- “Starmer’s plan to stop small boats won’t work, says Labour MP” – Graham Stringer says he does not have confidence that Government’s measures will tackle Channel crossings, reports the Telegraph.
- “Starmer accused of ‘fudging the facts’ over his education” – Former Blair adviser and Sutton Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl criticises the Prime Minister for “pretending” he went to state school, says the Telegraph.
- “Lord Hermer KC’s legal guidance has led to ‘freeze on government’” – The Attorney-General has been criticised by Labour ministers for being too stringent and ‘finickity’, telling them to defer to government lawyers, according to the Times.
- “I have absolute confidence in Attorney-General, says Starmer” – Questions have been raised about whether Lord Hermer’s previous work could result in conflicts of interest when advising the Government, reports the Telegraph.
- “Labour asks if Keir Starmer is the problem as Reform closes in” – The Prime Minister is facing claims that he is out of touch with voters but his party believes he can take on the populists by emphasising his working-class roots, says the Times.
- “Keir Starmer’s summer of flying cost taxpayers almost £700,000” – Transparency data published by the Cabinet Office shows the total price tag for the PM’s first three trips was £697,198, putting the cost per hour at more than £11,000, according to the Mail.
- “Tenth of British farmland under threat in Labour’s push for Net Zero” – Plans to build over swathes of land to help to meet green targets are set to further infuriate farmers already outraged by the Government’s inheritance tax raid, reports the Mail.
- “My money-saving tips for Rachel Reeves” – In the Spectator, Rod Liddle suggests some novel ways Rachel Reeves might cut public expenditure.
- “Ed Miliband ‘objected to Heathrow expansion at Cabinet’” – The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary is reported to have argued against expanding Europe’s busiest airport at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, according to the Mail.
- “Miliband will ramp up Net Zero drive to ‘compensate’ for third Heathrow runway, says Harman” – Miliband will “put his shoulder to wheel” despite his “uncomfortable” clash with Reeves, Labour veteran suggests, reports the Telegraph.
- “UK’s last two fracking sites ordered to close” – Cuadrilla, the owner of Britain’s last two fracking sites, will begin plugging the two exploration wells next month, says the Telegraph.
- “Norway is a cautionary tale: our worst Net Zero fears are being realised” – If Britain is to avoid leading the world on sitting in the dark, we need to immediately course correct, writes Andy Mayer in the Telegraph.
- “Blackout Britain threat rises on collapse of Norwegian government” – Miliband’s Net Zero future will leave the U.K. dangerously reliant on energy imports, Tories warn, according to the Telegraph.
- “Long-term sick will need to look for jobs in benefits overhaul” – Claimants could face cuts of £5,000 a year as the Government prepares for rows with backbenchers and campaigners over bringing down the country’s £65 billion sickness bill, reports the Times.
- “A ‘ruined’ Northern town, disillusioned voters… and Reform’s master plan to topple Ed Miliband” – If Nigel Farage’s party secures a victory in the Labour stronghold of Doncaster, it will put a rocket under Labour, says the Telegraph.
- “When mainstream parties all agree, they are surely conspiring against the public” – Political ‘firewalls’ are bad for democracy – excluding ‘far-Right’ parties only further alienates voters, writes Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
- “Kemi Badenoch dismisses Reform U.K. as a ‘protest party’” – Yesterday’s rally in Quendon, North West Essex (Kemi Badenoch’s constituency), saw speeches from all five Reform MPs with the party identifying it as a “target seat”, reports the Mail.
- “Priti Patel’s migration defence was a serious misstep” – Priti Patel’s attempt to defend the Tories’ record on immigration was a bad mistake, says James Heale in the Spectator.
- “The day Dominic Cummings offered to make Jeremy Corbyn PM” – In their inside story of Starmer’s rise, serialised in the Times, Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund reveal how Cummings courted Corbyn to save Brexit.
- “Lib Dem council executive’s ‘WFH’… in Kyrgyzstan!” – It’s a long way from the cobbled streets of Windsor to the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan, yet that is where a council executive is ‘working from home’, writes Guy Adams in the Mail.
- “The state can now defy your dying wishes – and spend your money how it sees fit” – We live in a country where the only way to avoid a scrap over our money is to dish it out, says Ben Wilkinson in the Telegraph.
- “Parliament: where uncomfortable truths are ushered into a Leadbeater suicide pod” – The “Satisfying the Whims of Esther Rantzen” Bill continues to doublespeak its way through committee, writes Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
- “NHS offers speech therapy to lockdown children… on WhatsApp” – Parents welcome ‘life-changing’ programme but professionals warn technology cannot replace human experts, says the Telegraph.
- “Is Islam to blame for the grooming gangs?” – In Restoration, Ayan Hirsi Ali’s Substack, Connor Tomlinson asks if the grooming gangs inquiries, supported by the British public, will examine the racial and religious motives of the rapists?
- “Russian threat to arrest Sun journalist is ‘desperate rhetoric’” – Downing Street has condemned the Kremlin’s calls for the arrest of Jerome Starkey, the Sun’s defence editor, reports the Times.
- “‘Diversity hiring cost me job at FAA, a crash was inevitable,’ claims whistleblower after accident” – An aspiring air traffic controller has spoken out following the deadly collision between American Airlines flight 5342 and a helicopter in Washington, according to the Telegraph.
- “Could the Washington DC air disaster happen in Britain?” – Inevitably, air traffic control authorities around the world – including within the U.K. – will be carefully analysing Wednesday night’s disaster to see if a ‘diversity hire’ was to blame, reports the Mail.
- “JD Vance mocks Rory Stewart for ‘IQ of 110’” – U.S. vice-president accuses Rory Stewart of having an IQ of 110 but thinking he’s got one of 130 in a feisty exchange on X that Vance won easily, according to the Telegraph.
- “JD Vance’s triumph over Rory Stewart is a humiliation for centrist Dads everywhere” – This was a battle for the ages, between populism and elitism – and it was a joy to watch, writes Brendan O’Neill in the Telegraph.
- “Lord Mandelson met Chinese official who oversaw ‘transnational repression’” – The Labour grandee, who is set to serve as the British Ambassador to Washington, met a Chinese Communist Party official who oversaw alleged global attacks, reports the Times.
- “Analysis: Early flurry of executive orders a mixed bag for free speech” – Since taking office, President Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders implicating the First Amendment and freedom of expression. FIRE gives it’s verdict.
- “Trump’s New Deal: 100 days to reverse the legacy of FDR” – In the first of his monthly essays for the Times, Niall Ferguson compares the latest executive orders with a similar blizzard from FDR in 1933.
- “FBI Nominee Kash Patel vows to end censorship collusion, slams wiretaps, and pledges Section 230 work” – Kash Patel, whom Trump has nominated to run the FBI, has promised to end the FBI’s role in online censorship, according to Reclaim the Net.
- “Anti-racism is a Trojan horse for anti-Semitism” – Quite how a display about Jewish persecution can be viewed as political remains to be explained, writes Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
- “British hostage Emily Damari ‘was held in UN building and denied medical treatment’” – The newly released British hostage tells Starmer in a phone call how Hamas kept her confined in United Nations Relief and Works Agency facilities in Gaza, says the Telegraph.
- “One teacher’s suicide should not lead to a loss of standards in education” – We should not cover up for a poorly-performing school in case one or more school leaders cannot cope, says Henry Hill in the Telegraph.
- “The BBC’s blind spot on vaccine hesitancy” – The BBC thinks vaccine hesitancy is a ‘paradox’. In reality, it’s the result of nudging, coercion, censorship and broken trust, writes Laura Dodsworth on her Free Minds Substack.
- “Medicines watchdog must be reformed after Covid jab deaths” – In the Telegraph, Esther McVey warns “critical” information was missing from early warnings about AstraZeneca vaccine’s side effects.
- “Anti-migration bill fails German Bundestag after Merkel denounces CDU cooperation with AfD and the left break out in widespread protests” – Latest dispatch from Germany by the always reliable Eugyppius on his Substack.
- “Whistleblower ‘saw Archbishop of York bully colleagues into approving sex harassment bishop’” – Woman claims she was pressured into changing her vote on the appointment of Rt Rev Dr John Perumbalath by the Archbishop of York, reports the Telegraph.
- “Islamism cannot be allowed to trounce on what remains of our free speech” – Freedom of expression is more important than the electoral prospects of any single party, writes Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
- “Here’s how DeepSeek censorship actually works – and how to get around it” – A Wired investigation shows that the popular Chinese AI is censored on both the application and training level and tells readers how to get the uncensored version.
- “EU Updates ‘hate speech’ code under censorship law, Big Tech signs on” – Tech giants face increasing scrutiny as the EU demands deeper transparency on hate speech regulation under the Digital Services Act, according to Reclaim the Net.
- “EU strengthens code of conduct for Facebook, X and Google to fight online hate speech” – Facebook, X and YouTube are among the tech giants that have agreed to step up their efforts to tackle online hate speech in Europe through an updated code of conduct, says National Technology News.
- “Keir Starmer’s Government has declared all out war on free speech!” – Catch my interview on TalkRadio yesterday about the threat this Government poses to free speech.
- “Beware the slippery slope” – In the Critic, Helen Joyce cautions against passing the assisted dying bill, pointing out that legislators often make the mistake of thinking people will behave better than they do.
- “Cancer latest: my prostate is bang on trend” – I only asked for a test because of the good work of others. Now I’ve joined the largest group of patients in the country, writes Giles Coren in the Times, revealing he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
- “Seventeen million fuck offs” – Yesterday, on the fifth anniversary of Brexit Day, Dominic Frisby posted a video of him performing his famous song commemorating the victory.
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” Political ‘firewalls’ are bad for democracy – excluding ‘far-Right’ parties only further alienates voters, writes Charles Moore in the Telegraph.”
Missing the point once again. The point of democracy is not to “not alienate voters”, it’s to give people a mechanism to choose whoever they see fit to vote for and maybe form a government. “Far right” – pah! What a crock. With “friends” like Charles Moore, who needs enemies? Typical fake conservative, thinks he knows best.
“The BBC thinks vaccine hesitancy is a ‘paradox’. In reality, it’s the result of nudging, coercion, censorship and broken trust, writes Laura Dodsworth on her Free Minds Substack.”
Well my “vaccine hesitancy” is a result of in the first instance a lack of evidence that the cure was better than the disease and secondly the evidence that came after that, from the people who made the “vaccines” to those who are supposed to regulate them and those who publicised and mandated them. They circumvented THEIR OWN SAFETY PROTOCOLS. I’m not “hesitant” – I am just not an idiot.
Amen to that…
100%, well said.
“I have absolute confidence in Attorney-General, says Starmer”
I don’t. He appears to be perfectly content with the destruction of our democracy, such as it is now, and the ceding of power to whatever concocted Marxist infested bodies he thinks are above our parliament in sovereignty.
A kiss of death in politics, if ever I heard one.
“Kemi Badenoch dismisses Reform U.K. as a ‘protest party’”
I know this kind of statement is standard politicking but I really thought Badenoch had a bit more to her than this. Pathetic, weak argument. Please explain which policies of yours are better than theirs, and how you can claim to be more ready for government, with your ragbag of people who were part of the covid idiocy and failed on every every score for 14 years.
Isn’t “protest” the very definition of a political party?
Yes that’s a very good point. The chance to kick out the incumbents if you don’t like them. I did have a modicum of regard for her, but this comment is poor.
Same here, she did say some right things but she’ll never be allowed to achieve them
Badenough is just that. Actually she is way out of her depth. Lack of heritage.
Her first engagement, the very same evening as being elected leader, was at a WEF event, where she was photgraphed with Schwab. Go figure…
One teacher’s suicide should not lead to a loss of standards in education
A harsh reality. My teacher wife sees it regularly that people unsuitable for the roles they are applying for get appointed because they can write the perfect two page letter and give a good 30 minute interview. If a Head of Department is taking time off for ‘stress’, they should be given a permanent time off from the role and given an easier job. They shouldn’t be allowed to work part-time in the role, as one of her colleagues is doing, as an example.
I blame a lot of it on ‘fast tracking’ where a good degree and application exam gets you to positions that you don’t have the experience and maturity for. Eventually, the hierarchy fills up with people who haven’t a clue what they are doing, which is the seed for ‘stress’ in the first place. There is no excuse for the Head Teacher to get caught in the Ladies having a cry…Confident capable people, on top of their jobs, usually thrive on stress.
(This is a general comment, not specifically about the poor Head Teacher who ended her life.)
“British hostage Emily Damari ‘was held in UN building and denied medical treatment’”
Now its clear why we are giving £17m to UNWRA. Its to improve facilities for hostages, obviously.
UNRWA had 15,000 employees working in Gaza, so it is hardly surprising that one or the other would support Hamas. And UNRWA was the prime supplier of food and medicines to Gaza, so demanding they cease operations fits perfectly with Israel’s genocidal plans.
I cannot access the article but she can be happy to have survived Israel’s determined attempt to wipe out life in Gaza, certainly including the lives of many hostages, not to mention several tens or hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Since Israel consequently attacked every hospital in Gaza, as well as deliberately targeting medical staff, she could possibly count herself lucky to have been kept away from medical centres.
I hope the photograph shown is recent because she then appears to have survived the undoubtedly traumatic experience very well.
“Miliband will ramp up Net Zero drive to ‘compensate’ for third Heathrow runway, says Harman”
Is it me, or should these people be sectioned.?
Russian threat to arrest Sun journalist is ‘desperate rhetoric’
It’s utterly petulant and pathetic’
‘I have interviewed captured Russian troops — some of them convicts press-ganged into Storm Z battalions
In August I had the extraordinary chance to visit Kursk, captured in Ukraine’s surprise attack.
It was Russia’s worst loss on home soil since WW2.’
“This is clearly an attempt to shut down anyone who criticises the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and one that will not work.
“They are trying to intimidate me and other journalists covering this brutal war.
“But it is vital that journalists shine a light on Vladmir Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine.’
‘Our work to report on the crimes of Putin’s illegal work and the suffering it has heaped on the people of Ukraine will carry on.’
Putin is desperate
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1885370048380101112?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1885371180577587573?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
No wonder. It doesn’t seem to be going well for him. Yesterday:
‘Ukraine’s Missile and Artillery Forces struck a command post of the Russian Armed Forces’ Kursk group in the city of Rylsk, located in Russia’s Kursk region. The command and control post was destroyed….part of an ongoing strategy to eliminate enemy command posts, disrupting their ability to effectively coordinate combat operations and logistics’
Do you really believe it? If so I have a bridge that you might be interested in buying.
Those who think Ukraine is losing have not been paying attention. Russia still occupies less of Ukraine than it did immediately after Putin’s invasion. This is why:
‘In a war of attrition, logistical sustainability is decisive. Russia’s logistics have been weak from the start, and rely heavily on railways. While a well-developed railway network in occupied Ukrainian Donbas has favored a Russian advance, this will be a dwindling asset as its forces move further away from the railheads.
Supply routes inside Russia have been targeted by long-range strikes on hubs, munition depots, and production sites. Russia’s inability to protect its territory — a consequence of its offensive-oriented military doctrine — further exacerbates these vulnerabilities.
In contrast, defense production for Ukraine is mainly safe from Russian attacks because most factories are located abroad; Ukraine’s logistics and supply are bolstered by international partnerships and decentralized domestic production. High-tech defense manufacturing has surged, supported by private initiatives and Western investment. Ukraine’s air defense generally outperforms Russia’s, protecting key assets and production lines.
Despite numerous statements that Russia spends about 8% of GDP on defense, the Kremlin could provide tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery by withdrawing and restoring equipment manufactured in the Soviet era. Its defense production has been hard hit and Russian output numbers, for example of tanks, are highly suspect. Its ability to sustain its military is dwindling.
Tanks, artillery, and other critical equipment are being depleted faster than they can be replaced. OSINT data suggests that Russia’s stockpiles of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles may be exhausted by 2027, with artillery and rocket launchers running out in 2025-2026. Sanctions and a lack of innovation hinder Russia’s capacity to modernize its arsenal. Add in the analytical prognoses on Russia’s economic stagflation in the second half of 2025, and even with supplies from Iran and North Korea, its situation doesn’t look good.
Ukraine, on the other hand, has dramatically increased its defense production (from 1.3 billion hryvnia in 2022 to 20 billion hryvnia ($474m) in 2024), supported by EU investments Moreover, Ukraine’s economy, despite severe losses, demonstrates resilience, with forecasts predicting GDP growth of 2.5%—7% in 2025, combined with quite a limited inflation, a high level of National Bank reserves, and stable banking system. Western financial support ensures a stable fiscal foundation, contrasting sharply with Russia’s economic fragility and declining defense production capacity.’
https://cepa.org/article/is-ukraine-losing-the-war/
Once the belief that Ukraine, awash with Western money and loaned/donated resources could rebuff Russia quickly and therefore lead to the overthrow of Putin, had melted away, we are left in a classic ‘meat grinder’ where there is no acceptable win to be had, but there are compromises that can end the conflict. This should have been over 2 years ago. Shame on those pouring petrol on the fire to keep the conflict going.
I believe the memorable statesman Johnson was / is a petrol pourer.
By their deeds, you will know them…
Matthew 7:16
No-one that I am aware of has ever believed that Ukraine could ‘rebuff Russia quickly’.
Every commentator, including this one, has pointed out endlessly that, without either much more support for Ukraine or use of nuclear weapons by Russia, neither side is capable of victory.
This conflict could not have been over two years ago. It had been going on since the middle of the nineteenth century at least.
Putin invaded, was given a good stuffing and then turned the conflict into a world war by using North Korean troops.
Robust action by President Trump, a determined and skilful negotiator, may well achieve a temporary pause but, make no mistake, this struggle will reignite again in the future until Russia either wins or changes.
And Russia does not change.
Ah, the magical disappearing Koreans. Or was it non-existent Koreans? Still, you keep comforting yourself with these delusions.
By the way, now that Trump has withdrawn all funding from Ukrainian media, I think we may start to get more balanced reporting from them now that they don’t have to ask their political minders what the battlefront reports are supposed to contain, rather than reporting anything approaching truth.
Then clearly Ukraine is winning. So why do you keep writing these posts?
Whistling in the dark?
‘Ever since Scholz realized Ukraine was capable of defending itself against Russia, his strategy has been to act in tandem with Washington in supplying Ukraine with just enough weaponry and equipment to survive, including anti-aircraft batteries and tanks, while withholding the tools it would need to win.
He has made no secret of this approach. To this day, Scholz, who belongs to Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), has refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war, saying only that “Russia must not win and Ukraine must not lose.”’
I bet the Ruskies are quaking in their boots at the thought of taking on Scholz, especially without Blinken to stiffen his resolve. Remind us about German ammunition production numbers.
JD Vance’s triumph over Rory Stewart is a humiliation for centrist Dads everywhere
‘How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?’
Common sense drives into the brick wall of schoarship.
The way that society has worked around this is called democracy
President Trump, Vice President Vance and the Republican Party have just been voted into power, overwhelmingly…..
Mr Stewart resigned his seat in parliament and predicted that Ms Harris would win the 2024 U.S. Presidential election by a landslide…….
I have never understood why teachers get in such a cold sweat about performance audits. Perhaps everyone in the public sector is like that.
I worked all my adult career in regulated financial services businesses. We had a financial audit every year as well as specialist audits for regulatory compliance and QA visits from our insurers. None of the staff got in a paddy about it.
We often learned a lot about our shortcomings just by being asked questions or producing special reports for the auditors. Their reports to management were also helpful. Each year we got better and when al the staff see that happening they enthusiastically joined in.
Teachers unions seem to want no oversight and a free for all.
From a very close second hand, I can tell you that having someone from OFSTED turning up to make sure you have been marking books properly when you haven’t done them since last October is very concentrating for the mind, and loosening for the bowels. While there are many many diligent teachers doing the job as they are supposed to, there are also large numbers who shamble by on a basis of ‘it’ll be fine’. Until they get caught out.