How Warped Do You Have To Be To Claim This As A Victory?

Amid the horror of Covid, some good has come out of the experience of coping with the pandemic.

Oh, really, Polly?

One of the great successes was ensuring that women locked down at home had easy access to abortion.

Ugh! 

Around 100,000 women a year in England and Wales are now using this quicker route to an early abortion.

Quicker, and breaking the spirit of the Abortion Act. Which should never, ever lead to abortion on demand.  

Still, at least this is something Polly can't blame on 'poverty' like she usually d...

Most women seeking abortions already have children: teen pregnancies have been falling this century. Women who lost income in the pandemic often seek an abortion because of a lack of money. The BPAS says many are avoiding this government’s draconian two-child benefit limit from harming their existing family.

Oh. Guess she can. 

Good!

Of course, in the crazy world of the 'Guardian', this is bad!

The government’s New Plan for Immigration aims to restrict family reunion rights for refugees who travelled through a safe third country before reaching the UK. This applies to the thousands who travelled to the UK in small boats.

Many of them have, in fact, travelled through multiple safe countries. Can the 'Guardian' find one that deserves to be here this time?

Reader, they cannot: 

One Syrian asylum seeker, who fled war, imprisonment and torture in his homeland before travelling through several countries and reaching the UK, said he was “horrified” by the government plans.

“We did not leave our country in search of happiness,” he told the Guardian. “I am talking here as the head of a family deserted. Rather, we went out to save our family from a war that does not know the young or the old and does not differentiate between the strong or the weak, in which no one can survive.”

“We walked in the most dangerous country, crossed the desert and crossed the English Channel in a rubber boat, knowing we may die in the sea. Has any official asked themselves what motivated us to risk ourselves … I was ready to die in order to save my family. What Priti Patel is thinking now is to eliminate our families by depriving us of family reunion.”

No, she's seeking to implement the will of the British people who have voted in a party that promised a crackdown on this sort of 'asylum shopping'.  

If The 'Culture Of Misogyny' Is So Bad...

...why do you have to import more of it?

According to reports in Ireland the man arrested has links with Offaly and south Dublin but has also lived abroad.

Which is the coy progressive press way of saying he's an immigrant from Slovakia.  

Between 1996 and 2020, at least 236 women died violently in the Republic of Ireland.

Why don't we get a figure for men? Is it because it outstrips the figure for women (like this one year) two to one?

We know it is, don't we, Reader..? 

Their names have been written out and remembered individually in recent days. A majority of these women were killed in their own homes, by a man they knew, by men they loved, men they had children with. How do we protect against that?

Well, you could start pointing out to women that 'I love him, I can change him!' isn't a strategy for survival. And you could start campaigning against open borders on the basis that Ireland doesn't need to import more misogynists.

But you don't do any of that, do you? I wonder why... 

'Choice' Is Exactly What They Don't Want Anyone To Have...

...and if this isn't rejected, that's exactly what they will continue to push on everyone.

Green Party councillor Ian Middleton, put forward a motion to make sure all Oxfordshire County Council meetings are "entirely plant-based", and it was passed on Tuesday's full council meeting.

Nor was that his only demand: 

The motion also called for targeted education in schools on dietary health, food growing, preparation and waste avoidance and for the county school meals service to make fully plant-based menus available to schools that ask for them.

Because we all know schools have successfully taught all children to read, write and add up and are just twiddling their thumbs? 

However, Conservative councillor David Bartholomew feels the motion is "unacceptable" and says that veganism should be a choice.

In the normal world, it is.  

It will now be considered by the council cabinet before implementation.

And I've little hope that the 

Speaking after the meeting Mr Middleton said:"No one is taking away free choice, these changes will only affect those who wish to avail themselves of food provided by the council. What members do outside the council walls is their own affair."

But that's how these things always start, isn't it?  Impacting one small - often despised - group of people, before they move on to everyone.  

But you can't argue with fanaticism:

Mr Middleton said: "These are not choices we're making for ourselves, but for future generations. This is a very minor change that sends a powerful message to the people we represent that we take tackling climate change seriously and are prepared to play our part as community leaders".

Enjoy your taxpayer-funded food, but I'll make my own choices with my own money. And looking at the vegan offerings always adorning the supermarket 'buy it now at reduced price before we bin it' so does everyone else... 

Of Course, It's Critical Of The New Regime...

...it's been done by people who long for Open Borders. And have marched for years through the institutions to ensure they get them:

The system for assessing who should be asked to pay for NHS services “incentivises racial profiling”, an investigation has found.

A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research found that overstretched NHS staff sometimes racially profile patients in order to determine who is not “ordinarily resident” in the UK, and therefore must pay for their care.

Well, yes. If your organisation is tasked with the job of ensuring foreign patients pay, you'll look to target foreigners, won't you? 

The report is critical of the more stringent charging regime introduced by NHS England over the past decade as part of a series of measures devised to create a hostile environment for people living in the UK without the correct immigration status.

Or 'protecting the public revenue', which is another way of describing their task. 

One of the officers told the IPPR study they had felt forced to discriminate between patients based on their name.

“If you’ve got a, I don’t know, Mohammed Khan and a Fred Cooper, you’re obviously going to go for [investigating] the Mohammed Khan … Even for someone who’s, you know, well I’d like to think hopefully open-minded, like myself, you’re just trying to save yourself time because there’s not enough hours in the day,” the officer said.

This is an argument for having more staff in the role, not scrapping the role altogether. And maybe for tightening up the selection process for hiring officers: 

A hospital employee also reported that discrimination on the basis of ethnicity was used to determine who should be billed for treatment.

“It’s a system that is designed to benefit [white] people like me, not people like … the patient on intensive care who is black and British and was unconscious and sent a bill. So why did someone think he was not eligible for care? Given he was unconscious most of the admission, significantly unwell, probably not his accent, more likely his skin colour,” the health worker said.

But once it was established he was entitled to the treatment, was he expected to pay? The answer's no, of course! 

Some healthcare staff told IPPR researchers that they disliked the extra burden of having to consider whether to refer a patient for charging, which they felt distracted them from their core medical responsibilities.

Oh, diddums! There's aspect of my job I'm not keen on, but I either do them regardless or leave for another job. I don't demand the company change! 

And I'm surprised it gets a chance to distract them. I thought filming TikTok videos and finding new ways to hide from patients took up all that time!

What does the report conclude? Go on. Surprise me!

The report, Towards True Universal Healthcare, recommends expanding eligibility for free healthcare to include all UK residents, regardless of their immigration status.

Yeah, put that one in the round file. 

They Did Their Jobs For Once...

...and naturally, they are being penalised for it by one of those long marchers through our institutions:

The court heard Mr Dawood was working illegally at the car wash after being refused asylum when he arrived in Britain from Sudan.

He had fled Sudan because he belonged to a tribe being persecuted by the authorities, the inquest was told.

And presumably persecuted in all the other countries in Africa too, or why flee here..? 

Mr Dawood fled after immigration officers carried out an enforcement visit at the car wash at around 10.08am. He was pursued by officers to a neighbouring warehouse, where he then climbed on shelving and ran through a metal door before climbing onto its roof.

The inquest into his death was told officers did not pursue when Mr Dawood started to climb, but remained close and did not withdraw.

Well, yes. What else were they supposed to do? 

Ms Saunders' report, published on Wednesday, said immigration officers should have 'practical training in pursuit situations' following his death.

Sounds a lot more like she wants them to be trained to immediately give up, doesn't it? 

Mr Dawood's mother Hameda Hamed Shogar Ahmed, who travelled to the UK for her son's inquest from the Sudanese city of Al Fashir, told the court her son had wanted to earn money to send back to Sudan to support his family.

Strange sort of 'persecution' when the mother - presumably from the same tribe - is allowed to travel... 

'[My son] felt a strong passion for human rights and felt that everyone should be protected and free to live their lives free from persecution and fear.'

Pity he didn't feel that everyone should obey the laws of the country they are (illegally) living in, or he wouldn't be dead... 

It's All Becoming Much Clearer Now...

The outgoing head of the UK Border Force has triggered a political row by describing ‘bloody borders’ as ‘just such a pain in the bloody a***’.

Paul Lincoln’s incendiary remarks – made in a speech to mark his departure as director general of the Border Force...

It always is, isn't it? 

Like the Army general who lays into the modernisation programme while keeping his mouth shut and his pension growing until retirement day. You only get their real thoughts and character when you aren't paying them any more.

Mr Lincoln, who left his position last month as part of a shake-up by Home Secretary Priti Patel...

It seems she's doing something, after all, then! But will it be enough?

"I Didn't Know My Own Mind..."

"...so neither do you, and you must be prevented from doing what I did for your own good."

The current proposals to allow adults to give “informed consent” would not have protected me, nor indeed the thousands of others like me who willingly undertook conversion therapy because we believed it was the right thing to do. Indeed, everyone we knew believed it was the right thing to do.

...

I am a relatively strong person, and it nearly broke me – sadly many others are not so lucky, and tragically come to a point of believing that the only way out is to take their lives. That’s why conversion practices need to be banned outright, with no exceptions.

Does that include the sort of 'conversions' practiced by the transgender clinics as well, I wonder? I bet it doesn't! 

The government needs to think again. First, it must learn from the experiences of survivors and prioritise their concerns, for we are the true experts. We know better than anyone what needs to be banned, and how best to do this.

There's a reason we don't let victims determine the punishment for an offender for any other crime. So why should we let them determine policy?

Second, the government needs to listen to the senior human rights lawyers who have set out in the Cooper report why religious freedoms can and must be limited when significant harm is being caused.

Does anyone else suspect that all religious freedoms is really what is meant by this? Or only certain religions? 

She's Been Removed To A Gulag To 'Educate Herself', Comrades...

The director of one of the UK's biggest heavy metal festivals has "taken a step back" from her role after coming under fire for...

Smashing up a hotel room? Biting the head off a bat? Satanic imagery? 

...an "uninformed" tweet.

Err... 

Bloodstock's Vicky Hungerford was criticised after tweeting her annoyance at people putting their preferred pronouns on their email signatures.

It is a common practice in the LGBTQ+ community, and used by trans allies as a show of solidarity.

Oh, FFS! It's nothing of the sort, it's a tedious modern invention to let virtuesignallers prove how hard they genuflect to the latest trends. 

Ms Hungerford said she was "genuinely upset I have caused upset".

Well, you shouldn't be. 'Upset' is what these people feed on - they crave it like vampires crave the blood of virgins. 

A statement from Bloodstock Festival said: "We are deeply sorry to everyone affected by these uninformed comments.

"For now, Vicky has taken a step back from Bloodstock effective immediately, and will be taking the time to properly educate herself for a better understanding."

And if that isn't the creepiest thing you've ever read, I don't know what would be... 

I Don't Care That I've Won, I Want To Rub Their Noses In It...

In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, music producer Ian Brennan criticised the band’s decision to continue to “play and profit” from the song, which he said glorified slavery, rape, torture and paedophilia.

Blimey, it's going to blow his mind if he ever listens to 'Young Girl' by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap... 

Speaking to the Guardian following Richards’ comments, Brennan urged the Rolling Stones to “seize this moment” to educate their “gigantic platform” on racial equality.

Yup, that's what people go to Rolling Stones concerts for, after all.... 

He said: “That they now retire the song is a victory. But that the band continue to play coy as to the reasons for their decision rather than just making a frank admission of the inappropriateness of the lyrics as the reason why they have chosen to no longer play the song live is an opportunity for healing and leadership missed.”

It seems I'm in agreement with Piers Morgan once again; all they've shown is cowardice in grovelling to this grubby little pipsqueak. And until people grow a spine and tell these single-issue shysters to take a hike, it'll go on and on forever.

"Let Me Through, I'm An Employment Tribunal Judge..."

"That's nice, madam, but this person needs a doctor..."

A factory worker who was sacked for attacking a colleague has won a disability discrimination claim after a tribunal ruled he was suffering from 'diabetic rage'.

Wait, that's a thing? Really? Well, I guess he had a doctor to prove his...

Oh, maybe not: 

At the tribunal, Mr Dytkowski was 'very frank' that he had sought but failed to get evidence from his clinicians which supported his view, explaining doctors 'could not say for sure'.

Yeah, I guess that doesn't matter though, because who needs medical experts?  

But Employment Judge Joanne Dunlop agreed with him and ruled that he was discriminated on grounds of his disability and unfairly dismissed.

'He is not a medical expert but, at least to some extent, we are entitled to treat him as an expert on his own condition and how he experiences the effects of it.'

/facepalm 

'This Private Company Is Failing...'

'..so let's employ another to check them!'. This is the logic here:

Criminal checks on home-to-school transport drivers will be independently checked, it has been announced - following claims it should not be "for the contractor to self-police".

Birmingham City Council cabinet member Cllr Sharon Thompson has said an external company will support the council in verifying disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks on all drivers.

Presumably their own staff haven't proved up to the task? 

A report published by Birmingham City Council noted that 59 out of 110 employees at North Birmingham Travel involved in the contract did not appear to have a documented DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check in place.

Sixteen staff had 'positive disclosures' - meaning they included cautions, convictions or other criminal disclosures, which are not an automatic bar but are subject to further scrutiny - but "officers could only assure themselves about two".

A further allegation said a document relating to DBS checks appeared to have been tampered with.

At least the private companies' services can be dispensed with by cancelling the contract. We're stuck with the local authority staff. 

It Would Be Funny If It Wasn't Such A Disaster...

Eco-friendly light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs used in streetlamps produce more light pollution and are killing off insects, a new study shows.

Maybe they should have made the study before rolling them out everywhere...?  

They're often energy-efficient, cheap to run and brighter with more blue wavelengths, but this means they're also likely making insects more exposed to predators. The insects could also be getting killed from coming into contact with hot lights, which may also deter them from laying eggs.

Moths are important because they're pollinators, hosts for parasitoids and prey for vertebrates like birds and bats and invertebrates like spiders, the experts say.

*sighs* Once again, just as with diesel vehicles, the 'sage experts' have proven to be not worth their hire.

But since 'science' got us into this, maybe it can get us out? 

Boyes told MailOnline that minor tweaks that could be made to LEDs that could minimise their negative impacts on insects without comprising on energy efficiency, such as reducing emission of blue wavelengths.

I wonder how much that'll cost? And who'll pay..?

Protecting Our Borders..?

The number of foreign criminals released from prison on to the streets has reached a record high of almost 11,000.

Official figures show that at the end of June there were 10,882 foreign national offenders who had been released from jail but not deported.

All are subject to deportation because they were handed prison sentences of at least 12 months.

I wonder how many new ones we are unknowingly (or in the case of the 'Tory' government, uncaringly) admitting right now?  

The latest total has rocketed by 176 per cent since 2012, when the number stood at less than 4,000.

Wasn't the Tory Party once the party of law and order? I'm sure I remember it used to be... 

One in eight prisoners in jail in England and Wales are now non-UK citizens, or 9,850 of the 78,000 behind bars.

Will we see that figure rise in the future? I'm not a betting woman, but I'd have a flutter on that. 

Inequality - It's For The Birds...

Feeding birds is hard-wired into our national psyche. The apocryphal Victorian “tuppence a bag” for seed for the Trafalgar Square pigeons has morphed into a national pastime, with an estimated 17m households spending £250m a year on more than 150,000 tonnes of bird feed – enough to feed the entire breeding population of the 10 most common feeder-using bird species year-round three times over.

Good for us, doing our bit gor nature! Strange to se a good news article in the 'Guardian', though? 

This was brought into sharp relief during the pandemic, with many of us discovering the joy of attracting birds to our own gardens after losing access to wildlife and wild spaces.

Oooh, I don't like where this is going. 'Joy'? We can't have that! 

So we know that bird-feeding can be good for humans, but what about for birds?

We could ask them? But...what could possibly be wrong with it? 

Blue tits, nuthatches and great-spotted woodpeckers have never had it so good. These species have something else in common though: they are all dominant species that can monopolise resources such as food and nesting sites.

Ah. Of course. No socialism to ensure sparrows and swallows go equally hungry! 

Marsh and willow tits, lesser-spotted woodpeckers, several migrant flycatchers and warblers have been slowly disappearing from the British landscape since the 1970s, as one woodland area after another has lost cherished members of its dawn chorus choir.

Look! It's even affecting migrants! No wonder the 'Guardian' is worried! 

Forced to develop strategies to survive, they have become more innovative and have diversified the ways they interact with the landscape. Unlike blue and great tits, the drabber and less obtrusive willow tits excavate their own nest holes, meaning they don’t have to wait until a natural cavity forms, which a more dominant species would probably take. This means they can occupy new sites, like young woodlands, which are unsuitable for their more imposing relatives. Similarly, the marsh tit collects and catches food and stores it for a rainy day – or a harsh winter. It is faster to find new food resources and has a stronger bill to deal with harder food items.

Hurrah! Innovation and adaptation saves the day...but wait. That can't be the answer, surely? 

But these fancy tactics are rendered null and void by bird feeders providing food 24/7; it is gobbled up by the dominant species, sending their numbers up, and increasing the threat to subordinate species.

See? It's all our fault, of course. Does the 'Guardian' have any suggestions? 

We badly need a better understanding of the consequences of bird feeding and, armed with this information, there is one clear piece of advice we can give for those concerned with bird populations. Where possible, improving habitat amount and quality in our gardens is a vastly more important gift to nature than any bird seed handouts.

That's if you have a garden. But what am I saying? Guardianistas always assume everyone lives like they do... 

How Are You Enjoying Reaping That Whirlwind, Universities..?

An academic who was sacked after calling a Right-wing commentator a 'house n***o' is suing the university which cut ties with her for...

Breach of contract? Unfair dismissal?

...discrimination against her belief in critical race theory and black radicalism.

Hahahahahaha! 

The case could see black radicalism - an academic movement which argues race is a social construct used to oppress minorities - made into a protected belief system, like religious belief.

Well, they can't say they never saw this coming, can they?  

Ms Khanom is being supported by Professor Kehinde Andrews, who branded Churchill a 'white supremacist', arguing the term 'house n***o' is not a 'racial slur' but a 'concept that come out (sic) of struggles for racial justice'.

Is there some grift involved, because there usually is? 

On an online fundraising page created to raise £5,000 to cover her legal costs, Ms Khanom claimed she was the victim of a 'network of alt-Right activists'.

Ah. There it is! 

She wrote: 'LBU's conduct towards me suggests that academics should be looking over their shoulder before they make statements about Israel and Palestine, or about critical race theory. That is why this case and LBU's role in it is not just about me and my reputation as an anti-racist.

'Fundamentally, this is an important issue of freedom of speech.'

Oh, you're not wrong there. But not the way you think.... 

Ms Khanom said the tweets were not sent by her, adding: 'No academic should find their contract terminated so publicly in the absence of a fair and thorough investigation.'

I don't recall you being so supportive of Maya Forstater or Dr Binoy Sobnack or Bo Winegard...maybe I missed the press releases? 

Is This Really The Message You Want To Send..?

Racists have been warned to stay away from Ben Nevis after a far-right group unfurled a...

Message banner saying 'Darkies Go Home'? A flaming cross? 

...“white lives matter” banner at the top of Scotland’s highest mountain peak on Sunday.

Wait, what? In what possible universe is that controversial? 

Politicians, anti-racism campaigners, environmentalists and mountain rescue experts united to condemn the action by Patriotic Alternative, a UK white-nationalist group founded by Mark Collett, the British National party’s former director of publicity.

Hang on, I see all the usual pearl-clutching suspects there, but .... mountain rescue experts!? What the hell has it got to do with them?

John Stevenson, the leader of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, which covers Ben Nevis, said: “We don’t need this type of political protest on the mountain – especially when it reflects such appalling views. ”

Hang on, chum, you're not there to criticise people's political opinions! And what's so 'appalling' about this message? Do you believe that white lives don't matter?

That'd be a strange thing to believe, wouldn't it?  

Nav Bakhsh, the co-founder of the Glasgow-based Asian hiking group Boots and Beards, which aims to “bring colour to the hills”, said the weekend’s events had made members very uneasy. “Since we set up five years ago, our challenge has been to encourage the BME community to go out and explore Scotland,” said Bakhsh. “Now people are not only worried about health and safety in the hills but whether they will get abuse thrown at them. We’ve tried to calm nerves and explain this is a very small group.”

If they need their nerves calming because someone expresses the view that white people matter too, then there's more wrong with society than I thought... 

Bakhsh also raised concerns about the many foreign tourists at the summit who may have seen the banner. “What message does that give about Scotland, to say that the country is only for white people? We need tourists, especially now.”

That banner doesn't say that, does it, though? It has done an admirable job of smoking out racists, mind you.

Just...not the ones these people imagine.