News Round-Up
- “Rayner leads Labour MPs in revolt against Starmer” – Angela Rayner has forced Sir Keir Starmer into an about-turn over his handling of the Lord Mandelson scandal, reports the Telegraph.
- “Keir Starmer fights for his future over Peter Mandelson scandal” – Sir Keir Starmer and his chief of staff are fighting for their political futures after the prime minister admitted he was warned about Lord Mandelson’s friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him as ambassador to the US, says the Times.
- “Labour MPs say Starmer’s days as PM are numbered amid fury over Mandelson” – Labour MPs have warned that Keir Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered after a day of fury over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Guardian.
- “Disowned by his MPs, despised by the public, Starmer must know the game is up” – According to the bookies, Sir Keir Starmer is odds-on to leave No 10 this year, and if they are right, history might look back on Feb 4 as the day his departure became inevitable, writes Gordon Rayner in the Telegraph.
- “These are the humiliating death throes of Starmer’s sordid regime” – The grotesque Mandelson scandal is an epoch-defining indictment of the Labour establishment, says Allister Heath in the Telegraph.
- “That photo of Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre is real and I introduced them, admits Ghislaine Maxwell in damning emails that blow Pizza Express alibi apart” – A bombshell email confirms that the infamous photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around his chief accuser is genuine, reports the Mail.
- “Peter Mandelson and the phoney moral superiority of Labour” – Sleaze defined New Labour, and it didn’t just sully the so-called Prince of Darkness, says Tom Slater in the Spectator.
- “The Mandelson scandal is a symptom of deeper decay” – The Mandelson affair is less a one-off embarrassment and more a sign that something is badly wrong at the heart of British politics, argues Bishop Ceirion H. Dewar in TCW.
- “Dozens of Labour MPs threaten rebellion over Mahmood’s migrant crackdown” – Nearly 50 Labour MPs have lined up to defy their own leadership over Shabana Mahmood’s migration crackdown, reports the GB News.
- “Britain’s shameful tolerance for terrorism” – From home to abroad, British institutions have shown a worrying habit of looking the other way on extremism, says Jonathan Sacerdoti in the Spectator.
- “Palestine Action activists acquitted amid ‘jury tampering’ claims” – A jury has acquitted six Palestine Action activists of mounting a raid on an Israeli defence company’s British factory in which military equipment worth more than £1 million was destroyed and a female police officer was left with a fractured spine, reports the Times.
- “The Palestine Action acquittals are telling British Jews they have no future here” – Politicians repeat the mantra that there is no place for anti-Semitism on our streets, but the evidence says differently, writes Stephen Pollard in the Telegraph.
- “Lucy Connolly’s racial hatred charge was fast-tracked” – Lucy Connolly had her prosecution for stirring up racial hatred fast-tracked for approval by Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, according to the Telegraph.
- “Finally we have the proof that Lucy Connolly was stitched up” – Newly disclosed documents reveal what millions of us knew all along – our authoritarian Government was determined to make an example of Lucy Connolly, says Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
- “Schoolgirl, 15, was ‘hysterical’ after telling teacher she was ‘raped by Labour mayor’s son who helped cover it up’, court hears” – A court has heard harrowing claims of rape and an attempted cover-up involving a Labour mayor’s son, reports the Mail.
- “Moment masked gang tears statue off plinth in London park” – A brazen theft has seen a masked gang rip a bronze statue from its plinth in a London park, says the Mail.
- “Starmer’s legal record called out” – Keir Starmer’s past decisions have been dragged back into the spotlight, reports Steerpike in the Spectator.
- “Jenrick and Braverman accidentally vote for two child cap to be removed” – New Reform UK recruits Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick “accidentally” voted against the party line on the Government’s plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap, according to LBC.
- “Ban on phones in schools backed by House of Lords” – Peers have backed a schools phone ban as pressure mounts to rein in children’s smartphone use, says the BBC.
- “A new law will allow women to abort babies for any reason – including their sex – right up to full term” – Two Commons votes last year pushed through in a single week dramatically reshaped Britain’s approach to abortion and assisted dying, warns Rosa Monckton in the Mail.
- “Ethics? What ethics?” – The Government has quietly greenlit puberty blocker trials that will see powerful drugs given to children, says Maya Forstater in the Critic.
- “Trump expected to approve Starmer’s Chagos deal” – President Trump is set to approve Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos deal after Downing Street offered him extra security guarantees, reports GB News. Say it ain’t so!
- “Why Macron has declared war on X” – Emmanuel Macron has picked a fight with X as a way of shoring up an authority he no longer commands, suggests Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator.
- “Move over Ireland, there is a new worst country in Europe” – Spain has taken Ireland’s place as Europe’s political basket case, argues Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
- “How institutional failures undermine trust in science” – In Trellis, a professor details his futile efforts to correct a study on sustainability that’s been cited 6,000 times.
- “Alton Towers bans theme park goers with ADHD and anxiety from using disability pass to avoid queues” – Alton Towers has tightened its rules in a move that has shut some disabled visitors out of queue-jump passes, reports the Mail.
- “KNMI reinstates pre-1950 heatwaves: victory for climate sceptics” – Dutch officials have quietly restored erased heatwave records after years of sceptical pushback, reveals Marcel Crok in Clintel.
- “Climate scientist who predicted end of ‘heavy frost and snow’ now refuses media inquiries” – A climate scientist who once forecast mild winters has gone suspiciously quiet as heavy frost and snow keep returning, notes P. Gosselin on No Tricks Zone.
- “Turning ‘what if’ into ‘how many’: the rhetorical alchemy of climate modelling” – Climate models quietly turn speculation into seemingly solid numbers, blurring the line between uncertainty and certainty, argues Charles Rotter in Watts Up With That?
- “No, Al-Jazeera, climate change hasn’t altered African flood and drought patterns” – Claims that climate change is driving Africa’s floods and droughts are overblown and unsupported by the long-term record, says Anthony Watts in ClimateRealism.
- “ABC: Green China is building lots of backup coal plants because they need reliable energy” – China has been quietly hedging its green ambitions by piling up new coal plants to guarantee power when renewables fall short, writes Eric Worrall in Watts Up With That?
- “The Church of anti-racism” – Anglicanism has drifted into a secular faith where progressive process has replaced theology, argues Sebastian Milbank in the Critic.
- “We let Nigel Farage visit our bar – now we are being called Nazis” – A popular Newcastle bar say they are shocked their staff have been horrifically abused after Nigel Farage visited their venue, reports the Metro.
- “Tech stocks plunge as AI fears take hold” – Tech stocks have plunged as fears about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and concerns about demand for microchips grip Wall Street, according to the Telegraph.
- “Holly Valance’s anti-woke song flies to the top of iTunes chart in Australia overtaking Olivia Dean and Harry Styles” – Holly Valance has seen her anti-woke single rocket to number one despite Apple Music pulling the song from its platform, reports the Mail.
- “Starmer knew” – In PMQs, Keir Starmer squirms under a grilling from Kemi Badenoch over how much he knew about Peter Mandelson’s relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as Ambassador to Washington.
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“We let Nigel Farage visit our bar – now we are being called Nazis”
By people who approve of cancelling elections, who hate jews, who think we should jail people with different political view, and do away with jury trials.? Who’s the Nazi now.?
“Palestine Action activists acquitted amid ‘jury tampering’ claims”
The saddest thing about this is that anyone vaguely on the right could have told you, before the arrest paperwork was filled out, that this would be the outcome. We cannot trust our institutions and systems not to be politically motivated. Let off because of the ‘poor Palestinians’.
It is the same in the US where the death of two foolish people are taken as no more than some political capital to further their ideology.
The Mandelson scandal is a symptom of deeper decay
‘…a sign that something is badly wrong at the heart of British politics’
Not just British politics but the upper echelons of the entire British public sector…a culture of ‘Omerta’, absolute secrecy to protect each other.
That is the real sickness…which breeds, at a lower level, a culture of fear; management by fear; toxic management.
Perhaps the best example? Throughout the NHS, everyone knew that ‘covid’ was simply a common cold coronavirus…but only a tiny minority spoke out, many of whom were warned, disciplined, in some cases dismissed.
Where else have we seen a similar culture? Pretty much everywhere that totalitarian socialism exists.
‘Those people nowadays who say they would have stood up against the Nazis – I believe they are sincere in meaning that, but believe me, most of them wouldn’t have.’
Brunhilde Pomsel 2016
A reforming government, systemic reform, is required.
‘We are the masters at the moment, and not only at the moment, but for a very long time to come.’
Hartley Shawcross 1946
‘Public service’ is supposed to be just exactly that.
Mandleson has shown, all too clearly, what it has become.
Where did it start?
Time for ‘Blair’s Britain’ to be returned back to the voters.
Wednesday Morning Bracknell
And kill.
The Epstein story alone is genuinely world-shaking, and the Starmer-Mandelson mess, as the greatest political crisis since the abdication of Edward VIII, certainly newsworthy.
Still, it’s a shame that the rest of the front pages are full of trivia, and have entirely neglected the crowd-funded rape-gang inquiry (surely on a par with the Epstein story for horror), and the intelligence report released by Tulsi Gabbard on the direct involvement of Barak Obama in undermining Trump’s first presidency (surely on a par with Mandelson as a political scandal).
I see they found plenty of room for Christopher Steele, and a bunch of other cognoscenti, to blame Putin for the Western elite’s depravity. I suppose we should call the current chaos “a controlled explosion,” as the deception machine remains even when the Empires tarts to collapse.
“The Church of anti-racism”
The Archbishop labelled reparations “a gospel issue.” Very similar to the progressives in the US Southern Baptist movement defining critical race theory as “a gospel issue.”
Thereby both lots show that they have no idea of the content of the gospel (“good news”) that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but that full and free forgiveness is available through individual repentance and faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
There is no other “gospel issue.”
We are redeemed, not by the resurrection of the physical form, but by true remorse and repentance for sin, by asking forgiveness of Almighty God, by doing our best to sin no more, by full immersion baptism of our own free will, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and by the blood, sacrifice and earthly death of E-on Christ the Baptist, the True Christ, soon to be heralded by his non-identical twin brother E-zus the Forerunner (There was no “J” in ancient Hebrew), both sent into the world by E-ah-weh at Ein Karem, through the womb of their mother E-lizabeth, before the Impostor calling herself “Virgin Mary” the Baby Thief stole newborn E-zus, smuggled him seven miles away to Bethlehem, so she could claim he was born in the city of David, corrupted him from infancy to turn him from his path, and deceived the world into worshipping her & her Stolen Child for 2000 years. But the Time of Evil is Over. Comes the Time of Joy, Justice, Truth & Rescue of Good Souls & Repentant Sinners. For We Are Redeemed, and no one has the right to hold us… Read more »
“The grotesque Mandelson scandal is an epoch-defining indictment of the Labour establishment”
Agreed, its a disgusting mess but, epoch defining? ..i must inform the universe!”Mandy is in his underpants” fetch me a bucket to mop up the sick 🤢 🤮 !
I agree. I think it more falls into the “Westminster tittle tattle” category. I expect a bit of sleaze and could forgive it if they didn’t hate this country and were not actively trying to destroy it.
I know – my eyes may never recover.
“Starmer’s regime”. Hmm. I’m no fan of his but it’s not “his” regime. It is globalist woke socialism, with us for decades now, across the rich world. Tiny part in a huge machine.
My reaction exactly.
Starmer is an apparatchik in a system.
People matter, character matters, but I do wish journalists and other commentators would get out of the unhelpful habit of personalising everything. It’s about ideas and what people then go on to actually do – and in that regard with few exceptions the poltical leaders and broader political and establishment class have been following a similar line for decades.
“Moment masked gang tears statue off plinth in London park” – A brazen theft has seen a masked gang rip a bronze statue from its plinth in a London park”
A great case for facial recognition!
Proof that surveillance cameras don’t stop crime, they just film it!
It is tedious having to login at least once and usually more often every day.
No problems like that this end – need to re-logon I think every 30 days only (iPhone/ipad)
I have been making this point for a few days now but nobody has bothered to respond. Perhaps if I use a fucking swear word somebody will wake up. Strikes me the DS community mirrors the population at large – we quietly and politely complain and just hope somebody will listen. And when nothing happens we go quiet until it enrages once again.
Brilliant 🤣🤣
I don’t mind logging in as many times a day as I visit this website, but that’s just my personal view. It only takes a few seconds.
I’ll say it again, that it is likely that the selection of Mandelscandal as ambassador was the connivance of Morgan McSweeney, Starmer being there to merely rubber-stamp the appointment. While we await further unraveling, it may become clear that Starmer is the figurehead, others are pulling the strings.
That could explain why he so often walks in such a weird and unnatural fashion.
Mandelscandal ! Loving it!! Also a post somewhere today: Mandelslime.
The other aspect of the vetting process still to be fully opened is Mandelson’s “friendship” with Oleg Deripaska spanning several years while Mandelson was an EU trade commissioner. Famously, Mandelson made a visit to the oligarch’s yacht “while on holiday in Corfu” (as did George Osborne, on a separate occasion), the so-called “yachtgate” scandal. Given that it appears that Epstein was also communicating with rich Russians, there’s likely to be more to these connections – surely our secret services were aware when the background dossier was compiled for the ambassadorial investigation?
Didn’t the Russian make money from aluminium? And Mandalscandal intervened three times over tariffs in that sector, in his official capacity?
“That photo of Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre is real and I introduced them, admits Ghislaine Maxwell in damning emails that blow Pizza Express alibi apart”
Some cheerful public comments from the DM:
—“Where is Fergie? Anyone know?”
—“In a cave. Upside down, no doubt.”
—“That’s insulting to bats!”