- “Two dead, almost 70 injured in German Christmas market terror attack” – Check the Telegraph’s home page for the latest developments in this horrific breaking story.
- “Saudi Arabian doctor, 50, who killed at least two is ‘an ex-Muslim who ranted against Germany for Islamising Europe’” – The man who drove his car into people at the German Christmas market, killing at least two and injuring dozens, was an ex-Muslim, according to the Mail, not a Jihadist.
- “Elon Musk backs AfD to ‘save Germany’” – Musk has upset Leftie Twitter by endorsing the AfD, but Alice Weidel, one of the party’s leaders, is delighted, reports the Telegraph.
- “In latest threat to German democracy, dangerous fascist Elon Musk tweets six words about Alternative für Deutschland” – On his Substack, Eugyppius gives short shrift to all those self-styled defenders of democracy wringing their hands in alarm about Musk’s endorsement of AfD.
- “My appointments to the Lords are true radicals, the smart and the very brave” – Kemi Badenoch explains why she nominated me and five others for peerages yesterday in an op ed for ConservativeHome.
- “Starmer is on the brink of erasing Brexit – but Kemi can still rescue it” – Labour has a huge majority and can ram through any deal it likes. But the Tories can still make life difficult for the Government if it tries to undo Brexit, says David Frost in the Telegraph.
- “Things must be bad for Starmer if he’s losing to Diane Abbott” – The pair clearly despise each other, but Sir Keir’s tendency to break promises has only divided them further, reports the Telegraph.
- “Banning the Granny Harmers song will backfire on the foolish BBC” – The BBC’s refusal to play ‘Freezing This Christmas’ by Sir Starmer and the Granny Haters will make it even more popular, writes George Chesterton in the Telegraph.
- “Anti-Starmer song tops sales and downloads charts but falls short of Christmas No. 1” – ‘Freezing This Christmas’ has racked up just over 14,000 sales in a few weeks but is pipped to top slot by Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’, according to the Telegraph. Shame.
- “Wham again? How Spotify and Apple killed the Christmas Number One” – Sorry, Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers – a very familiar song has topped the festive charts, says the Telegraph. And algorithms are to blame.
- “Lord Mandelson picked as ambassador to US to win over Trump” – The New Labour grandee will take up the Washington role with sights set on wooing the incoming president and securing a trade deal, which may prove difficult, given some of the rude things he’s said about the President-elect, says the Telegraph.
- “Mandelson described Trump as a danger to the world and ‘little short of a white nationalist’” – The Telegraph produces some examples of the silly things Mandelson has said about Trump.
- “Lord Mandelson called an ‘absolute moron’ by Trump campaign chief” – Chris LaCivita, who masterminded Trump’s presidential bid, took to X yesterday to say what he thinks about Keir Starmer’s choice for U.S. ambassador, according to the Telegraph.
- “Almost nobody in Washington knows who Lord Mandelson is, says U.S. congressman” – Republican Glenn Grothman estimates that only 15 of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives would be able to name the new British Ambassador, says the Telegraph.
- “When Trump wants to talk to Britain, he’ll call Farage – not Mandelson” – For a political genius, Mandelson has been on the losing side an awful lot of times, writes Dominic Green in the Telegraph.
- “The climate scaremongers: Mad Ed’s lies come back to haunt him” – Ed Miliband’s misleading promises are coming back to bite him on the bum, says Paul Homewood in the Conservative Woman.
- “Labour has walked into a Net Zero trap of its own making” – Britain does not have sufficient gas-powered generating capacity to meet demand when there’s not enough wind, points out Rupert Darwall in the Spectator.
- “Rachel Reeves has shattered economic confidence” – As the economy deteriorates, the pressure is only going to increase on the Chancellor to make savings in Government spending, writes Matthew Lynn in the Spectator.
- “Britain is living beyond its means” – The longer term-picture is that retail sales volumes remain 1.6% down on what they were on the eve of the pandemic in February 2020, says Ross Clark in the Spectator.
- “Scrapping Latin in state schools will impoverish us all” – Labour says it is opposed to elitism. But its decision to scrap a state school Latin programme will make classics the exclusive preserve of the rich, writes Lola Salem in the Telegraph.
- “‘How is a convicted terrorist trying to sue me over my pub’s name?’” – Landlords across the country are defending the Saracen’s Head name after one establishment was taken to court for its “deeply offensive” sign, reports the Telegraph.
- “Stephen Fry criticises Stonewall’s ‘nonsensical’ stance on trans issues” – Stephen Fry hit out against Stonewall during an interview on Triggernometry, according to the Telegraph.
- “The Pill turned me gay: Woman blames sexuality change on contraceptive” – Amy Parker ditched the Pill in February after ending her seven-year relationship. By May the thought of dating men filled her with “disgust”, says the Mail.
- “Lib Dems barred domestic abuse survivor from standing as MP over gender-critical views” – A former parliamentary candidate is taking legal action against the Liberal Democrats, seeking £90,000 in damages after she was branded a “bigot” for wearing a T-shirt with a feminist slogan on it, reports the Free Speech Union’s blog.
- “Teacher jailed after row over transgender pupils is released” – The Evangelical Christian who was jailed for contempt in September after defying a High Court injunction banning him from the grounds of the school he taught at in Ireland has been released in time for Christmas, says the Mail.
- “Eight convicted of involvement of the 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty” – Eight people have been convicted for being involved in the death of Samuel Paty, the teacher who was beheaded outside his school near Paris four years ago, reports the Mail.
- “Sara Sharif judge who made anonymity order claims ‘media could not be trusted to report fairly’” – The identities of those involved in the family court ruling remain unknown over fears of a social media ‘lynch mob’, according to the Telegraph.
- “Gary Lineker gives Sports Personality parting shot: ‘I never enjoyed presenting it’” – The former footballer cited the restrictions placed on what presenters can say as a reason for his indifference to hosting the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, says the Telegraph.
- “‘Doctors are facing anti-Semitism from their colleagues – will the NHS protect them?’” – Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Jewish medical staff have faced increasingly frequent – and brazen – discrimination, writes Miranda Levy in the Telegraph.
- “Owen Jones’s obsession with Israel shows why it’s so hard to be a Jew at the BBC” – What is it about the Jewish state that so agitates the digital doofus? asks Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
- “On the crossroads at the edge of empire” – It’s time the British conservative movement thought hard about what an authentic domestic form of conservatism really looks like, writes David McGrogan on his News From Uncibal Substack.
- “Oligarchy dies in the light” – Have the plutocrats of the internet age finally realised that all Donald Trump wanted was their love? asks Freddy Gray in the Spectator.
- “Trump to demand Nato nations spend 5% of GDP on defence” – The President-elect will tell European countries told to bolster their defence budgets and shoulder the burden of defending Ukraine from Russia, according to the Telegraph.
- “An honourable peace is within Ukraine’s grasp” – With the Democrats out of the way, the new President will surely not want to lose the geopolitical advantages of thwarting Putin, writes Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
- “What’s the truth about the New Jersey drone sightings?” – It’s increasingly hard these days to get a grip on some news stories in the modern media landscape, according to Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
- “The free world has abandoned Hong Kong” – The heads of our intelligence agencies have highlighted the security threat China poses for several years, but Sir Keir and others have ignored their warnings, reports the Spectator.
- “Macron and the ‘Mamadous’: French president accused of racist, sexist and homophobic remarks” – Critics of Macron claim to be stunned at a string of “politically incorrect” remarks he’s made recently, says the Telegraph.
- “France says bird flu-free after month without outbreaks” – France has declared itself to be free of avian influenza in the absence of any new outbreaks for more than a month, says Reuters.
- “If I was to make a parody of a woke Hollywood trailer that checks every conceivable PC box in 2 minutes, I would make exactly this trailer” – Matt Walsh has found a trailer for what could be the most woke film ever made.
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It’s quicker to remask after sips if you have a toothbrush ‘tache.
The said facial hair empowers the wearer to obey with alacrity and conviction.
Stay safe!
Sometimes, these so-called normal people seem decidedly mental to me. Why does this guy spend over a hundert dollars on ticket for a play despite being perfectly aware of the rules which will be in place, spend another fairly large sum on drinks despite knowing he won’t be allowed to drink them and then, keeps complaining about voluntarily inflicting all of this onto himself??
I wouldn’t have bought the ticket in the first place. Had I nevertheless found myself in this situation, I wouldn’t be buying a drink I won’t be allowed to drink and had I come to that as well, I had absolutelty left — probably maskless and maybe with something like I’m coughing in your general direction! on the first warning.
If you haven’t read the piece properly it’s best not to comment. Mr Murray bought neither the tickets nor the drinks.
Which is why I included the Had I nevertheless found myself in this situation and had I come to that as well. I must thus kindly ask you to follow your own advice.
But he went. Don’t. Don’t support this kind of behaviour by attending the show.
He went so others won’t.
The surreal experience resulted in a column that is probably going to go viral and will cost Broadway Theaters untold thousands of dollars in future ticket revenues.
I didn’t need another reason to stay away from New York City, but now I’ve got a good one.
“Libby” should be proud of what she did for her company, industry and city.
Why on earth does anyone pay to attend these events? It perpetuates the system. Plus, whilst they may not have recognised Mr Murray, you can bet they knew who Dr Peterson was and would have been watching him VERY carefully.
Visiting venues which officiously enforce the ludicrous mask rules is a waste of time and is playing their game. Stay away and deprive them of revenue.
Hear hear.
I agree, but clearly enough people do not stay away and therefore play into the Libby’s of this world hands.
Canadian reporter: How the trucker ‘Freedom Convoy’ will end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXZt65XkTU
Ezra Levant, Founder of Rebel News in Canada, has been following the truckers’ ‘Freedom Convoy’ closely since it began. And unlike the CBC — which is basically owned by the federal government — Levant’s team at Rebel News has been sharing the side of the story the MSM ignores. So, how does Levant predict this will end between the truckers and Prime Minister Trudeau? Levant tells Glenn there is nothing to END: “The convoy has already won.” Glenn Beck
Don’t get complacent. Let’s keep getting the message out with our friendly resistance.
Saturday 19th February 11am to 12pm
Yellow Boards By the Road
by Reading Bridge House George St,
Reading RG1 8PR
Stand in the Park Sundays 10am make friends, ignore the madness & keep sane
Wokingham Howard Palmer Gardens Cockpit Path car park Sturges Rd RG40 2HD
Henley Mills Meadows (at the bandstand) Henley-on-Thames RG9 1DS
Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
We went to Milton Keynes theatre a few days ago and we weren’t allowed in without a vaccine pass or a negative LFT (I falsified mine).
Goons on the queues outside were loving their new found authority.
I wasn’t aware of these restrictions until the last minute as someone else bought the tickets.
Masks were every where but at least not compulsory.
We won’t be going back there anytime soon and had I known the restrictions I wouldn’t have gone.
Our local theatre now has notices plastered up all over the outside that say “you MUST wear a mask to respect OTHERS!”
you MUST wear a mask to respect OTHERS!
If you were going there regularly, it might make sense to contact management to inform them that they MUST treat customers with respect and MUST NOT attempt to order them around in this way and tone.
I see this sort of thing on trains and platforms- out of respect for others, keep other safe, etc. It’s clear that they know they have no rational argument to force you to wear a mask, so they try other tactics such as these to try and make you feel you should wear one in consideration of the feeling of others. If you know you are doing no harm, these tactics should be ineffective and yet many people I know mask up because they don’t want to be seen as ‘bad people’. It doesn’t work on me- I just stare back at them.
I wouldn’t pay good money for any of these circuses, especially if I had an inkling that I would be treated like that.
And yet they went, knowing ze rules, and they sat there and took it.
This is how despotism triumphs, one grumbling compromise at a time.
Well said, that man… borg.
It’s a bit awkward when somebody has bought tickets as a treat.
Not really, I would just tell them to fuck off and barge my way past. Good luck trying to eject me
Since the tickets were bought for them, it is a bit rude to refuse to go; it is also courteous to behave properly for one’s hosts. I would have found it VERY difficult to behave in those circumstances and Douglas Murray and Jordan Peterson have my deepest sympathy.
A truly horrible experience.
Modern day Stasi!
Why bother at all amusing them by complying – I have either been ignoring the rules or just not going to things.
Yup me too. A mate I sometimes play Squash with invited me to the Leisure centre for a game. It was 2020 when they just introduced masks, I asked would I need to mask there, he said probably just to walk through the reception, I said no I’m not playing their game, so never played ‘the’ game.
3.5hrs?! That would drive me crazy in normal circumstances!
I won’t express my thoughts about anything Harry Potter related here, there’s just not enough space.
I think the craze for that was the first sign for me how easily influenced people are and they lost all ability to think for themselves.
I love the Harry Potter series and pounced eagerly on each new book as it came out. Never missed a new film either.
How I got to be a sceptic is,therefore, a mystery. Maybe my parents started the rot in the 1960s, by gluing themselves to each successive episode of the original Forsyte Saga series.
You might like to know, maybe you know this already, that the Harry Potter books have numerous references to the Classics. Which is probably why Annie loves them.
And that’s why I flatly refuse to go these places with their tinpot dictator rules! We were due to visit the theatre just before Christmas, which was booked during the late summer when all diktats had been dropped. Then the day before the show we got a lengthy email telling us of all reimposed rules they now expected us to suddenly follow. They were unbelievably ridiculous and OTT. We emailed them back and said we wanted to cancel because of this, and they rudely replied along the lines of “well if you can’t be bothered to help keep the staff and other patrons SAAAAFE…!” No. It’s because were not enabling and paying for this cultish nightmare to continue!
I had bought tickets for a concert at the RNCM (Music College) just before the restrictions came in for Omicron. The RNCM then re-imposed the mask mandate for audience members (which had been lifted a few weeks previously) so we obtained a refund. Despite the lifting of all restrictions by the Government, the mask mandate there is still in place. Total nonsense.
American self-described “liberals” sound like some of the worst people on the planet. Utterly insufferable.
In any case, why were Murray and Peterson there in the first place? Attendance at these charades only legitimizes their continuation. Honestly, both have been a disappointment throughout. Late to the game and a barely half-hearted effort once they did join.
Libby Libtard sounds like a real Moaning Myrtle.
That is very unfair to Moaning Myrtle. Likening this Libby character to Dolores Umbridge is perfectly correct.
In falling for Covid groupthink by getting needle raped, Peterson reaps what he sows.
Sorry for repeating myself from elsewhere but….
There is a sickness……and it’s not “Covid”.
The mistake is to try to continue with some semblance of normal life under these circumstances.
The surest way to normalise masks and all the other lunacy is to try to adapt and carry on under these new rules.
Personally, I refuse to engage in any activity that i can easily avoid – and that includes holidays, shopping, entertainment, – that requires me to do anything that I didn’t have to do 3 years ago. Until these rules are gone, I’m just not participating.
And if everyone took the same approach, this would have been over a long time ago.
So, to conclude – yes, sounded like a nightmare, but your own stupid faults for playing along with the insane rules. Life can be very gratifying and fulfilling without seeing Harry effing Potter on Broadway. I have no sympathy for Murray or Peterson.
No, no, no! Playing along with rules that make no sense is just prolonging the nightmare. Please don’t be a sheep.
What covid has taught us is there are far more Nazis amongst us than we thought.
The sort of thing that keeps me out of the US these days, and I assume the rest of the world probably isn’t much better.
“compassion fascists” is pretty good.
I’m glad I live in Wales, UK… Since march 2020, I never had to wear a stupid mask not even once, thanks to an exemption card which makes it illegal for anyone to harass me and ask the reason why I wasn’t wearing one.
And in Wales, it was never mandatory to wear masks outside.
I think Jordan Peterson and his friends were brave and had tons of patience… I wouldn’t have lasted 5m without telling that ‘Libby’ exactly what she should have heard… and I have the habit of calling things by their names, them being ‘offended’ or not!!!
I was coerced into seeing this by my kid – in the West End b 4 Covid – had I known how bad it is, i wouldn’t have gone – even if i had been paid to go – the script is incomprehensible drivel – and the absurd token diversity actor who played Hermione couldn’t act to save her life – and the infantilised adults dressed in silly costumes screaming and loving it were in a mass psychosis – it was almost a run thru of life to come. Masks the least of their problems.
The Canadian Mounties trounced a few truckers in Ottawa yesterday. Justin using brute force against (his own people see Dr. Paul Alexander, substack video) what was a peaceful protest against mandatory experimental biologicals. Just wondering did he or any other gov’t use brute force when BLM’s trounced through cities tearing them up? No, I didn’t think so. But hey Canadian truckers are a dangerous bunch of thugs, right?
I would advise anyone who finds these mandates, such as masking, a joke, to refrain from paying for expensive tickets for a play, and being masked the whole time. Vote with your feet folks. When the economy tanks to zero, maybe someone in gov’t will wake up. Inflation already at an all time high. Good luck.
Same happened to me on an Avanti train from Birmingham to London last year.
I had just ridden my bike for 20 miles from a clinic to the train. I was thirsty and wanted to drink from my bottle. I had noted the 2 Policemen at the back of the carriage buy was really angered when one told me:’ You can’t drink that all the way to London. You have to wear a mask.’
He was wrong. I could and did, sip by furious sip.
I downloaded Peel’s 9 principles on the way. The Police had failed them all.
This does sound like an absolute nightmare. However the Voldemort line had me and my husband howling with laughter.
The sign on the theatre door says you need to be jabbed and masked. Does this mean D Murray and J Peterson have both had the experimental gene therapy treatment?
Strange strange times indeed.
Mask-wearing in theatres and for concerts is widespread here, too, and when rules change the people who run them will always give in to those who want to carry on wearing masks and keep the mandate in place. Yet if they lift it, people (the sheep) will happily remove masks when they see others doing so. Where is the sense in all this?
Sense? You clearly haven’t been paying attention (said jovially!) that went out of the window 23 months ago.
To misquote “men go mad in crowds but only regain their sense (sanity) slowly and one by one.”
About Douglas Murray’s experience with mask enforcement at that NYC theatre, I receive audience notifications for the BBC radio theatre, Portland Place, they now require a negative test result and in addition state “face coverings will be mandatory”,
A rule of thumb for me is not to visit any venue with restrictions, there is no legal requirement for these, bbc need to stop this, Question Time on BBC1 is also a horror show of Perspex screens and masks, unwatchable.
The thought of testing, then sitting in the Beeb’s Radio Theatre surrounded by people in muzzles means I, too, completely ignore the show notifications now. The airport security and long waits at Portland Place were always tedious – Covid extras would make going there intolerable.
Incidentally, the few minutes of Question Time I saw last Thursday night seemed to have its audience unmuzzled. But as I was dozing, maybe I imagined it.
@Jess: Yes you are correct, I’ve just checked iplayer catch-up, QT on 17 Feb from Leeds no Perspex screens between panellists and studio audience mask free, but slightly spaced, first time in ages, looking a bit more like 2019, bbc must have picked up on some of the push back, or they’ve been tipped off about content of Johnson’s statement next week.
Ironically I went to Old Vic to see SEMMELWEIS- a play about how established Drs caused death by ignoring facts. I have both published and chaired international meeting on infectio include the futility of masks. We use them as splash protectors not to stop infection in surgery. I was told I would be ejected if I did not sit in a mask but in the interval my neighbours removed their masks to eat at ice cream. There should be a new crime of promotion and adherence to stupidity!
If the theatre were really compassionate they’d not sell drinks, in fact they’d close down to ‘stop the spread’.but money is more important to them apparently. It is really pathetic and frighteningly like some Soviet regime. Why are the two most Democratic-controlled states like this I wonder? Is this where the collective good as a guiding principle takes us? The good determined by people who are deeply afraid and intransigent in their own extremism.
Why the hell would Murray and Peterson comply with this nonsense in the first place? They go along with these stupid, illogical and immoral ‘rules’ and then complain when the mask cultists *enforce* the ‘rules’, ‘rules’ of which Murray and Peterson, by complying, have given their tacit approval.
I have zero sympathy for Murray here. He is in no position to whine when, by going along with this nonsense, he tacitly endorses the ‘rules’ and so invites admonishment from the mask cultists if/when he ‘breaks the rules’.
You may have noted they were invited by friends who paid for the tickets. He explains their reasons for persisting. I would personally not consider any venue that has a masking policy, but if I had found myself in that sort of situation, I would probably have done the same. Some if us would consider that a matter of courtesy to our hosts.
And perhaps writing about it as he has done in a New York paper may strike a considerable blow against this pointless obsession with respecting “others” comfort.
Yes, I noted he was invited by friends, and I noted his ‘excuse’ for putting up with such appalling treatment. I’m not sure what your point is. Any rational person with a moral backbone would have declined the invitation and not put themselves in that position in the first place. My point is, once there, he is in no position to whine about the enforcement of ‘rules’ of which he has already given his tacit consent.
So, now he is there. Who are these ‘friends’? What did they think of the appalling treatment of their group? Doesn’t ‘courtesy’ go both ways here? Wouldn’t they feel some sense of embarrassment at the treatment to which they and their ‘guests’ were subjected? Do you honestly believe the cost of the tickets outweighs these considerations and the wider moral argument? Surely the whole group should have just upped and left the moment it became obvious they were being harassed. But no. They all stayed and put up with it. And then Murray comes away and complains about it in an article. It’s pathetic.
If it is pleasurable, then go out and enjoy! If it causes you and your friends distress – then avoid the Theatre and share widely on all possible media!
I’m sorry but I’m not interested in what Douglas has to say any more. I used to be a huge fan of his work and while I didn’t always agree with him, I always admired his courage in speaking out about issues that he felt strongly about regardless of what the establishment line might be. Where has he been for the past two years though? I haven’t heard a peep out of him regarding the draconian restrictions most of us have been subjected to, the loss of our personal freedoms, the encroaching totalitarianism. He’s moaning because he was hassled over mask wearing, where has he been?! We’ve all been hassled over this bullshit on a daily basis since March 2020!! Sorry Douglas, too little too late!