News Round-Up
- “‘Weak’ Starmer faces Labour meltdown and demands for Commons vote after ‘U-turning’ to let Trump launch ‘defensive’ strikes against Iran from British military bases” – Sir Keir Starmer has angered his own Left-wing by allowing Donald Trump to launch ‘defensive’ strikes on Iran from UK bases, reports the Mail.
- “I’m ‘very disappointed’ in Starmer over Iran” – Donald Trump has told theTelegraph he’s “very disappointed” in Starmer for blocking US access to Diego Garcia during the Iran operation.
- “International law is not a suicide pact” – The US and Israel have acted both morally and legally against Iran – international law doesn’t demand national suicide, says Jeff Blackett in the Spectator.
- “Green by-election win shows UK electoral system is sinking to Third World status, says Nigel Farage” – Nigel Farage has slammed the Green by-election victory as proof the British voting system has sunk to “Third World” levels – especially with foreign nationals allowed to vote, reports the Mail.
- “Postal ballots undermined by family voting” – In the Telegraph, election observer group Democracy Volunteers warns that postal voting has left people open to coercion and family pressure.
- “List of countries that can vote in UK elections” – Citizens from a surprisingly long list of foreign countries have been able to vote in British elections – and some politicians have actively encouraged them, writes Charlotte Gill on her Substack.
- “Ban London march linked to Iranian regime, MPs demand” – Labour MPs and peers have called for an annual march linked to the Iranian regime to be banned, warning it risks inflaming tensions and will provide a platform for extremism, says theTimes.
- “Mahmood could hit Pakistan with UK visa ban” – Pakistan is at risk of being hit with a UK visa ban as official figures show just 4% of failed asylum seekers are returned to the country, reports the Telegraph.
- “Andy Burnham ‘to cut a deal with Zack Polanski’ as PM sweats over his future” – Supporters of Andy Burnham claim the Manchester mayor would establish a partnership with the Green Party and abolish first-past-the-post voting in favour of proportional representation should he replace Sir Keir Starmer as PM, according to GB News.
- “Labour is damaging the economy, says Tony Blair” – Even Tony Blair has warned that Labour’s current policies are hurting the economy with punishing taxes and red tape, says the Telegraph.
- “Starmer’s former aide warns: Lurch to the left will ruin Labour” – A former adviser to the PM says that Labour will become “one of the guilty actors in Britain’s modern era of decline” if Sir Keir Starmer gives in to his Left-wing critics on migration reforms, reports the Times.
- “Unemployment set to hit 10-year high” – Unemployment is set to hit a 10-year high, as Rachel Reeves declares she has the “right economic plan” for Britain, according to the Telegraph.
- “UK risks splitting into ‘parallel societies’” – Kemi Badenoch has pledged to overhaul equality law, rewrite the national curriculum and end what she called “state-sponsored identity politics”, reports the Times.
- “Parents locked their children in cars as ‘knifeman’ terrorised estate” – Terrified parents in Edinburgh locked their kids inside cars to shield them from a blood-soaked knifeman rampaging across an estate, according to the Mail.
- “Rachel Reeves’ ‘friend’ the fanatical Jew-hating Islamic preacher who shares videos of terrorists and posts numerous antisemitic rants” – Rachel Reeves has come under fire from Reform for being friendly with an Islamist preacher notorious for his antisemitic rants, says the Mail.
- “Antisemitic incidents happening almost every day in Ireland” – Ireland has seen almost 150 antisemitic incidents in just six months, according to the Telegraph.
- “Were fans wrong to boo the Ramadan fast-breaking footballers?” – Leeds fans booed when Muslim players paused a Premier League match to break their Ramadan fast and, in the Spectator, Patrick West asks whether that reaction shows intolerance or just frustration with top-down multiculturalism.
- “How Ayatollah ran $95 billion business empire built by seizing thousands of Iranians’ properties then selling them for profit” – Ali Khamenei built a £95 billion business empire by confiscating and flipping Iranians’ properties before his death, reveals the Mail.
- “Iranians flood social media with videos of them ‘doing the Trump dance’ to thank President for eliminating Khamenei” – Iranians have taken to social media in huge numbers, posting ‘Trump dance’ videos to celebrate the US taking out Supreme Leader Khamenei, reports the Mail.
- “Trump says US ready to fight Iran for ‘far longer’ than four weeks and he won’t get ‘bored’ if it drags out” – Donald Trump has assured the American public that the US was equipped to fight a lengthy war with Iran if necessary, but boasted that Operation Epic Fury was already ahead of schedule, according to the Mail.
- “Lockdowns: a matter of timing?” – Lockdowns, tiers, curfews and travel bans have come and gone so chaotically since 2020 that timing looks more like guesswork than science, argue Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson on the Trust the Evidence Substack.
- “The sediments don’t support the 1.5°C panic” – Tropical marine life has apparently shrugged off temperatures way above 1.5 °C in the past according to sediment records, so maybe we don’t need to hit the panic button just yet, writes Charles Rotter in Watts Up With That?
- “Mass protests planned over AI ‘putting the UK’s climate targets at risk’” – Climate campaigners have now turned their sights on power-hungry AI data centres they say are wrecking Britain’s Net Zero dreams, reports Eric Worrall in Watts Up With That?
- “The same old talking points” – Another piece has trotted out the usual Net Zero cheerleading lines while quietly admitting the sums might not add up, writes Mark Hodgson in Climate Scepticism.
- “Severe natural drought shaped Easter Island’s history” – Fresh rainfall data reconstructed from isotopes have shown Easter Island suffered a brutal century-long drought in the 1500s, which rather puts the famous eco-collapse story in a different light, says Jo Nova at Clintel.
- “CNN’s Bill Weir says it’s ‘not cold enough’ to ice skate in Central Park – roll tape” – Bill Weir has told viewers Central Park doesn’t get cold enough for skating anymore thanks to climate change, except videos have already proved him wrong this winter, notes Thomas Catenacci in Climate Change Dispatch.
- “Health official who halted puberty blocker trial removed over trans-critical views” – The MRHA official behind the pause of the NHS’s puberty blocker trial has been blocked from any further involvement amid accusations of bias because he believes sex is real, reports GB News.
- “Parents prepare for court battle to protect children from BBC ‘pro-trans bias’” – A group of parents has started legal action against the BBC, claiming it pushes pro-trans content on vulnerable young viewers, reports the Telegraph.
- “My daughter’s all-girls school accepted a trans pupil – and refused to admit it” – In the Telegraph, a concerned mother reveals how her daughter’s all-girls school quietly admitted a biological male.
- “‘Boil in a bag’ funerals come to Britain” – Scotland has become the first UK nation to allow “boil in a bag” alkaline hydrolysis funerals that dissolve bodies into liquid flushed down the drain, reports the Mail.
- “Morrissey is the last rock rebel” – Morrissey’s defiant O2 gig in London felt like a glorious two-fingers to cancel culture, says Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator.
- “However mean your life is, meet it and live it” – Thoreau’s old advice to face life head-on no matter how tough it gets has never felt more relevant, reflects Spiff on Substack.
- “Paralegal sacked for recording just SIX MINUTES of work in a month sued for racism after a colleague sent him an article criticising Prince Harry” – A paralegal who billed just six minutes of work in a month at a top London law firm sued his employers for racism after a colleague sent him a newspaper article criticising Prince Harry, reports the Mail.
- “It is unacceptable that at UCL today students are celebrating the Ayatollah who is an enemy of Britain, while gender critical feminists are being kicked off campus” – Conservative MP Laura Trott condemns two-tierism at Britain’s universities, which tolerate far-Left extremism, while punishing anything coded ‘far Right’.
If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Friday Morning Observer Way Aborfield
“‘Boil in a bag’ funerals come to Britain”
There’s a saying about ‘Burying your treasure and Burning your rubbish’. Pouring you down the drain is something else. Why not just turn us into Soylent Green and have done with it.
Yummy.
It made me feel nauseous reading about this latest ghoulish invention. It really is like that movie “The Time Machine”, where the Morlocks are shown boiling up the butchered Eloi in cauldrons underground.
“Were fans wrong to boo the Ramadan fast-breaking footballers?”
No they weren’t! Keep religion out of football
I didn’t see the clip but personally I don’t really have a problem with this. Was it just for the players to break their fast with water? Surely not to eat anything mid-match? To me, as long as the non-Muslim players are also able to have a drink at that point then it’s totally fair all round, isn’t it? You can’t dispute the fact that playing high level sports whilst totally dehydrated due to having no fluids for hours isn’t exactly allowing for players to perform optimally, and as they’re very strict about observing Ramadan then I can’t see any way around this. Just let ALL players have a drinks break at that time. Can’t say fairer than that.
Your proposal is for regular water refreshment breaks. That is a different argument with different outcomes from a religious based break.
2 minutes break. No time for Islam but it seems our Muslim footballers fir in – witness Salah and his Christmas tree.
Far more concerning to me are 5 minute and longer VAR nonsense. And also with this, managers get an extra chance to talk to their teams.
This is not a problem.
I think some people would obviously prefer to see players *on their own team* keel over due to exhaustion because they’re dehydrated, all because they begrudge these people of a different religion a few mouthfuls of water, FGS. These idiots are both petty and callous and I can’t be doing with such moaning minnies, to be honest. Jesus…of all the things to get bent out of shape over these days…
They are professional sportsmen. If they have been fasting for the previous 12 or 14 hours, it is that that will affect their performance, not a mouthful of water at a precise moment regardless of what is going on in the game. Fasting is a choice. Islam permits people to break their fast due to circumstances, is this not circumstances, or is is administrators thinking of new ways to bend over backwards to accommodate them.?
”Fasting is a choice”. No it’s not. For Muslims it’s one of the five pillars of Islam and there are only a few exceptions to this rule; ”All Muslims who have reached puberty are obligated to fast. However, people for whom fasting would be a hardship are exempted from fasting. This includes anyone who is sick or traveling; women who are pregnant, nursing, or on their menses; or older people who are too weak or ill to fast. They should make up the fast later, except for those who cannot fast due to age or chronic illness. Instead, they can feed a poor person for every day of fasting which they miss.” https://ing.org/resources/for-all-groups/calendar-of-important-islamic-dates/ramadan-information-sheet/ What sort of person begrudges players taking a few moments to rehydrate with fluids and possibly scarf a date or two? Especially when we consider how much stoppage time there is throughout a typical match. I’m pretty certain there’s always a few minutes added to the clock at the end. Yes, the officials and club managers should try and work around this so the players concerned break their fast off the pitch in half time, or whatever, but that won’t always be possible, especially if you’ve several… Read more »
“The Premier League says you can have one or two minutes, you can have for the [fasting] players to do it [break their fast]. It is what it is, unfortunately.” Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said the booing was “massively disappointing”. “Pausing the game to allow Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan has been an agreed protocol for several years now,” it said. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c178x0jppelo For crying out loud, they get to sup some water, probably with some electrolytes in there too, for a couple of minutes and people are finding this an issue? Strewth! How much extra time gets added to the end of a match typically anyway? Is this really such a big deal in the grand scheme of things? I think people need to go have a word with themselves due to their obvious extreme intolerance. Especially if the non-Muslims are also able to have a water break at the same time, where’s the harm? If I’d paid all that money to go see my team play and several of them were flagging and limping around the pitch like wet dish rags I’d be more than happy for them to go seek out the Lucozade Sport… Read more »
Surely if they are that thirsty they can just go off the pitch and have a quick drink as they need one… no need to stop the match
“CNN’s Bill Weir says it’s ‘not cold enough’ to ice skate in Central Park – roll tape”
“I was talking to somebody, remembering, talking about how back in the 19th century, they used to ice skate regularly here in Central Park”
He makes it sound like that person must be at least 127 years old, What a twat Billy boy is!
Indeed. I’d have thought a 127 year old would be a far bigger story.
“International law is not a suicide pact”
International law does not exist.
International agreements do!
Arguably there is no such thing as international law – but International Law lives in Starmer’s mind dominating all else.
We’ve reached the point where they’re so confident in their superiority and so sure of our stupidity that they’re almost quoting Orwell directly. We’re touching distance from them just saying “War is peace”. And, after reading the comments on the DT, the proles won’t even notice. Not only do they not notice, they’re feverishly lapping it up and venting furiously in a bizarre reproduction of Orwell’s two minutes of hate. I came to know what was possible with mass shock programming during COVID. Of course, so did they. As a species I’ve become to believe we deserve the fate that lies so plainly in front of us.
Agreed. It pains me greatly to see so many experienced sceptics here falling for exactly the same Axis of Terror, 40 minutes to WMD crap which back in the day 20 year old Marcus fell for. But I was 20 and gullible. And look where we are.
I also see there is a problem with western politicians pushing a policy of ramming Islam into western societies, and that the Ayatollah and his cronies were really nasty people and that there are already plenty more to take their place. And I wish the regular Iranians well, they are a fantastic race of people.
I am also in favour of Trump’s policies (mostly) but I think Trump is making a mistake attacking Iran with Israel like this, and I don’t believe this will be over in four weeks.
Stay sane, folks.
It was very painful for many Ukrainians falling for the whole ‘Putin will never invade’ scam.
A valid sceptic position:
‘Iran’s stockpile includes uranium enriched far beyond the level needed for most non-military uses like nuclear power or medical applications. The IAEA said in May that Iran is now “the only non-nuclear-weapon State to produce such nuclear material.”
Have you heard of Dr Kelly and the dodgy dossier? Has it occured to you that you’re being sold lies, and that the US and NATO have been rattling the sabre in Ukraine since the day the Cold War ended?
Please note I am not saying I love Putin, nor that the US is all bad.
It obviously wasn’t a pandemic. I mean, that was easy. But this matter is not so simple, and I don’t believe the use of heavy percussive armaments is going to help regular Iranians.
I am sceptical of much that is unevidenced.
Another valid sceptic position:
‘…for a specific weapon design, a fixed stockpile of HEU would support a smaller number of weapons at 60 percent than at 90 percent. An analogous Fat Man-type design (destroyed Nagasaki) at 60 percent could require about twice as much total uranium as at 90 percent. This suggests that Iran’s stockpile of 408 kilograms, as reported by the IAEA, could be used to make roughly 6 to 7 weapons of that type’
…. and anyone who believes the Head of the Iranian Snake was small and has been obliterated in a single set of strikes by a foreign power thousands of miles away is naïve, at best.
And I hope my thirteen year old son has enough wit and intelligence and resourcefulness to be well away when the call to arms is trumpeted, YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU, and all that dulce et decorum est pro patria mori..
Today’s revolutionaries, celebrating in the streets of Tehran, will be tomorrow’s tyrants, you’ll see, and the blood of every race and creed will be in the ground there.
Why the hell can’t people just say NO..?
And another valid sceptic position:
‘Iran’s sense of urgency in rebuilding its missile arsenal reflects the heavy investment its rulers have made in the country’s missile capabilities over the past two decades, which focused on improving the combat-readiness, precision, and accuracy of its missiles to make them a potent conventional deterrent.[2] The focus on precision and accuracy took precedence over extending the missiles’ range, a policy which was formalized in 2015 with a self-imposed missile-range limit of 2,000 km. Iran could, however, abandon the limit at any time, and indeed has deployed a system, the Khorramshahr, that could almost certainly reach longer ranges if equipped with a lighter warhead. The emphasis on combat readiness led Iran to focus on developing solid-propellant missiles, a departure from its earlier reliance on liquid-fueled designs.[3] Following the poor performance of some of its missiles against U.S. and Israeli air defenses in 2024-2025, Iran has also sought to improve the maneuverability of its reentry vehicles and warheads.
Although conventional capability has been Iran’s recent focus, many Iranian missiles are capable of carrying nuclear payloads…’
My instincts are more with Marcus on this one though you make some good points and I don’t claim to know anything for sure – except that the USA, UK, Israel and Pakistan among others already have nuclear weapons, and the USA has attacked quite a few countries since WW2. Just as well they are on our side, for now
So according to that statement highly enriched uranium is still used for some non-military purposes.
I’d have been 12 years older than you, but already reached a point of scepticism that made me highly distrustful of authority. There was something about that whole WMD nonsense that just felt off to me from the start. Will never be able to put my finger on it. Every regime change that’s followed has the same blueprint – whip up hatred, frighten with an imminent threat, and off they go – death, destruction, and displacement; the result of which, of course, is more globalisation. But the proles have been whipped into such an unhinged frenzy – using a small number of figures of hate – that they support it without question. Even many of the people that understand that COVID was a mass psyop to socially engineer the masses and propel a globalist agenda are gleefully clapping their hands. Quite bizarre.
At the time my question was why would WMD be aimed at the UK? There are other countries in the world.
Ditto Putin and the Russians. We are a long way down the list of possible destinations and a long long way away from both Iraq and Eastern Europe. We are hecklers from the cheap seats at the back of the auditorium.
In my view stopping a match for players to break their fast is hugely disrespectful to the supporting public as it wastes their time. Why not bring these players on after they have broken their fast?
I’m playing Devil’s Advocate because I don’t watch football so don’t even know how many Muslim players we’re talking about. If it was, say, 1 on each side, they could easily be substituted. If there’s several then it’s a bit more tricky to work around. I suppose if the ‘breaking fast’ thing happened in the first half they could reasonably be expected to make it to half time and do it in the break, rather than inconvenience everyone. In the second half it’s more problematic.
Also, how are the public having their time wasted if that break time just gets added on at the end? And look at the wages they’re on. Is it not in the club’s best interest to have players on the field performing to the best of their ability as opposed to lacklustre and subpar due to being dehydrated and low on energy? Surely the fans would want that for their team too. In hot weather/countries this becomes more of a health issue, also.
Adding time at the end still wastes their time.
P.S. I asked ChatGPT about number of Muslim players in the premier league=55.
and total number of players in the premier league between 480-500.
Just FYI.
According to GB News the taxpayers have paid for the repatreiation flights of Bruits who were in the middle east when the fighting started. I ask why.
Why should I pay to repatriate someone who was there on holiday or working for better money at lower tax than me. Indeed why should I pay under any circumstances other than unforeseeable natural catastrophe.
Surely no one thought Itran was a peaceful near country and that the US or Israel would never attack to take out its capacity to cause trouble around the world.
Antagonism between different branches of Islam remains stroing so that could easily have triggered violence. The most likely aggressor would always have been Iran so the munitions (explody things) would likely have been directed at the places the Brits were staying.
You could regard an element of tax as an insurance premium. I don’t know what the “repatreiation flights of Bruits” are, but there are many people on journeys that happen to be routed via UAE airports. Some years ago, I used United Arab Emirates between London & Karachi & vv (not on holiday) and had to change at Dubai each way. That airline uses Dubai as a hub for every international service.
Sigh. Real world data shows it has been much warmer in the past. When it was, civilisation thrived.
Ah but all this is based on actual empirical evidence… we prefer to use feelings and good wishes only in our $cience ™
“Kemi Badenoch has pledged to overhaul equality law, rewrite the national curriculum and end what she called “state-sponsored identity politics”, reports the Times.”
Ah OK, so you’ll be carrying on the good work you and your party did on these matters during your last 14 year stint in government….got that
“Conservative MP Laura Trott condemns two-tierism at Britain’s universities, which tolerate far-Left extremism, while punishing anything coded ‘far Right’.”
Yes I quite agree, again when you are back in government you can build on the work you already did to address this during the previous Tory governments…
A sceptic may surmise that a particular country ruled by religious fanatics possessing both long range missiles and weapon grade uranium, refers to Britain as ‘little satan’ is a country to keep a bit of an eye on.
Britain has hundreds of government servants close to such a country, many of whom have escaped death by a narrow margin, a few hundred metres, over the last few days. These personnel have not been equipped to defend themselves against either drones or missiles.
We should need no reminding that our enemies have already recently used weapons of mass destruction, polonium, novichok, on British soil and killed a British citizen.
And still the government does, successive governments have done, nothing to improve this country’s security.
What an absolute disgrace!
Iran Is Deploying Bubble Jammers Against The US Government
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E69ir4WhpQ&list=WL&index=2 by Manchester Ringway.
“List of countries that can vote in UK elections” – “Citizens from a surprisingly long list of foreign countries have been able to vote in British elections – and some politicians have actively encouraged them, writes Charlotte Gill”
Well done to Charlotte Gill for bringing this to wider attention, because it’s been The Elephant in the Room, totally disenfranchising the Indigenous British People without their knowledge or consent, because their votes have been routinely swamped by the Outrageous Commonwealth Voting Rights, a holdover from the Empire.
The Founder of Migration Watch, Lord Andrew Green, has been battling public and parliamentary APATHY about this for decades, and campaigning to ABOLISH COMMONWEALTH VOTING RIGHTS in British elections … all to no avail.
“Mahmood could hit Pakistan with UK visa ban”
Gosh, so scary! Pakistani Muslim Mahmood’s fellow Pakistani Muslims must be quaking in their odoriferous goatskin sandals at this terrifying threat!
Just cut off all foreign aid to Pakistan already, instead of pretending to take action.
“UK risks splitting into ‘parallel societies’” says Olukemi of the Yoruba tribe…
Really? You mean different tribes, like Nigeria?