Euna Blair's 'Multiverse' reports near-tripling of losses.

 

Euan Blair

Euan Blair's apprenticeship firm 'Multiverse' sounds like the South Sea Bubble of 1720. It's a good example of what can happen when people succumb to group think and speculative bubbles and Ponzi schemes. 

Despite the company failing to return a profit for the last seven years, it was awarded the coveted tech "unicorn" status when it was valued at £1.4bn fundraising round driven by U.S. venture capital firms in June 2022. That put Blair's stake in the company at £420m.

Blair recently bought a seven-bedroom house in London for £22m. He was able to make the purchase after venture capitalist investors, allowed him to sell £320m-worth of shares to buy a home. 

Some people might wonder why a company that hasn't returned a profit in the last seven years is valued so high? How did Tony Blair's son manage to get the backing of some of the wealthiest people in America, like the Walton family? It has surely got something to do with his influential father and the prospects of expansion in U.S. markets.

Dublin City Council flies the Palestinian flag.

 

Dublin City Council have agreed to fly the Palestinian flag in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Before she was sacked as Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said that flying the Palestinian flag in the UK "may not be legitimate' if it's deemed to show support for acts of terrorism.

Although the Israeli government have been accused of indiscriminate bombing in Gaza, genocide, and ethnic cleansing, which has resulted in the deaths of over 15,5000 innocent civilians since 7 October, including thousands of women and children, Sir Kier Starmer-oid suggested that the Israeli flag be flown above Wembley arch when England played Australia in a friendly match in October. He also defended Israel's right to cut off water and food supplies to two million people in Gaza, almost half of whom, are children. The Football Association (FA), announced that the Wembley Stadium arch would not be lit in the colours of the Israeli flag but players would wear black armbands and there would be a period of silence held before the kick off.

When Celtic played Atletico Madrid in November, the stadium was transformed into a sea of Palestinian flags, as 60,000 Celtic fans showed their solidarity with the people of Gaza under Israeli assault. The main flag bearers were the "Green Brigades", an 'ultras' group renowned for their Irish Republicanism and unflinching support for the Palestinian cause.

Liverpool Council gag Jewish Palestinian activist.

 

Helen Marks

Helen Marks, a Jewish resident in Liverpool, and secretary of Liverpool Friends of Palestine, was originally granted a three- minute speaking slot to address Liverpool council, to urge the council to call for an immediate ceasefire and peace deal in Gaza in order to find a solution to the endless cycle of violence in the region.

Following a relentless bombing campaign by the Israeli's who have bombed homes, hospitals, and schools, some 15,000 people have been killed, including over 5,500 children. After being given permission to speak, Helen Marks was asked to submit her speech to the council who then wrote to tell her that she wouldn't be able to address the council.

Daniel Fenwick, the council's City Solicitor, told her that her speech would breach the IHRA definition of antisemitism which had been adopted by Liverpool council in January 2018. Fenwick also told her that while it was legitimate freedom of expression to criticize the Israeli government's policies and actions in Gaza, her statement was likely to be offensive to the Jewish community and "others in the city and beyond." She was also told that her statement which referred to the dehumanising of the Palestinian people by the Israeli's and Amnesty International's description of Israel as an "Apartheid state", would not foster good relations between Jews, Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

Although Liverpool council have adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, the definition is not legally binding and has no basis in English law, even though the British Conservative government have adopted it and the Labour Party. The prominent human rights lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson QC, gave a legal opinion on the IHRA definition of antisemitism to a group of NGO's. He said: "The IHRA definition is unclear and confusing (it could be suggested, in fact, that it is calculatedly misleading), that the government's adoption of it has no legal status, and that the overriding legal duty of public authorities is to preserve freedom of expression..."

Stephen Sedley, a former Court of Appeal judge, has said that the IHRA definition of antisemitism fails the test of any definition because it is indefinite and that policy is not law, but is required to operate within the law. The 1998 Human Rights Act, makes it unlawful for a public authority to act incompatibly with rights that include the right to freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention. The right is not absolute or unqualified and it can be restricted where it is lawful to do so, proportionate, and necessary, in the interest of public safety, the prevention of disorder, or the protection of the rights of others. However, as Stephen Sedley points out, "These qualifications do not include a right not to be offended."

Some people might wonder why an intergovernmental body called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) needed to adopt a "non-legally-binding working definition of antisemitism" in May 2016, when most people understand antisemitism to be hostility to Jews as Jews.

Geoffrey Robertson QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, has said that the IHRA definition of antisemitism is not fit for purpose and is liable to deter "legitimate criticism of the state of Israel and coverage of human rights abuses against Palestinians." Many believe that its sole purpose. In practice, this is exactly what has occurred because people who have adopted the IHRA definition are conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism and defer to the eleven "contemporary examples of antisemitism" that are attached to the definition.

This is acknowledged by Kenneth Stern, who drafted the IHRA definition. Stern has said that he drafted the IHRA definition of antisemitism but it's right wing Jews who have weaponized it to chill and suppress free speech and legitimate criticism of Israel. Helen Marks, is just one of many to have had her right to freedom of expression curtailed by a definition of antisemitism that has no legal basis in English law.

At Saint Andrews University in Scotland, the rector, Stella Maris, has come under fire from the Israeli lobby for sending out an email recognising Israel as an apartheid regime and accusing the Israelis of waging genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Ms Marks says that Liverpool council’s maneuvers were "feeble but predictable" and that she has sent her statement to all Liverpool's councillors.

Tommy Robinson arrested on march against anti-Semitism!

 

Tommy Robinson Under Arrest

Among the lesser celebrities who turned up to support Sundays march against anti-Semitism, was the far-right anti-Muslim activist, Stephen Yaxley Lennon (40), better known as Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League (EDL). Although Robinson is a self-declared "Zionist" and a supporter of the Zionist nationalist state of Israel who boasts of his love for the country, his presence on the march, seems to have caused some embarrassment. It seems he was arrested by officers of the Met when he refused to comply with a direction to disperse under Section 35 of the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. The police told Robinson, that this continued presence in the area was likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress to others. He was directed to leave the area but refused to do so and was arrested and escorted away by the police.

Robinson has a lengthy criminal record which includes convictions for violence, contempt of court, drug possession, stalking and mortgage and immigration fraud. A former member of the neo-fascist and white nationalist British National Party (BNP), he has served at least four separate terms of imprisonment. Robinson was also a political advisor to the former UKIP leader, Gerrard Batten. In 2019, the news channel Al-Jazeera, reported that both Robinson and the far-right Dutch racist Geert Wilders, received money from the pro-Israel think tank, the Middle East Forum, to offset their legal costs after they were charged with incitement of hate against Muslims.

Although the leaders of Sunday's march said they wanted nothing to do with the former BNP member, Robinson has been invited on sponsored trips to Israel where he visited illegal Israeli settlements and was even pictured, carrying a rifle while standing on an Israeli army tank in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights. In 2017, Tommy Robinson met with members of Manchester's Jewish community at a secret gathering in Prestwich. According to the Jewish Chronicle, one community member said her friends had organised the meet-up but she would "take legal action" if her own name was linked to the event. The 'meet-up' was acknowledged by Robinson on Twitter. It's believed that he addressed around dozen people at the meeting in Prestwich where he outlined his extremist views on Islam. Other Jewish organisations in Britain condemned the meeting.

Tommy Robinson is not the only far-right leader to have received a warm welcome in Israel. In 2018, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, visited Israel and was described by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has a "True Friend of Israel." The visit proved controversial with some Israeli protestors accusing the Hungarian leader of fanning the flames of anti-Semitism in his home country. The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, also received a warm welcome from Netanyahu when he made a four-day visit in 2018. His visit to the country also proved controversial after he compared his anti-drug campaign to the Holocaust. In a rambling speech Duterte had said: "Hitler massacred three million Jews, now, there is three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them." Clearly, some people can be anti-Semites while still admiring Israel as a tough, militaristic, nationalist, apartheid state.

One-in-seven adults in England advised to go private by NHS.

 

The Conservative Party and the doctor’s union the British Medical Association (BMA), were initially opposed to the introduction of the NHS in 1948. The BMA opposed it because they thought doctors would lose money. You might say that they put their own backyard before the fate of the nation.

Aneurin Bevan, the Labour Minister for Health, was asked how he'd persuaded the doctors to accept the NHS and he replied: " I stuffed their mouths with gold." What Bevan meant, was that British doctors or consultants, could continue to see private paying patients if they accepted NHS patients.

The Conservatives opposed the NHS because they believed it would lead to a full-time salaried service for doctors which was a threat to the patient-doctor relationship and they believed, it would also wreck the voluntary hospital system. They were also incensed that Bevan had abandoned their 'Willink plan' for health reform as unworkable. The Conservative health minister, Henry Willink, had produced a White Paper in 1944, entitled, ‘A National Health Service’. However, under the Willink proposals, it was accepted that no doctor or patient would be forced to join the new service and it was assumed that private practice, would continue on a substantial scale.

Bevan wanted the full nationalisation of hospitals and socialised health care that was free of charge. The Conservatives voted consistently against Bevan's NHS Bill. From day one, Bevan included dental, ophthalmic, and hearing services within the NHS. Prescriptions were also free. Mental and physical health services were also integrated. The Bill had plainly stated that it was the duty of the Minister of Health to provide a comprehensive health service to improve the physical and mental health of the people free of charge. That responsibility was removed when the Conservative-led coalition government introduced the 2012 Health and Social Care Act.

For some years now, successive British governments have presided over the managed decline of the NHS, culminating in staff shortages, lower funding, growing waiting lists, and delays in patients accessing health care. This is a political decision. Patients are going private because of delays in accessing health care and growing waiting lists for hospital surgery, which is creating a two tier health service. Some people are crowdfunding to pay for health treatment or going abroad. Some NHS hospitals and medical staff are actively encouraging people to go private so they can jump the queue and get prioritised. The Observer newspaper says that one in seven adults in England have been advised by the NHS to go private.

The Daily Telegraph reported in August 2023, that GP pay had risen by 20% in the past three years despite GP's seeing a third fewer patients face-to-face. According to published data, GP's earned an average of £118,000 in 2021-22, up from £98,000, in 2018-19, before the pandemic.

Since the COVID lockdown in March 2020, many GP practices removed walk-in surgeries and never reinstated them. They replaced this with triage. Despite NHS England issuing guidance to practices in 2021 which says GP patients must now be offered face-to-face appointments if that is their preference, many GP's are still reluctant to see patients face-to-face and are resorting to phone and video consultations. This has led to increased pressure on emergency departments and A&E services. Unlike, molly-coddled and over-paid British GP's, hospital doctors and nurses have to deal with patients face-to-face, they have little choice in the matter.

Covid inquiry told Sunak was known as "Dr Death the Chancellor".

 

Matt Hancock - "Congenitally Untrustworthy"

Although Boris Johnson broke every rule in the rule book that his government introduced during the COVID lockdown, the COVID inquiry has been told that he wanted to impose massive fines on the general public if they broke lockdown rules.

For dozy Boris, it was a case of don't do as we do, but do as we say. At 10 Downing Street, there was 'Wine-time Friday's between 4pm and 7pm every week for as many as up to 50 people. In May 2020, some 100 people were invited to a "bring your own booze" garden party at Downing Street. There were farewell gatherings and birthday parties in Downing Street and even a 'secret Santa' Christmas quiz. In April 2021, two parties were held by Downing Street staff, the night before Prince Philip's funeral.

The social gatherings in Downing Street became known as 'Partygate'. Johnson told the House of Commons that he'd been reliably informed that all rules and guidance on COVID, had been followed at all times within Downing Street. He repeatedly denied that he'd intentionally or recklessly misled Parliament. He was later fined £50 by the police for attending a birthday party in Downing Street that broke COVID lockdown rules. Carrie Johnson and Rishi Sunak were also fined £50 for attending the same party.

In June 2023, the House of Commons Privilege Committee, found that Johnson had "deliberately misled MP's" on following COVID guidelines. He then resigned as an MP rather than face a 90-day suspension. The disgraced former Prime Minister, was also banned from entering the House of Commons.

During the COVID inquiry, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has been disparagingly referred to as "Dr Death the Chancellor" for his "eat out to help out scheme" which studies have suggested, might have been responsible for up to a sixth of new infection clusters during the summer of 2020.

Mat Hancock, the former Health Minister, has come under attack for being dishonest, incompetent and more interested in self-promotion than tackling the spread of coronavirus. He was described at the inquiry, as "congenitally untrustworthy." In a WhatsApp message, the former cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwill, told Boris Johnson to sack the "lying" health secretary to "save lives and protect the NHS."

The Guardian newspaper wrote: "Boris Johnson has been portrayed during the inquiry as a borderline-sentient hologram of a leader who failed to grasp basic science and would adopt the view of whoever he last spoke to."

I've often thought that if Boris Johnson resembles any historical figure in British politics, it has got to be the corrupt Edwardian fraudster, Horatio Bottomley. A member of Parliament, he was also the editor of a populist magazine called 'John Bull'. It's said of Bottomley, that he had the ability to charm the public even while swindling them. He also had many mistresses. In 1922, Bottomley was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He finished up sewing mailbags in Wormwood Scrubs.