426 Responses to Midweek 18th December 2024

  1. harry142857 says:

    Someone else deserves this

       13 likes

  2. Up2snuff says:

    I can guarantee one of the top items on TOADY tomorrow will be that Labour Govt. has denied the WASPI women compensation for their not paying attention to the news …. or will it? The BBC does appear to favour a Labour Government and this appears to be down to Labour. But the WASPI women were not paying attention.

    I knew – as a mere male – that pension ages were increasing under the Conservative Government and the women’s pensionable age was being brought into line with that of men under Equality legislation. The women demanded equality with us males. Then when they obtain it they scream unfair! “We want compensation!”

       35 likes

    • Sluff says:

      A sad fact that so many women don’t seem to have had the faintest idea of what is going on around them.
      Mrs S doesn’t watch too much news but knew for years she was going to miss the cutoff.
      And don’t you just love the ‘unfairness’ that women would have to wait for pensions for the same time as…errr….men!

      Equality. But only when it suits.

         32 likes

  3. Sluff says:

    It’s Maths time at the BBC.

    Around 3% of the population are gay. May we assume half are male and half are female, just for the sake of argument.
    So the chance of a random adult being a lesbian is 1 in 66.
    The chance of three random adults all being lesbian are thus 1 in 287,000. Except at the BBC.

    On the BBC SPOTY tonight, we had Claire Balding, Kelly Holmes, and Alex Scott, all on stage together. To be fair, the odds were lowered as Jessica Ennis Hill was also present. Still. Three out of four ain’t bad.

    The BBC. Where equality, diversity, and inclusion……..errrrrr……exclude the vast majority.

       45 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      em Gabby Logan a presenter on BBC Sports Personality of the Year
      her closing line ‘…have a very happy and healthy festive season…’
      Twitter noticed big time

      … and yes Gobby Lesbian was a co-presenter

         25 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      LGBTQ people and Islam

      Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › LGBTQ_people_and_I…

      There is, however, comparatively little evidence of homosexual practices being prevalent in Muslim societies for the first century and a half of Islamic history

         7 likes

    • non-licence payer says:

      Reminds me of a start the week sort of programme years back with Andrew Marr. A question of taste came up about meat and I think that there were 6 in the studio and all were vegetarian/vegan and could not answer. At the time 4% were v or v and the chances of picking 6 v or vs was statistically irrelevant – unless you are the bBC.

         19 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      The after party must have been awesome.

         6 likes

  4. BRISSLES says:

    Correct Snuffy. What were these women doing when the big publicity blitz hit the press and tv back in the late 90s and 2000s stating the pension changes ? I remember it well so why didn’t they ? It beggars belief they didn’t take an interest, but sadly even today so many women leave “that sort of stuff” for their husbands to sort out.

       26 likes

    • Deborah says:

      Even if the women missed the pension changes at the time they were enacted, if I was thinking of early retirement, my first question would be ‘Can I afford it?’ I would be trying to find out what my pension would be and then make my decision. I’m afraid one of my class mates was very involved with waspi women and at a reunion tried to involve the rest of us. I have little sympathy for women who don’t ask questions before making decisions.

      However waspi women highlighting these Labour people did say anything to be elected can only give more evidence to what most of us have known for ever.

      The general election petition has been going up quite quickly this morning.

         18 likes

  5. Scroblene says:

    Call me old fashioned, but I was luckily – or maybe ‘normally’, brought up in a middle-class home back in the fifties and sixties…

    Back then, it never occurred to me that wives/mums went out to work, but there again, hardly any of my village friends’ mums went out either, and they certainly weren’t as ‘well-off’ as us!

    My dad, once pronounced that everyone who is on P.A.Y.E. was ‘working class’, therefore we were, which rather got me thinking! I just assumed that I would be out every day ‘at the ofice’, and whoever was at home, well, it was going to be The Senora, would look after everything there, like my mum did! That was the state of affairs I knew as the only way things worked!

    Of course, when we married, The Senora was already teaching, having never stopped, and didn’t until the children came and went, and then she started teaching again, and she never thought anything was out of the ordinary – if we wanted to ‘get on’, buy a decent house etc., it was the only way!

    Now I realise the anguish of the WASPI Women, and know several friends in the same boat. As usual, politicians took short-term decisions destined to be long-term failures, that they aren’t actually capable of understanding, but that’s the shallow way of their ways these days. I STILL find it objectionable, that a bloke, who instictively wants to take the ‘lead’ in the family unit by providing a home, love, money, security and protection, doesn’t take these resposibilities as a matter of honour, or at least, responsibility!

    If this social upheaval of various ‘rights’ means that ‘equality’ is now the norm, then I still squirm with embarrassment, but that may be expected of someone who won’t ever see 66 again, and for that matter, er, 76…

    (Just to stay on topic with the Biased BBC mantra, they’re also very much to blame for their constant whining and ‘progressive’ attitudes, programmes aimed at specific groups of disaffected sections of the community and habitual sneering at the sort of family life I was so lucky to have)!

       23 likes

    • Zephir says:

      It was pointed out to me a while ago that is is practically impossible now for one salary to provide for a family like it used to, for a home, car (or two, as a wife at home cannot rely on bus services any longer) and all the other necessities for even a basic standard of living, let alone children.

      And talking of salaries, many so called jobs now are limited to a one year “contract” and then over so a long term mortgage really is a risk.

      Jobs for life, like previous generations knew are it seems a thing of the past, unless you are in the public sector of course, a separate and priviledged world.

      The past is a different world, hour off for lunch ? not any more, tea breaks, works canteens with decent hot meals, good pension at the end of your career ? no longer in so many private sector jobs. Even your own desk space is guaranteed no longer. Hot desking, where you have to grab a space every day is becoming the norm, (and they wonder how viruses are spreading) I recall working in such a place having to clean the filthy desk with wet wipes before use.

      We keep hearing about “balanced diet”, try that when you have an hour or more commute to a bleak industrial estate with no food outlet other than a sandwich van as the only source of food for the next 8 – 10 hours then an hour or sometimes more commute back, and after a 12 hour day, finally home to try for a balanced diet…

         34 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        Yes, the ‘one-year contracts’ do make for uncertainty, as a very close friend has just been through all the worrying about that particular issue!

        Regarding the public sector though, back in the days I describe above, there was a lot of honour in being employed by the LA or the CC. The John Braine novel, ‘Room at the top’, seemed to epitomise the sort of workforce, which is unrecognisable today!, (Just loved ‘The Glittering Zombie’), but there were certainly many people with a conscience to provide the services on the rates.

        And I can easily recall the pride in which County Architects took in their new schools and civic buildings, many to replace the old-style council offices, and draughty corridors of old. This succession even percolated in to the seventies, with notable architecture in – for my experience as a contractor – Hampshire and Sussex!

        Perhaps the BBC was like that back then too? I can’t remember, as they always seemed to report the news, and we didn’t have the whingeing ‘alternative’ to proper journalism that we get chucked at us today, with boring repetition!

           16 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Ahem! Scrobie, “Now I realise the anguish of the WASPI Women, and know several friends in the same boat. As usual, politicians took short-term decisions destined to be long-term failures”

      I think we were in the EU* at the time and Osborne and the UK were threatened with the ECHR and the UK Equality Legislation and the EU taking us to Court. Osborne took the easy way out and extended the State Pension Age and brought it into line with that for a male. The State Pension is an unaffordable burden on the taxpayer but as an OAP I have a vested interest in it continuing. Nudge nudge 😉 😉

      * My memory could be defective on all that.

         8 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        Too true, Snuffy, and to be more precise, I don’t think the lady in question above knew then that a divorce might just get in the way, and she might have to go back to work…

        It’s still a shame though, and if we had some real parliamentary leaders, with proper National Commitment, there would be more effort made for dealing with these anomalies, especially as Brexit was supposed to rid us of the crap from Brussels!

           6 likes

  6. Fedup2 says:

    Inflation up from 2.3%up 2.6%. Excellent . Let’s get it back to 3% or even 4% – Rachel from accounts won’t know what that means but it helps push for a good recession as jobs are cut back – benefit demands increase and interest rates stay high .

    What we need now is a new American President who is hostile to Marxist uk regime… let’s hope Rachel from accounts doesn’t get fired until it’s a lot worse ….

       29 likes

  7. JohnC says:

    General’s assassination pierces Moscow’s air of normality
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjdmgnj242o

    Like the Kursk fiasco which has now turned into a slaughter of Ukranian soldiers guarding potato fields and no hope whatsoever of anything but defeat, this assasination is another attempt to divert Western attention from the fact Russia is winning and the Donbas front is now in serious danger of collapsing.

    Many Ukranians are going to suffer as a result of the response to this assasination. It’s literally freezing out there now and I suspect the first thing Russia will do is attack the power grid again. With the war as it is now and the prospect of Trump ending it, this was a very cynical and callous act by Zelensky – who I’m sure will be deep in a bunker now – if he’s even in Ukraine. They have just made direct assasination of leadership part of the war.

    And of course BBC Verify try once again to take credit for confirming what happened – as if everything is fake until THEY verify it for us. This ‘proof’ simply involved using google Earth to show the location then all the same pictures and video we’ve seen already.

       24 likes

  8. Fedup2 says:

    BBC news and the law of not thought out policy

    Rachel from accounts thought it a good idea to cut winter fuel payments and give it to foreigners . But then the British old people who hadn’t claimed ‘pensioner credit ‘ started doing it – which could cost the state a lot more . Forseeable ? Yes . Did the reds prepare for increase claims ?no
    Leading to hard up pensioners continuing to cut back on heating because claims might not be ment until … February . ..

    It’s encouraging to see the reds are as inept as the blues – who if you recall gave out huge amounts of additional payments last year (£900) ….

    Then there are the waspis. I ve suffered because the pension age keeps being put up – so if these ladies didn’t look to their personal situation why should taxpayers ‘ throw money at them?

    BTW – I understand that the cut off date for claiming the winter fuel payment is Friday 20th December – so claim it online whether you think you’ll get it or not …..

       25 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Yes, it gives one a warm fuzzy feeling thinking about our taxpayer funded Christmas bonuses for unemployed Syrian torturers and various others wandering around the middle east and Africa executing Christians and burning churches to the ground.

      I hear the Nairobi branch of Bentleys R Us and Karachi’s Mercedes 4 Mohammeds are having bumper years.

         27 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Africa remained the largest recipient of UK region-specific bilateral ODA in 2022 – accounting for 42.2 per cent. However, in 2022 ODA to Africa decreased by £486 million (28.1 per cent) to £1,241 million.9 Jul 2024

           10 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Fed, I did not get £900 from the Conservatives, where is my other £600?

         2 likes

  9. Zephir says:

    I’m calling HMRC today.

    Capturec.jpg

       34 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      805 Lords on £361 per day was missing!

      “Members of the House of Lords are not salaried. They can opt to receive a £361 per day attendance allowance, plus travel expenses and subsidised restaurant facilities. Peers may also choose to receive a reduced attendance allowance of £180 per day instead.”

      “As of 28 November 2024, it has 805 sitting members.”

      DeW2fUdX0AA6c9D.jpg

         20 likes

      • JohnC says:

        lol – and don’t forget John Prescott did exactly the same.

        Two defining characteristics of the Left are jealousy and spite. Oh and monumental hypocrisy. That’s three.

           18 likes

  10. Fedup2 says:

    Im guessing labour will be rushing through some ‘legislation ‘ preventing the funding of political parties by foreigners – if Elon is to help ‘reform ‘ then he’d better get it in their back account quick ….
    He ll have wanted re assurance that Farage will be in charge for the coming years …. If the blues finally died ‘reform ‘ would stand a good chance of getting a working majority – what ever campaign the bbc does …

       25 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Soros ???

      In the USA:

      “According to a report by the New York Post, Billionaire George Soros is helping US President Joe Biden with the spread of anti-conservatism ideas through TikTok. Soros is also providing aids for the success of extreme left-wing causes and objectives like abolishing border enforcement, defunding cops etc.

      The report highlights that Soros’ Open Society Foundation funded $5.5 million to the nonprofit Accelerate Action Inc. in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, Accelerate Action Inc. then shelled out at least $300,000 to nonprofit, Gen Z for Change, which has a network of 500 activists, organizers, and creators. According to publicly available tax records, Accelerate Action is the only nonprofit which has donated money to Gen Z for Change.

      Reportedly, Gen Z for Change helps Biden in spreading awareness about his policy agenda. Gen Z for Change are quite active on TikTok. Acccording to Gen Z for Change founder Aidan Kohn-Murphy’s speakers bureau, they have been involved in partnerships with the White House and Democratic National Committee.

      On Wednesday, Kohn-Murphy highlighted what the group supports and aims to achieve.

      “We are unequivocally supportive of Medicare for all, the Green New Deal, Palestinian liberation, [and] a plethora of progressive policies that a vast majority of Gen Z supports,” said Kohn-Murphy.

      The group’s deputy executive director, Victoria Hammett is very active in voicing concerns about women’s rights.”

         15 likes

    • atlas_shrugged says:

      Corbyn says it is OK for the Trades Unions to donate money to the labour party because the Unions are democratic.

      A bit like it would be OK for the BBC to donate to labour because the licence fee is democratic and paid for by its members.

      Hmmm members or extortion victims?

         25 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Fed, I reckon on a ‘cut and run’ General Election before 2029 with Labour crashing & trashing the UK economy – again. I think it may be a Coalition between the Conservatives and Reform (winning more seats than the Tories) with the price for that, Farage as PM, Badenoch as his Deputy PM.

         4 likes

    • Demon says:

      Labour has always benefitted from EU donations and help on other ways. If they clamp down on foreign donations they will go bust

         3 likes

  11. Zephir says:

    “Nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to political causes in 2021.

    A nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives in 2021, plus another $60 million to like-minded charities.

    Soros, who personally donated $170 million during the 2022 midterms to Democratic candidates and campaigns on top of that, spread the additional largess through the Open Society Policy Center — a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that falls under the Soros-funded Open Society Foundations network, according to a copy of its 2021 tax filing, which was obtained by CNBC and is the most recent data available. The Open Society Policy Center also doled out $138 million to advocacy groups and causes in 2020. Two of Soros’ children sit on its board, the tax filings and its website show.

    The donations bring Soros’ contributions to political campaigns and causes since January 2020 to roughly half a billion dollars — at the least — most of it steered through dark money nonprofit groups and going largely toward political causes aligned with the Democratic Party.

    Soros’ nonprofit donations don’t always go directly to political causes. The funds sometimes flow from one of his nonprofits, then to another, before being spent on the advertising, organizing and social media campaigns that directly reach voters.”

       17 likes

    • atlas_shrugged says:

      Billy Goats bunging the bBC and Grauniad?

         7 likes

      • popeye says:

        From the BBC website “The former Conservative MP Miriam Cates wrote on X: “Now imagine…a picture of Bill Gates with Keir Starmer, pledging support for the Labour Party. You are either for or against foreign interference in British politics. It can’t just depend on whether you agree with or like the individual billionaire concerned.”

        I think it’s a very safe bet that Starmer has/will have benefitted from Gates. See Bovaer/farmer IHT for why. I wonder if he will do book release/after dinner speeches/non-executive directorships after he retires (hopefully soon)?

           16 likes

  12. Zephir says:

    In the UK:

    “Does George Soros want to split the United Kingdom?

    George Soros, has once again stirred the pot of UK politics. His campaign group, Open Democracy, was a key backer of the “Break Up Britain” conference in Scotland.

    George Soros, the controversial billionaire, has once again stirred the pot of UK politics. His campaign group, Open Democracy, was a key backer of the “Break Up Britain” conference in Scotland, raising eyebrows and ire amongst UK political circles. The conference’s message was clear: challenge the status quo and promote the breakup of the United Kingdom.

    A controversial foreign billionaire who was accused of ploughing money into Remainer groups has been accused of backing Humza Yousaf’s latest plot to get Scottish independence.

    UK Politicians Slam Soros: “Keep your nose out!”

    Marco Longhi, Dudley North Conservative MP, voiced a strong opinion: Soros should stay out of British politics. Longhi emphasised the sanctity of the democratic process and the people’s will, suggesting Soros’s involvement is an unwarranted influence.

    Lee Anderson, another Tory MP, and Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, echoed these sentiments, expressing disdain for the event and its participants, accusing them of being anti-British.”

       22 likes

  13. Zephir says:

    2018
    “George Soros has moved to defy his critics over his £400,000 donation to the pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain by pledging an additional £100,000 to support efforts to fight Brexit.

    The billionaire investor’s Open Society Foundation (OSF) is set to match a crowdfunding campaign set up in the wake of attacks on Soros, which has already raised more than £50,000 since his support was revealed on Wednesday last week.”

       16 likes

  14. Zephir says:

    “George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, best known for funding civil rights activists across Eastern Europe and the developing world, are now funding projects in northern England.

    The society is increasingly turning their attention to affluent western Europe in response to the rise of the far right.

    Much of the enlarged focus – which includes funding organisations devoted to fostering community spirit in poorest parts of England that voted strongly for Brexit – reflects a concern that Western Europe is also succumbing to the charms of nationalist strongman leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.”

       16 likes

  15. Fedup2 says:

    Presumably soros has a US and EU passport …..

       10 likes

  16. Zephir says:

    “When the left loves billionaires

    Why does only right-wing funding count as “dark money”?

    The Guardian has always had rather an odd view on large donor funding, however, perhaps because it is itself partially reliant on a venture capital fund.

    In contrast to its favourable coverage of Soros, wealthy donors who fund right-wing causes are apt to find themselves labelled as “dark money”. Take for instance a large donation by the Jewish-American Chicago businessman Barre Seid, which the Guardian describes as “dark money” intended to help “Republican officials manipulate elections”.

    Even though Leonard Leo, head of the Marble Freedom Trust which received the so-called “dark money”, says that it is intended to counteract the financial heft of left-wing donors like Soros, the Guardian doesn’t feel the need to label Soros’ donations the same way or to discuss the impact of those donations in such negative terms.

    Similarly in an article on the biggest donors in American politics, left-wing donors like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are described as “paragons of philanthropy”, whilst liberal donors more generally are “a rather attractive bunch” who are “giving for the common good” and are even “useful for the goods and jobs they have helped produce”.

    In contrast, right-wing donors are “extremely conservative”, as well as “unenthusiastic” about “programs supported by large majorities of Americans”. These right-wing donors are considered especially dodgy because they “stay almost entirely silent” about their favoured causes in public. With no apparent irony, the article was funded by the Ford Foundation.”

    https://thecritic.co.uk/when-the-left-loves-billionaires/

       19 likes

  17. tomo says:

    I do hope they rename the pub “The Ginger Jihadi”

    Screenshot-2024-12-18-at-04-18-35-Home-X.png

       21 likes

  18. tomo says:

    I’d be unsurprised if they turned out to be a wart on Hope not Hate’s backside.

    As it stands they’re part way there….see link

    Screenshot-2024-12-18-at-08-27-44-Charlotte-Gill-on-X-I-ve-found-out-MORE-about-Led-by-Donkeys-See-W.png

    https://x.com/CharlotteCGill/status/1869038040129351717

       9 likes

    • Zephir says:

      “Is there anyone in Britain today more achingly insufferable than the members of Led by Donkeys? I’m struggling to think of any serious rivals. In fairness, though, I should acknowledge that not everyone finds these trendy, Hackney-based satirists quite so tiresome. After all, they’ve just released a bestselling book. An exhibition of their work recently opened in Bristol. And this week The Guardian honoured them with a gushing 2,200-word profile.

      In a way, I suppose, it’s impressive that they’ve managed to remain so successful. If only because what they do is now completely pointless.

      With characteristic pomposity, they describe their work not merely as satire, but as “an accountability project”. When they started out, five years ago, this stupendously smug phrase did at least make some kind of sense. After all, they were attacking those who, at that time, were in power: Brexiteers.

      In 2024, though, Britain is led by an entirely different set of donkeys. Centrist Remainers.

      In light of which, doesn’t it seem just a tiny bit peculiar that this acclaimed “accountability project” continues to focus its energies on taunting figures such as Nigel Farage – the leader of a party that boasts a grand total of five MPs – rather than, say, Sir Keir Starmer, who has over 400? Instead of rehashing other people’s two-year-old jokes about a lettuce outlasting Liz Truss – a woman who is no longer even in Parliament, let alone Downing Street – isn’t it about time that these fearless satirists turned their attention to the actual Government?

      Think of all the hilarious spoof billboards they could put up, skewering Labour for freezing grannies and freeing sex offenders. And what fun they could have, holding the Prime Minister to account for his apparently limitless appetite for freebies.

      To date, however, Led by Donkeys have been curiously slow to seize these glorious comic opportunities. Still, if they prove unable to overcome their reticence, there will at least be one upside. They’ll be able to say they’ve created something truly original.

      Satire that protects the powerful.”

         19 likes

  19. Fedup2 says:

    Today
    I thought they’d keep the 0810 big interview for Elizabeth ‘liz’ Kendall – to explain her waspi decision … it’s sort of nationally important …
    But no – good old foreign affairs – the usual foreigner – yank – Aussie – ngo type bleating on about stuff which is of no interest to British voters … with no mention of when all those Syrians can go back to rebuild their third world hole …

    So it’s another example of the bbc / Marxists working together …
    You can understand the silence – Kendal and starmer and the rest of the rabble – Harmon et al- actively campaigned for ‘justice ‘ – but now – not a single red MP willing to back their principles …
    Party discipline is holding …

       19 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Fed, the 10 to 8 a.m interview was with a stand-in for Liz Kendall, another gobby Labour woman MP, and JustRemainIn Webb had a hard time getting in a question!

         8 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Up2 – thanks – I thought ‘liz’ might have been doing the rounds but that accusations of hypocrisy would have ended her. I mean – it’s one thing to make the ‘difficult decision ‘ but another to have campaigned for the waspis like a bunch from the upper sixth ….

        The first 6 months was meant to be the honey moon – but it looks like the chagos thing has failed because trump has phoned the new pm of Mauritius – with an invitation to the 20th January bash – I reckon …

           11 likes

  20. MarkyMark says:

    2024 … Meta – the owner of Facebook – says that any implication that it deliberately suppressed particular voices is “unequivocally false”.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c786wlxz4jgo

    2022 … Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook restricting a story about Joe Biden’s son during the 2020 election was based on FBI misinformation warnings.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62688532

       12 likes

  21. AsISeeIt says:

    Just not cricket – or darts – edition

    On a morning when the top headline story in many of our print titles concerns: Government rejects call to pay compo to 3.5m women who lost out in pension shake-up… Anger Waspi women at pension age change protest (Mirror)

    It would be remiss of Mr AsI not to kick off with a calm down dear…

    I’m 62, so is Demi Moore. Why do I look like her mum? (the formerly serious Times)

    Speaking of kicking off: How dad of tragic young [football] star turned unspeakable grief into force for good – the heart-on-sleeve, starving nurses eating out of NHS dustbins, Daily Mirror, carriers a frontpage picture of this chap: at SPOTY last night

    …receives Helen Rollason Award… at BBC Sports Personality of the Year… son… – an academy footballer who was stabbed to death outside his school’s gates in 2006. (BBC) – You guessed it, he’s black.

    …was involved in an altercation with 16-year-old fellow London Academy pupil Hannad Hasan outside the school gates… in a headlock before stabbing him once in the heart with a penknife (Thank you Wiki)

    Ah, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show – once described by a sports journalist as having to attend a 4-hour long achingly PC right-on virtue-signalling performance.

    Keeley’s photo finish… Hodgkinson beats Littler and Root to win Sports Personality of the Year (‘i’ newspaper)

    Luke Littler is an English professional darts player – darts is followed by people who are common and probably voted Brexit – plus it is questionable whether it’s really a sport.

    Joe Root, is an English international cricketer, who plays for the English cricket team and formerly captained the England Test team – cricket is – I think we can all agree – too obviously and traditionally English a sport (when Englishmen play it) and a bit too posh. English people who follow cricket probably voted Tory – more fool them.

    Hogdkinson’s appease

    Both the above chaps have bollocks – hence the Guardian in celebratory mood suddenly promotes sport to its frontpage: Golden year Olympian Keeley Hodgkinson wins BBC Sports Personality

    But as though to prove, despite feminism, women can’t have everything in life…

    Fury after Labour rejects ‘Waspi women’ payouts (Guardian)

    Can we have another calm down dear?

    My ex-husband’s PDA with a woman half my age… Sara Vine (the ever-excitable Daily Mail)

    PDA, you ask? As luck would have it Mr AsI has been binge watching The Office – the American version – and lo and behold the term PDA came up in an episode where Steve Carell (the Ricky Gervais stand-in) is upsetting his co-workers by being overly smoochy in the office with his new girlfriend. PDA = Public Display of Affection

    Our Sara Vine refers of course to: Michael Gove snapped ‘in snog’ with Oxford lecturer (cue a welcome debut hereabouts for the local Oxford Mail) – calm down misogynists… this isn’t Micky Gove suddenly caught out batting for the other side – Oxford Dons can be female these days you know! He’s simply bowled a maiden over – as they say.

    Tory resigns to spend more time away from his family – and instead with a younger generation

    The former Conservative cabinet minister, 57, reportedly ‘stunned’ diners when he leant in for a public Christmas smooch with Dr Lola Salem, 32, at fish restaurant J Sheekey… Mr Gove stepped down from parliament at the General Election, after saying it was time for a “new generation” to lead. (Oxford Mail)

       11 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Asiseeit – thank you for explaining the ‘pda’ – something which ‘Greg ‘is so fond of – but strangely hasn’t been arrested for yet .
      I think the PDA should be on the list of things to be reported to plod . Any display of emotion – love – hate must be banished . The soma in the water supply will lead us to non stop repeats of the 3 dykes show – which used to be the SPOTY …. I hope the winner is one of the sistas …

      Btw my guilty pleasure is the interview with the 4 coloured girls who come 4th in the 100 M 4×4 thing where they drop the baton …
      , 77 brigade note to file …

         12 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “Fury after Labour rejects ‘Waspi women’ paypouts Guardian”

      Fury from all those who voted for them?

         7 likes

  22. MarkyMark says:

    “Thousands of British jobs to be created through closer UK-Saudi cooperation”

    obs boost in north of England following launch of world first new Graphene-enriched carbon fibre plant project in Saudi Arabia

    Comes as major green energy projects deliver wins for the UK and Saudi Arabia, creating more than 4,000 jobs and delivering on the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change

    Builds on strong partnership between the North East and Saudi Arabia, which is already accelerating regeneration in Newcastle, with progress towards new leading university partnership

       8 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      2024 – a great year for burning coal – reports ….

         10 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        How much of Saudi Arabia’s water is from desalination?
        The Costs and Benefits of Water Desalination in the Gulf
        70 percent
        Today the majority of GCC countries are dependent upon desalination plants for their water needs. Approximately 42 percent of the United Arab Emirates’ drinking water comes from desalination plants, while in Kuwait it is 90 percent, in Oman 86 percent, and in Saudi Arabia 70 percent.

           8 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        Just ordered another load of coal, it’ll be here tomorrow!

        Better to burn that, than wood, as our log men always leave it all in a pile by the gate, whereas, the coal man tips it into the bunker properly, and saves me having to stack everything up!

        I do like to cut the kindling though, with a bloody great machete from an Army Champ vehicle! Fabulous tool that!

           10 likes

  23. Philip_2 says:

    BBC confirms Strictly Come Dancing Drag Queens.
    the BBC is featuring drag queens in its flagship show, Strictly Come Dancing. 

    ‘BBC has announced that the Christmas special will include Drag Race UK finalist Tayce as a contestant in the primetime Christmas Day slot. So families across the UK gather to watch Christmas TV with their children, expecting age-appropriate entertainment from the BBC… and we know the rest…

    Petition against– will be ignored, – but its still a protest against the BBC and its perversions.
    https://citizengo.org/en-gb/fm/14477-bbc-stop-pushing-the-lgbtq–agenda-onto-children?dr=60192::ce3386303ef7bc0b83cf3c3ea84eee66

       19 likes

  24. tomo says:

       6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      HA HA HA HA “This Government is telling you waht you want to hear” … most governments … ha ha hah ah

         4 likes

  25. andyjsnape says:

    How Facebook restricted news in Palestinian territories
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c786wlxz4jgo

    Its okay for the bbc to choose its leftist output, but not okay in the bbc world for anyone else to restrict news. All media outlets have their own agenda. But the bbc knows best

       14 likes

  26. MarkyMark says:

    YOU ASKED FOR CHANGE …

    “As former Brexit negotiator and leavers’ hero Lord Frost said at the weekend:

    “This huge unit is getting ready for a major renegotiation – it will have more people than I had for the original deal with the EU in 2020 (SO THE TORIES DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE EITHER IS THE READING OF THIS LINE). Everyone in this Government really wants to rejoin the EU one day. Only public opinion is stopping them. So they are trying to act in secrecy and conceal their plans to align with EU rules, to bring back EU law and to give away our fishing grounds, by calling all this just a “reset”. Unless we can stop them, the reset will end with this country once again in the EU’s orbit, gradually losing our ability to set our own rules and make our own laws. It’s time for those who support our national independence and democracy to wake up.”

    order-order.om

       24 likes

    • moggiemoo says:

      It’ll be funny watching the EU trying to inflict their rules on what will shortly be a caliphate.

         9 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        EU will like the new Islamic rules in the UK…. and so will the Priests and Imams!

        “Draft Iraqi law allowing 9-year-olds to marry would ‘legalise child rape’, say activists”

           5 likes

  27. tomo says:

    I’m with Dan on this.

    All this dress-up / dress-down posturing is really boiling my urine.

    Screenshot-2024-12-18-at-10-04-40-Home-X.png

       12 likes

  28. Fedup2 says:

    YouTube sent me to the 1 hour press conference President trump held on Monday . It felt very different . The msm was on its ‘ best behaviour – and anyone pre election who mouthed off about trumps’ mental capacity should be ashamed .

    The difference between now and 2016 is huge . I think – too – that the successful defamation action against ABC – with more to follow – will concentrate their minds greatly .

    The sale of parts of the border wall to slow down the rebuild it truly criminal – as Trump pointed out ….

    Trump mentioned William —again – but I don’t know whether TTK will be at the inauguration – let’s hope not ….

       17 likes

  29. Fedup2 says:

    The end of year report for the Marxist regime really isn’t going to look very good – and the ‘tough choices ‘ crap really was just that ….

       11 likes

  30. tomo says:

    Screenshot-2024-12-18-at-10-48-57-Valerius-Ander-MM-Omnologos-on-X-How-dare-Farage-meet-Musk-https-t.png

    BREAKING: Keir Starmer will appear in posters next to Jimmy Savile and Harold Shipman in order to remind people that worse misfortunes have befallen upon Britain

       23 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Grant Shapps gets ‘helping hand’ from Bill Gates in new video as they pledge to make ‘entire world’ net zero

      https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1626248265124524033

      they pledge to make ‘entire world’ net zero

      they pledge to make ‘entire world’ net zero

      they pledge to make ‘entire world’ net zero

         8 likes

    • tomo says:

      I did wonder and … according to Wikipedia

      The GMC didn’t strike Shipman off until 2 weeks after his conviction on an array of charges not just murder..

         5 likes

  31. Doublethinker says:

    We must rely on Elon’s Musk’s charity to rescue us. Hopefully a mega donation to Reform will put them on a solid footing to compete at the next GE .
    My question is, who will they be competing against? I suspect that it will be the entire political establishment, the legacy media and the Blob. Reform will certainly need all his help via social media as the establishment will be trying to censor them out of the conversation.
    If Reform get say 250 seats and the Tories 100 I bet that the Tories will form a coalition with the LibLabs rather than with Reform. Confirming what we have long suspected.

       22 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Double I hope Elon will send one of his disciples to help reform sort out the ground campaign very soon – including vetting – and maybe getting some reas conservatives with clean hands on board – the rest of the blues should just rot …. Including my MP – IDS – who seems more interested in Chinese than Chingford …

         11 likes

  32. Fedup2 says:

    Seems that Obama Biden is trying to trump proof the federal government by re doing employment contracts to prevent Elon firing the thousands of dead wood ..

    The vindictiveness is only going to get worse across the next 33 days . I bet a lot of evil will be done around Christmas Day including thousands being pardoned ….

    .. let’s hope TTK makes another deceitful announcement on top of what he has done – his ex chief of staff is to get a peerage – presumably to shut her up …

       14 likes

  33. tomo says:

    Hi guys (‘n gels?) – what’s the DEI position at Dennison Barracks?

    Screenshot-2024-12-18-at-11-07-17-Darren-of-Plymouth-on-X-Hands-up-if-you-are-on-a-list-https-t-co-3.png

       15 likes

  34. MarkyMark says:

    “The government has briefed that the renewed Anti-Corruption Commission has started investigations into “embezzlement” by Hasina “and other members of her family.” Labour City Minister Tulip Siddiq, Hasina’s niece, is confirmed to be under investigation and is named in the Bangladeshi media”
    order-order.com

    Barry Gardiner says Prince Andrew told him not to sweat as the pressure is now with Tulip! HA HA HAH AHAH!

       6 likes

  35. tomo says:

    Labour in cahoots with the permanent government crooks are delaying local elections by at least a year….

    https://archive.is/hbE6y

       11 likes

  36. Fedup2 says:

    With apologies – a piece from the DT about meesh …. Apologies again …

    STARTS Just before Mishal Husain signed off from the Today programme for the final time, the BBC’s interrogator-in-chief was asked the question to which everybody listening wanted the answer. “Did you want to go?” probed John Humphrys, wheeled out of retirement to pay tribute to his erstwhile colleague.

    Husain was characteristically diplomatic with her reply – “I think it was time for me to do something else” – but Humphrys gave that short shrift. “You know perfectly well you wouldn’t get away with that answer if you were asking the questions,” the Welshman growled. “You know what everyone is saying out there, which is that the bosses made…”

    Cue the rest of the Today team and alumni – Sarah Montague, Nick Robinson and Justin Webb – jumping in to prevent Humphrys finishing his awkward follow-up. It does not take a genius to guess why: BBC executives are widely seen, inside and outside the Corporation, as allowing Husain to slip through their fingers when they should have pulled out all the stops to retain one of their very best broadcasters. Her departure felt genuinely like the end of an era for the programme, as if we were moving from a time of high seriousness to something more informal.

    Some say that if only the BBC had made her the lead anchor of the News at 10, or beaten Laura Kuenssberg to the Sunday morning political slot, then Husain would not have abandoned the BBC for Bloomberg.

    “I’m afraid the BBC is run by people who don’t care about news and don’t understand news,” sighs one high-profile former editor. “I don’t think any of them get it and they are careless about talent…If you want to keep someone at the BBC, you can. They are being absolute idiots.”

    A former senior executive in the news department blames the current bosses – Deborah Turness and her deputy, Jonathan Munro – for reducing the quality of the BBC’s news offering by centralising output and stopping editors of rival programmes vying for the best scoops. “This management team has been pretty disastrous for BBC News,” he says. “You take all the tastiness out of the product and instead you get this boring, repetitive stuff. It’s unwatchable now. Mishal would have felt that and valued editors and editorial guidance.”

    Husain was keen to replace Andrew Marr when the Sunday morning programme became available in 2022. There is a lingering sense that Kuenssberg was given the plum post because there was not much else that she would have been able to do after stepping down as political editor in 2022 – despite multiple sources saying that Husain gave a very impressive audition and is a superior broadcaster.

    “It was all pre-ordained. Very rarely is there a [hiring] process in the BBC that isn’t fixed,” says the former BBC News boss. “The obvious thing to do was to give it to Laura; the better thing to do would have been to give it to Mishal. It is not a good show for a Sunday morning, it is very cold. Mishal is a much more credible choice with her interviewing technique.”
    Other roles she has been touted for include helming the News at 10 on TV more regularly, as well as election debates and state occasions (one of her most-watched interviews was when she sat down with Prince Harry and Meghan as they announced their engagement in 2017).

    Husain, 51, is discreet to a fault and even her closest colleagues admit that she has not told them why she has decided to leave now, with one calling her “sphinx-like”.

    “I think she felt it wasn’t so much the presenting of the news – which, frankly, would be a step down in this respect,” says a colleague. “What she wanted, which would be a step up, is to do the big interviews, the royal stuff, the big political set pieces. She felt that, because she’d done so well in the debates, she was qualified to do that.”

    With Husain said to be eager to take a step back from the relentless daily news cycle – she has often said a decade on Today was long enough – and Clive Myrie seemingly preferred as the News at 10 anchor, there would probably not be enough news-adjacent set-piece events to justify a full-time salary.

    A current BBC News boss expresses exasperation that the narrative about feckless managers unable to hold onto stars has taken hold. “Mishal didn’t want to do news any more,” they say. “We would have loved to keep her, but you have got to respect someone’s decisions. We tried lots of different things.”

    The eldest child of Pakistani immigrant parents – her father, Imtiaz, was a urologist and her mother, Shama, worked as a TV producer before becoming a teacher – Husain was born in Northampton but grew up in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

    After earning law degrees from Cambridge and the European University Institute in Florence, she moved into journalism. A few years after joining the BBC in 1998, she married Meekal Hashmi, a lawyer, and they have three sons. In the summer she published Broken Threads, a memoir about how the partition of India impacted her four grandparents.

    Part of the reason Husain – arguably the most prominent Muslim broadcaster in the country – is said to have been keen to do less daily news is the rumbling conflicts in the Middle East. Most notably, Husain was told on air by David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesman that she ought to be given the “pro-Palestinian reporter of the year award” for her line of questioning in the summer. The BBC robustly defended Husain at the time, and said that she “was asking legitimate and important questions in a professional, fair and courteous manner”.

    Husain hinted that she was frustrated about reporting on Gaza when she accepted the Charles Wheeler Award, a top broadcasting prize, in October. “When you’re in quite a combative moment, you have to hold your nerve. And the only way, the only thing that gives me courage to hold my nerve is when I’m sure enough of my facts, and in the context of the conflict in Gaza at the moment that is made more difficult by not having the access that is normally the case,” she said.

    “Even to the hardest of war zones your own colleagues who are, who have been trusted voices in so many different arenas for such a long time who are now in this arena, there’s a whole different level of connection that our audiences have and we are missing that in this context.”
    The riots in the summer appear to have added to this sense of unease. “This year I think I have felt racism in a way that I probably haven’t at any point in my career before and that’s in this country,” Husain said at the award ceremony. “That has been hard, and that’s given me pause.”

    BBC executives insist that the break-up has been “amicable”, and it is telling that Turness personally added a rarely-spotted line in the announcement of her departure: “I very much hope the BBC and Mishal will get the chance to work together again one day,” she said. Certainly the thing about Husain is her flexibility. She has the intellectual chops and the erudition to follow in the footsteps of arts broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, for example.

    If her colleagues understand why she felt frustrated at the BBC, there was surprise when she said that she was moving to Bloomberg – a former employer – to launch a weekend “global interview show”, given its vastly smaller audiences. However, Husain is expected to double her salary of more than £340,000 when she joins in the new year. “If someone has got a better offer and they don’t want to do what you’ve got, it’s pretty hard to keep them,” says the news executive.
    Turness may have been savvy in keeping the door open for Husain to return at some point in the future. Interviewed on stage at a literature festival two years ago, Webb recalled being courted by Times Radio and asking Husain what she thought of his jumping ship to a much smaller station. “Go into your study, talk to yourself for a couple of hours and see how it feels,” she counselled. If Husain gets a similar feeling at Bloomberg, she could well end up back at the BBC. ENDS

    Palestinian reporter of the year award – from the IDF

    Good riddance – but so many more now …

       16 likes

  37. andyjsnape says:

    Anyone fancy emails from Laura Kuenssberg’

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsletters/z3qtg2p

    Just more spam to block or delete

       8 likes

  38. atlas_shrugged says:

    Mark Steyn in fine form:

    It should hardly need saying that, when something’s in all the papers and all the news shows day after day, by definition it’s a massive distract-op. We should all have learned that lesson since Covid: everything we were told – on masks, lockdown, the efficacy of vaccines – was bollocks, and, as we have additionally learned, they knew it was bollocks at the time they told us. Right now, it might be useful to have Covid back in the public prints, at a time when Biden is proposing to extend Pfizer and Moderna’s immunity from liability and give Fauci et al a preemptive pardon for anything they may have done anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

    https://www.steynonline.com/14846/what-makes-the-news-and-what-doesnt

       16 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      One month from conscription to missing. That’s not far off the Great War, when, at various stages, the life expectancy of an infantryman was two weeks. That would seem like an interesting story. But Ukraine is as gone from your screen as Charlie Rose.

      “In September, my 45-year-old nephew, a father to three girls, was apprehended by recruitment officers in his hometown in Ukraine. Within hours, he was dispatched, alongside many other detained men, to defend the frontline in eastern Ukraine. A month later, we learned that he was missing in action.

      The last news of him was that he was seen trying to apply a tourniquet to the stump of his leg, which had been blown off in an explosion. The Russian forces were pushing forward, and the combat was brutal. I doubt my nephew had any real chance of surviving that chaos”

      https://x.com/ScoopUrban/status/1867644775622406477

         7 likes

  39. Sluff says:

    Given the BBC’s insatiable woke political correctness, plus their gradual withdrawal from mainstream sport coverage and thus coverage of women’s football and the like, not to mention the general negativity on even the BBC’s own HYS to this and recent years SPOTY, I think I have the solution for next year’s Sports Personality of the Year.

    Step forward…..Chris McCausland, the blind winner of Strictly Come Dancing!

    You know it makes sense.

       13 likes

  40. Sluff says:

    Greg Wallace is being replaced on that BBC cookery show by Grace Dent.

    Who just happens to be ….a Guardian columnist.
    Amazing. Not.

       18 likes

  41. MarkyMark says:

    The price of Treason in the UK? No Turkey dinner .. .ha ha hah ah ahah

    “Prince Andrew will not attend royal pre-Christmas lunch”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70e725rj48o

       9 likes

    • andyjsnape says:

      Re Prince Andrew

      “It comes after Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo, who had links to the prince, was revealed to have been barred from the UK after concerns about national security risks”

      But its okay to let tens of thousands of illegals in to the UK, the size of a army

         11 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        The alleged killer of three small girls in Southport has refused to speak to the court when he appeared today ….. I reckon he’ll try ‘diminished ‘ which is fashionable and the easy way to get off ….

        Im sure there are plenty of £ expert £ witnesses willing to deliver the goods …

           14 likes

  42. MarkyMark says:

    “18 -year-old Axel Rudakubana has pleaded not guilty after failing to to reply when arraigned at Liverpool Crown Court on three counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder. This follows the deaths of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.”
    order-order.com

    9670a951-74ab-4708-8ca2-2bd6e9486225-e62582dd-b492-43e2-8012-38e4ef2e315f

       7 likes

  43. MarkyMark says:

    Starmer set to nominate Sue Gray for peerage
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8dqerp5gero

    ** BBC early morning news so easily missed.

    Screenshot%202024-09-19%20195219.jpg

    https://memory-holed-news.blogspot.com/2024/10/do-you-feel-in-charge.html

       10 likes

  44. Fedup2 says:

    Freezing this Christmas – on your streaming device – please play it to get it to number one in something or other … im listening right now 🎼

    It’s the next stage to the petition …

    2 985 000

       10 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    “Taxpayers can’t afford Waspi compensation, says PM”
    Diane Abbott: We promised the Waspi women justice
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy85edy0nxo

    Mao Kier did more good than harm” (c) Diane Abbott

    …………………………

    Payment received on 24 September 2024 – £22,500.00
    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10001/diane_abbott/hackney_north_and_stoke_newington/register

    24 November 2020, received £200 from the BBC,
    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10001

    Name of donor: PNP Women’s Movement
    Address of donor: 89 Old Hope Road, St. Andrew, Jamaica
    Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights £1,737.81, accommodation £802.01 and use of the airport Lounge £34.75, total value £2,574.57
    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10001

    Name of donor: The Premier League
    Everton, value £500

    Etc …..

    Waspi has been pushing for compensation previously suggesting that some women should receive £10,000 each, at a cost of £36bn.

       6 likes

  46. Lucy Pevensey says:

    S A M M Y woodhouse

    ROCHDALE: ‘Officers won’t be punished for grooming gang failures’.
    Why am I not surprised?
    Don’t ever let them forget how children have been groomed, abused, tortured, trafficked, impregnated, murdered, blamed, failed and ignored.

    Don’t ever forget.

    https://x.com/sammywoodhouse1/status/1869392236041162883

       17 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “Revealing details of the inquiry’s findings, Prof Jay said: “It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered.”

      The inquiry team found examples of “children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone”.”

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

      “I commissioned this independent review to understand fully what went wrong, why it went wrong and to ensure that the lessons learned in Rotherham mean these mistakes can never happen again.

      mean these mistakes can never happen again
      mean these mistakes can never happen again
      mean these mistakes can never happen again

      2014 … Peterborough sex gang’s ‘sophisticated’ grooming tactics
      Published 15 January 2014
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-25659042

         6 likes

  47. Sluff says:

    And in yet another triumph for multiculturalism and diversity, we have this.

    ‘A criminology student has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder after stabbing two women on Bournemouth beach……..
    Amie Gray, 34, was killed and 38-year-old Leanne Miles was seriously injured in the attack on Durley Chine Beach on 24 May.
    Nasen Saadi, 20, from Croydon, was found guilty following a trial at Winchester Crown Court…..’

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg520q1p68do

    Better not criticise him though or use hurty words. Might end up in clink myself.f

       17 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Stuff – and this one follows the one I described yesterday by another third world import . We are expected to live ( and die ) because of such vermin ….
      No wonder the prisons fill so quickly – even without the political prisoners of `TTK …

         13 likes

    • atlas_shrugged says:

      Following on from the calls to ban home schooling after one murder by someone from the 3rd world we have …

      … Ban beaches following another murder by someone from the 3rd world.

      bBC Verified Fact (c) 2024

         11 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Media “student convicted”
      telegraph “Nasen Saadi, who is of Iraqi-Thai heritage and moved to the UK when he was four”

         2 likes

  48. JohnC says:

    Syria’s new leaders must keep promises to respect rights, UN envoy says
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89x048kx73o

    The UN and the BBC live in some bizarre world where they are the reference for what people ‘must’ do.

    What a stupid statement by the UN idiot. They are terrorists : they don’t have to do anything. And when they do, the UN will say they must stop doing it. They are pathetic.

       8 likes

  49. MarkyMark says:

    “Student guilty of murder after beach stabbings”
    Student?
    White Student?
    Local Student?
    A criminology student?
    Ban Studying to end crime?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg520q1p68do

       8 likes