Needed no longer …
There are mornings when I think that the mighty chief editors of the Westminster MSM are unsure about which squirrel to show us, to keep us looking away from actual scandals boding ill to our country. Thus, on the print editions’ front pages, the Rwanda thing is still ‘in the news’: “Newspaper headlines: Rwanda policy unlawful and ‘radical’ NHS overhaul” (link). Looking at the online editions though it’s as if this is no longer an issue. Btw – if you want a dose of mawkish tear jerking, scroll down for the Mirror’s front page: a true weepy!
At the time of writing the online editions of the broadsheets present us with yet another government initiative to ‘Save the Sacred Cow’. I’m not even going there, it’s nought but yet another inept ‘jam tomorrow’ attempt to reform the unreformable.
Disregarding the paywalled pieces in the DT and The Times, you can find some articles and opinion pieces regarding yon Rwanda thing in the non-paywalled DM, e.g. here, here and here. There’s also a report which illustrates the shameless hypocrisy of the Left, Labour included. It’s about ‘a watchdog’ criticising the Home Office for not deporting foreign criminals (link). You really couldn’t make it up! It’s as if the whole immigration kerfuffle is a giant work scheme for lefty lawyers .
There’s one news item which I found extremely concerning. It has made it onto the online front pages, albeit not in a prominent place. It’s about the chief of the general Staff, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, stepping down next year after having been in that job since 2022 only. This seems to coincide with a speech he gave on Tuesday, in which he criticised plans to reduce the number of troops even further (all emphases are mine):
“He has been publicly critical of planned cuts to troops which will see the British Army reduced to the smallest size for centuries. The news of his departure comes just three days after Sir Patrick used a speech at a Royal United Services Institute conference to call for the UK to increase the number of its troops and compared “outdated” tanks to “rotary dial telephones in an iPhone age”. Sir Patrick also warned that for UK deterrence to succeed, all three services needed to be “balanced” in terms of personnel and equipment.” (paywalled link)
The report in The Times comes with a nice little quote from the Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, on this issue, who “dismissed “conspiracy” allegations that Sanders had been forced out for being outspoken on army cuts. He said Sanders was “outstanding” but that “generals come and go”.”(link, paywalled).
Interesting, isn’t it: there’s nothing to see here, yon general is just another one who had his turn in the sun and must now make place for someone else. Reducing the size of the Army is neither here nor there, you see – and anyway, Mr Wallace said, he’d been ‘given’ “£14 billion for his army modernisation programme, for his equipment.” (paywalled link), so he had no cause to moan.
Mr Wallace didn’t say if this generous gift includes the cost of replacing all the goodies Johnson, Sunak and Wallace have so generously sent to the Ukraine for destruction. Furthermore, it seems that there’s enmity between the current Chief of Defence, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, and General Sanders, Radakin apparently having argued that: “the UK no longer needs to prioritise tanks given recent investments made by allies such as Poland. [Sanders] said it was wrong to “hide behind the armies of other Nato contributors”. “ (link, paywalled)
Apparently, Admiral Radakin wants to ‘pivot’ our Armed Forces to the Indo-Pacific – that means Taiwan and support for the USA – and thus wants more ships, like those always sitting in docks because something is always not functioning. Apparently, taking on Russia isn’t sufficient, “we” must also be the ankle-biter in the war with China which the USA are allegedly planning for.
Isn’t it interesting that Wallace and Radakin seem to assume that there will be yon fabulous EU ‘Army’, making our own obsolete. Clearly, if the EU builds tanks we don’t need to, nor do we need soldiers trained to operate them: savings all round, and never mind what’s happening in the Ukraine.
There is one other twist to this sorry tale. The DT and the DM (link) speculate about a possible successor, mentioning that Mr Wallace wants to select the next head of the Army before, they hint, he himself will step down:
“Friends questioned the decision to replace Sanders after two years given his three predecessors served four. A friend said: “Wallace and Radakin want him out because he is not prepared to toe the line. Patrick is the most talented service chief we have had for some time. It says much about our political class that he is taking an early bath.” Among those tipped to replace him are Lieutenant General Sharon Nesmith, 53, the deputy chief of the general staff, who would be the first woman to lead the army.” (link, paywalled)
Well, why not have a woman as Chief of the Army! Other EU countries even have wimmin Ministers of Defence, like Germany or Scandinavian countries. A female Chief of staff would fit nicely into the woke, feminist-driven EU armies! At least she looks competent, unlike the female CEO of Thames Water. Anyway, who needs functioning Armed Forces when we can show the world how incredibly woke and divers we are!
I leave you with the unsurprising ‘news’ that Nigel Farage having been cancelled by his and all other banks has only made it onto the DT online front page (paywalled link). I am disgusted that so many comment posters seem to think this is a good thing. Has our society sunk so deep into ‘woke’ that even ‘educated’ people don’t get what this means?
That’s all I have for today. From the destruction of our Armed Forces to the destruction of personal freedom, all in the name of ‘DEI’, we face a bleak future indeed. Have a good day.
I groaned when I heard the new about the NHS. A good start would be to get rid of every job with diversity and inclusion in it. And on day two…..
A long overdue rant against the transgender agenda:
https://www.gbnews.com/celebrity/jk-rowling-essex-school-toilet-transgender-latest
Hopefully she will raise awareness and opposition. I don’t believe that genuine homosexuals should be persecuted but neither should they be celebrated.
Seems there is an issue with linking replies…
A good point Mary. It has been written elsewhere that the enemy is the 1% seeking to control the other 99% so the odds are on our side but we need to waken up most of that 99% it seems.
Ukraine Debate House of Commons 15th March 2022
Sir Christopher Bryant @ 4:43pm contributed on various people who should be sanctioned by the UK and stated at one point
“I simply point out that Nigel Farage received £548,573 from Russia Today in 2018 alone—this is from the Russian state.”
Obviously statements made in the HoC are privileged but there must be a mechanism whereby such statements can be challenged if they have no substance! Which is what NF claims in his you tube statement.
In any event do payments made by the BBC to people come under the same classification as coming from the UK state?
Idle ramblings. At my new age of 90, I feel entitled to the odd insane rant ( Call it a hermits forecast if you wish ))
Nothing works, everything good is undermined, The blindingly obvious is ignored, Our leaders are ignorant and blind, our heritage is actually mocked, our monuments are hated, excellence is debased, our monumental useful structure is used for its bits. for ever. Misuse, bodge, slack, Thames Water is just a symptom. Built in centuries, hollowed out, used mercilessly, broken down, sold off.. Start again, Cheap. Abandon. Replacement. Slide back into the sewage.
I’ve been trying to work out ( I won’t dignify it by calling it developement ) a scale for each tourist wonder and idle interest in our old country. from minus 100 thru Zero to + 100..
I tell you , its not easy.. For a start off their there are golden ages for each new understanding of energies by political and other leaders.. Each, introducing a new scale. and it is from that understanding and ignorance that each successive scale flows from some unimaginable brilliant past etc to the all too easily imaginable future. each new step and mezzanine
At every stage one gets the peculiar pack rat effect of means of exchange, Political complete ignorance and its dangers ( As for specialisation, education, etc ) stunts or lights each level. or maybe beneficially obscures. I dunno.
It’s a grim landscape. But there’s always humour. and best of all. Belly laughter.
And meanwhile France. Mob violence and looting in the name of DEI. Coming to your city, your town soon.
The solution to the many problems that this country faces from Immigration and effective control of our borders to the size and effectiveness of our armed forces lies with the removal of the Conservatives from power. I voted for them in 2019 for the first time in order to get Brexit done having previously voted for UKIP and before that the SDP, and to be honest they have have made hash of everything and Johnson and Sunak have in the process converted the their party to a sort of psuedo Green Party and I didn’t vote for this shambles of a party four years ago to be saddled with a left wing neo socialist party. They are not committed to any policy that betters the life of citizens of this country, and seem hell bent on the destruction of British culture and industry in equal measure and allowing all and sundry to flood across our borders. The Conservative Party will follow the Liberal Party into political oblivion, as their day is now done. Hapless Sunak and his hopeless coterie of ministers should resign, dissolve parliament and hold a general election in six weeks time. Surely the Labour Party can’t be any worse, can they?
The next election will be like choosing between cholera and typhoid. The symptoms vary, one has a more rapid onset, but the outcomes are the same.
Establishment antipathy against Farage has been obvious for several years but it appears to be turning into a clumsy fatwa. It is significant that 15 minutes before he went on air at 7pm, having announced beforehand on twitter that his ‘debanking’ would be the top item, the bank called him to say it could get him a current account at another bank. So, it was closing his current account (among others it held for him) and while other banks were refusing him the bank could nonetheless influence another bank to give him a current account. Bizarre but it does suggest there really is politics in play rather than Farage falling foul of money laundering regulations. His family’s accounts are also involved which is permitted under money laundering regulations but cannot be justified by the claimed “commercial reasons”.
Debanking has been going on for years and ordinary people have found themselves debanked (as provided for by EU directives which lie behind the many UK regulations). One can only hope that by coming for Farage this Kafkaesque world will exposed more widely and that there are enough sane people for there to be an effective campaign against arbitrary debanking.
Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts decared ‘Sentence first – verdict later!’ except no verdict (explanation) is given after the sentence of debanking. When Alice protests the Queen cries ‘Off with her head’. We live in Wonderland it seems. It should worry us all.
Very important to try to get in the habit of surviving outside the corporate grid as much as possible. But unless you live in a mud hut without utilities and therefore utility bills to pay, this is only possible up to a point. I’m looking for a nice mud hut somewhere: Nigeria would be nice, since the Nigerians with their generally not very digitised society, so far have been fending off the CBDC that their Government is trying to inflict on them.
I think banks are one of the worst place to keep savings (yes, what savings, I can hear you guffaw !!!!) because of the looming threat of bank bail- ins. And anywhere else in the corporate system eg National Savings, will surely not be much better ; if and when God forbid TPTB decide to go ahead with CBDC, all accounts ( surely including National Savings accounts) will be frozen and you will only get your money back if you agree to collaborate and fall into the trap of. the Central Bank Digital currency.
Mary- A nice mud hut! Not very handy in the swamp regions. You have never been to Nigeria have you? Be prepared to ‘tap into’ the mains electrics in the road – whilst the cables are all live, of course – reread the leccy comment, with mains cables laying in swamp water.
After the snobby music comments lately, be aware there are no opera houses. And music – more community singing and drums in place of violins and oboes.
They do not have credit cards in Nigeria. Can’t think why not – and Chief Biseni has some trouble offloading his seven million dollars, needing help of my bank details to unload it – freely given.
I am fully aware of the problems in Nigeria, not least the Muslim persecution of Christians and non -Muslims.
I was speaking tongue- in -cheek: did you not realise that?
However, well done the Nigerians for providing some resistance, consciously or otherwise, to the dreadful CBDC.
Living in an advanced society like ours does have its drawbacks: like being ripe prey for CBDC.
Biscotte
I’m so terribly sorry I offended you with my snobbish comments.
I’d had a lot of pleasure from music I’d never heard of, which was introduced to me for the first time by people doing exactly what I did: recommending it in this way. Including this piece.
But I now realise that’s a crime, snobbery.
Won’t do it again, promise.
Stout Yeoman…………there is something not right about the story of Farage and his banking conundrum. He stated that he has received telephone calls, but no bank would ever call a customer via the telephone. The first point of contact is via letter that is sent to the customers address. If I received a telephone call from my bank I would be extremely worried that it might be a fraudster on the other end and would set off alarm bells in my head. Also, a bank making contact with a customer at 6.45 pm seems a bit far fetched to me. Still it makes good story (sort of)
Not true Colin. My previous bank used to phone me on a regular basis.
‘I’m with your bank, to confirm you are Supreme Commander Biscotte can you tell me …’ you know the rest.
Response – no, no, my security procedure not to talk to anyone with an accent from either the indian subcontinent or africa. If that passes, you tell ME my Mum’s name and so on.
When I peronnaly went into the bank and berated their ‘we security care security passionately security about security’ policy of phoning up, then asking questions.
Shortly thereafter,, security I got security a letter security and the Big security Nige treatment.
Got another account no problem. Must have more money than Big Nige eh(??).
Biscoote…….sounds like Toytown Bank to me………
HSBC toytown – ho, ho, ho ? You are havin a larf right, Colin?
I wish I could produce money out of thin air and get ten percent of their profits like all banks. It begs the question, how can they not be a success and they are going bankrupt? Answer greed.
Banks are huge. Their populations are as diverse as is GB. It was almost certainly an individual sympathetic who thought he had found an answer that ticked boxes, and who knows.. And those at the top are as daft as those at the bottom. and surprisingly human
TG Spokes……you mean to say that bank employees consider themselves to be a population within their place of work? Daft at the top and bottom and surprisingly human…I’ve heard it all now, and its only 6.56 pm on a Friday evening and probably the cork is still within that bottle of Single Malt…..
You are right up to a point Colin Hussey and I would almost certainly call the bank back from a different phone. However I believe he used Coutts Bank which is a bit more exclusive and may have better ways of identifying themselves than regular ones. The whole thing stinks anyway and Bryant should be forced to apologise and retract his lies as Farage was not able to defend himself effectively against those false statements as he had never been an elected MP.
Lisa………its called parliamentary privilege, where an MP can say whatever they like in the House of Commons without being being sued.
Colin Hussey : My thoughts exactly. I think many stories like this should be taken with a pinch of salt.
What people should NOT be taking with a pinch of salt however is the way TPTB are trampling over rule of law and due process. People should be figuring out how to make themselves less exposed to abuses like this.
Mary……..a very large pinch of salt indeed. Despite what Biscotte has said, the banks do not ring their customers out of the blue on the telephone. Everybody knows its a no no these days with all the scams that are around. However, like everybody else I get weekly calls from fraudsters who say they are ringing about Amazon Prime and Visa. The phone goes down straight away, but there is one born every minute in this world, and some of these gullible people born every minute follow the fraudsters instructions and then wonder why their accounts have been emptied of all monies. And of course the banks will close down accounts if the account holders are always overdrawn and do not pay their credit card balances expediently or are in breach of other rules, but notification of this form of action would be by letter sent to the account holders address not by telephone or mobile. That concept is totally ludicrous beyond belief.
ColinH- you have rather a lot to say for yourself today. I’ll put it down to being hyperactive or down the pub early on a Friday.
See above- until forced to change my bank, I did get phone calls from them. Fact.
As the french would say – upyor bum cowlon.
He has so called private banking. Customers are called clients and enjoy personal relationship managers. Getting calls is quite normal in private banks.
I don’t think he would invent facts given he has consulted lawyers. Of course, we may not have been told the whole story.
One thing is for sure Farage wont be making his banking problems public knowledge, and why should he. I would be probably go along with you in respect of your very last sentence. Who in their right mind would bank with Coutts. They are hardly on every High Street are they. Having said that nor are some other banks either these days. For instance in my local town there is no longer a branch of Lloyds, Barclays or National Westminster which I dare say is being replicated across the country. A very good reason in my opinion not to do business with these particular banks any longer as the needs of their customers are no longer upper most in their minds.
Over the last few days the “benefits” of multi-culturalism and mass immigration are on display in France for all to see. Rioting, burning, looting, coming to a City near you soon. We might need an army. The House of Lords, Civil Service, Judiciary and many politicians are doing their utmost to bring these same “benefits” here, whilst ignoring the safety, wellbeing and wishes of the electorate. The uncontrolled immigration, gender indoctrination in schools, the rush to Net Zero bancruptcy, closing of individuals bank accounts, political witch-hunts, etc. are all part of the Third World Woketopia they are creating. Nobody voted for this and one thing’s for sure, it will take more than voting to change their minds.
Ken P……..you’re right nobody voted for this, but the majority will continue to vote for the same crap parties at the next general election though, and therein lies the problem.
WHO NEEDS THE ARMY!
We do, not least to get rid of the totally corrupt government and have a fresh start.
A citizens army, equipped not just with armaments but with an arsenal of practical and intellectual weapons against the hybrid war being waged on us by the elite.
I think Jack 5 weeks gives us a ready organised army . Another 4 weeks give you crafts and semi skills, another 4 weeks gives Organisation.. The big problems are Tek and brains… Then They need stuff from Boots to Pilots to Drones, and Boats and navigators etc.
But it does NOT give us a slim fast urgent Civil Servant. And we need less and best.
So, it’s hardware and education.!! Can we fund it ?
And Would we get one week. ?? And could we make a single simple gun in less than a month.. You’ld have to find a working factory
TG Spokes……..I take it the cork of the best Highland Single Malt was eventually popped and you participated in a few drams, judging by the above ramblings (re 5 weeks and an organised Army and 4 weeks for crafts and semi skills and Tek? and brains etc) Or was it a few tumblers of that VAT 69 you keep spirited away in the sideboard for a rainy day. I’ll have to watch it now otherwise I’ll have Supreme Commander Biscoote from Toytown on my coat tails.