It Certainly Tells Us All We Need To Know About Modern Conservationists

Heading out for a day in the hills, Falcon Frost pulls on heavy boots and slings a rifle onto his back. He is surrounded by the towering beauty of the Glenfalloch estate in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, north of Glasgow. For ‘townies’, this is a magical place to escape the rat race and bag the six Munros – peaks above 3,000ft – including the queen of the Southern Highlands, Ben Lui, which lies within its 25,000 acres. For Mr Frost, a stalker and estate manager, this is also his place of work. Deer are culled on estates such as Glenfalloch and, for much of the past 28 years, it has been Mr Frost’s job to ensure that it is carried out.

Lately, though, he and others who earn their living in the countryside are starting to feel it is they who have a target on their backs. ‘There’s very little trust left and that’s the problem. We seem to be getting it from all angles,’ he said. ‘Some folk do feel this is an attack on our traditional way of life.’

And they are absolutely correct to feel that way, because it undoubtedly is exactly that. 

He is referring to a recent Scottish Government consultation on the most radical changes to deer management in living memory. It contains proposals that would rip up the previously collaborative approach to deer management and, instead, demand reductions in deer numbers. Failure by gamekeepers to carry out culls, ordered by regulator NatureScot, could lead to a fine of £40,000 and a jail term of up to three months – or both. NatureScot could also bill an estate owner if a third party has to do the cull.

It's not as if deer population is the most pressing environmental issue in Scotland, either... 

To seasoned observers such as Mr Frost, 48, this increasingly bitter standoff is symptomatic of concerted efforts by an urban-centric government to wrest control of the countryside from those who live and work there. And it’s all being done under the flag of environmentalism.

The worst things in the world are usually done by people wrapping themselves in a flag of righteous cause, Mt Frost... 

He added: ‘We had a visit from biodiversity minister Lorna Slater at Glenfalloch and we offered to take her out on the hill for a day and show her what deer management involves. But she hasn’t taken us up on that, unfortunately.’

Anone who refuses to take an opportunity to see first hand what effects their policy is having in the real world probably already knows. But doesn't feel able to defend it. 

The Greens minister, who is leading the consultation, has also twice rejected an invitation by Tory MSP and landowner Edward Mountain to a deer stalking ‘fact-finding’ event despite her strong advocacy of the culls.

‘It’s regrettable that she has declined this invitation twice, and perhaps it tells you everything you need to know about this Scottish Government.’

It certainly does. 

Mento imperialism

 The old term for it was calypso but that in itself was a catch-all for a variety of styles, including mento, the Jamaican precursor of ska (50s), rocksteady (60s) and reggae (after that), then ska revival (Two Tone in London, late 70s, early 80s).

This is an unusual post in that, although I really like the style of music, the rhythms, the dominant bass and keyboards, most appealing to me ... the history of the genre is quite anti British, anti Christian ... it was the music of rebellion against the governor in the big house.

First a look at the differences between those variations in style:

The skinheads of London, being inner-city violent, were obviously going to prefer the staccato ska, e.g. Jerry Dammers and the Specials, a cranked up, hyped up post punk genre but I prefer the far more gentle rocksteady and early reggae ... but even in this is a curious anomaly.

Both those styles revolve around Rasta, ganja fed, but despite the melodic rhythms, such as with Rivers of Babylon, it's actually about overthrowing the British oppressor ... violently, a la Hamas. The Yardies and blacks in general are violent people when it comes to the betes noires of their perma-victimhood and the Two Tone left fell for it, just as they're falling for the refugees welcome guff today.  It's nothing to do with blending and fusion, it's quite aggressive ... seeing a takeover of Britain for King Alpha.

The Melodians' version of R of B is my fave, far better imho than Boney M's and yet the latter sing of the Lord and replace the obvious rasta tenets in a cranked up version ... whereas the Melodians keep the violent reference to King Alpha ... yet the music is far softer in itself.

One way for British plus Commonwealth people of a certain age to understand this veiled menace is in the West Indies cricket team of the 70s. In the commentary box it was all fusion and bonhomie but on the field, the four fast bowler attack was no fun for whitey ... and they meant it. Crowds loved the "fun", the festive calypso atmosphere ... Viv Richards just nodded and said little, eternal chip on his shoulder.

My mate has a view on this, on what we're seeing ... the non-whitey saw Victimhood as a good scam to get what they wanted. If left-liberals were so stoopid as to think all was peace and bonhomie, then non-whitey were going to take em to the cleaners ... observe the Inuit, the Oz aborigines, all this national apology guff.

Yet the music is quite fun, is attractive ... what can we do? Analogously ... I once heard that men really do not understand how much women actually resent and hate us as a species, certainly the patriarchy. Then again, I don't fancy being ruled by an insane matriarchy ... hence there must be some middle ground ... but never trying to pretend there were never issues.

And then there's the gentle song embraced by Chelsea FC among others ... look for the recurring graphic here ... the woman, the gun, the dead man:

What am I suggesting? Just that if we welcome someone, always do it from a position of strength ... and never bend the knee. In the guests' countries ... they rule, ok?

And yes, I really do like their gentle music.

Pay No Attention To The (White) Man Behind The Curtain!

Did you think they'd reached the bottom of the barrel when it came to finding things that were 'racist and sexist'? Well, think again. Next in the crosshairs: magicians! Black ones (no, not Alastair Crowley).

Cardoza is one of the US’s only Black female magicians with her own touring show. Her Black Magic Tour blends stage magic and storytelling that highlights the Black illusionists who came before her.

Cardoza first fell in love with the craft when she saw a rabbit being pulled from a hat during her first magic show at five years old. But she didn’t begin practicing until about 20 years later, citing a lack of representation that hindered her ability to see herself in the performances she loved so much.

I think anyone who uses this excuse lacks imagination. 

Bias in the industry is also influenced by public perception. A 2019 study showed that the quality of magic tricks performed by women are perceived to be worse than the same ones done by men.

Magic books also tend to cater to male performers by referencing men’s clothing, such as suit breast pockets. And magic kits for children often feature pictures of white boys on the cover. A hollowed thumb tip made from plastic, a common prop in kits that can be worn to hide objects, usually resembles the color of a white person’s finger.

“Representation is so huge,” Cardoza said, “because people don’t think they can be things unless they see them.”

And you'd think imagibation would be a prime skill for an illusionist, wouldn't you? 

For Cardoza’s part, she plans to make magic more accessible to diverse practitioners and audiences. She launched a Kickstarter campaign to create an inclusive magic kit for children that recently met its fundraising goal. The kit will include a digital app where a diverse group of magicians will teach tricks and the etiquette of stage magic, such as asking for consent before touching a participant.

Surely in the modern age, stage magic is a thing of the past anyway? 

This is nothing less than a coup … globally

Strictly speaking, this is an N.O. type post and part of it was there, plus on twitter. I’ll also mention that Digger was thinking about the constitutionality of postponing the elevtion if the US is in a state of war at the time. The perspicacious among you are well aware of the Demonrat thinking that way.

There’s the Biden Obama axis issues further down in this very long post, using the “read more” line, but first, a quite puzzling thing about DJT and Speaker Johnson. Here is what I posted on it:

"All the bazaar men by the Nile, they got the money on a bet..."

Dr Medhat Keshta, 66, had been struck off after he was accused of putting his own greed before patients when he forged a letter pretending to be from his former employers falsely claiming he had been paid better money when he worked there - before faking a back problem to take six weeks off and then moonlight for another NHS trust. When asked to explain his dishonesty, the father-of-two said he had 'misjudged the situation' cited his large ego and claimed he had 'followed the same procedures covered in Egypt'.

Well, better he goes home and tries it there, then. Once we deport him. We are deporting him? 

He said he had 'no choice' but to demand better money as his daughter Fatima was due to start university and added: 'Culturally, a husband and a father are the 'god' of the house. I did not want my family to find out that I lied and forged a letter. 'This is not how I want to set an example to my family and the wider public.'

Well, now you're in a national newspaper, so that didn't go well, did it?  

He added: 'Apologies are not something that are easily granted where I come from. My ego prevented me from reaching full insight into the case early enough and I regret this deeply. I have now reached a stage where I am openly admitting everything I did. I have not felt more at peace with myself as I feel now. I will never put myself in this place again. These mistakes will not be repeated.'

Because we're deporting you?  

Today, it emerged Keshta's name had been restored to the medical register after Fatima, now a pharmacist and nutritionist, agreed to represent him at a tribunal in Manchester to plead on his behalf. It was the third time he had pleaded for his job back.

*sighs* 

MPTS chairman Mrs Becky Miller said: 'Dr Keshta's journey of insight has been long, and he has had to overcome a lot of self-serving justification for his actions.

'The tribunal bore in mind the 2020 Tribunal's concern that he emphasised Egyptian practices which allow a doctor to take a leave of absence from one place in order to work in another and that he sought to minimise his behaviour.

All things that should show his current claims aren't true. 

'But it noted Dr Keshta has since addressed this issue and he admitted that 'self-justification was wrong.' He has since acknowledged the full extent of his dishonesty and has learnt to express his shame in a genuine manner.'

How do you get to be so gullible and hold such a high position? 

One man's lone, unsung campaign

Utopian or the only way to go?

Idylls must be fought for every single hour

My overwhelming thoughts or feeling about the political state of play is on file in the archives, retrieved below. This is not a bad order to take them in:

Months ago, it was expressed this way on X:

The truly mortifying aspect of it, imho, has been:

Even at a political science level, the writing has been on the wall … and the communists have known it well … they’ve been at the forefront of the ongoing destruction of all that is civilised and good:

There are two more levels we need to dive deeper into as they’re fundamental to understanding how the malaise comes about … this next is behind all the greed, sudden temper tantrums, violence, cold, dispassionate dismissal of others’ needs … before even getting to the events we see out there now:

Burke’s was a powerful statement … and now the one the vast majority do not wish to be reminded of … the underpinning of what once was civilised “western” society … not the deathcult with its violent enforcement, not other methods of personal, navel gazing self-fulfilment, not the sterile enforcement of the pharisees, the whited sepulchres.

Nope, this is the only way you’ll get it, in combination with classical and historical learning, in a spirit of free enquiry plus guarding against constant threat in the way the Shire and Hobbiton were:

As I say, the majority will reject this last quote … it doesn’t suit our book, does it? And yet there it is. Think on’t, I say no more.

You want this situation below? Then you must actually fight for it each and every day:

Remember When Music Belonged To Everyone?

The beauty of writing a song that revolves around a universal idea is that people feel like it could be theirs: it voices the way they’re feeling.The first time I heard my band Chumbawamba’s hit Tubthumping played at the ground of my local football club, I was standing at the urinal in the toilet underneath the stands, pissing the afternoon away with scores of other blokes, ready for the match. I walked up to my seat and watched people singing along to what had instantly become, in that moment at least, their song.

How nice. A pleasant enough ditty with a repetitive beat. But hardly a great tune that will live forever. Why are we hearing about it now? 

Tubthumping belongs to the guests at the wedding who sing it in celebration. It belongs to the Italian anti-fascists who sing it in defiance on a demonstration. It belongs to cancer patients going through chemotherapy, seeing every successful bout of treatment as a personal victory. I know that all these people have taken the song as theirs, because they write to tell us.

OK, so what are you complaining about? I mean, since this is the 'Guardian' you must be complaining about something.  

But there’s a problem with these universal songs – they can be hijacked by people who clearly don’t understand the spirit in which they were written, and want to use them to aggrandise themselves, or to sell ideas that aren’t universal at all.

Ah. Right.  

Because that’s the thing with songs, with literature, with art, theatre, cinema, with most of the beautiful, creative, cultural things we love – they are very rarely created by those on the political right. The bigots don’t have any good songs of their own.

Are you sure? I mean, in the very same pages we are always reading about how some classic works of the past are really evil right-wing tracts or monuments or institutions produced by blood-soaked right wing demagogues. Even former darlings of the left aren't immune.  

Let me be clear: the song Tubthumping was written to celebrate the resilience and tenacity of working-class folk who keep fighting when the chips are down.

But only if they aren't fighting against having their neighbourhoods and workplaces filled with immigrants, eh, Boff old chum? If that were to happen, you'd be back in the pages of the 'Guardian', squaling that it wasn't written for these working class folk after all.

It has nothing whatsoever in common with wealthy politicians with extremist anti-liberal agendas.

So what? I recall things didn't get better under Blair, in fact, they got worse, so the choice of music reaveals nothing.  

Former Tory prime minister David Cameron listed one of his favourite songs as the Jam’s Eton Rifles which prompted the Jam’s Paul Weller to retort “Which bit didn’t you get? … It wasn’t intended as a fucking jolly drinking song for the cadet corps.” When Cameron also admitted to liking the Smiths, guitarist Johnny Marr said simply: “Stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t. I forbid you to like it.”

Boff thinks this is exposing something about politicians. It's not. It's exposing something about progressive songwriters.  

And still we do not drag them outside and hang the lot of em

Consider:

https://lesalonbeige.fr/22-des-medecins-en-soins-palliatifs-prets-a-demissionner-52-utiliseront-la-clause-de-conscience/

These Rules Need To Change

Kenner a self employed tiler was initially charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in August 2021 which fetches a maximum of life imprisonment but after five separate court adjournments for undisclosed reasons prosecutors eventually accepted his guilty plea in September 2023 to the lesser charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Yet again, the useless CPS proves themselve too lazy to do the real work. 

They then recommended he faced a maximum of only two and a half years behind bars under sentencing guidelines before a further three hearings came and went whilst Kenner tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea.

All paid for by the long suffering taxpayers, of course!  

This week, 31 months since the assault, Kenner who arrived 20 minutes late for his hearing at Bolton Crown Court was ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work and was sent on a 'Building Better relationships' programme after a powerless judge said he had 'very little option' but to let him go free.

I don't blame the judge, he's probably right. 

The court heard he had already spent 11 months on remand before being bailed on a curfew to await trial and as a result under Home Office rules had already served the equivalent of a 23 month prison sentence.

This rule has to go - surely it would be a quick win for a Conservative Home Sec (if we actually had one)? 

If we are always told that people on remand are 'innocent until proven guilty' then why should their time on remand be counted as part of their sentence? That should only start when they are found guilty!