- “‘Hate’ and the Islamic onslaught on British values: Part one” – Two hammer blows were delivered to British values in Batley in 2021 and Wakefield in 2023, writes Ayan Hirsi Ali on her Substack in the first instalment of a three-part investigation into the rape gangs scandal. You can read part two here and part three here.
- “The grooming gangs are rapists from sub-communities – Kemi is right to say so” – Too many self-declared defenders of women’s rights remain silent about sex crimes when committed by ‘disadvantaged’ groups, writers Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph.
- “Labour’s grooming gang plan doesn’t go far enough” – Victims and survivors of street-based grooming which has taken place over decades, deserve to be treated with greater respect and dignity, writes Rakib Ehsan in the Spectator.
- “As grooming rapists leave jail, Oxford fears the abuse will resume” – A decade on from Operation Bullfinch and its 24 convictions, one victim’s mother believes the organised abuse of young girls in the city never truly stopped, reports the Times.
- “Labour’s tax plans trigger exodus of millionaires from U.K.” – Since the General Election, one dollar millionaire has left Britain every 45 minutes, according to the Times.
- “IMF cuts Britain’s growth rate after record tax raid” – The U.K.’s end-of-year stagnation caused by the Chancellor’s historic tax raid has led the IMF downgrade its estimate of the U.K.’s economic output in 2024 by 0.2%, according to the Telegraph.
- “Reeves: I won’t let them get me down” – Defiant Chancellor likens herself to Thatcher as critics call for her to quit over poor growth, reports the Telegraph.
- “Sadiq Khan has just demonstrated why people are turning to Reform” – The London Mayor’s arrogant dismissal of a plan to tackle knife crime was politics at its worst, says Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
- “Sadiq Khan under investigation over free Taylor Swift tickets” – Sir Sadiq Khan is under investigation by the City Hall standards watchdog after accepting free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, according to the Telegraph.
- “Britain is institutionally ‘anti-racist’” – Magersterial piece by Ed West on his Substack about how Britain became institutionally ‘anti-racist’.
- “Kemi Badenoch: ‘We’re going be honest about mistakes we made’” – Voters are still in the mood to punish the Tories, according to the party’s new leader. It’s time the party owned its mistakes. The Times has more.
- “Tory voters are split on Reform merger, but Nigel Farage smells blood” – Polling shows the main parties cannot afford to ignore those snapping at their heels — especially not Reform U.K., says the Times.
- “What problem is the Education Secretary trying to solve?” – “As a headteacher at Michaela Community School in Wembley, North London, I’m baffled by Labour’s shake-up of education,” writes Katharine Birbalsingh in the Spectator.
- “Labour’s education bill catastrophic for children, Birbalsingh warns” – Britain’s “strictest head teacher” says Labour’s proposed education reforms are “Marxist” and that threaten progress for disadvantaged children, according to the Times.
- “Labour’s disregard for Katherine Birbalsingh shows they care nothing for children’s success” – Education evidence that aligns with Labour’s dogma is gospel; evidence that doesn’t is discarded, writes Lola Salem in the Telegraph. Pupils will all pay the price for this folly.
- “High Court fast-tracks legal challenge against Labour’s VAT raid on private schools” – Yesterday, the High Court ruled that two legal challenges of the Government’s decision to impose VAT on independent school fees should be fast-tracked, reports the Telegraph.
- “Private schools face Chinese buyouts, experts warn” – Following Labour’s VAT raid on school fees, Chinese investors are circling a host of independent schools across the U.K., seeing them as potential investment opportunities, says the Mail.
- “Phillipson faces pressure to revive free speech law before next academic year” – The High Court hearing of the Free Speech Union’s legal challenge against Bridget Phillipson has been adjourned until July 1st, putting pressure on the Education Secretary to implement the Free Speech Act before the next academic year, according to the Telegraph.
- “We’re run by a cabal of Starmer’s Lefty legal chums” – Most readers remember the horror inflicted on this country by the IRA, writes Boris Johnson in the Mail. But not the Prime Minister and his Lefty lawyer chums, writes Boris Johnson in the Mail.
- “The Attorney General must come clean about his past clients – or resign” – If Lord Hermer is to remain in office he must be transparent about his dealings with Gerry Adams and those suing the army, writes Suella Braverman in the Telegraph.
- “Starmer must decide, is he politician or lawyer?” – Only by taking back the power given to judges will the PM have any hope of effecting change such as benefit reforms, writes Fraser Nelson in the Times.
- “I am proud to be British, not part of the ‘global majority’” – The new term for non-white people – “the global majority” – is divisive, writes Dia Chakravarty in the Telegraph.
- “Criminals’ ethnicity ‘covered up’ amid racism fears” – Senior Tory MPs claim the growing failure to record the ethnicity of criminals amounts to institutional hiding of “the costs of migration”, says the Telegraph.
- “Polish PM Donald Tusk says he dreams of a ‘Breturn’ to EU” – In a meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, the latter said a “dream” of his was for a “Breturn” instead of Brexit and said he “missed” the U.K. being in the EU, reports the Mail.
- “Dale Vince’s ex-wife awarded more than £40 million in divorce ruling” – Kate Vince, the ex-wife of green energy mogul Dale Vince, has been awarded more than £40 million by a High Court judge following the pair’s divorce, reports the Mail. Vince has hailed this as a tremendous victory.
- “‘Devastating’ £10 airport charge scrapped after Heathrow loses 90,000 passengers” – The Home Secretary has rowed back on plans to extend ETA charges to transit flyers, according to the Telegraph.
- “Apple drops AI news summary feature that wrongly claimed Rafael Nadal had come out as gay” – Apple has suspended an AI tool after it kept creating fake stories, reports the Telegraph.
- “Zuckerberg accuses Sandberg of masterminding Facebook diversity push” – Tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is trying to rebuild ties with Trump by distancing himself from his former mentor’s policies, says the Telegraph.
- “Supreme Court allows TikTok to be banned in the U.S.” – The Supreme Court has ruled that banning TikTok isn’t a breach of the First Amendment, according to the Mail.
- “TikTok may avoid US ban despite Supreme Court ruling” – Trump’s promise to save the Chinese social media app has raised the prospect that the platform may remain online, reports the Telegraph.
- “How I fell foul of YouTube’s fact-checkers” – In the Spectator, Matt Ridley recounts his run-in with YouTube’s fact-checkers.
- “Newsom’s fatal mistake condemned his state and future to absolute ruin” – California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has never seen a camera he didn’t hog or a bottle of hair gel he didn’t like, bears a rather suspicious physical resemblance to a superhero movie villain, writes Josh Hammer in the Mail.
- “Israel ministers vote on ceasefire deal — as it happened” – The Israeli Cabinet has voted in favour of the ceasefire deal, despite threats by far-Right ministers to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition, reports the Times.
- “Piers Morgan interview: ‘Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize in two years’” – In an interview in the Telegraph, Piers Morgan predicts that the President-elect will win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2027 by bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
- “Trump to rule on Starmer’s Chagos deal” – Sir Keir Starmer has put the future of the Chagos islands on hold in response to the President-elect’s concerns that his proposed deal could boost China’s influence, says the Telegraph.
- “Rise of the Right: Milei, Meloni, Trump, Musk, Farage – it’s our world now” – The President-elect’s victory coincides with the rise of an international group of Right-wing political leaders who share his hostility toward migrants and wokery, writes James Crisp in the Telegraph.
- “Is the tide turning on restitution? ” – When passions are aroused, all of us are liable to overstate our case, says David Abulafia in the Spectator. But the case for returning the Benin Bronzes has surely collapsed.
- “The Free-Speech war inside the ACLU” – In New York magazine, Jordan Heller documents the fall of a once-great American institution, which has now been captured by woke activists.
- “Podcast staff needed therapy after working with Meghan, reports claim” – Vanity Fair magazine alleges workers on Meghan Markle’s podcast show sought counselling after being put under “very painful” strain, according to the Telegraph.
- “Fez-wearing Tesco worker sues over ‘being compared to Tommy Cooper’” – Tesco worker Kester Charles Bey, who wears a Fez and describes himself as Moorish, is suing Tesco for race discrimination after he was compared to Tommy Cooper, reports the Mail.
- “The ‘self-cancellation’ trend taking over the literary world” – Four authors have de-platformed themselves from the Oxford Literary Festival because Helen Joyce is due to be interviewed on the main stage by Julie Bindel, writes Jenny Lindsay in the Spectator.
- “Guardian staff ‘deeply disturbed’ over AI use during strike” – the Guardian’s journalists aren’t happy about the fact that the paper replaced them with AIs when they went on strike over the sale of the Observer, reports the Times.
- “After a message from author Neil Gaiman’s babysitter, horror unfolded” – Rachel Johnson in the Mail recalls being contacted by Neil Gaiman’s 22 year-old nanny via Instagram and being told some hair-raising stories.
- “Neil Gaiman and the perils of BDSM” – In UnHerd, Kathleen Stock wonders if there’s any such thing as acceptable BDSM in the wake of the Neil Gaiman scandal.
- “We have touchdown!” – On X, Il Donaldo Trumpo shares an amusing AI video of Trump being caught by Elon Musk’s giant rocket tongs.
WE HAVE TOUCHDOWN!!!
— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) January 16, 2025pic.twitter.com/6xrwCyYm7o
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Good morning.
Yet another litany of self harm by a society already in steep decline. Can we exploit the shockingly bad government as a time of catharsis and emerge stronger in national spirit. Will there be enough left to build upon.
“Labour’s tax plans trigger exodus of millionaires from U.K.”
They forgot to build a wall around the country first. Rookie mistake.
Danger Lab Grown Meat – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, your new MP, your local vicar, online media and friends online. Start a local campaign. We have over 200 leaflet ideas on the link on the leaflet.
Piers Morgan interview: ‘Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize in two years‘
Really?
“The president likes to fight, it’s exciting for him. Why stop halfway if you can put the final squeeze on them?” one source close to the Putin administration asked rhetorically.
“What they have is not enough,” he explained. “[They need] a mobilization, a complete transition to a war footing, and that’s not happening.”
Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election renewed “certain hopes” for peace among high-ranking Russian officials. Now, however, these hopes are “already not that high.” “The [Russian] president has his demands — the entire territory of four [of Ukraine’s] regions. Trump’s conditions are different. It’s unclear where the compromise lies,” said one source close to the Kremlin.
Meanwhile
‘The extended offensive throughout 2024 led to a sharp increase in Russian losses of both personnel and equipment. Open-source databases tracking losses through photos and videos report the highest numbers of destroyed or damaged equipment (particularly infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers) in 2024.
Databases compiling obituaries for fallen soldiers paint a similar picture. Since the fall of 2023, the rate of reported deaths has doubled
Russia isn’t producing enough tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to offset losses. The country produces only about 250 new T-90M tanks annually, while confirmed tank losses documented through videos and photos in 2024 exceeded 1,100. Production capacity is insufficient for a war of this intensity.
So far, the Russian military has relied on vast stockpiles of Soviet-era tanks.Slightly less than half of these reserves remain, and what’s left consists of tanks in poor or very poor condition. The supply of relatively modern tanks (various models of T-72s and T-80s) will barely last for another year of combat as intense as 2024.
So what next?
Putin will likely resist merely freezing the conflict, having learned from Bashar al-Assad’s experience in Syria. Two years ago, Assad’s regime “won” but was forced to freeze the conflict under Turkish pressure. Then, the regime grew weaker in the absence of external support and ultimately collapsed in a week. This is why Putin sees cementing his victory as essential.
If negotiations fail, both armies will continue fighting with ever-dwindling resources. And what now seem like unconventional tactics — i.e. improvised solutions using whatever is at hand — could become the norm by the end of 2025:
‘Russian troops are attacking Ukrainian Armed Forces positions on electric scooters. Russians are using scooters, as well as cars and buggies (light SUVs) due to the loss of armoured vehicles’
Unfortunately, World War is still very possible
Oh! It already started:
‘….a video published…….where the prisoners are being questioned. One of them doesn’t speak — he either has a broken jaw or some kind of jaw injury, and his head is bandaged. He only responds with gestures or in writing, but the questions are being asked in Korean. The other prisoner speaks freely; he is asked in Korean, and he answers in Korean. You can hear it — it’s all recorded in Korean, both video and audio.’
So, ‘….in [2025] we may face a situation where negotiations start, but the war continues. In all likelihood, Putin will use military operations to put pressure on the negotiation process.’
But Putin has a major problem….no ‘lucky’ generals… whereas Ukraine…..
Syrskyi was behind the most successful military operations in 2022: for example, he commanded the defense of Kyiv, and planned and implemented the Kharkiv offensive.
He really is a talented military leader.
So this is how it plays out
‘I think he would rather just end it right now without a defeat of Russian forces and without Ukraine getting its territory back militarily.’
‘Keep it simple. This isn’t about this or that political fix, or changing Ukraine’s constitution. Don’t get bogged down in stuff like that — that’s all a distraction. The issue is stopping Putin; either he stops the war or he doesn’t. You can’t satisfy him with this stratagem or that stratagem. He only understands force and when the force is aligned against him, then you have a chance of stopping the war. So just keep it simple and stay focused on that, and be prepared to build and show strength because that’s what Putin responds to.’
‘But if by winning, you mean that Ukraine is now a sovereign, independent, European democracy, has permanent security guarantees, becomes a member of the E.U., and the war is over, then I think that’s very achievable. And then you have a dispute over the status of occupied territories in Ukraine, just like we had a dispute over the Baltic states for 40 years, or over eastern Germany, or like there’s still a dispute over Northern Cyprus within the E.U. That can persist for a long time without there being an active war.’
The opportunities for Ukraine are to strengthen the economy, get refugees back home, integrate into the European Union. And frankly, they’ll have a stable, resilient government because they’ll have democratic institutions, and [then they can] wait out Putin.
Putin isn’t going to last forever and when he leaves the scene, in whatever way that happens, Russia’s going to change. It’s not necessarily going to be a wonderful, peaceful democracy, but I think almost everybody else among the elites in Russia knows that this war was a huge mistake and really costly to Russia, and I think they would want to regroup after [Putin].’
Over in two years? Unlikely, in any kind of reality. This conflict has been going on, and off, since at least the mid nineteenth century. It doesn’t end until Russia changes, and Russia doesn’t change……..
But Nobel peace prizes have been given out for less…..
Well the Ukrainians were also relying on all those Soviet tanks too. The Leopards, Challengers and Abrams barely touched the sides of Zelensky’s insatiable appetite.
The thing the Ukrainians lacked was the ability to build new tanks and refurbish old ones to modern standards, which the Russians are doing in quantity. They are made in Uralvagonzavod, the largest tank factory in the world.
The idea that Syrskyi is a talented leader is a joke surely. The wonderful Kharkiv “offensive” was only “successful” because the Russians tropps rather sensibly withdrew with most of their forces and weapons intact due to a shortage of troops at that moment in time. This was due to the short term contracts that were introduced at the start of the SMO, and was before the training programs were completed fore he new waves of reservists subsequently introduced.
I believe Syrskyi was also responsible for the Kursk offensive, the outcome of which has proved extremely costly for Ukraine in terms of men, materiel and reputation. Much of the land gained has been recaptured and is still shrinking by the day. Not exactly the most successful operation, especially when crack Ukrainian troops were, and still are being withdrawn from defensive operations from the active front further south. This is conceded by even Western military commentators to have been at least partly responsible for the rapid progress of Russian fighters in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions.
Any skill that Syrskyi had is severly constrained by political interference from the pocket ruler.
Your sad state of affairs applies distinctly more to the Ukrainian situation than the Russian’s.
Here is Scott Ritter’s assessment of armament production given in April of last year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7nm7QPcJ_w):
Russia has emerged from this conflict one of the most powerful nations in the world. Its defence industry today is churning out products like you wouldn’t believe. Just to give you an example, 150 tanks a month minimum: that number is probably closer to 200, could reach 300 in surge production capabilities. United States: 44 tanks a month; Germany maybe a 100 a year.
The bottom line is the Russians far out-produce anything the United States and NATO can bring to bear.
Artillery shell production: the Russians are probably producing between 16 to 24 million rounds a year. They’re expending around 10 million rounds a year but that means that they have plenty left in storage as they rebuild their army expanding from 900,000 to, today, officially in their military about 1.3, designed to go up to 1.5 [million] but there’s another 600,000 or so troops that are in the special military operation that aren’t counted. That means that Russia’s put into the field close to 2.1 million troops. The United States, meanwhile, can’t meet recruiting goals: we were 15,000 short two years ago, 10,000 short last year. We had to reduce the size of the US Army by 24,000 billets. We’re shrinking as Russia’s growing: this is part of the unseen Russian victory.
And then the lessons they’ve learned from this conflict in terms of drone warfare and electronic warfare: the basic tactics of modern warfare. You know, Russia is adapting these on a daily basis, they are the most combat hardened military force in the world today, and the United States military is still stuck in the Cold War: so, again, the unseen victory of Russia.
I have also seen videos of Russian soldiers flitting around the front line on motorbikes for the simple reason of flexibility and being aligned with modern tactics: troop carriers are easily targeted by drones – motorbikes less so and with smaller loss in case of attack. As ridiculous as it sounds, that is modern warfare.
And, interestingly, Scott Ritter recently explained that high-level Korean officers were probably indeed monitoring proceedings in the conflict from Russian coordinating centres behind the front line, purely to learn about modern warfare, in the same way that allied officers would monitor US actions in the Gulf War or other areas of conflict, but they would never actively participate in the fighting.
As far as Ukraine is concerned, the Russians will not stop until there is an overriding European security agreement that excludes Ukraine (and probably other bordering countries like Finland) from ever joining NATO, with the agreement of President-elect Trump or without it.
It is about time the West accepts that Russia is as strong a global player as USA with the same security demands as the latter, i.e. no placement of ‘enemy’ nuclear missiles in bordering countries. That is really not difficult to understand.
“I am proud to be British, not part of the ‘global majority’”
An interesting article from Dia Chakravarty. She highlights that if global majority is to have any significance then it follows that local majority matters too.
However:
This avoids stating the blindingly obvious; It is not that ‘proponents of progressive politics‘ ‘fail to grasp‘ or ‘do not care‘… it is their purpose to ‘strike at the heart of liberal democratic values‘.
Not only that, they hate white people or they hate certain types of white people (every other white person but themselves and people like them, usually the white working class, “right wing” white people, “uneducated” white people) or they want to steal what white people have built over the millennia.
I thought the global majority was Chinese.
Technically I think the Chinese represent a plurality. The phrase is deeply evil.
You are right on both counts.It is a euphemism for “anything but white”. However every single ethnic group is a minority on their own so depending on your viewpoint. Thus for a Han Chinese area whites can be part of the global majority.
I’m sure the Han are delighted to be lumped in with hundreds of other groups
The key thing about the phrase is this: the planet is full of races/cultures/civilisations. They all differ substantially from one another. There are hundreds of ways to group them. The choice to single out White people as the “minority” is clearly grounded in a desire to destroy the white race and civilisation.
“As grooming rapists leave jail, Oxford fears the abuse will resume”
Which begs the question: why are they leaving jail then?
“Reeves: I won’t let them get me down”
The very worst of arrogance are people who will not question themselves
“Sadiq Khan under investigation over free Taylor Swift tickets”
What the fu@k is so exceptional about that lefty lovin caterwauling yank?
“Fez-wearing Tesco worker sues over ‘being compared to Tommy Cooper”
Just like that!
That’s me, fry up time
Would a white bloke working for Tesco who had a fondness for wearing a flat cap be able to sue if he was compared to Fred Dibnah?
Would a white bloke be allowed to wear a flat cap while working for Tesco?
Good points
The Exposé has another interesting article on a book, “The Great Taking” by David Rogers Webb (https://expose-news.com/2025/01/14/how-to-shield-your-wealth/):
The Great Taking, a plan by the global elite to strip humanity of assets and consolidate power, is imminent, according to David Webb, a former Wall Street insider and hedge fund manager.
The plan involves the erosion of property rights and the weaponisation of debt, allowing financial institutions to seize securities, bank deposits, real estate and personal property financed by debt.
To protect yourself, Webb advises eliminating debt, owning tangible assets like physical gold or unencumbered property, moving money out of traditional banking systems and educating yourself on the mechanisms of The Great Taking.
The book (136 pages) can be downloaded free. I have only just started reading it but it is indeed very interesting. The following is an excerpt from the introduction:
Velocity of Money (Velocity, or VOM) is the number of times that a unit of currency is spent to buy goods and services in a period of time. This is measured by comparing the value of all goods and services produced in a period of time (Gross Domestic Product, or GDP), with the value of all cash and deposits which can be used nearly as easily as cash (Money Supply).
Velocity = GDP / Money Supply
Thus, Velocity × Money Supply = GDP. Lower Velocity results in lower GDP.
Milton Friedman was an economist noted for the study of monetary history. In his book A Monetary history of the United States, 1867-1960, co-authored with Anna Schwartz, we find the following observation:
[W]e know enough to demonstrate rather conclusively that … velocity [of money] must have declined sharply from 1880 to World War I …
Collapse in VOM is exactly what was unfolding from the 19th century and leading up to the Great War. Within a few years, the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires ceased to exist, as did the Qing Dynasty. The German economy was destroyed. Then followed the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the slow collapse of the British Empire. No populations were unscathed. There were no winners. Or were there?
While there was widespread deprivation, selected banking interests took the collateral of the thousands of banks which were forced to close, as well as of a great many people and businesses large and small—the indebted. In the U.S., gold held by the public was confiscated. But most importantly, closely held secretive private control of central banks and money creation was maintained, as was the aforementioned control over society’s key institutions, including political parties, governments, intelligence agencies, armed forces, police, major corporations, and media.
The heirs to this control position have known for many decades that such a collapse in VOM would come again. They have been preparing. For them, it is an absolute imperative to remain in control through the collapse and “Great Reset”; otherwise they risk being discovered, investigated and prosecuted. They are not doing it for us. There is no noble purpose.
Cooper’s intent in allowing “local” inquiries means that those at the top who enabled this – Brown and Starmer, mostly, will not get any blame whatsoever.
We see her. She thinks we are dumb
Justin Trudeau? A superhero movie villain? Well I never
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=370ilpxxxp8 Why UK Farming is broken….. “Harry’s Farm”.
US grounds SpaceX’s Starship after test flight explosion says the BBC
Oh really? Every single launch requires FAA approval. Without that approval they don’t launch from US territory.
Guess what? SpaceX won’t want to launch their eighth test until they understand and fix or bypass whatever went wrong in their seventh test. These test launches eat a lot of financial capital and a ‘rapid unplanned disassembly’ eats reputational capital.
If the FAA disagrees when SpaceX is next ready to launch then that’s the point at which they will have ‘grounded’ SpaceX’s Starship.
I would be surprised if SpaceX don’t have plans to launch from other countries if they do get unreasonably grounded by FAA.
I do think it’s funny that NASA’s Artemis project to put people on the Moon requires that SpaceX gets the necessary hardware into Lunar orbit ready to ferry crew down to the surface and back again. The idea that they won’t have tested that already with dummy ‘crew’ is laughable.