculine Algerian fighter felled an Italian opponent with one ferocious punch, says the Telegraph.
- “IOC is betraying women in worst possible way” – Olympics organisers are putting female boxers at risk of extreme harm by allowing fighters with abnormally high testosterone levels to compete, writes Oliver Brown in the Telegraph.
- “The simple way to protect women’s sport at the Olympics” – Someone with XY chromosomes who went through male puberty has no business competing in women’s sports, says Debbie Hayton in the Spectator.
- “Female high school volleyball player, 17, is left paralysed with brain damage by trans opponent” – A female volleyball player, partially paralysed by a transgender opponent, has slammed the Olympics for letting two boxers who failed gender eligibility tests last year compete against women, reports the Mail.
- “England’s GPs vote to take industrial action” – For the first time in 60 years, family doctors have voted for collective action, writes Lucy Dunn in the Spectator.
- “The militant BMA is becoming an enemy of the people” – Calling on the NHS to lift the ban on puberty blockers will embolden trans extremists and put children at risk, warns Ella Whelan in the Telegraph.
- “Sir Paul Marshall leads race to buy the Spectator” – Hedge fund magnate and GB News shareholder Sir Paul Marshall is close to securing a deal to buy the Spectator, says City A.M.
- “U.K. police special enquiry team to examine role of Washington Post chief in email deletions” – Following a tip-off from Gordon Brown, British police are investigating whether Washington Post CEO Will Lewis destroyed evidence while working at News International 13 years ago, reports the Guardian.
- “Labour and Conservative stalwarts in race for University of Oxford chancellor job” – Peter Mandelson and William Hague are both in the race to become the next chancellor of the University of Oxford, says the Mail.
- “Sending them back: the Horniman Museum and the restitution of its Benin bronzes” – In History Reclaimed, Mike Wells gives a critical review of a new book by Nick Merriman, the former Director of the Horniman Museum, who gave away its Benin bronzes.
- “Will the real Kamala Harris please stand up?” – Should Kamala Harris win in November, there will be no change. The same people in control now will remain in control, says Lionel Shriver in the Spectator.
- “Media gaslighting about Kamala Harris nears totalitarian levels” – Ever since Kamala Harris became the Democrats’ Presidential nominee, we have been told to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears in favour of party propaganda, says Michael Shellenberger on his Public Substack.
- “Right-wing court shocks MAGA with brutal ruling” – On YouTube, the State Attorney for Palm Beach County reacts to Ron DeSantis’s “Stop Woke Act” being shut down by Florida’s conservative district court for violating the First Amendment.
- “Just Stop Oil Heathrow Airport protest fails – again” – Just Stop Oil protesters have been removed from Heathrow airport following another failed protest, reports the Mail.
- “Hillary Clinton-run group helps fund Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion” – U.S. financial disclosures reveal that Just Stop Oil’s stunts are partly funded by a campaign organisation run by Hillary Clinton, reports the Telegraph.
- “Young eco-catastrophists are clueless about real nature” – Childhoods are no longer being spent outdoors, but lost in an online world that spreads climate doom, says Judith Woods in the Telegraph.
- “Campaigners call on Labour to end foxhunting ‘loophole’” – Anti-fox hunting activists have urged the Government to shut down a so-called loophole which they say facilitates the sport to take place on Ministry of Defence land, reports GB News.
- “The inconvenient truth about ‘rewilding’” – Why is the cost of rewilding being dumped on new housing? asks Ross Clark in the Spectator.
- “German start-up brings cryonics to Europe” – Hoping to have your body deep-frozen and reanimated at some distant point in the future? A fleet of repurposed ambulances is on standby to oblige, reports William Hunter in the Mail.
- “Another spot on South Park prediction” – A video on X reveals another South Park prediction that hit the mark.
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Thursday Morning Wycombe Road & Wiltshire Rd Marlow
Giving up Ukrainian territories is ‘a very, very difficult’ question
What’s really going on?
Since the full-scale invasion of 2022, intelligence agencies have shut down 86 Russian bot farms which controlled a collective 3 million social media accounts with an estimated audience reach of 12 million people.
Don’t listen to the nonsense.
Ukraine is already able to produce over 3 million drones a year. Many of those drones have a range of 600 miles.
Approved aid packages will help to provide enough funds and equipment to keep Ukraine in the war until at least mid-2025. US aid may then drop sharply. Europe will increase its assistance to Ukraine, particularly in developing Ukraine’s indigenous defence industry, in response. That is why Russia has already tried to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall.
The general assumption is that, if Ukraine continues to fight, it will be met by the same Surovikin line defences (a Russian-built fortification line designed to repel Ukrainian forces) that it failed to penetrate in 2023. That is nonsense. No-one has any idea what Ukraine will do…….but they will do something…..
Treble hard hats all round, comrades……….
What goes around, comes around and this does not end well. The ruins of Ukrainian cities, and the Russian practice of mass killing, rape, and deportation all derive from the claim that Ukraine, as a nation, does not exist. The intention is to turn it into another colony. Putin, in 2012, described Russia’s nature as a civilisation (!) absorbing smaller cultures such as Ukraine’s. Putin has made it his life’s work to rid Russia of its post-imperial liberation. When Boris Yeltsin announced Russia’s independence from the Soviet Union, young Russians cursed Balts, Ukrainians and Kazakhs as spendthrifts of empire whom Russia was better off without. For Putin, this was a mistake. Rebuilding Russia aimed to restore some form of what had been lost, not a new Soviet Union, but a sphere of Russian predominance; Russia recognised as the centre of a “Russian world”. This led Putin to his post-colonial Ukrainian war, in ways not too different from France in Algeria or Britain in Aden/Yemen, for example. For a declining imperial power, the semblance of control and deference is more important than actual control itself. Their wars often end badly. Putin is now living through that in Ukraine. Having lost the… Read more »
Israel has shown it can still hit back – and now the world can sleep safer
What’s really going on?
Who else is well on the way to having an indigenous defence industry capable of developing this kind of surgical strike capability?
Who else has a taste for ‘decapitation’ operations?
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Sviridov was found dead along with his wife at their home in November 2023
Open sources indicate that at least seven Russian general officers have been killed in Ukraine:
Retired Maj. Gen. Kanamat Botashev
Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov
Maj. Sergey Goryachev
Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zavadski
Maj. Gen. Roman Kutuzov:
Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky
Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov
Treble hard hats all round, comrades……
Campaigners call on Labour to end foxhunting ‘loophole’
‘This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation, including the banning of trail hunting.’
In fact, this government was elected by about 12% of the population.
Never interrupt the enemy when they are making a mistake.
‘Labour’s continuing obsession with hunting shows that the party hasn’t changed… This new attack on trail hunting is pointless, prejudiced, and will fan the flames of an ugly culture war.’
So uprisings against a dictator are “authoritarian”? What utter BS. TPTB are petrified of the rebirth of masculinity and will attack it from multiple fronts. They’ve spent decades feminising society so that the masses won’t violently revolt, but instead will peacefully protest, sign petitions, tut and grumble; this has never been more evident than the bizarre response to children being slaughtered by a savage in Southport, in which the sad, embarrassed, focus isn’t on the killings but on the fury of the crowds that erupted afterwards. That’s the only thing that worries them – an angry mass, tired of being subjugated, fighting fire with fire.
Andrew: you can patiently wait another five years to put your worthless X on a bit of paper if you want, but do not preach from your feminised pulpit when others are willing to do your dirty work. It’s weak, it’s insincere, and, most of all, it’s the height of cowardice.
What the article omits is that “the ballot box” implies not just a democratically-minded population, but a democratically-minded Establishment. That is questionable in the country Doyle first mentions, where all the indicators are that the last election was doctored, and this one is being heavily engineered by the press, and by (at least) Secret Service omission assisting Thomas Crooks.
It’s not that violent unrest is right, but that when democracy is compromised, it is sadly inevitable. In Germany the main opposition party is being outlawed (so where do voters put their “X”?), whilst over here, the Prime Minister, backed by press and law enforcement, are trying to claim membership of a defunct organisation for a majority of the country’s ordinary people.
Quite. Very few people actually want to have to risk injury or death in a literal fight for freedom, but that’s the only option left as we stare into the abyss. I’ve done a complete 180 on the right of US citizens to hold arms, and I never really understood it before – the right to bear arms is also the right for the people to overthrow a corrupt or malevolent government by force if necessary. Evil isn’t going to magically disappear by people making another wish in five years time.
Spot on regarding USA gun laws , with no public gun ownership then America we just about still recognise would have gone by now !
The US Second Amendment on “the right to bear arms” was taken directly from the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which resulted from the Catholic Massacres of Protestants:
“The Bill of Rights 1689 allowed Protestant citizens of England to “have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions and as allowed by Law”, restricted the ability of the English Crown to have a standing army, or to interfere with Protestants’ right to bear arms “when Papists were both Armed and Imployed contrary to Law”, and established that Parliament, not the Crown, could regulate the right to bear arms.”
Yours is a great quote well worth remembering:
“Evil isn’t going to magically disappear by people making another wish in five years time.”
Philosophically AD is right.
Violence to achieve political aims should not be considered normal or acceptable other than in situations where the government itself is systematically oppressing the people and they have no way of escaping.
Sadly in Britain the democratic system is very badly flawed so the people cannot get what they want by voting, the government uses official state entities and tax payer funds to suppress alternate points of view and actively undermines legitimate democratic campaigns.
In these circumstances there will come a time when a non-violent but vigorous physical demonstration by the people is required. The government of the day can be expected to use violence back, except maybe not if it is an islamist led demonstration.
One big question when assessing when that time has come is: before it gets terrible or after.
When the Scamdemic started and the Lockdowns kicked in I told family members that ultimately there would be blood on the streets. My comments were pooh-pood. Four years later my predictions are coming true and more blood will inevitably be spilled in the coming months. Of course we are being played but the incoming violence will still be real and not just scenes from a crummy BBC drama.
Perhaps I’m just a gullible fool and I admit I no longer have more than a tenuous grip on what is actually real but, I’ve watched the Robinson film ‘Silenced’ that Fraser Myers references and… well, he’s either an incredibly polished manipulator of the facts, telling lies or, what he says is true.
The film presents what he claims are facts, backed up with interviews and documents in the manner of Panorama… it should be fairly simple to investigate his claims and disprove them I’d have thought but the response is just to dismiss them, which seems both wrong and, perhaps, even dangerous?
I read Enemy of the State ( his book) 6 years ago , his life is on the line constantly , watch his interview with Jordan Peterson for a more in depth review . He is 100% Real with more courage than pretty much all of us 😇👍
Can someone tell Ed?
https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/08/europes-largest-wind-power-plant-stacks-up-hundreds-of-millions-in-losses/
Tech bubble crash accelerating:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Equities/Japan-stocks-take-largest-dive-since-the-Black-Monday-of-1987
Just another tragic sign of the times which serves as further confirmation that diversity is anything but our strength and multiculturalism is evidently an epic failure. In a nutshell, being proud of your country and showing signs of patriotism puts a target on your back. The solution? Appease, appease, appease; ”On 26 July Royal Navy officers were sent an email following the stabbing of an off-duty military officer discussing guidance around wearing uniforms outside of military bases. The email stated: “Further to the incident on 23rd July where an off-duty Army Officer was stabbed near Brompton Barracks, please find below guidance regarding the wearing of uniform in public: Members of the Armed Forces proudly wear their uniform, and this is an important part of our ethos.” “However, all people who wear a uniform are at greater risk from terrorism than the average member of the public, simply by virtue of the Military’s position in society and the ability for the public to recognise Service Personnel when in uniform.” “There is no ban on the wearing of uniform in public, but personnel should not feel compelled to wear it outside MOD establishments when common sense says a lower profile would be… Read more »
Hear, hear.
Worrying findings, but hardly surprising. Further supporting evidence that there really is no point on differentiating so-called ”moderate” from ”radical” Islam. Basically, Islam generally is the problem; ”Many defenders of Islam’s growing presence in the West say that moderate Islam needs to be promoted while “radical” Islam needs to be fought. However, one French journalist has now written a book, “At the heart of French Islam, Three years of infiltration in 70 mosques,” about his experience posing as a Muslim convert for three years and the various experiences he had with “moderate” imams. His book shows that even with these imams, which did not operate in any of the so-called radical mosques, that “the most brutal precepts of the Quran are transmitted literally but often with a smile.” What does that mean in practice? For the journalist, Etienne Delarcher, he says these imams are clear that “theocracy remains the ideal regime.” His book has been published under a pseudonym for fear of reprisals, but he also recorded his conversations as evidence of his claims. The views of these imams also have practical implications for how society would theoretically one day operate in France. “I asked 15 religious leaders whether the hands of… Read more »
Thanks for posting. One of the more difficult challenges when discussing the compatibility of Islam with western culture is this question of radical vs moderate Islam – so it is good to have some evidence that it is not simply an issue of radical Islam.
“Sending them back: The Horniman Museum and the restitution of its Benin Bronzes”
Less of a flying F#@k I couldn’t give!
Yeah 😉👍
“England’s GPs vote to take industrial action”
Yeay, labour’s back in, time to kick off for a big pay rise! 💷
A less industrious group, it would be hard to find…
👍 👍 👍
I don’t think the general public would be aware of GP’s taking industrial action if it wasn’t in the news. Their general performance has been abysmal especially since 2020.
The 22% increase in junior doctors pay was obviously going to inflame others wanting a bigger slice of the pie. However the government needs to get the support of junior medics as they will be instrumental in the future when successive jabathons are promoted for the coerced masses.
My understanding was the majority of GPs actually work for themselves or their practice – many with the NHS as their single largest customer. So what they actually mean is they are striking for a contract renewal between their businesses and the NHS?
“England’s GP’s?”
Does anybody know where they are?
Golfing?
On DEI and climate change conferences and study days…
In the local private clinic?
I hear they are planning to limit their day to seeing only 25 patients. So the service will improve at my surgery.
Morning Folks maybe you’ve covered Kier Stalinmers address to the Nation but I think he confirmed what us on DS knew was coming !
https://thenewconservative.co.uk/starmer-picks-a-side/
Frank Haviland rips Kneel a new one.
“Hoping to have your body deep-frozen and reanimated at some distant point in the future? ”
You’ve got to be fecking kidding me?
Why on earth would anyone want to be brought back to this mentally deranged planet?
I fervently hope Blair doesn’t choose to do this.
Rachel Reeves ‘will punish the prudent and successful to reward the feckless’.
It’s what the Conservatives have done for the last 14 years and key policy for globalists.
I hope all the candidate’s people have put their bets in early enough not to be suspicious?
If Sir Paul Marshall manages to buy the Spectator I expect him to stand above and generally away from editorial policy and individual issues. However, I hope he can apply. perhaps with a new editorial board, some sense to the lines taken by the Speccie.
I did not mind there being well argued contrary points of view, indeed any respectable magazine should publish them. What has annoyed me and led to me cancelling my subscription 2-3 years ago was the view of the editor that he should chose the leader of a political party.
With friends I first encountered him at a Gruges Group meeting soon after his appointment and he was shredded over the EU. He took the line that Tory MPs peddled about being unhappy but the words on paper did not mean what they said and a Conservative Party in government would always protect our interests.
He may have changed his line over time but the editorial direction of the Speccie leaves a lot to be desired and I will not be subscribing any time soon. The Critic for me as dead tree reading and various sub-stacks and DS and GF for a daily fix.
“Following a tip-off from Gordon Brown, British police are investigating whether Washington Post CEO Will Lewis destroyed evidence while working at News International 13 years ago, reports the Guardian.”
Is this the same GB who made a tip-off about the source of Brexit Party funds just days before an election. All based no nothing but his imagination. No evidence was found but the Electoral Commission managed to imply there might be faults as yet not found and reported after the election.
GB and the elites could not believe that so many little people would give £25 a time to support Brexit.
https://thenewconservative.co.uk/starmer-picks-a-side/
Frank Haviland at thenewconservative dissecting Kneel’s speech on the Southport riots. He absolutely rips the WEF apprentice apart.
“I remember predicting that Labour’s honeymoon would be short-lived – it’s now officially over. And judging by the callous nature of Starmer’s response, if he thinks he’s quelled the ugly, working-class, thuggish ’mob’, Christ he ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Terrific stuff.
Grab the popcorn the shows starting!
One thing I noticed, nowhere but nowhere in his speech did he mention the word immigration!!! The absolute core reason for all this unrest, my God, the hatred he must have for his own people
“Campaigners call on Labour to end foxhunting ‘loophole’”
Democracy is burning and they worry about fox hunting loopholes?
I’m going to risk incurring ire by the following comment! I lean towards thinking that the BBC were correct in not dismissing (or not renewing) Huw Edwards’s contract until he had pleaded guilty to at least one relevant charge. This applies to us all. Anyone can be accused, charged and indicted. However, what happens if the accused is suspended or dismissed early on (say after the accusation has been made but before any charges are made) and then there is no guilty verdict, or the charges are dropped by the prosecution? Any organisation takes action against somebody risks, in principle, being sued by that person. The presumption used to be “innocent until proved guilty”, which used to mean “getting a guilty verdict in the criminal courts based on beyond reasonable doubt”. Over the last fifty years that has been eroded down to “being suspected by a kangaroo court of one’s peers of not being wholly compliant with the values and objectives of the organisation (as decreed by central Government), based on a smear campaign choreographed by senior managers and some malevolent actors”. Regardless of the facts of this particular case (and I am sure there is a much bigger back… Read more »
I agree, as you say, innocent until proven guilty or we all lose!
You are right. Suspension on full pay until the accusations are proven. HR nightmare otherwise.
That’s easier said than done! What if there are no charges, or somebody is charged and then on police bail for a year? What if the charges are then dropped, or the case goes through case management (another year) and then the prosecution offers no evidence upon indictment? What if the defendant is self-employed or employed by a small company that cannot afford to pay somebody who is suspended for two years? If the case does not go past indictment and then into trial, nothing is published apart from the indictment and stark facts that the defendant was “formally found not guilty”. Then public attitude, especially in sex cases, is that defendant did commit the offences as indicted, or something close to it, but “got off on a technicality” and that “there is no smoke without fire”. Finally, if the defendant is genuinely completely innocent and there is no trial or no evidence is offered in court they will remain completely in the dark about what the case is really about, and will never have the opportunity to hear verbatim testimony under oath, nor had the opportunity to challenge the testimony. The final sting is many cases is that the… Read more »
“IOC is betraying women in worst possible way”
And yet, the female Nigerian “celebrity doctor” sneered,
“White Woman tears should be studied ….they’re so ridiculous.”
Dr Shola spews ‘white woman tears should be studied’ in savage Angela Carini rant after Imane Khelif victory (gbnews.com)
I wonder if one day a suspect will submit insanity in mitigation, based on a temporary delusion that they were Dr Who fighting a dalek invasion? Seriously, some people during a psychotic episode do indeed act out behaviour that they have read about or seen depicted on stage, film, or television, and even in real life. In some cases they temporarily believe that they have fantastic superhuman powers to detect and eradicate evil, and only energetic confrontation with reality at an appropriate juncture (or short sharp pharmaceutical intervention) will snap them out of it. In other cases, the opposite is true and the person develops delusions of victimhood or of being trapped in the wrong body. The important guideline is “never collude with other people’s delusions”.