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Thread | Lucy Connolly sentencing appeal rejected
at 08:32 21 May 2025
A few days have passed since three appeal court judges rejected Lucy Connolly's plea for a reduction of her 31 months sentence, and I sense that public disquiet about this judgement is growing. What Mrs Connolly said about migrant hotels was offensive, but there appear to be circumstances that mitigate the seriousness of the offense. Many are comparing Connolly's case with that of Ricky Jones, who was recorded on video stirring up a crowd about ‘disgusting Nazi fascists’ and telling them that ‘we need to cut their throats and get rid of them’, but is out on bail until August. My guess is that the recent court judgment will rebound on those who wanted a deterrent sentence by giving more credibility to the idea of two-tier justice. [Post edited 21 May 8:52]
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Thread | Are the rich fleeing the UK?
at 07:34 18 May 2025
The UK is in a difficult position with a combination of high public expenditure, high national debt and already high tax levels, Many say the answer is to tax the rich even more, but this too may be problematic. See the Sunday Times today:
"The Sunday Times Rich List 2025 was unveiled last week, showing not only that the number of billionaires has fallen again (to 156), but the combined wealth of the 350 entries has also declined. Today many of those Rich Listers hit out at the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, accusing her of “killing the geese that lay the golden eggs” and accelerating an exodus of wealth as she plots more tax hikes for businesses. Read what the likes of Sir James Dyson and mining billionaire Tony Langley have to say here. "
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/economics/article/rich-list-leaders-tell [Post edited 18 May 7:36]
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Thread | Fisher's team down
at 22:11 14 May 2025
The final nail was driven into St Johnstone's coffin at Hearts tonight. Reports say that Fisher has done well there. I would imagine though that relegation will make any permanent move to Perth difficult. |
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Thread | Sadiq Khan deputy lied about Real Madrid playing contract
at 10:07 10 May 2025
They say that there isn't much integrity in politics today, but this ex-Labour councillor - now a deputy mayor of London - must be a contender in the fib of the year stakes.
'Turkish football fans are among the most passionate in the world, so it was no surprise that in 2011, when it emerged that one of their own was set for an unlikely transfer to the European giants Real Madrid it made waves across the country.
Mete Serdar Coban, a 17-year-old left-back, was at the centre of it all; born in northern Cyprus but raised in London, he told a host of sports journalists and interviewers that he had been scouted by the Istanbul side Galatasaray before transferring to Inter Milan. Now, after four years in Italy, he was off to Europe’s biggest club. His claims were buttressed by social media posts and a grainy YouTube video of “highlights” from his Inter days.
There was one problem: the entire tale was fabricated. The closest Mete Serdar Coban had come to football stardom was a flunked trial at the other Madrid side, Atletico, a few years earlier. He slipped away from the limelight almost as quickly as he appeared.
Until, that is, he became a councillor in Hackney three years later — and a £148,000-a-year deputy mayor under Sir Sadiq Khan last summer.'
(The Times today, behind paywall)
https://www.thetimes.com/article/9a6b79f5-dd1d-4100-bdba-ea99c0a0d181 |
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Thread | Police officer cleared in Kaba criminal case to face internal misconduct hearing
at 11:23 30 Apr 2025
The IOPC has decided that Sgt Martyn Blake will go before a disciplinary panel to consider a charge of gross misconduct in relation to the Kaba case.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/met-firearms-officer-cleared-of-murdering-c
I am not usually moved to anger by official decisions, but this one seems to combine an injustice, with little thought of the consequences for the morale of Met firearms officers, Amanda Rowe, Director of the IOPC, mentions "the significant public interest in this case, particularly among our black communities, firearms officers and the wider policing community", and there is little doubt in my mind that the reaction of a certain community has been a huge factor in this. Although, I know it won't do much good I shall be writing to my MP, and anybody else I can think of, to express my unhappiness, and urge others to do the same. [Post edited 30 Apr 17:23]
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Thread | Supreme court holds that sex is a matter of biology
at 12:39 16 Apr 2025
Legal clarity at last, at least in the UK for the time being. No doubt this leaves quite a lot of tidying of law and regulations for the devolved administrations to do. What strikes me is that there may still be issues at the international level, if different countries end up with different legal definitions of what a woman is. |
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Thread | Plymouth vs Cardiff
at 12:32 22 Feb 2025
Interesting one for us to watch. Do we prefer Plymouth's revival to take a set back, or the Bluebirds to be dragged to the very edge of the relegation places? I think I'd marginally prefer an Argyle win. |
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Thread | Labour's last hope?
at 09:35 11 Feb 2025
Here is a very interesting article in the New Stateman for those interested in politics. The fate of "Blue Labour" is a sad story for many of us who moved away from the Party as the woke tendency came to the forefront. Now, with Reform on the rise, people are talking about the ideas again, but as Maurice Glasman (one of the Blue Labour originals) says in an interview in the article there is the likelihood that the label is used but the policies do not follow, as happened before.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2025/02/the-battle-for-labours-soul
(Have to register for free access) |
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Thread | From lewd to llama
at 08:25 11 Feb 2025
Poor old Sir Keir seems to struggle with selecting ministers, perhaps because the cupboard is bare. He has replaced the grubby Andrew Gwynne with dire Ashley Dalton, the MP who thinks women can have penises and somebody who self-identifies as a llama should be heard and treated with dignity. I am tempted to self-identify as a neuro-surgeon and ask the new health minister for a plum job compete with clinical excellence award.
Meanwhile, on the lewd side pf things, two MP suspensions don’t seem to have put the scandal to bed. Involved councillors are still under investigation, and it is rumoured that the Daily Mail is holding over 200 pages of dodgy WhatsApp messages that it will drip feed us in future stories. Worse, there are now reports that a whistle blower alerted the Labour hierarchy about the vile messages circulating in this closed group over 12 months ago, but no immediate action was taken.
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Thread | What's what on WhatsApp?
at 08:30 9 Feb 2025
Andrew Gwynne, a Labour junior health minister, has been sacked from that post, and suspended from the Labour Party, for offensive posts he made on a closed WhatsApp group called‘Trigger Me Timbers’. There are around a dozen members of the group, which includes a second MP and various Labour councillors in the Manchester area. So far this second MP has not been named. Apart from the headline quote of a spoof message to resident who complained about refuge collections, there are various other anti-Semitic, racist and sexist remarks.
“Dear resident, F*** your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.'”
I’m waiting to see the one about the Deputy Prime Minister engaging in a sex act.
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Thread | A woke policy agenda now emerging?
at 08:19 8 Feb 2025
Two news items today raise the question of whether the Labour Government is now unveiling more of the "progressive" policies that they have long had in mind, but were previously kept in the background.
It is reported that David Lammy will shortly meet the Reparations Commission of the Caribbean Community to discuss the reparations issue.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/07/foreign-office-opens-talks-on-paying
Then we hear that university research funding will increasingly depend on showing that institutions are pushing ahead with diversity, equality and inclusion policies. This will involve changing the rules of the next Research Excellence Framework to increase the % of funding dependent in DEI performance, and would encourage changes in patterns of staff recruitment and research topics funded.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/08/universities-punished-champion-diver
Both will be extremely controversial and did not feature in the manifesto. On the back of the mooted Chagos deal, this may signal the direction of travel of policy. Some will say this is what happens when you have a government of human rights lawyers. [Post edited 8 Feb 8:31]
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Thread | Abdulai scores after 6 minutes
at 19:54 28 Jan 2025
Playing for Leyton Orient tonight along with 39 year old Darren Pratley.
Abdulai scores a 2nd after 7 minutes.
Is showing more form in 7 minutes here than he did in 13 games with us.
It may be partly because Exeter's defence has been ravaged by injuries and the recall of Crama to Brentford for sale to Millwall.
Edit: several of us posted at the same time. [Post edited 28 Jan 19:58]
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Thread | Yvette struggles with “Rapid Analytical Sprint” Report on Extremism
at 07:19 28 Jan 2025
Yvette Copper looks set to reject the findings of the Home Office rapid review of policy on extremism that she commissioned. Among other things the report brands the idea of two-tier policing as an example of a "right-wing extremist narrative", and says that “right
wing extremists frequently exploit cases of alleged group-based sexual abuse to promote anti-Muslim sentiment as well as anti-government and anti-‘political correctness’ narratives”. It suggests that the definitions of extremism should centre more on behaviour than ideology, implying less focus on Islamist and far right extremism. Among other things, it suggests that misogyny should come under the extremist umbrella. Another controversial recommendation is for more rather than less action to deal with "non-crime hate incidents".
Here is the Policy Exchange's reaction to the report.
https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/extremely-confused/
The report seems to be a perplexing mix of the sensible and the silly. Some will think it gives a revealing insight into the mindset of senior Home Office officials.
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