464 Responses to Start the Week Thread 13 September 2021

  1. Guest Who says:

    Pounce single handedly showing the BBC Division team and groupies for what they are.

       6 likes

  2. Zephir says:

    I thought we remembered once a year all soldiers, do we now have to classify them by colour / race ?

    If one wanted to create divison, racial tension and resentment, I could not think of a better way than the bbc’s insidious efforts, truly world class at that

       23 likes

  3. Up2snuff says:

    As COP26 approaches the ‘narrative’ becomes ever more desperate

    TOADY Watch #1 – the first of two items to raise fear of Global Warming and Climate Change – the world has seen extra hot heat

    It is almost inevitable that the beanfest jolly that will be COP26 has to be justified by the ‘scientists’ who will attend and all the CO2 and methane emissions that they create will need some Considerable Conscience Easing. After a UK 2021 winter with snow and ice, a cool spring and a very poor ‘traditional British’ summer, it is inevitable that scientists with their collaborators, the BBC, need to talk up Global Warming and Climate Change.

    So a study has been done. And in hot parts of the world there has been heat. Interestingly they all appear to be around the Equator. Funny thing is, when I was in Primary School all those decades ago, we were taught that parts of the world are especially hot and this is due to the sun. But of course this heat is nothing to do with the sun shining more strongly on the lands around the Equator, according to these scientists it must be due to burning fossil fuels.

    Oh, and cows farting as well.

       15 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Up2
      The outcome of the COP thing will be a huge success for the planet and governments turning up . In fact – the planet will be saved and nut nut will be warmed by the glow of his international leadership .

      The above will – of course – be a lie – loads of promises will be made but the big countries will ignore and fiddle them – everyone has their own agenda …

      COP will still look like a success though .

         11 likes

  4. G says:

    Shenanigans at the UN, needless to say, Soros and Ford Foundations are the main financiers of “UN Experts”.

    Nothing you did not know or guess was going on.

    The Worlds population are skinned, gutted and ready for the oven.

       7 likes

  5. Fedup2 says:

    Back on the subject of jobs . Because the BBC is so pro EU it cannot present facts or arguments about the subject without injecting propaganda into it .

    For instance – the number of kids going into the University Industry at age 18 – and expecting to get ‘good jobs ‘ and ‘social status ‘ after coming out of it .

    Maybe it would be better if less do their 3 years at university and get jobs – the BBC won’t deal with this – probably because as a ‘class’ BBC staff All went to university …..the argument cannot be properly put .

    Which is a disservice to those who pay for their BBC .

       11 likes

  6. Zephir says:

    I am wondering if any here have seen the same thing, one can visit any town or city in the UK and it is much the same : Starbucks, Costa, Tescos, Greggs, and of course a plethora of mobile phone shops, I have not the energy to drill down, but am pretty sure there are just a handful of companies running retail in the UK, there are a few exceptions where you may find independent shops, such as Bury St Edmunds and Saffron Walden but they are fast disappearing
    want to buy a bicycle: Halfords
    A computer ? Currys (Argos has run out)

    And customer service ? Currys paid for new computer, and went to pick it up they would not give it to me because I could not provide them with the card number I paid with because it was at home despite having a driving license and many other forms of ID

    They would not accept all the emails on my phone, eventually grudgenly handed it over and I asked for a paper receipt and : no your email is your receipt, what ? you just said you dont accept emails as proof of purchase FFS

       13 likes

  7. AsISeeIt says:

    Our Emma feted, a lack of transparency, old hat and bondage trousers

    Kicking off with a quick unofficial Project Fear fact check one finds that Ronaldo the Portugese football star’s transfer from his previous employment with Italian club Juventus to Post-Brexit Manchester United, appears to have gone through without undue border restrictions.

    Daniel Storey, sports writer for the ‘i’ encourages us: ‘Let’s enjoy the Champions League while we can‘ – seems, just like the old Common Market, over-ambitious expansion is about to kill the original happy medium: ‘The proposed Swiss model will almost double the number of matches in the competition, bringing with it a raft of dead-rubber games

    Conservatism seems to me to involve a careful examination of innovations and a bold rejection of those newfangled notions that would tend to disimprove the present status quo. So we happily welcome the ‘i’s‘ Mr Storey to the conservative fold.

    Meanwhile in contemporary medical developments our press presage a veritable: ‘Jabs Blitz‘ (The Sun) – bravo the Sun.

    Our hero, the in-house satirical doodler in the Telegraph, sketches a schoolboy informing his parents: “I said yes to the Covid jab, but no to maths homework – there’s too many unknowns” – bravo Matt.

    The heavily government department advertising-funded giveaway Metro is jonesing for a fix like some out of pocket junky: ‘12-year-olds to get jabbed. Whitty approves vaccine for 3.2m youngsters… but just one dose‘ – I’m imagining the Metro as addict complaining to his supplier “It’s light, man, it’s light!”

    Over-50s to receive booster jab for winter‘ – so both the grandkids and the grandparents will be able to roll up a sleeve to compare old war wounds in the upper arm this Christmas – which Boris, quoted in the Times, seems to imply could be the rare highlight this: “Prolonged and unpredictable winter

    Climate change, anyone?

    Whitty, the bloke reminiscent of a ghoul in the attic, gives the green light after having his arm twisted – let’s call it a Chinese Burn for the chap who was obviously bullied at school – despite previous scientific assessment that the health advantages of jabs for kids was ‘marginal

    Suddenly ‘public health‘ seems to come a poor third place priority behind ‘disruption in education‘ (thank you, teacher unions) and ‘mental health‘ (thank you, government/media covid project fear)

    How to help stressed children‘ – is the offer from: ‘Tanya Byron’s expert advice‘ in the Times. Whilst the BBC relishes: ‘Climate change: Young people very worried – survey. By Roger Harrabin

    Kids will sometimes be very worried about monsters under the bed, Roger – let’s revolutionise western economies on that basis?

    Here’s my advice to counter children’s fears – turn off the bloody news!

    One remains amazed that the Left still fail to cry wolf over: ‘…No 10 accelerates vaccine programme‘ (Guardian)

    The Mirror at least acknowledges a degree of hesitation: ‘Jabs for kids in days. Fears, delays & uncertainty may fuel parents’ concerns

    No such caution headlined in the Guardian today as project fear is featured promimently: ‘“We see a lot of regrets” The vaccine-hesitant victims of covid

    ‘Have a day off, Tarquin‘ – is the Daily Star’s blunt commentary on: ‘Posh morons cause chaos as normal folk try to get to work

    When they’re not busy jamming the M25 with Extinction Rebellion our white middleclass Guardinistas are jamming to the reggae beat: ‘Clint Dyer on directing the Bob Marley musical

    The Left just don’t seem to call out any possible cronyism and graft when it comes to vaccines and big pharma. I guess they still think our drug companies are vaxing us as a sort of charity donation. The FT inadvertantly exposes the value of a State vax contract: ‘The government said yesterday it was cancelling Euro1.4bn deal with the French biotech to suppy 100m doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, sending shares in the group down 42 per cent‘ – I guess the market was simply disappointed this drug company’s philanthropy was declined?

    The media are still smitten with their international tennis teenager Emma. For some reason I’m reminded of Johnny Rotten, his spilt with the Sex Pistols and subsequent lyric from the classic track Public Image: “You never listen to a word that I said, You only seen me for the clothes that I wear, Or did the interest go so much deeper, It must have been the colour of my hair

    The Mail seems a tad disappointed, sartorial-wise: ‘Emma bewitches America… in jeans and cardie! Sofa star: Emma Radacanu was feted on US television yesterday‘ – oh, to be feted.

    Robert Crampton in the Times confesses: ‘I could never be a tennis dad

    Oddly, the Mail frontpage teases a Sarah Vine feature decrying the latest fashion trend: ‘Why I’m appalled that bondage is the new black‘ – me too, luv. It’s all a bit unseemly. Dodgy, considering. And old hat. Our Johnny was already decked out in his bondage trousers a lifetime ago.

    Straps and buckles and cutaways do seem to be a thing this year. The Daily Satyr pictures: ‘J.Lo’s top of the crops‘ and whilst we’ve little in the news by way of transparency about jab contract kick backs The Sun leaves little to the imagination with: ‘Thongs get ugly for Meg in VMA brawl‘ – I see the pic alright but I’ve no idea what the story’s all about.

       12 likes

  8. Guest Who says:

    Luckily the Moaning emole gets the real front page stuff up

    ****

    Bake Off contestants revealed

    Where would you find a detective with a penchant for Greek-Cypriot delicacies, a chief engineer with a precision to his pastry and a sales manager who spent lockdown working on “complex bakes and chocolate work”? In the Great British Bake Off tent, of course. Channel 4 has revealed the dozen bakers competing for the title in the 12th series of the much-loved show. Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith return, with Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding back for hosting duties. Hollywood says the series – once again filmed in a “bubble” because of the Covid pandemic – produced a standard of baking that was “certainly the highest I’ve ever encountered”. It airs from 21 September. Meet the contestants.

    ***

    Anything else on Ch4?

       8 likes

    • Deborah says:

      I know Channel 4 isn’t the BBC but how I hate all the blatant PR stuff. Paul Hollywood said the standard of baking this year was the highest he’d ever encountered. Doesn’t he say that every year? And I can predict the contestants, at least 2 non British born or from an ethnic culture as well as two either African or Caribbean, the old lady (at least 60 who usually cooks for her grandchildren, the old gay, and the young gay and perhaps two young pretty white women and if one of them turns out to be gay and turn down Paul’s advances so much the better (Ruby). Unless there has been a change since I stopped watching it, it is no longer about baking but more about food art. Add into the mix that it is how many contestants can the producers encourage the audience to laugh at, not with, and you have the programme.

      Most of the above could be said of Strictly. I once read that each contestant gets their own PR person. It explains all the stories which get leaked to the MSM.

         10 likes

  9. Guest Who says:

    Meanwhile, Stevo in Moscow…

    Critics crushed ahead of Russia’s managed polls

    “Together we choose!” declare the election posters around Moscow. The slogan is punchy. But it’s misleading. Critics say that, in today’s Russia, it is the authorities who choose – who’s on the ballot, and who’s not. “Our elections are like a puppet theatre,” believes sociologist Vladislav Inozemtsev. “Many independent candidates have not been allowed to run.”

    The list of politicians and activists excluded from these parliamentary and local elections reads like a Who’s Who of the Russian opposition. “Alexei Navalny is in prison and all his team are off the ballot; [opposition politicians] Ilya Yashin and Lev Schlossberg are barred, too,” explains former MP Dmitry Gudkov.

    Read full analysis >

    Steve Rosenberg
    Moscow

    ***

    Sounds dodgy.

    meanwhile, in Sopes’ America and a Britain controlled by state media editorial selection processes.

       9 likes

  10. MarkyMark says:

    What are emergency powers?

    The term “emergency powers” usually refers to government powers to respond rapidly to a public emergency by:

    making regulations without an act of parliament

    taking actions without complying with statutory duties that it would normally have to comply with

    taking actions that it would not normally be allowed to take.

    Those powers can be set out in new primary legislation or, sometimes, in regulations made by ministers using existing primary legislation.

    Emergency powers allow the government to introduce measures that may affect fundamental rights, such as the right to liberty. These measures can only be introduced in exceptional circumstances and should be temporary in nature.

    When can these emergency powers be used?
    Emergency powers are only intended to be used in exceptional circumstances. The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, which contains powers to deal with pandemics, specifies that regulations may be introduced to manage an infection which presents or could present “significant harm to human health.”

    https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/emergency-powers

       5 likes

  11. MarkyMark says:

    Regulations brought in under the Public Health Act 1984 have to be approved by parliament within 28 days or they cease to have effect. However, in the first months of the pandemic, the health secretary brought these in using the ‘urgent procedure’ whereby they came into force before parliament had a chance to debate and vote on them.

    https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/emergency-powers

       4 likes

  12. MarkyMark says:

    “Most of the provisions in the Act are limited to two years, but a parliamentary debate must be held in both Houses of Parliament one year after the bill becomes law.”

    https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/emergency-powers

       2 likes

  13. StewGreen says:

    Remainiacs have a habit of failing to differentiate between the EU and Europe.

       16 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oh noes… now blonde Beeboid chums will have to pay more for their SamCam man caravan for their sex partners.

         3 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      EU is 27 countries.
      Europe is 50 states.

         10 likes

      • Banania says:

        What is the distinction here between states and countries? Would it not be true to say Europe consists of 50 states (or countries) of which 27 are in the EU?

           0 likes

  14. StewGreen says:

    It’s as if BBC news have their own COP26 PR dept
    Here’s an XR campaign account praising BBC news.

    Some BBC staff act as if they are cub scouts acquiring their Climate Warrior badge.
    bet on their shoulders they have their BLM warrior badge
    and their Rashford Fighting vPoverty badges as well.

       18 likes

  15. MarkyMark says:

    Dear Winston Smith in the BBC Department of Truth paid under threat of prosecution,

    Can you tell me why you have not repeatedly reported on BBC radio and TV news 24/7 regarding the COVID vaccines trials data and results and UK Government’s emergency powers during COVID.

    An informed citizen is a happy citizen.

    Government emergency powers and coronavirus
    https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-biontech-announce-positive-topline-results-pivotal

    Children Under 12
    https://www.pfizer.com/science/coronavirus/vaccine/additional-population-studies

    PFIZER-BIONTECH ANNOUNCE POSITIVE TOPLINE RESULTS OF PIVOTAL COVID-19 VACCINE STUDY IN ADOLESCENTS
    https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/emergency-powers

    “Omission is the most powerful form of lie.” – George Orwell

    Cheers,
    Mr H

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints/make-a-complaint/#/Your%20Complaint

       7 likes

  16. Zephir says:

    Whys he wearing a dress ? and it would be more relevant to ask what happens when the ice melts and dilutes the saline north atlantic bottom drift, commonly called the gulf stream which raises our climate.
    If in any doubt about that check the other climates along our latitude RE Canada, Moscow etc and palm trees in Scotland

       7 likes

  17. MarkyMark says:

    A Coldstream Guardsman who was the first to wear a turban during Trooping the Colour is understood to have tested positive for cocaine.

    Charanpreet Singh Lall, 22, from Leicester, registered “high levels” of the Class A drug during a random test at Victoria Barracks, Windsor.

    He was one of three soldiers who failed the test, The Sun reported.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-45637288

       7 likes

  18. Zephir says:

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/maps-that-will-change-the-way-you-look-at-britain-forever

    Using London, Edinburgh, and the northern and southern extremities of the UK (Out Stack in Shetland, and Pednathise Head in the Isles of Scilly respectively) as reference points, it’s clear just how far north we’re situated.

    Even the southernmost point of Britain is further north than the northernmost part of the contiguous United States (the 48 adjoining states, so this does not include Alaska or Hawaii), while London lies further north than almost all major Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto.

    Right about now you’re probably feeling a newfound love for a certain warm oceanic current, and we don’t blame you.

       6 likes

  19. MarkyMark says:

    The rich demand you listen to them shout from their Ivory Tower …

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58553594

    _120541131_070600609.jpg

       7 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Pic label : Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turned heads with a dress emblazoned with the words “Tax the Rich”

      She herself is a rich girl, whose family probably take legal tax minimisation measures.

         13 likes

  20. StewGreen says:

    Another that seems COP26 PR
    Otto is a go to man if you want a Global Warming PR line.

    I expect Paul Homewood or someone will take it apart later.

    For a start is a 50C day a day where that temperature is reached for 30 seconds ?
    That’s hardly a 50C day really.

    #2 Years ago you’d sample the temperature a few times a day
    Today sensors continually monitor the temperature
    So you are much more likely to spot it crossing an arbitrary line like 50C than before.

       5 likes

  21. StewGreen says:

    8am BBC local news had a PRasNews item
    “New research by the Humber Net Zero org, says that 4 out of 5 firms say they have a responsibility to take care of the environment”

    … The weird thing is that 20% of firms don’t think they have a responsibility to take care of the environment.

    From Twitter I see the report is having its PR launch at Hull University right now.

       5 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Taking care of the environment is entirely different from ‘net zero’.
      What a dirty, misleading trick question to use.
      I wonder why they didn’t ask them ‘If you are forced to have net zero carbon emissions, do you think it will affect climate change in any significant way at all ?.’

         11 likes

  22. Zephir says:

    Think globally act locally really has not worked

    The AA warns of back-to-school traffic jams
    Pop-up cycle lanes and wider pavements could cause ‘localised gridlock’ if parents chose to drive, warns road group

    MEASURES implemented during lockdown to allow safer cycling and social distancing could cause “localised gridlock” if parents drive children to school, the AA has warned.

    As traffic levels approach pre-lockdown levels and pupils return to classrooms, Covid-19 safety measures combined with new pedestrian- and cycle-friendly neighbourhoods have the potential to make the school run even more hellish for motorists and local residents.

    Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “If it all goes wrong we could see localised gridlock with limited public transport, more cars and less road space due to ‘pop-up’ closures.”

    The saving grace would be if “fewer parents drive kids to school as they are working from home and more children walking and cycling”.

       5 likes

  23. Zephir says:

    It could be worse of course

       3 likes

  24. Zephir says:

    Biggest greenhouse gas : water, no clouds means a cold night, methane is pretty good also, a truth too far for all those farting vegans

       6 likes

  25. Zephir says:

    You can always trust in old sayings:

    Red sky at night, shepherds delight

    or in Paris

    Red sky at night, another of those spontaneously combustible stone christian churches alight

    In sha’Allah

       16 likes

  26. Zephir says:

    The bbc has some things to say on the anniversary of 9 11 and yet some voices will never be heard

    https://fillmorecountyjournal.com/is-islam-a-peaceful-religion/

    “Jason Dahl was the Captain on United Flight 93 that crashed on September 11. Jason was my friend. I was also a Captain for United Airlines. Jason and I worked together as instructor pilots for United at the training center in Denver, Co. The Muslim terrorists that took out the four flights that day were considered “radical” Islamic. Fifteen of the 19 were Saudi.

    Recently a Saudi pilot-in-training at the Naval Air Station Pensacola killed three Americans. Why did he kill? The same reason the terrorists did on 9/11. The Islamic Quran commands it.

    How can the majority of Muslims claim it is a peaceful religion? Because… most have not read the Quran, or the “Hadiths” that expound on the verses in the Quran and the life of the prophet Mohammed. The culture of Eastern Muslims is to rely on and believe what those in authority say. And most of the leaders, or Imams, proclaim an innocent and tolerant version of the Quran and Mohammed. Obedience is a sacred trait of the Muslim faith. The word Islam means “to surrender.”

    There are peaceful chapters or “Surahs” in the Quran. They were “revealed” to Mohammed in a cave called Hira near Mecca in 610 A.D. Mohammed’s god, Allah, wanted to correct the Jewish Old Testament and the Christian’s New Testament (with Jesus as part of a Triune God.) His gentle and tolerant Meccan revelations were intended to bridge the gap between Jews and Christians, winning both over to Allah’s “correction.” It didn’t work.

    Mohammed was run out of town. He went to Medina. It was in Medina where the rest of the Quran was revealed to him by Allah. And there was a marked change. The Surahs became violent. And Mohammed became violent. He beheaded Jews. He fought wars. He raided and killed. He took “booty” in his victories. And the booty included human captives. Women. Unspeakable acts were allowed that I will not include here. You can read them for yourself… Surah 4:24, 23:5, 70:29.

    This sexual injustice is reprehensible, but Allah wills it.

    All of this was commanded by his Allah in the Medina Surahs. And those chapters in the Quran still apply today. It is not “radical” Islam. It is just Islam.

    The hostile Medina Quran calls for Muslims to kill anyone who leaves the Islamic faith. Also, Medina Surah 9:5 command Muslims to “kill the infidels (non-Muslims) wherever you find them and take them as captives and besiege them and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush so if they repent (and become Muslim) and perform prayer, leave their way free.” Convert or die, and many other violent commands.

    Allah also revealed to Mohammed…. If one is quoting from an early Meccan Surah and there is a contradicting Surah given later in Medina, the Meccan quote is no longer valid. It is called the Doctrine of Abrogation. This abrogation applies to 60% of the Quran. The early peaceful Surahs of Mecca no longer apply, but they are still in the Quran! And the Quran is not written in chronological order, so the reader can’t say which Surah is applicable. So peace-loving Muslims can claim Islam to be peaceful! And Medina Muslim followers can justify violence and killing! All in the name of Allah.

    The unpleasant truth is that the Quran teaches faithful Muslims to be at war with non-Muslims until they are all subdued. That is one wacky religion. “

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      0. Islam asks you to have zero thought about it’s origins and practices. And make zero comparisons with successful cultures.

      1. Islam asks for one simple thing. Islam asks for everything – finance, religion, police, morals, schools, law, food, science, clothes, art and your body to be Islamic.

      2. Islam only has two problems – Muhammed and Mohammed. Once the first problem has been solved then the second one can be solved easily.

      3. Islam offers three things. In the Koran it offers Peace, War and then a Continuation of War. In your life Islam wants you to subjugate yourself, subjugate your family and then subjugate everyone else.

         7 likes

  27. Zephir says:

    https://archive.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/international-persecution/cardiff-imam-sex-slaves-permissible-in-islam

    Think I might pop over to Canterbury cathedral later for some religious instruction and see if its ok with him for a naked female to do the hoovering and washing up with a chain around her neck

    I did try to call to arrange an appointment but he sounded a little out of breath and there was a hoover sound in the background and what might have been some vicars whistling the stripper theme song and some clapping.
    I might be in with a chance

       6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Muslim Chaplin,Khallid Shabazz, on youtube …
      “The Koran says don’t let the hatred of a people move you to deal with people unjustly. The Prophet Mohammed beheaded people who were extremely unjust to him. {youtube mar2015}”
      – Army Lt. Col. Khallid Shabazz, March 2015

         6 likes

  28. BRISSLES says:

    Its now reported that Michael Gove has been accused of using racial slurs and vocal sexual abuse when he was in his 20’s !!!?????

    I can’t stop laughing. This man is 54 which makes it over 30 years ago – no internet, no Twitter to look back on, no mobiles to record conversations, so who the hell remembers this stuff, and, actually makes a record of it ? Can anyone on here recall remarks or conversations by anyone a week ago let alone 30 odd years ago ?

       23 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      I expect its emails from when he was a student at Oxford Bris. I was at Uni 30 years ago (that makes me feel old) and we had access to the internet and emails through the Uni PCs in those days. Mind you, home internet use started nearly the same time, around 1992/3, if I recall rightly. Some of my mates were computer geeks and paid to have access to it from day one.

      There were all kinds of interesting things you could find on the internet in those early days…ok, perhaps not, but you could already search, download things, post in online chatrooms, and send each other emails with attached video clips or photos (as 90% of users were teenage boys, 90%+ of what was sent was almost certainly illegally copied music, or video clips, clips of people pulling silly stunts, porn, obscene jokes, or photos of your butt, or yout weiner, as Americans say, none of which was ever intended to be taken very seriously).

      No policing of the internet in those days, so we said and sent whatever we felt like, it was playground stuff mostly, and unlike today’s youth we had a lot of fun, and not all of it socially acceptable these days, I’m sure… hmm… probably best no one EVER looks at my internet history aged 18.

      I don’t particularly like Gove, but it’s a huge infringement to go back and search through someone’s correspondence from decades ago, and I feel really sorry for younger generations growing up with the internet and social media, recording their every move, and juvenile act, from infancy onwards. I’ve tried to deliberately avoid that with my children, but a lot of their friends have already come unstuck with things they, or their parents regret having posted online.

         3 likes

  29. Zephir says:

    Luckily we have the new fangled interweb thing, where an unshaven tramp can provide broadband to eveyone via a “green fund” that arrives on the shores of Albion from nowehere, (Avalon ?)
    Where have I heard this before oh yes hes Merlin and now back in his cave until next time

    Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party Leader, Outlining Labour’s British Broadband plans in a speech at the University of Lancaster today, said:

    Thank you for that welcome.

    At the start of this election I promised to put forward the most radical and exciting plan for real change the British public has ever seen.

    We haven’t even launched our manifesto yet, but our campaign is already electric. On the ground it’s bigger and more exciting than 2017.

    And I’ll let you into a little secret – when our manifesto arrives next week, it’s going to knock your socks off.

    I don’t want anyone to be able to say, a few years into a Labour government, that nothing ever changes or that politicians are all the same.

    I want everyone to feel the positive difference to their own life when you have the government and the people working together, collectively, to take on the system and make life better for the many, not the few.

    And do you know what? We’re so confident that’s what our manifesto will do that today we want to give you a sneak peek.

    A taster of the kind of fresh, transformational policies that will change your life.

    So here it is: a Labour government will make broadband free for everybody.

    And not just any broadband, but the very fastest. Full-fibre broadband to every home, in every part of our country, for free – as a universal public service.

    And once it’s up and running, instead of you forking out for your monthly bill, we’ll tax the giant corporations fairly – the Facebooks and the Googles – to cover the running costs.

    That is a policy for the many.

    Making broadband free and available to all will open up opportunities for everybody.

    It will put us at the cutting edge of social and economic change.

    Because what we’re about is building a country that’s fit for the future.

    The internet has become such a central part of our lives. It opens up opportunities for work, creativity, entertainment and friendship.

    What was once a luxury is now an essential utility.

    That’s why full-fibre broadband must be a public service, bringing communities together with equal access in an inclusive and connected society.

    Fast and free broadband for all will fire up our economy, deliver a massive boost to productivity and bring half a million people back into the workforce.

    It will help our environment and tackle the climate emergency by reducing the need to commute.

    And it will make our country fairer, more equal and more democratic.

    The full-fibre broadband Labour will deliver is the gold standard. It is the fastest, most secure and most reliable form of broadband, using fibre optic cables to take data directly into people’s homes and businesses.

    And it will help to boost 5G to people’s phones too.

    Full-fibre will deliver lightning-fast download times.

    It will put an end to patchy and slow coverage once and for all.

    And it will save the average household £30 a month on bills.

    Britain’s broadband network is lagging well behind other countries.

    Just 8 to 10 per cent of the UK has access to full-fibre broadband, compared to 98 per cent in South Korea.

    Something clearly isn’t working.

    This is core infrastructure for the 21st Century. I think it’s too important to be left to the corporations.

    The most efficient and rapid way to deliver a broadband network fit for our times, and make it a genuine public service for all, is for the public to take control.

    So under our plans, we will create a new public enterprise – and we’ll call it British Broadband.

    British Broadband will oversee a publicly-owned full-fibre network and deliver free broadband to every home, with a phased roll-out over ten years.

    To do that we will bring the relevant parts of BT, including Openreach, into public ownership.

    By creating British Broadband as a public service, we will lead the world in using public investment to transform our country, reduce people’s monthly bills, boost our economy and improve people’s quality of life.

    And it will have national security benefits too.

    To me, that’s common sense. The corporations have been unable or unwilling to roll out full-fibre fast enough, and they have little incentive to invest in rural and remote parts of Britain.

    But under our plan, the priority will be those with least connectivity, mainly in rural and remote areas but also in some inner-city areas, unlocking new opportunities across huge swathes of our country.

    And we will then move on to towns, giving a boost to local economies and making it easier for people to run successful businesses outside the big cities.

    And finally, we will complete the roll-out in the well-connected urban centres.

    Ask people about their experience with private broadband companies and many will tell you about internet dropouts and hours spent on hold listening to Vivaldi, waiting to speak to an overworked and underpaid customer service worker who probably can’t fix the problem anyway.

    Full-fibre will provide the most reliable service, and British Broadband will be properly staffed, with guaranteed jobs for everyone currently working in broadband.

    Under public ownership, key universal services can be run for the British people instead of for profit.

    In July, when he was running for Conservative leader, Boris Johnson also promised to make full-fibre broadband available across the country – except he expected you to pay for it.

    But it will surprise nobody that this was just another case of Johnson’s signature move: the broken promise.

    So what is he now offering instead? A low-budget option using old copper cables that are already out of date.

    Johnson’s plans are yet another billionaire wealth grab, bunging public money to big corporations including Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin instead of putting the technology in the hands of the British people.

    We need real change.

    But I know the question that will be on everyone’s lips: ‘how are you going to pay for it?’

    Well let me tell you.

    The initial upgrade to our infrastructure will be funded through our Green Transformation Fund.

    And when it comes to the running costs, we’re not going to put that onto the British public, who have already forked out far too much for rip-off broadband.

    Instead, a Labour government will close down tax tricks used by giants like Google and Facebook, who make millions in Britain while paying next to nothing to the public purse.

    I pay my tax.

    Everybody in this room pays their tax.

    Small businesses pay their tax.

    So why can’t the giant multinationals?

    They think they can get away with not paying their share. Well I’ve got news for them: not anymore.

    Labour believes that the British people deserve the very best.

       5 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Jean-Claude Juncker blocked EU curbs on tax avoidance, cables show
      This article is more than 4 years old
      Leaked papers reveal that as Luxembourg’s PM, the European commission president obstructed the bloc’s tax reforms efforts

      https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/jean-claude-juncker-blocked-eu-curbs-on-tax-avoidance-cables-show

      The president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, spent years in his previous role as Luxembourg’s prime minister secretly blocking EU efforts to tackle tax avoidance by multinational corporations, leaked documents reveal.

      Years’ worth of confidential German diplomatic cables provide a candid account of Luxembourg’s obstructive manoeuvres inside one of Brussels’ most secretive committees.

         6 likes

    • Sick of it all says:

      ‘make life better for the many, not the few’

      Except Labour is all about the few: blacks, Muslims, illegal migrants and vanishingly-small minorities, gays, lesbians, transsexuals, deviants, cosplayers, adult babies, gender nonconformists and mentally ill weirdos of every description.

      But not Jews, strangely.

         4 likes

  30. Zephir says:

    That went well then

    economics is not one of my strengths, but, I do recognise it rules all human activites,

    something Merlin fails to recognise, about who owns infrastructure, who invested in it and will they let you just take over without a fight

    As I said a while ago it does remind me of the Kray twins, we are in charge now this is ours or else

       5 likes

  31. MarkyMark says:

    Boris will sort out the BBC – still going strong.
    Boris will defend freedom of speech – 3 teachers hide in Batley.
    Boris will be Conservative – green jobs for everyone.
    Boris will defend the British way of life – 104 rock up on Kent shore given homes and a new life.
    Boris … *sigh*

       15 likes

  32. MarkyMark says:

    Boris Johnson ‘looking at’ abolishing TV licence fee for BBC
    This article is more than 1 year old
    Remarks came amid row over PM’s refusal to look at a picture of a sick boy in hospital
    Mon 9 Dec 2019 22.30 GMT

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/09/boris-johnson-looking-at-abolishing-tv-licence-fee-for-bbc

    “Boris Johnson has threatened to take the BBC’s licence fee away, as he called into question its status as a publicly funded broadcaster.”

       4 likes

  33. MarkyMark says:

    Your new moral guidance …
    “Evan Mock keeps us guessing in this punk-rock number.”

    2758.jpg?width=1010&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3e78a7c934c18a435c1c465a8da65df3

    “Met Gala 2021: stars explore ‘American independence’ theme – in pictures”
    https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2021/sep/14/met-gala-2021-stars-explore-american-independence-theme-in-pictures

       1 likes

  34. MarkyMark says:

    Save the planet – wear a dress once and throw it away.

    Met Gala 2021: The best memes and reactions
    Published5 hours ago

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58554284

    Notice that Greta has no comments on this waste of resources.

       6 likes

  35. Zephir says:

    When I hear the word “explore” via the Grauniad or the bbc my heart sinks

    It inevitably means “our opinions”

       10 likes

  36. MarkyMark says:

    Pray to the Sun?

    z1jwO.jpg

       2 likes

    • Philip_2 says:

      True. The Romans praised English wine. England was covered with dense forest. It was warmer than today.
      And then the left discovered the media could be easily manipulated with greed, and we end up where we are. denying the obvious, that there is no such thing as a ‘stable’ climate over long term. And CO2 has not much to do with it. Net zero is a pointless exercise by left wing zealots who believe CBBC predictions of doom and drugs give them a higher level of stupidity.

      http://www.raa-journal.org/raa/index.php/raa/article/view/4920/6080

         5 likes

  37. Zephir says:

    They have so much to say about slavery for example, let us just “explore that” for a moment:

    What is modern slavery?

    Forms of modern slavery

    Modern slavery takes many forms. The most common are:

    Human trafficking. The use of violence, threats or coercion to transport, recruit or harbour people in order to exploit them for purposes such as forced prostitution, labour, criminality, marriage or organ removal.
    Forced labour. Any work or services people are forced to do against their will under threat of punishment.
    Debt bondage/bonded labour. The world’s most widespread form of slavery. People trapped in poverty borrow money and are forced to work to pay off the debt, losing control over both their employment conditions and the debt.
    Descent–based slavery. Most traditional form, where people are treated as property, and their “slave” status was passed down the maternal line.
    Slavery of children. When a child is exploited for someone else’s gain. This can include child trafficking, child soldiers, child marriage and child domestic slavery.
    Forced and early marriage. When someone is married against their will and cannot leave. Most child marriages can be considered slavery.

    People end up trapped in modern slavery because they are vulnerable to being tricked, trapped and exploited, often as a result of poverty and exclusion. It is these external circumstances that push people into taking risky decisions in search of opportunities to provide for their families, or are simply pushed into jobs in exploitative conditions.

    Yep lets pull down some statues in the UK that will help

    https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/

       6 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Or, we could explore the “cultures / race ” of the main proponents of this, and I will bet you it is not whitee

         9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Many societies throughout history have practised slavery, and Muslim societies were no exception.

      It’s thought that as many people were enslaved in the Eastern slave trade as in the Atlantic slave trade.

      It’s ironic that when the Atlantic slave trade was abolished the Eastern trade expanded, suggesting that for some Africans the abolition of the Atlantic trade didn’t lead to freedom, but merely changed their slave destination.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/slavery_1.shtml

      9B5A011C-4E5D-48F6-AAAA-097D4164635E_w1200_r1.jpg

         4 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Who supplied the African slaves ?
        Africans

        and in the UK ? nowadays

        https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/13/modern-slavery-uk-traveller-site-lincolnshire-judge-timothy-spencer

        sModern slavery at UK Traveller site may be tip of iceberg, warns judge

        Timothy Spencer QC, sentencing 11 people from one family, says such abuse could be happening nationwide on ‘shocking scale’ ?

        Travellers across Britain may be exploiting thousands of victims of modern slavery “on a shocking scale”, a judge has said.

        Timothy Spencer QC said he feared the “chilling” abuse of vulnerable men by a Lincolnshire family was being replicated at other Travellers’ sites.

        Sentencing 11 members of the Rooney family at Nottingham crown court on Tuesday, he said: “You claimed that what went on at Drinsey was no different from what was going on at any Travellers’ camp around this country, that all Travellers had workers operating under similar conditions.

        “Sadly, I very much fear that you may be correct about that. But that does not make any of it right.”

        Last month, detectives said modern slavery and human trafficking was far more prevalent than previously thought, with the number of victims estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

        There are more than 300 live policing operations in the UK targeting modern slavery, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA), which said there were 111 arrests in May and June related to 130 potential victims.

        Travellers’ groups reacted angrily to the judge’s remarks. “The judge’s fears that this is a general issue are not founded in fact,” said Bill Forrester of the National Association of Gypsy and Traveller Officers.

           6 likes

  38. MarkyMark says:

    Still they buy an iPhone and watch Netflix …

    “A new global survey illustrates the depth of anxiety many young people are feeling about climate change.

    Nearly 60% of young people approached said they felt very worried or extremely worried.

    More than 45% of those questioned said feelings about the climate affected their daily lives.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58549373

       3 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Ban plastic, and animal products, and when our young people have their existential angst, whilst walking around barefoot with wooden iphones and living off lentils I will hopefully not be around to witness

         8 likes

  39. MarkyMark says:

    “Offered”

    All children aged 12 to 15 in England will be offered one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid jab, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said.

    – – – –

    ‘Bonkers’ NHS Charities advert that shows ‘Santa being struck down by coronavirus’ before medics save him is condemned by critics for ‘upsetting children’ and ‘looking for reasons to make this Christmas worse’

    Old bearded man lies unconscious in NHS Charities-funded Christmas advert

    NHS medics in full PPE are seen trying to revive him in the disturbing opening

    Later revealed to be Father Christmas who has been nursed back to health

    Shocked viewers believe the advert depicts Santa suffering from coronavirus

    Several feared children would be traumatised thinking Santa was going to die

    By JEMMA CARR FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 00:35, 12 December 2020

       4 likes

    • Banania says:

      The “offering” is the offering up of our children as a sacrifice to the unions to avert the threat of “disruption” to the children’s education, because it is from the unions that the disruption would come.

         0 likes

  40. MarkyMark says:

    China Will No Longer Be a Developing Country After 2023. Its Climate Actions Should Reflect That.
    As China projects its power abroad and readies to join the club of high-income countries, its climate ambitions can no longer hide behind the veil of development.

    https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/china-will-no-longer-be-a-developing-country-after-2023-its-climate-actions-should-reflect-that/

       1 likes

  41. Zephir says:

       3 likes

  42. Zephir says:

       4 likes

  43. Zephir says:

    Where are the purple hair pierced wimmin when you need them ?

    They are happy to block roads and cause disruption for something no one can see yet this is front of their eyes for all to see and thay say nothing

    I see China in development as about 30 – 50 years behind the west, the London smogs we had, their treatment of animals, we did, and their casual treatment of foreigners, we did also, it is changiing but at a slower pace than many would like

    and whats that about bleeding chopsticks, they might boast about everything they invented, but thats probably why they never invented custard

    please dont fact check the last bit, its just a theory

       14 likes

  44. Philip_2 says:

    Biden has give Vaccines FDA approval, even though the drugs remain largelly ‘untested’. This is thanks to Biden’s new ’emergency’ powers he has given himself.

    EUA – all the drugs are ‘approved’ or not, that is the problem. So all drugs are theoretically ‘approved’ gottit? And you cannot sue the Government or the drug companies for serious ‘side affects’ (Death is a side affect) and its all experimental….

    The US has a lawsuit on the lack distinction of ‘risks’ to the public. Children are going to be used (in US) as they are starting here in UK. Same problem of risk and accountability and legal redress have ‘disappeared’.

    EUA ‘umbrella’ explained in this legal video: Don’t expect this is of any concern to BBC types.

       5 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    The crisis was magnified in the last few weeks due to factors such as restrictions on importing goods, alleged hoarding, depleted foreign exchange reserves, the Covid-19 pandemic’s shadow on the tourism industry and the federal administration’s sudden push for organic farming.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka-food-emergency-reason-b1919143.html

    Rajapaksa’s experiment with organic farming in Sri Lanka a warning to developing countries
    The Sri Lankan government would do well to listen to the country’s agricultural scientists and not to quacks masquerading as experts.

    https://theprint.in/opinion/rajapaksas-experiment-with-organic-farming-in-sri-lanka-a-warning-to-developing-countries/731553/

       1 likes

  46. MarkyMark says:

    President Rajapaksa’s ill-conceived and extremist policy, announced in April this year, of banning the import of all chemical fertilisers and pesticides as a way of promoting organic farming, is threatening to plunge the country’s agriculture into a deep production slump. As a consequence, the export of tea, Sri Lanka’s primary agricultural export, and of other commodities are projected to decline. The economy appears set for a fall in foreign exchange earnings in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    https://theprint.in/opinion/rajapaksas-experiment-with-organic-farming-in-sri-lanka-a-warning-to-developing-countries/731553/

    …….

    In 1940, Lysenko became director of the Institute of Genetics within the USSR’s Academy of Sciences, and he used his political influence and power to suppress dissenting opinions and discredit, marginalize, and imprison his critics, elevating his anti-Mendelian theories to state-sanctioned doctrine.[3]

    Soviet scientists who refused to renounce genetics were dismissed from their posts and left destitute. Hundreds if not thousands of others were imprisoned. Several were sentenced to death as enemies of the state, including the botanist Nikolai Vavilov.[4] Lysenko’s actions and practices contributed to the famines that killed millions of Soviet people;[4] the adoption of his methods from 1958 in the People’s Republic of China had similarly calamitous results, culminating in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959 to 1962.[4]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko

       2 likes

  47. MarkyMark says:

    Blacks only need apply … racist says racism is not racism when he does it ….
    “Lewis Hamilton buys Met Gala table and invites up-and-coming Black designers”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/met-gala-2021-lewis-hamilton-v03fe2552

       7 likes

  48. MarkyMark says:

    The last days of a white world
    We are near a global watershed – a time when white people will not be in the majority in the developed world, Britain included. Anthony Browne reports

    Special report: Race in Britain
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/sep/03/race.world

    However, the UN’s State of the World Population 1999 predicted that 98 per cent of the growth in the world’s population by 2025 will occur in lesser developed regions, principally Africa and Asia.

    For Alibhai-Brown, the decline of whites is a question of redressing the balance after they colonised much of the world. ‘The empire strikes back really. There was this extraordinary assumption that white people could go and destroy peoples and it would have no consequence. It astounds me,’ she said.

       1 likes

  49. MarkyMark says:

    12 year old joins ISIS – not old enough.
    12 year old wants vaccine – is knowledgeable enough.

    “What happens if a child and their parent disagree over the vaccine?

    The law is quite clear: there must be a test of whether the child understands what is being proposed and that their decision is in their best interests.

    Under the law, children under 16-years-old who can prove that they understand the risks and benefits of a specific medical procedure can ask for the vaccine – or refuse to take it – if they disagree with what their parents want.

    This legal test of whether a child can consent to a treatment is known as “Gillick competence” – named after a famous 1986 case in which a teenager wanted contraceptive advice without her mother’s consent.

    There’s no lower limit to the test – but in practice it would be exceptional for a child under 13 to be judged Gillick competent.

    Teenagers aged 16 and 17 don’t need parental permission to have the vaccine, unless there are exceptional circumstances.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-58536961

       1 likes

  50. MarkyMark says:

    “Doctors can seek a court order to administer a medicine to a child where they can prove it is in their “best interests” to receive it, even if a parent or a child who has been assessed as Gillick competent child opposes.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-58536961

       1 likes