Are customers being ripped off at Tesco?

 

Tesco have a two-tier pricing policy in their supermarkets. There is one price for Tesco club card holders and another price for non-club card holders. When you pay at a checkout at Tesco, if you can find one that is staffed and available, you will always be asked if you're a Tesco club card holder.

You will notice how much more exorbitantly expensive goods are in Tesco and this is because you're subsiding the cheaper goods of club card holders. I can't believe that the competition and marketing authorities in Britain allow Tesco to get away with this. It really is much cheaper to shop elsewhere where you're not subsiding the food of loyalty cards holders. Many older people don't like using self-service tills and don't use smart phones, so they get ripped off by supermarkets like Tesco.

Trump lawyers ask judge to quash convictions.

 

Donald Trump

Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump have called on a judge to throw out his hush money criminal conviction. In documents submitted to the court, they argue that continuing the case, would "present unconstitutional disruptions to the institution of the Presidency." They also referred to President Biden's recent decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, on gun and tax evasion charges.

Last week, special counsel Jack Smith told courts that he was withdrawing two federal cases against Trump - one charging him with hoarding classified documents and another charging him with scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost. He cited longstanding Justice Department policy that shields a president from indictment while in office. Trump cannot pardon himself from the hush money convictions because it is a state case.

Trump nominates ex-jailbird as U.S. Ambassador to France.

 

Charles Kushner

What a cesspit politics is these days. They're all like pigs with their snouts in the trough. Donald Trump's team of nominees for government jobs looks more like a rogue's gallery by the day.

President-elect Trump has lambasted "crooked" Joe Biden for his decision to give a full unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, who was facing serious jail time for gun crime and tax evasion convictions. Having declared that he wouldn't interfere with the judicial process, Biden suddenly changed tack and said the charges against his son were politically motivated.

On Saturday, Trump nominated his son-in-law's father as U.S. Ambassador to France. Charles Kushner is an ex-jail bird, property tycoon and disbarred attorney. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion as well as witness tampering, and received a 2-year jail sentence. Trump pardoned Kushner in 2020, stating that he "has been devoted to important philanthropic organizations and causes." Kushner donated $100,000 to a pro-Trump group in 2015, and $1 million to a pro-Trump super Pac in 2023. Another family member, Massad Boulos, has been appointed to serve as Trump's senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Billionaire Boulos, is the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany.

When Trump takes office on January 20, 2025, he will be the first sitting U.S. President to be a convicted felon. Before the U.S. Presidential election in November, Trump was convicted of 31 counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal a hush money payment to the former porn star, Stormy Daniels.  None of these charges and convictions, which Trump also claimed were a stitch up and politically motivated, damaged Trump politically.

Here in Britain, mainstream party politics is just as corrupt, squalid and sleazy. The former Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, nominated friends and family for peerages. He put his brother Joe in the House of Lords and even nominated his father Stanley Johnson, for a knighthood. During the COVID pandemic, Johnson's government awarded millions of pounds of dodgy government contracts to VIP Tory donors and cronies.

When in opposition, the self-righteous Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer-oid, promised to clean up British politics and to end the sleaze if Labour came to power. Having berated Boris Johnson about who paid for his wallpaper in his Downing Street flat, Starmer-oid and his wife, Lady Victoria sponger, were found to have received free gear and freebies amounting to tens of thousands of pounds, from wealthy Labour donors like Lord Waheed Alli.

Labour's obsequious Business and Trade Minister, Jonathan Reynolds, actually said that freebies like free tickets to Glastonbury and Taylor Swift concerts, were not perks of the job of being in government but were part of the job of being in government. Reynolds denied any knowledge of a Labour Party gimmick to charge people £30,000 to have breakfast with him at the Ivy Restaurant in Manchester. It was dubbed by the press, "cash for croissants." His wife, Claire Reynolds, who is not an elected politician, was recently appointed political adviser to Sir Keir Starmer-oid in Downing Street. Like her husband, Claire Reynolds is also a former Tameside Labour councillor.

Biden pardons son on gun and tax charges.

 

Hunter Biden

Nobody is supposed to be above the law in America, but that doesn't seem to apply to President-elect Donald Trump or Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden. Hunter Biden was facing jail time for gun and tax charges, but he's now been given a 'full and unconditional' pardon by his father.

Although Hunter was given a trial before a jury, found guilty of the gun charges, and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges, Joe Biden says the charges brought against his son were politically motivated. Donald Trump claims that every charge brought against him was politically motivated.

American voters have just put Trump in the White House despite having been convicted of 31 counts of falsifying business records in order to pay hush money to a former porn star called Stormy Daniels. Trump will take office on January 20, 2025, and is expected to pardon many of the rioters who stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, on January 6, 2021. Any charges brought against Trump are now likely to be held in abeyance or dropped because no U.S. President has ever been prosecuted while in office.

President-elect Trump has just appointed Charles Kushner as U.S. Ambassador to France. His son, Jared Kushner, is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka. In 2004, Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns, retaliating against a witness and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. In 2020, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner who is also a real estate developer.

Are Britain's jobcentres fit for purpose?

 

Over the years, UK Government efforts to get the long-term unemployed back into work have not been a great success. People that I've spoken to who have been on DWP courses aimed at getting them off benefits and back into work, have told me that training providers have often told them that they find it harder to get well qualified people back into work than people with no qualifications.

Some years ago, an unemployed man that I knew, told me that his jobcentre work coach had advised him not to disclose his university qualifications in business studies and economics, because it might be scaring off potential employers. He refused to do so, and contacted the newspapers. This was at a time when Tony Blair was spouting on about "Education, Education, Education."

I know of one person who is long term unemployed who has a science degree, two science masters' degrees, and spent three years studying for a PhD and she still can't get a job. She tells me that her local jobcentre offer her cleaning and packing jobs.

Another problem with so-called back to work training, is that the courses tend to be motivational and of a one size fits all type. They involve a lot of psychobabble and bullshit. They're basically trying to shove square pegs into round holes and people into dead end low paid unskilled jobs. People were frequently bullied into working for no money in order to keep their state benefits. Under Tony Blair's Flexible New Deal, the unemployed were told, "Work or lose your Benefits." Employers soon realised that the jobcentre was providing a load of free labour and they didn't have to pay anyone.

One of the biggest employers is the UK government, but I'm pretty sure that to this day, the DWP don't advertise their vacancies in the jobcentres. I think this also applies to other government departments.

Negative comments about the unemployed made by politicians often make it more difficult for people to get back into work. Boris Johnson used to talk about 'feckless Brits on the dole', but the Johnson family are so well connected that they have no need for the Jobcentre. They can always find someone to give them a leg up. Some employers don't advertise vacancies in the jobcentres because they take the view that most claimants don't want to work and are only applying for the job in order to retain their state benefits.

Are the UK police using hate crime and terrorist laws to curb free speech?

 

"Bruised But Vindicated" - Allison Pearson

Like the East German Stasi, UK police forces have been arresting people and raiding their homes and confiscating personal property, for tweets they have made or comments they have made on social media. Journalists and political activists have been frequently arrested because of comments they have made in relation to the conflict in Gaza. They've been charged under terrorist legislation for their remarks or accused of hate speech or hate crime.

Although this has been going on for quite some time, these arrests rarely get into the mainstream national press. Under successive governments, British society seems to have become increasingly more authoritarian and censorious with the police now arresting "thought criminals" for "thought crime". What's next? Room 101?

The Daily Torygraph, is now up in arms because one of their columnists, Allison Pearson, was visited by Essex Police and interviewed for allegedly "stirring racial hatred in a tweet a year ago." The police got a lot of flak over this incident from the press and from politicians and the case has now been dropped by Essex Police. They were accused of interfering with free speech and the right of a journalist to express an opinion. They were also accused of acting like political police and of creeping totalitarianism. Although Pearson's tweet had been factually incorrect on a number of points - she got the wrong police force and the wrong flag - she said that she felt "bruised but vindicated" and added: "Together we will fight these insanities one by one and put the onus onto the authorities to justify their absurd actions."

Some people have suggested that the police are using terrorist legislation and hate crime and hate speech to intimidate people and to silence people who are critical of Israel's actions in Gaza and the Palestinian territories. As with the case of Allison Pearson, the police often say that they're acting on a complaint which they have to investigate.

It seems to me that when you start to police people's views and opinions, you're going to get yourself in hot water and will get accused of trying to curb free speech and free expression which is supposed to be a cornerstone of any liberal democracy and intellectual freedom.  Free expression is also protected under Article 10 the Human Rights Act. These measures are also a cranks charter which can become weaponised by every disgruntled crank or organisation who have an axe to grind against any individual because they don't like what they say. To cause offence shouldn't be an offence. As George Orwell famously said, "If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear."

When the Scottish government introduced its hate crime bill, 'The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021', the Scottish police said they'd been inundated with complaints, many of which, were anonymous and of a frivolous and vexatious nature. Critics warned the Scottish government that this was likely to happen. The Scottish police said they hadn't got the time or resources to investigate many of these complaints which often related to complaints about transgenderism.

Republican Senator says the U.S. will 'crush' Britain if it arrests Netanyahu.

 

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is now a wanted man. If he sets foot in Britain, he faces arrest and extradition to The Hague to answer for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Yet, the U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, says America will 'crush' the UK economy if Britain upholds the rule of law and tries to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), have issued an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu, the former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas leader, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Neither Israel or the U.S. are members of the ICC but Palestine is an ICC member.

Although Israel and the U.S. say they don't recognise the ICC, the Biden administration have been accused of hypocrisy on the issue of ICC jurisdiction, because the U.S. welcomed the court's arrest warrant for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. The ICC is recognised by 124 countries in the world including the UK, but Israel and the U.S. are not member states. The Biden administration maintain that the ICC "has no jurisdiction over this matter" and that Israel's conduct in Gaza has been lawful.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel last October, tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), using weapons supplied by the U.S. Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, said that the ICC "has no credibility" and declared that the incoming Trump administration would take action against the "anti-Semitic bias" of the ICC and the United Nations. The legal duty to enforce the ICC arrests warrants is binding on all member states and members of the European Union.

ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged crimes against humanity.

 

WANTED: Benjamin Netanyahu

Last week, The International Criminal Court (ICC), issued arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and the Hamas leader, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to Gaza and the attack on Israeli by Hamas.  

 As one might expect, Netanyahu's office said that the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against him and Gallant, were "anti-Semitic" and said Israel: "rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions." Israel is not a member of the ICC and denies committing war crimes in Gaza and also rejects the court's jurisdiction. 

Although tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including women and children, since the Hamas attack on 7 October, the U.S. President Joe Biden, described the warrants against the Israeli leaders as "outrageous." Like Israel, the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, but it does support the warrant the ICC issued for the arrest of Vladimir Putin for deporting thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia. 

When Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia earlier this year, he wasn't arrested under the ICC warrant because it wasn't enforced by Mongolia who are a member of the ICC. 

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders, sent a "terrible message." 

Ireland, France and Italy, have said they would arrest Netanyahu if he came to their countries. When the Irish Taoiseach, Simon Harris, was asked if police would arrest the Israeli Prime Minister in Ireland, he said: "Yes, absolutely. We support international courts and we apply their warrants." 

The UK government has been reluctant to confirm whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot on British soil. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said it "wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment" on the processes involved as the ICC is independent, although the UK is a member of the ICC. A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said that the government would "fulfil its legal obligations" in relation to the arrest warrants. Emily Thornberry, who chairs Labour's foreign affairs committee in parliament, told Sky News, "If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC...' 

Although Hungry as an E.U. member state would be required to enforce the arrest warrants, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, said that he would invite Netanyahu to visit Hungry and would guarantee that the arrest warrant would "not be observed." Some people believe that Netanyahu could avoid arrest by claiming diplomatic immunity. 

Israel claims that the Hamas leader Al Masri was killed earlier this year, but the ICC said it would still be issuing the arrest warrant because his death had not been confirmed.

Farage excluded from farmers rally.

 

Nigel Farage - Leader Reform UK

Although many British farmers voted to leave the E.U. in 2016, they're now beginning to realise that they were sold a pup with Brexit by right-wing loonies.

Nigel Farage, dressed in his customary tweed flat cap and Barbour jacket, was excluded from the recent farmer’s rally because of the role he played in Brexit that resulted in trade deals with Australia and New Zealand that undercut farmers and cut their subsidies. As the former leader of UKIP and now leader of Reform UK, Farage campaigned for Britain to leave the E.U.

Jeremy Squirrell, a Suffolk arable and poultry farmer who attended the event, said he would have "frogmarched" Farage and others including the former Sun columnist 'cockroach' Katie Hopkins, "off the site", adding: "They taint our just cause with conspiracy, lies, hateful comments and deceit." Sheep farmer, Sarah Shuffell, said Farage's presence was a "PR car crash for farming."

In a confidential report, the bankers to the rich, Coutts, described Farage has a 'disingenuous grifter" who is "seen as xenophobic and pandering to racists."

 

Who are the "economically inactive"?

 

Prince Andrew

We've been hearing a lot recently from Starmer-oid's Labour government about idle and indolent Brits who are on state benefits and are economically inactive.

Does Starmer-oids Labour government consider Prince Andrew "economically inactive" and bone idle? What does Prince Andrew contribute to British society and what does he do for a living? It has been reported in the press that he now looks after the Royal corgis.

In 2015, I can remember reading in the newspapers that his father, the legendary sponger and gaffe-prone Prince Philip, had visited a community centre in East London where he asked a group of women volunteers, "Who do you sponge off."

Are people who live off investment income - the labour of others - economically inactive? Are landowners who live off rents, economically inactive? The Royal Family are the biggest parasites, yet they live a life of dignified otiosity off the backs of the British taxpayer. What purpose do the Royal Family really serve? Hasn't the House of Windsor just become an expensive and embarrassing soap opera that we can well do without?

Ridley Scott criticised for cutting scenes in Gladiator II featuring pro-Palestinian actress.

 

May Calamawy

The film director Ridley Scott has come under fire for significantly cutting scenes in Gladiator II that feature the Egyptian-Palestinian actress, May Calamawy.

Some have speculated that the decision to side-line Calamawy is politically motivated and that political pressure within the film industry has been brought to bear on Scott, because the actress has been vocal in her support for Palestine.

Calamawy's reduced screen time as left many surprised and disappointed given that early promotional stills and reports had placed Calamawy's character as central to the movie. This had led to calls for the film to be boycotted. Neither Ridley Scott or the studio have been prepared to comment on the controversy.

What REALLY Happened in Amsterdam?

This is a good report on DDN, but Richard Sanders doesn't say why it is that British media outlets and some British politicians are prepared to spread lies and disinformation about what really happened in Amsterdam on 8 November.

Sky News actually broadcast two versions of this event and finished up deleting both reports. The Amsterdam police have already said that Israeli ultra-football hooligans caused the violence and yet we continue to be told that these thugs were the victims of anti-Semitic violence by pro-Palestinian protestors. They were actually attacking Dutch citizens and set fire to a taxi and we're told this was a 'pogrom' against Jews or something akin to 'Kristallnacht'.

Have Britain’s media outlets become a timid propaganda mouthpiece for the far-right Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu?

Trump appoints 'pro-Moscow' Tulsi Gabbard as his national security advisor.

 

Sebastian Gorka

Trump has appointed 'pro-Moscow' Tulsi Gabbard as his national intelligence chief and security advisor. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former boss of MI6, says this is a maverick appointment and that Gabbard has no previous experience of working in intelligence or security.

I've never heard of Tulsi Gabbard but I certainly know of Sebastian Gorka. British-born Gorka, is being tipped as her deputy national security advisor. Gorka has been associated with the alt-right conspiracy Breitbart blog and worked for Fox News. He was a colleague of 'scruffy' Steve Bannon, Trump's former official adviser, and worked for him at Breitbart.

Critics have questioned the credibility of Gorka's PhD qualification and his expertise in the field of foreign policy. Many think he's a bullshitter with dodgy qualifications, so he should fit in very well in the Trump administration.

In January 2017, Gorka was appointed Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Strategist in the White House, but he failed to obtain security clearance necessary for work on security issues. He remained in the job for just seventh months and was removed shortly after the sacking of Steve Bannon. He then became a spokesman and salesman for a fish oil supplement. Gorka then became a shock jock on Salem Radio hosting America First with Sebastian Gorka. 

Despite being accused of having links with European far right organisations with Nazi sympathies, such as the Hungarian far-right organisation called ‘Vitezi Rend’, Congressman Trent Franks, Co-chair of the Israeli Allies Caucus, called Gorka "the staunchest friend of Israel and the Jewish people."

 

Oxford and class prejudice.

 

Bodleian Library Oxford

I was member of the Bodleian library in Oxford in the early 1980s. I think we had to swear or give an undertaking that we wouldn't start fires within the precincts or within the vicinity of the library. The building is very impressive and huge but I didn't find the library very accessible or the staff very helpful or friendly. It isn't easy to use.

One particular day, I heard a fellow student, tell his history tutor that he'd stopped going in the Bodleian Library. When the tutor asked him why, he told him that he always felt humiliated because some staff members belittled him because of his Brum accent. I heard the tutor say to him, "Let me give you some advice young man. The next time you go in the Bodleian Library, walk in as though you own the place. These people can smell fear." I fell about laughing when I heard this but I thought it was extremely sound advice.

They do have a thing about social class and accents at Oxford, it's quite extraordinary and pathetic. An American would be far more at home at Oxford than somebody with a provincial English accent. Yet, Derek Robinson who taught economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, was a Yorkshire lad from Barnsley. This son of a miner, seems to have had no difficulty fitting in to college life. A colleague once told him that he'd observed how Derek's Yorkshire accent had become more pronounced and stronger the longer he'd been at Oxford. Robinson told him that you had to define your own territory in this life. I think he was absolutely right.

The English Marxist, philosopher, literary theorist and critic, Terry Eagleton, taught at Oxford University for many years. Having been born in Salford doesn't seem to have been a barrier to Eagleton either socially or academically. I believe Eagleton's lectures at Oxford were very popular and so we're the lectures of the historian, A J.P. Taylor, who was born in Southport.

All his life, Taylor liked to be controversial and he attributed his failure to win a Balliol scholarship to the examiners' prejudice against a candidate with "no manners and a rough Lancashire accent." He refused to accept that he'd caused offence during the interview, when he'd been asked what a "radical of his persuasion would like to see happen to Oxford", he replied "blow it up." It sounds like a good answer to me. I think John Ruskin held similar sentiments.

'Migrant hotel king' raked in £90m last year from housing migrants & asylum seekers.

 

'Migrant Hotel King' - Graham King 

A former caravan park owner and disco tycoon from Canvey Island, Essex, made over £90m last year from lucrative Home Office government contracts, housing asylum seekers.

Graham King of Clear Springs Ready Homes, who houses migrants in hotels, unused military barracks and flats, is on course to become the first immigration industry billionaire. According to The Times, a company report shows that it made a profit of £91.2 million last year and paid £90 million in dividends to a company controlled by King, "mainly to the provision of accommodation, support and transport to asylum seekers."

King who is estimated to have a personal net worth of £750 million was catapulted onto Britain's rich list, after cashing in on the flood of recent migrant arrivals into Britain. Clear Springs had an income increase of £400 million in just 12 months. The 57-year-old, "migrant hotel king", and slum landlord, was ranked as the 173rd richest person in Britain in the Sunday Times Rich List for 2024. The British taxpayer is paying King £8 million per day to house asylum seekers.

In 2021, two of Clear Springs sites in Wales and Kent, were described has being 'decrepit, 'impoverished' and 'run-down'. Inspectors described one of the sites, Penally Camp in Wales, as 'decrepit' and filthy. Inspectors claimed that around a third of the residents who were consulted claimed to have mental health issues and declared there had been "fundamental failures of leadership and planning." In 2023, 70 people, including children, slept outside two Clear Springs-run hotels in the capital after claiming they had been put in small rooms without enough beds.

Having made a fortune out of the British taxpayer who are paying to accommodate asylum seekers, Graham King has been able to fund his family's "globe-trotting holidays and Alpine ski trips." He's been able to privately educate his son and daughter at a "£44,000-a-year boarding school." King's daughter, Catalina, who is studying to be an artist, is selling £10 prints which bear the slogan, "Will trade racists for refugees

Angela Rayner declares £3,550 in free clothing from Lord Alli.

 

I can't quite make my mind up whether Lord Waheed Alli is Labour's ATM machine, its fairy godmother, or he's running a benevolent society for Labour big wigs.

Not long ago, it was revealed that Angela Rayner and her swain and 'soulmate', Sam Tarry, had stayed five nights free of charge at Lord Alli's £2m apartment in Manhattan. It has now been revealed that in June, Angie accepted free clothing from Lord Alli amounting to £3,550.

Many people might wonder why Lord Alli is so generous with his money and why he buys so many gifts for Labour politicians. It stands to reason that you don't become rich by giving your money away.

Some people might think that Angie treats Lord Alli like a sugar daddy or milch cow, but she's  said that Lord Alli never asks for anything nor does he get anything in return for his generosity.

Both Angela Rayner and Rachel 'Freeze' Reeves, have registered these free clothing donations as "office support." In September, the prime minister, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves, said they would no longer accept free clothing donations. 

 

Claire Reynolds appointed political director to Sir Keir Starmer-oid.

 

Claire Reynolds

Housewife and mother to four young children, Claire Reynolds, a former Tameside Labour councillor and the wife of Jonathan Reynolds, Labour's Business and Trade Secretary, has been appointed as Sir Keir Starmer-oids political director in Downing Street. As a self-proclaimed holy roller and church goer, Jonathan Reynolds will be familiar with Matthew 7.7, which says: "Ask, and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you."

When Labour was in opposition, Starmer-oid a former Trotskyist, promised to restore trust in British politics and to end Tory sleaze and cronyism. In the House of Commons, self-righteous Starmer-oid, constantly berated the former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for his free wall paper in Downing Street and was incensed that Lord Bamford of JCB, had helped with the expenses for Boris's wedding reception. Despite his promises, we now know that Starmer-oid and his wife, Lady Victoria Sponger, received free gear and gifts from the wealthy gay Asian business man, Lord Waheed Alli. The Labour prime minister also received free designer glasses from Lord Alli and the use of his penthouse in Covent Garden. He also received free tickets for Taylor Swift concerts and Arsenal football matches.

It was recently disclosed that Labour was offering people the opportunity to take breakfast with Jonathan Reynolds at the Ivy restaurant in Manchester, for the sum of £30,000. It was dubbed by the press, "cash for croissants." When asked for a comment about this arrangement, Reynolds incredulously denied any knowledge of it. However, the Business and Trade Secretary has defended MPs taking 'freebies', saying that they are not perks of the job of being an MP, but part of the job of being an MP.

Reynolds sense of self entitlement and privilege, will fill many people with loathing and disgust, as he voted to take the winter fuel allowance off many of his elderly constituents in Tameside. Yet, the Bible also says, "To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."

Personally, I think that the English novelist Charles Dickens had politicians and politics well sussed out. He came to the conclusion that the "average politician was a windbag, a time-server, a flunkey, and a self-seeker, and that the triumph of any party, merely benefitted a (political) class." 

Should English slave owning families pay reparations for slavery?

 

On Sunday evening I watched BBC Question Time. One of the questions that was put to the panel, was whether Britain should pay reparations to some countries for its involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade over 200 years ago.

One of the panel members was the journalist Emily Sheffield, the sister of Samantha Cameron, and the daughter of Sir Reginald (8th Baronet) Sheffield. What Emily failed to mention was that one of her ancestors, William Jolliffe, was a slave owner who owned 164 slaves on a sugar plantation on the Ballenbouche Estate in St Lucia. Jolliffe was paid £4,000 in compensation by the British government when slavery was abolished in 1833. This is equivalent to £3.25m today.

Nobody on Question Time including the panel, Fiona Bruce, or the audience, suggested that the English slave owning families like the Sheffield's, the Beckwith's and the Drax and Trevelyan families, should be held responsible for paying reparations for slavery and not the British taxpayer. In 1835, the Trevelyan family received £26,898 in compensation from the British government for the abolition of slavery a year earlier. The enslaved men, women and children, on the plantations, received nothing. The Drax family who owned 189 slaves in Barbados and Jamaica were paid over £4,000 in compensation.

I don't really see why some people think that Britain's alive today, who have no connections with the Transatlantic slave trade, should feel culpable for what happened in past history. Nevertheless, Germany has paid reparations to Jewish Holocaust survivors since the 1950s. If anybody is responsible for paying reparations for the Transatlantic slave trade it has got to be the descendants of the slave owners. Some already recognise this and others resist it. The Trevelyan family have already paid some reparations to the people of Barbados.

I don't feel any personal responsibility for slavery or for any of the horrors connected with English colonialism. I wasn't alive then and my family have no connection with slavery. They were all English wage slaves. Richard Drax is one of the biggest landowners in Dorset and owns 14,000 acres in Dorset. A great deal of the family's wealth was made from sugar plantations and slavery. It's people like Drax who should pay the reparations and not the British taxpayer. And what about making Tate & Lyle cough up for slavery reparations? 

War crimes court calls for an end to the intimidation of its staff by Israelis!

 

Karim Khan - ICC Chief Prosecutor

Karim Khan QC, the international criminal courts (ICC) chief prosecutor, is seeking arrest warrants for both leaders of Hamas and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Although Israel doesn't recognise the authority of the ICC, Khan has faced intense criticism from supporters of Israel over the applications and he's now been accused of misconduct towards a member of his office. Karim Khan said: "There is no truth to suggestions of such misconduct. I have worked in diverse contexts for 30 years and there has never been such a complaint lodged against me by anyone." He confirmed that he would be willing to provide any information needed by the independent oversight mechanism (IOM).

In statement made by the English QC, Khan made reference to the attacks he has faced over the arrest warrants he has sought for Israeli leaders as well as a Guardian investigation published in May, that disclosed how Israeli intelligence over a nine-year period, attempted to undermine, influence and intimidate, the ICC chief prosecutor's office. According to the Guardian and the Israeli based magazine +972 and Local Call, Israeli intelligence waged a decade-long secret 'war' against the court to undertake surveillance to hack, pressure, smear, and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff in an effort to derail the court's inquiries. It was claimed that Israeli intelligence intercepted the communications of numerous ICC officials, including Khan and his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, from Gambia.

It has been claimed that the former head of Mossad, Yossi Cohen, initiated at least three meetings with Bensouda between 2019-21, including one meeting where he allegedly told the prosecutor,"You should help us and let us take care of you. You don't want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family." According to press reports, he also allegedly suggested to Bensouda that a full investigation into war crimes by Israel, "would harm her career, and showed her copies of photos that had covertly been taken of her husband."

The Guardian reported that Cohen did not respond to a request for a comment and Bensouda declined to comment on the reporting. A spokesman for the Israeli government told the newspaper that the report was "replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel."

The Trump administration imposed sanctions including visa restrictions against Bensouda, between 2019-20 allegedly in retaliation for a separate war crimes probe into Afghanistan. Mike Pompeo, the then Secretary of State, suggested that the sanctions were imposed because the ICC was "putting Israel in (its) crosshairs.”

 

Calls for all spycops files to be disclosed after new evidence proves undercover police spying on unions.

 

Campaigners are calling for the release of all police files relating to the spycops scandal, after recently disclosed Special Branch documents prove that undercover police reported on union members speaking at meetings to request solidarity.

One such file (400/84/165), until recently subject to a Restriction Order, was compiled by an undercover police spy who used the cover name Nicholas Green when attending a meeting of left-wing activists held in March 1986. The meeting was held at the Cock Tavern in Euston, which has been the venue for trade union and left wing campaigns for decades. The majority of the Special Branch file is a report of a speech given by Brian Higgins, a Scottish bricklayer and activist in UCATT (the building workers’ union). 

Higgins was one of six construction workers who were sacked by the blacklisting building contractor, John Laing, in a dispute about direct employment. The victimised workers were collectively known as the Laing’s Lock Out Committee. Taking place at the same time as the miners’ strike, the industrial action gained a high profile at the time and saw a High Court Injunction being granted against all the pickets. 

The police file records how Higgins spoke about developments in the dispute and made a request for solidarity from those present. Both the financial appeal leaflet and an 8-page rank & file paper called ‘Building Worker’ are included the police report. The first page of the file is stamped ‘BOX 500’, which indicates that the report was sent to MI5. The last page of the report shows the Special Branch file numbers for Brian Higgins himself, and for the construction union UCATT. 

In an internal police report known as Operation Reuben, the police admit that intelligence gathered by undercover policing was shared by both Special Branch and the security services, with employers and the notorious blacklisting organisations; the Economic League and the Consulting Association. 

Brian Higgins was one of many union activists spied on by undercover police and blacklisted by major construction employers. He passed away in 2019, so never got to see any of the documentary evidence of police spying. On viewing the police file reporting on their father, Monica and Noelle Higgins issued a joint statement:

“Our dad campaigned for better health and safety and workers’ rights all of his life. He always said Special Branch were involved in his blacklisting, and this is now proven beyond any doubt. It’s just a bit of a strange feeling to see it in print. Treated as enemies of the state, as if you were planning civil unrest or domestic terror attacks! It’s unbelievable, but shows how scared the state are of militant workers, and how far they are prepared to go. The police saw this as politics, but the impact on our family was very personal.”  

The Blacklist Support Group (BSG), the campaign representing blacklisted union members, is a core participant in the public inquiry. The Special Branch file was disclosed to BSG but with Restriction Orders put in place meaning that until now the files were not allowed to be shared in the public domain. Dave Smith, BSG secretary (himself a core participant in the inquiry and an ex-UCATT Branch Secretary and) commented:

“The undercover cop known as Nicholas Green reported on UCATT member Brian Higgins: but it could have happened to absolutely any union activist asking for solidarity while on strike. Speaking at meetings during an industrial dispute is a perfectly legal union activity: it is not subversion. Despite police denials, the UK political police units were gathering intelligence on trade unionists prepared to stand up for workers’ rights. There is now conclusive evidence that Special Branch infiltrated trade union meetings and kept files on every trade union in the UK. To get to the truth of this anti-democratic state spying on trade unions, all the spycops files need to be disclosed to those who were spied on”. 

 

 

Attached images from Special Branch report 400/84/165 by undercover police officer HN82 - cover name Nicholas Green

 

1. Report of the speech:

 

 2. Brian Higgins Special Branch registry file reference:

 

 3. Trade union Special Branch registry file reference numbers:

NUR = National Union of Railworkers

UCATT = Union of Construction, Allied Trades & Technicians

4. 'Building Worker' rank & file union paper (8 pages of which were attached to the report)

 

 

Operation Reuben Unpicked - by Undercover Research Group

https://specialbranchfiles.uk/operation-reuben-unpicked-pt1/

 

Special Branch file 400/84/165 on the Undercover Policing Inquiry website:

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UCPI0000026544.pdf

 

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog