Month: June 2025

So the right wing are getting het up up about a chant. I may agree that it was out of order but demanding a prison sentence is ridiculous. Comparing the case of Connoly who was calling for migrant hotels to be torched and a chant at a pop festival “kill the IDF’. Absolutely no one at Glastonbury was going to enact the chant. I do worry that Starmer is a zionist! He condemns the chant and the use of a Palestinian flag by Kneecap. The atrocities in Gaza go largely undocumented as no journalists are allowed in the territory. And the IDF is now occupying parts of the West Bank.

I suppose I should condemn any hate speech, but when the press and politicians appear to be supporting genocide …….. there is a need for radical discussion? Would those outraged be fuming and red faced gammons if the chant had been to kill Putin or even pro-Ukraine? So maybe and only maybe, it was inappropriate, it certainly does not warrant a police investigation. We live in a country of free speech – tempered by restrictions of slander and hate speech.

The law – Hate speech is broadly defined as language that attacks or demeans a person or group based on attributes like race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.While there isn’t a universal legal definition under international human rights law, it’s generally understood as speech that incites violence, hatred, or discrimination. Laws against hate speech vary by country, but often involve restrictions on speech that is threatening, abusive, or intended to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.  So the law is a little ambiguous – whether the chant iniated violence (hardly), hatred (the hatred was already there) and discrimination ( it was not anti-Jewish just IDF?).

The BBC is being castigated for not pulling the set by the rapper. Everyone seems to be having a go! I agree with Wes Streeting – “Israel should get its own house in order”. and “it was a giant publicity stunt”. But there were a lot of performers who promotedd Free Palestine. Shoud the BBC be castigated as promoted by the shit papers and Starmer! I know his wife is Jewish but she is not Israeli! But 55,000 dead and counting.?

Israel continues to slaughter Palestinians. The latest from ministers in the Knesset calls for the slaughter of all adult males in Gaza (and the West Bank).

So Jeff Bezon is coughing up over £40 million for his wedding. Firstly how anyone is that obscenely rich is a travesty of the economic systematic rip off of the workers. Secondly – how can anyone with a brain and a concious be so immune to human suffering and poverty, that they are willing to splurge millions on a graphic and gaudy show of wealth? At least Bill Gates invested some of his wealth usefully.

The world has become very selfish. Was it Covid or is it social media? Both develop(ed) introverted behaviour. The media is mainly anti-woke, i.e. against anything that shows empathy and understanding for others. Definitely a case for increasing the tax on the rich. Basically Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos took a gamble and it paid off. That is fine but there should be a limit to personal wealth!

Selfishness used to be the perogative of the young – too insular to realise the effect on others. But it seems that the rich have a monopoly on it! One of the papers criticised Starmer for using a helicopter recently – will they be castigating Bezos or extolling the costumes of the rich and famous. PS. what the fuck do people buy him as a wedding present? There are only so many Caribbean Islands he could visit? I like the corner of Glastonbury where Led by Donkeys and others have built a mock space craft with a caption of” send them to Mars – we party on Earth”. The images shown of people queing included Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Trump and Netanyahu. however if an alien species discovered them on Mars and thought they represented life on earth – we would be totally fucked!

The Sun leads with a story that asylum seekers are given a free room and food, and a job as a food delivery riders. Quite what the logic of the numbskulls is here I am perplexed! Free food and lodgings is a British tradition for those held in custody – should all prisoners be forced to pay for it? Especially when the law expressly states that asylum workers cannot work. So by wording the article the way it did, the Sun has pkaced the blame on the migrants rather than the firms (largely American) that employ them –if the stories are in anyway correct. Free identity cards would solve the problem of illegal employment. Regarding hotels and food – the system must speed up to process claims and either repatriate or get them employed legally!

Reform are suggesting a deal for rich foreigners to avoid tax – pay £250 grand and the tax man will ignore them? And yet people still vote for the C**t. The Times has started wailing at the the number of millionaires who are leaving the UK. Yes 10000 left, but
The wealthiest 1% of households had wealth of at least £3,121,500. The wealthiest 10% of households had wealth of £1,200,500 or more, while the least wealthy 10% had £16,500 or less. For the wealthiest 10% of households, net property wealth (38%) and private pension wealth (36%) made up most of their wealth. So 282000 households have wealth of £3 million +. and 10000 have fucked off. There are questions here! How many of those who have left came here because of money laundering or other financial tax breaks? Why is a million£ not enough for a brilliant lifestyle? How many actually left due to changes in the tax regieme which forced them to pay their share to society and infrastructure.

I realise these wankers contribute via the taxes their workers pay on their substandard wages, and the VAT they pay on luxury items, but be honest “do we need/want money grabbing arseholes like these in our country”.. Not only will their departure free up some very large houses, but also possibly areas of the countryside.

Every morning I go to local shop and sort the papers – only a task really on a Saturday – but I get a cup of tea and a chat, and usually a short quiz game. But sad at the ignorance of Mail, Sun and Express readers I have decided to print and insert the following in these papers. I will add the url for this web site so it is not anonymous!

The regieme change in Iraq resulted in an estimated 122,000 civilian deaths. Israel and. the USA do not respect civilian life, nor international law. It is also clear that the Trump attack was not based on firm evidence, just as Sadam Hussain did not have weapons of mass destruction. There is also no evidence that the bombs were successful in destroying the nuclear complexs hit.

Interesting phone in where a scientist said that tthe centrefuges needed to enrich uranium would cost £500 each! So Iran can build new processing facilities relatively easily. So all Trump will have done is to increase the likelyhood of Iran creating a nuclear bomb; and crucially by withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran and now bombing it, will have increased the possibility of a bamb being used.

I need to reiterate that Iran’s government is not a nice democratic one according to the model I have been indoctrinated (correctly I believe!) with. But there are many that also would not pass my test (including our own at times). But destroy the Republican Guard and ISIS and other fanatics will quickly fill the vacuum – as happened in Libya, Iraq, and possibly Syria.

Iran does not need to fire huge number of missiles – just threaten boats going through the Gulf – which is a very long way!

The Arabian Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf) is approximately 615 miles (990 kilometers) long. It stretches from the Shatt al-Arab in the northwest to the Strait of Hormuz in the southeast. Its width varies, ranging from 210 miles (340 km) to 35 miles (55 km) at the Strait of Hormuz.  Oil prices are also going through the roof. Iran could relatively easily cut off 20% of the worlds oil supply, or at least make it difficult. Oil has gone up $10 a barrel today.

Who would line up with Iran? Perhaps more pertinently is who will stand against them? This will pan out over the next few weeks.

Is anyone? The illegal bombing of Iran has made the world a less safe place. Who is the proxy here, USA or Israel? Is the Iranean regeme any better or worse than Pakistan, India, North Korea, China, USA or Israel. The main reason I would have to negotiate a nuclear safety programme with Iran is that one more bomb is one too many. The regeime is nasty and vindictive, but Israel has slaughtered at least 40000 innocents and has set out to drive a population out of Gaza – genocide. The oft quoted statement that Iran wants to extinguish Israel is not verified and open to interpretation. There is little doubt that this will be their objective from now on.

Despite some geriatric former general stating that America was correct I am pleased that no British bases were used by the planes. Trump has demanded a surrender by Iran – difficult unless there actually is a war, which he has not declared to avoid scrutiny by Congress. Who should they surrender to? It can’t be the USA as they have not declared war, so it is between Trump and Israel. WTF! 90.1 million people should surrender to the orange flea ball? It is unlikely that many Iranians would welcome Trump with open arms, even with their dislike of the government. It seems to me that in many countries there is a 3 way split. A hard conservative right (in this case the Iranean government and its mullahs: Then a liberal leftish third (mainly the young and educated): and a third who go with the flow, believe what they are told to and want to be left alone in peace.? And there will always be a hard core of activists who will sacrifice for their cause – Israel beware!

We can move on from the military action of the bombs – Trump has demanded surrender. Quite what this means is to be seen. Isrel has already ‘taken out’ ‘killed’ at least 2 dozen military leaders and government officials. This did not work out well in Libya, or Iraq, or Syria, or even Persia! The future does not look bright and hopefully not orange!

tbc