- “The Tories are in danger of learning the wrong lessons from Boris’s fall” – Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph says that still too few Tory MPs realise why lockdowns were such a bad idea and the party finally needs to start talking plainly about Britain’s problems.
- “Even the peer-reviewed academic science that everyone is supposed to follow provides clear evidence that vaccinating young people is dangerous and stupid” – Eugyppius summarises a Substack post by Rav Arora, a journalist who used to write for the New York Post before his vaccine reporting got him blackballed, which assembles the major studies on myocarditis risk that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines pose for young people.
- “CDC consultation on extending the vaccine pass for international visitors” – The CDC is proposing to extend the ban on unvaccinated visitors entering the U.S. and is consulting until September 6th.
- “Germany refuses to ‘plunder its own military’ for the sake of Ukraine” – Germany has said it doesn’t want to “plunder its own military” as it refuses to send armoured vehicles to Ukraine, the Telegraph reports.
- “Next Tory leader will find it impossible to cut taxes, watchdog warns” – The Office for Budget Responsibility warns the Government that the Net Zero crusade will crush Britain under a record mountain of debt, writes Tom Rees in the Telegraph.
- “Dutch Police Shoot Live Ammo At Anti-Climate Rule Protestors” – Eric Worrall in Watts Up With That? writes that while there were no injuries reported, Dutch authorities seem determined to meet their climate targets, even if this means crippling their farming sector, or shooting someone protesting their ruinous agricultural climate rules.
- “Hot Sand” – Willis Eschenbach in Watts Up With That? says that the idea of hot sand power storage is an eco idea that might actually work, for a change.
- “HSBC banker quits and declares ‘cancel culture destroys wealth and progress’” – Stuart Kirk, who was suspended in May after attacking climate change “nut jobs”, said he will “continue to prod with a sharp stick the nonsense, hypocrisy, sloppy logic and group-think inside the mainstream bubble of sustainable finance”, adding that “most of what’s out there is bonkers”.
- “All New Vehicles In EU Now Have Mandated Black Boxes Installed” – Paul Joseph Watson at Summit News reports that as of this week all new vehicles sold in the EU now have mandatory black boxes fitted that record technical data and will be accessible by authorities, greasing the skids for surveillance-powered speed limiting technology.
- “Elon Musk ‘trolls’ Bill Gates over ‘green hydrogen’ claims” – Elon Musk seemed to troll Bill Gates early Thursday morning over the concept of green hydrogen with a laughing emoji on Twitter, the Mail reports.
- “The age of the anti-natalists” – Lionel Shriver in the Spectator traces the links between climate and rainbow wokery and the fertility and demographic crisis.
- “Stephen Fry: ‘Batter? Men’s Ashes? It’s not wokery – it’s politeness. Tell your readers that’” – MCC’s next president tells the Telegraph that he feels a profound affinity with cricket’s most cherished customs but is determined to embrace change.
- “With the utmost respect, Stephen Fry, you are helping turn cricket into a totalitarian state” – Simon Heffer in the Telegraph responds to Fry, saying there’s nothing rude about sticking with the traditions and terminology that have been used for centuries that no one could reasonably object to.
- “The pernicious creep of the 20mph zone” – Ysenda Maxtone Graham in the Spectator says the arrival of crawl zones in U.K. cities including London is yet another depressing victory for the nannying safetyists and is bad for business as it makes delivery journeys considerably longer.
- “Elon Musk says Twitter ‘going way too far’ after tweet about Elliot Page removed” – Musk wrote that the social media site had overreacted by “squashing dissenting opinions” when it suspended Jordan Peterson’s account for writing factual statements about what the actress had done to her body.
- “There can be no return to Cameron-Osborne-Cleggism” – Lord Frost in the Telegraph says that he wants to see a Tory leader who is pro-free speech, anti-woke and fully committed to conservatism and selling its merits to the public.
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Telling The Truth Now A Crime – latest leaflet to print at home, deliver to neighbours, forward to your bad MP & friends online. Start a local campaign. Deliver 100 leaflets a week (5200 a year). Over 300 leaflet ideas on the link on the leaflet.
“Miliband vows to ban fracking permanently after huge UK gas field discovered”
I don’t know exactly what he said but if he said something like the above he is lying or showing his ignorance or deliberately misleading. Short of a change in our constitution, parliament cannot do anything “permanently”.
Since the changes Blair made to the constitution I’m not sure you are right.
so many decisions are in the hands of unaccountable but tax payer funded bodies which have left wing elites in charge and almost unsacksble. Parliament, the civil service and courts routinely put decisions and opinions of unelected international quangos above our needs or values.
Meanwhile all the above is virtually incapable of change because so many peers since Major all the way to Sunak are fully behind the new order.
If Reform does form a government there will be an enormous tussle between it and all the above. From the College of Policing to the Net Zero Committee there will be hostile opposition.
The HoL will almost certainly ignore the Salisbury convention. Gawain Towler was right to recently draw attention to the likely need for a thousand new peers not aligned with the swamp/blob/elites.
I don’t know what changes Blair made.
I can certainly see the HOL being a danger, yes.
As far as the rest goes, parliament is sovereign and can pass or repeal whatever laws it want, and sack whoever it wants – the question is, do they have the political will and capital and enough MPs with the bottle to do what is needed, in the face of an onslaught from the establishment? I hope we find out. Certainly Trump 2.0 has made a pretty decent attempt – think he learnt a lot from 1.0 – but then the US system allows that more than ours because the President always brings in a big staff of his own.
Blair destroyed the constitution, but apart from that he was a complete next Tuesday responsible for deaths of hundreds of thousands .
What exactly did he do to the constitution?
Exactly – it’ll come down to do they have the balls…
So much for the art of the deal. Trump’s Putin call threatens disaster for Western security
‘….what Mr Trump is doing now is not about money: it is about the totality of collective security which, until three years ago next week, prevented a major European war since 1945’
Hmmm…….
What do others think?
‘Trump knows very well that he personally cannot afford to have a chaotic collapse in Ukraine……(cannot) afford to see the [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy government overwhelmed, Putin take over, a complete humiliation for NATO, humiliation for the West’
Mr B. Johnson
‘I would tell Putin, if you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him [Zelenskyy] a lot. We’re going to give [Ukraine] more than they ever got if we have to.’ … Trump might very well remove the Biden-eras constraints on arms transfers and give Ukraine the weapons it needs to win … If faced with the prospect of a costly military defeat, Putin may very well prefer negotiations’
‘I want everyone to stop dying.’
President Trump
‘The Biden Administration began in late 2022 to use the Ukrainian military to fight a proxy war to promote U.S. policy goals of weakening the Putin regime at home and destroying its military. It was not a strategy, but a hope based on emotion. It was not a plan for success…….I’m on the side of the Ukrainians. I helped train them. … We agree with President Trump and Col. Schlichter. America needs a new approach and a comprehensive strategy for the Ukraine War.’
“Sanctions are not the way to do it [deter Russia], they’re just going to blow off sanctions. We did the same thing in 2014 when they went into Crimea. We sanctioned them and it didn’t bother them at all.”
‘When you look at Putin, you can’t just say, ‘Well, stop the killing,’ because candidly, that’s not their mentality. That’s not how they do things…….So you have to approach a different way, and the president fits into that.’
‘The assessment that entering talks with Mr. Putin is futile and America must therefore pursue continuous indirect military engagement with Russia cannot be accepted by Americans as a feasible course of action from their commander in chief… If America can approach negotiations with Russia from a position of strength, such as enabling Ukraine to gain a significant tactical advantage on the battlefield and reestablishing credible U.S. deterrence, the U.S. can lead in moving this conflict toward resolution’
‘We cannot accept the consensus that peace talks are a sign of American defeat or that they are impossible while Russian President Vladimir Putin is in power.’
Lt Gen.(Retd.) Kellogg
Wanting everyone to stop dying is a great justification and explains why President Trump has already set out a large part of his negotiating position. Ukraine will never be in a position to join NATO for a very long time indeed. It will not meet the criteria for membership until all its border disputes are resolved.
The negotiations are worth a shot, a good shot but Bob Hope was the only real hope and he’s dead……
A pregnant pause is the best that is on offer.
Fortunately, in Vice President Vance, President Trump appears to have someone well capable of taking a strong America forward and, given the state of our own sorry and sordid little cabal in Whitehall/Westminster, Brussels, all Europe should be thankful for that.
While I agree wholeheartedly with much of what Vance says, the last quote from the article above, He delivered his speech at a moment of world peril, as the established world order is in danger of crumbling under Putin’s assault on Ukraine, is a bit of a joke.
Yes, the established world order, i.e. the ability of USA to stoke and start wars, is at last being challenged by other nations around the world. And, whereas a major European war may have been prevented since 1945 (depending on how you define ‘European’), USA with NATO tagging along has continually created sufficient devastation in other parts of the world.
So bring on multi-polarity because it will hopefully kill off the “We are the masters of the world” mentality, in particular with regard to your quotes and wishful thinking from retired military personnel.
Fighting and air strikes have inflicted over 40,000 civilian casualties, while 4 million people are internally displaced, and 6.8 million have fled Ukraine. 14.6 million people need humanitarian assistance.
At least 650,000 people who left Russia after it invaded Ukraine are still abroad.
43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 wounded and between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded since the start of the conflict.
Russian territorial gains in 2024 largely comprise fields and small settlements in Ukraine.
‘Putin sees changes in the international situation as an opportunity for a temporary pause. Such a break would be beneficial for a war criminal to consolidate gains, regroup, and then resume Russia’s colonial mission….’
Kaupo Rosin
Your statistics are laughable. Why would anyone pause when they are winning?
Russian territorial gains include a large part of Ukraine’s industrial base and mineral reserves.
Quoting obscure Estonians is not a good look.
One measure of the comparative losses is the numbers of fallen soldiers returned by each side, Most recently 45 Russian bodies were repatriated in exchange for 757 Ukrainian.
Agreed. I recommend to all DS readers that the only reliable source of information worth reading on Ukraine is Alexander Mercouris on You Tube. Plus The Duran. Expertly gathered geopolitical information and interpretation provided every day, free of charge. Outstanding.
Things are moving fast
‘The Trump administration has suggested to Ukraine that the United States be granted 50% ownership of the country’s rare earth minerals, and signalled an openness to deploying American troops there to guard them’
Now that is what I call a deal…..
Especially when a high proportion of the minerals are now in the Donbas area of Russia.
Just end the war. That’s it.
There is no end to this war, no happy ending; at best a pregnant pause, a new cold war, is on offer.
We have a choice between a cold war if we re-arm: honour or a hot war and dishonour if we do not.
That’s it.
“Russia is continuing to form new divisions, and former Russian Defense Minister and Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu announced in March 2023 that Russia aimed to stand up 14 new military divisions in the coming years.
Russia could wage a local war against a neighbouring state other than Ukraine within six months; Russia could credibly threaten NATO countries in the Baltic region in two years; and Russia could be prepared for a large-scale war in Europe, assuming NATO does not rearm at the same pace as Russia, in five years.
The Russian revival of the Moscow and Leningrad military districts, and the creation of long-term mechanisms to militarize and radicalize Russian society against Western ideals and values indicate that Russia is preparing for a future conflict with NATO.’
Honour, dishonour, hot war, cold war, arm, re-arm: just what century do you come from?
USA is washing its hands of Ukraine. Russia does not need to prepare for a future conflict with NATO because it is fighting NATO today: not only NATO, but all EU countries as well.
There will be an end to the war and it will involve the total capitulation of Ukraine, the election of a new government, removal of all foreign mercenaries and equipment, and most importantly peace.
But rest assured, wars will continue elsewhere: USA/Israel v. Iran, USA v. China, Turkey v. Kurds, Israel v. Turkey – your MIC will sadly always survive.
‘Society does need people, i.e., “protectors”, who choose to honour themselves by choosing to help others at any cost. Isn’t this what an ideal police force would be? Why are firefighters much more admired and not feared, compared to the police? How does a policeman tread the fine line of understanding the mentality of criminals while staying on the right side of the law as well as consistent with his own moral and ethical standards, i.e., his conscience?’
‘A quick ceasefire agreement today could eventually even help prolong the overall length of high-intensity warfare. Such a result would counter the security concerns that led to the start of negotiations in the first place. The Minsk Agreements did soothe the armed confrontation in 2014 and 2015. Yet they did not prevent the massive 2022 escalation and have arguably co-prepared it.”
Quite simply, it isn’t going to happen.
And that is bad news for Putin.
He just hadn’t realised it yet.
These are the guys Putin is relying on to get him to Kyiv.
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1890804288403689703?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
It may take some time.
“Boris Johnson eyeing up political comeback, allies claim”
Better lie low, De Pfeffel. If the International Criminal Court at The Hague won’t ever go after you for your leading role in expediting the iatrogenic response to the respiratory virus with an age-fatality profile that paralleled general mortality, among numerous other indictment options, screeching, “Get boosted…”
…Perhaps the International Criminal Court could instead haul you up for fanning the flames in Ukraine, two months into the conflict, by flying to Kyiv to scupper potential peace negotiations not dissimilar to what could soon appear on the table, three years of mass slaughter later.
Well done for fostering 21st century versions of those Greek Tragedies you got a 2.1 for reprising at South Midland Poly all those years ago.
He got a 2.1? I’m surprised he could find the Exam Hall….
A chaotic, blustering fool of the highest order, worth a veritable Starred 1st in Bullshittery
It’s always a mistake to equate political infamy with stupidity. Or alternatively, to confuse political success with college qualifications.
I remember as a house surgeon my consultant (over the operating table) berating the academic stupidity of Harold Wilson, only recently resigned as PM. I foolishly mentioned that he’d got a 1st at Oxford, which was taken (I think) as “malinformation,” ie truth my boss didn’t want to hear.
Wow !
Terrific and I wholeheartedly agree. Treasonous Next Tuesday.
“The biggest threat to Europe isn’t external — it’s internal. A retreat from its own fundamental values, values shared with the US.”
Got it in one, JD
Mr Vice-President taking the liberty of telling European misgovernments, discabinets and maladministrations, what they don’t want to hear.
The Spirit of 1776 lives on. Then only took Europe 13 years to get to 1789. Madame Guillotine stands ready and biding her time.
Let’s hope that Madame Guillotine doesn’t only sever the necks of the innocent wealthy, like she did last time…
Indeed. Revolutions have historical precedent and nasty habit of spiralling in all sorts of directions. After 1789 came Napoleon, after Kerensky came Lenin came Stalin, after the Berlin Wall came the mess Europe is now in.
Impossible to disagree. Straight to the point.
“Badenoch tries to stop Rayner from cancelling local elections”
Rayner claims that to allow the elections to go ahead:
It’s justifiable because the make up of a new Unitary authority should include many of the local representatives in office at the time of it being formed. I’d say that would make holding the elections justifiable and not a waste. Rayner is preventing the new authorities being representative – she predictably calls that a waste.
If the Tory leader is do against cancelling the elections why did she not tell the Tory councillors in Essex, Norfolk etc before they voted to keep themselves in office. As they have different democratic values to their leader are there not strong grounds for terminating their party memberships?
Her statement when it is too late is very convenient for the Tories who faced large scale losses in May, especially in the Counties mentioned. “Make me honest but not yet” comes to mind.
It turns out that, while Essex Tory councillors demanded the elections be cancelled so the reorganisation could be done quickly, they have no plans or proposals ready.
If the public are to be consulted, as we should be, the process of reorganisation will not be completed before the 2026 election date, or even 2027.
“the process of reorganisation will not be completed before the 2026 election date, or even 2027.”
I hope you are not suggesting that Labour are seeking to cancel the GE of 2029 owing to complications arising out of reorganisation. What on earth is our democracy coming to?
Given the virtually incalculable waste of the current administration to seek to hide behind the excuse of “waste” is frankly insulting in the extreme.
Spot the irony in J D Vance’s claim that free speech is in retreat on this side of the pond. Haven’t one or two American online firms had a few snags like that?
I don’t think the irony was lost on him.
Regarding the Laura Dodsworth piece above, about rudeness and aggression on public transport, I suspect this is more of a ‘big city’ thing, where the dreaded ‘diversity’ reigns supreme. I can’t imagine many people in this clip giving up their seat for an elderly passenger. And I’ve seen various clips like this so perhaps this is the new norm in big cities around the UK. Remember when it was considered quintessentially British to form an orderly queue?
”You may have seen the video of youths barging their way onto a bus in Birmingham. A follower relates a story when these thugs are challenged.
“Hi David, This is in reference to the “bunch of animals” comment you made in response to that tweet where loads of people were trying to pile on to the X13 bus here in Birmingham.
“I get the bus home from work each day. A couple of years ago, I was at the bus stop and got chatting to a guy I regularly saw there. We became friendly, and would sit next to each other on the bus where we would talk about all kinds of things from football to politics to our respective workplaces etc.
“He told me a story of how, a few months prior to our first chat, he was stood at the very same stop we meet at when a couple of young black men were at the same stop waiting to get on.
“At the same stop, an elderly white lady was also waiting for the bus. When the bus arrived, the two black guys went to get on the bus first. My friend said jovially, “come on lads, ladies first” and motioned for them to allow the lady on first.
“The guys turned and attacked him, leaving him needing treatment at hospital for a broken jaw, and badly shaken. They ran off and were never caught.
“There are many instances of such thuggery in Birmingham these days.”
https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1890524887829123220
Up until a few years ago I had spent all my life living in London, most of it without a car, so I got a lot of public transport, cycled and walked. As the years went on, I encountered more and more conflict from all sides. One of the reasons I left London. When I last checked a few years ago, people still queue for buses in Muswell Hill, weirdly, but most bus stops I used to use were just a free for all and you had to be pretty firm otherwise you’d be at the stop all day because the buses were often full (not sure how it is post-lockdowns, but public transport definitely seems less madly busy in London than it used to be whenever I go down).
I always try to be fair so I must say that the more smartly dressed younger men on the Central Line often offer a seat to me wife and me. Regardless of race.
Proportionately fewer young women do it and very rarely the more scruffy, older passengers.
I would say it’s a reflection on a person’s upbringing as opposed to just race. In fact, race shouldn’t even come into it. You’re either a decent, considerate person or you aren’t. I think these video clips going round are all filmed in places where white people are now a minority, such as London and Birmingham, so of course the footage will feature predominantly non-white people. But maybe it’s more of a generation thing and young white people are just as guilty of behaving like this only there’s less of them.
) and I’m sure the vast majority of us don’t need signs on transport to prompt us or remind us what good manners are. Although I think the people who speak loudly on mobile phones ( always foreign language-speakers, in my experience ) or who put their feet up on the seats or take up an extra seat for their bags could certainly do with some reminders on how to behave.
It would be automatic for me to give my seat up for an elderly person or a woman who’s obviously pregnant ( you’ve got to be very confident on this one
“Boris Johnson eyeing up political comeback, allies claim” Boris, ever the comedian.
Man has a point;
”Who in their right mind wants to have children in England today? I imagine most young and intelligent English people who want to start/raise a family will take into account this is a three decade project, and will look to emigrate to a country that has a chance of remaining within the realm of Western civilisation circa 2050.
We really must accept the undeniable reality about Britain/England’s future, which will become increasingly dysfunctional and uninhabitable for the English. Only revolutionary politics can save us now. We must hope Reform turns out to be a genuinely revolutionary movement. I believe it could certainly be that, provided Rupert Lowe was the leader.
The greatest problem facing the English and the birth rate issue is this: Responsible English couples work very hard, pay a lot of tax, but cannot afford a decent house to raise a family. Meanwhile, a less responsible demographic does no work, resides in a house funded by the tax-paying English couple and claims ever more welfare for an ever-growing brood of children.
Dealing with this perverse reality should be Reform’s very first manifesto commitment.
If there were 10 million fewer people in England, house prices would be as affordable as they were to my parent’s generation – which/who averaged 3.5 children. Cheap housing and large (ish) families are not a mere coincidence. Mass repatriation is necessary before we can even think of upping the native birth rate. Women require a decent house before they even think about procreation. Especially so for intelligent, responsible women, who tragically are the main demographic NOT having children.” Paul Weston.
https://x.com/PWestoff/status/1890326751244439862
Actually mogs I think you’re only partially right about population numbers and house prices, and that the larger part of the problem is general asset price inflation caused by decades of debasement of the currency.
Not to mention insane planning and zoning rules, etcetera.
“Thirteen more oil and gas licences could be cancelled after Rosebank court ruling”
It’s an odd feeling – I agree with him. No wait…
That is indeed what the Labour and Conservative (and Lib Dem for that matter, but who cares?) ‘climate promises’ demand.
The obvious issue is that it was not what many voters considered at the election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtzNacxo0twd
Professor Carl Heneghan on the MHRA.
Well worth a listen.
“Zimbabwean paedophile allowed to stay in UK because he would face ‘hostility’ back home”
Well there you go, a massive legal advert to all foreigners trying to get into Britain, rape a child and you can stay!
Once ‘Great’ Britain is now a giant refugee camp for the whole of the third world plus a sanctuary for paedos and perverts. As nobody is getting booted out, only welcomed and given all the creature comforts, where is the deterrent? There are none, so expect more of the same and further fragmentation and deterioration of society for the foreseeable.
If “Diversity is our strength” were true, why do they need to repeat it ad nauseum? Why do the crime stats contradict this insane, blatantly untrue mantra?
If we wouldn’t marry a person that we had literally nothing in common with and expect the relationship to be a longterm success, why would we accept unlimited amounts of people into our countries that we also have nothing in common with and expect this to have positive results, magically translate into ‘social cohesion’ and somehow be of benefit to us? It’s all a nonsense and one big, disastrous failed experiment.
“Diversity is our strength.”
This is clever word use. Those spouting this nonsense are referring to “our” as “theirs.” The “our” does not belong to the British people. This play on words is intended to insult and belittle us.
So the guy who burnt a Koran outside the Turkish Embassy in London gets charged and remanded in custody ( I read elsewhere he’s pleaded ‘not guilty’) while the psycho with a knife who threatened him and kicked him gets bailed. Bet he gets a suspended sentence. The Koran-burner, who knows, in ‘two tier Britain’.
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2025-02-15/two-charged-after-man-attacked-having-burnt-koran-outside-turkish-consulate
We just received our Thames Water bill for next year starting in April.
38.5% increase.
We received a ‘heads-up’ letter in January saying the monthly charge was going to increase by around £19/mth but the DD is going up by £30.55… As the annual charge is paid by DD over 8 months that works out to an increase of £20.36 per month for the full year.
I look forward to receiving 38.5% better service. Ha!
Thames, Yorkshire and Northumbrian Water face £168 million penalty following sewage investigation
Well, they have to pay the £104m fine somehow. Thanks for looking after us Ofwat!
My Thames water bill increases over the previous year
2023 11.6%
2024 12.0%
2025 38.5%
87.7% increase since 2020.