U.S. tells Syrian de-facto ruler he's no longer a terrorist.

 

U.S. officials have met with the de-facto rulers of Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham(HTS), and told its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani that they have dropped the $10-million-dollar reward for information leading to his capture. Barbara Leaf, a top State Department official for the Middle East, said "it's a little incoherent, then, to have a bounty on the guy's head."

Until recently the HTS leader, who was a former member of al-Qaida, was considered a terrorist by the U.S. HTS was one of a number of Syrian rebel and terrorist groups that brought down the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Upon taking control of Syria, al-Jolani declared it a great victory for the Islamic nation whatever that is. Britain has declared HTS a proscribed organisation but both the Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer-oid and the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, have welcomed the overthrow of Assad by Syrian rebels and designated terrorist groups.

President-elect Donald Trump, who will take control of the White House on January 20, says he's not interested in getting involved with a fight with Syria. A Trump official recently described Peter Mandelson, who has just been appointed the British Ambassador to Washington, as a "moron". The Labour Government’s National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, believes that it's the job of the British Ambassador to Washington to get as far up the arse of the White House as they possibly can, so Mandelson will be well qualified for that job.

In Damascus, demonstrators were seen chanting, "No to religious rule”, and "we want a democracy, not a religious state." The caretaker government in Syria have been urged to respect the rights of all Syrian's and in particular Syrian women. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani was filmed recently telling a female journalist to get her head covered, raising fears that he's intending to introduce Islamic rule.

Labour renege on promise to introduce Scottish-style right to roam.

 

Labour's Tory-lite, Prime Minister, free gear, Sir Keir Starmer-oid, is known for his ability to turn on a dime and for broken promises and pledges. When Labour was in opposition, it promised a Scottish-style right to roam in England.

There's currently a right to roam over just 8% of English countryside. The Dartmoor National Park is said to be the only place in England where you can engage in wild camping and that's under threat. Labour's previous shadow environment team led by Jim McMahon, had committed to a Scottish-style right to roam where there would be an assumed right to walk round the English countryside. A Labour Party spokesman has now said: "Let me be clear that under Keir Starmer's leadership, Labour has never committed to a Scottish-style right to roam."

What many people forget is that it was mass trespass and civil disobedience in 1932 by Manchester ramblers like Benny Rothman, that gave people the right to walk in the Peak District and which led to the formation of the Peak District National Park. Benny and other ramblers were imprisoned for the trespass and risked being beaten up by thugs employed by the Duke of Devonshire. Benny Rothman served four months in jail for leading the Kinder trespass.

Can you tell the difference between a terrorist group and a liberation movement?

 

This is a question from my Christmas quiz. What's the difference between a 'terrorist group' and a 'liberation movement'? 

The proscribed terrorist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have just deposed the Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad in Syria. Both the Labour Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, have welcomed the overthrow of Assad by Syrian rebels and terrorists.  

John Sawyer, a former head of MI6, recently told Sky News that the government should review its proscription of HTS because it had cut ties with al-Qaida over the past decade. Sawyer argued that it would be "rather ridiculous" not to be able to engage with the rebels who had taken control of Syria because of the group's proscription. Sawyer said: 

"I think Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader, has made great efforts over the last ten years to distance himself from those terrorist groups and certainly the actions we've seen of HTS over the last two weeks have been those of a liberation movement, not a terrorist organisation."

A person commits an offence under s.12(1) A of the Terrorism Act 2000, if they express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation and in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation. 

I know of a number of people, journalists and political activists, who have been charged and arrested under section 12 for comments and opinions they have expressed on social media in relation to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. 

The British government have designated HTS a proscribed organisation and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is considered a terrorist with a price on his head. In expressing support for HTS and al-Jolani, is John Sawyer committing an offence under s.12 of the Terrorism Act 2000?

 

Britain's obsession with social-class.

 

In England they talk a lot of cant and humbug about social class. England always has been a very class divided and snobbish society, but you will find that many politicians and the elites that run this country, will often try to deny this in public because inequality has to be justified. We're told that people get on because of their ability.  

Prince William has been seen selling the Big Issue and campaigns against homelessness to justify his privileged lifestyle. The Royal Family have numerous under occupied homes but I don't think that they will be opening them up to house the homeless. We've been told that Britain is now a classless society and that all political parties are utilitarian in that they want the greatest good for the greatest number. They will tell you that Britain is a meritocratic society and that it isn't where you come from that matters but where you're going - worth not birth, they will say.

Only around 7% of people who live in Britain, have ever attended what are called public schools, but you will find them disproportionately represented in most of the top jobs in the country such as in the judiciary, government, civil service, journalism and the legal profession. Many of Britain's Prime Ministers have been drawn from one public school called Eton.

There was probably more upward social mobility in the 1950s and 1960s, but this was linked to the vast expansion of the state and the economy after the war. People were needed to fill the jobs in the NHS, education and in government services, and there weren't enough middle-class people to fill them. In today's Britain, the social bank of mum and dad opens as many doors as the financial bank of mum and dad. The social class into which you're born, will very much determine your outcomes in life.

The TV historian, Dan Snow, who married Lady Edwina Grosvenor, has called himself a "Nepo Baby" because he says people believe he owes his success in life to nepotism. The writer and Guardian journalist, Polly Toynbee, has frequently said that her success in life was helped by having the name Toynbee and a famous father and grandfather. White privileged old Etonians, like David Cameron and Boris Johnson, owe everything in life to the social class that they were born into and family connections. Cameron and Johnson will never need to use a jobcentre.

 

Britain joins CPTPP

 

Britain left one trade bloc called the E.U. and has just joined another one called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It wasn't long ago that the British government were trying to join the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

 In 2016, many British voters voted to leave the E.U. having been persuaded that they were taking back control of their country and its borders. Although it's not mentioned in this article, the CPTPP agreement contains the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision that allows corporations to sue states if government policies are seen as likely to affect future profits. This might arise from concerns about environmental protection or human rights. A tobacco company might invoke the ISDS if they thought a ban on tobacco advertising was likely to have an adverse effect on profitability. A company might sue the British government if it had a ban on the use of certain chemicals used in food production.

Are we really a society of self-interested individuals pursuing our own personal greed?

 

Lionel Barrymore 

Frank Capra's 1946 film called "It's a Wonderful Life", is a Christmas classic and one of my favourite films.

The Russian-born American writer Ayn Rand, who wrote the pro-capitalist dystopian novel called 'Atlas Shrugged', told the FBI that Capra's film starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore, was communist propaganda. Rand had worked in Hollywood as a scriptwriter and had written the Hollywood guide to making pro-capitalist movies - a sort of Ten Commandments. When the film was initially released it wasn't a great success and Capra lost money on it. Some of the actors didn't even watch a screening of the film. I believe that Donna Reed didn't watch the film until the 1970s. Nor was the film made as a Christmas classic even though the action takes place on a Christmas Eve, in a place called Bedford Falls.

One of the things that fascinates me about this film is its moral strain. James Stewart, plays George Bailey, who runs a small savings and loans bank, whereas, Mr Potter his rival is portrayed as a scheming rapacious self-interested capitalist. Bailey, who faces financial ruin when some money goes missing and then contemplates suicide, isn't really an anti-capitalist, but he's a community minded person who wants to good by his neighbours. He possibly believes in a kind of ethical or moral capitalism. As a businessman, Henry Potter is far shrewder and shows far more business acumen than Bailey. Potter's mantra would be “fair is foul and foul is fair.” Yet in spite of his shortcomings, it's George Bailey that we all warm to and who we empathise with and Mr Potter who we generally despise. Bailey is rescued from oblivion by his guardian angel called Clarence and by the generosity of his neighbours in Bedford Falls who donate money to keep Bailey's bank solvent.

There's no doubt about it that this story and the film itself, was inspired by ‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens. Ayn Rand despised altruism and compassion and saw selfishness and self-interest as the only true virtue. She railed against state welfare systems, yet in later life, as her health declined, she finished up on social security and Medicare.

There are those who would have us believe that we're all self-interested individuals pursuing our own personal greed and interests like Mr Potter. If that was the case, then why we do we have lifeboat volunteers or a RNLI that is funded and financed by public donations and why do people donate to charities? A society that's made up of an aggregate of self-interested egoists, is no society at all. No matter how much it pains free market capitalist crackpots like Ayn Rand, there always will be acts of altruism and an inner decency that resides within most human beings and that's why some many of us can identify with the fictional character of George Bailey.

When America shouts Britain jumps.

 

Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

Field Marshal Montgomery said the first rule of war was don't invade Russia. Who in their right mind would do that? If you know anything about military history, you would know how pointless that is. You can't encircle the country or invade it without enormous logistical challenges and I don't believe that many Russians feel that they're really under threat from of an invasion by NATO forces.

I once saw Vladimir Putin being interviewed by Tucker Carlson who asked him if NATO expansionism towards the East had led to Russia invading the Ukraine. He laughed at that and dismissed it out of hand. He gave Carlson a lesson in Russia history as he sees it. Putin as a Russian nationalist, doesn't recognise the Ukraine as an independent country and he's a revanchist, who is reclaiming lost Russian territory. They've all got enough nuclear missiles to destroy one another so they don't have to invade any country.

Putin has now got his best mate in the White House. Putin is one world leader that Donald Trump doesn't take the piss out of. As for the British government, its raison d'etre is to get as far up the arse of the White House as it possibly can. When the Americans shout, they jump.

Russia offers asylum to Bashir al Assad.

 

HTS leader- Abu Mohammed al Jalani

The Syrian President Bashar al Assad has been given political asylum by Russia. It's believed that the former Syrian President and his family are now in Moscow. I wonder how much of the countries money and resources they've took away with them.

The country appears to be under the control of the Sunni Islamist militant faction called Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), but this is only one of a number of insurgent factions who are fighting for power and control in Syria. Will the downfall of Bashar al Assad create a power vacuum in Syria as it did follow the downfall of Saddam Hussain in Iraq? It also led to a bloodbath between Sunni and Shia Muslims. HTS leader, Abu Mohammed al Jolani, described the fall of Assad as a "victory to the Islamic nation." I'm not sure what the Islamic nation is or if such a thing exists.

In August 2013, a Conservative government motion calling for British military action in Syria to support the 'moderate' insurgent rebels seeking to overthrow Bashar al Assad, was defeated in the House of Commons. The Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, was disappointed with the vote but said: "It's clear to me that the British parliament...does not want to see British military action." I think that many British MPs were reluctant for Britain to take military action in Syria, because they felt wisely, that they didn't know who they were really backing, or what Britain was really getting dragged into. They must have also asked themselves who or what was going to replace the regime and dictatorship of Bashar al Assad whose family have been running Syria since 1970, with the support of the Alawite sect.

One of those supposed moderate insurgent Islamic groups that were seeking to overthrow Bashir al Assad and which David Cameron was keen to supply with British arms, later morphed into ISIS. Most of the victims of ISIS weren't westerners, but Muslims. Time will tell whether Syria returns to some kind of stability or descends into chaos and civil war.

 

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."