'Unfortunately, corruption is rooted in our culture in Kenya...'

It seems to be taking hold here too, it's just expressed rather differently.

The allegations against Dame Ann were made in 2020 shortly after she caught a self-employed cleaner stealing cash from her handbag. She told the woman, who was from the same Kenyan ethnic group as most of the six other complainants, to leave the castle immediately, but didn't report her to police.

'I made a massive mistake,' Dame Ann says. 'If I'd called the police, things might have been very different.'

Oh, sadly, I rather doubt it. You're making a big assumption there that the police only concentrate on determining whether a law has been broken. 

The first Dame Ann knew she was being investigated was in 2020 when one of her former students, who is now an aviation engineer, told her she had received a call from a detective. 'He was asking strange questions about me: Was I bad to her? Did I feed her? Did I allow her to leave the house? She told him he was being ridiculous and that I had only ever taken care of her.

'The detective didn't want to talk to her after that.'

Of course he didn't. The police no longer investigate all the facts and then determine which line to follow - that's the realm of tv shows. These day, and especially in Scotland, they start from a conclusion (slavery!)  and seek evidence to prove it. 

Many of the young men and women who were helped by the Gloag Foundation were keen to vouch for the woman who made such a difference to their lives.

'I know some of these people and believe they colluded to either get citizenship in the UK or money from Ann.

'Unfortunately, corruption is rooted in our culture in Kenya. I think the accusers probably thought she would want to settle because of the damage to her reputation, but Ann is strong.'

And it's a good thing that she is. Most people wouldn't have held out under such pressure. 

But the investigation continued with officers from the human trafficking unit interviewing students past and present, as well as Peter's carers, her secretary and staff.

'If someone makes an accusation like that, I understand it's their duty to investigate. I'm totally comfortable with that but, what I struggle with, is they completely disregarded the evidence of anybody who was positive about me.'

That's because you have a view of how the police used to act that is out of whack with the way they now act.  

Dame Ann was getting in her car to go on holiday last month when the Crown Office made public its decision, a year-and-half after she was charged.

It probably took a day, if that, to read the 'evidence' put to the Procurator Fiscal and realise this wasn't going anywhere! The other 546 days were no doubt spent trying to find someone to take responsibility for the decision. 

'It's not for me to tell the Home Office what to do but the law needs to be looked at or, at least, some of the wording on their website should be changed. This could be an epidemic coming down the line.'

No doubt. No doubt at all.  

Since the allegations were made Dame Ann has not returned to Kenya and the scholarship program has been suspended. She says she will take 'at least six months' to review what she does for charity in the future.

It should be 'nothing'.  

Text Message Warning.

There is a particularly nasty Scam texting Message going the rounds, and the Unwary should be warned. 

I received a message regarding Winter Weather Payments, with a warning that the window for registration was fast closing, and the recipient should immediately click on the URL (Internet speak for an address) to begin the forms etc. It was very cleverly worded, and if one is not totally alert, the user may well find his or her bank accounts raided.

I also received a phone message purporting to be from a very well-known Domestic Appliance Warranty and Repair Company which I actually do business with, so I Listened, but when the woman said that she needed my Bank Sort Code and Account Numbers so they could “place the refund” cash, I realised that I was in receipt of a Scamming Call, so hung up.

The Government's web pages sate, time and time again that they will NEVER, EVER, text or e-mail you; just remember that warning, and you won't go far wriong

You have to be very alert, as well as being very, very cautious these days.

Ginge and Whinge are far more than just a joke

… they’ve become an absolute menace to ordinary people, esp. interfering in US elections:

“Prince Harry has been a part of this Censorship machine and was involved with the same bad actors interfering with the 2020 election in suppressing conservative voices. He Confessed to knowing about J-6 before it happened and should really be investigated. Prince Harry's visa records need to be released, as the public interest outweighs his need for privacy based on his attack on the US Constitution. @Heritage

Not only have the Duke & Duchess of Sussex been collaborating and funding many members of Issue One's Council for Responsible Social Media, but they have also been engaging in a Military Grade Censorship operation that has been going on as early as 2019.

This is just a small example, before even starting on Archewell itself:

1. Imran Ahmed - Founder and CEO of CCDH. Prince Harry supported GARM & #stophateforprofit campaign. The Prince has admitted was meeting with social media companies in 2020 before the election about pulling ad revenues for those who spread hate. 2. Jiore Craig - Head of Digital Integrity at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Paid Archewell Consultant focused on rebuilding the online space through policy & Regulation. 3. Renee DiResta - Associate Research Professor for the McCourt School of Public Policy’s Tech & Public Policy program and massive Data Institute. Former Stanford Internet Observatory and CIA. Worked with Harry on Aspen Commission on Information Disorder. Was a part of TIME 100 interview with Prince Harry & Maria Ressa in Sept 2020. Participated in the RE-WIRED Interview on Mis/Disinformation with fellow Aspen Commissioner Rashad Robinson (Color of Change PAC started by Van Jones) and Prince Harry. 4. Nancy Gibbs - Former Editor of TIME and Director of The Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy. Harry & Meghan have funded Harvard Berkman Klein and paid for the spot on the TIME 100 in 2020. 5. Tristan Harris - Co- Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Humane Technology. Meghan Markle's best friend. Also participated in another interview with Harry. & Meghan for TIME 100 together with another Aspen Commissioner, Safiya Noble in September 2020. 6. Emma Lembke - Founder and CEO of LOGOFF And Co-Chair of Design it for US. Archewell has funded a grant in 2023 through the Responsible Youth Power Fund With Omydar Network. 7. Herb Lin - Stanford Senior Research Scholar & Commissioner On Aspen Commission on Information Disorder with Prince Harry. 8. Trisha Prabhu - Founder and CEO of ReThink. Archewell has funded a grant in 2023 through the Responsible Youth Power Fund With Omydar Network. 9. Maria Ressa - Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, CEO of Rappler. Steering committee Chairperson of World Movement for Democracy at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Worked on the TIME 100 with Harry & Meghan in 2020. Was recently in Colombia with Harry & Meghan for Responsible Digital Forum in capacity building with the youth. 10. Vivian Schiller - Executive Director Of Aspen Digital. Fmr. President and CEO of NPR, Global Chair of News at Twitter, and general Manager of NYT. Sponsored the Aspen Commission On Information Disorder.”

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Beat Me Harder! Punish Me!

Food firms should be forced to reveal how healthy or unhealthy their products are, to help people consume a better diet, an industry boss has said. Ministers should compel companies to publish an annual report so consumers can see how much of their sales is made up of dishes that contain too much fat, salt and sugar, Stéfan Descheemaeker also said. Descheemaeker is the chief executive of Nomad Foods, which owns popular brands such as Birds Eye fish fingers, Findus frozen foods and Goodfella’s pizzas.

If you're the CEO, can't you do this without government compulsion, then, Stefan? 

He told the Guardian that mandatory publication of what proportion of each firm’s sales count as healthy or unhealthy under government guidelines would kickstart a “nutrition arms race” in which manufacturers would vie with each other to make their products better for health.

Ah, I suspect he thinks this is a game he could win, and he wants competitors to be forced to enter. 

His comments underline what one diet campaigner called the “quiet revolution” going on in the industry in its views on how best to tackle the UK’s addiction to unhealthy food. More and more manufacturers want the government to now order the sector to improve its behaviour, rather than relying on voluntary agreements as the Conservatives did during their 14 years in power.

So why don't they do it without government compulsion? I really cannot understand modern business leaders...  

For the last seven years Nomad has published figures showing the percentage of its net sales that are deemed healthy under the government’s nutrient profiling model of judging which products contain the right or wrong amounts of fat, salt and sugar. It was now at 93.3% overall healthy, he said, according to the official high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) assessment system. Public disclosure of food firms’ sales would enable the creation of league tables that would allow those whose products are more often unhealthy to be named and shamed, backers say.

See? Stefan thinks the gold medal will be his! Is that why he wants government compulsion?

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and the yoghurt maker Danone have already made clear they back mandatory reporting.

*baffled face* If they thought it was a winner with the shopping public, they'd do it, wouldn't they?

Remembrance Day 2024

Just repeating something written in 2023 … nothing has improved, no matter which govt, no matter which clown heads the Met.

That was, just repeating, from 2023.  Today, however, we have the prospect of veterans, returned service men and women, turning their backs on Starmer … hmmmm, mind’s not made up on that one.

As for us … ladies and gentlemen, at 11 a.m., please be upstanding.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Sidebar photo: Amazon

Another DEI disaster?

The instant I saw it in the youtube recommended, my instant thought was, “Who was she, the Commander?”

If you look back over my soc-med writing, it’s I think justly complimentary towards and in awe of “proper” women whom I’m, frankly, in awe of for their abilities across a range of skill sets … 

They’re sane, sensible, yuge fun in so many ways … to my mind, all good … they stay within their competencies, I stay within mine.

This below though is completely different … for a start, it’s top down psycho-wokery in every Milliband way … plus the feminazai karens involved are the very LAST people, male or female, in charge of anything whatever …

It truly is a horses for courses thing ... just look at the new chief-of-staff for DJT ... Susie ... no one has a bad word.  Our own gallant leader at OoL runs a good operation with loyal 2ICs.

In this youtube below on the sinking, the narrator man below goes to great lengths to blame everything else but her ... then says she may have been "a factor".

In comments, someone wrote:

Q.E.D.

The Dark Side Of ‘Freedom Of The Land’ Types

Members of a “cult” who believed they could overrule the judicial system have been jailed after storming a court armed with a pair of handcuffs in a failed attempt to kidnap and falsely imprison a senior coroner.

What a bunch of nutters! How could they possibly do more damage to our legal system than the activist judges and incompetent CPS are already doing? 

Lincoln Brookes, the senior coroner for Essex and target of the four-strong group’s botched kidnap attempt, told Chelmsford crown court that he regularly had nightmares about the incident.

Why? Their actions were comically ineffective and doomed to fail... 

The judge Justice Goss said all four were members of a group called the Federal Postal Court, or the Court for the People, which had “self-conferred” powers. In July, the prosecutor Allister Walker had called the group an “anti-establishment protest, cult or conspiracy theory”.

Well, given how often conspiracy theorists are proved absolutely correct these day, maybe they were a genuine threat after all. 

Mark Christopher, 59, was described as the “self-appointed leader” who went by the title of Chief Judge of England and All Dominions. Matthew Martin, 47, was a sheriff and coroner, Sean Harper, 38, was a sheriff, and his wife, Shiza Harper, 45, was a postal inspector for the group, the judge said, with all three “qualified by” Christopher. The judge said Christopher “lay at the very heart of these offences” as he jailed him for seven years. He said Martin and the Harpers “were prepared to commit offences while doing his bidding” and jailed them for 30 months each.

Any more indications they were all bonkers? Glad you asked, Reader: 

Martin, who represented himself, said he was “here to save younglings” and that “we find younglings tied up in places like underneath Asda supermarkets”.

Nah, mate, got to check the Jedi Temples for those. 

Neil Oliver and GB News

As mentioned by Dan Wootton, the whole point of GB News was as an alt-news alternative to the MSM but in dropping The Coast Guy, it just compounds what happened with Mark Steyn, DW himself, Calvin Robinson … “alt” is not ok for GBN … it pretends to be so to its former support base but it is in fact Westminster CINO, pandering to the Westminster set and its money backers. Straight Woke left.

We’re not remotely interested in what would be, across the pond, known as RINOs, nor in the MSM view on anything. As DW says … GBN has lost its entire reason to exist.

Similar happened to Tucker on Fox, to Lara Logan, to any who speak to the 4 million who voted Reform or who used to vote UKIP … also to those who voted MAGA.

(H/T to “our” Andy across at our place.)

'And Your Sins Will Seek You Out'

 

Along with many, almost too many to count; political commentators and analysts, I am attempting to discover the secret to that truly remarkable political victory by Donald Trump in yesterday’s Presidential Election.

As an Englishman, I hold a somewhat privileged position as far as USA politics go, in that I have read and studied both American politics and politicians by virtue of their speeches, statements and actions; without having any of their many activities resounding too much on either my country, or myself as an individual. A quotation from that inspiring and gifted writer Tom Clancy stated “Ideas are important. Principles are important. Words are important. Your word is the most important of all. Your word is who you are.”  

America is an Idea. America is complicated. When the Founding Fathers, those far-sighted men who sat and argued for months before that truly amazing Document  which commenced “We, the People”, the proposed Constitution of that brand new Nation; the United States of America, they were determined to avoid, as far as could then be foreseen, the pitfalls and mistakes which had either frozen or altered beyond recognition many of the mainly European nations which existed when those men were preparing Revolution. Their grievances were many, with the Stamp Act, a tax system to make the Colonies pay for the war which ​​to pay off the enormous war debt that the crown had incurred, first amongst many. King George together with his Government, felt that since the war started in North America, the English subjects living there should play a major role in paying for it. In 1765, the King’s newest Prime Minister, Lord George Grenville, introduced the Stamp Act, sparking a wave of protests in all thirteen colonies. The force and intensity of the protests shocked both the King and Parliament, forcing a repeal: and the Founding Fathers determined that their solution was to overthrow the shackles laid upon them by the British Government, with a citizen Army, which ultimately was successful.

When Donald Trump, a billionaire property magnate New Yorker decided to run for the Presidency in 2015-16, he fought his way through the Primaries, adding more States to his name, before being successful as the Republican Nominee for the Presidency. From being a rank outsider, with some regarding him as a joke, he began his campaign, and up until the very day of the Election, was ranked as ‘The Improbable Outsider’. I watched many of his campaign speeches, and realised that here, before our eyes, something new was stirring. From a thriving billion dollar property portfolio, to lay siege to the Machine which was the Democratic Party was literally unknown, but perhaps only possible because he funded his campaign himself. He owed no one any deals, made no-one any promises or special rewards. But the major politicians of both Parties virtually ignored him, and in the very day before the Election, he was given a 3% chance of success. But lots of people had seen and listened to him speak, and millions more had watched those campaign speeches on Facebook and YouTube, because this was possibly the first Digital Election.

The shock, the sheer angst, the disbelief which was shown worldwide by the smug anchor broadcasters of CNN and MSNBC as the 2016 Election was called, not for the surefire bet for Hilary Clinton, but for the rank outsider and brash newcomer Trump, could well have been bottled and sold at a great profit. His Presidency followed, and despite all that the Deep State hurled against him, he came through to become, again in mine opinion, a decent man and a great President. He ran again in 2020, losing to Joe Biden. He claimed ‘Foul’, and ‘Criminal Voter Theft’, but the claims were met with a stolid rebuff by Democratic-appointed judges, and no claim ever reached a court. In the intervening years, more evidence appeared which might have turned things around, but nothing ever reached a court.

So The Donald, now an elderly man, what does he do? Why, he declares himself as a runner for the 47th Presidency, and proceeds to go down the early Primary routes, gathering votes for his Nomination as he disposed of his few opponents. Why? Because thats what is needed if you play by the rules. As I wrote earlier: ‘America is complicated’, and as Tom Clancy opined ‘Principles are important’. 

Now we need to look at his Opposition, President Joe Biden, and his Vice-President Kamala Harris. Biden started off well, but his Presidency seemed, to me at least, to be remarkably vague and indecisive. It was way back in March 2021 that I wrote on the sudden and mysterious chop and disappearance of a videoed Press Conference with members of the House Congressmen and the new President, after he began by saying “I’m happy to take questions if that’s what I’m supposed to do, Nance, whatever you want me to do,”. The feed disappeared, and he never resumed that video call. I asked on my own site, “The Democratic Presidential campaign kept ChinaJoe hidden in his basement for most of the campaign, as opposed to President Trump, whose appearances on his campaign trail were only too successful in reminding America who was speaking, and who was hiding. I wonder what the real reason for his silence was? Were the Dems just worried about the Virus, or were they worried that the Big Lie would be discovered? Was ChinaJoe already showing signs of diminished capacity?”

In the months and years that followed, many signs were showing that President Biden was exhibiting signs of mental deterioration, but these stories were ruthlessly culled from any American news source, with the exception being Breitbart News. But, the Democrats managed to sneer loudly enough and ridicule Breitbart, so that middle America never got to hear or discuss the very real fears of their ailing President which were common news overseas. It was almost ‘news standard’ that the strings of actual government were being pulled by a combination of VP Harris, Obama and Biden’s wife, who just loved the thrill of flying in Air Force One. They lied to the American public, and they thought that they could get ‘SleepyJoe’, bouncing on enough cocaine to get him through the Primaries, and then into a Second Term. Unfortunately, those plans came crashing down about forty-odd seconds into the first (and ONLY) Biden/Trump Presidential Debate, when all Trump had to do was keep a straight face whilst observing the collapse of a serving President on National Television to win every second of the disaster which was President Joe Biden debating, exposed for the mental wreck he sadly had become.

The Democrats, panicked beyond belief, arranged for Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s Nominee without a single vote, without a single caucus being established where she would actually run as a Nominee. When Biden announced his decision to drop out of the 2024 race, many delegates who were elected in primaries specifically because they were pledged to vote for him declared their intent to vote for Harris. With Biden out of the race, they are free to vote their conscience, and no other candidate emerged to challenge Harris. But for the first time since 1968, Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee will win the nomination without winning a single primary vote. 

And this folks, is where the Democratic Party failed miserably to tell their millions of supporters that, “Well, its okay, but she’s the only candidate we’ve got: and we just don’t have the time to run all those primaries again”!

Haris wasn’t prepared, she hadn’t done her homework, she couldn’t answer a single policy question without tying herself in verbal knots. The only Debate with Trump? He wiped the floor with her, because, like him or loathe him, he is massively prepared: and that, folks, is  my belief that huge numbers of confirmed Democratic Party voters turned away from VP Kamala Harris, and chose Trump: because he stuck closely to those Constitutional Rules; and Kamala did not! 

"It appears that something has gone very wrong here.”

Robert Bracegirdle, 75, disappeared from his home in Goole in 2020 after struggling with mental health issues. A police search failed to find him and a coroner later ruled that he had died by drowning in the nearby River Ouse. His next of kin were forbidden access to his flat by East Riding council which promised to store his possessions until he was officially declared dead. However, when an inquest was held two years after his disappearance, the family discovered that the contents of his flat had been disposed of.

That's the sort of local council 'efficiency' we've come to expect... 

According to the housing law specialist Giles Peaker, partner of Anthony Gold Solicitors, relatives of council tenants who die without having made a will usually have to wait for a grant of probate before they can enter a property. However, in Bracegirdle’s case, probate could not be applied for until he was officially declared dead two years later, by which time his property had been disposed of. “Under the Tort (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 the council would have to keep the deceased tenant’s belongings secure and serve a notice on the administrator, executor and/or on the public trustee requiring collection of the belongings before disposing of them.” Peaker said.

And if they fail to follow that, never mind, the taxpayer will pick up the bill! Small comfort that will be to the bereaved relatives.... 

“The council told us that we were not allowed to enter the flat and remove any items because my uncle could not give permission,” said his niece, Charlotte Bracegirdle.“It said that once it had repossessed the property through the courts, it would take a full inventory of the contents and put them into storage until an inquest. My mum contacted them when an inquest date was set and received a two-line email, which didn’t even address her by name, stating that the contents had been disposed of as is ‘standard procedure’ when a property has stood empty for a long period. We suspect some of the more high-value items may have been sold.”

Shouldn't the police be involved then, as surely that's both theft and malfeasance in public office? 

East Riding council declined to respond to questions about when and how Bracegirdle’s belongings were disposed of. It said in a statement: “The council offers our deepest condolences, and regrets that the council’s actions caused distress at a difficult time for Mr Bracegirdle’s family. We acknowledge, now and at the time, that matters should have been dealt in a more sympathetic way. In response to the concerns that the family members have raised, we have changed our processes to ensure that similar cases are managed in a more sensitive way. This case is currently being dealt with by our insurers so we cannot comment in more detail at this time.”

How many other councils are doing this, I wonder? It's just another reason to ensure you have made a will.