My Google isn't working properly, can somebody post me some links to the riots this murder in Northern Ireland sparked?
This was from court last week.
A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant girlfriend and falsely claimed he was live-streaming a video game as an alibi has been jailed for life with a minimum of 31 years.
Stephen McCullagh, 36, was convicted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court in March of killing Natalie McNally, 32, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their child.
During the attack, at her home in Lurgan on 18 December 2022, she suffered stab wounds, strangulation and blows to the hand.
McCullagh concocted an alibi that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his channel when Ms McNally was murdered.
As a so called leftie Liberal he should have got life without parole ! Indeed this is the irritation I have when people pigeonhole those more on the left as soft on crime .
I’m anti the death penalty but think sentences are too soft for murders .
You’d have to leave the ECHR for life without parole to be possible
We already have whole life terms. There are currently 70 serving those .
My Google isn't working properly, can somebody post me some links to the riots this murder in Northern Ireland sparked?
This was from court last week.
A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant girlfriend and falsely claimed he was live-streaming a video game as an alibi has been jailed for life with a minimum of 31 years.
Stephen McCullagh, 36, was convicted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court in March of killing Natalie McNally, 32, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their child.
During the attack, at her home in Lurgan on 18 December 2022, she suffered stab wounds, strangulation and blows to the hand.
McCullagh concocted an alibi that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his channel when Ms McNally was murdered.
As a so called leftie Liberal he should have got life without parole ! Indeed this is the irritation I have when people pigeonhole those more on the left as soft on crime .
I’m anti the death penalty but think sentences are too soft for murders .
You’d have to leave the ECHR for life without parole to be possible
How do we do whole life orders, such as that given to Couzens, then? Or is there some subtle distinction?
A couple of Numerous guys on that list are good adverts for whole life orders, having murdered people not long after being released from prison for an earlier murder.
"Michael Deacon Politicians only have themselves to blame for the Belfast riots This is what happens when, election after election, people vote for proper control of our borders and MPs keep ignoring them"
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
* Bankrupt * Non-compliant social media influencer according to the ASA * Charged by the Financial Conduct Authority, alongside other influencers, in relation to promotions of unauthorised investments. * Axed as a cast member in 2018 after being pictured snorting a suspicious substance
But his mother loves him. (Should add - allegedly)
Didn’t he promote some Crypto shit along with a few others, like some TOWIE stars, and fall foul over that ?
Crypto shenanigans is practically expected of 'influencers' now.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
The most moral army in the world according to Bibi.
It's also a conscript army. See Russia.
Everyone of them should be tracked down, rounded up and shot or imprisoned
Thats what they did to Nazi Holocaust perpetrators, this is Genocide pure and simple.
Almost no Nazis were shot over the Holocaust. A few were hanged, but barely 500 all told. Most lived out their lives in Germany or South America, many of them quite openly under their own names.
And people like Albert Speer got to appear on the world at war. How he evaded the death penalty when he’d been at the head of Organisation Todt using slave labour, being worked to death, I have no idea.
Someone suggested that after the war the western allies had had enough bloodshed.
It wasn't that, as his deputy was hanged. It was because he persuaded the tribunal (a) he hadn't known the full extent of what was happening and (b) he was truly sorry about what had happened.
The second may or may not have been true but the first was clearly a load of bollocks. Even Gitta Sereny (who was singularly credulous in her interviews with him) didn't swallow that.
Airey Neave thought it was probably as much as anything else because of the air of solid middle-class respectability he gave off which endeared him to the Western judges.
Who knew middle class respectability was so powerful? I am bullet proof then, thank goodness.
(Actually not, I'm lower middle class at best, respectability is probably for your doctors, architects etc)
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
If I had my way I’d add quite a few offences to whole life terms . For example acid attacks which cause devastating impacts both physically and mentally.
At the same time non- violent crimes should be dealt with more by tagging and house arrest , community service etc .
If I had my way I’d add quite a few offences to whole life terms . For example acid attacks which cause devastating impacts both physically and mentally.
At the same time non- violent crimes should be dealt with more by tagging and house arrest , community service etc .
It depends for me what the crime is.
If its victimless then the question that needs asking is why its even a crime in the first place - legalise it and move on.
If its not victimless, then it being non-violent does not make it acceptable.
EG a fraudster who robs people of their livelihoods and life savings - should they face tagging and house arrest?
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
He's no fool. His and Israel's interests do not align.
* Bankrupt * Non-compliant social media influencer according to the ASA * Charged by the Financial Conduct Authority, alongside other influencers, in relation to promotions of unauthorised investments. * Axed as a cast member in 2018 after being pictured snorting a suspicious substance
But his mother loves him. (Should add - allegedly)
Didn’t he promote some Crypto shit along with a few others, like some TOWIE stars, and fall foul over that ?
Crypto shenanigans is practically expected of 'influencers' now.
The rise of Reform (and Restore), as with MAGA, has provided all sorts of unsavoury chancers with an opportunity to dip their beaks into the political process. The older parties, on the whole, have processes which - usually - allow them to weed out the more egregious grotesques. But, frankly, folks like Farage and Trump seem to revel in bringing these people into the fold. Perhaps its because they are prepared to say or do anything in the hope of preferment - loyal to a fault.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
It’s antiquated thinking. The world has changed. God knows how we protect our country from these weapons. If Downing Street is not taken out by a drone in the next decade I will be astonished.
If I had my way I’d add quite a few offences to whole life terms . For example acid attacks which cause devastating impacts both physically and mentally.
At the same time non- violent crimes should be dealt with more by tagging and house arrest , community service etc .
It depends for me what the crime is.
If its victimless then the question that needs asking is why its even a crime in the first place - legalise it and move on.
If its not victimless, then it being non-violent does not make it acceptable.
EG a fraudster who robs people of their livelihoods and life savings - should they face tagging and house arrest?
The primary concern for me is the risk of reoffending.
If you judge that a fraudster is likely to reoffend then I don't think community service is likely to dissuade or prevent them from doing so.
Prison doesn't seem to be particularly good at preventing reoffending, but it at least helps for the duration of the sentence.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
It’s antiquated thinking. The world has changed. God knows how we protect our country from these weapons. If Downing Street is not taken out by a drone in the next decade I will be astonished.
The IRA fired a mortar at Downing Street. I'm sure they'd have loved to have used drones.
In principal a drone should be easier to shoot down than a mortar shell. Just don't ask about the extent of British air defences (an obvious area for an immediate increase in British defence spending, for those sceptical of the wisdom of doing so).
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
It’s antiquated thinking. The world has changed. God knows how we protect our country from these weapons. If Downing Street is not taken out by a drone in the next decade I will be astonished.
The IRA fired a mortar at Downing Street. I'm sure they'd have loved to have used drones.
In principal a drone should be easier to shoot down than a mortar shell. Just don't ask about the extent of British air defences (an obvious area for an immediate increase in British defence spending, for those sceptical of the wisdom of doing so).
Remember the principal is your PAL.
I would agree with the current generation but the next generation ( due sometime next month) with built in AI and avoidance capabilities will be much trickier.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
It’s antiquated thinking. The world has changed. God knows how we protect our country from these weapons. If Downing Street is not taken out by a drone in the next decade I will be astonished.
Don't worry, there's a defence investment plan, allegedly.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
It’s antiquated thinking. The world has changed. God knows how we protect our country from these weapons. If Downing Street is not taken out by a drone in the next decade I will be astonished.
Don't worry, there's a defence investment plan, allegedly.
It shouldn't be that difficult to formulate an answer that lets them off the hook. Something along the lines of it showing how difficult it is for an individual minister to make a difference and why the whole government needs to support Reform's agenda to be able to get things done.
The problem Trump had is while he had a mandate for tariffs, his invasion of Iran was half hearted with no mandate and rather than a swift end to the regime has just been prolonged. That in turn has raised prices of oil etc and meant the Fed cannot cut rates
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
This has been the case with almost every occupying military force since the dawn of time.
If Israel is going to save itself it needs to find a way to defend itself without occupying foreign territory.
The whole premise of their policy is just wrong. They invaded Lebanon and hold the Golan Heights to keep their villages out of range of rocket attacks. It’s absurd. How long before Ukrainian drone technology is widely available? Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
They seem to want buffer zones, but then need buffer zones for those buffer zones.
It’s antiquated thinking. The world has changed. God knows how we protect our country from these weapons. If Downing Street is not taken out by a drone in the next decade I will be astonished.
Don't worry, there's a defence investment plan, allegedly.
Whew. What could possibly go wrong?
"Our primary recommendation of this Defence Investment Plan is that we should create some form of plan to create a defence investment plan."
ICYMI the Speaker has gone ballistic this afternoon:-
There are strong rumours that the Government are going to produce their defence investment plan on Friday. That would be an utter disgrace and an utter kick in the face to Members of this House. I say to Downing Street that, under the ministerial code, it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that major announcements are made here. This may be speculation, and I am sure it will be corrected, but I will be appalled if it is done on a Friday, given that Members have been waiting so long.
This affects all parties who have a great interest in the defence investment plan, including Members on the Government Benches. We all have jobs, and we all have people who serve in the armed forces. We must end the speculation and treat this House with the respect that elected Members deserve. Once again, it seems to me that we are becoming second-class citizens under this Government. I do not want that to be the case, and I hope that I am going to be proved wrong. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-06-10/debates/DA392024-5FAF-486E-9EC1-508DB9AF8B57/DefenceInvestmentPlan
Hasn't this Government got form for this? If I remember correctly the EHRC Final Guidance was released on a Friday. Happy to be corrected if wrong.
This isn't so much disrespect, as sheer incompetence. They're simply unable to work out WTF they're doing on defence funding.
Our biggest threat is Russia. And Russia is being denuded and demoralised by its failure to win its war of choice and aggression against Ukraine. So imo that should be the short term focus - helping Ukraine to the max both unilaterally and in tandem with other European countries. That ticks all the boxes.
Longer term there's great uncertainty over America's direction which is perhaps a justifiable reason for some uncertainty about ours. You wouldn't want to commit to big expensive decisions based on deeply questionable assumptions. Not that this precludes incompetence, but it might be a factor.
Sounds right. If we don't know how to spend our defence budget sensibly give at least some of the money to Ukraine because they need it and it will be used to address a here-and-now threat. Then we can learn from them what effective defence looks like.
That would be fine, except we aren't spending enough even to maintain the assets we already have. So, rather than treading water while we work out what to do, we are sinking.
Secondly, why is it that every other member of NATO is doing more than Britain to rearm? Why are we uniquely in a state of confusion about future warfare?
I think the answer is simply that the Cabinet cannot agree how the required extra spending is to be funded.
Tbf it is a bit more complicated than that. As well as all the competing programmes and inter-service rivalries, one new complication is the faction that wants to scrap ships and tanks and just rely on drones. Talking about spending as a percentage of GDP does not help much either because all the bills are due in actual spondulicks.
A share of GDP is always something that politicans point to but as you point out a percentage doesn't buy a tank, money does.
Equally if my back was to the wall and I needed help I'd rather have 1% from America than 10% from Albania.
Geography also plays a part. 2% of a land locked country near the frontier probably gets you more if use than 2% from someone the same size at the other end of the continent that also has to fund a Navy.
The more you look at GDP percnetages the else useful they turn out to be.
The drone issue is another one, but it's wider than that. f
Fom cubsats that use off the shelf components to 3d printing we are seeing new solutions rapidly emerging that are being brought to the battlefield in a fraction of the time of traditional large projects and which are not only cheaper but can be acquired in numbers that can overwhelm those traditional big ticket items.
Right now there are probably battles over not only what to buy, but confusion as to whether what we buy will be fit for purpose.
We seem to be upgrading 150 tanks for about £13bn each while China has a lightweight solution that on the face of it is more advanced that it will be selling for under £7m.
We are now at the satge where new Loyal Wingman armed UAV's can be designed,built, tested and in service before a replacement for the Typhoon is even past the definition stage let along designed.
If I had my way I’d add quite a few offences to whole life terms . For example acid attacks which cause devastating impacts both physically and mentally.
At the same time non- violent crimes should be dealt with more by tagging and house arrest , community service etc .
But not (imo) predatory £££ fraud against individuals. That can destroy victims as much as physical violence. It is violence in my book.
ICYMI the Speaker has gone ballistic this afternoon:-
There are strong rumours that the Government are going to produce their defence investment plan on Friday. That would be an utter disgrace and an utter kick in the face to Members of this House. I say to Downing Street that, under the ministerial code, it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that major announcements are made here. This may be speculation, and I am sure it will be corrected, but I will be appalled if it is done on a Friday, given that Members have been waiting so long.
This affects all parties who have a great interest in the defence investment plan, including Members on the Government Benches. We all have jobs, and we all have people who serve in the armed forces. We must end the speculation and treat this House with the respect that elected Members deserve. Once again, it seems to me that we are becoming second-class citizens under this Government. I do not want that to be the case, and I hope that I am going to be proved wrong. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-06-10/debates/DA392024-5FAF-486E-9EC1-508DB9AF8B57/DefenceInvestmentPlan
Hasn't this Government got form for this? If I remember correctly the EHRC Final Guidance was released on a Friday. Happy to be corrected if wrong.
This isn't so much disrespect, as sheer incompetence. They're simply unable to work out WTF they're doing on defence funding.
Our biggest threat is Russia. And Russia is being denuded and demoralised by its failure to win its war of choice and aggression against Ukraine. So imo that should be the short term focus - helping Ukraine to the max both unilaterally and in tandem with other European countries. That ticks all the boxes.
Longer term there's great uncertainty over America's direction which is perhaps a justifiable reason for some uncertainty about ours. You wouldn't want to commit to big expensive decisions based on deeply questionable assumptions. Not that this precludes incompetence, but it might be a factor.
Sounds right. If we don't know how to spend our defence budget sensibly give at least some of the money to Ukraine because they need it and it will be used to address a here-and-now threat. Then we can learn from them what effective defence looks like.
That would be fine, except we aren't spending enough even to maintain the assets we already have. So, rather than treading water while we work out what to do, we are sinking.
Secondly, why is it that every other member of NATO is doing more than Britain to rearm? Why are we uniquely in a state of confusion about future warfare?
I think the answer is simply that the Cabinet cannot agree how the required extra spending is to be funded.
Tbf it is a bit more complicated than that. As well as all the competing programmes and inter-service rivalries, one new complication is the faction that wants to scrap ships and tanks and just rely on drones. Talking about spending as a percentage of GDP does not help much either because all the bills are due in actual spondulicks.
A share of GDP is always something that politicans point to but as you point out a percentage doesn't buy a tank, money does. equally if my back was to teh wall and I needed help I'd rather have 1% from America than 10% from Albania. geography also plays a part. @% of a land locked country near teh frontier probably gets you more if use than 2% from someone teh same size at teh otehr end of teh ciontinent taht also has to fund a Navy. The more you look at GDP percnetages the elss useful they turn out to be.
The drone issue is another one, but it's wider tahn that. from cubsats that use off teh shielf components to 3d printing we are seeing new solutions rapidly emerging taht are being draught to teh battlefiels in a fraction of the time of traditional large projects and which are not only cheaper but can be aquired in numbers that can overwhelm those traditional big ticket items.
Right now there are probably battles over not only what to buy but confusion as to whether what we buy will be fit for purpose. Compare these two;
We seem to be upgrading 150 tanks for about £13bn each while China has a lightweight solution that on the face of it is more advanced that it will be seeling for under £8m. We are now at teh satge where new Loyal Wingman armed UAV's can be designed built tested and in service before a replacement for teh Typhon is even past teh definition stage let along designed.
Peter.
Anyone insisting on spending money on tanks has simply not been paying attention for the last 4 years during which Russian tank losses now exceed 10K.
There are major clashes between police and protestors at the Sandy Nose [sic] roundabout north Belfast. An explosion has just erupted in the field behind the police.
"Michael Deacon Politicians only have themselves to blame for the Belfast riots This is what happens when, election after election, people vote for proper control of our borders and MPs keep ignoring them"
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Exclusive: Rachel Reeves is planning to cut the tax burden faced by wealthy US expats, as she seeks to encourage more of them to relocate to Britain
Good. She’s doing the right thing.
What tax? We don't have wealth taxes and everything else would repeat the ‘non dom’ debate. America would go nuts. I doubt anyone is thinking about this.
The problem Trump had is while he had a mandate for tariffs, his invasion of Iran was half hearted with no mandate and rather than a swift end to the regime has just been prolonged. That in turn has raised prices of oil etc and meant the Fed cannot cut rates
The incompetent buffoon has done the worst possible thing in agreeing a ceasefire while leaving the Straits of Hormuz closed, it is quite insane.
Commit to regime change, as I support, being willing to send in troops if needed, as I support. Or stay the hell away from the conflict and don't get involved.
To go in half-cocked and then pull half-out while leaving the mess all over the place is the worst scenario.
Anyone insisting on spending money on tanks has simply not been paying attention for the last 4 years during which Russian tank losses now exceed 10K.
That's a bit like saying we should not spend money on soldiers because Russia has lost 500,000 of them in Ukraine.
Tanks are still useful, they're just not masters of the battlefield any more. In the days of WWII and Korea they needed to be used with care and backed up by suitable support, and that's likely to be the case from now on. The near impervious giant MBTs we've got used to in the last 40 years were an aberration.
It's tempting to say all kinds of systems have been obsoleted by drones, because drones are cheap and tanks, warships and manned aircraft are not. But history is littered with Wonderwaffe that ran rampant and were going to revolutionise warfare, right up to the point countermeasures were developed and they were relegated to being just one more weapon among many.
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Oh FFS, it is not a scandal! I cannot believe the success of that nonsensical PR campaign which has turned them into victims.
I was broadly positive on Burnham perhaps being able to turn a corner in some ways at least, but if this is his reasoning then I really do hope he loses and Labour stick with Starmer.
I think he will win and become PM, but I hope that he doesn't after jumping on that silly bandwagon.
Off topic, and addressed mostly to Americans, but I thought some of you might find this of interest,
Two points:
First, anyone who takes the Loser’s claim that he won the 2020 election seriously needs help. Perhaps they could watch a little video showing the Loser licking Putin’s boots. (If there isn’t such a video available now, there should be.)
Second, I am worried about fraud in this November’s mid-term elections — but not for the reasons often in the US here. I won’t go into why for now, but here’s a hint: Tammany Hall was in favor of the 19th Amendment. (I'm nearly certain that Cyclefree will understand what I am hinting at.)
My Google isn't working properly, can somebody post me some links to the riots this murder in Northern Ireland sparked?
This was from court last week.
A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant girlfriend and falsely claimed he was live-streaming a video game as an alibi has been jailed for life with a minimum of 31 years.
Stephen McCullagh, 36, was convicted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court in March of killing Natalie McNally, 32, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their child.
During the attack, at her home in Lurgan on 18 December 2022, she suffered stab wounds, strangulation and blows to the hand.
McCullagh concocted an alibi that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his channel when Ms McNally was murdered.
People are more exercised about random public attacks than attacks involving people who know each other. Not surprising.
Also not justified.
The former are a much lower risk than the latter.
I think this is a bit like the contrast between foreign and native criminals.
Unless you live a life of monastic solitude at some level you have to choose someone to trust to let inside your life, and there's always a risk of that person betraying that trust. Whereas the threat from a someone you have not let inside your life feels like one that it should be possible to stop.
In the same way that there will always be people within the native population who do evil things, but it feels like it ought to be possible to deport foreigners at the first sign of trouble.
People fixate on the small fraction of the problem, then allow others to get away with much bigger problems.
Jason Gideon: You know what program did the most harm to this country, in terms of crimes like this? Child abduction? Det. Charlotte Russet: No. Dr. Spencer Reid: Stranger danger. Jason Gideon: Flooded the schools with it. Dr. Spencer Reid: I remember them coming to my classroom. It was Officer Friendly with stranger danger coloring books. Jason Gideon: Taught a whole generation about a scary man in a trench coat, hiding behind a tree. Then we learned that strangers are only a... fraction of the offenders out there. Most are people you see every day - your family, your neighbors, schoolteachers. You know the rest. Prepared our children for 1% of the danger, made them more vulnerable to 99%. So we've been wrong before. All we can do is learn from it, and hopefully be better next time. Criminal Minds, episode "What Fresh Hell", season 2.
That is so true: the creepy uncle is 10x more likely to be a child molester than some random stranger.
My Google isn't working properly, can somebody post me some links to the riots this murder in Northern Ireland sparked?
This was from court last week.
A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant girlfriend and falsely claimed he was live-streaming a video game as an alibi has been jailed for life with a minimum of 31 years.
Stephen McCullagh, 36, was convicted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court in March of killing Natalie McNally, 32, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their child.
During the attack, at her home in Lurgan on 18 December 2022, she suffered stab wounds, strangulation and blows to the hand.
McCullagh concocted an alibi that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his channel when Ms McNally was murdered.
People are more exercised about random public attacks than attacks involving people who know each other. Not surprising.
Also not justified.
The former are a much lower risk than the latter.
I think this is a bit like the contrast between foreign and native criminals.
Unless you live a life of monastic solitude at some level you have to choose someone to trust to let inside your life, and there's always a risk of that person betraying that trust. Whereas the threat from a someone you have not let inside your life feels like one that it should be possible to stop.
In the same way that there will always be people within the native population who do evil things, but it feels like it ought to be possible to deport foreigners at the first sign of trouble.
People fixate on the small fraction of the problem, then allow others to get away with much bigger problems.
Jason Gideon: You know what program did the most harm to this country, in terms of crimes like this? Child abduction? Det. Charlotte Russet: No. Dr. Spencer Reid: Stranger danger. Jason Gideon: Flooded the schools with it. Dr. Spencer Reid: I remember them coming to my classroom. It was Officer Friendly with stranger danger coloring books. Jason Gideon: Taught a whole generation about a scary man in a trench coat, hiding behind a tree. Then we learned that strangers are only a... fraction of the offenders out there. Most are people you see every day - your family, your neighbors, schoolteachers. You know the rest. Prepared our children for 1% of the danger, made them more vulnerable to 99%. So we've been wrong before. All we can do is learn from it, and hopefully be better next time. Criminal Minds, episode "What Fresh Hell", season 2.
That is so true: the creepy uncle is 10x more likely to be a child molester than some random stranger.
I think Mr Tardis's point is good: the show has been dying on its arse for some time, RTD/BadWolf's departure is good not bad, and the future lies with things like BigFinish not televised drama, and a break of three-four years will not hurt and maybe help. So I can live with that.
Poor Ellie Littlechild (one of the hosts of WhoCulture) who was lied to on an industrial basis.
RTD has banked a lot of goodwill from me from QAF and RTD1, but it is difficult to forgive him for lying about the (now obviously never-existent) Xmas special. What was he thinking?
NEW: A Reform UK activist who campaigns with top party figures joined the racist rioters in Glasgow on Tuesday and has claimed that “Jews" are trying "to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union”, The National can reveal.
Grant Calder, a Reform UK member who has regularly been pictured with the party’s deputy Scottish leader Thomas Kerr, was photographed on Buchanan Street steps on Tuesday evening holding a “White Lives Matter” banner.
Elsewhere on his social media – where he has many pictures with leading Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, and Kerr – Calder has launched diatribes against Jewish people.
On September 7, 2025, he wrote on Facebook: “Jews are forcing us to swallow hordes of migrants, flooding land with the dregs of the world to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union.”
Reform UK did not respond to a request for comment on the activist or his links to Kerr. Full story here
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Oh FFS, it is not a scandal! I cannot believe the success of that nonsensical PR campaign which has turned them into victims.
I was broadly positive on Burnham perhaps being able to turn a corner in some ways at least, but if this is his reasoning then I really do hope he loses and Labour stick with Starmer.
I think he will win and become PM, but I hope that he doesn't after jumping on that silly bandwagon.
If there is anyone from Labour here - give that bunch of chances a penny and if Reform is the party I need to vote for to get you kicked out I will vote for Reform...
My Google isn't working properly, can somebody post me some links to the riots this murder in Northern Ireland sparked?
This was from court last week.
A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant girlfriend and falsely claimed he was live-streaming a video game as an alibi has been jailed for life with a minimum of 31 years.
Stephen McCullagh, 36, was convicted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court in March of killing Natalie McNally, 32, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their child.
During the attack, at her home in Lurgan on 18 December 2022, she suffered stab wounds, strangulation and blows to the hand.
McCullagh concocted an alibi that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his channel when Ms McNally was murdered.
People are more exercised about random public attacks than attacks involving people who know each other. Not surprising.
Also not justified.
The former are a much lower risk than the latter.
I think this is a bit like the contrast between foreign and native criminals.
Unless you live a life of monastic solitude at some level you have to choose someone to trust to let inside your life, and there's always a risk of that person betraying that trust. Whereas the threat from a someone you have not let inside your life feels like one that it should be possible to stop.
In the same way that there will always be people within the native population who do evil things, but it feels like it ought to be possible to deport foreigners at the first sign of trouble.
People fixate on the small fraction of the problem, then allow others to get away with much bigger problems.
Jason Gideon: You know what program did the most harm to this country, in terms of crimes like this? Child abduction? Det. Charlotte Russet: No. Dr. Spencer Reid: Stranger danger. Jason Gideon: Flooded the schools with it. Dr. Spencer Reid: I remember them coming to my classroom. It was Officer Friendly with stranger danger coloring books. Jason Gideon: Taught a whole generation about a scary man in a trench coat, hiding behind a tree. Then we learned that strangers are only a... fraction of the offenders out there. Most are people you see every day - your family, your neighbors, schoolteachers. You know the rest. Prepared our children for 1% of the danger, made them more vulnerable to 99%. So we've been wrong before. All we can do is learn from it, and hopefully be better next time. Criminal Minds, episode "What Fresh Hell", season 2.
That is so true: the creepy uncle is 10x more likely to be a child molester than some random stranger.
Like Keith moon in Tommy.
But to go back to Eagles' original question - why was there a riot about the murderer from Sudan but not the murderer from NI: the riots tend not to be about the crime itself, but about the political culture which appears so relaxed about letting individuals like these into the country.
ICYMI the Speaker has gone ballistic this afternoon:-
There are strong rumours that the Government are going to produce their defence investment plan on Friday. That would be an utter disgrace and an utter kick in the face to Members of this House. I say to Downing Street that, under the ministerial code, it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that major announcements are made here. This may be speculation, and I am sure it will be corrected, but I will be appalled if it is done on a Friday, given that Members have been waiting so long.
This affects all parties who have a great interest in the defence investment plan, including Members on the Government Benches. We all have jobs, and we all have people who serve in the armed forces. We must end the speculation and treat this House with the respect that elected Members deserve. Once again, it seems to me that we are becoming second-class citizens under this Government. I do not want that to be the case, and I hope that I am going to be proved wrong. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-06-10/debates/DA392024-5FAF-486E-9EC1-508DB9AF8B57/DefenceInvestmentPlan
Hasn't this Government got form for this? If I remember correctly the EHRC Final Guidance was released on a Friday. Happy to be corrected if wrong.
This isn't so much disrespect, as sheer incompetence. They're simply unable to work out WTF they're doing on defence funding.
Our biggest threat is Russia. And Russia is being denuded and demoralised by its failure to win its war of choice and aggression against Ukraine. So imo that should be the short term focus - helping Ukraine to the max both unilaterally and in tandem with other European countries. That ticks all the boxes.
Longer term there's great uncertainty over America's direction which is perhaps a justifiable reason for some uncertainty about ours. You wouldn't want to commit to big expensive decisions based on deeply questionable assumptions. Not that this precludes incompetence, but it might be a factor.
Sounds right. If we don't know how to spend our defence budget sensibly give at least some of the money to Ukraine because they need it and it will be used to address a here-and-now threat. Then we can learn from them what effective defence looks like.
That would be fine, except we aren't spending enough even to maintain the assets we already have. So, rather than treading water while we work out what to do, we are sinking.
Secondly, why is it that every other member of NATO is doing more than Britain to rearm? Why are we uniquely in a state of confusion about future warfare?
I think the answer is simply that the Cabinet cannot agree how the required extra spending is to be funded.
Taking point 2 first. The UK is in the top half of NATO countries by spending as % of GDP. While I suspect most countries think their own military a mess, the UK does seem to be uniquely challenged. Which turning to point 1 suggests the UK problem isn't primarily money, but an inability to determine priorities and deliver on them. The job now is to prioritise and focus - throwing money at the problem now won 't help although likely will be needed later.
But I do agree the Cabinet are struggling to fund more defence. Badenoch and Davey asked reasonable questions about where the money is coming from at PMQs that Starmer didn't bother to answer. But they weren't particularly honest when Badenoch said no additional taxes can be raised and Davey other funding shouldn't be cut
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
What a moron. There is no scandal and there is no injustice
If I had my way I’d add quite a few offences to whole life terms . For example acid attacks which cause devastating impacts both physically and mentally.
At the same time non- violent crimes should be dealt with more by tagging and house arrest , community service etc .
Realism and public policy make this impractical. We currently have numbers in double figures of people who are never coming out. This small number is an immense management exercise as they have nothing much to lose by behaving badly or abominably. To have a large number of people beyond hope of being out is dangerous to prison staff and other inmates.
Furthermore, sentences of murder length for non homicides gives an incentive to murder as it removes a key witness.
I think Mr Tardis's point is good: the show has been dying on its arse for some time, RTD/BadWolf's departure is good not bad, and the future lies with things like BigFinish not televised drama, and a break of three-four years will not hurt and maybe help. So I can live with that.
Poor Ellie Littlechild (one of the hosts of WhoCulture) who was lied to on an industrial basis.
RTD has banked a lot of goodwill from me from QAF and RTD1, but it is difficult to forgive him for lying about the (now obviously never-existent) Xmas special. What was he thinking?
I see Ian Levine has reacted in his usual measured and balanced way.
Hello from Belfast, where either some people are playing whack a mole, or more likely, there is evidence of 'community engagement' . This is where the cops go to some 'community leaders' directly or indirectly and suggest it might be worth turning the heat down a bit. The approach is fairly simple, Box the scenes of trouble off, let them have a good night out, keep the public away, evacuate where necessary and otherwise just keep it at range and wait it out with a bit of dispersal work later on. After a night or two when its lost some energy, start the chats with the public local reps.
You can if you know your way around certain parts of Belfast know who the community reps may be and therefore can identify who is keeping out of it and who isn't.
There are still incidents tonight, particularly near to a hotel that is now an illegal migrant facility but its dampened down plenty so far.
Few points: The claims by some about right wing influences outside of NI stoking up people is nonsense and out of the mouths of those who haven't got a notion of wit to look beyond their nose. Those out of the street couldn't give a fiddlers about some US commentator or indeed Nigel Farage. Its not how we work, we are remarkably self-driven when it comes to grievance. We have our own industry
As I mentioned posting last night, the cops knew this issue was likely to come up and had contingency for mutual aid from other UK forces. Story is they have called it already which says a lot about how stretched they are to start. That the anti migrant issue is up there in contingency planning as prominent as our own traditional scrapping, is an indication of where things really are.
There is a notable absence of terror group direction overall in what occurred. Local players in some areas (hello to a certain group in Newtownabbey) but no big sign of co-ordination/ leadership. This may be evidenced in how relatively quiet it is, at least tonight.
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Oh FFS, it is not a scandal! I cannot believe the success of that nonsensical PR campaign which has turned them into victims.
I was broadly positive on Burnham perhaps being able to turn a corner in some ways at least, but if this is his reasoning then I really do hope he loses and Labour stick with Starmer.
I think he will win and become PM, but I hope that he doesn't after jumping on that silly bandwagon.
If there is anyone from Labour here - give that bunch of chances a penny and if Reform is the party I need to vote for to get you kicked out I will vote for Reform...
You also know whatever they get from a Burnham led Labour Govt it won’t be enough and they’ll be back for more.
Hello from Belfast, where either some people are playing whack a mole, or more likely, there is evidence of 'community engagement' . This is where the cops go to some 'community leaders' directly or indirectly and suggest it might be worth turning the heat down a bit. The approach is fairly simple, Box the scenes of trouble off, let them have a good night out, keep the public away, evacuate where necessary and otherwise just keep it at range and wait it out with a bit of dispersal work later on. After a night or two when its lost some energy, start the chats with the public local reps.
You can if you know your way around certain parts of Belfast know who the community reps may be and therefore can identify who is keeping out of it and who isn't.
There are still incidents tonight, particularly near to a hotel that is now an illegal migrant facility but its dampened down plenty so far.
Few points: The claims by some about right wing influences outside of NI stoking up people is nonsense and out of the mouths of those who haven't got a notion of wit to look beyond their nose. Those out of the street couldn't give a fiddlers about some US commentator or indeed Nigel Farage. Its not how we work, we are remarkably self-driven when it comes to grievance. We have our own industry
As I mentioned posting last night, the cops knew this issue was likely to come up and had contingency for mutual aid from other UK forces. Story is they have called it already which says a lot about how stretched they are to start. That the anti migrant issue is up there in contingency planning as prominent as our own traditional scrapping, is an indication of where things really are.
There is a notable absence of terror group direction overall in what occurred. Local players in some areas (hello to a certain group in Newtownabbey) but no big sign of co-ordination/ leadership. This may be evidenced in how relatively quiet it is, at least tonight.
The open letter from the family asking for calm clearly did the trick !!!!
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
By 'compensation' he means a wealth transfer from the young.
'Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Earlier I attended a Makerfield hustings event hosted by @MENnewsdesk , in which Burnham said: “I stick by campaigners that I support. I stuck by the Hillsborough families, I’ll stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”
Stressing he wouldn’t ditch his longterm support for Waspi women, he said he felt “uncomfortable” that some politicians threw their support behind a cause but then went into government and “didn’t do anything”
I think Mr Tardis's point is good: the show has been dying on its arse for some time, RTD/BadWolf's departure is good not bad, and the future lies with things like BigFinish not televised drama, and a break of three-four years will not hurt and maybe help. So I can live with that.
Poor Ellie Littlechild (one of the hosts of WhoCulture) who was lied to on an industrial basis.
RTD has banked a lot of goodwill from me from QAF and RTD1, but it is difficult to forgive him for lying about the (now obviously never-existent) Xmas special. What was he thinking?
I see Ian Levine has reacted in his usual measured and balanced way.
I wondered what the echoing farting explosion over the horizon was...
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Oh FFS, it is not a scandal! I cannot believe the success of that nonsensical PR campaign which has turned them into victims.
I was broadly positive on Burnham perhaps being able to turn a corner in some ways at least, but if this is his reasoning then I really do hope he loses and Labour stick with Starmer.
I think he will win and become PM, but I hope that he doesn't after jumping on that silly bandwagon.
If there is anyone from Labour here - give that bunch of chances a penny and if Reform is the party I need to vote for to get you kicked out I will vote for Reform...
Burnham of course has an election to win, and is fighting a battle on behalf of the mainstream of the public and politics against people who decline to condemn 1930s style racist attacks. So I suppose we should allow him a few unkeepable promises. The waspi women are ludicrous of course, but on the whole I prefer their bogus campaign for free money to the politics of going door to door in Belfast looking for dark skins and setting fire to their houses.
NEW: A Reform UK activist who campaigns with top party figures joined the racist rioters in Glasgow on Tuesday and has claimed that “Jews" are trying "to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union”, The National can reveal.
Grant Calder, a Reform UK member who has regularly been pictured with the party’s deputy Scottish leader Thomas Kerr, was photographed on Buchanan Street steps on Tuesday evening holding a “White Lives Matter” banner.
Elsewhere on his social media – where he has many pictures with leading Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, and Kerr – Calder has launched diatribes against Jewish people.
On September 7, 2025, he wrote on Facebook: “Jews are forcing us to swallow hordes of migrants, flooding land with the dregs of the world to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union.”
Reform UK did not respond to a request for comment on the activist or his links to Kerr. Full story here
rcs1000 said: "I pay more tax in the US than I did in the UK."
Abolutely, or as a percentage? And would you be paying more if you were living in, for example, Texas?
Both.
Property taxes are much higher here (and are anchored to the value of the property when you bought it). I pay about $80,000 in property taxes vs one tenth of that in the UK.
Plus, California charges a lot, especially for capital gains.
Exclusive: Rachel Reeves is planning to cut the tax burden faced by wealthy US expats, as she seeks to encourage more of them to relocate to Britain
Maybe. But it’s a positive step for once and to be commended.
They are coming to the UK to escape Trump not because of UK tax rates which will still likely be higher than in the USA
Don't US citizens have to pay US tax wherever they are in the world?
Yes but for most it is lower than UK tax whereever paid
Not by much, though.
Dan Neidle has just done a report on this- the TLDR is that British governments have done an excellent job of taxing "other people", going back decades.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Andy Burnham. Boris with a better haircut.
Same desperate desire to be Prime Minister.
Same denial of tradeoffs.
Same ability to tell people what they want to hear, even if it's rubbish or contradictiory.
Hopefully less expensive lifestyle tastes and more ability to keep his trousers on.
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
What a moron. There is no scandal and there is no injustice
Perhaps he's keen to cut something else to make room to pay that one.
rcs1000 said: "I pay more tax in the US than I did in the UK."
Abolutely, or as a percentage? And would you be paying more if you were living in, for example, Texas?
Both.
Property taxes are much higher here (and are anchored to the value of the property when you bought it). I pay about $80,000 in property taxes vs one tenth of that in the UK.
Plus, California charges a lot, especially for capital gains.
I'm curious as to what you're paying $80k in property taxes for ?
Is that annual or in total ? For business premises or personal residence ?
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
What a moron. There is no scandal and there is no injustice
There will be when the government gives in to them.
Surely as a good Conservative you would accept that the logical tax structure actually goes where the money is?
Once accounting for Federal and state income, property, sales and gas taxes, California taxes the median household more than Florida and Texas. Though Alaska is the lowest
I’ve just finished watching “The Mother of All Cons”, a 3-part BBC documentary. It is very good, it is a gripping story, but sadly it’s not fiction, it’s a true case of fraud and possibly a lot worse. Lots of questions at the end of why didn’t anyone stop this and why hasn’t the responsible person been dealt with. (Plenty of scope for inquiries whose conclusions get ignored!) Recommended.
Hello from Belfast, where either some people are playing whack a mole, or more likely, there is evidence of 'community engagement' . This is where the cops go to some 'community leaders' directly or indirectly and suggest it might be worth turning the heat down a bit. The approach is fairly simple, Box the scenes of trouble off, let them have a good night out, keep the public away, evacuate where necessary and otherwise just keep it at range and wait it out with a bit of dispersal work later on. After a night or two when its lost some energy, start the chats with the public local reps.
You can if you know your way around certain parts of Belfast know who the community reps may be and therefore can identify who is keeping out of it and who isn't.
There are still incidents tonight, particularly near to a hotel that is now an illegal migrant facility but its dampened down plenty so far.
Few points: The claims by some about right wing influences outside of NI stoking up people is nonsense and out of the mouths of those who haven't got a notion of wit to look beyond their nose. Those out of the street couldn't give a fiddlers about some US commentator or indeed Nigel Farage. Its not how we work, we are remarkably self-driven when it comes to grievance. We have our own industry
As I mentioned posting last night, the cops knew this issue was likely to come up and had contingency for mutual aid from other UK forces. Story is they have called it already which says a lot about how stretched they are to start. That the anti migrant issue is up there in contingency planning as prominent as our own traditional scrapping, is an indication of where things really are.
There is a notable absence of terror group direction overall in what occurred. Local players in some areas (hello to a certain group in Newtownabbey) but no big sign of co-ordination/ leadership. This may be evidenced in how relatively quiet it is, at least tonight.
Thank you @Yokes. It’s good to get a local view. Most of us know too little about Northern Irish politics, using the word politics in its wider sense. We know too little about everyone’s else’s politics, apart from the USA, about which we hear far too much.
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
What a moron. There is no scandal and there is no injustice
Perhaps he's keen to cut something else to make room to pay that one.
I’ve just finished watching “The Mother of All Cons”, a 3-part BBC documentary. It is very good, it is a gripping story, but sadly it’s not fiction, it’s a true case of fraud and possibly a lot worse. Lots of questions at the end of why didn’t anyone stop this and why hasn’t the responsible person been dealt with. (Plenty of scope for inquiries whose conclusions get ignored!) Recommended.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
'Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Earlier I attended a Makerfield hustings event hosted by @MENnewsdesk , in which Burnham said: “I stick by campaigners that I support. I stuck by the Hillsborough families, I’ll stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”
Stressing he wouldn’t ditch his longterm support for Waspi women, he said he felt “uncomfortable” that some politicians threw their support behind a cause but then went into government and “didn’t do anything”
It shouldn't be that difficult to formulate an answer that lets them off the hook. Something along the lines of it showing how difficult it is for an individual minister to make a difference and why the whole government needs to support Reform's agenda to be able to get things done.
They are just 2 culprits.
Most of the culprits are still sat on the Tory Front Bench.
'Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Earlier I attended a Makerfield hustings event hosted by @MENnewsdesk , in which Burnham said: “I stick by campaigners that I support. I stuck by the Hillsborough families, I’ll stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”
Stressing he wouldn’t ditch his longterm support for Waspi women, he said he felt “uncomfortable” that some politicians threw their support behind a cause but then went into government and “didn’t do anything”
'Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Earlier I attended a Makerfield hustings event hosted by @MENnewsdesk , in which Burnham said: “I stick by campaigners that I support. I stuck by the Hillsborough families, I’ll stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”
Stressing he wouldn’t ditch his longterm support for Waspi women, he said he felt “uncomfortable” that some politicians threw their support behind a cause but then went into government and “didn’t do anything”
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.
Basically the IDF can just kill anyone they like and whenever they like and make up a pile of bullshit to justify it . The car was told to slow down and did and they decided they wanted their kill bonus .
The most moral army in the world according to Bibi.
It's also a conscript army. See Russia.
Everyone of them should be tracked down, rounded up and shot or imprisoned
Thats what they did to Nazi Holocaust perpetrators, this is Genocide pure and simple.
Almost no Nazis were shot over the Holocaust. A few were hanged, but barely 500 all told. Most lived out their lives in Germany or South America, many of them quite openly under their own names.
And people like Albert Speer got to appear on the world at war. How he evaded the death penalty when he’d been at the head of Organisation Todt using slave labour, being worked to death, I have no idea.
Someone suggested that after the war the western allies had had enough bloodshed.
It wasn't that, as his deputy was hanged. It was because he persuaded the tribunal (a) he hadn't known the full extent of what was happening and (b) he was truly sorry about what had happened.
The second may or may not have been true but the first was clearly a load of bollocks. Even Gitta Sereny (who was singularly credulous in her interviews with him) didn't swallow that.
Airey Neave thought it was probably as much as anything else because of the air of solid middle-class respectability he gave off which endeared him to the Western judges.
Although the two Russian Judges just wanted all 21 hanged
Yes, that's the key.
And apparently Jodl was hanged (rather than shot) to as a deal to stop them complaining about the ones who were imprisoned rather than hanged.
We know from their postwar history that the Russians were some way from being sick of killing.
Comments
Once the range of effective of drones is 100km+ all of Israel is at risk. At that point the only thing that makes Israel safe is peace with all its neighbours. Current policies are making that impossible. Netanyahu is determined to drive down a dead end. He is a fool.
(Actually not, I'm lower middle class at best, respectability is probably for your doctors, architects etc)
At the same time non- violent crimes should be dealt with more by tagging and house arrest , community service etc .
If its victimless then the question that needs asking is why its even a crime in the first place - legalise it and move on.
If its not victimless, then it being non-violent does not make it acceptable.
EG a fraudster who robs people of their livelihoods and life savings - should they face tagging and house arrest?
https://x.com/joe_mayes/status/2064771964540010935
Exclusive: Rachel Reeves is planning to cut the tax burden faced by wealthy US expats, as she seeks to encourage more of them to relocate to Britain
If you judge that a fraudster is likely to reoffend then I don't think community service is likely to dissuade or prevent them from doing so.
Prison doesn't seem to be particularly good at preventing reoffending, but it at least helps for the duration of the sentence.
In principal a drone should be easier to shoot down than a mortar shell. Just don't ask about the extent of British air defences (an obvious area for an immediate increase in British defence spending, for those sceptical of the wisdom of doing so).
When it is pointed out that Jenrick and Braverman literally let the NI maniac into the UK she is all over the place.
They don't like it up 'em sir comes to mind.
GB News
@GBNEWS
‘I am not here to relitigate Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick.’
https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/2064773631289266548
I would agree with the current generation but the next generation ( due sometime next month) with built in AI and avoidance capabilities will be much trickier.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c6219nxw6llo
Equally if my back was to the wall and I needed help I'd rather have 1% from America than 10% from Albania.
Geography also plays a part. 2% of a land locked country near the frontier probably gets you more if use than 2% from someone the same size at the other end of the continent that also has to fund a Navy.
The more you look at GDP percnetages the else useful they turn out to be.
The drone issue is another one, but it's wider than that. f
Fom cubsats that use off the shelf components to 3d printing we are seeing new solutions rapidly emerging that are being brought to the battlefield in a fraction of the time of traditional large projects and which are not only cheaper but can be acquired in numbers that can overwhelm those traditional big ticket items.
Right now there are probably battles over not only what to buy, but confusion as to whether what we buy will be fit for purpose.
Compare these two;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_100_tank
We seem to be upgrading 150 tanks for about £13bn each while China has a lightweight solution that on the face of it is more advanced that it will be selling for under £7m.
We are now at the satge where new Loyal Wingman armed UAV's can be designed,built, tested and in service before a replacement for the Typhoon is even past the definition stage let along designed.
Peter.
There are major clashes between police and protestors at the Sandy Nose [sic] roundabout north Belfast. An explosion has just erupted in the field behind the police.
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women “deserve” compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Commit to regime change, as I support, being willing to send in troops if needed, as I support. Or stay the hell away from the conflict and don't get involved.
To go in half-cocked and then pull half-out while leaving the mess all over the place is the worst scenario.
Do or do not. There is no try.
Tanks are still useful, they're just not masters of the battlefield any more. In the days of WWII and Korea they needed to be used with care and backed up by suitable support, and that's likely to be the case from now on. The near impervious giant MBTs we've got used to in the last 40 years were an aberration.
It's tempting to say all kinds of systems have been obsoleted by drones, because drones are cheap and tanks, warships and manned aircraft are not. But history is littered with Wonderwaffe that ran rampant and were going to revolutionise warfare, right up to the point countermeasures were developed and they were relegated to being just one more weapon among many.
I was broadly positive on Burnham perhaps being able to turn a corner in some ways at least, but if this is his reasoning then I really do hope he loses and Labour stick with Starmer.
I think he will win and become PM, but I hope that he doesn't after jumping on that silly bandwagon.
Two points:
First, anyone who takes the Loser’s claim that he won the 2020 election seriously needs help. Perhaps they could watch a little video showing the Loser licking Putin’s boots. (If there isn’t such a video available now, there should be.)
Second, I am worried about fraud in this November’s mid-term elections — but not for the reasons often in the US here. I won’t go into why for now, but here’s a hint: Tammany Hall was in favor of the 19th Amendment. (I'm nearly certain that Cyclefree will understand what I am hinting at.)
Abolutely, or as a percentage? And would you be paying more if you were living in, for example, Texas?
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494
- Tachyon Pulse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR5n_iH7Hsw
- Mr Tardis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhymlkPEr5s
- CouncilOfGeeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzxtvmWeIM
- WhoCulture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9RXRvV9j2k
- JoshSnares: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfMtw-LHEYk
My thoughtshttps://itep.org/low-tax-for-whom-california-vs-texas/
Surely as a good Conservative you would accept that the logical tax structure actually goes where the money is?
Grant Calder, a Reform UK member who has regularly been pictured with the party’s deputy Scottish leader Thomas Kerr, was photographed on Buchanan Street steps on Tuesday evening holding a “White Lives Matter” banner.
Elsewhere on his social media – where he has many pictures with leading Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, and Kerr – Calder has launched diatribes against Jewish people.
On September 7, 2025, he wrote on Facebook: “Jews are forcing us to swallow hordes of migrants, flooding land with the dregs of the world to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union.”
Reform UK did not respond to a request for comment on the activist or his links to Kerr. Full story here
https://x.com/LauraEWebsterr/status/2064774423068934649
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26184240.top-scottish-reform-uk-activist-claims-jews-want-shatter-uk/
Restore.
Endorsing.
Well, double plank territory.
But I do agree the Cabinet are struggling to fund more defence. Badenoch and Davey asked reasonable questions about where the money is coming from at PMQs that Starmer didn't bother to answer. But they weren't particularly honest when Badenoch said no additional taxes can be raised and Davey other funding shouldn't be cut
Furthermore, sentences of murder length for non homicides gives an incentive to murder as it removes a key witness.
You can if you know your way around certain parts of Belfast know who the community reps may be and therefore can identify who is keeping out of it and who isn't.
There are still incidents tonight, particularly near to a hotel that is now an illegal migrant facility but its dampened down plenty so far.
Few points:
The claims by some about right wing influences outside of NI stoking up people is nonsense and out of the mouths of those who haven't got a notion of wit to look beyond their nose. Those out of the street couldn't give a fiddlers about some US commentator or indeed Nigel Farage. Its not how we work, we are remarkably self-driven when it comes to grievance. We have our own industry
As I mentioned posting last night, the cops knew this issue was likely to come up and had contingency for mutual aid from other UK forces. Story is they have called it already which says a lot about how stretched they are to start. That the anti migrant issue is up there in contingency planning as prominent as our own traditional scrapping, is an indication of where things really are.
There is a notable absence of terror group direction overall in what occurred. Local players in some areas (hello to a certain group in Newtownabbey) but no big sign of co-ordination/ leadership. This may be evidenced in how relatively quiet it is, at least tonight.
Earlier I attended a Makerfield hustings event hosted by
@MENnewsdesk
, in which Burnham said: “I stick by campaigners that I support. I stuck by the Hillsborough families, I’ll stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”
Stressing he wouldn’t ditch his longterm support for Waspi women, he said he felt “uncomfortable” that some politicians threw their support behind a cause but then went into government and “didn’t do anything”
https://x.com/LOS_Fisher/status/2064768443430125723?s=20
😄
https://x.com/Vikram10729557/status/2064559312299798792/video/1?s=61
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/reform-uk-glasgow-protests-thomas-kerr-8668198
Property taxes are much higher here (and are anchored to the value of the property when you bought it). I pay about $80,000 in property taxes vs one tenth of that in the UK.
Plus, California charges a lot, especially for capital gains.
Dan Neidle has just done a report on this- the TLDR is that British governments have done an excellent job of taxing "other people", going back decades.
https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/06/05/taxing-other-people-uk/
And they've done that because it's been what the public wants.
Otherwise...
Same desperate desire to be Prime Minister.
Same denial of tradeoffs.
Same ability to tell people what they want to hear, even if it's rubbish or contradictiory.
Hopefully less expensive lifestyle tastes and more ability to keep his trousers on.
Is that annual or in total ? For business premises or personal residence ?
Burnham, Farage, Lowe.
Madness. Total madness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_tax_levels_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Median_household_income_and_taxes.png
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002q76g/the-mother-of-all-cons
The harshest punishment was the Mother was barred from running a charity for 5 years. She’d put all the blame on her dead daughter.
Just how does stuff like this happen and where is the oversight.
Most of the culprits are still sat on the Tory Front Bench.
Maybe the Dakeks were right..
Politically speaking
E x t e r m I n a t e
is doing a hell of a lot of lifting here.