"The Cyclists Friend" - No Lady or Gentleman should be without one.

 

When I was a young lad, many of my friends owned air guns, including myself, which we often took out with us. We would often go down to the canal to shoot with our air pistols and rifles. On one occasion, I spoke to a lad who had a .410 shotgun with him. Shooting and poaching rabbits with nets, dogs, and ferrets, was very popular in the North of England in the 1960s.

Today, Britain has some of the strictest gun laws in the world and there have even been calls for air weapons to be licensed. Yet, before 1920, there were very few restrictions on gun ownership in Britain. You could buy a revolver and cartridges at a gunsmith, local hardware store, pub, or by mail order, with no questions asked. Many British magazines carried adverts for a product known as the 'The Cyclist's Friend' or 'The Traveller's Friend', which was not a puncture outfit or waterproof cape, but a revolver that could be easily concealed in a pocket or a handbag. 

A revolver produced by the Staffordshire firm of T.W. Carryer and Co Ltd, which they called, 'The Cyclist's Friend', sold for 12 shillings and was marketed with the logo, "Fear no tramp" and "No lady or gentleman should be without one." Women Cyclists were thought to be particularly vulnerable to attacks from robbers and vagrants or vicious dogs, as they cycled along England's rural roads. 

The arms manufacturer Colt, claimed that British sales of their Pocket Revolver, the Colt .32, had risen into the 'thousands' between its introduction in 1893 and 1901. The Colt .45, which was said to have tamed the Wild West of America, was also very popular. Yet gun crime, was extremely rare, and calls for tighter gun control was usually dismissed as unnecessary.

In spite of the lax gun laws in Britain, before the Firearms Act of 1920, most people didn't own a gun or feel it necessary to buy one. What seems to have tipped the scales in favour of tighter gun control in Britain, is the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the number of former servicemen who had fought in WWI, who had taken weapons home with them as souvenirs. This seems to have worried the establishment.

Leeds preacher has conviction for transgender harassment overturned.

 

Leeds Preacher - David McConnell

A Christian preacher has had a conviction quashed by Leeds Magistrate Court after he was found guilty of harassing a transgender woman by calling her a "man" and a "gentleman."

In June 2021, David McConnell (42), from Flockton, Wakefield, had been preaching to a small crowd in Leeds when a person in the crowd, Ms Farrah Munir (19), suddenly asked, "Does God accept the LGBT community?" Addressing the crowd, Mr McConnell - who was wearing a body camera - referred to Ms Muir as "this gentleman" and said, "This is a man." The preacher then told the crowd, "Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God" and added, "The Bible says lesbianism is an unnatural and vile passion." Ms Munir said she'd been left "emotionally distraught."

Mr McConnell was given a 12-month community order with 80-hours unpaid work in September 2022. At the appeal hearing, Mr McConnell told the court that in his view he was "not misgendering" and was "gendering correctly" because he knew that the person in front of him (Ms Farrah Munir), was a biological male and had therefore stayed true to God and true to his beliefs.

Recorder Anthony Hawks, who overturned Mr McConnell's conviction with two other magistrates last Thursday, said that although they accepted that Mr McConnell's words had been insulting and Ms Munir had suffered "harassment, alarm and distress", there was no evidence that he had intended to do so." Recorder Hawks told the court:

"We live in a time when free speech is important and vital and we live in a time when people's attitudes towards gender are very different from how they were years ago. All these issues need to be properly respected, so I make no criticism whatsoever of the Crown bringing a prosecution in this case."

David McConnell who was backed by the Christian Legal Centre, said he was "delighted and relieved" and added, "I am however, appalled by how I have been treated by the authorities in this matter."

Last Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported that David McConnell, had been reported to the UK's Prevent counter terrorism program over his Christian views "which were deemed to be sufficiently radical for them to be contacted." According to Mr McConnell's probation officer, he was "viewed to be persistently and illegally espousing an extreme point of view" with his "preaching, prompting the government official to 'routinely' liaise with counter-terrorism police."

The case and revelations about David McConnell have caused outrage among many Christians who see themselves being persecuted and reported as potential terrorists, because they won't celebrate and approve LGBT ideology and queer politics. The case brought against Mr McConnell, which is not an isolated case, represents a disturbing trend in British society where people who espouse traditional Christian values in public about marriage, gender, and sexual relationships, are having legal action being taken against them.

John Steinbeck

 

John Steinbeck

I've read a number of books by John Steinbeck but it's this quote from Cannery Row that always stuck with me. Doc says to Mack and the Boys, 

 "It has always seemed strange to me...the things we admire in men, kindliness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self- interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the qualities of the first, they love the produce of the second." 

 In his play Macbeth, Shakespeare has the three witches saying something very similar to Doc in Cannery Row. That "fair is foul and foul is fair." In short, what seems good can often be bad and vice versa. It's the basis of classical economic theory that underpins so-called capitalist free markets. It has been said that Doc is based loosely on Steinbeck's friend, Ed Ricketts. I always get the impression that Steinbeck rather admires the ne'er-do-well panhandlers and bums and their non-materialistic, laid-back attitude towards life, whether it's Mack and the Boys in Cannery Row, or the Mexican paisano's of Tortilla Flat. Many of his stories, like Grapes of Wrath, deal with the daily grit and grime of human existence.

Voter ID. Tory Government accused of ballot rigging!

 

This May, people who go to a polling station to vote, will be required to show photo-ID before being issued with a ballot paper. Yet, some 11 million people living in the UK, don't have a passport or a driving license because they don't require the documents. Around 3 million people living in Britain don't have photo-ID.

Under the new law, people can apply for a 'Voter Authority Certificate' (VAC). Government data shows that fewer than 21,000 people out of an estimated 2 million, who will require a VAC in the May 2023 elections, have applied for one. Only 505 people aged over 75 have applied for a VAC, and fewer than 6% of applicants were aged under 25.

The opposition political parties in Britain have accused the Tory government of ballot rigging. They point out that elderly people living in Greater London, will be able to use their Oyster Card bus passes as photo-ID when voting in elections, but this doesn't apply to younger people with an Oyster card. Moreover, photo-ID is not required for postal ballots.

Voter turnout in elections has been falling in the UK for decades. Fewer than 30% bother to vote in local elections. Critics say the new law of photo-ID is likely to see voter turnout declining even further.

Wakefield school boy accused of 'desecrating' the Qur'an!

 

Kettlethorpe High School

Blasphemy was abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and in Scotland in 2021. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK to have retained it.

The incidents at Batley Grammar School and Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield, are both ostensibly related to the holy book the Qur'an, and an allegation of blasphemy or disrespect.

Under pressure from local Muslims, three teachers were suspended at Batley Grammar school and one had to go into hiding with his family in fear of his life, after receiving death threats. The teacher had been accused of the 'inappropriate' use of a picture of the prophet in an R.E. class which was used to illustrate a point about religious bigotry.

At the school in Wakefield, four pupils have been suspended for slightly damaging an English copy of the Qur'an they had bought themselves. They have been accused by local Muslims of 'desecrating' the Holy Book. The incident has been dubbed 'Qurangate'. The head teacher of the school, says there was "no malicious intent by those involved", yet there have been death threats to one of the boys who is autistic. The local police said they were treating the matter as an "hate incident" - not the death threats but the scuff marks on the book - and the head teacher of the school called it a "very serious matter."

In both cases, attempts to appease a mob of Muslim activists, and the fear of being accused of Islamophobia, has effectively reintroduced a de facto law of blasphemy in England through the backdoor. 

The incident at Kettlethorpe High School, makes one wonder what would have happened if a Muslim child had dropped a copy of the Christian Bible. Would that have led to a police Inquiry and accusations of hate crime and desecration.

School chaplain was referred to 'Prevent' Program because of his Christian beliefs!

 

Reverend Bernard Randell

The Rev Bernard Randall (50), was made redundant from the school where he was employed as school Chaplain, after he told pupils in a sermon delivered in June 2019, 'You do not have to accept the ideas of LGBT activists" that was being taught on the Educate & Celebrate (E&C) programme.

In his sermon, called 'Competing Ideologies', the Reverend Randall said he believed that parts of E&C were Marxist, revolutionary and atheist. The sermon triggered complaints from parents, pupils and staff members, who said it nearly left them in tears, but Randal insisted that the programme, was incompatible with the school's Christian ethos.

As a Christian, Reverend Randall believes that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that sex outside of marriage is a sin and "morally problematic." Trent College in Derbyshire, were so shocked by Reverend Russell's Christian beliefs that they referred him to 'Prevent', the government's anti-extremism programme which found there was "no counter terrorism risk, or risk of radicalisation" in Rev Randall's message.

The school Chaplain claimed unfair dismissal but lost his case at an Employment Tribunal, who found his dismissal was a genuine redundancy aimed at saving the school money. They dismissed his claim of discrimination, harassment, and victimisation.  The Employment Tribunal judge, Victoria Butler, said there had been no victimisation and that Randall's referral to Prevent, had been justified from a "safeguarding perspective."

Trent College said they welcomed the judgement and said they were an "inclusive community." Reverend Russell said that he was extremely disappointed to lose the case and that it struck a blow at freedom of speech and freedom of religion. He added: "It is a foundational principle of a truly democratic society that the free exchange of ideas is good for everyone." 

Since losing his job, Rev Randall, has been made unemployable as a minister because the Bishop of Derby, the Rt. Rev. Libby Lane, will not permit him to work as a minister in the Church of England. He was blacklisted by the diocese as a “safeguarding risk” to children and vulnerable adults.

Cummings fast-tracked company with no assets for Covid contracts!

 

An American company called 'Disruptive Nanotechnology (trading as Tried and Tested), which had two employees - Charles Palmer and Kim Thonger - no assets, £85 in the bank, and debts of £3,592, made a £20 million profit from government contracts after it was referred to the VIP fast track lane by Dominic Cummings at the height of the COVID pandemic.

In July 2020, Dominic Cummings referred an offer from two middlemen, Palmer and Thonger, representing the US-based firm Innova Medical Group, within one hour of receiving it by email to a No.10 advisor. Less than two months later, Innova was awarded its first public contact without competition, valued at £103 million. Innova went on to win 12 contracts to supply COVID tests totalling more than £4 billion in value.

In June 2021, U.S. regulators banned the use of Innova COVID tests due to "significant concerns that the performance of the test has not been adequately established, presenting a risk to health." The U.S. regulators also suggested that Innova may have falsified evidence in support of the efficacy of the tests. Consumers were advised to either "destroy" Innova's antigen tests or throw them in the "trash". Six days later the Conservative government of Boris Johnson, awarded Innova a further contract valued at £518 million.

The lucrative government contracts with Innova saw Disruptive Nanotechnology's profits surge in 2020/21 to £20.5 million. Palmer and Thonger were the company's only employees at the time. Innova Medical Group also cashed in during the pandemic with executives buying Gulfstream jets and purchasing 'multi-million dollar homes directly off the back of the contracts awarded by the British government.

An organisation called the Good Law Project, contacted No. 10 Downing Street, the Department of Health and Social Care, Innova and Disruptive Nanotechnology, for an explanation as to how a tiny company with no assets, selling a dubious product, won privileged access to the heart of government. No explanation has been forthcoming.

Will Kate Forbes religious beliefs scupper her chances of becoming SNP leader?

 

Kate Forbes of the SNP

Kate Forbes, the SNP MP for Skye and Lochaber, who's standing to be the next leader of the SNP is one of the Wee Frees, Free Church of Scotland. The Wee Frees sing or chant the Psalms in church. These followers of John Knox and John Calvin, think that Scotland is on "a  Highway to Hell" with its support for gay marriage and abortion. They've already called on SNP MP, Ian Blachford, who is a member of the church, to repent for supporting SNP policies on gay marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland.

The Rev David Robertson, says that telling children that they can change their gender is "demonic ideology." Kate Forbes's religious views were well known and don't seem to have been a problem for her until she stood to be the SNP leader. It now seems that her conventional view of marriage and sex within marriage, are likely to put her at odds with progressives within the SNP, and could scupper her chances of becoming the next SNP leader. Unlike Nicola Sturgeon, Kate does at least know the difference between a man and a woman, or as they say in Scotland, cocks and wee hens.

They've put pressure on Kate Forbes to moderate or change her views, but up to now, she's stuck to her guns and has been honest about her religious belief. Her rival candidate, Humza Yousaf, says that though he's a Muslim, he won't let his religious belief influence policy and he believes in diversity and same-sex marriage. He was once prosecuted for driving without insurance. At the time of his prosecution, he was the Scottish Transport Minister. The other candidate to be SNP leader is Ash Regan. She resigned over the Scottish Gender Reform Bill.  

Kate Forbes believes that sex outside marriage is a sin. At one time being borne illegitimate, or out of wedlock, was a dreadful cross to bear for a child. Although children had no choice in the matter, they were often taunted and called Bastards and stigmatized. 

The Welshman, John Rowlands, also known as Sir Henry Morton Stanley, was an illegitimate working-class child, who was put in the workhouse. He later emigrated to the USA and became a famous journalist and explorer, but he was always careful, to conceal his parentage, so he changed his name. 

In Dickens's day, middle-class people with money, would dump bastard children in the Yorkshire Schools and forget them.  Dickens knew that many of these children had died of neglect and malnutrition and he sought to expose it. In his novel Nicholas Nickleby, the physically abused boy called Smike, is used to illustrate the brutality that went on in schools like Dotheboys Hall which is run by the sadistic Wakford Squeers. Smike, it later turns out, is the illegitimate son of Ralph Nickleby, Nicholas's uncle.  

And what did Jesus Christ say to the mob, that were just about to stone a woman to death for adultery: "He who is without sin, cast the first stone." Very wise words indeed. Kate Forbes should take heed. Today, the word bastard means nothing, and good riddance to it. In Britain today, the majority of live births (51.3%), were to none married couples. You might say that Britain today is now a nation of BASTARDS! 

Jon Snow says he owes everything to nepotism.

 

Jon Snow

Jon Snow says that he's a "nepo baby". He says that he owes his success in life to nepotism, his social class, and his social connections. "I would have been nowhere, but for nepotism." His father, the Bishop of Whitby, went to Winchester and Oxford and taught at Eton. Snow went to boarding school where he got abysmal O-Levels and then Scarborough Technical College. He then went to Liverpool University - which his father facilitated - but got slung out for challenging the Chancellor over his support for South African apartheid. His cousin, Peter Snow, put him in touch with the Earl of Longford who gave him a job running a shelter for the homeless called New Horizon.  Peter Snow then got him a job at LBC. By the 1980s, he was a roving reporter for ITN covering wars in Central America and the Washington correspondent for ITN.

 Zoe Williams of the Guardian, who has just reviewed John Snow’s memoirs, says that the 1960s, was a funny era where a well-connected scion of the upper classes - like Jon Snow - would find it impossible to do anything but succeed. I wouldn't signal out the 1960s for being particularly significant. It was also an era of social mobility for many people due to the expansion of the State, which required more bureaucrats.

 The Old Boys Network has been operating a long time. I remember reading about the MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott, who went to Eton and Trinity College Cambridge. He was a close friend of Kim Philby. Elliots father, Sir Claude Aurelius Elliott, was the headmaster of Eton. It is said of Sir Claude, that he "knew everybody who was anybody, and nobody who wasn't somebody." Nicolas Elliot got a job with MI6, when he asked Sir Robert Vanisittard, over a glass of champagne at Ascot races, if he could pull some strings and get him in MI6. Sir Robert, who was a friend of Sir Claude Elliot, replied:  "I'm am relieved you have asked me for something so easy." I gather that 'White's' gentlemen's club was a favourite recruiting ground for MI6, and both Sir Claude and his son, were members.

 After playing in a cricket match at Eton, and before he joined MI6, Nichols Elliott, was approached by Sir Neville Bland, a senior diplomat, who offered him a job as honorary attaché at the Hague, where Sir Neville was Britain's Minister. Although Elliot hadn't a clue what the job entailed, he wrote that there was no serious vetting procedure and that Sir Neville had simply told the Foreign Office, that I was all right, because he knew me and had been at Eton with my father. 

Hands off Roald Dahl! French publisher says Dahl's novels will remain intact.

 Author Roald Dahl

Viva La France. The UK publisher Puffin have hired 'sensitivity readers' to delete language deemed offensive in the books of Roald Dahl. The French publishers Gallimard said no changes would be made to the author's children books in France and the original text would "remain intact." Puffin said its overhaul of the books was aimed at bringing them into the modern world.

In the new English version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the word 'ugly' and 'fat' used to describe the greedy Augustus Gloop, is replaced by the word 'enormous' and the Oompa-Loompas are gender neutral. In the French version, Gloop remains "a hippopotamus...enormous...like a fat pig" and the Oompa-Loompas are described as men who wear "deer skins "

Antoine Cheron, a lawyer specializing in author's rights said it was not illegal in France to change a dead author's works, but it was "dangerous for culture." "How far back should we go?" Cheron said. "Baudelaire? Voltaire? The Bible? If books are changed in this way they are not the original works. It is not far off censorship. This seems to be an attack on artistic creation and Freedom of expression."

The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has criticized the 'airbrushing' of Roald Dahl's classics by Puffin, saying "don't 'gobblefunk' around with words", a word that was used by Dahl in his children's book the Big Friendly Giant to denote the practice of playing around with language. Gobblefunk, is what we might call a 'nonce word' that like Lewis Carroll’s 'jabberwocky', is used for a single occasion. The word 'nonce' has now acquired a different meaning to many English people who think that it refers to a child sex abuser. The word 'gay' has also lost its original meaning.

I think that Antoine Cheron makes a very valid point. Are we going to finish up seeing 'sensitivity readers' scouring over and 'airbrushing' the works of Dickens, Waugh, Trollope, Orwell and Enid Blyton? They're bound to find something objectionable. I'm currently reading a novel by Joseph Conrad called Victory. In his novel, Conrad refers to a "Big Buck Nigger"and says "Wang was not a common coolie " Yes, they are very offensive words, but Conrad was a man of his time and not of our times. What right have we got to mess about with his words by trying to turn the clock back and impose a modern view of the world on him?

Euro consumers mock Brits with photos of full supermarket shelves.

 Empty shelves in Britain's supermarkets

The Germans call it schadenfreude, the English, malicious joy. Europe's consumers are mocking Brits with photos of supermarket shelves piled high with an abundance of tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, and fruit.

The bad weather in North Africa and Spain doesn't seem to have led to a shortage of salad foods in other parts of Europe. I shop in Aldi, and they've been having supply problems for ages.

Justin King, the former CEO of Sainsbury's, blames Brexit for "horribly hurting" UK supermarkets which he says has led to supply shortages in British supermarket and dwindling supplies of fruit and vegetables.

Isn't it about time the British stopped kidding themselves about the benefits of Brexit and admit that it has been an unmitigated disaster.

Spy Cops Inquiry - Counsel Closing Statement.

 "They should have decided to disband the SDS". The final eight words of David Barr KC, counsel to the inquiry, when giving his closing statement for the Tranche 1 phase of the inquiry (1968-1979). Later Barr stated that: "We cannot rule out that some [SDS intelligence], once filed, was leaked to the private sector and misused to blacklist activists". The counsel of the inquiry is not on the side of the activists spied upon, but is there to provide the general thinking of the inquiry so far. He has stated that an Interim Report will be produced soon. Full statement is available here: https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230216-CTIs_T1_Closing_Statement.pdf

Blacklist Support Group (BSG) are core-participants in the public inquiry. Blacklisted workers recognise the importance of the statement made by the counsel to the inquiry. In many ways Barr's closing statement provides vindication for our fight. We have only got to this point because by the work of activists, investigative journalists, lawyers, unions and a small number of politicians, in waging campaign to uncover the truth about the nature of political policing in the UK. It is no thanks to the Metropolitan Police, the Home Office or the multiple arms of the state apparatus who have sought at every opportunity to cover up their wrong doing and delay the process. BSG applaud our fellow non-state non-police core participants, our legal teams and sister campaigns: Police Spies Out of Lives, Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance, The Monitoring Group, Undercover Research Group, who have stood shoulder to shoulder for over a decade in this fight for justice. 

Counsel to the Inquiry's closing statement admits that the SDS political policing was unjustified and that undercover police officers joined trade unions to spy on internal union meetings: "trade unions and trade unionists are both mentioned in SDS reporting. Specific justice campaigns often feature in SDS reporting... for example the reporting on the Shrewsbury Two Action Committee". 

Yet counsel to the inquiry also claims that trade unions were not "specific SDS targets or that individual trade unionists were reported upon solely because of their trade union activities". This is a legalistic tautology. Information about what trade unionists said at union meetings was gathered by undercover police officers claiming to be union members. This intelligence was sent back to Special Branch. This is spying on trade union activities: plain and simple. 

Counsel to the inquiry also accepts that intelligence was shared with employers to blacklist British citizens because of their perfectly lawful political and trade union activities. This is state sponsored blacklisting: plain and simple.  

Conclusion to counsel to the inquiry's statement:

111. The SDS was created in 1968 to deal with a specific, large scale public order threat, for which there was a concrete basis for concern. It used relatively short and shallow deployments to gather valuable intelligence about the October 1968 Demonstration. The unit then became a permanent feature, deploying undercover officers continuously into far-left groups, often with vague remits. Individual deployments which lasted for several years became the norm. Officers became involved in the lives of those they were spying on. Although, they were not ordered or encouraged to do so, in some instances, this went as far as sex. Reporting was extensive, unfiltered, deeply personal and often recorded in unprofessional terms. We cannot rule out that some of it, once filed, was leaked to the private sector and misused to blacklist activists.

112. The whole operation was secret and a very high priority was accorded to keeping it that way. Courts were sometimes misled. Miscarriages of justice occurred as a result. An officer whose cover was compromised was told to pretend that he was acting independently. Discipline was not enforced. Aspects of deceased’s children’s identities were used even though they added only a limited further protection.

113. These operations have caused a lot of harm. Democratic freedoms have been infringed, outrage and pain has been caused. The damage is not limited to members of the public. Former undercover officers have suffered psychiatric injury.

114. The primary reason for conducting these operations was to gain intelligence to assist police to maintain order on the streets. However, the level of threat posed to public order was often not commensurate with a need to deploy undercover police officers for this purpose. Not in the way that they operated. The benefits which the unit’s intelligence brought to public order policing do not, in our submission, justify the means.

115. The ancillary reason for the SDS’ work was to assist the Security Service to counter subversion. However, the evidence of the SDS’ own officers and other contemporary documents show that the groups targeted by the SDS did not meet the official definition of subversion. Many of those targeted were revolutionaries. But they did not threaten the safety or wellbeing of the State. In the words of Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, Sir Robert Mark, they were “a bad joke”.

116. There was a remarkable lack of oversight, formal training and instruction. However, the SDS was not a rogue unit. It was part of a larger intelligence gathering apparatus and counter subversion effort which also operated in secrecy. The SDS was known to the chain of command within the Metropolitan Police Service. Senior officers visited the unit on occasion and met its undercover officers. They received annual reports about the unit’s work. The existence of the SDS was known to some within the Security Service, the Home Office and, to a lesser extent, the Cabinet Office.

117. We remain of the view expressed in last month’s submissions. There was no effective review of the SDS’ operation. No one appears to have considered whether the level of intrusion occasioned by SDS long-term undercover police deployments was justified. No one appears to have addressed their mind specifically to the legality of the SDS’ operations. No one appears to have considered whether (after its introduction) both limbs of the Harris definition were met. There is a strong case for concluding that, had they done so, they should have decided to disband the SDS.

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

Spy Cops Inquiry - Live Hearings Online.

 The public inquiry into undercover policing is holding virtual hearings for the completion of Tranche 1 (of seven) this week. There will be ‘closing statements’ from the police and various arms of the state, and from those that were spied upon (non-state non-police core participants). There will be plenty of media coverage. You can watch today’s hearings live via:

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/hearing/ucpi-closing-statements-t1-day-1/

Some media regarding this week's hearings:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/undercover-policing-inquiry-spycops-trade-union-spying-government-state/

https://www.irishnews.com/news/uknews/2023/02/17/news/prime_ministers_knew_of_met_s_undercover_unit_spying_on_activists_campaigners-3070715/

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

U.S. Journalist says Biden gave order to sabotage gas pipeline.

 

Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline

The American investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, who exposed the My Lai massacre in the Vietnamese war, has claimed that the Americans blew up the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, on orders from Joe Biden. 

Although nobody has acknowledged responsibility for the explosion, many countries see it as an act of sabotage. The Whitehouse has denied the report, claiming it was "utterly false and complete fiction." The pipeline was designed to carry gas to Europe via Germany, but it has never been used since its completion in 2021, with Germany backing out.

Boris Johnson buys Brightwell Manor for £5m.

 

Brightwell Manor Oxfordshire

In November 2019, Penny Churchill of Country Life, wrote an article about the Grade II-listed Brightwell Manor in Oxfordshire. The property was then on the market for £5m.

Last week, it was reported that the nine bedroom, five-bathroom house, had been bought by Boris and Carrie Johnson, for a reputed £4m. The house, which dates from the early 1600s, is set in five acres of land, partly moated, in the Oxfordshire village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell.

 After being ignominiously slung out of 10 Downing Street, six months ago, when members of his cabinet and junior ministers resigned in their droves, Boris and Carrie, and their two children, Walter and Romy, have been looking for a permanent home. After resigning as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said he would now be spending his time putting "Hay in the hayloft." He once described his £250,000 a year earnings from the Daily Telegraph, as "chicken feed" and always said that he couldn't live on a PM's salary of £164,00.

It has been reported that in the last 6-months, Johnson has made nearly £5m from speeches, advances, and donations. He registered £74,000 in accommodation from Lord Bamford and his wife Carole, who are personal friends. The mega-rich, Lord Bamford, who owns JCB, also paid £23,000 for Boris's postnuptial summer wedding celebration in 2022.

Dartmoor landowners close car parks.

 

Dartmoor

Dartmoor is fast becoming a National Park in name only as private landowners restrict access to the moor and are closing carparks.

Until recently, Dartmoor was one of the last places in England where wild camping was allowed without the landowners’ permission. Hedge fund manager, Alexander Darwall, who owns the 4,000 acre Blachford Estate, took legal action in the High Court to stop wilding camping on Dartmoor, and won his case.

The right to roam and the right to go wild camping are enshrined in Scottish law. Although the Dartmoor National Park Authority, are considering an appeal against the High Court ruling in the Darwall case, some say this doesn't go far enough. They are now demanding that legislation be introduced to guarantee a right to roam and wild camp in England and Wales.

Gambian school dedicates library to Brian Bamford of Northern Voices.

 

"Following former Northern Voices editor, Brian Bamford's death last year, his wife Pat asked that all donations (in lieu of flowers ) should be sent to an educational project in The Gambia, that was close to Brian's heart, beliefs and aspirations. Friends, relatives and comrades were generous with their support.

 Sohm Schools Support was set up by John Walker - a long- time friend of Brian, and former joint editor of Rochdale's Alternative Paper, in the 1970s - and his wife Sandra 12 years ago, to provide help to the pupils in two schools in the relatively remote Gambian village of Sohm. Over the years the small charity has added to the scarce resources the government has been able to provide the schools with, and Brian was always a passionate supporter and contributor to this endeavour.

 So, classrooms have been restored, a sick room installed, electricity provided for the first time, a new assembly hall built etc. Each year the charity spends about £1,000 in supplying stationery, so that all pupils at the Lower Basic (primary) school have all their exercise books, pens, and other material, as well as teaching aids, supplied. The results have seen the school climb rapidly up school league tables, achieve great Ofsted-equivalent reports, and been used as an exemplar for how to run rural schools in the community.

 Those who knew Brian will have been touched by his on-going beliefs in the empowering nature of education in helping people fulfill their potential, and his love of books. It seemed fitting, therefore for the school to name its library (which the charity has rebuilt and stocked) after him, in recognition of his support and beliefs. The picture illustrates some of the children and teachers with the mural they created, after a small ceremony of remembrance and dedication, just last week.

 Brian would have taken particular delight in not only seeing this tribute, but in knowing that the only other building in the village named after a European are the school's toilets, named after his long-time adversary and disgraced former Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk"

O'Mara gets four years jail for fraud!

 

Former Sheffield Labour - MP Jared O'Mara

A jury at Leeds crown court, have been told that the voters in the constituency of Sheffield Hallam, elected as their MP, a Labour candidate who was both incompetent and inadequate and had autism and a 'galloping' cocaine habit.

In 2017, Jared O'Mara, was elected the Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam after beating the Liberal Democrat leader and former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. O'Mara, aged 41, remained the MP for Sheffield Hallam until 2019.

In October 2017, it was revealed that O'Mara had posted misogynistic, racist and homophobic online comments before he became an MP. He was suspended from the Labour Party and briefly reinstated. He then resigned from the Labour Party in July 2018.

O'Mara is currently on trial at Leeds crown court accused of submitting fake invoices to fraudulently claim about £30,000 of taxpayers' money. He has been charged with eight counts of fraud by false representation. Two other individuals are also on trial with O'Mara.

The prosecution have described O'Mara as "thoroughly rotten" and "thoroughly inadequate." They have accused him of "stuffing the parliamentary payroll with mates and cronies" who did no relevant work. Prosecutor, Richard Wright KC, told a jury on Thursday that O'Mara, had invented "a series of scams" to help fund his "galloping" cocaine habit. He said O'Mara had used fraudulently claimed money to enable friends "to hang around his flat, getting drunk and snorting lines of coke, all paid by you, ladies and gentlemen, the hardworking and honest British public."

The court heard that O'Mara had fired his constituency office staff or they had resigned. The jury were told that O'Mara was taking up to five grams of cocaine, often drinking a litre of vodka, and smoking 60 cigarettes a day.

O'Mara has declined to give evidence in his own defence and is attending the hearing via videolink from his home in Sheffield. Mark Kelly KC, defending, told the jury that they should have regard to O'Mara's mental state at the time of the alleged offences and his administrative ignorance and incompetence. He said that the former MP for Sheffield Hallam, had made claims that were incompetent rather than dishonest.

All three men, denied all charges. But this week, O’Mara was given a four year jail sentence after being found guilty of six counts of fraud.

Transsexual killer was moved from women's jail for having sex with female inmates!

 

Transsexual Killer - Paris Green

The transexual killer, Paris Green, was allowed to serve his 18-year jail sentence for murder at Cornton Vale women's prison in Stirling.

Paris who was a pre-op transsexual, was born a male and was previously known as Peter Laing. He was found guilty and convicted with two other individuals, of the murder of Robert Shankland, in March 2013. The trio, beat and tortured Robert Shankland to death, following a row about buying a bag of chips.

Laing was allowed to serve his time in Cornton Vale because he was transgendered. In December 2013, it was reported in the press, that he'd been transferred to a male prison because he'd been having sex with female inmates at Cornton Vale.

Shamima Begum says she was groomed by ISIS for sexual exploitation.

 

ISIS BRIDE - SHAMIMA BEGUM

I have no time for Shamima Begum or the Muslim fanatics of Islamic State. She had her British citizenship removed on the grounds of national security and because she supported this group who killed innocent civilians and made sex-slaves out of the Yazidi women in Iraq. Most of their victims were Muslims.

Begum, who remains in Syria, has commenced a legal action at the Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal to try and overturn the Home Secretary decision to remove her British citenzship. The British government say that she's not 'Stateless' because she can claim citizenship in Bangladesh. The problem is that the Bengali's don't want her because she's a terrorist and they dispute her right to citizenship.  Her husband, Yago Riedijk, is a Dutch national who is in custody in northern Syria.

In her legal action, Begum claims that she was groomed and trafficked by ISIS for the purpose of sexual exploitation. She left Britain in 2015, with two friends, Kadiza Sultana aged 16, and Amira Abase, aged 15.  All three were from Bethnal Green, in East London. Her husband says they were happily married. All of their three children died in infancy.

Begum said that she was inspired to join ISIL by videos of fighters beheading hostages and also of "the good life" under the group. These remarks sealed her fate and made her a pariah and a social outcast in the eyes of many people.

Other British Muslim women, around 450, who joined Islamic State, kept their mouths shut and have since returned to Britain. Only about 10% have been prosecuted.