Category: Politics

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DOMESTIC ABUSE DAY

I understand that there will be right wing demonstartions outside many asylum hotels today. the police will be busy, but hopefully they will arrest lots and give their poor partners a night off from abuse! We will recognise the people – lots of muscle and tattoos, a lot of searing and abuse. They will be violent to the police – who are there to prevent criminal activity. These people are too thick to realise the hypocrisy and stupidity of their actions.

Meanwhile – JDVance will visit London which he says ‘Is not English anymore” – neither is America! He should just fuck off, The USA Ambassador to Israel has also condemned Starmer for wanting to recognise Palestine, whilst also reverting to incredibly childish remarks about Dresens bombing in WWII – which many historians see as a huge mistake, possibly a war crime? Why Americans think they have a right to tell us what to think is ridiculous.

Meanwhile – Labour MP’s and Cabinet members have rental property whist claiming a philosophical allegiance to the poor, and working class people. FM – they include the Chancellor and the Foreign Secretary. I have nothing against landlords, but … anyone claiming to be a socialist should not be making money from unearned income (I know that many landlords work hard to create … actually I don’t). They should resign! Lammy has cossied up to Vance in a ridiculous manner – is he supporting his attitude on abortion clinics, London, free speech? We need to know. Should I be kind to him because he is black – so is Kemi Badenoch – and Jenrick, Tice, Farage at heart!

I am planning on growing some roses from hips – let me know if you want some and if they are successful you can have some.

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SUDAN

150000 dead and at least 1500 massacred at a refugee camp this week. Reported in the Guardian but elsewhere? Even the BBC web site required a search to find out more. So a major humanitarian crises, but with little attention. The question I have is who is funding the war? It seems that the rebel RSF is funded by the UAE whilst the “government’ forces are aligned to Egypt and therefore possibly rhetorical west? The latest attrocities are attributed to the RSF but the government forces are not blameless. Egypt has a vested interest due to the RNile and its path is currently controlled by the Govt. forces.

The war is being fought with planes and drones so some major funding is occurring, whilst the majority of people survive on a pittance. Girls are regularly abducted and raped. And the west watches with disinterest! TBH I think the only hope is a strong USA – no, of course not fucker Trump. But Russia is embroiled in its own conflict; China too has domestic issues that prevent it from becoming a world superpower (yet?) whilst the EU is 27 countries with their won divisions and also watching the bear in the East! So with America increasingly insular it seems that the Arab Nations can fund terrorist groups with impunity. And the slaughter will continue unemcubbered by the west? “For evil to triumph it only requires good men to do nothing” Edmund Burke.

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FACT CHECKING

Do we fact check enough? I was talking in the shop and pointed out that the number of people crossing into the UK was 25000. (fact check it was 36000 in 2024 and higher this year), My colleague then said “per day” and he was serious! The publicity has distorted reality by that much. My colleague is not right wing, and would classify him as reasonably intelligent but also someone who does not follow the news. He was shocked when I said per year, genuinely shocked! Also of the 36000 about 5000 (mostly from Albania) were returned and with about 68% granted asylum. they were mostly from Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Albania, Syria, and Eritrea. 73 people died attempting the crossing.

International asylum law, primarily established by the 1951 Refugee Convention, protects individuals fleeing persecution in their home countries. It grants the right to seek asylum in another country and outlines the responsibilities of states towards refugees. Key aspects include the principle of non-refoulement, ensuring that refugees are not returned to places where they face persecution.  It is not true that they must seek asylum in the first country they visit. France in 2023 had about 167000 asylum seekers whilst the UK had 67000 in total. Asylum seekers in the UK typically receive £49.18 per week for each person in self-catered accommodation to cover essential living needs like food, toiletries, and clothing.If they are in catered accommodation (where meals are provided), they receive £8.86 per week

The latest scam by Reform is to highlight the number of illegal immigrants (those staying without permission. Obviously this number is unknown so there is a difficulty fact checking and it allows the hateful to elaborate and exaggerate. What we do know is that the last government were abject in this area, like most others. Hence this government suggesting a ID Card. Estimates put us as second only to Germany in the numbers of unregistered migrants. There seems to be some grey area here, in theory a 20 year residence in this country gives a permanent residence permission – but stories of the Windrush Generation and deportations by the Home Office vary with this interpretation! I am not sure about ID cards – they have them across most of Europe but I really do not have the info!

Statistics Showing the Impact of Immigrants on the UK Economy and Society. The economic and societal impacts of immigration in the UK are significant. According to the Office for National Statistics, migrants contribute approximately £83 billion to the UK’s economic output annually.

It is impossible to know the exact number of illegal migrants in the UK because some people successfully evade border controls and remain undetected, while others enter legally but their status becomes irregular later on. However, estimates suggest there are between 417,000 and 863,000 irregular migrants in the UK, including UK-born children.  farless than the figures quoted by Reform and Farage (the source of these stats admit that they are flawed!)

So these are the facts as provided by respected authorities.

PS. I just put inials on apples so that they rippen with my grandchildrens inials embedded in the skins as the ripen.n



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THERE’S OWT AS QUEER AS FOLK!

So considerable numbers of people can be persuaded to react violently to people who have risked life and limb and probably a fair wack of cash to get here; but are strangely quiet about the £100’s of millions embezzelled by companies during Covid. The fast track was developed for conservative supporters and at ties only supplied sub-standard equipment. So how can anyone with an ounce of humanity complain about the asylum seekers being put up in, often crowded conditions in hotels (which charge the government over the top rates, and being provided with a pittance and being barred from working. Whilst some people elevated tomthe HoLords and claiming £300 expenses per day are allowed to get away with massive fraud?

The same arguments are used against the unemployed. Indeed I have heard complaints about a single mum receiving more than a shop manager. The biggest subsidy on welfare is the exorbitant rents. The welfare budget could be slahed with a sensible realignment of the housing market. Second homes should have at least 75% occupancy or be financially penalised. WTF – and yes increase the tax on salaries/bonus’s to at least 75% – do these people really work harder or have more stress than doctors, nurses and teachers who earn less than 10% the average wages of city slickers. (Most of whom make money by glorified gambling on the stock market, currency markets and commodities. i.e. they actually do nothing productive to aid society (my first job was in a foreign exchange dealing room and nothing beneficial came out of it – well apart from me, of course!).

The police have said they will arrest any and all at any Palestine Action demonstration. Is this democracy under threat? PA have undertaken some dubious activities including vandalising Jewish offices and RAF planes (with paint!). These acts are illegal and the perpetrators arrested and brought before the courts. But Yvette Cooper has decided to ban people from even stating that they support a Palestinian state and she is wrong. The police have better things to do, and she will have increased the number of peple demonstrating anyway. Israel is bleating about the UK decision to recognise Palestine in the future – so it must be worthwhile. Hamas says it will not disarm until the Palestinian state is recognised. This reminds me of a sketch in a Monty Python film! That there is any Hamas organisation still existing is a phenomenon.

More waste of police time is ‘Tommy Robinson’ being arrested again – can we just lock him up and throw away the key – or deport him to join fellow wankers in Romania.

The Star leads with an article regarding Lucy Letby – there is much about her case that needs examination – rather than sensationalist bollocks. Storm Floris would have been a more usual headline!

And at present just 10% of our electricity is being produced by gas! Summer, sunny and windy. But wtf not. It will conserve gas stocks – so what has loopy face got against it? Oh and Rayner and Corbyn have a spat apparently. I like Angela, but she is wrong if she allows building on allotments. Whilst producing loads of food they also act as wildlife hotels/motels. We need to keep the wildlife corridors in our cities open.

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CHINA

Why now? The BBC website has 2 major articles about China – both vaguely hostile. The first was about Chinese plans for a new embassy. I am sure that all the embassies of major countries are riddled with spying equipment – even the so called friendly ones – all will have their spy networks. So the article seemed rather hostile. China is far from a beacon of democracy but more later. The second article was about Chinese students at Uni in the UK being asked to spy on fellow students. The article went further to state that university lecturers were being ‘encouraged’ to avoid certain topics.

Both these articles have elements of truth – China is bit of a mystery to most of us. When young in 1950’s my dad sowed the seeds of nightmares by saying that there were so many Chinese that if we went to war with them ‘they would just over run us’. As a geographer I know a bit about China, and a little of its history. But basically I am ignorant about it and try to avoid imposing my own beliefs when hearing about China. I am aware that China has been more than nasty regarding  alleged ethnic cleansing in China’s Xinjiang region. Hong Kong has also raised questions regarding western style democracy. Tibet is another issue, although huge investments in infrastructure have been made. The big issue is Taiwan. Here Trump needs to be very careful in withdrawing the US from its world power.

China is also used as an excuse for not pursuing green energy projects. Yet China has an indisputable lead in installation of renewable energy – and yes it has a lot of coal power stations. China  Over the past 40 years, the number of people in China with incomes below $1.90 per day – the International Poverty Line as defined by the World Bank to track global extreme poverty– has fallen by close to 800 million. That is fucking amazing! Maybe we should be pushing Chairman Xi for a Nobel Peace Prize?

In the realms of fairness as I have mentioned a lot of negatives about China. The USA is attempting to defund universities that have criticised Trump. ICE is arresting and deporting citizens born in the USA (with glee). In the UK an 80 year old woman was arrested and her house searched for – holding a Palestinian flag and a banner stating that Israel should stop killing Palestinians.

Can I make a philosophical comment here? And I have thought it through so it may be open to much criticism. “A nation should not be judged on its successes, but how it handles its failures”. I was thinking about the Windrush generations, Hillsborough, Grenville Tower, miners riots under Thatcher, bean field debacle, PollTax riots. Our recent history of dealing with civil disobedience and dissention is not great.

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NATIONAL GRID LATEST

Latest figures are as follows; other includes 15% nuclear and the rest is imports – mainly from France! Generation by type

Fossil fuels3.514.4
Renewables9.740.4
Other sources5.322.2

In the past year renewables have been 37.5% and gas 29.8%. With gas prices volatile it makes sense to continue investing in renewables. And with 2 nuclear reactors under construction gas may be finally losing its dominance. I do not understand the pricing of electricity as I think it is based on world gas prices? 2 new offshore wind farms have been pulled recently due to cost rises; presumably onshore wind farms require less metal? I still maintain that small is beautiful and every possible building should have solar panales and where appropriate wind turbines. Trump has called for a halt to wind turbines in Europe? Why? But then he is a jerk so whatever. We still wait to see the Epstein files G.Maxwell has been moved to a low security prison – which makes sense as she does not appear to be a violent danger to society – unlike the orange one!

Is Farage losing his mojo? His policies against the Online Safety Act and stating that he would revoke renewable energy licences are neither popular or sensible. His beer swilling and fag smoking persona also are wearing thin. Does he actually reside in the UK and pay taxes? His no.2 has a blonde bimbo who has moved to Dubai – does he or she pay UK tax? Councils who have swung to Reform do not appear to be making any announcements on improvements! the press may get excited by seeing Reform in the lead, but it is still a long time to the election, and I am sure steady Eddie (a.k.a. Starmer) will have found a way to appeal to the middle right wing that provides swaithes of the UK voters. Badenoch is a write off/ car crash but there is no one of ability to take her place. Still one should never write off the Nasty Party.

So my prediction is Farage disappearing noisily and screaming. Tories will make a comeback, Labour will maintain a grip on middle England. Corbyn/Sultana may well get a lots of votes but very few seats? Hopefully they can drag Labour back towards the left. But I believe that Starmer was wrong to expel Jez, as he was with Abbot and a prediction – Rayner! That leaves the LibDems and Greens. Both have worthy manifesto’s. LibDems will find it difficult to get over there co-alition period. They do have some excellent M.P.s though. Will the greens break through? Doubtful but an interesting leadership contest could propel them into the headlines?

What we really need is PR and that is unlikely with a party with a huge majority in power – especially as the power bases of the big 2 diminishing.

Just made ciabatta – but a few hours to go, so I might have to give Holly some dough and tell her to do the baking herself! 350g tomatoes picked – I reckon I am getting 2kg a week – and about 4 weeks more? Outside ones are also producing. I must remember to tell Martin and Holly to pick mulberries – maybe make some jam?

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TIMES HEADLINE

1 in 8 in prison is foreign born. FACT CHECK 1 in 3 doctors were born overseas. 1 in 2 builders were born overseas. 1 in 6 nurses were born overseas. 1 in 4 transport workers were born overseas. 1 in 7 UK business founders were born overseas. 1 in 5 university academics were born overseas.

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ECONOMICS

Basically we have had low taxes for the rich for a long time and the economy has stagnated. TBH it is common sense – If you have a few million you buy everything you think you need and then … holidays abroad. Austerity shut down youth clubs and libraries amongst many other things. So raise the tax threshold and increase tax on wealth. My house has doubled in value in the last 20 years and has put homeownership beyond the hopes of many of the young. I suppose it is supply and demand? Cut immigration and house prices may fall? But that would require educational spending and a rise in tax! Doctors and nurses are in short supply – I am already losing the tread here!

So start again. Raising tax on the rich and wealth is sensible economics – austerity showed that the reverse did not work. Food is tax free – even VAT; whilst shelter (housing) is horrifically expensive. Cut housing costs and the welfare budget plummets.

Other news – Trump desires headlines again. He has raised tariffs on Canada again. The guy is a fuckwit. Maybe Epstein files are rising again? I am not a great fan of globalisation and capitalism – BUT – it needs to be stated that several billion people have been taken out of absolute poverty in the last 40 years. I would wish for a kinder economic model, one where people were put first along with the environment. So on the face of it Trumps desire to promote USA industry is great. However the wealth of Americans is likely to be starving people in the economically poorer parts of the world.

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POOR JOURNALISM

The shit mail manages to get a quote from a former Hamas hostage stating that Starmer is appeasing Hamas. I wonder if they paid them as well? Of course a former hostage would be biased – I would. But there have been deaths of 60.000 Palestinians – I wonder how many Palestinians could given an alternative view? Bu the Daily Hate just wants its readers to hate Starmer, Palestinians and thousands of others (especially Angela Rayner!). 14 more countries have said they will recognise Palestine – and Britains largest Jewish Group has spoken out about the need for immediate aid to be delivered to Gaza.

Meanwhile an extra 5 million age checks have been done daily by porn sites – How Mr Fuckwit Farage is that a bad thing? A judge has also allowed the founder of Palestinian Action to query Yvette Coopers decision to make it a banned organisation (which also resulted in more than 200 people being arrested; often for just displaying a Palestinian flag. hopefully we can keep proscribed terror groups to those who warrant it! I think that the only vandalism this group initiated was to spray paint on some RAF planes. Rather than repeal the shit laws passed by the nasty party over the past 5 years, it seems that Labour is using them to create even less freedom of speech.

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WHY?

Why do the trash press love Israel. I know they want to trash Starmerat every opportunity. His statement is hardly supproting Hamas – and anyway Israeli actions are doing more to support Hamas than anyone! Even Trump did not object to the statement made by Starmer – I would object though – why wait – just take a lead and recognise the Palestinian state; like 140 other members of the UN.

Peter Kyle – do not apologise to Farage. Reform said it would repeal the Online Safety Act as ‘measures intended to push social media companies to limit false nd potentially harmful content would make the UK a borderline dystopian state. Yesterdays post regarding domestic abuse should mean that pornography should only be available with a credit card – Nigel should pay to have a wank! maybe Kyle should paraphrase Manny Skinner – not all Reform MP’s are complete wankers – all of the time – just most. I am not sure the Act goes far enough – but it is a start. Australia and its government that is not renowned for its Liberal tendencies has added YouTube accounts, along with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok , Snapchat and X are all restricted for under 16 year olds ; with fines upto 49.5 million if they fail to take proper precautions to prevent access by children. These, and porn sites make millioons in profit, exploit women (and men) and whilst measures should have been taken long ago, better late than never. it is also more urgent with the ability of AI to replicate porn with childrens images (as has already happened). The perpetrators and the companies must be held responsible. the harm to society as revealed yesterday is beyond comprehension.

I am not calling for censorship of images – however I thought the country had moved on from Page 3 in the Sun and Star. However male desires defy logic. No sensible male would want his daughter to become a prostitute of pornographers model – Incel aside. Perhaps we should go further and make te tech companies responsible for repeated lies – I am thinking about false information – AI should be able to identify repeated false info like during the Brexit campaign?

I will also admit to buying Playboy (with wifes consent/encouragement) and appreciating Page 3 models -but anything that dehumanises women should be banned! As with all censorship the difficulty is where to draw the line! – mid-century censorship was OTT. But I am sure something better than a free for all, and Nigel wanking over schoolgirls, is preferable to nothing!