- “The Guardian effect: Labour ‘help’ could seal a Trump win” – History teaches us that when the British Left tries to influence American politics, it goes wrong, says Freddy Gray in the Telegraph.
- “‘This Is Illegal’: British Labour Party Sending Staff To Campaign For Kamala In Swing States” – ZeroHedge with a round-up of the best responses to the nutty Labour plan to send a platoon of British socialists to campaign for Kamala.
- “Labour can’t help Kamala Harris” – Labour’s outrageous intervention isn’t some harmless cultural exchange, it’s a direct attempt to manipulate the future of America’s highest office, says Lee Cohen in the Spectator. But it’s also laughable.
- “Kamala Harris has lost momentum – no wonder she’s getting desperate” – Money might not buy what she needs: a public willing to take a chance on another four years on her and the Democrats in government, says Daniel McCarthy in the Telegraph.
- “Labour must kick Britain’s dangerous addiction to migration” – As crime rises and our social fabric frays, Labour cannot use soaring numbers to plaster over the cracks in our economy, says Sam Bidwell in the Telegraph.
- “The rental market is heading for catastrophe” – The rental market is heading for a breaking point – and an incompetent political class is entirely to blame for the crisis that is heading our way, says Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
- “Why incitement to hatred should not be a crime” – The jailing of Lucy Connolly will do nothing to challenge racism, says Tim Black in Spiked. It will only bolster the state censors.
- “Lucy Connolly’s tweet about asylum seekers was vile. But she shouldn’t be in prison” – When people who commit worse crimes walk free, the public is bound to ask questions of our justice system, says the Telegraph‘s Michael Deacon.
- “Eton in line for £4.8m windfall from Labour VAT raid” – Eton College is in line to receive a £4.8m “handout” from the Government because of a clause in its private school tax raid, says the Telegraph.
- “Starmer’s authoritarian instincts can’t be allowed to constrain press freedom” – Under-fire politicians tend to lash out at the messenger, but Labour must not invoke any draconian regulations, says Trevor Kavanagh in the Telegraph.
- “Gail’s boss backs Badenoch to be Tory leader” – In the Telegraph, Luke Johnson says Kemi understands how societies become prosperous and can articulate that.
- “Jenrick: I would tear up unconservative climate change act as Tory leader” – Robert Jenrick says that if he became Prime Minister he would scrap major pieces of Blair and Brown era legislation including the Climate Change Act, Equality Act and Human Rights Act under a “Great Reform Act”, according to the Telegraph.
- “Tories need a strong leader to resist Labour’s socialist war on success” – The politics of envy have once again infected Parliament. Freedom, family and aspiration cannot be allowed to wither away, says Janet Daley in the Telegraph as she declares for Kemi.
- “Kemi Badenoch should stop being woke” – In the Spectator, Laurie Wastell criticises Badenoch for repeatedly playing the race card and, by implication, playing by the Left’s rules.
- “How the Tories changed their tune on Nigel Farage – and Reform” – The traditional Conservative tactic of trying to depict Reform leader Nigel Farage as not respectable has run its course, says Patrick O’Flynn in the Spectator.
- “Migrant gangster convicted over murder can’t be deported because of EU rules” – A migrant gang member convicted of manslaughter after the murder of an 18 year-old cannot be deported because of European Union rules, it has emerged, reports the Telegraph.
- “Netanyahu vows to punish Iran after Hezbollah drone hits his house” – Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to punish Iran after a Hezbollah drone attempted to “assassinate” him and his wife at their weekend residence, the Telegraph reports.
- “Reporter who praised October 7th as ‘moment of triumph’ to speak at London Muslim conference” – A reporter from Iran’s Press TV who described the October 7th attacks on Israel as a “moment of triumph” will speak at a London Muslim conference, reports the Telegraph.
- “GCSE textbook that says jihad in Gaza ‘justified’ pulled from print” – A GCSE textbook that says jihad in Gaza is “justified” has been pulled from print, says the Telegraph.
- “This is the modern-day story of David and Goliath” – On Substack, Dr. Jessica Rose responds the limp official “rebuttal” of the Port Hedland Covid vaccine cancer claims.
- “Victory for doctors over Mail on Sunday slur” – In TCW, Sally Beck on the vindication of Dr. Zoë Harcombe and Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, who won “the most significant piece of defamation litigation” a judge has seen in the British High Court for a very long time.
- “The climate scaremongers: Is there no end to Miliband’s madness?” – Ed Miliband seems to think he is a law unto himself, spending more and more money on our behalf, seemingly without any Parliamentary scrutiny, says Paul Homewood in TCW.
- “Labour gender therapy plans ‘risk criminalising parents who don’t want children to transition’” – Labour’s “trans inclusive” ban on conversion therapy, currently in the works, risks “criminalising” parents who do not want their children to transition, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by a cross-party group of MPs and peers as well as psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors and consultants, says the Telegraph.
- “Is it time for feminists to turn to the Tories?” – In the Spectator, Julie Bindel ponders whether feminists like her, concerned about the transgender debate, should hold their nose and team up with the Tories.
- “How ‘gay rights’ charities turned against gay people” – Stonewall’s silence on the attempts to shut down the LGB Alliance conference speaks volumes, says Jo Bartosch in Spiked.
- “Black academics told being ‘nice’ perpetuates ‘white supremacy’” – Black academics have been told by a study that being nice perpetuates “white supremacy” and warns against adopting behaviours “palatable to white groups” rather than using their position to challenge racism, reports the Telegraph.
- “DEI is dying, but the damage to the next generation has already been done” – When even the New York Times turns on DEI ideology, you know something is afoot. But is it already too late, asks Zoe Strimpel in the Telegraph.
- “Reparations are wrong on every level. We must reject the divisive politics of national grievance” – A majority of Britons want their children to be taught to be proud of the country, regardless of background, and Labour must listen, says Dan Hannan in the Telegraph.
- “The slow implosion of the EU project” – Our Remainer establishment is blind to the unfolding crisis in Brussels, says Fraser Myers in Spiked.
- “Rebel Hearts: a second marriage is the ultimate counter-cultural statement” – On Substack, Laura Dodsworth blogs from her honeymoon(!), reflecting on the under-appreciated benefits of a second marriage.
- “So is Kamala doing okay?” – On X, il Donaldo Trumpo has discovered what Obama and Biden actually said to each other at Ethel Kennedy’s funeral.
WHO DID THIS???
— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) October 16, 2024pic.twitter.com/afvV9ubgVz
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Personally Im a fan of correct speling but not of remooving superfluous language from other peoples work
I disagree. Every word should count. Words that do not hold their place make for uncomfortable reading.
Actually I am not a fan of the superfluous in anything be it food, art, literature, cars and so on. I am not a minimalist but add ons need to enhance and not confuse or detract.
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman’s Odyssey.
Thank you Marcus.
Not sure about “remooving.”
My entire comment was meant to be a misspelt joke! Tickled me, anyway.
A further point:
This paragraph is in itself a bit of a bobbing turd :
“I believe very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views.”
So why is the bank closing Sir Nigel’s accounts? Why has the true reason for debanking not been disclosed in the letter?
A poorly constructed letter which deliberately adds insult to injury.
Indeed.
“legally held political and personal views” This implies that it’s possible to have “illegally held” political and personal views. I wonder what these could be?
‘Legally held’. People like to make things sound grander or give them gravity and authority than they warrant. Like the chumps who put official looking ‘No Parking’ signs up but have ‘Polite Notice’ to make it look like ‘Police Notice’. This effort from Dame Rose does appear to indicate she was distracted part way though dictation, spun around a bit for a couple of paragraphs, then remembered where she was for the closing sentiments.
Possibly. My reading of it is more like this:
“Your views are distasteful to me and to the bank and to polite, rightthinking people everywhere, but they are not so extreme as to be illegal, so sadly we cannot use them to justify closing your account, as we will get into trouble.”
And then: “However, others might have such extreme political and personal views that certainly ought to be illegal and may well be illegal if expressed publicly and for such people we would certainly be closing their accounts without hesitation”
Farage is sort of mainstream. Don’t think as many people would be defending Tommy Robinson’s right to have a bank account.
But they should be – being allowed to unperson him was testing the water, and has emboldened the scum running these businesses.
I tend to agree. Robinson has been convicted of fraud, perhaps that’s relevant to having a bank account, but in general everyone should be able to have a bank account, unless it can be proved they are laundering money or something.
But they ought to, especially as he exposed local government bribery to silence teachers and others in an apparent bullying case.
Investigative journalists used to do that. What happened to them?
This has been bothering me as well. Provide there is actually something as an illegal opinion (definitely in Germany) that’s no business of a bank as banks are not responsible for prosecuting criminals.
“I believe very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views.”
There is so much that is wrong and actually downright nasty in this paragraph:
How on earth does ‘freedom of expression’ and having a bank account become linked? Offering a bank account is simply a business transaction. End of.
“access to banking are fundamental to our society”…but we are shutting you down and there is sod all you can do about it. Eh? Come again?
“exit” with clear etymological links to “execute.” Nice.
“legally held political and personal views”
So Alison Rose and or the bank hold the rights to defining what is legal and even what is personal. As opposed to what exactly?
And this is a banking group that has catered to mafia personnel, General Pinochet and those arch grifters, ne’er do wells and tax dodgers the Saxe-Coburgs – German links again.
Oh yes Natwest group a paramount within the banking industry.
Disgusting and appalling.
Not that this is a surprise, but it’s obvious she is unrepentant and doesn’t think she has done anything wrong, except get caught “exiting” someone with the balls and clout to stand up to her. As per my post above, it’s clear that she thinks “views” are relevant, and the reference to “legally held” is really just saying “views that right thinking people like me find abhorrent but cannot as yet get away with using to stop someone having a bank account”.
Agreed tof.
No surprise at any of that. A competent secretary and legal team should have corrected all those errors!
Its secretary will also be a diversity hire, probably not having English as its first language.
Simply another unqualified diversity hire – nothing to see here.
Variable noun? I think just about any noun is now variable. But honestly, how do you practise social distancing? Withdraw into a corner or melt into the shrubbery when people are about? You’d get carted off to the local insane asylum. I can’t imagine anything more daft. Well, I can but I won’t get into that now….
Now, now Aethelred. Don’t forget what your Mum told you – “practise makes perfect.”
My favourite bit is “I would like to make it clear that they do not reflect the view of the bank.” Really? Then who’s view do they represent, and how did they come to be in a subject access request report produced by… her bank?
To me the main problem with this letter is the bit that says, “they (the comments) do not reflect the view of the bank.”
Clearly, these are exactly the views of the bank. It wasn’t one misplaced word – it was forty pages of social media tittle tattle deliberately constructed to smear a customer, and then acted on by senior management.
She committed a banker’s cardinal sin, and so did Davies, a former chief regulator FCS, by ignoring of not defending it.
In Switzerland, both would already be in prison and everywhere, they are now toast professionally in finance.
And actually, there is also expensive precedence for what happens and should happen when a bank’s CEO can’t keep his mouth shut:
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breuer-Interview
Howard Davies – head of the FCA at the time of the crash in 2008. Clearly about as much use as a chocolate teapot. I wonder where he will be promoted to next?
Aged 21 in the early 80’s, I met a friend of my parents; he was a Director of National Westminster Bank. After a few pints – he said to me, “Let me give you some advice in business. Never trust the buggers that take it too seriously”.
His advice has served me well. I suspect Alison Rose may fall into the group he was warning me about.
Reflexive pronouns are used by call centre staff all the time. It’s a plague.
Agree with those, other than “the government make”, which could, according to various (confusing and contradictory) websites, just as reasonably read “government makes”. To my ear, the singular sounds more natural – and in the end I think it’s more a question of what sounds natural, don’t you think? That said, I wouldn’t ever say “the police makes…” – which would have to be plural. Curious.
“They’d genuinely rather have a less qualified ethnic minority who can’t even compose an email to the clients because it helps with their ESG Rating,”
Most definitely not in the same league, but a few years ago when I was a Civil Servant a black woman who had recently migrated to the UK was recruited. She was very pleasant; very anxious to please but simply couldn’t do the job. She really shouldn’t have passed her probation period. But the department was located in a part of the country where very few “minorities” chose to live so diversity targets had not been reached ….. and her employment was confirmed by those higher up the hierarchy …. who didn’t have to work directly with her.
You missed one…
”To achieve this, sector–wide change is required, but your experience, highlighted in recent days, has shown we need to also put our own processes under scrutiny
too.”To also put?
Don’t be surprised if Rose is the next CEO of the National Trust. I dropped my membership 3 years ago as they wanted me to be ashamed of my heritage
Spoiler alert: Speaking from experience, Bank executives don’t write their own letters – a PA or junior manager will write all their letters for them. All the executive has to do is to read it and sign it. Of course, read before you sign is the important bit, because of that other unofficial legal maxim – signature attracts liability.
This letter looks to me as though it was written and signed in a hurry without anyone of experience taking a few minutes to knock it into shape.