- “Israel’s defence system halts barrage of Iranian missiles” – As Iran launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel, its defence system stood strong, reports the Mail.
- “U.S. promises ‘severe consequences’ after Iran attacks Israel” – The White House promised that Iran would face “severe consequences” for its ballistic missile attacks against Israel – but refused to detail what those might be, according to the NY Post.
- “Now everyone can see Iran is the aggressor” – It has become completely clear that Israel is not the problem – the mullahs are, says the Telegraph in a leading article.
- “Mishal Husain failed to challenge guest over antisemitic conspiracies, BBC admits” – The BBC admits that it failed to sufficiently challenge an Iranian guest who accused Israel of being an “ethno-supremacist” state that is committing a “holocaust” in Gaza, reports the Telegraph.
- “Migrants fuel surge in HIV cases to 15-year high” – New HIV diagnoses have hit a 15-year high after a surge in the number of cases among migrants coming to England, says the Telegraph.
- “We will not allow Starmer to cherry-pick new Brexit deal, EU vows” – Keir Starmer says it has never been more important for Britain to be “in lockstep” with the EU before meeting the European Commission President for Brexit talks, reports the Telegraph.
- “‘Gloomy’ Reeves triggers worst slump in British factory confidence since Covid” – Uncertainty ahead of the Budget is weighing on U.K. industry, says the Telegraph.
- “Universities at risk of being dragged into Labour’s private school VAT raid” – University students could be dragged into paying tax on tuition fees from January due to loopholes in Labour’s draft VAT legislation, reports the Telegraph.
- “It’s too expensive! Let’s make it more expensive!” – Labour’s diagnosis of British education hasn’t changed since Corbyn; that’s why their prescription will only make matters worse, says Mr. Chips on his Substack.
- “Why is the Prime Minister picking a fight with Elon Musk?” – Attacking the world’s richest man is not the way to encourage inward investment, writes Eliot Wilson in CapX.
- “Mr. Cleverly’s shoulders rolled – he was Eric Morecambe in a beard…” – By some measure, Conservative activists gave Mr. Cleverly the most enthusiastic response of any of the four contenders at the Tory party conference, notes Quentin Letts in the Mail.
- “‘Ordinary lad’ Jenrick is still Tory frontrunner – but for how long?” – At the Tory party conference, Badenoch courts controversy, Tugendhat has a 1,000-yard stare and Cleverly does press-ups in the corner, reports Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
- “Let’s hear it for ambition and ruthlessness in politics and for their latest alpha exponent – Robert Jenrick” – The new Tory leadership favourite has become a compelling figure with genuine potential to change our country for the better, says Patrick O’Flynn on his Substack.
- “Robert Jenrick reveals his daughter’s middle name is ‘Thatcher’” – Robert Jenrick revealed his daughter’s middle name is ‘Thatcher’ as he tried to woo the Tory faithful, reports James Tapsfield in the Mail.
- “Kemi Badenoch claims up to 10% of civil servants are ‘very bad’” – Kemi Badenoch says that between five and 10% of government officials – of whom there are more than 500,000 – are so bad that they “should be in prison”, according to the Mail.
- “‘Conservatism is in crisis, and we need to be serious about getting it back on track’” – More and more jobs are related not to providing goods and services in the marketplace, but are instead focused around administering government rules, says Kemi Badenoch in Conservative Home.
- “The Tories are in denial: without the right leader, they face oblivion” – The mood in Birmingham is surprisingly upbeat. But this is not a good sign – the party needs fresh ideas, says Philip Johnston in the Telegraph.
- “‘I won’t do deal with Tories – Reform is here to stay’” – Reform U.K. is the only party that can legitimately oppose Labour’s socialist agenda, says Nigel Farage in the Telegraph, rejecting talk of an electoral pact with the Tories.
- “‘I’m 28 and earn more than £60,000 – but I still can’t afford to have children’” – “Why do successful young women like me feel that motherhood is out of reach?” asks Lottie Moore in the Telegraph.
- “What we have lost” – The cause of British decline, painfully evident to everybody in the country, is more spiritual and moral than it is political or economic, argues Dr. David McGrogan on his Substack.
- “Miliband’s Net Zero sprint risks destabilising the grid, warns EDF” – A leading EDF executive has warned that Ed Miliband’s bid to move the U.K. on to green energy risks destabilising the National Grid, according to Investing.com U.K.
- “‘I’ve seen how Ed Miliband’s Net Zero dream turns into a nightmare. It will destroy Britain’” – Our proud nation is being martyred on the altar of green by our Energy Secretary – it’s only a matter of time until it blows up in his face, says Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
- “‘I regret buying our family an electric car’” – In the Independent, Esther Walker explains why she was happy to give up her electric car for a third-hand Volvo.
- “No evidence that AI disinformation or deepfakes impacted U.K., French or European elections results” – There is no evidence that AI enabled misinformation meaningfully impacted recent U.K. or European election results, according to research by the Alan Turing Institute.
- “COVID-19 mRNA vaccines increased the risk of asthma in children, a study of 200,000 kids shows” – A new study suggests that children who received mRNA Covid shots were more likely to develop asthma in the next year than kids who didn’t take them, writes Alex Berenson on his Substack.
- “Amazon retracts ban of Dr. Paul Marik’s book, Cancer Care” – On the Courageous Discourse Substack, John Leake congratulates Dr. Paul Marik on his victory for free speech, following the retraction of Amazon’s ban on his book Cancer Care.
- “Head of Met’s Black Police Association faces sacking over ‘racist’ texts” – The chair of the Met’s Black Police Association is facing the sack after allegedly sending and receiving “misogynistic, racist and violent” WhatsApp messages, reports the Standard.
- “‘I’m surprised by an outbreak of common sense at the Metropolitan Police’” – Another laughable attempt to wokeify one of Britain’s institutions has failed, writes Celia Walden in the Telegraph.
- “J.K. Rowling is right: these trans fanatics are an embarrassment to Labour” – Keir Starmer should beg Rosie Duffield to return – and get rid of trendy nitwits like Nadia Whittome, says Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
- “Netflix cancellations almost triple after streaming boss endorses Kamala Harris” – Netflix saw cancellations spike after co-founder Reed Hastings said he was backing Kamala Harris, reports the Mail.
- “How Canada’s Right came back from the ashes to crush Trudeau” – Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre is trouncing the governing Liberals in polls – and gaining admiration from conservatives abroad, says Ben Wright in the Telegraph.
- “Kemi Badenoch says ‘five to ten per cent’ of civil servants ‘should be in prison’” – At a Spectator event at the Tory Party Conference, Kemi delivers some truth bullets about the Civil Service.
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“Let’s hear it for ambition and ruthlessness in politics and for their latest alpha exponent – Robert Jenrick”
What a pity that the Tories were so busy delivering manifesto promises while in office, that they didn’t have time to do this too.
What we have lost
We have gained a great deal more than we have lost
And the losing is, in my view, simply part of the inexorable, inevitable march of human history.
That so many wish to come to this country is a clear demonstration that what we have is still well worth having.
The more things change etc etc
Britain in the fifties, the seventies, was dire. The thirties must have been dire, and the nineteenth century, for the vast majority, does not even bear thinking about.
We are in the doldrums again, it is true. But, thanks to technology, we can see this now with greater clarity.
That does not make things worse.
It makes it a great deal easier to do something about it.
Simply read, for example, the IEA paper ‘Universal Healthcare without the NHS’.
One of the country’s major problems addressed head on; a clear exposition as to how to solve it.
We know what the massive elephant etc is: a bloated and over-mighty public sector.
There is very little wrong with this country that cannot be righted by the simple expedient of downsizing the state.
We know what to do. We have done it before. It works.
Unless we deal with the elephant in the room all other reforms will fail.
Elephants, multiple…
Just completely ludicrous. Presumably this is all a ploy and his wife is in on this. Funny how he only ‘came out’ after his first claim was rejected. Europe is so doomed as long as we have imbeciles like these officials in charge of who is allowed in.
So does this mean the floodgates open for men with families to suddenly claim they’re gay in order to get asylum?
”The case of a father-of-five Muslim who has been granted asylum in Austria, claiming persecution in his home country due to his homosexuality, has stirred significant public debate in the country with political figures expressing outrage over the ruling.
The Russian-Tajik dual citizen entered Austria illegally via Turkey and Saudi Arabia on Sept. 22, 2023, seeking asylum for himself and his family, news outlet Heute reports.
Initially, he cited better job prospects and fear of Russian military service as his reasons for fleeing. His first asylum application was rejected in April 2023. However, during an appeal at the Federal Administrative Court in Vienna, the man introduced a new claim that he faced discrimination, stigmatization, and violence in both Russia and Tajikistan due to his newfound homosexuality.
Despite being a devout Muslim and having recently completed a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, the man stated during the court hearing that he is homosexual and sought refuge in Austria to live openly and meet men without fear.
The court ruled in his favor, noting that his marriage and fatherhood did not contradict his sexual orientation. The man’s previous work in his home country as a butcher, car painter, and construction worker, and his ongoing communication with his wife and children in Turkey via WhatsApp, were also considered in the case.
The asylum decision allows the man to remain in Austria, and he is now eligible to bring his immediate family to join him through the family reunification process.
The individual in this case is not alone in using the protected characteristic of sexual orientation to overturn rejected asylum claims across Europe.
In November last year, a Nigerian man who was granted asylum in Britain after telling authorities he faced persecution by the Boko Haram terrorist organization for being gay went on to father three children and marry a woman in the U.K. He was subsequently found guilty of masterminding a €252,000 Facebook and eBay parcel fraud scam.”
https://rmx.news/article/gay-father-of-five-granted-asylum-in-austria-sparking-heated-political-debate/
The naivety of people who’s only interest is ‘being kind’
He could have sought asylum in Saudi Arabia.
This is a misquote – I heard her describing their actions as “prison-type bad” which is subtly different.
Now everyone can see Iran is the aggressor
But there will still be a few on here that ‘cannot’, in fact will not, for reasons they choose not to divulge.
That also applies to Putin’s barbaric and criminal invasion of Ukraine.
This is why some choose not to acknowledge what is staring them in the face:
‘Russian opposition outlet Astra reported on September 30 that the 2025-2027 (Russian) draft budget allocates 4.5 billion rubles ($47 million) and 49 million rubles ($511,000) in state funding towards the Solovyov Live Telegram channel and Readovka online news aggregator, respectively.
A 2023 joint investigation by Russian opposition outlets Meduza and The Bell found that Readovka posed itself as a semi-opposition outlet prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but then actively started voicing pro-Kremlin views and working with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) after March 2022.
The joint investigation noted that Readovka founder Alexei Kostylev “always wanted to be in the center,” suggesting that the Kremlin viewed Kostylev’s personal ambitions and affiliations as exploitable factors and co-opted Readovka to further the Kremlin rhetorical line following the full-scale invasion.
Solovyov Live is a Telegram channel run by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov and has been a major platform through which the Kremlin has sustained its information narratives and dispelled the information space’s criticism since the start of the war.
Solovyov has been using the Solovyov Live Telegram channel to amplify his other online initiatives, such as podcasts, and most recently used the platform to defend the commander of a Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) unit who disbanded a specialized drone unit and sent specialized drone operators to their deaths while conducting an infantry assault.
Both Readovka and Solovyov Live have a decidedly pro-Kremlin bent, and the Kremlin’s sponsorship of these online platforms and initiatives suggests that the Kremlin is increasingly adapting its state-run propaganda machine, which previously focused on traditional TV and print media, to emerging social media platforms.’
Follow the money…..
‘The trolls with Western education may be considered the highest caste of Iranian trolls. American Universities’ alumni are fluent in English and constitute the elite of Iranian Government-backed trolls. They are small in number, but are far beyond their Russian counterparts in terms of quality. Almost 80 percent of these trolls are English-speaking.
They are used for “pinpoint attacks” on particular persons, foreign or Iranian dissidents and activists outside Iran. Comments they post are usually voluminous, distinguished by correct punctuation, competent questions, which attests to proficiency in English and in a subject matter.
Sometimes, an Iranian troll from the highest caste is on the payroll in a prestigious State institution, and acts as an expert in the Western mass media. At the same moment, media outlets, which publish these trolls, do not even know that their “Iranian expert” moonlights as a “pro-government troll” in his country.
There are also trolls among Iranian students studying abroad and secular in appearance Iranians, who have been residing in the West for a long time. The majority of these trolls “work for free”.
That is why they are not the subject of my study.
Creation of fake “persons” is a separate topic. It is widespread in Iran. These fake accounts are, usually, created in social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. Fake accounts are mainly used for espionage and trolling.
Iranian activists in a conversation with me mentioned a few times that since the beginning of 2017 the Iranian Government’s need for Arabic-speaking trolls has increased dramatically.
I think Iran needs them to use in Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon, as well as in the Syrian issue and mainly against Saudi Arabia, and also to strengthen Iran’s authority among internet-audience of these countries.
The number of Iranian pro-Government trolls is an important issue.
Putting aside voluntary trolls working for free, we may narrow it down. Iranian activists said there may be about 4-5 thousand government-affiliated trolls.
In their opinion, this number can include trolls from various categories, including those who work in State institutions.’
Ali Hajizade, Al Arabiya
Typical condescending government mouthpiece RTE telling you how to keep warm in the winter FFS!
https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2024/1001/1472978-ways-to-keep-warm-at-home-without-cranking-up-the-central-heating/
With gems like “wear slippers” and “clothing”
Re VAT on university fees.
I cannot see any reason to exempt them if schools are to be subject to VAT. It seems books will have to be VATable too as otherwise the use of VAT free books in a Library would be at odds with paying VAT for tuition by their authors.
On extracurricular activities the DT says these are not exempt. Private schools will need to pay VAT on any additional education. I am not sure why state schools would not have to charge VAT on these additional non-educational services and perhaps they always should have done.
Of interest, I reviewed the accounts of a local school’s PTA a few years ago. I learned the PTA, which is s aseparate legal entity from the school, was buying larger VATable items through the school’s suppliers and the school recovered the VAT before selling the item, VAT-free, to the PTA. My management letter naturally referred to possible breaches of the VAT regulations. Similarly with entertaining costs in excess of HMRC rules as the officers of the PTA could be held to be quasi-workers and subject to the PYE regulations.
I wonder if anyone at HMRC/HMT has thought all this through.
Excellent work.
Welcome to the Daily Zionist Parrotting..
Full of debating “Sceptics”…
Do you want the total dismantling and destruction of the state of Israel?
Typical polarisation of the debate, absolutely typical on here, lacking any nuance..
Answer.. No (obviously)
Do I want to see Israeli illegal settlements, Israeli lobbying in parliament, the MIC controlling government policies, politicians around the world having conflicting interests (ie shares) in the MIC, the corrupt politicians taking back handers from Israeli lobby and the slaughtering of innocent civilians to stop.
Answer.. Yes (obviously)
Noticed how nuanced it is….
Oh forgot one… Do I want people to stop parrotting the Zionist narrative, as if what ever they say is the truth..
… I think you might know the answer to that
You aren’t paying attention.
Joker
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13913385/Kemi-Badenoch-Whitehall-civil-servants-bad-prison.html
Unfortunately this confirms how woefully out of touch Ms Baddenoch is. There are perhaps 10% of civil servants truly worth their money. Sixty percent are taking money under false pretences, twenty percent are wholly unemployable anywhere and the rest belong in prison.