Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
Not quite there yet, with Notting Hill carnival this weekend, but excellent policing of the migrant protesters and counter protesters to keep it so quiet.
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO but supported social housing.
It smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
Criminal damage in pursuit of a political aim.
Isn't that called terrorism these days ?
Yes.
Some idiot is going to set fire to a bunch of uni students in a HMO unless the police crack into this hard.
There's a little bit of hype in the piece, and it is more complex. It quotes 720k empties, which will include eg all the ones on sale, stuck in estates and so on aiui, and 265k >6 month empties - which are the real targets, which is not actually THAT many. It's only 1% of stock, which is massively lower than comparable countries.
In depth personal renovation is not so much a thing these days with eg 2 earner couples, and small LLs who would take on wrecks for rental have been hit really hard since Osborne's 2015 targeting, and increasingly savage regulation, plus all the politics. Corporate LLs won't touch small projects.
These days you will be paying expenses such as Council Tax on it as you renovate, since there will only be one lot of exemption and the previous owner will have had that and it may only have been one month ... unless eg very difficult to obtain exceptions.
Plus Council Grants, especially in London, tend to have onerous conditions (eg rent it to the Council for X years, by which time it will need another renovation).
And is it another non-statutory thing Councils have no money for?
The other thing that struck me (having had to deal with a relative's demise and house sale overlapping with the covid period) is the definition of the short term empties category,, which as you say are to be expected (and indeed a good sign of housing turnover, cf. the perennial complaints about house-blocking oldies sans families on here). But it ought also to inclide those bona fide houses which were intended to be short term for sale but which have encountered the delays of late, for instance in probate. Even a month or two delay in probate would shift a case from the short term to the long term, without really changing the actual situation. So the rise might be an aretefact of probate/bank/legal delays.
I'd be interested to hear from PBers who have handled parent's houses as to what happened with Council Tax, and I assume it just continued until it was eventually put up for sale - unless there was an exemption (I don't know).
I avoided that since mum lived with me and the house was jointly owned. That caused complications as it left a family member inheriting the other half, and there was some unpleasantness with attempted leverage, and also she died 6 years after gifting me half.
Generally Councils are shit-hot, and if you do a newbuild their officer may come round and look through the windows to see if you are in yet. There are tricks - such as making sure there is physically no water supply - that preempt it, but they get VERY cross.
I think we got 6 months free from the date of death but we are back to paying the CT now. This is Scotland, of course, and it may be different south of the border.
This is what I'm told: In order to qualify, the deceased person must have been the sole owner, or leaseholder of the property. The property must also have already been unoccupied at the time of death, or have become unoccupied as a result of the taxpayer's death.
If an exemption applies, it will continue from the date of death until probate or the letters of administration are granted. Once probate or the letters of administration are granted, the exemption continues for a further six months, after which a 100% empty property charge will apply.
Could well be 12 months given the time it takes to get probate.
It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes
It's not AI winter just yet, though there is a distinct chill in the air. Meta is shaking up and downsizing its artificial intelligence division. A new report out of MIT finds that 95 percent of companies' generative AI programs have failed to earn any profit whatsoever. Tech stocks tanked Tuesday, regarding broader fears that this bubble may have swelled about as large as it can go. Surely, there will be no wider repercussions for normal people if and when Nvidia, currently propping up the market like a load-bearing matchstick, finally runs out of fake companies to sell chips to. But getting in under the wire, before we're all bartering gas in the desert and people who can read become the priestly caste, is Microsoft, with the single most "Who asked for this?" application of AI I've seen yet: They're jamming it into Excel.
Given the number of people I've watched botch copy/pasting a column or row from one Excel sheet to another - I'm not sure it's an overall negative. Even if it does it wrong - doing it wrong quicker than the human who did it wrong is still a win.
Excel is generally a hot mess roll-of-the-dice as it is. I say bring on our non-deterministic clippy overlord. If we're lucky, it will show people how bad Excel is and not to trust it with anything of value.
Welsh Fire are having a mare at the Hundred. The men's team has won just one march and the women have lost all of theirs.
I'm a cricket fan, I don't care.
Prompted by this post, I've been to have a look at tge BBC cricket page and just found something else to vex me about the Hundred: in the scores and tables, they appear to have dropped any attempt to link teams with places: instead, teams are just reported as 'Fire', 'Spirit', 'Originals', amd so on. Now of course, I find 'Welsh', 'Southern' and 'Trent' daft. ("Who are we playing Dad?" "Southern"). But less daft than nothing at all.
Hundred: Your teams are Lancashire, Yorkshire, Nottingamshire, Warwickshire, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Surrey and Middlesex. And you are missing ten teams. And a ball each over.
I don't understand the problem that the Hundred is meant to solve that 20:20 doesn’t.
The PWB wanted a franchise version of the game, rather than counties. T20 blast is well established, but is the counties. So they wanted a new format. It’s the same game. Think of it as a rain reduced match.
The bigger issues are that (a) it’s not marketed at existing fans, it’s to get new recruits. New fans won’t care that Southern Braves have only been around for a few years, as opposed to Hampshire fans like me looking back longingly through Wisden. (B) The ghastly graphics (a bit better this year) and why no option to show as cricket is normally shown for the existing fans. (C) The ECB have thrown everything into the hundred and this is why we have completed our test series already. (D) The BBC etc have forgotten that the one day cup, a competition that’s run for over fifty years, is still on.
I believe I saw that the hundred may well migrate to a T29 format in the near future. That will be the desired end result of a franchised T20 by the back door.
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
My mum was the tallest aged 7. She claims that at one point she was 5 foot tall but parts of the family deny she was ever that tall.
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
Hah. We had two kids join our school aged 14 (from another school). All were convinced that they were in the wrong year as they were so tall etc. But they had had and stopped their growth spurt and most of the rest of us grew to be taller than them in the end.
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
The much maligned Rory (who in the alternative sane world is currently our PM) also gets this, as is clear from recent The Rest is Politics, worth a listen.
Jesus fecking Christ. Rory "omg look immigration is really high and it happened while I was in the government how did I miss that lol" Stewart as prime minister
You are pathetic, tho not quite as pathetic as him
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
Elon Musk is reportedly considering supporting JD Vance for a potential 2028 presidential run.
Given Vance is VP he will be favourite for the GOP nomination but will need Musk's money too, ideologically Musk is now closer to Vance than Trump.
Problem for Vance is while he is more intelligent than Trump he is less charismatic
Congratulations to you and your wife on your truly joyous news.
Thanks TSE
Is the polling for boy or girl? 😅
Congratulations. It is great fun being a parent, even if a bit wearing at times.
My boy is a bit over 2 and a half and while it’s fun it’s incredibly wearing right now…
Fun Fact (allegedly): The terrible twofer is half of the adult man - in height.
He’s gonna be a giant. People keep asking if he’s starting school this autumn! He’s always been at the top end of growth charts. Think he will tower above his parents by 14…
You can't always tell. I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps. I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
President Stubb about the amount of Ukrainian territory Russia wants:
I guess, for an American audience, and having studied in the US for many years, the best way to explain it is that if you take the relative land mass of what Russia wants right now from Ukraine, it would be a little bit like you giving up Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, even Virginia, and then bumping into Maryland.
It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes
It's not AI winter just yet, though there is a distinct chill in the air. Meta is shaking up and downsizing its artificial intelligence division. A new report out of MIT finds that 95 percent of companies' generative AI programs have failed to earn any profit whatsoever. Tech stocks tanked Tuesday, regarding broader fears that this bubble may have swelled about as large as it can go. Surely, there will be no wider repercussions for normal people if and when Nvidia, currently propping up the market like a load-bearing matchstick, finally runs out of fake companies to sell chips to. But getting in under the wire, before we're all bartering gas in the desert and people who can read become the priestly caste, is Microsoft, with the single most "Who asked for this?" application of AI I've seen yet: They're jamming it into Excel.
Meta isn't giving up on AI, quite the opposite. The media have got the wrong end of the stick. Remember Google did the same when they fell behind on AI, they went in and kicked a lot of people up the arse, merged Google Brain with Google Deepmind. There were far too many people working for both of those organisations who I wouldn't say weren't doing anything, but weren't focused upon the central prize. There was a culture of well I am interested in this random thing I am going to spend a load of time working on, but I haven't really got anything to show for it. I am told now you must have a paper in a publishable state at all times and hence why when another lab produces something novel, Deepmind publish a very similar thing in the next day or two.
This is what is happening at Meta. Their core LLM aren't state of the art, so Zuckerberg is kicking people up the arse and also going out trying to steal away the best talent. On vision foundational models, they are up there with the best e.g. being able to track points in video, segment images.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Perhaps the season's end could be marked by a firework display around the 5th?
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Perhaps the season's end could be marked by a firework display around the 5th?
"And so we welcome the traditional Final Race Riot of the Year, as Buzzballs and vodka are passed from mouth to mouth amidst the ceremonial spleandour of Ipswich Tesco car park, and the march of flags ends, as it has since time immemorial, in the bonfire of half a Thistle Hotel. Just listen to those happy crowds! Also the screams"
She has come out demanding that the Hundred in its current state is saved?
More seriously,
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is encouraging Tory-controlled councils to consider launching legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in their areas.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
She has come out demanding that the Hundred in its current state is saved?
More seriously,
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is encouraging Tory-controlled councils to consider launching legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in their areas.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Wouldn't that risk clashing with Poppymas?
We could have a mass burning of poppies to really upset Tommy and The Reformers
She has come out demanding that the Hundred in its current state is saved?
More seriously,
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is encouraging Tory-controlled councils to consider launching legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in their areas.
Oh, so something completely expected, lol.
I don't know, I never had her down as a big cricket fan.
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
Deeply worrying that such baseless, racist trolling from a known mendacious criminal finds a credulous audience.
It was in Redcar that I first discovered that the racist overtalkative taxi driver stereotype is not entirely made up, when I found myself in a 15 minute trip with one a few years back.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Perhaps the season's end could be marked by a firework display around the 5th?
"And so we welcome the traditional Final Race Riot of the Year, as Buzzballs and vodka are passed from mouth to mouth amidst the ceremonial spleandour of Ipswich Tesco car park, and the march of flags ends, as it has since time immemorial, in the bonfire of half a Thistle Hotel. Just listen to those happy crowds! Also the screams"
Can't we just bring back medieval style mob football if we must have rioting, in order to make it more of a sport?
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
Deeply worrying that such baseless, racist trolling from a known mendacious criminal finds a credulous audience.
It was in Redcar that I first discovered that the racist overtalkative taxi driver stereotype is not entirely made up, when I found myself in a 15 minute trip with one a few years back.
For balance, a few years ago I got stuck in a taxi with a Muslim driver who spent the ten minute journey shouting at the top of his voice about how Muhammed was going to wipe out all the white sinning infidels with their alcohol and extramarital affairs and so on at some final climatic battle or other.
I declined to tip as I wanted to talk about the weather.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Perhaps the season's end could be marked by a firework display around the 5th?
"And so we welcome the traditional Final Race Riot of the Year, as Buzzballs and vodka are passed from mouth to mouth amidst the ceremonial spleandour of Ipswich Tesco car park, and the march of flags ends, as it has since time immemorial, in the bonfire of half a Thistle Hotel. Just listen to those happy crowds! Also the screams"
Can't we just bring back medieval style mob football if we must have rioting, in order to make it more of a sport?
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
Trump and Gabbard are doing to the intelligence community what they did to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
My understanding is that the list of people whose clearances have been revoked by Gabbard includes a career civil servant who was until recently the most senior Russia analyst in the CIA, and remains a senior official in the organisation. (The NYT previously reported that the list included a senior CIA analyst; see below).
They—like the NSA's Vinh Nguyen—were presumably targeted because of their prior association with the 'Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] on Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent Elections', the report which described Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.
I think that would constitute one of the most significant Russia-related purges we have seen to date & with potentially severe consequences for US intelligence analysts' ability to report honestly and candidly on Russia related issues.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
"Tinderbox" getting impatient.
Thanks to global warming, race riots can now break out year round. It's one of those weird unexpected effects of climate change, like cricket in Iceland
We could still have a warm September giving plenty of time to have a good old traditional riot well before October half term and the start of Christmas.
Personally, I'm looking forward to "race riot season" stretching well into early November. Mister "Silver Lining Playbook", that's me
Perhaps the season's end could be marked by a firework display around the 5th?
"And so we welcome the traditional Final Race Riot of the Year, as Buzzballs and vodka are passed from mouth to mouth amidst the ceremonial spleandour of Ipswich Tesco car park, and the march of flags ends, as it has since time immemorial, in the bonfire of half a Thistle Hotel. Just listen to those happy crowds! Also the screams"
Can't we just bring back medieval style mob football if we must have rioting, in order to make it more of a sport?
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
Deeply worrying that such baseless, racist trolling from a known mendacious criminal finds a credulous audience.
It was in Redcar that I first discovered that the racist overtalkative taxi driver stereotype is not entirely made up, when I found myself in a 15 minute trip with one a few years back.
For balance, a few years ago I got stuck in a taxi with a Muslim driver who spent the ten minute journey shouting at the top of his voice about how Muhammed was going to wipe out all the white sinning infidels with their alcohol and extramarital affairs and so on at some final climatic battle or other.
I declined to tip as I wanted to talk about the weather.
We had one who close passed a cyclist and started kicking off about the "cycling lobby". He got a bit of shock when we asked him to pull over and let us out under threat of a report to the licencing team at the council. I guess he didn't expect me in my suit to be a member of the wokerati.
(Otoh, I've had a taxi driver cheerily take my bike home when I couldn't fix a mechanical. A mixed bunch.)
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
“Midly astonished” is how I described my own reaction. Not “breathlessly excited”
And the only reason I noted the rise in flags is because I did the very same trip one week ago
That said, given the general lack of patriotic flags in rural/small town England it doesn’t take much for the number to “double” - which, again, is how I described what’s happening
Welsh Fire are having a mare at the Hundred. The men's team has won just one march and the women have lost all of theirs.
I'm a cricket fan, I don't care.
Prompted by this post, I've been to have a look at tge BBC cricket page and just found something else to vex me about the Hundred: in the scores and tables, they appear to have dropped any attempt to link teams with places: instead, teams are just reported as 'Fire', 'Spirit', 'Originals', amd so on. Now of course, I find 'Welsh', 'Southern' and 'Trent' daft. ("Who are we playing Dad?" "Southern"). But less daft than nothing at all.
Hundred: Your teams are Lancashire, Yorkshire, Nottingamshire, Warwickshire, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Surrey and Middlesex. And you are missing ten teams. And a ball each over.
I don't understand the problem that the Hundred is meant to solve that 20:20 doesn’t.
Funding, the ECB consider the Hundred a success because they've flogged the franchises off for hundreds of millions of pounds.
I mentioned last week I am attending a match as a guest of somebody involved buying the franchises next week.
How much will the banks lose when the debts are written off?
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
As you know we have a house in Southwold. Not seen any outbreak of flags at all.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
“Midly astonished” is how I described my own reaction. Not “breathlessly excited”
And the only reason I noted the rise in flags is because I did the very same trip one week ago
That said, given the general lack of patriotic flags in rural/small town England it doesn’t take much for the number to “double” - which, again, is how I described what’s happening
LOL.
So you know admit it was a tiny change, and you don't even know if it's associated with the 'campaign' to which you associated it.
A local village, on the country route to my swimming pool, recently had a scarecrow festival. Since that journey passes through two villages, I expect you'd say that the people in Cambridgeshire had developed a sudden scarecrow fetish.
I expect you to be 'mildly astonished' when the sun rises tomorrow morning.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
As you know we have a house in Southwold. Not seen any outbreak of flags at all.
A few weeks back I rode though Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to Stowmarket. I cannot recall having seen one.
To be clear: I don't mind people flying the Union Jack, and quite like it when I see it. But it's rare enough for it to be noticeable, and even memorable.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Birmingham City University. I hate it when Twixers can't be bothered to read the links they foist on the rest of us. Get it right, Tobes.
He thinks the flag should be replaced.
By what?
Their grift is nearly over. Patience
As he is at what I used to know as Birmingham Poly and the HE sector is in dire shite and sacking thousands with speculation that maybe only the highest of Russell group will survive then you may well be right.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
“Midly astonished” is how I described my own reaction. Not “breathlessly excited”
And the only reason I noted the rise in flags is because I did the very same trip one week ago
That said, given the general lack of patriotic flags in rural/small town England it doesn’t take much for the number to “double” - which, again, is how I described what’s happening
LOL.
So you know admit it was a tiny change, and you don't even know if it's associated with the 'campaign' to which you associated it.
A local village, on the country route to my swimming pool, recently had a scarecrow festival. Since that journey passes through two villages, I expect you'd say that the people in Cambridgeshire had developed a sudden scarecrow fetish.
I expect you to be 'mildly astonished' when the sun rises tomorrow morning.
So BBC news leads at 10 on a letter that Kemi has supposedly written to each of the Tory councils about hotels etc and yet still - an hour later - it is not on the tory X account.
And it is by AEP who for some reason is not thought of highly by the bien pensants of PB.
He once wrote a spectacularly ill informed article about the European shale gas revolution, which failed to distinguish between tight gas produced from from shale formations by hydraulic fracturing (which is what happens in shales in the US), and European shale energy which is digging up peat and burning it.
I was mildly astonished by the number of St George Crosses and Union Jacks when I drove to Ely and back, yesterday
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Really? I run, walk, cycle and drive extensively in that area, and it's really rare. I wonder what route you took?
Up from the M25, M11, A11, to Grimes Graves and then Ely
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
You'd be more likely to see Palestinian and/or Ukrainian flags. Particularly flying from churches for the latter.
I only noticed because I took almost exactly the same route (a part of England I rarely visit (my bad)) a week ago when I drove to Suffolk to buy some antiques
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
If it's only in one town, are you sure there isn't some sort of festival on?
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
As you know we have a house in Southwold. Not seen any outbreak of flags at all.
A few weeks back I rode though Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to Stowmarket. I cannot recall having seen one.
To be clear: I don't mind people flying the Union Jack, and quite like it when I see it. But it's rare enough for it to be noticeable, and even memorable.
Quite a few tattered 11-year old Union Flags in my part of Scotland. The odd "No thanks" car sticker, "Yes2" signs in gardens and so on.
The one flag I really like is Northumberland. Distinctive and a sign I'm making progress on my journey south.
I would have thought if you really wanted to deal with the illegal immigrant hotels, rather than running to the courts it might be better researching who is making money out of it and shedding some light on it.
She has come out demanding that the Hundred in its current state is saved?
More seriously,
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is encouraging Tory-controlled councils to consider launching legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in their areas.
That sounds socially unwise, and politically motivated.
Cynically, is she hoping the Govt is going to skewer Jenrick over being the Minister who implemented a lot of them - including the one at Epping Forest aiui?
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
And it is by AEP who for some reason is not thought of highly by the bien pensants of PB.
He once wrote a spectacularly ill informed article about the European shale gas revolution, which failed to distinguish between tight gas produced from from shale formations by hydraulic fracturing (which is what happens in shales in the US), and European shale energy which is digging up peat and burning it.
The column is rather in the nature of a summary of what specialists have perhaps said.
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
Deeply worrying that such baseless, racist trolling from a known mendacious criminal finds a credulous audience.
Another example of why social media needs to be regulated. Make them responsible as publishers for what they distribute around the world
The true problem is the algorithms. Which promote content that enrages people. Because enraging most people increases their engagement.
If you said that sites that only list by conversation and time (such as PB) are not classed as publishers, but those that use algorithms are, you would strike at the heart of the problem.
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
Deeply worrying that such baseless, racist trolling from a known mendacious criminal finds a credulous audience.
Another example of why social media needs to be regulated. Make them responsible as publishers for what they distribute around the world
The true problem is the algorithms. Which promote content that enrages people. Because enraging most people increases their engagement.
If you said that sites that only list by conversation and time (such as PB) are not classed as publishers, but those that use algorithms are, you would strike at the heart of the problem.
I stick to the following tab on tw@tter where I have a very careful list of people I follow. I basically never see any of whatever this BS is that is supposedly trending and people arguing about flags and what not. Rather they are arguing about how good ChatGPT5 really is or isn't.
Same with the YouTubes. I only look at my "subscribed" tab.
Summer is nearly at its end, the days are cooling, and the Mail and Telegraph have yet to trigger the riot they’ve been urging since the sun came out in May. Tick tock, boys, tick tock. No one likes pushing flaming wheelie bins in the Autumn rains .
The problem here is not defending our borders in the first place. It's just a basic thing that a country should do.
The whole "there is going to be a riot" thing actually came from a number of people within government, police etc briefings. Of course the media jumped all over that. But I said at the time, I find this very odd. The fact we have names for the small number of large scale riots and most people know of them, sort of tells you how rare prolonged civil unrest where it gets to a situation where the authorities find themselves powerless really is.
It's time for some facts about local Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and asylum hotels, to stop the nonsense. Lets have it right - concerns about illegal migration are valid, but people in our area are being targeted & its got to stop. 🧵 1/2
That vid is worth a listen. A building in Gannow, Burnley, 100m from a primary school was set on fire, after rumours circulated, including being pushed by a Ref UK Councillor (vid included), that it was going to be an HMO. In reality there is no application to be an HMO, and it will be supported social housing.
Make you r own evaluation.
To me it smacks of Lee Anderson inventing a non-existent asylum hotel here in 2024; the not-an-asylum-hotel he pointed to was even over the border in Derbyshire.
We need to work to fix the issue, and have police crack down harshly on those seeking to exploit it for their own gain.
It's classically what happens with inflammatory local campaigns. Whispers and rumours provoke action by those with no information and particular concerns which turns into obsessions.
Lots of concerns, some valid, some folk tales, which then land in the wrong place - in this case on a social housing project.
As the father of mixed race children I found this story chilling.
Family in fear after Tommy Robinson shares video of black man with white granddaughters
Exclusive: Olajuwon Ayeni racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile as far right weaponises clip of family in park
A family say their lives have been ruined after a video of a black man and his brother playing in the park with his white granddaughters was shared by Tommy Robinson and weaponised by the far right.
Olajuwon Ayeni, a musician from Redcar, North Yorkshire, has been racially abused and falsely labelled a paedophile in the week since the family video was stolen from the TikTok account of his wife, Natalie, whom he married five years ago, and shared by extremists online.
On Tuesday, the couple’s local MP, Anna Turley, was forced to write a letter providing a reference of good character for Ayeni when he was suspended by his management after the online disinformation.
“I’m devastated to receive the email from my management,” Ayeni said. “Music is my life. My social media will be damaged, my career will be tarnished … but I am determined to show the truth and hopefully clear it up.”
He and Natalie say they have been living in fear since being threatened in the street after Robinson shared the video with his 1.4 million followers. The far-right activist wrote on his X account: “Wtf is even going on here? Where are the parents?!”
Deeply worrying that such baseless, racist trolling from a known mendacious criminal finds a credulous audience.
Another example of why social media needs to be regulated. Make them responsible as publishers for what they distribute around the world
The true problem is the algorithms. Which promote content that enrages people. Because enraging most people increases their engagement.
If you said that sites that only list by conversation and time (such as PB) are not classed as publishers, but those that use algorithms are, you would strike at the heart of the problem.
I would also regulate returns by treating them as a utility
On flags, a Palestinian one - with about 8 or 9 notably middle-class Lefty protestors holding up a banner- turned up in my parents local habitat outside the town hall one Friday afternoon, for precisely 21 minutes.
They were doing it to get photos for social media, with bemused locals walking by and no car horns or anything else to cheer them. I presume this is so they can say, "Village XXX supports Free Palestine!", or similar on Twitter/BS. And harvest the likes from peers.
It tells you a couple of things: Free Palestine activists don't work, and that they live for this stuff - which they think they really care about but which is actually about their social lives.
On flags, a Palestinian one - with about 8 or 9 notably middle-class Lefty protestors holding up a banner- turned up in my parents local habitat outside the town hall one Friday afternoon, for precisely 21 minutes.
They were doing it to get photos for social media, with bemused locals walking by and no car horns or anything else to cheer them. I presume this is so they can say, "Village XXX supports Free Palestine!", or similar on Twitter/BS. And harvest the likes from peers.
It tells you a couple of things: Free Palestine activists don't work, and that they live for this stuff - which they think they really care about but which is actually about their social lives.
I think the Venn diagram of those involved with XR, JSO, YD, Free Palestine protests is a basically a single circle. I am sure they will all be Your Party members in short order as well.
Just when you thought Vance had already achieved peak arseholery.
Vance: Zelenskyy walked into the oval office. I was chatting with him… I said Mr. President, so long as you behave, I won't say anything. It was a good little icebreaker https://x.com/Acyn/status/1958305631548686491
On flags, a Palestinian one - with about 8 or 9 notably middle-class Lefty protestors holding up a banner- turned up in my parents local habitat outside the town hall one Friday afternoon, for precisely 21 minutes.
They were doing it to get photos for social media, with bemused locals walking by and no car horns or anything else to cheer them. I presume this is so they can say, "Village XXX supports Free Palestine!", or similar on Twitter/BS. And harvest the likes from peers.
It tells you a couple of things: Free Palestine activists don't work, and that they live for this stuff - which they think they really care about but which is actually about their social lives.
A house near me used to have a Ukrainian flag hanging out of it. It was later joined by a Palestinian one, then just the Palestinian one. Currently there is no flag. I wonder if a tenant moved out, or if they just got bored having the flags out.
The Ministry of Defence has admitted there have been 49 separate data breaches in the past four years at the unit handling relocation applications from Afghans seeking safety in the UK.
Comments
New terminal “A” gates lovely, old terminal “B” gates not so much.
Some idiot is going to set fire to a bunch of uni students in a HMO unless the police crack into this hard.
In order to qualify, the deceased person must have been the sole owner, or leaseholder of the property. The property must also have already been unoccupied at the time of death, or have become unoccupied as a result of the taxpayer's death.
If an exemption applies, it will continue from the date of death until probate or the letters of administration are granted. Once probate or the letters of administration are granted, the exemption continues for a further six months, after which a 100% empty property charge will apply.
Could well be 12 months given the time it takes to get probate.
(Not the shadow chancellor.)
Excel is generally a hot mess roll-of-the-dice as it is. I say bring on our non-deterministic clippy overlord. If we're lucky, it will show people how bad Excel is and not to trust it with anything of value.
The bigger issues are that (a) it’s not marketed at existing fans, it’s to get new recruits. New fans won’t care that Southern Braves have only been around for a few years, as opposed to Hampshire fans like me looking back longingly through Wisden.
(B) The ghastly graphics (a bit better this year) and why no option to show as cricket is normally shown for the existing fans.
(C) The ECB have thrown everything into the hundred and this is why we have completed our test series already.
(D) The BBC etc have forgotten that the one day cup, a competition that’s run for over fifty years, is still on.
I believe I saw that the hundred may well migrate to a T29 format in the near future. That will be the desired end result of a franchised T20 by the back door.
I was five feet ten at the age of 12. Spent school holidays at talent spotted basketball camps.
I'm still five ten. Always been an awkward sod.
You are pathetic, tho not quite as pathetic as him
https://x.com/icelandcricket
But with enormous confidence in himself.
Trump: Crimea is massive, I would say like the size of Texas or something. In the middle of the ocean.
https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1958221481894093228
Can it be discussed speculatively and around sentencing when the Jury have been sent out? Or is it only after all verdicts have been discovered?
President Stubb about the amount of Ukrainian territory Russia wants:
I guess, for an American audience, and having studied in the US for many years, the best way to explain it is that if you take the relative land mass of what Russia wants right now from Ukraine, it would be a little bit like you giving up Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, even Virginia, and then bumping into Maryland.
https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1958207767031775263
LOL.
This is what is happening at Meta. Their core LLM aren't state of the art, so Zuckerberg is kicking people up the arse and also going out trying to steal away the best talent. On vision foundational models, they are up there with the best e.g. being able to track points in video, segment images.
"A professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has called the St George's flag "racist" and says it should be changed, as Operation Raise the Colours sees the flags flying across the country."
https://x.com/toadmeister/status/1958227653535690875
It's a real thing, and it is visible in rural/smalltown Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
More seriously,
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is encouraging Tory-controlled councils to consider launching legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in their areas.
Noticeable most in the small towns and villages. Weirdly, did not seem related to relative affluence, which is what I expected
I declined to tip as I wanted to talk about the weather.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FobzTz0k0OY
On the basis of this latest trip I’d say the number of patriotic flags has doubled?
In lots of places - none. Or one. But then suddenly town or a bridge with loads
I suspect this “campaign” will continue and increase, because it’s a low level, low risk way of expressing disgust at the government/woke/migration etc. And so the Ulsterisation of the UK will proceed
(Otoh, I've had a taxi driver cheerily take my bike home when I couldn't fix a mechanical. A mixed bunch.)
I ask, because I spend a lot of time in that sort of area, and your depiction is really very different to what I've noticed.
I drove to and from Southwold last week, by two different country routes, and cannot say I saw a single union jack prominently displayed on route. I might have missed some, as I was driving for the journey there, but there was certainly not the sort of display you are breathlessly excited about.
By what?
And the only reason I noted the rise in flags is because I did the very same trip one week ago
That said, given the general lack of patriotic flags in rural/small town England it doesn’t take much for the number to “double” - which, again, is how I described what’s happening
If the conservatives want any chance they need to get her a by-election seat they can win very soon.
So you know admit it was a tiny change, and you don't even know if it's associated with the 'campaign' to which you associated it.
A local village, on the country route to my swimming pool, recently had a scarecrow festival. Since that journey passes through two villages, I expect you'd say that the people in Cambridgeshire had developed a sudden scarecrow fetish.
I expect you to be 'mildly astonished' when the sun rises tomorrow morning.
( Some of the scarecrows were really quite inventive, and better than the ones seen in this article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg53kpyl5lo )
To be clear: I don't mind people flying the Union Jack, and quite like it when I see it. But it's rare enough for it to be noticeable, and even memorable.
Let’s see where we are in a year
Have they given up?
How can they compete with Nigel like this?
The one flag I really like is Northumberland. Distinctive and a sign I'm making progress on my journey south.
A lot of light.
Cynically, is she hoping the Govt is going to skewer Jenrick over being the Minister who implemented a lot of them - including the one at Epping Forest aiui?
But no worse for that.
If you said that sites that only list by conversation and time (such as PB) are not classed as publishers, but those that use algorithms are, you would strike at the heart of the problem.
Same with the YouTubes. I only look at my "subscribed" tab.
@KemiBadenoch
Families. Farmers. Pensioners. Pub owners. Savers. Small business owners.
Rachel Thieves doesn’t care who she takes money from.
http://RachelThieves.com
5:30 PM · Aug 20, 2025
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70.9K
Views"
https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1958204938544156966
She is about 15 years out of date
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOeYIDjQOVI
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15019467/Lucy-Connolly-FREE-Tory-Councillors-wife-jailed-Tweet-Southport.html
They were doing it to get photos for social media, with bemused locals walking by and no car horns or anything else to cheer them. I presume this is so they can say, "Village XXX supports Free Palestine!", or similar on Twitter/BS. And harvest the likes from peers.
It tells you a couple of things: Free Palestine activists don't work, and that they live for this stuff - which they think they really care about but which is actually about their social lives.
https://gettrumpfragrances.com/
Vance: Zelenskyy walked into the oval office. I was chatting with him… I said Mr. President, so long as you behave, I won't say anything. It was a good little icebreaker
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1958305631548686491
But good morning nonetheless
Poor effort not to hit the half century.