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Former Tory mayor, 67, died in a crack den after putting a plastic bag over his head and tying himself to a chair while seeking sexual pleasure, inquest hears

A former Tory Mayor suffocated to death in a crack den after putting a plastic bag over his head and tying himself to a chair while seeking sexual pleasure, an inquest heard.

The body of Les Winwood, 67, who was the former mayor of Bridgenorth, Shropshire, was found at a Wolverhampton property on July 17, 2022.

An inquest heard how a post-mortem examination found he had spent hours alone consuming crack cocaine and vodka before he was found dead in a camping chair in the market town of Bilston.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14492185/Former-Tory-mayor-67-died-crack-den-putting-plastic-bag-head-tying-chair-seeking-sexual-pleasure-inquest-hears.html

Stephen Milligan de nos jours.

Nice to see not all Tory traditions were dumped post-Brexit

Keir Starmer's tone towards civil servants has been "nothing short of disastrous" according to a former cabinet secretary - the highest official in the civil service.

Lord Gus O’Donnell served under three prime ministers as cabinet secretary between 2005 and 2011, and he tells BBC’s Radio 4’s PM programme that Starmer’s rhetoric around the “flabby state” has been damaging for his relationship with civil servants.

He explains: “Believe it or not, if you talk to civil servants and say they like managed decline and that you're going to take a chainsaw to them - do you think that's actually going to result in them performing at their best?"

As for the decision to scrap NHS England, O’Donnell suggests this has also been “chaotic”, but may save “a relatively small amount of money”.

“If they can turn this into a way of making better decisions which leads to improvements in our health service then I think it will be justified,” he says, adding that he’s not so sure if this is what will happen.

The scrapping of the NHS ( England) does look like an absolute catastrophe. Kemi Badenoch is supporting the move!

Why? The NHS is the main job of the Department of Health. Why do you need the Department of Health if not to run the NHS?

My reservation, having faced him across the council chamber for eight years, is that I know that Streeting is, like many of his Labour colleagues, deep down a control freak. Whatever he says to the media about wanting to devolve decisions, I’ve seen him in action, and I know that isn’t his instinct, at all. In the council chamber he didn’t even trust his own backbenchers (with good reason, mind).

Meanwhile, in other news, sometimes our NHS does surprise on the upside. Last night I began to get some alarming problems with my eyesight, which it turns out are probably something many ageing people go through, but nevertheless might be a sign of, or lead to, something much more serious.

I went to the local optician this morning, hoping to see their expert, but they were fully booked all day. Instead they gave me the number of something I’ve never heard of - the community urgent eyecare service - and I phoned them when I got home. They’re based in Leeds and all have reassuring Yorkshire accents. The first person I spoke to ran through my symptoms and was able to summon up both my medical and opticians records at her end. She already had my mobile phone number and texted me a link to submit photos of my eyes, and promised that an ophthalmologist would phone within the hour. When she phoned, she gave me lots of info about what the likely problem was - which by then I had already found online, but many wouldn’t - and after all the reassurance, they committed to arrange an urgent appointment for me at an island optician just to make sure I wasn’t at any risk of eyesight loss. Meanwhile I got texted a link to the problem I most likely have (Posterior Vitreous Detachment, for anyone interested).

All this happened this morning - and is an impressive, almost Norwegian, level of service and fast response.

‪Anne Applebaum‬ ‪@anneapplebaum.bsky.social‬
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49m
Surprise! The Russians, who have repeatedly said they don't want a ceasefire, have once again said they don't want a ceasefire

https://bsky.app/profile/anneapplebaum.bsky.social/post/3lkazc7hdkk2t

Zelenskyy has played this rather well. He agreed to something that he must have known was never going to fly and in exchange he has got his supplies and his intelligence back all whilst he has got the Europeans to massively step up their support for Ukraine and Ukraine's future. When you are trying to deal with childish simpletons such as he to put up with in the Oval Office that is a really good result.

The next stage is to use the increased support from both the US and Europe to start driving the Russians back.

The issue that the Americans don't really seem to have gotten their head around is that Russia has taken 600,000 casualties (that's about one-in-five 18 to 24 year olds), and needs to show a "win".

It’s an example (like a lot of wars), of the sunk cost fallacy.

It’s like Napoleon’s attempt to conquer Spain and Portugal. As French losses mounted, so he believed one more push would secure victory.

‪Anne Applebaum‬ ‪@anneapplebaum.bsky.social‬
·
49m
Surprise! The Russians, who have repeatedly said they don't want a ceasefire, have once again said they don't want a ceasefire

https://bsky.app/profile/anneapplebaum.bsky.social/post/3lkazc7hdkk2t

Zelenskyy has played this rather well. He agreed to something that he must have known was never going to fly and in exchange he has got his supplies and his intelligence back all whilst he has got the Europeans to massively step up their support for Ukraine and Ukraine's future. When you are trying to deal with childish simpletons such as he to put up with in the Oval Office that is a really good result.

The next stage is to use the increased support from both the US and Europe to start driving the Russians back.

The issue that the Americans don't really seem to have gotten their head around is that Russia has taken 600,000 casualties (that's about one-in-five 18 to 24 year olds), and needs to show a "win".

Another issue Americans haven't got their head around is just how cost-effective the Ukrainians are. USA has poured trillions into containing Russia since the WW2, only for the Ukrainians to do a much better job and all USA has to do is supply some surplus kit and a comparatively trivial amount of cash (with the Europeans providing most of that).