COBRA

Race riots/pogram in Belfast and Starmer does not visit or call a COBRA meeting -PSNI seems fairly impotent and then 20000 take to te streets in a peaceful march against the terror invoked by young men in black with balaclavas. And the peace march was reported, if at all as a story commensurate with a cat stuck up a tree. Do riots sell newspapers? Is NI still riven by sectarian hatred – the riots were mainly in loyalist areas (although calling them loyalist when their actions are against the fundamental principals of humanity is crass – apologies). 92% of those arrested 2024-25 were white and only 5.7% ethnic, There have been 100 attemted murder by stabbings and 200 women murdered in the last 5 years in N.I. without riots. I could say double standards but these people, usually men, seem to have violence in their DNA, and the violence is compounded and promoted by the POTUS and also the worlds richest man – Musk. If anyone else suggested violence they would be prohibited entry to the UK – and even UK air space – but no, we send the police out to arrest peaceul demonstrators saying (I support Palestian Action) and condemning genocide (which Starmer has still not called out). the Court case in Bristol claims that £thousands of drones were damaged – fucking brilliant and we should be handing them medals, not convicting them as terrorists! What was Israel going to do with the equipment – slaughter little children? Society is more fucked up than ever – the Labour Party is supposed to be on the side of common people and against the industrial complex that promotes the rich and powerful – Starmer is a joke, maybe Burnham would be better. I accept the need for pragmatism – but not at the expense of the basic principles of humanity.

So, I do accept a need to keep migration at sensible and managed levels, to integrate the migrants into society; but again make a plea for sensible discussions about migration and its undoubted benefits. I also think there is an urgent need to arrest those responsible for promoting the violence, or even shutting down the media platforms that will not take them down – That is not just X (twitter), but all of them. If spending on this comes from MoD funding, so be it. Defence of our democracy is of greater urgency regarding the internet, than spending £billions on statement ships and aircraft, Iran has survived despite having had $billions spent by the USA and Israel on its destruction!

The press is quick to publicise ex-military figures selling their stories to them, or even current oness with a vested interest. But can anyone actually detail the threat from Russia, or China, or even the USA. Is Russia really a threat militarily ?- it certainly is politically and its use of cyber attacks (although again nothing proven!), boats checking out submarine cables – the Ukraine war is not going well for them (500.000 deaths is not good!), and civil unrest may not be inconceivable in the future – especially if Trumps war with Iran ends and leads to lower oil prices and the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

TIME

I have not got World Cup fever, not even a warm flush – I think it is the time the matches are on – matches at 3am? Maybe it is knowing that the England players are all multi-millionaires – basically I could not care less!

Elon Musk looks like a Cnut, acts like a Cnut, but is now a very rich $trillionaire Cnut. For it to be possible for anyone to have access to that much wealth is obscene, and makes a mockery of the capitalist economic system. He still has to piss and shit like other human beings, Why would someone that rich not want to cure poverty and starvation? He really is a Cnut along with fellow billionaires. But empires collapse, often horribly!

Sun out here and getting warmer, maybe 22C tomorrow! Tomatoes looking good, first bowl of raspberries, mints and herbs tremendous.

NEWS

So Musk’s company is going to the stock market and it is expected to reap $1.8tn – I don’t understand! Where does the $1.8tn come from? Will other shares fall as they are sold to buy SpaceX? Or are the banks funding loans? Whatever, the obnoxious little shit will be arrogantly a lot richer, and think he can meddle in other countries affairs.

Trump claims a deal to end the war he started is close -again! I just hope he does not use this as an excuse to invade Cuba – tbh there is not any oil there and internationally it would not be popular.

British Defence Secretary resigns – yawn, only 09.56 and I am bored!

Good news from the World Bank – global growth will be slowest since the pandemic. I presume this is good for the planet and non-human elements! El Niño is here – according to NOAA – the US weather agency. So we can expect a warm, wet and windy latter part of the year (do the 4 seasons still exist? Is it June or March or October here at present? It could be any of them!

And the footie got off to a great start with Shakera et al, and a referee who had the balls to make 3 correct decisions in sending players off. The news in the USA was dominated, not by this, but by the NBA finals where the NY Knicks came back from a record deficit to record a last second win, leaving them with hope of being champions (strange country America – a final is best of 7- weird).

Quiz – FIFA World Cup

Just for fun – make your predictions on the following;


How many ;- 
bookings
sending offs
Matches halted or delayed due to bad weather
Goals
Penalties (including shoot outs)

replies to r.p.churchill@gmail.com

WORLD CUP 23

It starts tonight, in Mexico. Some questions – how long before the press turn on Thomas Tuchel? How many matches will be have to be delayed or interupted by bad weather? Will any player collapse due to the temperatures? How many goals will Trump score? How many teams will blame the fatigue of the season for poor performances? Will any team other than Spain, France, England, Germany, Argentina or Brazil make it to the semi-finals? How many empty seats will there be? How long will the half time be at the final – it could be better than the match! Will an African side make it to the semi’s? Will ICE arrest any foreign players, or support staff (or have they already refused them visas?), Will any supporters manage to pull of a stunt like the Dutch supporters promoting a beer company in South Africa? What will be the longest game from KO to final whistle? How many people will watch USA – Paraguay at 3am on Saturday – basically at least half the games are ‘WGaF”. Will US authorities impede the travel of Iranian players, or any of the other countries on their travel ban? What will be the first controversy?

SINISTER

The troubles are back to Northern Ireland, but this time the blatant thuggery is against migrants. The gangs who made money from the sectarian violence have moved on to smuggling migrants into the UK via Ireland (although the evidence shows that 80% of migrants are actually leaving the UK for the EU!). Brexit hit Northern Irelands remaining industries and especially agriculture, hard. Whilst the communities of catholics and protestants are not integrated, they share the common element of poverty and the loss of high paying skilled manual work that resulted from the shipbuilding industry (albeit withholding a recent resurgence at Harland & Wolff). The thuggery is much more sinister than the juvenile behaviour in Southampton, the thugs are wearing masks and dressed in black and are using fire to drive people from their homes. The mythology of the troubles will impress adolescents unable to find good long term employment, stories of so called ‘heroism’ from the troubles enable the rioters to justify their actions to achieve the false kudos of their elders. Basically too thick to achieve an education and a safe well paid job, the knuckle draggers and flag shaggers take to the streets to riot aimlessly! Setting on fire buses and cars will further impoverish the parts of society tht most need help. Victimising those migrants willing to work the hours for poor wages will cause further poverty – a report of the rioters attacking care home workers is self-inflicting harm on the society they purport to support. Is the UK suffering from the lack of a war to kill off the sections of society overloaded with adrenaline infested bravado and a lack of grey matter? 85 years without a major casualty list has resulted in that will turn nasty when there is an economic downturn – and especially amongst those who are benign misogynist (I refer to the societies where the men used to provide the income, but the jobs have gone and the women now have the better jobs (and still do the housework and cooking!). Are the Catholics and Protestants christians? I, yet again fail to see the benefits of religion if it provides an excuse for violence, rape and murder.

Meanwhile Iran and Israel and the USA continue to inflict harm on each other and allies in disproportionate ways.

IDIOTS

What is about anti-immigrant rioters that makes it ok to set fire to buses and attack the police? The latest outburst of violence in Belfast was yet another attack on our democracy. In Britain we have nearly 400 years of democracy to defend, it is under attack from American politicians as well as the thugs with their petrol bombs and bricks. The right wing are not content with a compliant press and support from billionaires, they want power whether it is at the ballot box or preferably on the streets by sheer thuggery. Is it time for local authorities to issue curfews and arrest the thugs in their hundreds? The hypocracy of their actions is ridiculous – no normal person would venture onto the streets when their evil and unpatriotic actions are underway. I also wonder if there was an undertone of sectarianism at play – were the rioters both protestant and catholic? I suspect that tensions in Belfast and elsewhere in N.Ireland are never far away? It seems these people, if one can call the knuckle dragging flag shagging low life people, do not wish to live in peaceful communities where their wives and children can live happy and fruitful lives, they would rather promote fear and loathing. And why the fuck are American politicians and tecbros wading in witheir comments – personally I would put travel bans on them even flying over the UK, let alone visiting. Should anyone convicted of assaulting the police be banned from voting? Democracy needs to fight back!

OCEANS

11% of the worlds population live less than 10m all, 30+% live within 100 km of the coast. Relevant why? The rate of sea level rise has more than doubled from 2mm in 2015 to 4.3mm in 2023. You do not have to be clever to work out that this 16% rise is of concern! Just stupid to ignore it! So in 10 years we may expect a 50mm rise in sea level – not a big deal, until there is a storm; or you live in an area of coastal erosion; or on islands like Marshall Islands, Maldives, Kiribati or Tuvalu. There will be no quick fix available – water takes longer to warm up (and thus expand). Ice on land in the form of glaciers is continueing to melt adding to the volume, Greenland’s ice cap is melting – farming is taking place where ice once ruled – mining is now possible and the lion riding clown who is arguably the most powerful man on the planet is a climate denier. So the seas that cover about 75% of our planet are getting warmer – that means more storms and most importantly a disruption to ‘normal’ weather. Extinction Rebellion and other protestors have received jail terms for protesting in a peaceful, yet disruptive manner – racist rioters protesting about non-existent perceived wrongs go unpunished as do those who incite them. How many children in the future will ask their parents and grandparents ‘What did you do in the climate crisis?”. People do care – 75% say they recycle (although practise means that only 46% of waste is actually recycled! despite us not having mapped even 30% of the ocean floor – our oceans are vitally important to our existance!

Is there a republican plot against Trump? There must be! Whilst he has surrounded himself with fools and sycophants surely some one could tell him not to be an ass? 95% of republicans are still voting in his favour? Hopefully many will find themselves unemployed in November? The only British Prime Minister to completely humiliate themselves was the lettuce (Lis Truss). All others have at least had a modicum of decorum?

Last thought – will Trump celebrate FIFS’s award of a Peace Prize, by launching missiles against Iran, or just enhancing the misery on Cuba? Or maybe invading Greenland or buying the Chagos Islands, or maybe with another exillerating AI induced patheticogram?

FIFA WORLD CUP- PROBLEMS

I guess we will forget the problems once the games begin. But problems so far include:

Ticket pricing is a mess with probably at least 75000 tickets unsold, true fans are being priced out; transport costs are ridiculously high (most teams have to travel hundreds of km.- free in Qatar), as is accomodation and stadium refreshments – no cheap pie and a cup of tea here!

Visa restrictions are preventing many fans from travelling at all. This is also affecting teams which are restricted about the numbers of team members approved, a team doctor was detained for several hours; Teams like Iran who have all their games in the USA are not allowed to stay in the country – they have to travel from Mexico for each game! Likelyhood of inclement weather – not just heat but thunderstorms may have an impact on several matches:

All this before we have teams outside the top 50 playing, Haiti, Curacao, South Africa, Qatar, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Uzbekistan and Ghana. It is not the fucking FA Cup with its traditions and upsets – it should be for the best teams in the world (nations that is, countries will never meet the excellence of club sides like Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSV, Bayern Munich and the variable teams that represent Italy and England. Mexico and Canada must be regretting being persuaded that a joint World Cup would be a good thing!

The I.O.C. must be getting worried about the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. What stunt will Trump pull after the ridiculous D-Day post? He is insane and still we have 2 1/2 years to endure, without god forbid, Vance taking over when Trump finally loses the plot and is medically certified!

Back home – chilly at 6am, and then wet but rain has stopped and sun will be out soon! Long’ish term weather forecast is basically a dull cloudy June with little rain. Maybe July will see a summer? I am not bothered, my tomato plants are now a meter high and have flowers.

Oh and world news – Israel continues to kill people, the papers find old right wing military persona to condemn the government for not shutting down benefits and spending on weapons – when basically the latest situation is a war between drones and anti-drone systems.

BRITAINS EBOLA

Britain is being attacked my an insidious disease – racism. After it seemed that racism was on the decline, Reform and Restore have again made it acceptable to publicly repeat racist comments, facts are irrelevant as the two parties via to be the most vile. Disadvantaged youths can join in the fun by revealing that although their brains are addled by the lack of cushie jobs – no hard labour please! their muscles are fine, especially when it comes to throwing bricks at police officers trying to ensure that the rest of us can live in a civilised community. For Farage it is a welcome diversion from questions about his questionable lies regarding funding – foreign cryptocurrency billionaires are not giving him millions for fun – they will expect a return, one which will do absolutely nothing to enrich the wealth or lives of the poorest 90% or society! Voting for Brexit was an act of gross stupidity, voting for Reform or Respect is sheer lunacy!

So back home, I have had an electric fire on this morning as it was a tad chilly, no cost as I have solar panels and they paid for themselves 5 or more years ago. I have watered the greenhouse where the tomato plants are beginning to flower, basil seeds are growing as are the greek basil. I am making herb, garlic and olive bread at the moment and might make some oat cookies with nuts and dried apricots later? I have also just deadheaded the roses – I am deciding whether to cut the wisteria that has come in the window of the conservatory – all it have blooms, the scent is divine.

FIFA World Cup will start at 8pm on Thursday, so we can expect genuine flags of both England and Scotland, (the only large flag I have is Mozambique with an AK45 on it!). and can we expect the gutter press of the Mail, Sun, Express and Telegraph to find some sordid little misbehaviour by an English footballer (preferably black) to attract buyers by eclipsing real front rage outrage at Farages perfiious nature and the convictions of white thugs for throwing bricks at the police in Southampton. No mention of WAGS this time – although there is still time. The weather may play its part too – FIFA rules that any thunderstorm within 8 miles must result in the suspension of a match (one of Chelseas in the USA for the World Club Cup was suspended for over 2 hours with just 6 minutes of full time to go! Pubs and bars may have to stay open later? Scotlands first game is at 3am so migt not be finished by breakfast?