News Round-Up
- “Defence boost brought forwards after Trump intervention, says Starmer” – Keir Starmer has signalled that Trump pushed the Government to fast-track its defence budget boost, according to Sky News.
- “This is a once-in-a-generation moment for the security of our Continent” – Labour will take the right decisions to keep our country safe as our defence spending commitments show, writes Rachel Reeves in the Telegraph.
- “‘Europe must step up on defence spending’” – Rachel Reeves has urged European allies to follow Britain and increase defence spending, according to Reuters.
- “How Starmer bounced Lammy into foreign aid cut” – In the Telegraph, Daniel Martin reveals how Keir Starmer’s defence splurge left David Lammy eating his words on foreign aid cuts.
- “Starmer’s defence spending hike isn’t enough” – If Starmer thinks he is taking a fattened calf to Washington, he may find President Trump’s assessment disappointing, writes Eliot Wilson in the Spectator.
- “Tractor tax ‘has wiped out hope for farmers’” – In his first address to the NFU Conference, NFU President Tom Bradshaw has called on the Government to set a new course for British food and farming, according to NFU Online.
- “Minister apologises to farmer whose elderly mother is ‘wishing her life away’ over tax raid” – Environment Secretary Steve Reed has apologised to a farmer whose 90 year-old mother is “wishing her life away” over the Government’s tractor tax raid, reports the Telegraph.
- “BBC removed references to ‘Jews’ and ‘jihad’ in Gaza documentary” – The BBC has been accused of “whitewashing” the views of participants in its controversial Gaza documentary after repeatedly mistranslating references to “the Jews” and omitting praise of “jihad”, says the Telegraph.
- “Non-crime hate incidents could be renamed rather than scrapped” – A senior policing figure has suggested that non-crime hate incidents could be renamed rather than being scrapped, according to the Telegraph.
- “‘Why I’ve decided to take legal action against the police’” – The Telegraph’s Allison Pearson is taking legal action against the police, calling out a system that allows citizens to be intimidated for expressing lawful opinions.
- “Free speech is not a virus” – On his Substack, Andrew Doyle says Ursula von der Leyen’s defence of censorship is a new low for the EU.
- “Indefinite Leave to Remain is wrecking the UK” – Britain is a soft touch when it comes to letting people stay here who will be a burden on the rest of us, says Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
- “The endless entitlement of Waspi women” – In this godforsaken era of feigned victimhood, is there any group less worthy of our sympathy than the Waspi women? asks James Hanson in the Spectator.
- “They don’t like us, we shouldn’t care” – The British Right must abandon ‘respectability’, says Pimlico Journal, and become more like Millwall.
- “Why BP is ditching renewables” – In the Spectator, Ross Clark reacts to news that BP is dropping its target to operate 50 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
- “Net Zero has rendered the energy price cap useless” – In the Telegraph, Jeremy Warner blasts the absurdity of the energy price cap, arguing that thanks to clueless government meddling, we now have a system that’s worse than just letting the market decide.
- “AR7 changes show Net Zero is not working” – If offshore wind is so cheap, why the endless subsidies, rule changes and taxpayer-funded bungs? asks David Turner on his Eigen Values Substack.
- “Donald Trump humiliated Emmanuel Macron” – The French media is repeating the Elysée line that Macron has rekindled his bromance with Donald Trump, but this is disconnected from reality, says Jonathan Miller in the Spectator.
- “NATO scrambles warplanes in Poland as Putin’s bombers pound Ukraine” – NATO has been forced to scramble its warplanes in Poland after Vladimir Putin used strategic bombers and missiles to attack neighbouring Ukraine, according to the Mail.
- “Putin signals he could agree to massive cuts in defence spending” – Putin has signalled he could agree to Trump’s proposals for massive defence cuts in return for the US doing the same, reports the Mail.
- “Zelensky ‘says yes to rare minerals deal with Donald Trump’” – Ukraine has agreed a minerals deal with the US in a big step towards a peace settlement just days after rejecting the plans, says the Mail.
- “Donald Trump is utterly wrong about Ukraine’s leadership” – “It’s unacceptable for any foreign leader to humiliate our President, decide when we should hold elections and lie about who started the war,” says Daria Kaleniuk in the Spectator.
- “Trump – not Zelensky – is Ukraine’s only hope” – Ukraine has become a paradox: a nation fighting for its sovereignty while dismantling its own democratic foundations, writes Oleksiy Kosach in the Spectator.
- “J.D. Vance responds to Trump’s refusal to endorse him” – In an interview with the Mail’s Rob Crilly, J.D. Vance shrugs off Trump’s non-endorsement, slams Europe’s woke elites and reminds Zelensky that public tantrums won’t sway the boss.
- “Some agencies urge staff not to comply with Elon Musk’s performance email” – FBI director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others have told employees not to respond to a directive from Elon Musk to summarise their accomplishments, according to Republic World.
- “‘We make our staff fill in time sheets – it’s only right the Civil Service does the same’” – In the Telegraph, Elliot Hammer, a law firm partner who makes his team log every six minutes, thinks Elon Musk is right – government staff should justify their time, just like the rest of us.
- “Trump is doing us a favour by targeting our dreadful tech laws” – Much like the EU, the UK has been concentrating on how to regulate technology instead of working out how to create a vibrant, growing industry of its own, writes Matthew Lynn in the Spectator.
- “North Korea steals $1.5 billion as it pulls off world’s biggest ever heist” – State-backed North Korean hackers have stolen £1.2 billion of cryptocurrency in the largest heist in history, according to Silicon.
- “The NHS crises that damned its low-profile boss” – Amanda Pritchard’s departure as NHS chief has come as a surprise to many – but failures and complacency sealed her fate, writes Laura Donnelly in the Telegraph.
- “Assisted dying committee votes down palliative amendment” – In the Spectator, Steerpike reflects on the baffling move by MPs to reject an amendment requiring patients to consider palliative care before opting for assisted suicide in Kim Leadbeater’s Bill.
- “Civil servants complain about working in office three days a week” – A survey by the FDA reveals that civil servants claim to work less effectively when forced into the office three days a week, reports the Mail.
- “Civil Service chief defies unions and MPs on working from home” – The head of the Civil Service has rejected calls to rewrite rules requiring staff to come to the office three days a week, saying that the policy is “about right”, according to the Times.
- “MS patients suffer side-effects after NHS England switches to cheaper drug” – Scores of people with multiple sclerosis have suffered debilitating side-effects after being put on to a cheaper new drug as part of an NHS drive to save money.
- “Doctors sound alarm over mystery illness after 50 people die suddenly” – A mystery disease has killed more than 50 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just hours after symptoms began, reports the Mail.
- “Violins out for the ‘traumatised’ Covid journalists” – In TCW, Dr Roger Watson slams the Italian media’s lingering Covid PTSD.
- “Open letter to RFK Jr. from Sasha Latypova” – In an open letter on Debbie Lerman’s Substack, Sasha Latypova urges Secretary Kennedy to end the contrived Covid emergency, scrap the PREP Act shield protecting Big Pharma and prove he truly cares about vaccine victims.
- “The FDA’s top regulator just took a senior job at Pfizer” – On Substack, Alex Berenson calls out the FDA’s top regulator-turned-Pfizer exec Patrizia Cavazzoni for a 25-year track record of prioritising Big Pharma over patient safety.
- “None of the 70,000 adverse events of puberty blocking drugs were a ‘safety priority’ for Biden’s FDA” – On Substack, Dr Robert W. Malone exposes how Biden’s FDA ignored 70,000 adverse events from puberty blockers.
- “Unilever boss quits as company struggles to move on from ‘social purpose’” – The boss of Unilever has been ousted as the business struggles after backing progressive causes for years, reports the Telegraph.
- “Nelson makes way for Yvette Cooper portrait in Parliament’s diversity drive” – Paintings of Lord Nelson have been taken down under plans to make Parliament’s artworks more diverse, says GB News.
- “A girl and her dad” – Read the latest instalment in Paul Sutton’s Drenching Arms series.
- “Chris O’Dowd becomes latest star to back ‘cancelled’ Graham Linehan” – Chris O’Dowd is the latest star to back Graham Linehan after the Father Ted creator was “cancelled” for his outspoken criticisms of transgender issues, reports the Mail. Better late than never.
- “The Left are hypocrites on diversity – and here’s how to prove it” – In the Telegraph, Michael Deacon calls out the Left’s quota-driven mindset for ignoring common sense and merit.
- “Apple investors defy Trump and vote to keep diversity policies” – Apple shareholders have voted to keep the iPhone maker’s DEI policies, despite pressure to drop them from President Trump and conservative activists, reports the Times.
- “Kathleen Kennedy was supposed to save Star Wars – instead she ruined it” – So-so TV shows, a bungled trilogy, countless films stuck in limbo… the outgoing head of Lucasfilm has turned Star Wars into a spent force, says Robbie Collin in the Telegraph.
- “South Park summed her up” – Watch the clip of Kathleen Kennedy demanding more gay female characters in all Disney films on South Park, courtesy of End Wokeness.
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“Nelson makes way for Yvette Cooper portrait in Parliament’s diversity drive”
National heroes out, political pygmies in.
Load of Balls pixiellating up her own orifices.
I take it the downtick was accidental?
Happened pronto while I was still on here earlier this morning.
Perhaps Mr Balls is spying on the Sceptic, reporting back to Mrs Balls and doing what he’s told to?
It really is the politics of the student union.
I mean who do they think they are playing to?
It really underlines the total disconnect between Westminster and reality, and particularly the Labour leadership
Starmer’s defence spending hike isn’t enough Putin will not be invading Britain. Putin will not be firing ballistic missiles at Britain. Why would he? What possible benefit would Russia derive from such actions? We know what his intentions are because he has helpfully set them out in a foreign policy document dated 31 March 2023: https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/fundamental_documents/1860586/ ‘deep historical ties with the traditional European culture……determine Russia’s special position as a unique country-civilization…..that brings together the Russian people and other peoples belonging to the cultural and civilizational community of the Russian world.’ Russia, then, is not a country, it is a massive ‘civilisation’ that ‘brings people together’……. And so what are Putin’s intentions regarding Europe? ‘….reducing and neutralizing threats to security, territorial integrity, sovereignty, traditional spiritual and moral values, and socio-economic development of Russia, its allies and partners from unfriendly European states, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the Council of Europe;’ ‘Objective prerequisites for the formation of a new model of coexistence with European states are geographical proximity’ ‘The realization by the states of Europe that there is no alternative to peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial equal cooperation with Russia….help European states take their proper place in the… Read more »
I couldn’t find this in your list “ to establish good neighbourly relations with contiguous states, and contribute to the prevention and elimination of tensions and conflicts in their territories;”
EU TReaties require it to develop good relations and cooperate with neighbouring states but their treatment of the UK before, during and since the Brexit negotiations has been akin to bullying. Unfortunately our representatives were a combination of weak knee benders and enthusiastic colonial subjects of Brussels.
Once again you pick and choose selected phrases from a 31-page document to underline your personal opinion of Russia, its people and its President, portraying them all as some sort of evil monster determined to destroy the most wonderful and unquestionable bastion of democracy, The West. You begin by quoting from section I. General provisions: 4. More than a thousand years of independent statehood, the cultural heritage of the preceding era, deep historical ties with the traditional European culture and other Eurasian cultures, and the ability to ensure harmonious coexistence of different peoples, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups on one common territory, which has been developed over many centuries, determine Russia’s special position as a unique country-civilization and a vast Eurasian and Euro-Pacific power that brings together the Russian people and other peoples belonging to the cultural and civilizational community of the Russian world. 5. Russia’s place in the world is determined by its significant resources in all areas of living, its status of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, participant in the leading intergovernmental organizations and associations, one of the two largest nuclear powers, and the successor (continuing legal personality) of the Union of Soviet Socialist… Read more »
Regarding Europe, again with my emphasis in bold: 59. Most European states pursue an aggressive policy toward Russia aimed at creating threats to the security and sovereignty of the Russian Federation, gaining unilateral economic advantages, undermining domestic political stability and eroding traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, and creating obstacles to Russia’s cooperation with allies and partners. In this connection, the Russian Federation intends to consistently defend its national interests by giving priority attention to: – reducing and neutralizing threats to security, territorial integrity, sovereignty, traditional spiritual and moral values, and socio-economic development of Russia, its allies and partners from unfriendly European states, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the Council of Europe; – creating conditions for the cessation of unfriendly actions by European states and their associations, for a complete rejection of the anti Russian course (including interference in Russia’s internal affairs) by these states and their associations, and for their transition to a long-term policy of good-neighbourliness and mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia; – the formation of a new model of coexistence by European states to ensure the safe, sovereign and progressive development of Russia, its allies and partners, and durable peace in the European… Read more »
As for your obsession with underpants and Novichok, the use of such a dangerous chemical in public would certainly affect more than one or two individuals and, as others have pointed out, one source of Novichok in the world can be found in UK’s Porton Down.
‘Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Skripal poisoning in the UK claiming that the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down, a UK Ministry of Defence agency, was somehow responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury and that the Laboratory might have manufactured Novichok. This is one of the many competing and contradictory narratives promulgated by Russian state-controlled media, to confuse their audience and exclude any possibility of Russian involvement. British police and intelligence investigations have produced hard forensic evidence which was sufficient to charge two Russian nationals, identified as officers of the Russian Military Intelligence, GRU, for the attack on the Skripals. Parts of the material have been released to the public. The toxin used in the attack was identified as a nerve agent at the Porton Down Laboratory. The Laboratory has not done tests with nerve agents since 1989 but is still able to identify these toxins, to protect British civilians and troops from attacks. The nerve agent has been identified as Novichok (which means newcomer in Russian). It is known to be more powerful than VX and was developed in Russia in the 1970s and 1980s. Novichok is so unusual that very few scientists outside of Russia have any real experience in dealing… Read more »
If Porton Down is able to analyse substances so as to identify Novichok, I suggest they probably have some experience in handling the stuff. Furthermore, if Porton Down is a top secret government establishment, you will have no idea whatsoever what they actually do.
‘A Russian agent involved in the cleanup of the near-fatal nerve-agent poisoning of Alexei Navalny in August has revealed in an inadvertent confession how the Russian activist’s underpants were smeared with the toxin Novichok by an intelligence unit from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). His disclosure was made in a remarkable and lengthy phone conversation with Navalny himself, who posed as a high-ranking Russian official wanting to know why the assassination bid failed. Investigative news outlet Bellingcat collaborated with Navalny and listened in on the conversation. Konstantin Kudryavtsev, a member of a suspected FSB intelligence squad, revealed in the 49-minute conversation how the assassination plan was organized and overseen. He disclosed details of the subsequent cleanup operation to erase any evidence of the murder attempt, which took place on August 20 in Siberia’s Tomsk. Navalny almost died from the poisoning and was transferred to a German hospital after an international outcry. Tests in Berlin indicated the presence of the nerve agent Novichok in his body. Last week, Bellingcat, along with a handful of media partners, unmasked the members of the unit behind the assassination operation. They mined open-source data and obtained cellphone logs on the black market for their… Read more »
‘His main gripe with me is that he’ll go down in history as a poisoner,’ Navalny told the court scornfully.
‘We had Alexander the Liberator, Yaroslav the Wise, and we will have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner.’
‘His consistent message was a simple one: that Mr Putin’s party was full of “crooks and thieves’
‘He accused the president of “sucking the blood out of Russia” through a “feudal state” concentrating power in the Kremlin. That patronage system, he claimed, was like tsarist Russia.
It helped that Navalny spoke the street language of younger Russians, and used it to powerful effect on social media. His Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) made detailed claims about official corruption.’
Scott Ritter wrote a lengthy article on Navalny: The Tragic Death of a Traitor, Part 1 of which is here: https://dissidentvoice.org/2024/02/the-tragic-death-of-a-traitor/.
An excerpt:
In 2007 Navalny co-founded the democratic nationalist National Russian Liberation Movement, an umbrella organization which attracted far-right, ultranationalist movements … Navalny made two videos during this time as a means of introducing the new party to a larger Russian public. The first video had Navalny comparing Muslims in Russia to pests and ended with Navalny shooting a Muslim with a handgun, then declaring that pistols were to Muslims like flyswatters and slippers were to flies and cockroaches. The second video had Navalny comparing interethnic conflict to dental cavities, implying that the only solution was extraction.
He was known to have worked for the CIA (https://tass.com/politics/1207373) and should never have returned to Russia.
‘Recurring disinformation narrative about the West’s involvement with Alexei Navalny. There are no grounds for connecting any Western secret service to Navalny. The entire article is based on the statements of Russian ruling party politicians and officials, such as the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky. The statements of Russian politicians were shared uncritically, without any evidence backing up the claims. No evidence was presented.’ ‘It is very, very unlikely for several reasons: He was simply too high-profile. You really don’t want information from people that well-known. It is just too risky for the handler and the person. Navalny was not really a member of anyone’s inner circle. He was unlikely to have very much information that would bee of value to the CIA and which could be independently verified. He may have come across some information as an opposition leader, but he has been publishing this sort of information for years, not selling or giving it to the CIA. Navalny was a member of the opposition. They are under extreme scrutiny in authoritarian countries. And Navalny had been in prison in isolation for some time. There are much better… Read more »
There is video evidence of Navalny requesting large sums of money from a Western intelligence agent. And, no, I cannot be bothered to search for it. I leave it to our huge audience to decide whether Navalny was a CIA agent or not.
Oh my head! 🤕
“Non-crime hate incidents could be renamed rather than scrapped”
‘A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet’
Equally, changing the name of nchi’s would still reek of sh!t, by any other name!
“Net Zero has rendered the energy price cap useless”
In the above article the first chart we’re offered shows that ‘European gas prices peaked in early February’. The chart covers only one year and has a non-zero y axis – essentially more than a third of the chart’s blank space has been cut off to visually exaggerate the price rise and it hides the effect of post lockdown demand on prices. The chart is labelled ‘Source Bloomberg’. I’m not sure if the attribution is just the data or the whole chart, either way it’s misleading.
Given the high gas prices, wouldn’t it be wonderful if Britain could reap the tax benefits of capturing some of the market by satisfying the demand? Of course, we would have to have built the capability of rapidly adjusting production to take best advantage of market changes.
We’re often told that our high energy prices are driven by our reliance on supply from petrostate dictators. If Britain supplied enough of our own gas to drive the price down then electricity prices would be independent of these external forces. Then we might finally see how inexpensive renewables really are… Oh, wait…
“Donald Trump is utterly wrong about Ukraine’s leadership”
Is he? There’s no smoke without fire and Trump has been proved correct many times before even when people laughed at him!
“Doctors sound alarm over mystery illness after 50 people die suddenly”
(In the Congo!)
SCAMDEMIC incoming!
(We could just quarantine (or ban) any one trying to enter the country from Congo,..but where’s the profit in that? No pandemic, no vaccine sales!)
A headline which repeats a couple of times a year regular as clockwork.
They haven’t yet managed to turn it into a global catastrophe, probably because Gates is in charge.
If it was Elon we’d all be dead by now.
Trump sparks outrage with AI video of his vision for Gaza that includes bizarre bearded belly dancers and a statue of himself | Daily Mail Online
Here is the gigantic golden statue of Trump:
And here is a gigantic golden statue of Vishnu:
Official White House X account posts image of ‘king’ Trump wearing crown
Will Trump be rebuilding Babylon in Gaza, ancient home of the Philistines, the enemy of the Israelites?
“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.”
Daniel 3:1
Daniel 3: 4-6
4
Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
5
That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
6
And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:1-6 1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: 6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning… Read more »
Defence boost brought forwards after Trump intervention, says Starmer
Mrs Badenoch had a point. She just didn’t make it very well.
Starmer:
‘We will bring that target forward so we meet it in 2027. That is an increase of £13.4 billion year on year compared to where we are today’
IFS:
‘As a minor note to what is a major announcement, the Prime Minister followed in the steps of the last government by announcing a misleadingly large figure for the “extra” defence spending this announcement entails. An extra 0.2% of GDP is around £6 billion, and this is the size of the cut to the aid budget. Yet he trumpeted a £13 billion increase in defence spending.’
Starmer says ‘year on year’ £13 billion but only gets £6 billion from overseas aid.
He then explained in parliament that the £13 billion was in fact over two years.
So, yesterday, he lied, again.