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Monday 30 September 2019

Tory Flag Thief Says It Didn’t Happen

We did not have to wait long to see the face of today’s Tory Party on view to anyone who was in Manchester at conference time, and when the viewing came, it was exactly what The Blue Team did not need outsiders to see: entitled, uncaring, dishonest, sneering, patronising, arrogant, Europhobic, intolerant, and safe in the belief that they could commit crimes and not have to account for their actions.
Councillor (for the time being) Sam Smith

Caught on video yesterday afternoon was a Young Rowan Atkinson lookalike later identified as Sam Smith, who was no relation to the well-known beer, but was a councillor representing Trent Valley ward for the Borough of Gedling, near Nottingham.

Smith and his accomplice Charlie Godwin, who is chair of Gedling’s young Conservatives, or whatever they call themselves nowadays, stole - yes, stole - two small EU flags from an anti-Brexit protester. They were pursued by the flags’ owner, and Steve Bray, the original and genuine Stop Brexit man, in the direction of Manchester Central and the Bridgewater Hall. They were caught. They then argued the toss about it.
Smith’s excuse for the theft was “We don’t want the EU”. They would be reported to the Police. “We’ll report you to the anti-democracy Police”, sneered Smith. “No-one in the UK wants the flag … we’re proving a point. These people do not respect democracy”. Godwin added “Democratically voted … by the British people”. What, someone voted to make theft not a criminal offence? And then Greater Manchester Police became involved.

They had been seen taking the flags. “Yes, yes, we did” confirmed Smith. What, asked a Police officer, had happened? “They were anti-democracy, and we took that away from them” replied Smith. Godwin claimed the flags did not have anyone’s name on them, at which point he was almost taken out by a passing Metrolink tram.

But after a discussion between the cops, and the protesters, Godwin handed over £20 and was almost apologetic. The impression was given that, had the Police not been there, Godwin and Smith would have expected to get away with it. Smith then lied to the press, claiming that the theft was merely “allegations”, and that there had been “a dispute”.
As Femi Oluwole put it, “It's that privileged sense of immunity from the law... You can see it in their face... They can admit to theft in front of police officers and know they'll never face any real consequences … Like Tory Leader, Like Tory Member I suppose”. Same with the lying, probably. Same with the real world out there.

James O’Brien mused “There were people like this at university. I didn’t know then & I don’t know now why they would want to be involved in politics”.
Meanwhile, the monitoring officer for Gedling Borough Council has confirmed that several complaints have been received pertaining to Cllr Smith’s behaviour. Perhaps the junior school where he is a governor, and Homeserve UK, where he apparently works, will also stop and think. Because until someone takes action, this behaviour will continue.

Breaking the law is just fine. Providing you’re in the same club as Bozo The Clown.
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Virgin Trains PWNS Fawkes Teaboy

Travelling by train. Some find it difficult to talk about. Others find it difficult to do. And in both categories today is Tom Harwood, replacement teaboy to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, who has decided that he does not have to take any notice of warnings posted all around London’s Euston station telling passengers that gates to platforms will be closed two minutes before departure.
Behold the face of arrogant stupidity

In the Allegedly Good Old Days of BR, it was one minute, but with newer trains, with their automatic doors, having to be closed up before the Right Away is given, the rule was changed to two minutes. Harwood turned up less than two minutes before his train to Manchester departed. The gate had been closed. His pleading fell on deaf ears. He was, it seems, a lousy pleader. So he had a very public mardy strop.
Outrageous that [Virgin Trains] closed the gates two minutes before departure. Very shoddy. I will not be booking with them again” he blubbered. So Virgin Trains responded to him. “Hey Tom, we do have to close the barriers to trains at Euston two minutes before departure and this is advertised around the station too”. So did he now understand?
You jest: for a Fawkes goon, reality really is a state of mind. VT reiterated the policy - not confined to this operator, please note - but that only set Harwood off. “Shit excuse lads. Your advertised departure time is simply not true in any meaningful sense of the word [Yes it is - it’s the time the train departs]. This is like advertising the price of a fare and only after your customer has agreed to pay saying ‘oh no actually technically this doesn’t include our boarding fee.’” No it isn’t. He loused up. But someone else did it and ran away.
And he still wasn’t happy, so decided to invent something else not to like. “Incredibly poor customer service for a smirking guard to stand by an open train door not letting people on. Pretty shameful stuff”. Bullshit. The Train Manager (note correct title) would have been making sure he was OK to close up, prior to the Right Away being given.
But Harwood knew better. So back he came. “Why do passengers need to know when they’re departing? Surely the only thing they need to know is when to board and when they arrive”. VT tried to let him down gently. "You couldn't operate a railway without letting people know when they're departing, Tom”. OUCH!
Having been Pwned by the VT Twitter feed, he decided to show the world how much he doesn’t know about rail travel. “The wonderful thing about privatisation is next time I can choose to not book with Virgin. Back when the state did this to people (far more often and severely) they had nowhere to turn”. Far more often my arse - he’s just lying. And book with someone else? Thought that one through, have you, Tom?
You can go from London to Manchester with other operators, but you’ll have to change trains and it will take you a lot longer. And don’t think that the First/Trenitalia operation that will replace VT will do anything differently. Or any other inter-city operator.

As Ross McCafferty put it, “Tom Harwood is possibly the only person tragic enough to get roasted by the Virgin Trains Twitter account”. If he keeps on throwing a mardy strop every time he fouls up, he’ll run out of train operators to kick off about. What a complete clown.
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Toby Young In Deep Legal Shit

The Internet never forgets. And Twitter is part of that. These basic facts, one might have thought, would by now have been taken on board by the loathsome Toby Young, especially given that they contributed to his recent fall from grace. But that thought would have been seriously misplaced, as Tobes went off on a most unfortunate Twitter riff yesterday, one which may cost him dearly. As in both his dwindling reputation, and a lot of money.
The individual known as “Westminster’s village idiotlived up to his nickname in no style at all yesterday after author Robert Harris mused “Philip Hammond, ex-Chancellor, seriously suggests in today’s Times that one reason the Prime Minister may want a hard Brexit is so that his backers in the City don’t lose billions - corruption on a scale I wouldn’t dare put in fiction”. Hammond was considering the previous claims of Bozo’s sister Rachel.
In waded Tobes: “I’m surprised that you, Robert, the author of a novel about the Dreyfus affair, would recycle Hammond’s disgusting anti-Semitic conspiracy theory: Boris is being manipulated by a secret cabal of city financiers who stand to profit from economic ruin. Have you joined [the Labour Party]?” But there was no anti-Semitic anything.
It was bad enough that Tobes had suggested that all bankers were Jewish. But worse was to come, as Spreadsheet Phil took grave exception to that Tweet, later declaring “This is self-evidently absurd. But it is also defamatory. I will be taking legal advice tomorrow morning. I shall make no further comment”. What say Tobes to that?
Well, apart from giving the appearance of having experienced an involuntary bowel movement of no known violence, Tobes had decided to backpedal furiously. “Apologies Philip. The suggestion that ‘speculators’ are controlling the govt could be construed as an anti-Semitic trope if ‘speculators’ is being used as a euphemism for Jewish financiers, as it sometimes is. But you evidently didn’t mean that and I’ve deleted the tweet”.
Yeah, right. I have less than totally favourable news for Tobes. One, “Globalists” is code for “Jewish bankers”. “Speculators” is not. Two, that Tweet does not merely equate “Speculators” to Jews, it ups the ante significantly by talking of a “secret cabal”. And Three, deleting the Tweet is not a defence against litigation, as the precedent case of Monroe v Hopkins demonstrates. Put simply, Tobes is, this morning, in deep legal shit.
So it was that the celebrations began, with Michael Rosen responding simply “I did warn you Toby”. Lawyer Sundip Meghani was in no doubt as to the seriousness of Tobes’ predicament: “This is plainly a libellous comment defaming your character. I think you have merit in pursuing it, Mr Hammond. Best wishes”. Yes, he’s in the poo.
Colleen Hawkins concluded “Speaking as a speculator myself, I speculate that this won't be the end of the matter, Tobe”. And Patrick Lohlein reminded The Great Man of his professed creed: “Classical liberalism is all about individual responsibility Toby”.

Yes, Toby Young is in deep legal doo-doo. Just rejoice at that news.
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Sunday 29 September 2019

Tories’ 40 New Hospitals AREN’T

There it was on the front page of the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph: a clear commitment by alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson to the NHS, a new building programme like no other. “Johnson: I will build 40 new hospitals … PM tackled Corbyn on NHS as he ups the ante over ‘Abject Capitulation Act’”. He’s going to build them himself? It will, at least, keep him from groping young women.
No he won't

The Tel goes on to claim “Taken alongside the extra £33.9 billion the Government has pledged to put into the NHS every year by 2023, ‘this is the largest sum that has ever been invested in the NHS’, Mr Johnson says”. And to that I call bullshit.

For starters, the actual number of new hospitals is, by the most optimistic calculation, just six. And it gets worse: Bozo The Clown has admitted that the building programme will depend on someone else putting up most of the cash. We know this as a result of his inquisition before the host on The Andy Marr Show™ this morning.
He was very keen to talk about the initiative; it is not as if Marr had to coax the claim out of him. Thus, way before the subject was brought up, and after he had gone on ad infinitum, and indeed ad nauseam, about “getting Brexit done” by the end of October - fraudulent in the extreme, as whatever happens by the end of next month, Brexit, if it happens, will not be done for many years afterwards - he wanted viewers to know the good news.

We’re announcing today that we’re going to be building 40 new hospitals … 40 new hospitals as part of the biggest investment in hospital infrastructure for a generation. And I have to say that I think that is what the British people want to hear about … I’m so proud to be coming on your show this morning to discuss NHS funding … We are going through the biggest investment in the NHS for a generation”. Then he got to make his pitch.
A complete Muppet - and Elmo from Sesame Street

Marr put to him “40 new hospitals, you say. Actually it’s six new hospitals over five years … At £2.7 billion. And the rest is aspiration, it’s hope, one day maybe”. Bozo took issue with that. “No. There is a long term infrastructure plan for 40 hospitals, and there is going to be seed funding for all 40. Six are going to start immediately: Whipps Cross, Epsom and St Helier …  Princess Alexandra and three others. That is all going ahead, and I’m incredibly proud of that. But there are then 34 more than are coming down the track”.

See the giveaway? Quite apart from “Long Term Infrastructure Plan” being a rip-off of Young Dave’s equally meaningless “Long Term Economic Plan”, Bozo said “there is going to be seed funding for all 40”. That means the Government is going to pay for, perhaps, securing the land, doing the legal stuff and ensuring access. Someone else is going to have to pay to actually build - and then maintain - the hospitals.
That sounds like either the PFI that began under John Major, was carried on by Tone and Pa Broon, and even though Cameron and Osborne slagged it off, they did it too - or it means someone else will own and run the hospitals - not necessarily the NHS.

Bozo just confirmed what we already knew - you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.
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Toby Young Says All Bankers Are Jewish

As if there were not enough anti-Semitic tropes being cast about today, what with the Mail on Sunday talking of “people pulling strings” in relation to Oliver Letwin, the individual known as “Westminster’s village idiot” has, of his own volition, ponied up another. Yes, the loathsome Toby Young has once more opened his North and South and inserted both Plates of Meat in no style at all. The subject, as ever, is Brexit.
And as so often, what trips up Tobes is another of his attempts to show the world that he really does have an intellect to reckon with, rather than being the embodiment of the dictum attributed to the late Denis Thatcher - “Better to keep one’s mouth shut, and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt”.
His less than fortunate intervention came after author and historian Robert Harris mused “Philip Hammond, ex-Chancellor, seriously suggests in today’s Times that one reason the Prime Minister may want a hard Brexit is so that his backers in the City don’t lose billions - corruption on a scale I wouldn’t dare put in fiction”. Spreadsheet Phil was considering where the suggestion put forward by Bozo’s sister Rachel might lead us.
Tobes was having none of that. He is, after all, an unswerving supporter of our alleged Prime Minister. So in he waded. “I’m surprised that you, Robert, the author of a novel about the Dreyfus affair, would recycle Hammond’s disgusting anti-Semitic conspiracy theory: Boris is being manipulated by a secret cabal of city financiers who stand to profit from economic ruin. Have you joined [the Labour Party]?
Er, WHAT? There is no “secret”, no “cabal”, the idea did not come from Hammond - but from Rachel Johnson - and the only way the whole thing can be passed off as anti-Semitic is by assuming that all those concerned in backing Bozo are Jewish. And that is why Tobes is going round in an anti-Semitic circle of his own creation: his contention only stands up by using an anti-Semitic trope. Someone hasn’t been thinking this one though.
As a result, Tobes’ latest attempt at personal aggrandisement was destined to become a campaign that developed not necessarily to his advantage. The response was derisory, with one Tweeter asking “How on earth do you make a judgement that it is anti Semitic?  I think that shows more about your attitudes than [Philip Hammond]”.
Another responded “Indeed. The purveyor of antisemitic tropes is the person who assumes that 'City financiers' must mean manipulative, money grubbing Jews”. That means you, Tobes. And it got worse. “All you did there, Toby, was add the words ‘secret’ ‘cabal’ and ‘anti-Semitic’, and turn Rachel Johnson’s comment into Philip Hammond’s. Lovely work.  And it’s not yet 10 o’clock.  Enjoy your day”. Quite.
And worse. “You are being remarkably dim this morning Toby. The ‘conspiracy’ was suggested by Johnson’s own sister. And there was no mention of Jews in her suggestion or Hammond’s article”. None whatever. Strange, but when there really are anti-Semitic tropes being bandied about - as with the Telegraph’s Soros front page, and the Daily Mail going after Ralph Miliband using the “disloyal Jew” trope, Tobes remains silent.

Anyone would think he’s just a dim Bozo booster. I’ll just leave that one there.
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Mail On Sunday Euro Collusion Claims FALSE

The drift of the Mail on Sunday, since Geordie Greig went to edit the Daily Mail and was replaced by Ted Verity, into a truly rogue newspaper has been gathering pace of late. Today it crossed the line from being a newspaper into operating as a propaganda tool, a deniable arm of Conservative HQ. Its front page splash is also notable for being total invention, a pack of lies so obvious that it is laughable.
As MoS exposes plot to let Bercow send surrender letter to Brussels … No 10 PROBES REMAIN MPs’ ‘FOREIGN COLLUSION’” thunders the headline. It is as if every Tory tribalist’s masturbatory fantasy were thrown into one climactic wet dream. All the devils are brought together: Brussels, World War 2, Speaker Bercow, dastardly plots, betrayal, treachery, and of course all those ghastly people who don’t speak English.

But sadly, fantasy is all it is, hence the quote marks around the supposedly killer phrase “Foreign Collusion”. Because there isn’t any (minor point, eh chaps?): this claim was first invented some weeks ago by the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog (along with the “Surrender Bill” claim). That means the MoS should have got at least one more reliable source to back it up. They haven’t, and so they can’t.

So let’s see what now passes as journalism at the MoS. “Downing Street has launched a major investigation into alleged links between foreign governments and the MPs behind the 'Surrender Act' which could force Boris Johnson to delay Brexit, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Sources said No 10 took the unprecedented action after officials received intelligence that the MPs, including former Cabinet Minister Oliver Letwin, had received help drafting the Bill from members of the French Government and the European Union”.
And to that I call bullshit. There is no credible intelligence to back up that claim. But good to see that the old stand-by of blaming the French is being wheeled out again. So where has the story come from? Ah well. It does not take too long to discern the hand of Downing Street’s chief polecat Dominic Cummings at work behind the scenes.

Like here: “Last night, a senior No 10 source said: 'The Government is working on extensive investigations into Dominic Grieve, Oliver Letwin and Hilary Benn [who tabled the Bill] and their involvement with foreign powers and the funding of their activities. Governments have proper rules for drafting legislation, but nobody knows what organisations are pulling these strings”. The Government is doing no such thing.

But do go on “'We will demand the disclosure of all details of their personal communications with other states. The drafting of primary legislation in collusion with foreign powers must be fully investigated.’” We’re getting very close to the language being ramped up to “Collaborator”. There is also a whiff of anti-Semitism.

Not that the MoS wants to suggest a connection between Oliver Letwin, who is Jewish, and the phrase “pulling these strings”. Especially as the article goes on to talk about “claims from senior sources that Mr Letwin had agreed the January 31 date in the first Benn Act with figures at the French Embassy in London”.

All that this lamentable piece of pseudo-journalism tells us is that the MoS’ political editor has been reduced to taking dictation from Polecat Dom. Sad, really.
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Top Six - September 29

So what’s hot, and what’s not, in the past week’s blogging? Here are the six most popular posts on Zelo Street for the past seven days, counting down in reverse order, because, well, I have to be out and about later. So there.
6 Don’t Menshn Divorce (Thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch has completed her split from now ex-husband Peter. So could be returning to the party very soon.

5 Bozo Linked To Libor Fiddler Our alleged Prime Minister’s “technology lessons” link him to someone doing an 11 year stretch in one of Her Majesty’s hotels. Here’s how.

4 Cummings Death Blackmail OUT OF ORDER Polecat Dom assures MPs that if they vote the way he wants them to, they won’t get death threats.

3 Letts Doxx Supreme Court Judges The odious Quentin Letts (let’s not) suggested it was OK to doxx the Supreme Court Judges whose decision was not to his liking. As well as also suggesting they should be subject to violent assault.

2 Brendan O’Neill Demands Brexit Violence Calling for riots live on the BBC. Not a good look.

1 Julia Hartley Dooda In The Dooda The self-promoting TalkRADIO host decided to doxx lawyer Jolyon Maugham. Then she deleted the Tweet.

And that’s the end of another blogtastic week, blog pickers. Not ‘arf!

Saturday 28 September 2019

Tommy Robinson’s Nazi Pal JAILED

From poster boy of the Brexit referendum to a jail term in less than three and a half years - that is all it took for Billy Charlton to fall foul of the law and get himself a custodial sentence. And his jailing once more suggests that Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, has once more made a serious error of judgment.
Billy Charlton in the blue Nike top ...

Charlton found himself on the front page of the Murdoch Sun in June 2016: the paper used a snap from the referendum count at Sunderland as part of its Brexit result celebrations. The Murdoch goons somehow missed that he was an EDL supporter and had previously been seen behind a Combat 18 banner. And that’s a neo-Nazi group.

Lennon’s involvement with Charlton came as part of his crusade against what he claimed was an epidemic of “rape gangs”, which were populated by Scary Muslims™. He visited Sunderland to lend his support to the campaign Charlton was also backing. It had been claimed that a young woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been attacked and perhaps even kidnapped and sexually assaulted, by men alleged to be of Turkish origin. The Police had investigated but had not charged anyone.
... and at the right of picture here ...

Lennon lent his support to the protests; Charlton did rather more, and ultimately he was charged with six counts of stirring up racial hatred. To show that he had taken on board Lennon’s variation on “free speech”, the Sunderland Echo noted that at one protest event, “a woman had to be ‘escorted away for her own safety’ for carrying a placard that said ‘rape does not have a race’”. It wasn’t the only inconvenient fact he dismissed.

Around 85% of sex attacks in the Sunderland area are carried out by white males. Charlton gave his audiences the impression it was all being done by migrants. His videos were apparently picked up by Rebel Media - presumably because Lennon was working with them at the time. He denied all the charges. The jury was not convinced.
... and en route to justice ((c) Sunderland Echo)

That may have been because “Charlton said the ‘vast majority were migrant’ when asked who was committing rapes in the city and claimed he ‘could not remember one rape in Sunderland committed by a local’”. Also, “Charlton had attended the White Man March in Newcastle, which was supported by the far right and was ‘anti Muslim, anti Islam’”.

Worse, “He also spoke at a ‘Protect our Borders’ protest in Dover and Miss Beattie [prosecuting] said he gave a speech in South Shields about people going to Mosques and 'saying they should go into the Mosques and sort them out’”. Yet worse still, “One police officer said she was ‘flabbergasted’ by Charlton's aggressive manner during questioning”.
The trial judge told Billy Charlton “You are not on trial for your political views or being a member of any party or for being associated with anyone or even your anti-immigration views, your are entitled to hold them. This is a trial about racial hatred. The jury has found your speeches were intended or likely to stir up racial hatred.”

And with that, Tommy Robinson’s ex-Combat 18 pal was sentenced to 21 months. Lennon’s TR News site hasn’t even mentioned him. Another one under the bus.
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Farage Advocates Violence Against Civil Service

Just to remind the country that they are still around, the Brexit Party have been holding a series of rallies around the UK, if only to fire up the base, or in the case of many of them, keep them from falling asleep. This has involved speeches from the usual suspects - chairman Richard Tice, Ultimate Scary Has-Been Ann Widdecombe, and of course the party’s self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage.
Squeaky incitement to ABH finger up the bum time

As the South Wales Argus has reported, “Making sure she could be heard in all corners of the city [Ms Widdecombe] continued: ‘A deal is not leaving, that is merely moving from prison to house arrest.’ This point was emphasized in an am-dram fashion by Mr Tice encasing himself in an EU-branded cell and brandishing a pair of handcuffs he happened to have with him”. Isabel Oakeshott was unavailable for comment.

There was more. "Continued reference was made to the ‘battle for freedom and democracy’ that was the Second World War. ‘How would that generation have voted in 2016?’ the crowd were asked”. They might not have had so much time for Mr Thirsty and his fellow chancers, that’s how. But then came a sweaty and impassioned Farage.

We’ve put fear in the hearts of the MPs in Wales” he bellowed, going on to berate “that ghastly little man called Bercow” and “that perfectly vile little pipsqueak of a Prime Minister in Luxembourg”. He wanted no truck with talk of a No Deal Brexit; from now on, his preferred description would be Clean Break Brexit. Something else which does not exist.
Then came the peroration, such as it was. “It may look bleak, but actually it isn’t. Despite the wall of propaganda, despite the nonsense of Yellowhammer, the threat that we could run out of medicines [there are medicine shortages right now, Nige], of food, I mean, I don’t know, whether Juncker’s got a fleet of U-Boats now [his country was invaded by the Nazis, but hey ho], he’s going to sink all our vessels, I just don’t know”.

And then it happened. “When the president of the port of Calais, and the boss of the port of Dover, tell you they’re 100% ready for Brexit, in whatever form it comes, I suggest we listen to them, and not the overpaid pen-pushers in Whitehall, who are not doing a neutral job, and once Brexit’s done, we’ll take the knife to them, alright?
Whatever could that mean? Talk of “taking the knife” to people working in a city which has had a recent problem with knife crime, from a politician who has previously - and tastelessly - celebrated the referendum result as something that had been achieved “without a shot being fired” (he forgot Jo Cox), and who threatened to “don khaki” if the result were not honoured in a way which was acceptable to Himself?

Along with the constant references to World War 2, spitting out the names of anyone from across the channel (OK, not Marine le Pen and Geert Wilders, but most of them), and talk of “U-boats”, there is only one thing Mr Thirsty meant, and that had to be violence.

And if he didn’t mean it, he needs to say so. Because the cops are now investigating.
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