- “Covid rates in England are now the ‘highest we’ve ever seen’” – Professor Paul Elliott, an Imperial College London epidemiologist, said Imperial’s REACT study showed almost 5% of over-75s are infected, which is “a bit of a worry because that’s the most vulnerable group”, reports the Mail.
- “China’s zero Covid crack-up” – Cindy Yu in the Spectator writes that the candid remarks of Zhu Weiping, a senior official at Shanghai’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC), have gone viral in China: “We’re being driven mad. Nobody is listening to us. They’ve politicised this disease.” Also in UnHerd: ““In Shanghai, Zero Covid means zero freedom”.
- “Can’t-be-bothered Britain will turn on the do-nothing Tories” – One of the pandemic’s after-effects has been a universal shrug of the shoulders, a retrenchment into union militancy, HR wellbeing culture and flexible working, says Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
- “Covid vaccine festival cost £535 per person jabbed” – A festival organised by Tower Hamlets Council in London at a cost of £237,000 to encourage vaccination saw just 435 people getting jabbed, reports BBC News.
- “Numerous Health Problems More Likely Because of COVID-19 Vaccines Than Coincidence: VAERS Data Analysis” – Various health problems reported by people after receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccine shots are more likely to have been caused by the vaccines than to be coincidental, according to an analysis of VAERS data by Dr. Jessica Rose, reports the Epoch Times.
- “Ep 46. Don’t ask about the Vaccine! – The Real Normal” – Listen to the latest podcast, including discussion about MP Christopher Chope and his question about vaccination in the House of Commons, U.K. Government debt and what that means to the average U.K. citizen, and progress in Ukraine.
- “Can We Please Stop Demonising the ‘Unvaccinated?’” – Debbie Lerman at the Brownstone Institute says while America is moving away from many of the damaging Covid policies of the last two years, the last vestige of scientifically ignorant groupthink – marginalising the unvaccinated – still has a hold in her world of the liberal coastal elites.
- “Hospital Refuses Father-to-Son Kidney Transplant Over Covid Jab” – A nine-year-old boy in the U.S. is being denied a life-saving kidney transplant because his father is not vaccinated against COVID-19, reports the Epoch Times.
- “Cruelty – the missing word in Ofsted’s ‘pandemic’ impact report” – It is not the “pandemic” which has had a disastrous effect on child development and well being, it is the Government’s response, says Kathy Gyngell in TCW Defending Freedom.
- “The Covid horoscope” – Why did so many public health experts fall for obviously flawed predictions, asks Ramesh Thakur in Spectator Australia.
- “On scepticism about COVID-19 vaccines” – Contrary to the official narrative, maintaining a high degree of scepticism regarding the necessity and convenience of mass vaccinating the entire population using insufficiently tested vaccines was the most rational position, argues Manuel Oñate in Stupid Economics.
- “Boris Johnson’s energy plan backs big increases in nuclear, wind and solar power” – Prime Minister says “bold” steps will “reduce dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices”, reports the Telegraph.
- “Social media ban on ‘climate misinformation’ sparks freedom of speech fears” – Social media website Pinterest has become the first company to ban “climate misinformation” from its platform in a crackdown on freedom of expression online, reports the Telegraph.
- “Eco mob causes chaos at UK’s largest oil depot on sixth day of mayhem” – Some 25 protesters from the environmental group Just Stop Oil stormed the Navigator oil terminal in Thurrock, Essex, and locked themselves to pipework, reports the Mail.
- “Le Tissier steps away as Saints ambassador after Bucha massacre tweets” – The Southampton football legend was savaged by his followers on Tuesday after appearing to suggest that the media have lied about the unfolding horrors in eastern Europe, reports the Mail.
- “BBC bins June Sarpong’s £267,000 a year diversity job in bureaucracy purge” – A newly created role will be on a much lower salary as the broadcaster reduces the wage bill, reports the Telegraph.
- “GB cycling chief calls to stop transgender riders in women’s events” – The Mail reports that Sara Symington, one of British Cycling’s most senior figures, is part of an alliance of 76 women who have written to world governing body, the UCI, criticising its current transgender policy.
- “Boris Johnson opposes biological men taking part in female sports” – The PM said parents should have “involvement at the very least” in decisions made by children to alter their gender, as he faced a Tory split over a ban on conversion therapy, the Mail reports.
- “‘Safe To Be Me’ LGBT conference cancelled after boycott” – Over 100 LGBT+ groups had vowed to boycott the “Safe To Be Me” event over the Government’s stance on conversion therapy, reports BBC News.
- “Banning conversion therapy is a terrible idea” – The Government has paid a heavy price for trying to appease the trans lobby, writes Jo Bartosch in Spiked. Also, watch Darren Grimes on GB News who draws on his own experience and says a blanket ban on “conversion therapy” stops children being able to explore options.
- “‘Six figure sum’ could be spent on gender-neutral toilets at Oxfordshire County Council buildings” – Eddie Reeves, the Conservative opposition leader, said the council’s ‘vague’ proposals could mean creating new facilities in up to 600 sites, reports the Telegraph. The cost-of-living crisis doesn’t appear to have made it to Oxfordshire County Council.
- “Art Crushed by Political Orthodoxy” – World-renowned Russian soprano Anna Netrebko finds herself dismissed by New York’s Metropolitan Opera for, in essence, refusing to take a disloyalty oath against her home nation in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite unambiguously denouncing the invasion itself, reports the Free Voice.
- “Why does Twitter think Russian lies are OK but Trump isn’t?” – So on Twitter you can lie about war crimes but you cannot tell the truth about biology? That is the only conclusion one can draw from Twitter’s decision to leave up a vile, false tweet posted by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says Brendan O ‘Neill in the Spectator.
- “Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, Babylon Bee Still Locked Out of Twitter” – The Babylon Bee, Charlie Kirk, and Tucker Carlson are all still locked out of their Twitter accounts for posting that transgender U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine is a biological male, reports Breitbart News. Come on, Elon, sort it out.
- “The vegan soup advert banned for ‘objectifying’ nude model” – Re:Nourish’s use of a bottle of soup superimposed over a man’s genitals was banned for “objectifying” the model by the Advertising Standards Authority, which called it “irresponsible”, the Telegraph reports. Erm, he’s a model; I’m pretty sure ‘objectification’ is what he signed up for.
- “For the first time since the pandemic began, more people want the Government to prioritise protecting the economy over limiting the spread of the virus” – Tweet from James Johnson on the latest poll results.
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Morning campers.
Greetings from Planet Rational
Greetings miketal.
And greetings from Planet Irrational, otherwise known as Australia. Signs of rational life, and indications of a pre-existing rational culture, but too early to be sure yet.
Good morning AE. I do hope you can get your country back. What’s happened is tragic. I have an aunt and uncle in Oz but they don’t discuss the Scamdemic.
Thank you, hp.
People are very wary of exacerbating what are already sharp divisions. There is a tendency to talk only with the like-minded.
Others believe that if we just put our heads down, all this will go away and we will return to the way we were.
And good morning to you AE on the other side of
Good morning to you, cg!
I keep hoping that our strong ties with you over there will eventually persuade people here that we can follow your lead.
However imperfect your current situation, it’s very much better than ours – though it does vary here, from state to state.
There are signs that even the Australia authorities are inching towards some semblance of normal. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer is flagging the reporting of “total excess deaths” instead of total Covid deaths (the latter totally fudged by combining ‘with’ and ‘from’ as determined by a junk test that can’t tell the difference between SARS and the flu and a cold, or the difference between a long dead infection and a current one that in any case was or is asymptomatic – you know the drill).
Given the tiny number of deaths (even using the inflated metric underpinned by the PCR), this should bury the terror-inducing death stats in general statistical noise. The CMO is starting to talk down the Covid Hysterics from the ledge.
Mind you, he went on to say that getting ‘vaccinated’ against Covid is still he best protection, echoed by the country’s vaccine chief (Covid task force commander, Lieutenant General John Frewen – what is it with the khaki thing and Covid!) urging Australians, especially the under-40s whose enlistment rate for the booster is flagging, not to get complacent.
Another advertising blitzkrieg will be rolled out to solve this problem – “it’s really about reminding that age cohort that their social life, their fitness routines, their businesses, all of those things are underpinned by the maximum possible take-up of vaccines, including boosters”, he said. Now, if he’d only used ‘endangered’ instead of ‘underpinned’, he would have been on the money.
I am hoping that in the truly lunatic regions of Oz (like the Wild Wild utterly insane West), what passes for leaders are trying to find a way out of their own rhetoric, and that these outrageous mandates are ended everywhere.
Phil, Alt – there is reason to hope. The McClown bot army is dwindling away, the fan club is shrinking, the cheer squad is going over to blowing raspberries.
Didn’t catch the High Pontiff’s response to this, but no doubt he said ‘improperly conducted poll’ as often as he could.
Sorry, Gregoryno6. Modelling shows that WA’s current Omicron outbreak could grow by 15% if mask mandates are removed before Easter. The ABC told us so.
People may be safe after the Lord has risen, but it’s better to put your faith in Masky Mark – who’ll insist on it anyway.
Thanks for the “Alt” – very Oz!
Bugger Masky’s models. They’re not worth last week’s dishwater!
So I went and found one I can really believe in.
She does look as though she’s thinking about something, which immediately makes her a considerable improvement on Masky.
” getting ‘vaccinated’ against Covid is still he best protection”
Can he be arrested for lying in public office? It offers negative protection and the risks of the jab in those younger age groups exceed the risks of SARS2
Can he be arrested for lying in public office?
In Oz!?! You jest, companero.
Hi-de-hi!
Ho-de-ho”!
Heroic Sir Christopher Chope on the betrayal of vaccine victims
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/heroic-sir-christopher-chope-on-the-betrayal-of-vaccine-victims/
Kathy Gyngell
Stand for freedom with our Yellow Boards by the road
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The western plebs could never handle or accept the truth about Ukraine, including Bucha.
Savaged for suggesting that the media were lying?
Savaged for suggesting that in a propaganda war, both sides might manipulate the media and it behooves us to be more circumspect in picking a side to believe? The tweet he highlighted stated:
“The media lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction. The media lied about Covid. The media lied about the Hunter Biden laptop. But honestly they are telling the truth about Bucha!”
As is the way these days there is no grey area with anything, you must be fully committed to one side of the argument of the other. Any expression of doubt makes you a Nazi, or a Russian bot… or something.
It’s worth noting, perhaps, that Le Tissier is considered something of an intellectual, in footballing circles, having once read a book without pictures.
“It’s worth noting, perhaps, that Le Tissier is considered something of an intellectual, in footballing circles, having once read a book without pictures.”
That’s a bit unfair, pjar, I know of at least three former Manchester United players with University degrees. Brian McClair for instance has a degree in Mathematics, not some run-of-the-mill Social Sciences degree.
Steady on Beowulf – you don’t want to start a war by degrees.
But, since we’re there, Aussie Rules players include a famous history professor, an outstanding research chemist, lawyers, engineers, etc, etc, forever and ever.
Also lots of people who run pubs.
Just saying.
Le Tissier’s fellow Channel Islander Graham Le Saux was also educated to degree level and took a great deal of stick for it.
It wasn’t long ago the media were conflating the Russians with the ‘nazis’ (suggesting communists turned ‘nazis’
).
And now they’re suggesting the ‘nazis’ are fighting with the Ukrainians whenever they’re caught fighting dirty.
The public can’t see they’re still being massively manipulated even after the covid scam.
none of us can know at the moment what really happened, so why does he feel (and others) that he has to comment on this.His concerns on vaccines could be helpful in persuading those who are becoming sceptical to join the cause but the practical effect is that his views will now be discounted as the majority of those we need to join us (whatever the views of those who have the luxury to comment here) are not wanting to associate with anyone giving any sort of support to Putin/Russia
Why abandon general (and more than justified) scepticism of the lying pronunciations of our authorities (including the corrupt, complicit mainstream media), merely to try to reinforce resistance to one particular lie?
I mean, I can understand why someone who has been suckered by one of the recent big lies (covid, BLM, climate alarmism, Ukraine) might prefer it if sceptics avoided addressing that one, but why should a genuine sceptic go along with that merely for “greater credibility”/
If you’re overly concerned about credibility amongst the dupes, you probably wouldn’t have been a sceptic in the first place.
Matt le Tissier’s opinions apart from on football are of no interest to me,but he might influence some people. As such he could serve a useful purpose persuading those undecided to join the cause against covid, vaccines etc. unfortunately his credibility among those who may have been prepared to join is damaged.(you may find it hard to accept but the majority of the population are always going to be anti Putin on this). as I said his comments here have served no useful purpose (in wartime anything from either side should be viewed as likely to be propaganda or military misinformation), in fact have been harmful. unless publicity is all they want celebrities should think a bit more about the likely effects of their tweets
Again, you see “credibility” as an issue, but in that you are no different from all the covid dupes back in early 2020 who told those of us who dissented that we were “conspiracy theory cranks” who would “lose credibility” (and cause deaths) by questioning these things and that “the majority would never be on our side”.
As sceptics, that didn’t stop us then. An why should it stop us now?
“as I said his comments here have served no useful purpose (in wartime anything from either side should be viewed as likely to be propaganda or military misinformation)“
Exactly so. The problem is that propaganda from one side is systematically being misrepresented as fact in our media in order to manufacture consent for our involvement in support of that side.
That’s what Le Tissier was absolutely correctly questioning.
“in fact have been harmful. unless publicity is all they want celebrities should think a bit more about the likely effects of their tweets”
As I noted, exactly what was said about covid dissidents back in early 2020. And for the same reasons.
I was sceptical and refused the experimental gene therapy from the outset even though of an age that the risk from saercov 2 was about the same as from the jab; partly as I react badly to high pressure salesmanship anyway. why do you find it so difficult to accept that it is possible to disbelieve our MSM on that without giving credence to RT etc now. do you not realise that the reason I have bothered to write is that I wish to maintain the opposition to the covid, great reset, climate change narratives, and people like Matt le Tissier may help with that, if only they had stuck to that; so I repeat on that I think it would have been better if he had kept what were pretty banal comments to himself.
Yes, I realised that your motive was that you have bought the Ukraine lie and would prefer that other sceptics focus on your concerns while not, as you obviously see it, wasting their “credibility” on resistance to the one you have been suckered by.
The fact that you mis-portray scepticism about our MSM’s output on the Ukraine as “giving credence to RT” demonstrates how completely you have bought the line that the only justification for dissent from the anti-Russian pro-Ukraine Official Truth line would be being, in effect, a “Putin dupe”.
In fact, all the objective facts and analysis point to the MSM line on the Ukraine being as false as it was on covid, on BLM and on climate alarmism.
You are just unable to see it.
But other sceptics, like Le Tissier are able to question the Official Truth, and recognise the vital importance of doing so. And however overwhelming the adherence of the gullible to the mainstream narrative might be now, just as it was initially with covid, BLM and climate, the truth will force its way through in the end.
“Covid vaccine festival cost £535 per person jabbed”
I put a link up to this article earlier as it really tickled me this afternoon. The way the article and the captions have been written almost suggest someone at the BBC has a wry sense of humour.
Don’t worry – it’s all free on the council tax.
In that area probably very few pay council tax…
Brendan O’Neill completes his transformation from Living Marxism dissenter to establishment propagandist and repeater of safe Official Truths.
“a vile, false tweet posted by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The tweet says the massacres in Bucha are made up. They didn’t happen. The photos and videos of dead bodies on the streets are all part of a ‘hoax’ drawn up by ‘the Kiev regime’, it says.
This is a lie. Russia’s claim that the bodies were dumped in the streets by Ukrainian forces after Russian troops had withdrawn, all in an effort to demonise Russia as a commissioner of war crimes, is entirely without foundation. Indeed, a New York Times investigation of satellite imagery has confirmed that many of the bodies were lying in the streets for more than three weeks, back when Russian forces were still occupying Bucha. Not content with brutalising and murdering Ukrainian people, the Russian regime now tries to cover its tracks with lies. This is despicable.
…
to the odious disinformation, to Russia’s lies, to Russian officials effectively dancing on the graves of the Ukrainians their military forces killed.“
Let’s be clear here; O’Neill has not the slightest real knowledge of what happened in Bucha. All he has are claims based on “evidence” that has been filtered through the hands of Russia’s enemies, the well established liars of the Ukrainian regime. And to claim a “New York Times investigation of satellite imagery” “proves” the Ukrainian allegations is laughable.
The point is not that the events didn’t happen as alleged. Perhaps they did. Or perhaps this is another fabrication inspired by the same people who have manufactured fake “genocides” and “chemical attacks” and “poisonings” with amazing regularity, to demonise the targets of the US sphere security state and manufacture consent for confrontation and war. The point is that we have no idea, and certainly no basis for the kind of certainty O’Neill displays, for transparently partisan reasons. The Russians certainly are perfectly entitled to deny responsibility and to accuse the Ukrainians of fabricating it. O’Neill’s posturing designed to further demonise the Russians is itself contemptible.
If there was an atrocity committed by the Russians, it has no bearing on the rights or wrings of the wider war, any more than the many atrocities apparently carried out by the Ukrainians. Atrocities happen in wars. There is most likely not a single significant military in history whose members have engaged in major wars without committing atrocities.
O’Neill is correct at least that there should be no censorship of such matters.
But whenever someone wants you to focus on a particular atrocity, you know for certain that they are trying to use it to manipulate you emotionally, because that is the necessary and inevitable function of such a practice.
If you want to retain the application of reason in wartime, best to make a practice of ignoring, as far as practicable, all such events, on both sides.
Looks very Douma playbook to me.
A logical working hypothesis, for sure.
The aim would be to scupper an armistice agreement.
As for boobytraps, their use in Kiev or even the allegation that they were used has echoes from the early 1940s in that city.
In this case, I suspect the aim was probably to stiffen up the sanctions and military support.
The next step in the plan is probably to cause a Russian sovereign default, perhaps before, during, or very shortly after the long Easter weekend.
The US Treasury has stopped US banks from handling dollar payments from Russia – even debt interest payments (Financial Times).
That fact probably won’t be headlined in the mainstream non-financial media. They will say that wicked Russia decided to try to pay their debts in worthless roubles all of a sudden.
Welcome to example number 79490138 of A making B do something and then complaining about B doing it.
The Wall Street Journal write-up is here.
I think the Fed is opposed to Russia defaulting for fear of wider repercussions.
If you are a billionaire living beyond the jurisdiction of the bank, you don’t have to worry about defaulting on your credit cards.
Here’s the other side’s (from O’Neill’s Official Truth position) argument:
BUCHA MASSACRE – WHEN SATELLITE IMAGES AND VIDEOS ARE MANIPULATED TO TELL A FALSE STORY06/04/2022
I forced myself to watch that, so I’m now posting in the emotional state it induced. Apologies.
The people who incited this hatred (here it is of Ukrainian soldiers against civilians in their own country) are abominations. The soldiers who engaged in it are damaged forever. The hopeless fear and degradation of their victims will not be forgotten.
Nobody who has taken the trouble to study the history of the Ukrainian conflict can reasonably doubt that the instigators of this nightmare are predominantly amoral individuals in the United States and their appalling allies.
Odd coincidence – my husband and i watched an old episode of an American cop show called “Elementary” the other night. In it, a fictitious Russian oligarch was murdered in a NY street, and there were several passing references to the war between The Ukraine and Russia. Nothing specific, and the bad guy of course turned out not to be Ukrainian at all, but the point of my random thought was – this show must be at least 5 years old. And yet here we are, with most people thinking this present conflict has come out of nowhere, where a few years ago it was assumed to be such common knowledge that it was used as a plot point in a Hallmark TV show.
Nothing is more easily cancelled than historical memory.
Yes, it’s important to note that the Ukrainians made this a war of hate, not the Russians (as far as the governments are concerned – there will always be haters on both sides). And they did this with the backing and encouragement of the dark forces in the US seeking to use the Ukraine to “overextend and destabilise” Russia.
Scott Ritter, who was also briefly banned from Twitter for criticising Biden for coming out with this accusation against Russia, discusses this aspect, pointing out the difference in intent on the part of the governments. Russia’s stated intent is to minimise casualties and treat enemies as humans, whereas the Ukrainians have gone out of their way to demonise “collaborators” and make this a war of hate.
BREAKING: Scott Ritter Banned from Twitter | Richard Medhurst Interviews Scott Ritter
“If Twitter had existed in 2002, I would have been banned for taking the position I did about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Think about that for a second. I’m not saying that I’m right today – I mean I believe I’m right. But my point is, if Twitter applied the same standard that they’re using today to silence voices of dissent regarding the war in Ukraine, then I would have been banned for telling the truth about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.”
I have always admired the strength of dissident Americans: the really smart, knowledgeable ones like Ritter. They are brave and true. They know what they’re up against; they grit their teeth; and they keep going.
Today’s heroes include Douglas Macgregor, RFK Jnr, Robert Malone, Peter McCullough, and all those who testified before Senator Ron Johnson in that moving hearing.
There’s some good stuff in that interview (I haven’t watched it all yet).
Check out the half hour or so section from about 1h 13m in, where Ritter discusses telling the truth versus “information operations”, writing for RT compared to for US sphere publications and the context of the US’s recent confession (boast, actually) that it puts out information without regard to its truth, in order to shape the environment.
Basically, this is the truth behind Putin’s accurate new term for the US: the Empire of Lies.
This excerpt must strike a chord everywhere:
“We don’t know how to tell the truth any more. ‘Cause it’s all a game of public perception, shaping perception. We’re afraid of reality. Sometimes reality is complex; sometimes reality is nuanced. Reality isn’t black and white; it’s grey. That’s okay. Just tell the truth.”
Full of such gems. Real wisdom and understanding based on knowledge and experience, imo.
(Which admittedly might just mean I mostly agree with him….)
He anticipates that: “For RT, the truth is the weapon”.
He has the guts to say this; and the intellectual and moral integrity to understand that this is situational – that it is the case now, though it might not have been before and might not be in the future.
In other words, he looks at the situation before him; and considers who has reasons to distort or fabricate, and whose interests are furthered by current realities.
This is applicable to all the situations in which we find ourselves. It’s critical thinking in moral and historical context.
Particularly apt for someone like myself, who was an old Cold Warrior fully committed to backing the US and standing up to the Soviet Union, but watched the situation change, and therefore changed my opinion on the geopolitical position.
Too many were unable to make that shift.
I’m listening to and watching this now. It’s superb.
I’m too engrossed to be precise at the moment, but from about the 40-minute mark there is a magnificent defence of free speech (though all of it is, in fact).
Toby, you should watch this.
Yes. That bit was excellent as well.
What a truly great interview:
1h 41m: “[the shift to a multipolar world following the war in the Ukraine] is going to radically change the way the Earth sources its gravitational pull. Right now, everything revolves around Washington, DC. Everything is gravitated towards Washington, Washington DC is the centre of the universe. That’s about to change. And when that changes, the arrogance of the United States, the hubris attached to American policies, will have to alter. Because right now, America is used to dictating outcomes. But when the world transforms into a multipolarity reality, America can’t dictate outcomes, America has to negotiate outcomes. And the process of negotiation brings with it an inherent requirement of integrity, because you can’t negotiate with people that don’t trust you. There’s a difference between being the ultimate power and you can lie and people can’t hold you to account – that’s the way it exists today. That changes when your lies have consequences and those consequences hit you in terms of economic impact, or geopolitical posturing. I think the United States and the West are going to have to learn to be a little bit more honest, a little bit more humble. And with humility comes integrity. Most people of integrity have humility. The most corrupt people are the people that are imbued with hubris and arrogance. Right now the United States is 100% imbued with hubris and arrogance. So we’re corrupt. I think if we’re compelled to become part of the world, equal part of the world, we’re going to have to treat the world with respect, and that respect implies we’re going to have to start telling the truth. And therefore I think that’ll be more liberating for the American media, the American press. And it might actually breath relevance and life back into this moribund Amendment we call the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Because right now, it’s just dead in the water, it doesn’t exist.“
Russian frustration with the Empire of Lies is longstanding. I remember during the murderous lie-fest that was the US (and its satellite states) attempt to destroy the government of Syria and reduce that country to bloody, jihadi-ridden chaos, as had been done to Libya by the UK Cameron regime, that Andrei Raevsky (pro Russian blogger The Saker) quoted some Russian sources as having concluded that the US regime is not just thoroughly dishonest, but also “недоговороспособны” (nyedogovorosposobni – “not agreement capable”), which seemed a very apt term for them and rather explains the Russian government’s distrust of US intentions in the Ukraine.
Why the recent developments in Syria show that the Obama Administration is in a state of confused agony
And here’s that meme Ritter referenced early on. It is quite apt
“Green Helmet guy” helping out for the Uklrainians?
Brendan O’Neill is no Robert Fisk.
Russia requested that the UNSC investigate Bucha and the UK stopped it going forward. I couldn’t even be bothered to read why.
(For a rather ironic blast from the past, younger readers might like to research the demise of O’Neill’s first berth, LM, at the hands of an establishment libel lawsuit by ITN for claiming that they had intentionally misrepresented a prison camp as a death camp n Bosnia (iirc). Perhaps O’Neill just doesn’t have the bottle for the fight any more.
Though he certainly had a healthier and more robust attitude towards the demonisation of Russia back in 2018:
“It’s really about recognising that there are many people in the West who want to go back to a Cold War situation, who long to wrap themselves in the comfort blanket of the Cold War, and who would like to go back to that rather morally binary world in which there was a West that was ‘good’ and an East that was ‘bad’, and in which things were fairly black and white. And I think there are a lot of people in the West – on both the right and left – who miss that period in history when it was, in their view, actually straight-forward that you were either on this side or that side.
And so there is a constant effort to try and resurrect the Cold War and to try and create this new conflict between West and East, America and Russia, Britain and Russia, and so on. I think it’s a rather desperate attempt to create a new moral narrative that will benefit us. I think it creates tensions around the world. I think it creates international conflict and not just cold wars but also hot wars. Look at what is happening in Syria, which has now largely become a proxy conflict between the West and Russia in their various interventions and has caused horrifying devastation, or Ukraine even more explicitly, which was in large part a conflict between the European Union on one side, which wanted to push the pro-Western side in the conflict, and Russia on the other side, which annexed Crimea and wanted to push the pro-Eastern side.
What you have there is a physical, violent, bloody manifestation which killed thousands of people (and we forget this) in Europe in very, very recent memory. That was a physical, violent manifestation of this attempt to resurrect a simple international binary divide. So Spiked‘s criticism of the current anti-Russian sentiment has nothing to do with being pro-Russia and particularly nothing to do with being pro-Putin at all. It has nothing to do with anything we might have said in the past, which was if anything far more critical of Russia than we are now. It is simply because we recognise there is a desperate and possibly destructive dynamic behind the desire to turn Russia into public enemy number one.”
(more at source:https://uncommongroundmedia.com/interview-brendan-oneill-spiked-magazine/)
He was correct in 2018. While it would be fair enough for him to say that he opposes Russia’s resort to war now, all that background to the decision by Russia that O’Neill recognised in 2018 hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s still the reason we are where we are.
It is simply because we recognise there is a desperate and possibly destructive dynamic behind the desire to turn Russia into public enemy number one.
What an admirable sentence. I stand by it.
Yes, he was spot on with that one!
If, as the New York Times claims, the bodies had been laying there for three weeks, wouldn’t foxes, rats, crows etc. have made rather more of a mess of them that the videos showed? That suggests to me, and this might surprise some people, that the New York Times is lying.
I seem to remember a NYT saying Biden’s laptop was Russian Propaganda, despite it being rather obviously the real deal.
So Perhaps when the NYT says something is real and definitely not anti-Russian propaganda you have to wonder a bit.
The NYT consistently lies. It’s the same with the Broadcasting arm of the Gruaniad, when bbc news says something x is true I automatically wonder why they want me to think x is true.
“The NYT consistently lies. It’s the same with the Broadcasting arm of the Gruaniad, when bbc news says something x is true I automatically wonder why they want me to think x is true.”
A wise policy.
Remember the events this references?
Jon Stewart accuses NY Times reporter of helping lead US into ‘most devastating’ foreign policy mistake in 100 years
“Jon Stewart finally got to interview the former New York Times reporter whose stories helped bolster the US case for the war in Iraq – and it got ugly fast.
…
In a testy 10-minute interview, Miller blamed unreliable intelligence sources, while the Daily Show host tried to demonstrate that Miller leaned too heavily on biased Bush administration sources.
“That’s what the intelligence community believed,” Miller said, referring to false information that showed Iraq attempting to enrich uranium before the US invasion.
….
“I appreciate you coming on the program. These discussions always make me incredibly sad because I feel like they point to institutional failures at the highest levels, and no one will take responsibility for it, and they pass the buck to everyone but themselves,” Stewart said. “It’s sad.”
Miller’s 2002 reporting has been controversial since its release over a decade ago. The report was widely cited by Bush administration officials in the lead up to the war in Iraq as credible evidence that Hussein was seeking to obtain materials for a bomb. In 2004, the Times offered a tepid apology for the reporting leading up to the war, citing faulty sources.”
For some reason, O’Neill seems to have forgotten it all.
Hear hear! Thank you.
The British economy is already finished. Electricity bills have already doubled, and this is just the start. Luckily, HMG banned log burners last year in anticipation of this, to stop people sourcing their own energy and forcing them to purchase it at massively elevated costs. These bills will easily double again by the year’s end, and not even that will be the end of it. The worry is how bad things will have to get before the lowest common denominator finally works out who’s to blame.
I don’t believe that log burners are banned, but there are now rules about what you can burn on them. Has to be manufactured solid fuel, or dry wood, both of which are said to produce less smoke.
The shop in Uppingham selling them is still in business.
An interesting discussion of many aspects of the Ukraine situation, by a former Swiss Intelligence officer with a lot of directly relevant experience. His resume:
Jacques Baud is a former colonel of the General Staff, ex-member of the Swiss strategic intelligence, specialist on Eastern countries. He was trained in the American and British intelligence services. He has served as Policy Chief for United Nations Peace Operations. As a UN expert on rule of law and security institutions, he designed and led the first multidimensional UN intelligence unit in the Sudan. He has worked for the African Union and was for 5 years responsible for the fight, at NATO, against the proliferation of small arms. He was involved in discussions with the highest Russian military and intelligence officials just after the fall of the USSR. Within NATO, he followed the 2014 Ukrainian crisis and later participated in programs to assist the Ukraine. He is the author of several books on intelligence, war and terrorism, in particular Le Détournement published by SIGEST, Gouverner par les fake news, L’affaire Navalny. His latest book is Poutine, maître du jeu? published by Max Milo.
The Military Situation In The Ukraine
This is something which really should be read in full.
If his statements are incorrect, evidence should be shown to demonstrate that.
As Australia slowly emerges from its Covid trance, accountability for the economic damage and social carnage caused by the architects of the country’s bat-droppings crazy response is getting out of the blocks at last. AFL Women’s footy player for the Adelaide Crows, Deni Varnhagen, who was sacked by the club and sacked from her job as a registered nurse for declining the Covid jab, is taking South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer, Nicola Spurrier, to the SA Supreme Court for cross-examination in Varnhagen’s litigation against the SA government’ vaxx mandates for healthcare workers.
Varnhagen appears to have been singled out for exemplary punishment as she has been without any nursing shifts despite SA Health relenting back in November on their hard-line stance by offering its unvaxxed ex-nursing-workforce casual shifts to help with workforce shortages. She has been working as a labourer to survive and still remains unable to play footy (for her team which is in the grand final next week).
I love the sound of retribution in the morning!
Brava Deni Varnhagen, and shame on the AFL, which has done an absolutely terrible job of protecting players in the last two years – and counting.
Brits support an end to fracking ban
https://www.netzerowatch.com/?mc_cid=51c57c0554
By a margin of 44% to 36%, the public are in favour of lifting the controversial ban on shale gas extraction, a new Savanta ComRes poll has revealed.
Net Zero Watch
Stand for freedom with our Yellow Boards next events
Thursday 7th April 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Yellow Boards By the Road
The Meadows (A321) Marshall Rd
College Town
Camberley GU47 0FD
Saturday 9th April 2pm to 3pm
Yellow Boards By the Road
Loddon Bridge, A329 Reading Rd,
Winnersh (Outside Showcase)
Wokingham RG41 5HG
Stand in the Park Sundays from 10am – make friends & keep sane
Wokingham Howard Palmer Gardens
(Cockpit Path car park free on Sunday)
Sturges Rd RG40 2HD
Bracknell
South Hill Park, Rear Lawn, RG12 7PA
Telegram http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
Highest estimated covid cases every and the answer.
Honestly you couldn’t make this up
When something isn’t working just try to do what didn’t work a bit more.
It’s the bureaucrat way.
Ep44 DON’T Ask about the V’zine
This week MP Chris Chope & his question about vaccination in the house of commons.
Progress in Ukraine.
We analyse GOV debt and what that means to the average UK citizen.
Plus some lovely ‘songs’
https://therealnormalpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1268768/10384739-ep-46-don-t-ask-about-the-vaccine
I don’t mind being demonised.
Especially when the demonisers have inflicted self-injury with Fauci’s junk juice. It’s not like they’ll outlive me!
“For the first time since the pandemic began, more people want the Government to prioritise protecting the economy over limiting the spread of the virus”
So now the fickle cowardly laptop class have realised their latte budget is going to get squeezed and suddenly the economy is the most pressing issue on the agenda.
Certainly, interesting priorities – first my ‘safety’, second my pocket. Where does my children, my family, my freedom come on the list i wonder?
“Covid rates in England are now the ‘highest we’ve ever seen’” – Professor Paul Elliott, an Imperial College London epidemiologist, said Imperial’s REACT study showed almost 5% of over-75s are infected, which is “a bit of a worry because that’s the most vulnerable group”, Anyone still believe this lot?
And also probably the most jabbed group as well. But i don’t suppose his worry is that this supports the fact that the jabs are pretty useless.
https://www.usfsu.org/p/art-crushed-by-political-orthodoxy-5fb?s=r
Why is such a fine and intelligent article about the cancelling of the soprano Netrebko not written in UK instead of US? US, which is so filled with trash culture and rampant wokeism, they still have intelligent persons writing interesting things and publishing. What about UK? The best articles against covid madness have been written by Americans. There must be a reason. The UK does not have any more the sharp witted, contrarian, sometimes eccentrics , they had before like Shaw, Orwell etc.
The same thing happened in politics. How could not a single politician vote against the Corona Law instead having a North Korean CP party decision level ? Trash culture and dumbing down in the UK is even worse. Hitchens and Sumption? Pure pygmies compared to the previous generations.
Why is such a fine and intelligent article about the cancelling of the soprano Netrebko not written in UK instead of US? US, which is so filled with trash culture and rampant wokeism, they still have intelligent persons writing interesting things and publishing.
Perhaps, and I am speculating only, because “the trash culture and rampant wokeism” of the US has created and emboldened the opposition to it. Needs must ?
I think there’s something in that. It has gone further there, so the opposition is pushing back harder.
Yes it’s terrible, bodies piling up in the streets, houses full of stricken people unable to get out of bed, red crosses on doors, convoys of hearses shuttling back and forth to crematoria…. it’s just like February/March 2020 all over again.
Boris Johnson says don’t criticise Rishi Sunak’s tax-dodging wife. “Keep families out of it”, he says.
Meanwhile the US government pursues Vladimir Putin’s daughters.
I thought that our ‘SAGE’ (what a misplaced acronym) lot had already admitted that they’d rather get it wrong by being hugely over-cautious than err the other way. Their get-out is that it’s the politicians that get the final say (and the blame).
Easy to be an ‘expert’ when there’s no requirement to be right.
Re. Re-nourish and the bottle of soup ad. The world has truly gone mad. If anyone thinks that a bottle of soup resembles a man’s bits, I feel sorry for them. It’s a harmless enough pic, not irresponsible – in fact, it’s quite tasty – the model that is – I’ve never tried the soup. They’ve probably got more sales and exposure – pun intended – than if it hadn’t been banned. Reminds me of the campaign some years ago by WonderBra – ‘Hello Boys’…don’t remember that being banned and it was less politically correct times then. I think there were a few more minor traffic accidents near the billboards though.
It’s too late, the damage is done, although insufficient to finish us off but Ukraine will. Deagel’s population prediction may come true.
Let’s hope in desperation no one presses the big red button, that’ll knock us back to the stone ages. At the moment we’re only facing feudalism.