Best Of

Ukrainian air strikes are certainly escalating. But so are Russian ones. Given Trump cut off all US aid to Ukraine it could certainly be worse but I'm not optimistic about things right now.

Trump is trying to force Zelensky into an awful deal because he wants to make money from business with Russia. Russia is happy to keep fighting, because Putin believes his army is winning, so is sticking to its maximalist war aims. The Europeans are running around like headless chickens with no direction or cohesion.

It's a bad situation.

Ukrainian successes with long-range strikes, or the counterattack around Kupiansk, are welcome, but they're not enough to turn the tide. And they're kinda bittersweet because they show what would be possible if Europe found the resolve and sense of purpose to fully back Ukraine.

Instead we're choosing to do enough to keep Ukraine fighting, but not enough to help them win. It's such a big mistake.

Very sad news coming out of Australia. Of course the media won’t dare state the obvious that there’s a direct link with this massive increase in anti-Semitic attacks and the Gaza War .

And that Netenyahu and the IDF actions have increased anti-Semitism globally .

How utterly sick victim blaming.

The Gaza War was not caused by Netanyahu, it was caused by Hamas. It ended when Hamas surrendered and released the hostages, which could have happened at any point prior or if they had not done the attack the war would never have happened.

And now you blame a terror attack, not on the terrorists, but the people who went to war to defend themselves after Hamas atrocity?

You are sick.

Jeez stop the lecturing . I never victim blamed and you’d have to be a fruit fly to not connect the Gaza War with increased anti -Semitism . No one said Israel didn’t have a right to react to the October massacre . If you think the response was proportionate then really there’s nothing more to say !

The poster calling you sick reacted to the destruction of Gaza and its population with "Good. Well done, Israel".

What destruction of its people? The people are still there.

The destruction of Hamas on the other hand was entirely merited. The second Hamas surrendered, the war ended.

An awful lot of them are not and most of those that are have lost everything. Oct 7th was an atrocity. The response was an atrocity. We have another today in Sydney. I'm not interested in hearing attempts at justification for any of it.

Labour activists will tell you that a woman is anyone who says they are a woman, so no issues with that clause.

I don't know how many Labour activists you chat with in the Sandpit, but it isn't true here.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/06/trans-women-barred-main-labour-womens-conference-2026

That’s from after the Supreme Court judgment, that told them that what they were doing previously was illegal.

Not according to Sandy Kemp in the Peggie case.

That judgement appears to be a total mess.

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/sandie-peggie-tribunal-hit-formal-36392646

It’s almost as if the process is the punishment for Peggie, one hopes that she ends up with her costs in full.

The weird thing is that I spoke to a distinguished employment lawyer and he assured me that Kemp had an excellent reputation as a safe pair of hands. I was having reservations because it seemed to me that he had lost control of the process and was hearing absurd amounts of irrelevant evidence to the question that was actually before him with the consequence that the evidential part of the hearing took multiple times longer than it should have.

The questions before the Tribunal were pretty straightforward: was Peggie entitled to object to a biological male using a female changing room because they identified as female? If she was, was her employer wrong to suspend her for her complaint? And, additionally, was the historic disciplinary procedure brought against her (and ultimately, if belatedly dismissed) harassment?

The first of these questions might have been thought to be somewhat uncertain given various official guides issued by the Scottish government until the FWS decision but really that should have ended that issue. I am as bewildered as most as to what has happened here but this is starting to look career ending.

Starmer probably does need replacing but no obviously good replacement IMO.

He tied himself to the genocidal killers in the Israeli government at the worst possible time and Jews and Gentiles from a leftish persuasion haven't trusted him since. Then along comes Zack with all the right credentials and snatches 15% of his potential vote.

Whether they go back to a genocidal Starmer led Labour Party for fear of Farage or Badenoch (both of whom are worse) is too difficult to say. I and several others I know are struggling for a good answer

Having bitten my lip and taken a deep breath...calling Starmer 'genocidal' is inflammatory hyperbole, but the 'Jews and Gentiles' framing is infinitely more concerning, even with the "from a leftish persuasion" qualifier. You're treating Jewish voters as a monolithic bloc separate from other voters defined primarily by Israel-Palestine policy, which is both inaccurate and plays into problematic (at the very least) stereotypes. Jewish people in the UK have diverse political views across many issues, just like everyone else.

There are legitimate concerns about Labour's foreign policy, but this kind of framing isn't helpful. Particularly given the news from Sydney. I'd like to think the editorial team will take a look at this one.

Very sad news coming out of Australia. Of course the media won’t dare state the obvious that there’s a direct link with this massive increase in anti-Semitic attacks and the Gaza War .

And that Netenyahu and the IDF actions have increased anti-Semitism globally .

It’s the Jews fault they got shot then?

Terrorists have been targeting Jews in the West for decades.

I never said that . If you don’t believe Netenyahu and the IDF actions have increased anti-Semitism then you’re in denial .

The trouble is:

If innocent Muslims start being killed in the UK will you be blaming it on jihadists?

And remember the huge demonstrations in London occurred immediately after 7 October and before Israel had taken any real responsive action.