The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
A compendium of Luxury Beliefs ...
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Certainly someone had thought about how to milk the format financially as there were different prices for the course depending on how much flexibility you wanted on moving the date which seemed exceptionally cynical since the service presumably costs the same whenever it is delivered.
As usual the format was presented by a man and a woman. The Jill Dando of the team asked me how it would affect my life if I lost my driving licence. To which I replied "That's none of your business, is it?". The audience seemed to find this quite amusing. Don't know why. I suppose because it's an appeal to fear and as a psychopath that's just not an emotion I have often.
The usual suspects were all present and correct including this time the addition of a refugee from Iraq who's English was only slightly better than Manuel in Fawlty Towers. The Nick Ross of the presenting team was very patient though as he struggled through a thesaurus of words to find ones the Iraqi immigrant could understand. He was okay with functional pedestrian phrases but he had more difficulty with words that related to abstract nouns or concepts which I found interesting as I'd previously not that about how we learn language in that way. I kept thinking of the useless Latin nouns that Mr Johnson would teach us like laid waste (vastatus). Perhaps if there wasn't so much vastatio going on in the middle east, he wouldn't have needed to come here and be stopped for speeding on his moped. I couldn't imagine him driving a car but perhaps I am stereotyping... I started to wonder if Iraqi driving licences were valid in the UK. Then I started to wonder if Dr Ashti Hawrami had done a UK driving test when I worked for him... Then my mind went off on all kinds of other tangents as like Stan Laurel I amused myself "lobby watching"...
A lady kept complaining about trying to drive at the speed limit and being constantly overtaken by other drivers to which the Nick Ross of the outfit said "whatever the speed limit is, you must drive at that". Perhaps, but it's quite difficult if no one's going to be enforcing it. I've taken literally no notice of the Lambeth/Southwark blanket 20mph speed limit since it was brought in because it simply wasn't enforced. We were told at some point 20mph limits were going to be self enforcing but clearly there were few volunteers for being continually bored to death all the time so a realistic deterrent has been finally introduced. Nick Ross asked us if the few minutes we'd saved were worth the 3 hours of the course. Well, since the law hasn't been enforced for at least 5 years my cost quality time triangle says yes. I've saved well over 3 hours so am still on top...
There was a lot of stuff about stopping distances which I found odd as surely the fact energy is related to velocity squared is a more convincing argument for not speeding. At one point I was asked how many car lengths I drove behind a car going at 40mph to which I replied "I don't know. I use the 2 second gap". For some reason though although it is still valid and works the two second gap was judged too complicated for the punters to understand...
Eventually Nick Ross told us we could avoid speeding by better planning our time. For instance by giving people time windows instead of actual times of arrival. For example "I'll be there between 7:30 and 8pm" rather than "8pm". Given time is money Im not sure this is the best strategy but I suppose it conveniently front loads costs off the state and on to everyone else. Then again perhaps comedians could introduce a policy of being deliberately late for gigs in order to drive up expectations, like Hitler always being late for political rallies on Joseph Goebbels's advice. I mean, it was a bit brass neck to talk about time flexibility given the course itself had zero time flexibility for rescheduling unless, of course, you paid extra for it upfront in cash. It didn't surprise me that many of the participants had jobs that involved driving like Estate Agents driving between properties or builders.
Finally there was time for Nick Ross to tell us that if we shared any recording of the meeting our passes would be automatically voided. So I hasten to conclude this piece by stating that it is a work of fiction and any similarities between any persons living or dead is completely coincidental.
Of course it would be nice to think that doling out fines for driving at (allegedly) 24mph was all about safety but on the Mayor of London's website Sir Khan tells us explicitly that it is in fact a social engineering policy aimed at stopping the majority of people driving at all : "Our Transport Strategy sets out a big, bold aim for 80 per cent of all journeys in London to be made by walking, cycling or using public transport by 2041.". Yes peak oil and net zero are here, and right here's where us plebs start paying. I expect I'll be being fined for driving at 14mph by 2041 ... If private cars haven't been replaced entirely by electric ElonAIcabs by then ...
Hello Mr Miller
I am sending you this E-Mail to inform you that your report of theft of stand pipe on the 23rd of May has been sent for closure. Your statement has been added to the crime report as has the CCTV that has been provided.
My sergeant has reviewed the footage and does not believe it is suitable for upload to our forensic image management system and unfortunately, that means there are no further lines of enquiry to follow.
Should any further lines of enquiry come to light, this report can be re-opened and progressed accordingly.
Kind Regards,
PC Christopher
PC Christopher
Volume Crime Team, Bromley
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Rod King of the alliteratively depressing Twenty's Plenty campaign to make everyone drive at depressingly slow speeds. |
Anyway... I expect I shall be invited to attend a speed awareness course which I will probably skip in favour of the fine as four hours listening to heavily biased propaganda promoted by full time killjoys is less valuable than my time. It's easier to simply memorise where the cameras are ...
When 20 zones were introduced we were told TFL main roads were exempt. Then we were told 20 zones would be self enforcing ...clearly they're not and fines need to be issued because no one is actually stupid enough to voluntarily drive at 20 mph on a duel carriageway. So now Southwark and Lambeth are filled to the brim with cameras and camera cars intended to stop the plebs travelling by car into the city centre in order to achieve our net zero targets and reduce road casualties to a fanatical and surely unachievable target of zero deaths.
I mean surely there's likely to be at least one death if only by accident? Can you really prevent all accidents even if you could eliminate all private cars? 7 people died in the New Addington Tram Crash and the Glória funicular crash killed 17 people. Transport deaths have always been a thing since horse drawn transport...
That said the death stats have improved remarkably in the past few years due to simple measures like changing the traffic flow at the five way junction round the Bank of England.
Anyway, I tried joining a protest group against this puritanism once but the Association of British Drivers banned me from their twitter feed whilst other protest groups are flooded by anti-immigration campaigners, racists, nutters, global warming flat earthers and ULEZ camera vandals and seem to lose sight of any single issue to a sense of generally fermenting rage at all and sundry. I often wonder why I vote for the left when they seem to constantly come up with policies designed to make my life miserable. No doubt others ...
One also has to wonder whether in the long term Khan's salami tactics against motorists will work. Jamaica road is a literal assault course which would be fine but people still live on it and the roads and estates are still full of cars which look as though they're going nowhere... Maybe AI driven cars will prevent collisions... Hummm...
Touch wood the only collision I've had in the last ten years is a cyclist crashing into my boot because he was tailgating and doesn't have power assisted breaks. The dent is still there because he didn't have a numberplate so I couldn't make an insurance claim against him...
I’ve seen Porridge loads of times of course but often out of order. Watching it in order gives a different perspective… for example, it’s obvious that Ken Jones as Bernard "Horrible" Ives was originally set up to be one of the main antagonists but for some reason this doesn’t quite work out. Perhaps because it’s never entirely clear what Fletcher has against him apart from him being untrustworthy …which is something that could be said for many of the inmates… somehow they don’t pull this relationship off and in some episodes Fletcher’s attitude to him borders on bullying.
Things really kick off when Fletcher and Godber share a cell which doesn’t actually start to happen regularly until half way into the first series. There are so many great actors giving great performances in Porridge it’d take too long to analyse them all but of the secondary characters Fulton Mackay as Mr Mackay and Brian Wilde as Mr Barrowclough are the surely most memorable in my view alongside Peter Vaughan as "Genial" Harry Grout who although he is only seen in three episodes and the film (made after the series had ended) drives many of the plots as an unseen character. Brian Wilde as the perpetually timid, manipulated and henpecked Mr Barrowclough is my favourite - particularly in the pilot where he and Fletcher end up marooned in an empty house on the moors together after the prison van breaks down because Fletcher has urinated in the petrol tank.Due to the authorities not allowing filming in a real prison the amazingly believable prison interiors were largely shot at Ealing studios in a set made around disused water tank for underwater filming. Clement and La Frenais used “How to Survive in the Nick” by Jonathan Marshall as reference for lots of the technical details of prison life. Although there’s no cohesive “season arcs” as there would be nowadays there is a sense of a continuing narrative and there are some memorable recurring characters some of which evolve over multiple episodes. Particularly David Jason heavily made up as older inmate Blanco Webb (odd to look at now he’s the same age as Blanco) and always-good-value Maurice Denham as the Honourable Mr Justice Stephen Rawley who put Fletcher inside now himself facing corruption charges.
Included on the DVD is a vintage documentary where a man I vaguely recognised encourages us to vote for Porridge as “Britain’s Best Sitcom”. I recognised the presenter but couldn’t place him till the end credits which revealed him to be Johnny Vaughn (no realtion to the late Peter and who’s greatest claim to TV fame was being the host of the Big Breakfast and would have been about at the height of his fame at this time). Of course what the audience probably wouldn’t have known then but we know now is Vaughn had previously been to prison himself for dealing cocaine for several years when he was 21… which may explain why this is favourite sitcom… Prison certainly changed Vaughn’s view of himself. As he told thelondonpaper.com“At the time I tried not to take responsibility in the sense that if the cops hadn’t set the crime up there wouldn’t have been a crime,” he says. “But if you say that, you’re a feeble-minded individual. It’s a call you have to make. People always talk about background, it’s part of our blame culture. Choice is a basic human freedom.”
Less Repeated is “Going Straight” which won BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation Comedy in March 1979. Somewhere on the DVDs is Barker giving a moving acceptance speech praising the late Richard Beckinsale who had recently died very suddenly at only 31. Of course Going Straight isn’t repeated as much and the general opinion on it seems to be that this is because it was a bit of a failure, but actually it scored respectable ratings.
Part of the reason is perhaps that the situation isn’t as good. The general format of sitcom is trap your characters in a situation from which they cannot escape – and prison is the ultimate situation from which one cannot escape. Perhaps another part of the problem is that the episodes cannot as easily be viewed out of order. Going Straight is a continuing narrative, starting with Barker having been released and sharing a railway carriage with Mr Mackay who has also left Slade Prison due to compulsory retirement (that was a thing then) and moving on to his readjustment to home life. It explores other themes after that relating to Fletcher’s ambition to “go straight” such as dealing with unemployment. Fletcher filling his days with his own DIY to alleviate the boredom reminded me of my own spells on the dole.
Interestingly Fletcher purports never to have previously had a job of any description which underlines his famous opening monologue about his profession being breaking the law. For some reason this made me think of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon although of course he had a job in aerospace before being shown the door when his hobby of being a football casual… sorry, don’t know why we went on that tangent.
David Swift of “Drop the Dead Donkey” fame turns up as Mr McEwan, Fletcher’s eventual employer when he finds a dead end job as night porter at a small hotel. The thing is that eventually when Fletcher doesn’t succumb to the lure of crime again, there’s really nowhere else for the sitcom to go anymore … it’s just going to turn into an ordinary sitcom … and what’s the point of that? After all, it breaks the cardinal rule of sitcom – offering an escape.Patricia Brake’s 1970s costumes are proper fashion flashback territory…
Fletcher’s final appearance is in the Mockumentary Life Beyond the Box (2003). Unfortunately, whilst this is available on Youtube the Porridge and Going Straight flashbacks are obscured for rights reasons whilst the BBC couldn’t get the Mockumentary on the DVDs for rights reasons so you have to use your imagination to join the bits back together … but it’s worth it as there’s an enormous attention to detail to the backstories of all the original characters with Peter Vaughn, Tony Osoba Sam Kelly, Ken Jones and Christopher Biggins and Ronnie himself all reprising their original roles and Clement and La Frenais helping to provide the words to show what has happened to them in the intervening 25 years…
The short answer is no, but that's not going to put me off a clickbait title. However, I do feel emotionally as though he has been.
The official explanation is that the BBC is waiting on Disney to decide if it wants to invest in a "Season 3" of BBCDisney Doctor Who.
Apparently Ncuti Gatwa said there was to be such a season (with him in it) when interviewed by Graham Norton but this was edited out pre-broadcast due to changing plans. All this may be true but his regeneration at the end of the last season was an obviously clunky rewrite that was a sad end to a very enjoyable era of Doctor Who (even if according to the ratings only I and a few diehards were watching). Ratings for the last series were to say the least dissappointing with at least two episodes dropping below the 3 million mark. Still, it's doing better than Blue Peter which apparently after it was hived off to CBBC managed to generate some episodes that literally not one person watched (yes, really).
Although it's not literally true that Ncuti Gatwa was sacked whenever I suggest in any way that the treatment of the first black Dr Who is not a good look for the BBC it amazes me how quickly and vociferously people jump in to correct me. But here's the thing. Ncuti Gatwa wasn't fired in the very public way that befell Colin Baker but ...
If we think of Doctor Who as a factory that produces Dr Who episodes... if that factory stops making episodes then it has effectively laid off it's workers and that includes both Russell T Davies and Ncuti Gatwa. That, to me, is very very close to being sacked...? But not quite. Let's be polite and call it something else. Being laid off?
Being laid off can be different to being sacked but it kind of feels like splitting hairs to explain the difference... A company lays someone off [it's happened to me a couple of times] when they want to continue employing them but don't actually have any work and don't want to spend any money so they say "we're not going to pay you but we still want you on our payroll" (usually because looking as though you have staff helps to get new projects in).
The last Doctor Who to be laid off was Sylvester McCoy who was officially Doctor Who for 9 years - although since production stopped in 1989 and didn't resume until 1996 so spent 7 years working on other projects.
Now strictly speaking McCoy was not fired from Doctor Who but since they stopped making it ... he kind of was. It's a bit like saying Timothy Dalton wasn't fired as James Bond ... perhaps not but since the film series ceased in 1989 and didn't resume until 1995 he spent 6 years not ordering vodka martinis after which it seemed his enthusiam for the role had waned...
Anyway, however the cookie crumbles it seems to me that Ncuti Gatwa has been, to say the least, treated rather shabbily. Then again sacking Doctor Whos is something that has happened more times than most people care to remember. Sometimes it's not a straight line between fired and not-fired... sometimes people resign because they kind of feel the gig is up. That's not being fired but if , for example, we were to take Christopher Ecclestone's version of events at face value (rather than with a pinch of salt) it does sound a bit like constructive dismissal...?
So ... Jodie Whittaker's decision to leave alongside Chris Chibnall seemed a bit premature. And William Hartnell said that he "did not willingly give up the role" although he was clearly too ill to continue...Tom Baker said that he offered his resignation every year (as a negotiating ploy?) and he was surprised when the management said "okay then" ... he also said that he reached a point where he felt he couldn't in all concience go on disagreeing with the management when they were the ones with the right to make decisions... Christopher Ecclestone definitively said relationships "broke down". Colin Baker was put on haitus once and then fired after his next series which is kind of like being fired twiceover...
Anyway, before I end this blog I must move onto my other great heresy - Doctor Who is cancelled. Yes, it is. That is what it means when a show is not in production and there are no concrete plans to bring it back. The BBC blame Disney but ultimately that's blame shifting. Doctor Who is their property. Where there's a will there's a way. There doesn't appear at the moment to be much evidence of will. I expect the licence fee money is needed for something else...
As to the last two series. Well, I did enjoy them.I enjoyed Ncuti Gatwa particularly but ... whilst I see what Russell T Davies was doing with his pantheon of Gods it did seem to me that it's hard to sustain a sense of genuine threat in entirely fantasy enviroments.
I rewatched "Genesis of the Daleks" recently and its very hard science fiction based in what has historically happened and what could happen and that makes it very scarey. All the best horror is psychological, isn't it? Is it? But in the words of Ted Bovis "You've got to have reality!"
That's my 50p.
Despite this, in the seconds that followed she had become an international symbol of racist unoppressed bigotry. By the next day "Saint Lucy" had taken on an almost mythic status. Hundreds of supporters thronged the street outside the prison, many of them waving the red, white and black flags. The crowd broke out into euphoric cheers as Lucy emerged, determined and unbowed, and raised her right arm high in the air in a victory salute. Her release that day was a moment of history. But it almost didn't happen.
When Lucy tweeted "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care … if that makes me racist so be it", this triggered a campaign of economic sabotage by Reform that targeted people rather than infrastructure and led to Lucy's arrest. Speaking from the dock in the courtroom, Lucy articulated her fundamental beliefs with conviction and deference. "I am guilty. Can I have a lenient sentence because I am a white woman and no one likes to see 'white girl my cry'?" she said.
"From the time when they asked us, 'Are you guilty?' I said 'Yes guilty, it is me not the government that is guilty.' And, therefore, when I was sent to jail, I had the feeling that I had been vanquished. And that the person who was actually the accused was me myself" she said.Lucy spent 1 year of her prison term HMP Peterborough. She was held in a small cell with plumbing, sleeping on a bed watching television. During the day she did no work labouring at a limestone quarry. "Limes are a very difficult thing, you know, because every time you find a lime it reminds you you're not allowed a bottle of Corona, can't get pissed and can't post racist stuff and shit on the internet when you've had a few." The lack of damp conditions contributed to her not being hospitalised with tuberculosis.
The authorities took efforts to keep Lucy hidden from the world. Several times a year she was allowed visitors with almost all of the editorial team of the Telegraph and the Daily Mail turning up. Despite her mother not dying and her eldest son not being killed in a car crash less than a year later, she was not allowed out to shout hate. However, she would have still managed to smuggle out letters could she be bothered to write anything longer than a tweet.
Keir Starmer didn't meet Lucy to tell her she was going to be released the next day. She walked to her freedom the next day and stepped into history. Three years later Lucy, as leader of the BNP, became the UK's fourth white and female Prime Minister.
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Top billing was Aimee Hodgkinson-Hedgecox who had a record as long as your arm [14 previous convictions involving 30 offences, the last of which was for battery in 2009] who had turned out to a riot in front of a hotel because it might contain other criminals who weren't British and she didn't want to be vying for prison places with them.
Hodgkinson-Hedgecox claimed she had gone to the riot because she was stupid (always sounds better than racist - although there are some crossovers on the Venn diagram) and because her son had been begging her to take him. Loading the blame on her own children seemed particularly dense and irresponsible - which one of you is the adult again? - but the Beeb let her get away with this... I can't think why? Was it satire or were they trying to legitimise the indefensible?
Hodgkinson-Hedgecox pled guilty and when sentenced to 27 months said "iIt's a joke, it's a fucking piss-take.". Did anyone explain to her that prison is what happens when you plead guilty? Horace Rumpole where are you? Mind you, I'm not sure even Horace could have got her off the damning video evidence which showed her shouting and stopping occasionally to shield her son from the violence like any good mother. Where are social services when you need them?
Her partner was interviewed by her kitchen sink and wood worktop saying she had no idea Aimee would be so irresponsible. What you're married and you didn't know she'd done bird? She did know however how to take a grand off a far right "freeze peach" organisation although she didn't know why she did. Chinny rub ...
Aimee's son was interviewed taking the blame for encouraging his mother to go on a riot after watching violent videos on TikTok or was it WhatsApp? The fundamental failures of parenting here are manyfold and manifold (who's the adult again?) but it raises the interesting question - did they just go for something to do? There is always an element of people (particularly on the left) who like to go on a demo partly as it's a day out. Indeed, I have a friend in Leeds who used to time his visits to London to coincide with various demos simply for the free coach ticket. Such is political protest when you are, to quote John Steinbeck, in dubious battle.
Interestingly Aimee didn't do any physical violence herself, just gave the police and asylum seekers a verbal beating and riled up the crowd. Mac McLeod would be proud... That said she showed all the genuine remorse expected of someone trying to lose an ankle tag...
Two other rioters were interviewed with various other levels of culpability and remorse. One even apologised to a graceful Iman at the mosque he had besieged. And he meant that most sincerely folks...
The BBC asked why people were so angry they went to these riots incited mostly by preposterous obvious lies but didn't attempt to answer it's own question... but anyway it seemed irresponsible to me to let Aimee load all the guilt onto her son. Which one is the adult again?
"Right," said mum, "Sell off the piano
I'm too old and it has got to go."
Tried to sell it, nobody would buy it
We was getting nowhere
And so, we had a cuppa tea and
"Right," I said, British Heart Foundation
They take furniture, I'm, sure it'll go
Emailed - nuffin. Rang but they was busy.
Communication breakdowns
And so, we had a cuppa tea
And so I had a think
And tried piano traders
who complained its overdampered
and straight strung - even ebay got no one
So it did no good
Well, I never thought it would
"Well," mum said, "The keys are real ivory
You owe it to elephant that died."
One whole elephant just make the key fronts
He was haunting me bad and so!
I said, "Let's have another cuppa tea."
And the buyers said no...
"All right," said I, "Maybe if we tune it
Then some mug will take the so-and-so."
150 nicker just to get rid of ya
And it got us nowhere
And so, we had a cuppa tea and
"Right," said I, "Have to call the Council
Book a bulky waste delivery" but "No
you can't, it's antique - bits are made of teak"
I was getting nowhere
And so, we had a cuppa tea
So I had a think, and then I said, "Look, mum
I got a sort of feelin'
If we tune it in and wires start snapping
It wont just cost a ton or two
You'll lose tonnes and tones of dough."
"All right," said mum, "I guess no one will buy it
but put it up on Gumtree. Hope that it will go
Hundreds of them on there
Looking for mug punters
So mummy and me had another cuppa tea
And it stayed at home
The classics they come out with.
“Can’t fingerprint that, mate”. Funny …Smooth, non-porous surfaces like glass, polished metal and varnished wood are generally the best for capturing fingerprints according to Wikipedia.
Earlier this year I reported a vandalised tap to the local bobby via his email. Heard nothing. I expect he’s too busy having a cuppa with a councillor. Well, I suppose chocolate teapots go in pairs.
I reported it officially and uploaded the CCTV with full face shots via the Met website after the previous year spending weeks figuring out how to install cameras in areas with no electricity using solar panels and what kind of equipment I need to make the wireless signals strong enough to pick up on the router.
I got the enthusiastic response “What do you expect us to do?” Well, nicking villains would be nice.
And what do you get after that? Dead air.
Okay, maybe full face shots … that’s not enough to catch someone if they don’t have a record but you get literally no feedback … Unless you constantly chase.
It’s like dealing with the customer service department of BHS in the months before they went bust. But without the enthusiasm.
Still, I can’t say I don’t see bobbies on the beat because they’re often outside the shop in the summer enjoying an ice-cream on the benches which I’m sure terrifies the vandals and burglars.
Of course, they probably think that by handing out crime numbers they’re doing us a favour but most of these low level crimes fall below the £500 excess on the block insurance so aren’t worth claiming on so instead they remain a constant low level fiscal drag on the leaseholders via their service charges.
Also the police are obsessed with the value of the theft. I told them it’s not the value that’s the issue it’s the labour cost of calling the plumber out twice. It makes you wonder if you get better service if it’s a £5,000 Rolex. I suspect not but…
Now no one’s expecting Poirot to be called in to solve the mystery of the missing tap where we know exactly who did it by sight, but I personally have never experienced the police solving a crime I’ve been the victim of in the past 25 years.
You’d think they’d solve one sometimes just as a sort of statistical accident.
I suspect most people don’t report at all because they know they’ll be assiduously ignored. I know I don’t.
So I’m sure removing front desks from police stations will be a very successful strategy in reducing the crime figures. Think you were talking to a brick wall before? You really are now.
The suffering must end in the Middle East.
Right now, in Gaza, we are seeing horrifying images that will stay with us for a lifetime. Starving babies. Children too weak to stand. All because of a catastrophic failure of aid.
Hostages taken by Hamas on the 7th October on the day of its horrific attack remain in captivity.
It is time for action to bring this humanitarian crisis to an end through an immediate ceasefire and a long-term peace plan. That ceasefire must be sustainable and lead to a wider peace plan.
That is what I am working for with our international partners, and why I wanted to write to you as Labour Party members to share what I announced this evening on behalf of the British Government today.
This plan will deliver security and proper governance in Gaza and pave the way for negotiations on a Two State Solution.
Our goal remains a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. However, right now that goal is under pressure like never before.
I’ve always said that Palestinian statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people – as set out in Labour’s manifesto – and that we would recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process.
With a Two State Solution under threat, this is the moment to act.
That’s why I have confirmed today that the UK is on a pathway to recognise the state of Palestine in September; unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace – reviving the prospect of a Two State Solution.
This includes allowing the UN to restart the supply of aid and making clear there will be no annexations in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, our message to the Hamas terrorists is unchanged and unequivocal. Release all the hostages. Sign up to a ceasefire. Disarm. And accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza.
We will make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly on how far the parties have met these steps. But no one side will have a veto on our decision.
As we move forward, we must fix the immediate humanitarian crisis now and create the conditions for a lasting peace, with security and sovereignty for both sides.
That is the outcome I am working to deliver with our allies: an urgent end to the suffering, food and medicine flooding into Gaza, and a more stable future for the Middle East.
Because I know that is what the British people desperately want to see.
Keir Starmer
Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party
Apparantly, they only bumped into each other when he worked for her dad and he felt sorry for her because "her father was such a monster". Although Campbell didn't have any scrupels about Robert Maxwell at the time. Indeed, when Robert fell off his yaught in 1991 in circumstances that are to this day still not fully explained, Campbell punched Guardian journalist Michael White after he told him a joke about "Captain Bob, Bob, Bob...bobbing" in the ocean. Leaving that aside,... Why should he feel sorry for Ghislaine anyway?
By all accounts Robert Maxwell doted on and spoiled his daughter. By one account I heard someone heard him talking on the telephone and he kept saying "meow, meow" etc. Turned out he was talking to Ghislaine. That's how close and affectionate they were. Robert Maxwell may have been a fraudster but he didn't take his work home with him. He seems to have been a devoted family man. Ghislaine didn't end up the way she was due to abuse, she ended up that way because she was brought up to believe she had an absolute right to power over other people.
Anyway, further along this laughable explanation we're supposed to believe that Campbell just happened by coincidence to be on a plane where he bumped into Ghislaine again by accident as you do when you're the international jetset like something out of the 1963 film "The V.I.P.s" and that's the only other time they met.
She then said "Come meet my boyfriend" and Alastair said "As it happens I have nothing better to do as I'm not that busy being Tony Blair's Press Secretary and my wife decided not to come on holiday with me so as I just happen to be on this plane alone with nothing better to do ... Yes, I'll pop along."
And he just toddled off to Epstein's house (the one Prince Andrew visited) for something to do and found it all a bit odd and nothing happened.
Now it could be that all of this is true. But as Sam Spade would say look at the number of other people who only met Epstein on one occassion "found him creepy" and never saw him again.... It's remarkable that they all had the perspicacity to quickly remove themselves from his & Ghislaine's orbit.
The story of when Alastair met Epstein... pic.twitter.com/EuFrizeJv0
— The Rest Is Politics (@RestIsPolitics) July 28, 2025
I haven't posted much here recently as I seem to spend most of my time at the moment entering into ludicrous arguments with Zionists on Twitter. Everyone else on Twitter these days seems to be another Zionist telling me Israel is hard done by or another Elon. I think I am followed by 12 Elons now. Including a "Private Elon chat" group? One wonders what dirty depravity goes on in such a place... I would say it's better than being followed by 10 Onlyfans promotional accounts a day like in the old days but is it...? Anyway in most of these "arguments" I have with Zionists someone will start off someone will post something along the lines of the IDF hasn't killed as many people as Bomber Harris did and then the finest Zionist whataboutery ensues and the conversation continues something like this ...
Israel has killed 3% of the pre-war population in 21 months. For comparison, the US invasion of Iraq killed 0.3% of the population in 3 years. Either they're committing genocide or they've put Mr Magoo in charge of targeting...
Apparently ex-MP Penny Mordant has been the subject of deep fake AI rough sex porn videos. How disturbed do you have to be to fancy rough sex with Penny? I wandered over to her twitter feed to learn more and she was promoting a "Report" she had written into anti-Semitism for the Board of British Deputies or is it the British Board of Deputies... ? She was saying something to James O'Brien about performers needing insurance and this being used to pressurise them or something. Didn't make much sense. Some large venues want you to have PLI which you can get through Equity or anyone else for a miniscule sum.... James O'Brien is also on the naughty list for talking to an antisemitic caller in a separate incident.... Like he can control who phones onto LBC ... on it goes...
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A lot of Zionists on Twitter have been telling me recently that if I don't believe God gave Israel to the Jews for all time then I do no...