Chancellor orders investigation into bank account closures.

 

There's some evidence that people have had bank accounts closed because they have expressed opinions that were deemed to be unacceptable or not in accord, with the values of a banking institution.

The former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, is perhaps the most high-profile person to have had bank accounts closed. He had two accounts closed by Coutts, who initially said they had closed his accounts because Farage didn't meet their "wealth threshold." Coutts, is owned by NatWest, and the British government has a 38.6% shareholding in NatWest.   Farage submitted a "Subject Access Requests" and found that his accounts had been closed because of his personal and political opinions. The 40 pages of personal data that he received from Coutts, confirmed that he did meet their wealth threshold, but a bank employee wrote:

"It's clear to me that NF has - and projects - xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views, even though this is done within the law, or framed with sufficient ambiguity to claim misquoting by his critics."

The Coutts report, referred to Farage's criticism of migrant boat arrivals, support for Brexit, and how he'd compared 'The Black Lives Matter' movement, to the Taliban. It also alludes to his support of Enoch Powell, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and his use of anti-Semitic tropes. The report referred Farage as a "disingenuous grifter.'  Coutts, concluded that there was a risk of reputational damage for the bank in having Farage as a customer.

The Farage affair has been a public relations disaster for both Coutts and NatWest. It has led to the resignation of both Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest and Peter Flavel, the CEO, of Coutts. The bank and the BBC had to apologise to Nigel Farage for misleading comments and he's now been offered his accounts back at Coutts. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has now called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCO) to conduct an investigation into bank account closures.

What concerns many people in this country, is the extent to which institutions like banks, are setting themselves up as the self-righteous arbiters of what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable in public discourse. Clearly, this as serious consequences for both free speech in Britain and for people being able to access financial services.

Many people have now come forward with their tales about how they had bank accounts closed and were in many instances, unable to access their money, in frozen bank accounts. These people didn't have the political clout of Nigel Farage or their own TV show, so nobody took the slightest bit of interest. Hopefully, measures will now be introduced to make the system more transparent and to give banking customers the right to notice, an explanation, and the right to challenge decisions by appeal.

Eileen Blair, airbrushed out of history.

 

Eileen Blair

I've always enjoyed reading George Orwell. The novels, essays, diaries and journalism, are all worth reading. Yet, he wrote very little about his own wife, Eileen Blair, whose maiden name was Eileen O'Shaughnessy.

Eileen, was born in 1905 and came from South Shields. She studied English at Oxford University, St. Hughes, where JRR Tolkien, was one of her tutors. Although Eileen, was with her husband, George Orwell, during most of the six months he spent in Spain fighting in the civil war, she's not mentioned by name in his novel 'Homage to Catalonia'. In Homage, Orwell mentions "my wife" 37 times but never once names her.

In a recent article, "Looking for Eileen: how George Orwell wrote his wife out of his story", the author Anna Funder, points out, that you'd never know from Orwell's book nor the biographers' accounts, that Eileen worked in the headquarters of the POUM, the Spanish Marxist organisation that Orwell was fighting with, while he was serving as an infantry man in the trenches on the Aragon front. Funder, says:

"The whole time that he was fighting, Eileen was working on print and radio propaganda for the party, provisioning the men, dealing with communications, arranging the transport of medical supplies from London, lending money of her own when the party leader had none, and dodging Stalinist spies in the office and in the hotel where she lived..."

After Orwell was shot through his throat, Eileen cared for him and saved his manuscript which she'd been typing, during a two-hour-long Stalinist raid on their room. While Eileen Blair is curiously absent from her husband's writings, Anna Funder, points out that Stalin could see her perfectly clearly. As both Eileen and Orwell fled Spain to avoid being arrested by Stalin's goons, for 'Espionage & High Treason', the arrest warrant was made out in the names of "Eric Blair and his wife, Eileen Blair...Their correspondence reveals that they are rabid Trotskyites."

Despite Eileen Blair's involvement in Orwell's life, work and politics, Anna Funder, says that after devouring six brilliant biographies on George Orwell, she barely knew who Eileen Blair was, adding, it was as if history had "relegated Eileen to the private realm where she lived - and has remained...but, how is a woman made to disappear?"

Her book, "Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life" is published on 17th August by Viking (£20). Eileen Blair died on 29 March 1945 during an operation in Newcastle upon Tyne to remove her uterus. She was thirty-nine.

The hanging of Ashton poisoner Mary Ann Britland.

 

Hangman - James Berry

 

The Yorkshire executioner, James Berry, (1852-1913), is known to have carried out the death sentence on the first woman to have been hanged at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, in August 1886.

Mary Ann Britland, had been sentenced to death for poisoning her husband, daughter, and her best friend and neighbour, called Mary Dixon. Mrs Britland lived on Turner Lane, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. It's believed that the motive for the murders, was that Mrs Britland was involved in a extra-marital affair with Thomas Dixon, the husband of Mary, and that her daughter Elizabeth, had suspected it. Thomas Dixon was arrested but later released because of a lack of evidence.

It was known that Mrs Britland was in the habit of buying poison to kill mice in the home which contained both strychnine and arsenic. An autopsy was carried out on Mary Dixon which found evidence of arsenic and strychnine in her body. Autopsies were also carried out on Thomas and Elizabeth Britland, which found evidence of arsenic in their bodies.

In his book called "My Experiences as an Executioner" published in 1892, James Berry refers to the hanging of Mary Ann Britland. Apparently, the terrified woman had to be dragged to the scaffold at Strangeways Prison kicking and screaming.  The hanging of Mrs Britland, seems to have haunted James Berry throughout his life. He had become an executioner in 1884. In his memoir, Berry said that he could still hear her screams in his head to this very day.

By all accounts, she died instantly. The previous year, 1885, hadn't gone well for the hangman from Heckmondwike, in the West Ridings of Yorkshire. In a botched hanging, Berry decapitated Robert Goodale, at Norwich Prison in November1885, and nearly decapitated, Moses Shrimpton, at Worcester prison, in May 1885.  In February 1885, Berry had failed to execute John Babbacombe Lee, at Exeter, after pulling the leaver on the trap door three times. Lee became known as "The Man They Couldn't Hang." His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. James Berry hung some 130 people between 1884-1891, and later campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty.

Press regulator rejects Hancock's complaint against the Daily Mirror.

 

Matt Hancock

It seems laughable now, but I do remember how the disgraced former Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told us in 2021, that the UK is not "remotely a corrupt country."

Yet, we also know from a text he sent to Dominic Cummings in 2020, that he called his health secretary, Matt Hancock, "totally fucking hopeless." and that Hancock had said publicly, that he wasn't embarrassed by the PM's remarks.

Now we know, that complaints that were made by Matt Hancock, about the Daily Mirror, have all been rejected by the press regulator IPSO. All the complaints were made under Clause 1 of the Editors' Code (accuracy). The Daily Mirror articles, included allegations that Hancock:

* "Presided over PPE contracts handed out to acquaintances of ministers and officials, including his ex-pub landlord" during the Covid-19 pandemic.

* "broke ministerial code by failing to declare he held shares in a family firm that won an NHS contract."

* was "a failed health secretary and cheating husband who broke the lockdown rules he wrote, doubled down on the lies he told, helped enrich his mates via the infamous VIP PPE lane, and couldn't resist monetizing the infamy he acquired as a result of his ineptitude at managing the pandemic.

Is Blair planning a return to government?

 

Tony (Tory) Blair

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you." Sir Steer Calmers rehabilitation of Sir Tory Blair, gathers pace as they both share a stage at the Future of Britain event in London.

Tory-lite Starmer, is the first Labour leader to share a stage with Blair, since he left office to line his pockets, sixteen years ago. There had been calls for Blair to be put on trial for war crimes, after he took us into a phoney war against Iraq in 2003. Blair has recently been campaigning for greater private sector involvement in the NHS.

There have been reports in the press that Starmer is planning to give this much "derided carpetbagger" a peerage if Labour gets elected to office at the next general election. Some are even speculating that he will then offer Blair, a cabinet post in his government.

If Blair does join a Labour government, you can expect closer ties with the E.U., creeping privatisation of the NHS, a hard-line on welfare benefits and job seekers, and the return of Lord Levy. Blair has already told Sir Steer Calmer, that what he'll inherit from the Tories, is pretty grim. That could signal the end the triple-lock formula for increasing state pensions. Both are saying the party needs to take tough decisions.

Blair call for more private-sector involvement in the NHS.

 

When Margaret Thatcher, was once asked what her greatest legacy to the country was, she replied without hesitation, "Blair and New Labour." It was Blair who lied us into a war with Iraq to please U.S. military and economic interests, and it is Blair, who is the real architect of Brexit.

After leaving British politics, Blair spent most of his time filling his pockets with cash and acquiring multiple properties. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 13 years of New Labour, 80% of new jobs in the UK, went to migrants from Eastern Europe. Many of these migrant workers came from the former Communist Eastern bloc countries like Poland, Hungry, and Slovenia, which became members of the E.U. in 2004. Although most E.U. member states placed limits on the number of migrants entering their countries, Britain under Tony Blair, opened the door to all of them.

Blair, a derided carpet beggar, is now campaigning for greater private sector involvement in the NHS. This is already Labour Policy and all successive British governments, have been privatising the NHS by stealth for years. In 1983, the Tories under Margaret Thatcher, introduced "competitive tendering" to outsource ancillary services such porters, kitchens, and cleaning, to private companies. This led to a rise in hospital-acquired infectious diseases and dirtier hospitals.

In 1991, the Tory Prime Minister, John Major, introduced the 'internal market' and the "Purchaser-Provider" split. This led to more NHS bureaucrats and increased NHS costs by 10%. John Major's government then introduced the "Private Finance Initiative" (PFI) an expensive way of borrowing money for new hospitals which locked the British taxpayer into long-term debt.

In 1997, Tony Blair and New Labour, funded 100 New Hospitals using PFI's at a cost of £12.7bn, with repayments reaching over £80 billion. When the debt is fully repaid, the public still won't own the hospitals. As the debt rose, NHS Trusts have been forced to sell assets and to shrink capacity leading to fewer hospital beds and lower nurse/patient ratios.

In 2000, New Labour, introduced private provision of medical services into the NHS for the first time. Many medical practices were contracted out to the private sector, at greater cost for the NHS. In 2003, New Labour introduced "Foundation Trusts", arms-length business entities independent of government control.

In 2012, the Conservative/LibDem coalition government, introduced the Health & Social Care Act (HSCA), which abolished the legal foundation of the NHS and removed the Secretary of State for Health's legal duty to provide healthcare for all. This responsibility has now been handed over to quangos, such as NHS England.

The doctor's union, the British Medical Association (BMA), argue that successive British governments have been presiding over a "managed decline" of the NHS for many years. There seems to be some truth in this. The so-called crisis in the NHS, which has led to staff shortages, longer waiting times for medical treatment and bed shortages, seems to have been largely engineered and manufactured during the last 13 years of the Tory government. They want to privatise the NHS, which was always the dream of Margaret Thatcher, who never used it.

More people are now paying for private medical treatment or fund raising to pay for it to obtain urgent medical treatment. As this increases, it's likely that we will lose the NHS by default and private medical care will become a reality for most of us.

Labour council uses scabs to break dustman's strike!

 

The trade union Unite, have just voted at their Rules Conference, to stay affiliated to the Labour Party. Unite members also voted in a recent ballot to retain the political levy.

The union is one of the biggest financial backers of the Labour Party. But what are the union getting for their bucks? Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, has told Tory-lite Sir Steer Calmer, there will be no blank cheques and that the Labour leader must deliver on "jobs, pay, and conditions."

Meanwhile, Labour-run Cumberland Council, are using the Tory government's anti-union laws to break a strike by council employed refuse workers. The Labour council are recruiting scab agency workers and paying them more money to break the strike. Other Labour councils have employed similar dirty tactics to break strikes.

Labour's shadow chancellor, Rachell Reeves, has also refused to commit to endorsing the recommendations of the pay review body on public sector pay. It seems mind boggling that any union should be paying money to a political party that kicks the workers in the teeth and endorses the use of Tory anti-union laws to break strikes.

Sharon Graham knows all about 'leverage', she ran Unites leverage campaign. Therefore, she needs to apply some leverage on Starmer and Labour. No results no money! The Tories certainly understand that. The wealthy spivs who back the Conservative Party, always get a good return on their money.

Pekka Kuusisto - the Finnish Nigel Kennedy

 

Pekka Kuusisto

Antonio Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' might have been flogged to death, but it's still a great piece of music and the composer's music deserves respect. A couple of weeks ago, I saw it performed by the Finnish conductor and violinist, Pekka Kuusisto, at the BBC Proms. His arrangement of the Four Seasons, was interspersed with Finnish folk songs. I don't mind folk music, but there's a time and place for it.

Kuusisto, is a kind of Finnish Nigel Kennedy, who is also known for clowning about on the stage. John Drummond, the Controller of BBC Radio 3, once described Kennedy as "a Liberace for the nineties", and made fun of his "ludicrous" clothes and "self-invented accent."

Both Kennedy and Kuusisto, come from a family of professional musicians. I never cared much for Nigel Kennedy's 1989 recording of The Four Seasons' with the English Chamber Orchestra. For me it lacks subtlety and finesse. This recording might have sold over 2 million copies, but when listening to it, I always feel that Kennedy can't get through it quick enough.

Yet, Kennedy, the punk violinist, didn't butcher these four violin concertos in the way that Kuusisto did, on Sunday night. I didn't find this arrangement of a great work "refreshing", I just switched channels. The best recording I have ever heard of The Four Seasons', was by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Meet Alexander Darwall - Britain's most loathed landowner.

 

Landowner - Alexander Darwall

Although half of Scotland is owned by just 500 people, The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, gives everyone in Scotland the right to roam over land and inland water. It also extends to wild camping.

A friend of mine told me recently that he'd enjoyed a brilliant summer holiday touring the Highlands of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides wild camping with his family. They would travel about in their van and find somewhere suitable to pitch their tents at the end of the day. He said there were lots of German tourists doing the same thing.

That would be illegal in England because the laws regarding private property, require a person to seek consent from the landowner. For many years, one of the few places in England where you could go wild camping, was Dartmoor. That is also now illegal, since a wealthy landowner and city hedge fund manager, called Alexander Darwall, who owns the 4,000 acre Blachford estate, took legal action to ban wild camping on his land on Dartmoor. The High Court Judge, Sir Julian Flaux, ruled that visitors did not have the right to camp overnight without the landowner’s consent, and that there is no local custom of camping which has the force of law. He dismissed arguments from the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), who asserted that the public had the right of access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open air recreation. The Judge said this didn't extend to the public having the right to camp or wild camp without the permission of a landowner. The court ruling became a cause celebre and has led to protests on Dartmoor and elsewhere, and demands for the right to roam and wild camp in England.

Darwall and his wife Dianna, are now regarded as the most loathed landowners in England. According to a local legend, when a wealthy businessman sought to make a profit by farming on Dartmoor, Old Crockern - the mythological protector of the moors - cursed the venture and drove the man away. It seems that many wild campers are determined to do that to Alexander Darwall.

There is no right to roam over 92% of the land of England and to do so, is considered trespass. In April 1932, hundreds of ramblers, both men and women, defied the law to walk over hills and moorland in the Peak District of Hayfield and Kinder Scout, which was owned by the Duke of Devonshire. The ramblers were often beaten up by the Dukes gamekeepers, wielding sticks. Some were arrested and later imprisoned. This mass trespass won ramblers roaming rights and led to the formation of the Peak District National Park in 1951.The legal case brought by Darwall, is likely to revive the spirit of Kinder Scout. 

One person who shouldn't have any difficulty wild camping on Dartmoor, is Prince William. As the Duke of Cornwall, a title he inherited on the death of the late Queen, he acquired ownership of one third of Dartmoor National Park after inheriting the £1bn Duchy of Cornwall estate. The private estate of the Duchy of Cornwall, was set up by the feudal monarch Edward III in 1337, to provide financial independence for his son and heir. The heir to the British throne, still benefits from this feudal arrangement to this day. On the vexatious issue of wild camping on Dartmoor, the Prince has hitherto remained silent.

Woman tells LBC of her despair with Shropshire health services.

 

Somebody needs to get a grip on GP services urgently. They're getting away with murder.

A young woman recently told LBC's Nick Ferrari, that she drove from her home in Shropshire to Fulham where she previously lived, to get medical treatment for her young child because healthcare services are so bad in Shropshire.

Her young child had severe tonsillitis and though she couldn't get an appointment with her GP, her practice told her not to take her child to hospital. Her next door neighbour’s, who are consultants, told her that her child needed antibiotics urgently. She rang her doctor in Fulham who offered her a GP appointment and drove for three hours to get there.

She told Nick Ferrari that healthcare is some much better in Kensington and Chelsea where her children were born.

Government minister goes to war with Micky Mouse.

 

Robert Jenrick

A Conservative government minister, has gone to war against Micky Mouse, and has been accused of "losing sight of humanity" after his intervention at refugee centre in Kent.

The Conservative immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, gave orders that mural cartoons of Micky Mouse and Baloo, from the Jungle Book, which were displayed in a children's asylum centre for lone children in Kent, should be removed as they were too welcoming and gave out the wrong message. Some of the children arriving in the UK are as young as nine.

The order was condemned as callous, cruel, and Dickensian. It is believed that staff at the reception centre for small boat arrivals in Kent, were appalled by the order and were opposed to removing the murals.

Home Office sources declined to comment on claims that staff had opposed Jenrick's instruction. Robert Jenrick, defended his actions and said the murals had been removed because they were not "age-appropriate."

Government Bill seeks to protect Israel from sanctions.

 

Numerous U.N. resolutions have declared that Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967, and the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are illegal under international law.

Israel is a racist apartheid state which recognises Israel as only a nation state, of the Jewish people. Although Palestinian homes have been demolished in the occupied territories, land stolen, Palestinian resisters shot and killed, and illegal settlements built by Jewish settlers on Palestine lands, the British Tory government of Rishi Sunak, are now trying to stop public bodies from supporting sanctions against Israel and the 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions' (BDS) movement.

The 'Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, passed its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday. The bill seeks to prevent public bodies from making procurement and investment decisions "influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign state conduct'. The bill seeks to shield Israel from economic sanctions being imposed on it for human rights abuses and violations of international law, and a system of apartheid being imposed on the Palestinian people. The bill's gagging clause, Clause 4, prevents a decision- maker from publishing a statement saying they intend to make such a decision or that they would intend to make such a decision, if the law was not stopping them.

Amnesty International have said that the bill is "clearly incompatible" with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). In particular, they cite Articles 8 (privacy), and 10 (freedom of expression). The government say that only public bodies would be impacted by the bill and not individuals. Although British foreign policy recognises the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories, the government say the bill is necessary to prevent anti-Semitism and to prevent public bodies from pursuing their own foreign policy agenda. Critics say that the bill may be incompatible with international law.

Fourteen Israeli human rights organisations have written to the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and other senior cabinet members, calling on them to withdraw the legislation. They say that the bill would make it extremely difficult for the occupied Palestinian territories to be recognised and treated differently to Israel proper, and that nonviolent tactics of boycotts and sanctions, are legitimate acts. The Union of Jewish students said they opposed the bill as it violated civil rights, but reiterated their opposition to BDS. They said:

"Using legislation to clamp down on free speech and space for dissent, harms democracy. Making it illegal for public authorities not just to boycott Israel, but China or Myanmar, to name just a few examples, will not make Jews safer - we must remain committed to the values of democracies, free speech and human rights."

Critics of the bill, have warned that autocratic and despotic regimes throughout the world, will be rejoicing at Rishi Sunak's anti-boycott bill. Had it been in place years ago, it would have certainly have made sanctions against apartheid South Africa illegal, and the Jewish Anti-Nazi boycott of Germany, in the 1930s.

Labour's Lobbying Hypocrisy.

 

Jonathan Reynolds

The Shadow Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, who represents Stalybridge and Hyde, has a senior policy manager from HSBC working for him who is swanning around Westminster with a parliamentary pass and rubbing shoulders with Labour's Shadow cabinet.

Labour have vowed to "clean up Westminster" by banning former ministers from lobbying for five years. Despite this pledge, Labour have come under fire for giving global banks like HSBC and NatWest, direct access to Parliament.

The secondment isn't declared in Reynolds' register of interest because the HSBC employee's time, is a donation in kind to the party. Reynolds has previously given secondments to a NatWest employee and another from a lobbying firm.

Corbyn film banned at Glastonbury.

 

Jeremy Corbyn

The decision by the Glastonbury Festival to ban a film about the downfall of Jeremy Corbyn, is yet another blow to freedom of speech in Britain. After receiving a letter from Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ), the Glastonbury Festival have cancelled the screening of the film 'Oh, Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie', which was due to be shown at the Pilton Palais cinema on Sunday 25th of June.

Marie van der Zyl, told festival organisers, Michael and Emily Eavis, that it would be "profoundly sinister", to have such a film platformed at the Glastonbury festival. The film which is narrated by the left-wing Jewish comedian Alexei Sayle, challenges the accusations of antisemitism made against the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The film which was produced by Platforms Films and which features contributions by the the film director Ken Loach and writer Jackie Walker, claims to "explore the dark and murky story of political deceit and outrageous anti-Semitic smears", which were used to topple Jeremy Corbyn who was replaced by former Trotskyist and Zionist, Sir Keir Starmer.

The BDBJ, who have recently been trying to cancel the former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters, from performing his concerts, alleging antisemitism, tweeted: "We are pleased that in the wake of a letter we sent earlier today, @glastonbury have announced the cancellation of the screening of this film. Hateful conspiracy theories should have no place in our society." In her letter to the Eavis's, Marie van der Zyl, also referred to a review by Paul Mason, who has also called for the film to be banned by the Glastonbury festival. Mason, a left-wing writer and journalist, and former member of the Trotskyist Workers' Power group, is hoping to become a Labour MP at the next general election.

Critics and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, have accused the festival organisers of censorship in banning the film. In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury festival where he addressed huge crowds. The festival founder, Michael Eavis, a Quaker, referred to Corbyn as the "hero of the hour."

In a statement, a Glastonbury representative, said: "Although we believe that the Pilton Palais booked this film in good faith, in the hope of providing political debate, it's become clear that it is not appropriate for us to screen it at the festival. Glastonbury is about unity, and we stand against all forms of discrimination."

The Glastonbury cinema team had previously been promoting the film and said on their website, that this, "might be a rare opportunity to watch the banned Corbyn documentary." The Big Lie' producer, Norman Thomas, said: "They don't want people to know the truth and they don't want films like this to be seen. And they know how to put the boot in."

Reflections on the life of the artist David Vaughan.

 

Artist - David Vaughan

I knew the artist, David Vaughan, in the early 1970s. He was all well-known figure around Ashton-under-Lyne. Most people who came into contact with him, found him very strange and rather intimidating. But some of us, were never quite convinced, how much of his odd behaviour was due to psychiatric problems, or was simply an affectation. Was he playing the mad artist? He did bear a resemblance to the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. He'd also been compared to the Spanish artist Goya because of his harrowing depictions of war and famine.

His famous daughter, Sadie Frost, has said that he was mad and suffered from manic depression and psychosis or possibly schizophrenia. People who knew him said his mental problems stemmed from when his drink was spiked with LSD, which he was given shortly after an accident when he fell and injured himself, sustaining a head injury. Given what happened to the rock legends Peter Green and Syd Barrett, this is very possible, and is called drug induced psychosis. However, Sadie Frost, said her parents raised her in an atmosphere of drugs and alcohol.

Most of what he told us about himself - which turned out to be largely true - we took with a pinch of salt. He had done commissions for the Beatles, Princess Margaret and the Kinks. I do remember one of David's artistic works, which impressed many of us. He painted a mural on a living room wall of a terraced house in Ashton. The picture he painted was the '21st Century Schizoid Man" from the 1969 debut album 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by the progressive rock band King Crimson.

Two brothers that I knew from Guide Bridge, in Ashton, had been at school with David Vaughan. They told me that he'd lived in Denton and had lived with his grandmother, who often threw water over him while he was in bed. How much of this is true, I can't say, but the brothers seemed to think that David's upbringing had a bearing on his later mental illness.

David Vaughan, died in December 2003, aged 58, while awaiting an operation for a liver transplant. At the time of his death, he had five sons and two daughters.Memories 

Coutts tells Nigel Farage you're not welcome.

 

Nigel Farage

The bankers to the rich, Coutts, have responded to Nigel Farage's assertion that they have closed his bank accounts for political reasons. Farage has said that he believes that he's been designated a 'Politically Exposed Person', and claims that the banks decision may have been influenced by his position on Brexit. He also believes that comments made by the Labour MP, Chris Bryant, alleging that he'd taken Russian money, may also be a significant factor in the bank’s decision to cancel his accounts.

Farage denies the allegation and says he's written to Bryant and Parliament about it. Coutts have told the BBC, that Farage's accounts were closed for "commercial" reasons as he didn't meet their wealth criteria of investing or borrowing £1m with the bank, or having £3m in savings. Coutts, which is owned by NatWest, say they have offered Farage a personal account with NatWest.

The BBC News Night program, reported on Tuesday evening, that other Coutts customers, had told the BBC that they didn't meet the bank's wealth criteria, but had not had their accounts closed by Coutts. Farage has claimed that he's been refused bank accounts with nine other lenders who have told him he's a P.E.P. He says that he was only offered a NatWest personal account when he went public, and that Coutts at "no point", had given him a minimum threshold. He says he needs a business account because he operates through a business and any income he earns, goes through his business. He says that the decision by the bank will "fundamentally affect my future career and whether I can even go on staying and living here in this country."

A Treasury spokesman told the BBC that it would be a "serious concern" if financial services were being denied to people exercising their right to lawful free speech. They said the law requires the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to conduct a review into how banks treat politically exposed persons and that a right balance had to be struck, between the right to free speech, and the banks right to manage commercial risk.

Bumbling Boris denied access to Parliament.

 

Boris Johnson

Bumbling Boris Johnson has been denied access to Parliament. Yet, Jacob Reese-Mogg, says that it's absolutely ridiculous to deny the serial liar access to Parliament and calls the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson, 'vindictive'.

The committee was set up by Parliament to investigate whether Boris Johnson had intentionally or recklessly misled Parliament over 'Partygate'. A staunch Roman Catholic, Reese-Mogg, says it was perfectly right to criticise the committee's findings because that's politics. Although Boris Johnson was fined by the police for breaking lockdown rules that he introduced, Reese-Mogg, claimed that Johnson had stuck to the rules during lockdown and that the allegations against him, were "nuttier than a fruitcake", the work of 'remainiacs'.

An official told the Privileges Committee that 10 Downing Street had been an "oasis of normality" during the pandemic, with birthday parties, leaving drinks, and 'Wine Time Fridays' all continuing. Boris Johnson told Parliament that he'd been repeatedly assured that lockdown rules and regulations had been adhered to at all times.

Although politicians have a reputation for being professional liars, there are still some, who believe that the truth matters. Boris Johnson turned mendacity into an art form, believing that we live in an age of alternative facts and realities.

Although a majority of the committee members were Conservative MPs, Reese-Mogg, is one of a number of MPs who are now under investigation by the committee, for having impugned the committee by accusing it of "egregious bias", likening it to a "kangaroo court."

A recent YouGov survey of more than 3,000 adults, found that nearly 70% believed that Johnson had knowingly misled Parliament. As Jonathan Swift famously said, where "falsehood flies, truth comes limping after it..."

Titanic survivor - Frank Prentice.

 

Titanic survivor - Frank Prentice

Major Frank Prentice survived the sinking of the Titanic on the night of 15 April 1912. Age just 18 years old, he was employed on the ship as an assistant purser. He helped many women and children into the lifeboats and was one of the last people off the ship.

In an interview which he gave before his death, he said that he was clinging on to the stern of the ship, as it was about to go down. He fell over 100 feet into the water, missed the propeller’s, and survived the fall. He then spent another four hours swimming in the freezing North Atlantic Ocean, before he was helped into a lifeboat. He was among 706 Titanic survivors who were rescued by the RMS Carpathia, two hours after the Titanic had sunk.

He returned to England and by July 10, he had signed on to the Oceanic, which was also owned by the White Star Line. He was on board when the ship found one of the Titanic's lifeboats drifting in the mid-Atlantic, with four dead.

In later life, Frank Prentice, recalled: "I've had a lot of experiences during my life. Two world wars. Badly shattered right arm. Another wound in the leg. And all anyone wants to know about is the Titanic."

He was commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant in the Tank Corps on 28 August 1917, and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the attack on Hamel and Vaire Wood on 4 July 1918. He was later promoted to Major. Frank Prentice died in Bournemouth on May 19, 1982, aged 93. He was the second to the last surviving Titanic crew member.

Russia coup called off. Wagner boss goes to Belarus.

 

Wagner mercenary boss - Yevgeny Prigozhin

The Russian leader of a mercenary group called 'Wagner', Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former criminal and hotdog seller, who was also known as Putin's chef, has now fled to Belarus after staging an abortive coup. He claimed that the Russian army had shelled and killed his soldiers.

Although Russian citizens face up to 15-years imprisonment for criticising the Russian army and Putin's invasion of the Ukraine, Prigozhin, has never been prosecuted for his criticism, and Putin has now granted his soldiers and Prigozhin, an amnesty after accusing them of treason.

Although the coup failed, Prigozhin has humiliated Putin, exposed the weakness of his government, and made the Russian government look like a Potemkin state. Is Putin now coming to the end of his rule in Russia?

The Diversity Illusion.

 

Britain seems to have an obsession with what it calls 'diversity' and identity politics. It also seems to have obsession with categories, targets, and measuring things. If you fill a form in today, there's always some standard question about private and confidential matters such as your sexuality, racial origins, or religion.

We're frequently told that this information is necessary for the purpose of monitoring equality, diversity, and social inclusion. Although Britain is a highly stratified, class ridden society, where social class, caste, and estate, will limit access to resources and prestige to some people, the question of social class is curiously always omitted in questionnaires.

In the Equality Act 2010, 'social class' - defined sometimes by a person's occupation -  isn't even a 'protected characteristic', yet we know that social class, is often used as a basis of discrimination in Britain. Identity politics, takes issues like social class, equality, and redistribution, out of the equation.

According to the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), just 7% of all Britain's MP's, can be considered working-class compared with 34% of all UK working-age adults. Only about 1% of the current crop of Tory MPs, entered Parliament from a working class job. In 1987, some 28% of Labour MPs came from working-class jobs and that proportion has since halved. You might say that British Parliamentary politics is a racket for the middle-classes.

In France, it's illegal to ask people questions about their sexuality, religion, and racial origins, and to do so, can lead to imprisonment and fines. Given the history of France this seems to be perfectly reasonable and understandable. In WWII, the country was occupied by Nazi Germany and some French citizens were Nazi collaborators. The Nazi persecuted people because of their sexuality, religion, and racial origins, and many millions of people were murdered because of it. To have had information about a person's sexuality, race, and religion, would have been very useful to the Nazi regime, but very detrimental for some people.

The British don't seem to fear that personal information can be used by governments for nefarious purposes, because they view the State as largely benign, utilitarian, and harmless, a kind of fairy godmother that dishes out free bus passes and social security benefits. Yet all states and governments, are capable of degenerating into repressive dystopias, and we also know that the people are quite capable of putting dictators into power and turning democracies into dictatorships, as was the case in Nazi Germany.