Sir Alec Burnham Douglas-Home ...

The Labour Party plans to dump Starmer after the disastrous local election results but they don't want him to go but "set a timetable for his departure" in the style of Tony Blair.  The main reason is to engage in the crackpot scheme of bringing Andy Burnham the Mayor of Manchester into Parliament to become the new Prime Minister that the left desire.  There are 411 Labour MPs but apparently that's not enough to pick a new leader from.  The answer is from outside.  

The closest historical parallel to this that I can think of to this situation is when in the wake of the Profumo scandal and the fall of the MacMillan government, Lord Alec Douglas-Home resigned from the Lords using the mechanisms recently set up by Tony Benn and was parachuted into the Commons so he could become the next Conservative Prime Minister.  Interestingly there were 23 days shortly after the Queen appointing him between Air Alec resigning from the Lords and being elected to the Commons again during which time the UK Prime Minister was not in Parliament at all.  None of these potentially unconstitutional shenanigans saved the Conservatives from electoral wipeout by Harold Wilson less than a year later and I'm not convinced the bold Burnham experiment will provide an instant escape from the electoral snake pit situation either.

However bonkers the Alec Douglas-Home situation might seem to us sixty years later, at least Home was the Foreign Secretary in Macmillan's government so although it was an unusual situation it wasn't completely left-field if you'll excuse the pun.  Home as a hereditary Lord was banned from standing from the Commons.  Wilson attacked him as the 14th Earl to which Sir Douglas-Home memorably if you disregard the fact that everyone has forgotten it responded that Mr Wilson was in fact probably the 14th Mr Wilson.  If it's one thing Sir Keir's premiership has achieved it's the final end of hereditary peers.  I did enjoy the recent obligatory piece about peers who felt very hurt at being thrown out of the Lords yesterday in the Telegraph though... Diddums... Anyway... Sir Alec's appointment was also controversial because the 1922 Committee did not chose the PM in those days and with the government unable to agree on Macmillan's successor he was seen as the result of a grubby deal between some Tory grandees, had-been-SuperMac and the Queen herself who unsurprisingly seemed to favour a Lord over another commoner...

Anyway, all this may seem by-the-by but it's the only example I can think of ... Of a non MP being parachuted in as PM in recent history... Let us now look at the obstacles to be surmounted in a similar machination by Mr Burnham.  They are if anything even more difficult to vault.  First he must find a Labour MP with a stonking majority to resign.  Who is this valiant Turkey who will vote for Christmas and where is he or she to be found within the Labour PLP?  Are they going to draw lots?  Then he must the get selected by the outgoing MP's CLP.  That isn't as easy as you might think.  They may go for a local candidate instead.  The last CLP selection I went to, the front runner was defeated by local outsider Sarah Jones by literally 1 vote.  In those days selections used to be done at an in person meeting.  Now they are done partially online resulting in potential fraud.  There's still an ongoing police investigation into one Croydon selection where membership details were leaked early.  Anyway, as well as being endorsed by the CLP, he'd have to be endorsed by the NEC which is stuffed with Starmer's mates.  He'd then have to get elected which his supporters seem to regard as a cake-walk but is by no means guaranteed given the Tories, Lib Dems, Reform (and possibly the Greens) will all no doubt throw the kitchen sink into beating him ... Flooding the Constituency with bus loads of activists as the event turns into a media circus.  All this is before the Labour Party has even started it's internal election campaign with hustings and balloting all the members.  Now if Sir Keir resigns to facilitate all this... Well, when there isn't an actual sitting Labour Party leader under the party rulebook the role should go to deputy leader who is Lucy Powell.  This situation happened several times when Labour was in opposition with Harriet Harman having to stand in whilst the men sorted it all out amongst themselves.  So would Lucy become temporary stand-in PM? The only case when this didn't happen in recent memory was when Corbyn decided to actively fight a leadership bid - since he didn't step down as Leader he remained Leader of the Opposition.  But if Starmer sets a "timetable for departure" is he really still leading? Shouldn't Lucy then take over under the Labour Party Rulebook?  This situation was avoided during the Blair-Brown switchover by effectively bullying other candidates out of the race to create a coronation.  A formal leadership ballot was never undertaken so John Prescott did not need to be called in...

Would a Wes Streeting or Andy Burnham Coronation be acceptable to anyone?

Now all of this technical detail is just that.  By now you're probably thinking what do I actually think of Andy Burnham? Well, I remember him at the 2010 hustings for Labour Leader.  He came last.  Unsurprisingly since he was the most wooden performer.  David Miliband was very amusing satirising Peter Mandelson's then new autobiography advert, Ed was okay.  Ed Balls was ... Ed Balls ... Diane Abbot was the token lady.  Andy's campaign was conducted driving around the country in a minibus which lacked a certain glamour but was interesting as regards his later bus related policies... But anyway he seemed like the nice guy who came last or became Mayor Of Manchester...

Now doubtless he's improved in the past 16 years but I find it very hard to believe in Andy Burnham as the saviour of the Labour Party.  That's not to say he wouldn't be a good Prime Minister or leader but it seems to me that like Alec Douglas-Home he seems to represent the seeking of answers from the outside and I don't think the 411 Labour MPs need to go as far as Manchester to find the answers to their problems.  Perhaps the answer is actually as simple as listening to your constituents?  Instead of following along blindly behind such bonkers toxic policies as the abolition of Jury Trials or abolishing the winter fuel allowance.  All self inflicted injuries from the party that has lost it's soul.   Labour has lost the anti-Palestine Genocide vote to the Greens on the left and the anti-Immigration control vote on the right to Reform.  They appear to stand for nothing.  Don't vote Reform because they'll bring in dictatorship?  What is the abolition of Jury Trials? As we've seen in the US Juries are one of the few institutions able to hold would-be dictators like Donald Trump to account?  The splintering of the vote amongst so many parties represents voters feeling there are no good compromises ... a lot more people have cottoned onto the fact tactical voting is actually a trap designed by the two major parties to keep power to themselves...  Don't vote for small parties they said ... You'll get coalition chaos... Instead of which we have majority government chaos?

For all his faults and war crimes, one of the strengths of Tony Blair is he sought to build a broad coalition.  Contrastingly Starmer expelled loads of people from the party for spurious reasons.  Our local CLP Secretary was thrown out due to an "anti-Semitic" tweet.  He was later cleared but too late.  The bridge is burned.  He works for the Greens now ... "If you don't like it leave" seemed to be Keir's attitude.  People did.  And then, as Agatha Christie used to say, there were none.  

I think you'd better come along with us sir

Watching Poirot again, it amazes me how Chief Inspector Japp of the Metropolitan Police turns up all over the country in other independent constabularies which presumably have their own independent chains of command and starts giving out orders as if he hasn't crossed boundary lines.  If I was a policeman living in the West Country in the 1930s I might be a bit annoyed by having a nosey Belgian poking round but bloody Inspector Japp turning up and giving out illegal orders would give me the right hump.

Seriously though early Agatha Christie's Poirot is so cool.  With Clive Exton and Brian Eastman polishing the scripts and top writers like David Renwick and Anthony Horowitz and fantastic production design and 1930s detail it's such a beautiful creation.  The cubist/art deco/futurist titles alone are a masterpiece - years ahead of their time and deploying a mixture or rotoscoping and live action that must have been hugely labour intensive.

Episodes with huge location budgets are offset with episodes sometimes entirely set in single locations or Whitehaven Mansions/ Florin Court.  It's mind blowing too to think that at the same time as this Exton & Eastman were simultaneously producing Jeeves & Wooster who inhabit a similar 1930s timeline replete with 1930s art deco titles.  One could very easily imagine characters moving from one series to the other as they seem to exist in the same pre war Universe... I say, it's not inconceivable that the idle rich upper class twit Arthur Hastings could've also been a member of the drones club with Bertie Wooster and Pongo Twistleton.  What do you think?

Perhaps, Mon Ami, the attention to detail is enhanced by Mr Exton having grown up himself in the 1930s.  This would explain their interest in the rise of Mister Hitler and Mister Mussolini which are common threads throughout both pieces and also their ability to faithfully recreate the period, n'est-ce pas?  We could probably easily confirm this theory if someone had not mislaid the Junior Ganymede Club book...

One of the questions that has vexed me over the years is whether Arthur Hastings is in a business relationship with Poirot or he simply has nothing better to do?  I think both are true. Poirot refers to Hastings as his associate and both Hastings and Miss Lemon are seen to handle his money.  In the Mysterious Adventure at Styles, Hastings explains his ambition to become a detective having encountered Poirot before and in "The Double Clue' Hastings and Felicity Lemon first cogitate on what they will do when and if their partnership breaks up.  Miss Lemon "doesn't want to talk about it".  It is clear Miss Lemon has some kind of unrequited love thing going on and Philip Jackson is on record as saying he played Japp as not quite approving of the strange relationships going on between them.  Whether or not there are any sexual dimensions to these relationships it is clear that both Hastings and Lemon adore Poirot which gives much of the series it's charm and warmth.  I also find it fascinating how Poirot in his own universe has achieved such a level of fame that it actually drives some of the plots - for example a waxwork of him gives him an idea of how to solve a crime.  Indeed, Hastings & Lemon themselves are part of his fan club.  Much comic relief comes from the situations that arise where due to Poirot's  seeming indisposition Hastings has to try and solve a case or part of it on his own...  Poirot is very rarely genuinely indisposed but he uses Hastings sometimes as Holmes uses Dr Watson to lower people's guard.  Poirot can pretend to be stupid but you can't beat the deployment of actual stupidity to ... Despite the format of the whodunnit  it's also fairly easy to identify who the murderer or criminal (not all Poirot's cases are murder) is if we use the psychology, Mon Ami ... as this is often clearly signposted in other ways so the emotional engagement largely comes from relationships between the regulars... which means it's very comforting to watch when one does not want to over-exert the little grey cells ...

The worst sequel of all time - Superman IV?

 

I was discussing the other day online the worst sequels ever made which is a tough call but I think Superman IV just pips the post.  The effects are clunky, Nuclear Man is wooden having more or less no lines and the lack of money is on the screen.  Some of the pecuniary problems could be overcome by a better script but that's all over the place.  It's nice to see Lois back but a lot of the Clark & Superman never being able to meet jokes have been done before.  The nuclear weapons dilemma is never really resolved with Superman saying you have to sort it out yourselves which is a cop out.  Reeves complained at the lack of location filming such as using an industrial park for the United Nations when "everyone knows what the UN looks like".  Well, do they though? I lived in Surrey when it was released and would have no idea what the UN looked like beyond stock footage in Bond films.  Bond never actually went to the UN either - interior sets were rebuilt at Pinewood.  Actually, having been to the UN myself it's a fairly pedestrian concrete building inside with a minimum of distinctive furnishings for diplomatic reasons.  The most interesting thing to see there is some metal welded into strange shapes by the Hiroshima blast ... Gene Hackman returns alongside most of the original regulars but somehow it fails to come alive.  I could nominate another film as the worst sequel but I feel in order to qualify for the title a film must be somewhat watchable rather than unwatchable.  I remember going to see this cycling over from Caterham to Oxted because no one else wanted to go ... But it was clinging onto to the big screen just.  I think we have to exclude films that never had a wide release.  Thus I keep coming back to Superman IV.

One of the problems with Superman is he's so physically powerful who do you put him up against?  Superman - Lex Luther who's of rival intelligence.  Superman II - General Zod and two other Kryptonians of equal power ... the odds stacked 3 to 1.  Superman III - A Supercomputer and play it as a comedy... Then they tried Supergirl who seemed to be up against black magic and Peter Cook?  By Superman IV they're back to Lex Luther again but although Gene gives it his best the dialogue clunks rather than sparkles.  What's so frustrating about Superman IV is there's a good film in there trying to get out... It just doesn't.  It's trapped... Entire chunks such as Lex building a prototype of Nuclearman were apparently thrown on the cutting room floor too so it's clearly been butchered in the editing due to presumably negative test audience reaction.  It is a watchable failure full of the sadness of it never reaching what could have been ... Reeve has never been bettered as Superman and Clark Kent ... Seeming to understand that Clark Kent is a character that Superman is playing which other actors don't seem to have fully cottoned onto... Apparently bits of the deleted footage keep turning up but there'll never be enough to construct a coherent narrative so what we have is an unfinished film and stacks of deleted scene DVD extras... Famously Cannon films was already swirling in the financial toilet bowl ... The Quest for Peace supposedly took them almost round the U-bend... but actually it took $30.2 against a budget of $17 so although not as profitable as the other 80s Superman films it still made a profit... Which is more than can be said for Supergirl which had a budget of $35 million and only made $14.3 million.  Superman although costing $55 million took $300 million.....

Thinking about the anniversary of Hitler's death...

Blondi (Hitler's dog) is on the right.
Braun's dogs and Blondi's puppies
were shot on by Hitler's dog handler
Fritz Tornow.

It's funny how fascists instinctively don't trust science.  Good example, before committing suicide Hitler tested a cyanide pill on his dog Blondi to make sure it would work.  

Man, you just killed 6 million people with cyanide... Why don't you think that it works? 

 And then not content with the test being 100% successful he shot himself simultaneously to taking cyanide... 

So what was the point in the cyanide? 

Barmy as RFK.

Ain't Nobody Got Time To Be A Councillor

Discovering that Morgan McSweeny & Mr Mandelson had a spreadsheet of every potential Labour Councillor and their peccadilloes I was reminded of the time I asked why the vetting to become a Labour Councillor is more intrusive than Developed Vetting which both I and Peter Mandelson have failed largely because the local party were simply unable to find enough people dumb enough to hand over all of their social media profiles to complete strangers to pour over ...

Date sent: Sat, 30 Aug 2025 19:01:24 +0000 (UTC)

From: Me

To: NEC Rep

Subject: Ain't nobody got time to be a Councillor....

Hello

 

https://insidecroydon.com/2025/08/29/labour-makes-last-gasp-appeal-for-council-election-candidates/

 

Why would anyone become a Labour Councillor?  I looked at the form ..... They wanted access to ALL your social media.  I mean I've done DV and they didn't ask for all that... These people are only standing for the Council... Many of them paper candidates who don't have a realistic chance of election anyway....

 

I mean, I know we've had our fair share of candidates who should've been screened out (perverts, conmen and entryists) but it's getting ridiculous 

 

And our rivals Reform (who stood a dead candidate for Mayor) and Your Party (who couldn't organise some libations in a brewery) are unencumbered by all this bureaucracy....

 

Thanks

 

Anthony Miller 

Anthony

Even paper candidates publicly represent the Labour Party and if they say unacceptable things on social media these can be, and are, picked up by the mainstream media and featured on the front pages of our tabloid enemies.  Some maybe trivial, others can be offensive, libellous or worse ...  Though I do think there's a case for being a bit more relaxed about a range of political opinions ...

All good wishes

NEC Rep

 

 

As Sir Francis Drake said...

"There is time to finish this game of bowls and watch Donald Trump get his arse handed to him in the Straight of Hormuz.  

Take my drum to England, hang it by the shore, Strike it when your powder’s runnin’ low; If the Donald Trump sights Devon, I’ll quit the port o’ Heaven, An’ drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long ago."

Elizabeth II celebrates her 100th Birthday

The Royal Family today visited the Royal Vault at Saint George's Chapel Windsor to celebrate the hundredth birthday of Queen Elizabeth II with a special Birthday Cake.  Despite being technically declared dead four years ago, so good is the embalming process used in 2022 that the  former Monarch can be revived and reanimated for brief periods of time - long enough to enjoy a slice of Birthday Cake with Paddington Bear - before being cryogenically frozen again.  

"It's a marvel of modern science," said King Charles, "that Mama can be briefly reanimated like this.  She can even digest some minimal amounts of food without her coffin filling with excrement due to the wonderful enzymes they've developed.  The only problem is getting 100 candles on the cake is a bit of a squash so we had to settle for just a representative fourteen.  Unfortunately we don't have the technology to keep Mama revived all the time but we can manage to bring her back briefly for celebrations and important events due to advances in medical science and artificial intelligence.  It's very much like that Dennis Potter play Cold Lazarus but without the scary science fiction implications."

Apparently this is not the first time the Royal Family has experimented with the technology.  "We did try bringing back grandpa as well for his hundredth," said Prince William, "but he told us to fuck off and let him rest in peace."

Let's bomb Iran?

Birds do it

Bees do it

Even Ayatollah Khomeinis do it

Let's do it

Let's bomb Iran

Boats in the Straights Of Hormuz do it

Arabs in other Gulf States do it

Let's do it, let's bomb Iran 

The Israelis in Jerusalem do it

Not to mention Pete Hegseth 

Folks in the Pentagon do it. Using UAVs

Some golfers in Mar-a-Largo do it

People say even the UK does it

Let's do it, let's bomb Iran

Romantic sponges, they say, do it

Oysters down in Oyster Bay do it...

Meanwhile Down Manosphere

CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG BUT, As I turn 52 this year, I have realised, as a man, no one cares about you. Not your wife. Not your family. Not your friends. Not your workmates. Nobody. People act like they care, but deep down, they don't. You are on your own. Always on your own. It's everyone else who is callous.  I can tell this because every time I walk in a room everyone else walks out.  I'm not the problem here.  Everyone else is fake.  It's not fair that no one's there just because I tell them to go away all the time.  They just pretend to try and love and support me but I'm not fooled so I tell everyone else to go away.  And they do because they just don't care.  I'm always on my own.  Even when everyone else is doing things for me.  My name is William Nomates and you'll find me down social media cheering everyone up with my sunny persona.  By the way, when I say correct me if I'm wrong what I mean is I am wrong but I will never let anyone correct me.  Because I'm always right.  They say you can't always be right and in a relationship but I am right.  Very far right.  Right.  People should stand by me like I'm a bus stop so I can take them for a ride and not press the request stop button because it slows everything down which is why there's a public transport strike.  Because nobody cares about you.  What a woman is looking for in a man is self pity.  If you can sit in a corner of a pub telling other men how terrible women are and that you're on your own, they'll soon be on their own too.  Ideally you should be home alone but you can't bring anyone else down unless you mix with them.  Remember they don't really care about you so they deserve to be miserable too.

Local elections in Croydon - what a waste of time...

 .... since the Council is perpetually bankrupt and in special measures and run by Commissioners there is literally no point in voting because whatever box you tick you'll get...

Lead Commissioner : Gerard Curran

Ged Curran is currently a Non-Executive Director at the Enforcement Conduct Board and NHS Cambridge and Peterborough Integrated Care Board. He was previously Chief Executive of the London Borough of Merton from 2004-2021. He held previous roles at board level in Newham, Waltham Forest, and Lambeth Councils, and previously practised as a Solicitor.  No one knows how he's supposed to solve the problem there's no money but he's very good at assessing how bare a cupboard is.

Finance Commissioner: Debra Warren

 

Debbie is currently the Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, a post she has held since 2017. Prior to this she was the Council’s Finance Director for almost 10 years, having qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 1980. With over 35 years of experience working in local government finance, she is also the Chief Executive lead for finance in London and has held that position since 2020.  Her skills include rummaging down the back of sofas looking for small change and overriding elected officials.

Jackie Belton

Jackie is currently a commissioner at Birmingham City Council, leading on housing and environmental services and is a Senior Independent Non-Executive Director at Local Partnerships, a public sector delivery partner. She was the Chief Executive of the London Borough of Bexley (2019-2023) and has held previous senior director roles in Lambeth, Newham, Camden Councils where she had responsibilities for corporate services, housing, planning, regeneration, environment, children and adult services.  Her job is to tell both Birmingham and Croydon they're broke and too dumb to govern themselves 

Cllr Abi Brown OBE

First elected to Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2010, Abi has served in both administration and opposition. Between 2015 – 2023, she served as first Deputy Leader and then Leader of the Council. Abi chaired the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board between 2022-2025, and sits on the LGA’s Board. She is a Non-Executive Director at Homes England, and a trustee of Localis.  Her hobbies include running bankrupt Councils and telling everyone something is bound to turn up.

There are fairer elections in Putin's Russia...

AI Slop kills self publishing

It seems too much AI slop has been created and Smashwords/Draft2Digital's business model has consequently collapsed.  I will not be giving Draft2Digital a penny so my account will eventually deactivate.  I might move some of the old content over to Amazon if I can muster up the enthusiasm... Or it might be time to unpublish from Draft2Digital. Or I should probably just let them die now.  I haven't written any books in about a decade.  Problem is I would need them to unpublish from Amazon so I could reclaim my titles and publish as myself. Etc...  Of course in the good old days books no one reads anymore would go out of print but somehow digital publishing keeps them artificially alive in a living dead kind of way... The lower costs of digital to paper made this business model viable for a while but why would you need my content when AI can generate your own boring and unreadable literature for free.  I don't really plug my old books because I don't really believe in them anymore but if you want to torture yourself... Apart from Seaweed which did make money they are here...

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MrAEMiller

Promoting thing is such a terrible bore...

Dear Anthony,

For the first time in our history, we’re introducing account activation and maintenance fees. For many existing Draft2Digital authors, especially those with regularly selling books, these fees do not affect you. 

Here’s how they’ll work...

Activation Fee for New Accounts

If you already have a D2D account (if you’re reading this, you probably do), the activation fee doesn’t apply to you. New accounts will include a one-time fee of $20 (USD). This activation fee, combined with our verification tools and human reviewers, will help us maintain a secure, high-integrity publishing environment.

Like many platforms, we’ve seen a significant increase in automated and low-quality account creation in recent years. This onslaught from automated content farms threatens reader trust in indie titles and risks indies being associated with low-quality “slop.” A modest activation fee can make a real difference and allow our team to stay focused on supporting genuine authors like you.

Annual Maintenance Fee

An annual maintenance fee of $12 (USD) will apply to accounts whose earnings from book sales, meaning your net proceeds after D2D’s commission, total less than $100 over the preceding 12-month period. If you earn $100 or more from your book sales over 12 months, you will not be charged this fee.

Draft2Digital is primarily supported by earning commissions on book sales. For accounts that earn less revenue, a small annual fee helps offset a portion of the steadily rising costs we pay to maintain those accounts, including compliance, security, and infrastructure upkeep. 

Maintenance fees will start going into effect in 30 days, on May 14, 2026, and will be based on your account anniversary date. We’ll always notify you in advance.

The Bottom Line

Our goal is to keep D2D a place where authors can publish with confidence. That means continuing to invest in our tools, maintaining strong relationships with retailers, and protecting the legitimacy of indie authors and the trust that readers place in indie books.

If you have questions, additional details can be found on your Account Status page, or you can read our updated terms of service. You can also reach out to our support team via our contact us form at any time.

We appreciate your trust in D2D, and we remain committed to developing and protecting opportunities for indies to reach readers.

Sincerely,

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CEO of Draft2Digital

That would be an ecumenical matter...

Yesterday I received a notification from X stating that my account has been flagged as inauthentic and this would affect my "reach".  That's a laugh I have zero reach.  I don't even see any accounts from anyone I know anymore.  I logged on today to see a load of anti-Catholic propaganda of the type that would make Titus Oats blush.  One lady said that the President would in future be much less ecumenical to the Pope following his comments that laying waste to vast areas of Iran is contradictory to Canon Law [Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2309].  Whilst another person was saying that this was why the US had not had a Catholic President for a 200 year stretch and yet another accused the Pope of being an agent for Islam etc.  Apparently the Pope is too scared to visit the US now as he does not think his safety can be guaranteed.  Don't think Chuck is in a rush to visit either...

Never-the-less I wondered if Elon had a point and my interactions were inauthentic.  Was I reverse engineering X for my own ends?  Well, a quick scan of the internet reveals I'm not the only one.  A large number of people have received similar notifications it seems after falling foul of an algorithm... But what is authenticity?  The only way I find sane people to talk to on there is using the search button.  Otherwise I'd be left talking to fuming US Senators and Moon Landing deniers who believe you can't send human's into space because of the Van Allen belt [it doesn't exist at the poles] and other engagement bait trolls.  I looked up some of the people I follow on there who's posts I never see.  Patrick Monahan posts every day but it's assiduously hidden from me. Matt Green and Wil Hodgson have decamped to Bluesky.  And Gary Webster has gone into hiding because someone is threatening to beat him up - I think it was Arthur Daley who say "'it 'im, Raymond!".  Little could be more inauthentic than X's algorithms so it's having a laugh complaining other people bypass them...

You chose poorly

25TH AMENDMENT!!!
Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization.
This is evil and madness. pic.twitter.com/2mdogDRZN4

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) April 7, 2026

I regret supporting Donald Trump.

When I look back at some of my old pro Trump content I CRINGE.

We’re at war with Iran, the Epstein Pedos were never brought to justice, and the amount of fraud going on is insane.

Feel free to roast me.

At least I can admit my mistake. pic.twitter.com/vzY6c6onnB

— Rodney (@cryptojourneyrs) April 6, 2026

Alex Jones:

“How do we 25th Amendment his ass?” pic.twitter.com/zSKBdmZwce

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 7, 2026

I'll admit it. I was duped by Trump's rhetoric while campaigning. Dude was solid.

Now, I think he needs to be impeached, convicted, and jailed.

— Liberty Tree 🟧 (@LiberteaTree) April 7, 2026

I supported Trump in '24 as the only viable and legitimate candidate running. Maybe those, like me, who expected him to avoid war, simply got conned. But that's not the only valid hypothesis. The deep state appeared to vehemently oppose Trump. Presumably it had contingency plans https://t.co/VOpLuiw2EG

— Bret Weinstein (@BretWeinstein) April 6, 2026

What happened to this guy who I voted for 3 times? pic.twitter.com/M2zf76wIRF

— Louie (@reallouiehuey) April 5, 2026

He is insane.

I am as MAGA as they get. I was a Front Row Joe, 42 rallies, walked the halls of congress 3 times for Trump, became a state delegate, then a national delegate ALL TO SUPPORT TRUMP.

He has absolutely lost me, in fact I'm eyeing the 25th amendment for him because… https://t.co/gQ3xptKrH3

— Trisha Hope - National Delegate-TX (@JustTheTweets17) April 6, 2026

Americans trusted a promise—Make America Great Again.

Millions believed a leader who swore to put us first—no new wars, no endless foreign entanglements.

Now, we see those promises unraveling—more funding for wars abroad, less care for veterans at home. And it’s not just…

— Chris Wick (@ChrisWickNews) April 21, 2026

Multiple indictments, stolen secret documents in the bog, a failed insurrection and fake electors scheme, inciting the murder of his own VP, lying elections were stolen, 34 Felony Convictions for election interference, multiple libel losses against Jean E Carroll, business fraud Convictions in New York, tapes of his saying he grabs women by the pussy....  Fascists... It's always the ones you least expect.  There are so few signs.

No it's not an April Fool

These really are Baron Trump's AI renderings of the proposed Donald Trump Presidential Library....

It will contain huge North Korean sized gold statues of the Supreme Leader of the kind Kim would say were tacky...

...and the full sized Air Force One 

.

Call me a traditionalist but I think one or two books might be an idea ...

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but...

 I don't know if anyone else has noticed but Donald Trump's approval rating (according to the Ecconomist poll of polls) ...

...is now at -20 percent ...which according to historical Statistica data is even lower than Richard Nixon's approval rating after Watergate...

Even some of the die hard Magas on X seem to have reached a point of feeling slightly miffed...

What could have happened?  Pete Hegseth seems particularly uppity at the moment.  I really think the Trump administration could do with a more sympathetic spokesman.  You know, someone like Davros.

We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.  We are going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong.  When all other life forms are suppressed, when Americans are the supreme rulers of the universe, then you will have peace. Wars will end. Donald Trump is the power not of evil, but of good...

Chuck doesn't want to go....

 

I see King Charles's best mate David Dimbelby has been dispatched more-or-less on his lonesome to the Newsnight to grovel for him not to have to go to America to celebrate 250 years since the declaration of Independence.  A pitiful sight... Surely meeting horrible people and sucking up to them is about the only useful thing that the Royals actually do.  Amongst other nonsense he's moaning about freelancers doing stuff line narrating Royal events.  Apparently, they wouldn't have the knowledge to voice over state occasions.  Commentaries like Big Ears has got a big silly hat on again might ensue.  The pomposity doesn't just come off the top of commentator's heads.  It takes months to prepare for.  Boots have to be licked.  Bottoms have to be kissed.  Dukes of Hazard have to be swept under carpets.

Exhausting my patience

Dear Mr. Miller,

Thank you for contacting Vauxhall Customer Care about your Corsa.

I regret to inform you that currently there is no estimated time of arrival (ETA) for your order.  

Our team is diligently working on the case to provide a further update. We have raised the priority of the order to the highest levels in our system, and please be assured we will notify you as soon as we are made aware of a further update.  

Thank you for your patience. 

If you have any other questions in the meantime, you can contact us on the telephone number below, or simply reply to this email and we will be happy to help.  

Quoting your case number:  03565568

Kind Regards,

V K.

Vauxhall Customer Care

A very well written letter saying nothing.

4 weeks so far.  It's just an exhaust.  They can't even ESTIMATE a time of arrival?

3 million Corsa Ds were made

There must be one somewhere?

Of course you can get from many parts suppliers all over the UK.  It's only the manufacturers with their just-too-late supply chains who don't have it.  I suspect it is a psychological attempt to get me to buy a new car.  But there's nothing actually wrong with my car except the exhaust has corroded on the inside from making too many short journeys which is a thing what happens.  I can get the bus and the tram and the car can sit in W J King's carpark SORN and uninsured until someone can muster up the enthusiasm to buy aftermarket or the one they've ordered but haven't made yet turns up surface mail.

The Two Astronomers

Goodevening, and in a packed program tonight I'll be sitting infront of a ground telescope photo of the Eagle Nebula - a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703 discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46.  

And later on tonight light will be taking 7500 years to show us the remnants of an explosion that happened 1 to 2 million years ago, won't it, Ronnie?

Yes, indeed it will.  The titles will often involve some kind stars or are they just the studio lights through a starburst filter as well?

Yes, but unfortunately we can't tell you if it's because we were into stars of sci-fi or just a designer came up with it with little to no thought at all because most of us have passed on now to revert back to atoms that make up the Universe.  

What we can can tell you is that the cluster associated with the Eagle nebula has approximately 8100 stars which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillar... 

And now a sketch in which Mr Ronnie Corbett plays Seyfert's Sextet and I play Serpens Caput...

 

J D Vance & the nuclear suicide vest

Someone asked on X recently if any nuclear physicists knew if the Iranian nuclear suicide vest fears J D Vance was stoking recently were plausible.  As a physicist I said I think the short answer is no.  To the left is a Mk4 Trident reentry vehicle.  It is 130 cm long and 40 cm in diameter.  The dimensions of the W76 thermonuclear warhead inside are a state secret but it might be possible to get a bomb into a suitcase or a backpack.  A vest is pushing it ...

Somebody then chimed in that the Americans had built portable bombs in the 1950s and in a then secret program in the 60s trained a group of suicide cannon fodder called the Green Light Teams to parachute behind enemy lines and plant them...  The program ran from the mid 60s to the mid 80s.  Obviously the chances of these people making a fast getaway after they'd planted their "tactical nukes" were about as slim as Kamikaze pilot surviving by bailing out and the soldiers trained said the plan was very much ...if you can't take the heat stay out of the detonation zone.  Or perhaps find a fridge to hide in.  Incidentally I quite liked the nuke the fridge scene in Indiana Jones and didn't see why people got upset by it.  Apart from the way the fridge is thrown about it's quite plausible.  But then I've only got two degrees.  Some people with three beg to differ.

The Green Light Teams didn't really work very well though as although they could make the nuclear warheads physically smaller than Little Boy and Fat Man by the 1950s, they were still left with the problem that Uranium and Plutonium are amongst the heaviest elements.  After all, it's because their nuclei are so large that they are unstable enough to be capable of fission.  Even the smallest weapon weighed 56 lbs.  I'm not sure what would motivate the Green Light Teams to go on such a mission? A blue light card? I was reminded of the US Air force personnel who said they'd been scrambled to fly their planes directly into United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11 to stop terrorists crashing it into a building and were somewhat relieved but also disappointed when the plane crashed before they could crash into it due to a fight between terrorists and passengers in the cockpit.

I used to kind of accept nuclear weapons and think CND we're a bit naive but I've changed my mind recently.  They are weapons of mass destruction and should be outlawed like poison gas.  Their use as a "deterrent" doesn't seem very plausible in the wake of the number of wars going on anyway.  Israel has had a nuclear weapon for ages but it hasn't deterred anyone from attacking it.  And what is the need for such untargeted weapons when the surveillance and missile technology now exists to assassinate people at long distance on the implausible grounds that they might in the future develop a nuclear bomb to plant on an ICBM that they haven't got yet ...which is how we end up with nonsense like "suicide vests"... There's a reason no one's used them since the end of WWII... They are so deadly both due to the initial blast and the long term radiation consequences that Indiana Jones was mysteriously immune from that domestic let alone international opinion would be deadly to any country that used them.... Assuming there'd be anyone left afterwards... Still, it's not like WWIII already started... so what's the worst that could happen?

Probably the smallest "tactical nuclear weapon" the US came up with was the Davy Crockett.  It was retired because it was thought it might by definition start a nuclear war...

Don't mention the Moors

Basil: Dont mention the Moors.  I mentioned them once but I think I got away with it.  Caesar Saladin, Qur'an Cocktail, Suet al-Tawbah and of course fillet of Infidel.  I mean, how can you be friendly to a religion that wants to behead everyone who isn't a Muslim.  Is this what we fought eight crusades for, Major?

Major Gowen: Dashed if I know, Fawlty.  Awfully good spin bowlers though some of those Muslims...

Sybil: Basil! As you well know like the whole of Surat al-Tawbah, the verse must be understood in the context in which it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his companions, and the passage must be read in a connected way, so it is clear to whom the verses are referring. This instruction was revealed to bring an end to a long struggle with the Makkan idolaters who had driven the Muslims out, and various battles which ensued over the following decade.

Basil: Oh, I'm wrong am I, my little Scheherazade?  I do apologise ladies and gentlemen.  There has been a gigantic cock up.  My wife Scheherazade ... Sorry Sibil is right and I am completely wrong about everything.  There have been a lot of cockups tonight and I'm glad to say that you all deserve an explanation and Manuel will give it to you.

Manuel : I know nothing.  I am from Barcelona like Mustafa and Elidenda ...