Brexit
Mail
Anti-Brexit peers have warned Boris Johnson they will obstruct legislation to over-ride parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Ken Clarke said a controversial Bill to be unveiled by ministers early next week will be ‘seriously challenged’ in the Lords.
The Tory former chancellor, a strong supporter of the EU, expects a ‘very large majority’ of peers will ‘hold it up for a considerable time’.
As part of Brexit negotiations, the UK and EU agreed to the Northern Ireland protocol, which is designed to avoid the need for a border on the island of Ireland.
But this has led to disruption to goods crossing the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with new checks imposed on those moving to the province.
Concerns also have been raised that Northern Ireland’s place within the UK is being undermined, with the DUP blocking the formation of a power-sharing executive at Stormont until the issue is resolved.
Express
LIZ TRUSS has been hailed as the ‘Brexit Queen’ and accused of fluttering “leadership feathers” by attempting to toughen up plans to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol, reports state.
Ms Truss and Attorney General Suella Braverman reportedly clashed with Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Levelling up Minister Micheal Gove over the plans. It was eventually agreed that businesses in Northern Ireland will be subject to “dual regulation” in effect the need to follow UK and EU rules in a bill to be unveiled next week.
However, a plan for an automatic “sunset clause” demanded by Brexiteers ensuring that EU jurisdiction would disappear after a few years was rejected.
Mr Sunak won the right for the Treasury to alter VAT in Northern Ireland while keeping it at the same level in the rest of the UK.
Russia
Mail
Two British fighters captured while fighting in Ukraine were forced to beg for their lives during scripted phone calls to family members and UK journalists by the Russian-backed separatists who are holding them captive, it has been revealed.
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were convicted of being ‘mercenaries’ and conducting ‘terrorist activities’ for fighting with Ukrainian troops, in what Tory minister Robert Jenrick called a ‘Soviet-era style show trial’, weeks after they were captured during the siege of Mariupol.
The pair, both signed-up members of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, were sentenced to death and are set to face a firing squad, pending appeal.
Aiden’s family has urged the UK and Ukraine governments to help bring them home safely in an emotional statement shared on Thursday.
Telegraph
Two British men fighting for the Ukrainian army have been sentenced to death by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured in the besieged city of Mariupol in April, after both had spent several years serving in the Ukrainian army.
Ibrahim Sadun, a Moroccan student captured in March in Volnovakha, was also convicted of attempting “a violent seizure of power” by the “Supreme Court” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic
The men now face execution by firing squad, after pleading guilty to mercenary and terrorist activites. They were not allowed to present any evidence or defend themselves from the accusations.
Britain warned they should be treated as prisoners of war and be entitled to combatant immunity under the Geneva Convention.
Independent
Ministers have demanded the release of two Britons sentenced to death on Thursday by pro-Russia separatists in what has been condemned as a “Soviet-era show trial”.
Moscow was accused of breaching the Geneva Convention over the treatment of Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, who were captured while fighting with Ukrainian forces.
They will reportedly face a firing squad after being convicted of terrorism in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic – but Britain says the pair should be treated as prisoners of war.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, condemned the court ruling, saying: “This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy” and promising to “do everything we can” to support the pair’s families.
Guardian
Two British men and a Moroccan national captured while fighting in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol have been sentenced to death by pro-Russia officials after a days-long process described as a “disgusting Soviet-era show trial”.
A court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine convicted 28-year-old Aiden Aslin, from Newark, 48-year-old Shaun Pinner, from Watford, and Saaudun Brahim on charges of “terrorism”. Observers said the process was intended to imitate the war crimes trials of Russian soldiers taking place in Kyiv.
Both Britons have said they were serving in the Ukrainian marines, making them active-duty soldiers who should be protected by the Geneva conventions on prisoners of war. However, Russian state media has portrayed them as mercenaries, and the court has convicted them on the charge of “being a mercenary”.
The ruling was swiftly condemned by top British officials.
“I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine,” said the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss. “They are prisoners of war.
ITV News
Three men captured in Ukraine have been sentenced to death by pro-Moscow rebels. ITV News Europe Editor James Mates reports.
The death sentences handed to three men, including two Britons, who were captured by Russia while fighting for Ukraine have been branded a “sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy”.
Aiden Aslin, 28, from Nottinghamshire and Shaun Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, were were convicted of taking action towards violent seizure of power at a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).The third man sentenced is reported to be Saaudun Brahim, a Moroccan national.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she “utterly condemns” the sentencing.
“They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy,” she wrote on Twitter.
“My thoughts are with the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them.”
BBC News
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will speak with her Ukrainian counterpart about two Britons handed death sentences by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine.
Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were captured fighting with the Ukrainian army, but were tried as mercenaries.
Both the British government and Ukraine’s top prosecutor have said the sentences breach the Geneva Convention.
Ms Truss is expected to discuss the situation with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba by phone later.
Mr Aslin, 28, from Newark, in Nottinghamshire, and Mr Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, both of whom were already living in Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion, were captured in April while defending the besieged city of Mariupol.
Sun
BRITAIN has condemned the death sentences passed down to hero fighters Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner after a show trial by a pro-Russian court in Ukraine.
The two British volunteers, along with a Moroccan fighter Saadoun Brahim, were handed the death penalty by a military court in the separatist region of Donetsk.
Pinner and Aslin pleaded guilty to “training in order to carry out terrorist activities” according to a video on Wednesday released by DPR Supreme Court, reported state media in Russia.
Aslin, 28, from Nottinghamshire and Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire are being held in the breakaway region in the east of Ukraine.
They were sentenced to death by firing squad by the barbaric court in the unrecognised republic.
Express
CAPTURED BRITONS Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin together with Moroccan national Saadoun Brahim have been sentenced to death by a court in the rebel-held Donetsk People’s Republic for fighting for Ukraine.
The two British men, who were detained in April in the battle for Mariupol, were charged with being foreign mercenaries, trying to seize power and terrorist offences. They had both been in the country since 2018 and insist they were legitimately serving with Ukraine’s military – so should be protected as prisoners of war by the Geneva Convention. The UK has made clear they are prisoners of war entitled to immunity and should not face prosecution for taking part in hostilities. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Monday the British Government expected “the laws of armed conflict to be represented” and the Foreign Office would make “all the representations”. The court, in one of Ukraine’s breakaway regions, is not internationally recognised.
Boris
Mail
Boris Johnson revealed a Thatcherite streak yesterday as he pledged to slash government spending and cut taxes.
And he indicated he will start by reducing tariffs on imported food.
In his first major speech since this week’s bruising revolt against his leadership, the Prime Minister signalled a drive to cut the size of the state in the wake of the pandemic.
Echoing both Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, he said there were many areas where the Government should ‘simply get out of the way’ and let people get on with their lives.
He said he was determined to lower the record tax burden, which he described as an ‘aberration’ caused largely by the ‘fiscal meteorite of Covid’.
But sustained tax cuts would require a reduction in the size of the state following a period of ‘phenomenal corporate welfare’, he said.
Telegraph
Conservative MPs have urged Boris Johnson to match European fuel tax cuts to ease the cost of living crisis, as he attempted to reset his premiership in a major speech.
As Mr Johnson announced a series of wide-ranging policies in Blackpool on Thursday, senior Tories said he must go further with fuel tax cuts.
The Treasury has slashed duty by just five pence per litre, compared with 17 pence in Ireland and Spain and 25 pence in Germany.
The Telegraph analysis shows the Government receives an extra £4.4 million per day in fuel VAT compared to before the conflict in Ukraine which has led to a dramatic increase in prices.
The average cost of filling a car up with petrol is now over £100 for the first time, averaging more than 182p per litre.
Asked at his speech on Thursday whether he would go further on fuel tax, as other European countries have done, Mr Johnson suggested the high prices were due to retailers not passing on the tax savings to consumers.
“We made a cut already, the biggest cut ever in fuel duty,” he said. “What I want to see is those cuts in taxation not just swallowed up in one gulp, without touching the gullet of the fuel companies, I want to see those cuts having an impact on the pumps.
“And we are watching very closely to see what happens.”
Rwanda flights
Mail
Priti Patel may be forced to release migrants from detention if the first Rwanda charter flight is blocked by a series of legal challenges today.
Up to 130 foreign nationals who have been told they have been selected for the inaugural flight on Tuesday have been held in immigration detention centres to prevent them absconding.
But if legal action in the High Court is successful, even temporarily, they are likely to be freed and either fitted with electronic tags or ordered to regularly attend reporting centres.
Existing laws set out how foreign nationals can only be detained if there is a ‘realistic prospect’ of removing them from this country.
A coalition of charities and a trade union – which represents thousands of UK Border Force staff – has applied for an injunction to halt the flight. They are also seeking a judicial review of the policy in a case due for a preliminary hearing today.
Times
The Home Office will be forced to release more than 100 migrants from detention if its first deportation flight to Rwanda is halted by a legal ruling today.
High Court judges are to decide whether to impose an interim injunction temporarily stopping deportations to the African country.
The measure will stay in place until judges have considered a legal challenge that claims Priti Patel’s policy is unlawful. Boris Johnson is confident the policy will survive and expects the first flight to leave on Tuesday, his official spokesman said yesterday.
Home Office insiders have said that even if the High Court rejects calls for a temporary pause, the flight has only a “slim chance” of taking off.
Strikes
Mail
Boris Johnson vowed not to ‘surrender’ to the rail unions as two more announced strike plots yesterday as part of a co-ordinated ‘summer of discontent’.
The Prime Minister told Cabinet colleagues that the Department for Transport and the rail industry had his ‘1,000 per cent support in this fight’.
He pledged that the Government will not simply ‘roll over’ to union demands in the face of threats to bring the railways to a standstill and will help the industry weather the storm if a deal can’t be struck.
It came as train drivers’ union Aslef announced strikes to coincide with those by the militant RMT, heaping more misery on rail travellers this summer.
Aslef drivers on Hull Trains will strike on June 26 and those on Greater Anglia on June 23. Drivers on the Croydon Tramlink, in south London, will also walk out on June 28, 29 and July 13 and 14.
These dates coincide with the RMT’s strikes, which will see 40,000 workers for Network Rail and 13 train firms covering most of the country walk out on June 21, 23 and 25.
Times
The crisis threatening Britain’s railways this summer has deepened after train drivers voted to join the biggest rail strikes in a generation.
A union leader warned of a “summer of discontent” as drivers on three lines backed industrial action, with the strike ballots expected to spread.
The railway walkout, the largest since 1989, will coincide with a strike by 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, set for June 21, 23 and 25. Now two other unions have joined the fray: Aslef, representing drivers, and the Transport and Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), of non-driving staff.
Strikes elsewhere across British infrastructure are also being considered. Members of the GMB and Unite unions working for British Airways at Heathrow are voting on action.
Energy
Express
THE UK’s lack of electricity storage solutions have led to the Government being forced to spend over £500million to turn off wind turbines. British households are currently reeling from the worst impacts of the global fossil fuel energy crisis, with household energy bills expected to rise to around £2,800 in October.
While the Government has touted renewable energy as the solution to ending the energy crisis, the lack of adequate storage solutions for the energy generated has meant the UK taxpayer has had to fork over millions of pounds to energy companies to simply turn off wind farms.
According to the consultancy LCP, UK taxpayers were forced to pay £507million in the last year alone to cover the costs of switching off wind turbines when it is too windy.
Due to inadequate storage infrastructure like batteries in place, wind turbines have to be turned off in order to prevent the national Grid from being overloaded.
This is an increase of more than 70 percent from 2020, according to LCP.
PPE
Mail
Up to £4billion of unusable personal protective equipment will be burned to generate power, a damning report by MPs has revealed.
Officials spent taxpayers’ money on fake or substandard masks and gowns purchased at ‘obscenely inflated’ prices to combat Covid-19.
One contract for 3.5 billion gloves was even with a manufacturer accused of modern slavery, the Commons Public Accounts Committee said.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) lost 75 per cent of the £12billion it spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic because it paid too much or bought kit that did not meet requirements, the report found.
This includes £4billion of PPE that will not be used in the NHS and needs to be disposed of.
There is no clear disposal strategy for this excess but the DHSC says it plans to burn significant volumes to generate power – despite concerns about cost-effectiveness and environmental impact, the report said.
Guardian
Protective clothing worth £4bn bought early in the pandemic to stop NHS staff being infected with Covid is to be burned because it is unusable, a report has revealed.
The imminent destruction of so many items and waste of public money is disclosed in a report by the Commons public accounts committee (PAC) that is scathing of the DHSC’s strategy when the Covid pandemic struck in 2020.
The PAC, which oversees spending by Whitehall departments, found that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has £4bn of PPE in storage which cannot be used by frontline workers because it is substandard.
In their report out on Friday, the cross-party group of MPs said: “The department has no clear disposal strategy for this excess PPE but told us that it plans to burn significant volumes and will aim to generate power from this.”
The DHSC has so much unneeded PPE that it has appointed two commercial waste firms to help it dispose of 15,000 pallets a month “via a combination of recycling and burning to generate power”.
BBC News
Millions of unused masks and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) bought at the height of the Covid pandemic are to be burned or recycled.
The government says it will use the fires to generate power – but a spending watchdog has attacked the cost and environmental impact of the plan.
The Public Accounts Committee said some of the £4bn worth of unused PPE did not meet NHS standards.
But the Department of Health said the committee’s claims were “misleading”.
A spokesman said: “We make no apology for procuring too much PPE rather than too little, and only 3% of the PPE we procured was unusable in any context.”
The report by the Public Accounts Committee – which scrutinises government spending – said that between 2020-21, the Department of Health spent £12bn on PPE, but £8.7bn had to be written off.
Aliens
Star
Aliens likely exist because the universe is so big, according to the head of NASA.
Former space shuttle astronaut Bill Nelson, said it was likely intelligent extraterrestrial life is out there.
He said the powerful James Webb telescope – launched on Christmas Day – could help detect other worlds where life could thrive.
Asked at an Investing In Space Conference if he believed in intelligent extraterrestrial life he replied: “The short answer is yes. We know that we have in our galaxy, millions, if not billions of suns, and we know that in addition to our galaxy there are millions, if not billions, of galaxies with millions or billions of suns.
I have posted three times now including in response to Flyer’s post but they don’t seem to be getting through. Ah well maybe tomorrow.
Comments are considered whenever an admin is available, Lisa, which is unlikely to be 11 o’clock at night.
Debbie- for info: the site was inoperative all day from around 08.30 to beyond 23.59 hrs.
I tried to access it several times during that period with no access.
(You need to put a shilling in the meter now and again!!)
It certainly was Flyer. Strangely a post I made this morning hasn’t appeared but may have been a tech problem! I was astounded by the £8.7 billion written off as if it was nothing. No doubt this sum is a drop in the ocean to what has really been wasted.
BREXIT
Nobody talks about it out of self preservation, but I suspect the basic problem is that blasted woman Theresa may and the civil service.
She and her goon signed her Withdrawal agreement, So did EU. So it became Internalional law. It is never talked about for obvious reasons and terror of Nigel and ukip. and treated very nervously. But as far as I am aware. They are not frightened any more merely circumspect, Particularly giving away NI. That’s my theory anyway at the moment.
I would be happy to be disabused.
Replying to TG Spokes re BREXIT :
1 Re “Withdrawal Agreement, ” I happened to look this up on Wikipedia around the time when the WA was going through-some years ago now- to see what they said about it.
Wiki disgracefully said, “The WA, described by TERRORISTS as the Surrender Treaty…”
Some of us made some noise about this at the time and Wiki quickly changed it. But it shows what lies the Establiishment will try to propagate if they can get away with it…
2 Never forget Richard Braine, who warned about the “Withdrawal” “Agreement.” A very promising UKIP leader who was quickly shoved out of the way because he told the truth. Shame on all involved.
https://www.facebook.com/RichardBraineUK/videos/ukip-leader-richard-braine-on-the-brexit-withdrawal-agreement/504213496838095/
Chilling to the bone. I am beyond being shocked at what the politicians are doing. Writing to our MP is a complete waste of time. It just results in a cut and paste response – often out of date – to a point in the letter and every other point will be ignored. We watched that ‘Years and Years’ when it was on BBC some time ago. There were other eerie aspects to it – an ID pad that you breathed on, driverless cars, dirty bombs and ‘camps’ for the undesirables. Take heart. Here is a silver lining to all the the clouds. An unintended consequence of the sanctions against Russia could mean a long delay in any plans to microchip us all. Neon gas is vital for the production of microchips.
https://gatesofvienna.net/2022/06/russia-retaliates-for-sanctions/
That comic called the Daily Express hails Liz Truss as the ‘Brexit Queen’ insofar as her approach to the Northern Ireland protocol is concerned. What an absolute load of garbage this is. So far from where I am looking only hot air has come out of her loose cannon of a mouth and threats about how she may act unilaterally and tear up the Northern Ireland protocol. However, apart from fine words there has been no action. Its all very well making threats and constant threats at that, but how about actually carrying the threat out. I think the European Union has demonstrated over the past two and a half years that it is not prepared to negotiate or budge one inch on this issue or any other issue relating to the Trade Deal agreed by that hapless fool called Boris Johnson. The Daily Express and its schoolboy editors may be satisfied with Liz Truss and the current state of play, but I am not. As they say Action speaks louder than words, and I can see precious little action from either Johnson or Truss on this issue. Its just par for the course as far as they are concerned.
£8.7Billion written off! That’s a hanging offence surely. Whoever is responsible probably got promoted.
Tell me what you think of Boris Johnson when you’ve watched this latest video by Neil McCoy-Ward. This video is all about Agenda 2030, transhumanism and the imminent merger of the World Economic Forum and the United Nations.
This show Boris up for the committed globalist that he really is and surely if he represents undemocratic supranational entities, he has no business being a leader in a supposed democratic country. This video is frightening.
“This Is Absolutely TERRIFYING!!! (You’ll Be Shocked By This…)”
Neil McCoy-Ward
Flyer- it may have been you that has pointed me with your links.
One thing mentioned in today’s link was automatic investigation of and monitoring of your carbon footprint.
All the Banks across the World are signed up to the Master Plan (- check for yourself).
So here we are at the Bank.
I’d like to get a loan for a car.
Yes Sir, what had you in mind?
The New 25 cc Rhad machine. It does a ‘speed limit exceeding’ 16 mpg and 1,500 mls/gall.
No loan I’m afraid. It is not Earth Friendly under the terms of the World Ecorules and in any case would increase your carbon footprint by 0.0013 pct.
Furthermore, you would not be eligible anyway because your meat consumption is already too high – all that nasty methane. Thank Heaven sugar has been banned altogether, otherwise you would have been imprisoned.
President Trump must have seen this coming and put a law up for implementation stopping banks or any other organisation from using such tactics to cow the World Population. Unfortunately it was put forward about a month before the 2000 Mules incident and was not put into law. Moth Eaten Pres Slojo Bygone’s first act in office was to nix the proposal. Along with 26 other directives, he opened borders to the South and immigration only previously seen in Jermany. All part of the Grand Plan.
The opening 30 second track on Moody Blues Album appropriately called ‘Threshold of a Dream’ sums it up perfectly.
Indeed flyer; it has been clear for some time that BoJo has been in thrall to the globalists. I expect the lockdown was ordered by them along with uncontrolled immigration and, of course, the green nonsense. Let’s also not forget the UN intent to kill most of us off. If only we had a robust Treason and Sedition Law with the traditional, mandatory, penalty.
Anti-Brexit peers have warned… Another lot who deserve to feel the noose around their necks. It seems that the enemy within has infested everything.
Also ask de Pfiffer these questions and Invite people to ask themselves: (Slog work+additions)
Why did Pharma want immunity from ALL prosecution? Why did the politico-bureaucratic class accede to that ridiculous demand without a murmur?
Why did American intelligence staff cooperate in the Wuhan lab development?
Why did both media and official sources exaggerate the severity of Covid19 when within weeks they knew it was merely another flu with a normal (very low) kill rate, chiefly among the old?
Why did the medical establishment insist it was not lab-produced, without being able to explain the HIV element in the RNA structure?
Why did procurer Kate Bingham state categorically that the vaccines were only for the most vulnerable, but then say nothing when hard-sell official elements demanded 100% jabbing? (£4billion now to be converted from waste to energy).
Why was Neil Ferguson chosen to predict the effects of C19 when his risible track record of alarmism was so obvious?
Why did PHE issue advice to doctors at its site saying C19 “was no longer regarded as a serious health threat” in February 2020? Why did BoJo at first agree with that decision? (Was it because if it was a ‘serious health threat Ivermectin and any othet trial treatment could be implemented without the need for formal autorisation?)
Why was top MI6 spook Mark Sedwill allowed to retain such a senior role in the development of C19 strategy in his role as Head of UK Bioweapon Defence?
Why did Peter Horby deliberately test hydrochlorochine as a late intervention treatment for Covid when its sponsor specifically said it was designed for early intervention? Why did he exceed all the recommended doses? (And why was blatant MURDER awarded with a Knighthodd?)
Why does ivermectin remain on the State Naughty Step across the First World when, without any doubt, it has proved itself the most safe and effective early intervention yet found against Covid?
Why has secrecy surrounded mRNA vaccines since Day 1? How could Pfizer and Moderna arrive at very similar formulations without collusion?
Why has the MSM globally blanked the sensational findings about (a) flimsey Pfizer tests (b) their attempts to close the files on development for 50 years (c) the unexplained nano Graphene debris in the product (d) the now quantified series data about huge rises in early sub-40 year old deaths among the vaccinated?
So what do I think of de Pfiffer?
He should be arraigned along with all his accomplices.
Why have they done all of the above? Simply because there doesn’t appear to be any obstacle to stop them doing as they please.
Didn’t I hear him say that the UN and WEF were planning to merge?
Then the merger will doubtless take in the WHO and all the other World This n’ Thats……
Mary – you certainly did here him say that and I wrote this in my post. Yes they will all merge into the Tower of Babel that they always planned to be.
Look out for this in the near future.