But If It Wasn't For 'Virtue-Signalling, Gesture Politics Nonsense'...

...the Alba Party wouldn't have any policies!

It should come as little surprise that an exhibition dedicated to exploring the history of warfare features part of the wreck of a German aircraft bearing Nazi insignia. But bosses at Edinburgh Castle are facing extraordinary calls to remove the exhibit from the National War Museum on its grounds – amid claims that the sight of a swastika may upset some tourists.

'Don't mention ze war!' 'But, it's a War Museum!' 'I said, DON'T..!' 

Chris McEleny, general secretary of Alex Salmond's Alba Party, has written to Culture Secretary Angus Robertson, claiming that the use of the Nazi symbol is a 'national embarrassment'. He also objects to the 'crudely named' Redcoat Café, which is also on the castle grounds and is named after the red- uniformed British troops who fought against the Jacobites.

Of course he did. Why not? He's a deeply unserious politician, so expecting serious politics from him is a waste of time.. 

Last night, Stuart Crawford, a former Army officer and defence commentator, condemned 'virtue-signalling, gesture politics nonsense from Mr McEleny'.

Better to condemn those who vote such jokes into the position in the first place, Stuart... 

Use More Oil

Reader DAD writes, at NOWP:

Soon someone is going to get killed. Is that what JSO want ?

He's referring to this item:

... accessible at NOWP:

https://nourishingobscurity.wordpress.com/2023/07/24/reader-drops-400/comment-page-1/#comment-6488

Right on, I say to the driver, but sadly, he'll be arrested and incarcerated, not them. And what the hell are Plod doing allowing it?  The police simply will not do their jobs any more.

Just musing though ... the whole JSO tosh is a classic case of kids being fed deflecting, false narratives to be angry at, harnessing their natural proclivity to protest ... into wrong channels which distract from the real issues they should be protesting at ... but you know that already.

I was just thinking ... why not extend that epoxy idea from the airport runway, round up Schultz, Blair, Biden, Barry and his hubby, all of those ... just epoxy them to a long wall and leave em there to discuss things with anyone coming by.

They Can't Stop The Boats Coming Across The Channel...

...but they can stop you FaceTiming Auntie Joan:

Apple has said planned changes to British surveillance laws could affect iPhone users’ privacy by forcing it to withdraw security features, which could ultimately lead to the closure of services such as FaceTime and iMessage in the UK. The firm has become a vocal opponent of what it views as UK government moves against online privacy, and it said last month that provisions in the forthcoming online safety bill could endanger message encryption.

Is this really the most existential threat facing the UK at this time? Is it really what we should be spending money and resources on? 

Apple also expressed concern over a proposed amendment that it says would allow the government to immediately block implementation of a security feature while a TCN is being considered, instead of letting the feature continue to be used pending an appeal.

And the possible consequences are huge: 

Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University who has signed an open letter warning against online safety bill proposals that could dilute encryption, said Apple’s submission on the 12-week consultation represented a “stake in the ground”. He said: “If the government push on regardless then Apple will simply join the growing band of vendors that would leave the UK. British users could end up as one of the most isolated and insecure groups in the world. In that scenario, nobody wins.”

So...why is the Home Office dead set on this destructive path? What's the real agenda here? 

In support of independent schools

Uniparty politics report:

https://dailysceptic.org/2023/07/22/labour-hasnt-done-its-homework-plan-to-charge-vat-on-private-school-fees-will-not-raise-1-7-billion/

The Labour party plans to end charitable status for private schools, applying 20% VAT and business taxes to raise £1.7 billion and help improve social mobility via the state education system.

(N)either Labour nor the Treasury has actually published any assumptions or cost/benefit. I was excited when the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a review. According to one of the IFS founders, “never again should a government, regardless of its political colour and intentions, introduce far-reaching tax legislation without the benefit of deep and thorough analysis of second- and third-order effects”. That sounds sensible.

Disappointingly, the IFS recites Labour’s lines. Its headline is Labour is basically right – the 20% effective fee increase will cause only a small migration to state schools, which won’t cost much, and everyone else will suck it up and pay, so that there is “net gain to public finances of £1.3 to £1.5 billion”, only just shy of Labour’s £1.7 billion. 

It only briefly mentions risks, but they are buried deep in the report and omitted from the press release, which is probably the only bit journalists will read. It certainly doesn’t quantify them as in “…and if we are wrong, the net tax impact could be neutral or strongly negative”, which is ironic given the power of the “worst-case scenario” in climate and lockdown politics.

The author opines:

I remain convinced this policy is crackers. It is more likely to lose billions than raise them and it will harm not help state schools (as well as harming or closing private schools). We should expect the departure of significant numbers of children from private schools and their (disgruntled) arrival in the state sector, demanding places that are not funded and that physically do not exist; the “second- and third-order effects” that I indicate here are strongly tax-negative and remain ignored.

Who is the author?

Disclosure – I’m a private school parent. But I’m also a taxpayer and an economist, of sorts, and I care very much about the state education that taxpayers buy for other children. I can also see the logic in robbing Peter to pay Paul, even when I oppose it. But when Labour wants to rob Peter to punch Paul in the kidneys, we’d all really rather they didn’t.

My own disclosure ... my early years were independent nursery, then state (LEA) primary years, independent first two years of secondary, public school from there on in, various tertiary institutions after that. 'Public' here does not refer to being public, which makes sense to Brits but maybe not to non-Brits.

Aside from a brief stint teaching in a state school on a short contract, all my subsequent work in educational places was independent school until overseas teaching, which could be described as "sort of grammar-schooly" through to independent.

You may have noticed my avoidance of the dreaded word "private" which itself is a dead giveaway quite frankly, just as the godless love to lump everything they don't like under "religion", be it pseudoscientism, deathcultism, whatever ... or someone starts rabbiting on about "diversity and equality", another dead giveaway ... or "love one another", meaning tolerate all sorts of vileness, nowt to do with real love in the least.

Back to this biz of removing charitable status ... parents will bear fees up to a point but there really is a point beyond which they won't ... or rather can't ... and once there's any sort of exodus, then along with the massed influx of invaders to these shores, it simply adds to the pressure on places ... there's very little positive effect.

Yet there'll still be resentful clowns clinging to their ideological "anti-anyone-attempting-to-improve-their-lot" carying on with their "rob the rich, steal anyone's nest egg if they show the slightest sign of having improved their lot" ... the weasel word here is "wealth". 

"Wealth", to the envious and feckless, is some nebulous object of desire out there ... you have it, I want it, therefore I want the state to rob you and give it to me. The moment you let that sort of thing take root, then no one can ever improve ... we then become the Eloi.

See, what is lost in this "drive privates and grammars out of existence" is that those parents with children in independent schools are not only already paying through the nose for the privilege but they're just as much taxpayers as those outside are, just as much as the "steal that person's wealth over there and give it me" zealots.

And once you drive them to rejoining the great mediocrity, you kill incentive. Remember that word "incentive"?  It was the hallmark of a free society, as distinct from communism. Someone with the incentive to improve his/her lot and that of his/her family should never be demonised imho.  

Only once they start thieving from you in return.

How history hangs on the slenderest of threads

Reader Andy just wrote at 0415 and DAD is due to write maybe around 0500 … that’s providing all goes well and the health of both is holding up.  And so that post title is so accurate.

Andy wrote:

I grew up watching this. Although we didn't get a telly until I was eleven in 1965 there were always repeats (still are always repeats of something or other). Warning this video was a bit of an eye-opener as well as reminding me of the way things were at that time. The squalor, sometimes just around the corner from me. When I hear about poverty today I wonder just how these people would survive as we did.

Andy continues further down:

It was news to me that the lection of Labour and Harold Wilson as PM could have been down to this show. How history hangs on the slenderest of threads.

I’m also thinking of Hannah Hawkswell oop norf and am constantly reminded of the expression, “There, but for the Grace of God, go I …”

Reader Toodles wrote, asking about our overnight torrential rain in England which I’m not sure was so torrential … just awoke and haven’t checked the buckets in the other room.  A number of people have mentioned how this and that is so wrong … truth is that for it to be fixed, I’d have to go elsewhere and that horrifies me, if only because I’m set up fairly comfortably, with everything necessary. Plus the owner and I have discussed things many times and I’m the one not fussed … this is the bit not understood.

The only reason I even mention it is a lady on this course I’m on … two ladies actually in the same grim boat. This one lives near London with a grown child and the prospects are, to put it simply … bleak. Anyone can say well why is she not still with hubby and you know … I’m not going to jump on that one … what’s done is done and we are where we are. Yes, we messed up, made wrong choices or right, now finding ourselves in 2023 Britain …

… with invaders ferried in by the thousands per week, the barges on the rivers, the pressure on rental prices going through the roof and the most iniquitous part is it’s utterly unnecessary … there’s more than enough rental space … were the country not now overrun.  

This is increasingly becoming untenable for the indigenous of the land … while Westminster enjoys its caviar and jets around.

Labour cares for people? Don’t make me laugh … at least the Tories are honest that they don’t give a damn for people. Why vote Tory?  To virtue signal that you’re not one of the plebs, that you’re a higher being than the street urchins?  

There’s a tweeter, Moosh who runs old photos of street urchins of yesteryear and of poverty … there are still relatively few here who are in that terminal situation … you have a TV at home?  Did you eat yesterday?  And not dog food or rice? Even dog food’s not cheap now.

What’s my point in this post? It’s all in the heading again.  I am personally in an enviable position, place … but it’s entirely predicated on various factors continuing and as we’ve seen … these bstds very much are doing everything to make life impossible … all sorts of anti-human moves, inc. this net zero bollox.  Digital currency, ridiculous pressure on landlords such that rentals are becoming impossible and then … and then …

… they come for you, the mortgage holders, as I once was a few times over. I’ve been a landlord twice as well.  I do know both sides of it … I was an American Express Gold Card holder at one point. Coutts customer? Not quite but not far off.

It can all change in an instant and forty years of work, tax, N.I., pension? Gone in a flash because the EU communists demand it, in thrall to Schwab in Germany.

Now, our blogs are about exposing these people, plus the new feckless, pig-ignorant yoof culture … and we’ll keep doing it until our internet suddenly stops … bear that in mind, good reader.

Coping … not going to labour the point but hysteria, deep depression, violent lashing out … it’s not going to cut it unless directed at the source of the misery … the real source.

And what’s that?  The communists? Or whoever is really behind them? And you personally … the booze? Crack? Theft to keep going?  Remember, there are barges now on every major river … once they’re emptied, who do you think goes in there?

Prison hulks.  Have you read your history of the mid 1700s?  Have you heard of transportation for seven years to the colonies?

What I’ve not really got to grips with in this post is another adage … it’s not your actual situation, it’s how you see it, how you deal with it.  There are increasing numbers in such times who turn back to the ancient solution … which is a solution, as thousands can attest but hey … have it your own way.

It’s a bit like our blogging itself … what are we achieving? Cumulatively, together, I’d say a fair bit … subtly. There’s no hard and fast measuring stick.  And while we press on, there’s a not so grim camaraderie which develops.

But it can all change in the blink of an eye, in the space of two months official notice you’ve been given. One thing dealing with it … another coping.

…….

There’s another tweeter well worth a look is Ripper@The_East_End .

See new Tweets

Conversatio

It's Time These Climate Scientists Slept With The Fishes...

Keeping a tank of tropical fish could...

Be a rewarding hobby? Provide a means of relaxation at the end of a long working day? 

...contribute as much greenhouse gas as driving thousands of miles in a car or a motorbike, a study has found.

*sighs* Who the hell bothers to work this out? And why aren't they building my flying car, already? 

The carbon footprint and environmental impacts of keeping pet fish has been calculated for the first time by Cardiff University's Water Research Institute.

Oh. Wales. That figures. 

Dr Perry added: 'Ornamental fishkeeping can be a more environmentally conscious pet choice than owning an average sized dog or cat, which are likely to produce considerably more emissions through their consumption of meat.

Better forget the piranha then! 

'However, the environmental impacts of fishkeeping can also be substantial depending on aquarium size, how it is run and even what country it is in.

'There are still improvements that can be made to ensure the environmental sustainability of the hobby.'

I suspect that's not really uppermost in most aquarist's minds, Prof... 

'The environmental impact from the energy needs of keeping fish will improve as national energy grids start to decarbonize, but reducing the environmental impact of high water consumption will not come easily and will require ingenuity at the level of the individual.'

They like to get you coming and going, don't they? 

'These are important considerations as we face a climate emergency linked with our demands for energy, as well as water insecurity linked with our demands for water.'

If we were facing such a thing, it might possibly be, yes. But we aren't. And we're tired of your increasing hysteria in trying to persuade us of it... 

Sidelights on the Ukraine

We've said over and over ... every time a gem appears, save it to your device, stick or drive, as it has a limited shelf life anywhere public, such as on a front page ... there are those with the capacity to 'disappear' it.  I can't stress this last paragraph enough.

I saw this article, not a bad one of the Ukrainian ones, yesterday.  Ripper added:

Throughout the existence of the grain deal, it (the grain deal) has been used to transport weaponry into 404, and also, because part of the agreement was that Russia stay out of Odessa, which Putin has honoured, the port area itself has been used as a staging post for terrorist attacks on Sevastopol. 

NATO has completely reneged on their side of the agreement. 

Now that Russia has refused to renew the grain deal (NOT 'pulled out'), NATO can spread a bit more propaganda - 'Putin is weaponizing food to those poor starving people in Brussels'. 

Like they give a toss anyway that only 3% of the grain reached those countries that were in need. The article misspelled 'grain'. It should have been 'contaminated, low quality grain', which a bunch of countries including Poland and Bulgaria refused. This is what bought to light how useless the grain deal was - for the Russians anyway.

The reason for Mr. Kinzhal's calling card in Odessa is because the Zelensky regime and NATO were going to 'carry on' with this grain deal without Russia. 

But to the Russians, Odessa is now a legitimate target and Putin has destroyed the port, ensuring that no cargo can be loaded/unloaded. It has also destroyed fuel and ammo stocks as well as military personnel. 

He has also closed the 'humanitarian' corridor in the Black Sea. Any vessel heading to Odessa will become a target and the country of its flag will be considered to be a participant in the conflict.

Another point that (some articles) get blatantly wrong ... remember the 30km column of Russian troops which sat outside Kiev at the start of the SMO? Remember also, that peace negotiations had been arranged in Istanbul (Before Boris Johnson, on the orders of his NATO masters, flew to Kiev and scuppered them)? Putin recently showed the African peace delegation signed documents, with Ukranian signatures. 

These documents had already been signed when Boris went to Kiev. Part of those agreements were that Russia withdraw its troops, which was duly done. The Russians did not 'retreat'. Those troops were redeployed to the Donbas region.

Ripper adds, today:

I don't claim to understand all of it, but the whole neo nazi movement in 404 originated from a nazi collaborator, Stepan Bandera during WW2. He was Galician (Western Ukraine), of which Lvov is a city.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera

Bandera joined the OUN (Organisation of Ukranian Nationalists), which years later formed the Svaboda party, They in turn gave rise to many malitias - Right Sektor, Azov, Kraken just to mention a few examples. By around 2011 Right Sektor had worked their way into the Ukraine military as territorial guard units.

At the end of WW2 many prominent nazis fled to mainly to South American countries to escape war crime prosecution, some, like Von Braun were snatched up by the US for their skills - Von Braun, for example, was the mastermind behind Hitler's V2 program (I guess you could say the V2 was the World's first ballistic missile) and the person responsible for the US moon landings with the Saturn V rocket. Ukranians in the USA openly celebrate Bandera's birthday to this day, clad in German nazi uniforms, and this is also attended by Zelensky's henchmen. In 404 its a national holiday, on of all dates, Jan 1st.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ukraine-celebrates-nazi-collaborator-stepan-banderas-birthday

Now to the part I really do understand. The main goal of the USA, since after the collapse of the Soviet Union has been to break Russia into small powerless states, and grab its vast resources. This is why, for decades, kids in the West have been indoctrinated to hate Russians. Bob Dylan wrote a song about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2FuDY6Q4M

The US backed these nazi militias in 2014 to overthrow the Ukraine government, the same playbook they used in all the other countries they interfered in - Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yugoslavia etc. They needed a US friendly government so that the US could take over the Sevastopol naval base in Crimea (at that time Crimea was part of Ukraine) and install nukes close to Moscow. However, their plans were thwarted by the Crimean citizens who quickly held a referendum and Crimea became Russian again. 

The people of Donbass seceded soon after, forming the DPR and the LPR. That's when the daily shelling of Donetsk began. The Azov battalion (doing the shelling) were permanently based in Adiivka not far from Donetsk. This went on for 8 years, until Feb 2022 when Putin recognised the DPR and LPR as sovereign states and launched the SMO. Those two states, plus Kherson and Zaporozhye became Russian soil last year.

Finally from me here for now, our position is that our loyalty is to the manipulated and therefore abused ordinary Ukrainian, just as to the ordinary etc. Brit or American or German or French or Russian and so on ... that's where our politics are ... to expose untruth and hope truth becomes apparent from that process. Truth, as Pilate purpotedly said ... what is truth?

Are The Police Too Satisfied Too Easily...?

The arrests follow an initial statement from Lancashire Police in which the force suggested no criminal offence had been committed.

'After viewing the footage, we believe this happened some time ago and that the cat was already dead at the time of the incident,' Lancashire Police said on Facebook.

'While distasteful and obviously upsetting to view we are satisfied no criminal offence has been committed.'

Yeah, that's what police said about Huw Edwards at first... 

The initial statement was, however, followed up with a subsequently deleted post, claiming the force had 'conducted further enquiries' and that an investigation would be underway.

Oh? Why the change of heart? 

'We can confirm, having reviewed the footage and conducted further enquiries, an investigation is underway and we will be speaking to a man in due course in connection with animal cruelty offences,' the police force said.

Which would indicate either the cat wasn't dead, or further footage of other acts this charming individual has been involved in have come to light. It's amazing what you find when you bother to do your job instead of giving people the brush off, eh? 

Because if you don't do your job, you might find others do it for you...

'We are aware some people have targeted those shown in the video and their families and subjected them to threats and anti-social behaviour,' the force said.

'We would remind people any criminal behaviour will be dealt with robustly. Thank you for your continued support and we will update you in due course.'

Then deal with it. Before it leads to the inevitable.  

Smelling quite fishy, Rishi

The moves by the unelected (to the PMship by the population) Fishy Sunpak smells of stinking fish:

https://www.centrefortheunion.co.uk/post/briefing-postal-packets-regulations-2023

Variously elsewhere reported, particularly about the five thrown off the committee of review.

Yes, In The Basement, Behind A Door With A Sign Saying 'Beware Of The Leopard'...

Cllr Nigel Ayre, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on the council which was in power when the bollards were installed, insisted the work was in line with a map that had been available at a public drop-in session in January.

Residents wanted 'independent shops, but also seating and greenery'. But that wasn't what they got, was it?

Vikki Hill of the 'What a load of bollards' campaign said the group's aims were simple. "This is about one thing, and one thing only - getting rid of the bollards!" she said.

Get rid of the useless bollards in the council planning department first...