Who knew bringing back Peter Mandelson would all end in tears... Who knew! 😂
Still discussing Mandelson I see. I'm in the Balkans so haven't been paying full attention.
My view is what's the fuss? Everybody knew he was a slimy sleazeball when he was appointed, and once I overcame my initial revulsion I realised that was why he was uniquely qualified for the job. With some success I would say, in dealing with Trump you need someone like him. It takes one to know one.
There is one obvious candidate to replace him - step forward Boris Johnson!
(For the avoidance of doubt, I would be adopting a totally 180 degree opposite foreign policy, and would accept we would have to live with the consequences).
The problem is now it seems a fair few people knew of these emails before Starmer went out and defended him. Its the cover up that gets you, just like Big Ange disappearing lawyers.
The Times revealed today that Number 10 and the Foreign Office were told about the cache of emails between Lord Mandelson and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein early on Tuesday
And yet 24 hours later Keir Starmer mounted a forthright defence of Lord Mandelson at PMQs
Government sources said Starmer was not aware of the emails when he expressed confidence in Mandelson
If that’s the case the question is why not?
The suggestion is that Sir Oliver Robbins, the perm sec at the foreign office, was attempting to get answers about the emails from Mandelson. He didn’t get a response until Weds afternoon
But given the nuclear nature of the emails and the fact senior figures were aware of their contents it seems bizarre that Starmer wasn’t informed. Surely someone should have told him that huge and deeply damaging story was about to break?
Instead he found himself backing them sacking Mandelson in the space if 24 hours, with significant implications for his authority
It is pretty difficult to believe he didn't know as everyone else has known for over twenty years.
Kemi knew, but she knew about Rayner before Starmer did.
The hard thing about Starmer and Ed Davey that you have to get your head around is, they really are stupid. They don't have the intellect to just be pretending to be stupid.
I went into a Sainsburys the other day and they had fitted these massive airport style detector arches. And it was in a posh town too.
Its quite hard to convince the public crime is down, best time ever to be alive, when you pop down the shops and see this kind of stuff. The optics for the government / police being in charge of the situation is terrible.
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
One.
In the late nineties I went for a dirty weekend with a gf to a hotel in central London. After we checked out on the Sunday morning, we found the Countryside March going past the front door. We felt "what the hell!" and joined in, ending up joining a friendly family who shared strawberries and champagne in ?Hyde Park?.
About five years earlier, I was on a D6 bus on the Isle of Dogs. The bus was stuck behind a BNP march after Derek Beackon was elected. The 'march' was about half a dozen sad-looking men, and were massively outnumbered by the police. There were not many counter-protestors about, perhaps because the whole event looked so sad.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
You can get sushi at any motorway service station. I think these days you'd need to live in a bubble of your own to think of sushi as some kind of mark of an out of touch elitist. (Hopefully it will have been obvious to you that my comment was a joke, from one metropolitan elitist to another).
BTW, if anyone is thinking of touring the Balkans, Bosnia-Hercegovina is stunning and unknown. Fantastic scenery, rural areas feel very remote and have that slightly run down behind the times feel that Eastern Europe had in the early 90s.
I was in Trebinje yesterday and apart from the overt Serb nationalism I loved it. A stunning location and a genuine Ottoman bridge (unlike Mostar). Also an Orthodox church built on a prominent hill as a bequest by a wealthy Serb in the USA in 1943, but not able to be realised until 2000 due to, as the explanation delicately put it, due to "difficult historical circumstances".
Interesting retraction by the Grauniad. It looks like they were being trolled about Tyler Robinson being a leftist.
"Editor’s note: This article was updated on 12 September 2025 to remove summarized quotes after the verified source who attended high school with Tyler Robinson said after publication that they could not accurately remember details of their relationship."
Obviously the Woke, Islamic, Trans cabal got to the verified source. Shameful. (coming to a MAGA social media account shortly)
Yes. Those evil MAGA fascists altering images and making up shit to get a narrative across
Oh
“An image of Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk, wearing a pro-Trump shirt is being widely shared. But the image is digitally altered.
In the real photo, posted on Facebook by one of Robinson's family members, there's no logo or writing on his shirt.”
Poor old Leon, desperate for it to have been a muslim or a black or a trans or an illegal or at the very least a Democrat.
What we got was an all-American christian white boy from a staunch Republican family so you are clinging on to the "he was a leftist" for dear life!
He likely at least was a leftist Democrat, his family made clear his political views increasingly diverged from theirs
More likely he was further right even than his 3%er Dad.
Hardly, he was clearly AntiFa, see his unused ammunition with slogans like “Hey, fascist! Catch!”
Another said, “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao”,“Bella ciao” was an Italian song dedicated to those who fought against fascism during World War II.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
I find Yo Sushi a bit disappointing generally. Maybe it's better when done fresh on site.
She's 12 though and wanting the conveyor belt novelty, so her call. Have a Happy Bithday!
Exactly. There aren’t many conveyor belt options in central London. That’s what she would like. Which apparently, despite it being a mid range chain, makes my daughter an out of touch elitist.
Selfridges have a Yo Sushi - I walk past it once a fortnight.
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Accidentally.
I ended up at an EDL protest in Manchester in 2009.
The really upsetting thing, I was wearing genuine Burberry and those fuckers were wearing knock off stuff.
The trip from Manchester Piccadilly to the Midland Hotel was an experience, with my then future wife to be, who was very white.
That must have been awful...not the being surrounded by the racists, rather being seen in public with people who wear fake designer clobber...the absolute shame.
Caution, this is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen as the tweet includes video footage, I will never again criticise people who put pineapple on pizza.
There is a pizza in Brazil topped with ants, known as tanajura pizza, which features the flying leafcutter ants,
a seasonal delicacy harvested during their swarms in April and May.
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Accidentally.
I ended up at an EDL protest in Manchester in 2009.
The really upsetting thing, I was wearing genuine Burberry and those fuckers were wearing knock off stuff.
The trip from Manchester Piccadilly to the Midland Hotel was an experience, with my then future wife to be, who was very white.
That must have been awful...not the being surrounded by the racists, rather being seen in public with people who wear fake designer clobber...the absolute shame.
Colombia's highest court has ruled that Meta violated a porn star's right to freedom of expression when it deleted her Instagram account.
The South American nation's Constitutional Court said on Friday that the tech firm had removed Esperanza Gómez's account "without a clear and transparent justification" and without offering similar treatment to other, similar accounts.
The 45-year-old, whose account had more than five million followers, is one of Colombia's best known adult content actresses.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
I find Yo Sushi a bit disappointing generally. Maybe it's better when done fresh on site.
She's 12 though and wanting the conveyor belt novelty, so her call. Have a Happy Bithday!
Exactly. There aren’t many conveyor belt options in central London. That’s what she would like. Which apparently, despite it being a mid range chain, makes my daughter an out of touch elitist.
I thought they'd abandoned conveyor belts after people started dicking with the food. Maybe it was just one branch.
Backbench Labour MP Olivia Blake said it feels like Keir Starmer’s operation has “gone into the bunker”.
Discussing last week’s reshuffle, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
It does feel like they’ve gone into the bunker, but they’ve actually thrown half the people out of the bunker at the moment, and we need to get back to a much more inclusive parliamentary Labour party (PLP), inclusive discussions happening with ministers and better representation around the cabinet table.
After a disastrous week in which Angela Rayner resigned and Peter Mandelson was sacked as ambassador to Washington, Labour MPs have begun to ask whether Starmer could be challenged as prime minister.
A number of MPs said a challenge was likely if local and Welsh elections went badly next May. Some said the one thing now protecting Starmer was the lack of an agreed replacement.
People just felt that it was such a large reshuffle and, you know, people who were actually delivering in their posts were moved. And it just kind of felt like there was a real narrowing in who was sat around the table, and that can’t be positive, because I think there’s a sense that the leadership don’t like to be challenged.
Asked about the No 10 operation, she said it was “really embarrassing” if Starmer was not told about Lord Mandelson’s emails to Jeffrey Epstein soon enough, amid suggestions Downing Street was aware of the messages before the prime minister defended the ex-ambassador on Wednesday.
Blake said:
We saw through the welfare reforms that they did the same again. They didn’t tell Keir, they didn’t tell the prime minister how bad it was on the back benches. So, you know, he was putting statements out saying, ‘oh, some people can sound off’. Well, the strength of feeling in the PLP was much, much deeper than that. And again, I just think that whoever’s gatekeeping the information to the prime minister needs to stop. They need to be getting stuff to him much earlier.
She also said backbenchers are frustrated after a number of “own goals” for the government. Blake, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it is “frustrating” that the good work the government has done is “not cutting through” and added:
Instead, we’ve had a number of kind of own goals, and that has meant that we’ve slipped heavily in the polls, and that we seem to be more interested in focusing on each other rather than what’s in the best interest of the country at the moment.
Blame the advisers when you don’t want to blame the king…
I went into a Sainsburys the other day and they had fitted these massive airport style detector arches. And it was in a posh town too.
Its quite hard to convince the public crime is down, best time ever to be alive, when you pop down the shops and see this kind of stuff. The optics for the government / police being in charge of the situation is terrible.
Haven't seen this yet. But the floor to ceiling checkout surrounds have gone up in Tesco Express here in the leafy south west. Had only seen them in Liverpool and Belfast before.
Even on Amazon Gold Blend 200g is £6.75. Not actually expensive per cup, but it's one of those things which feels expensive when it comes time to buy it.
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Loads.
Would you be willing to share a bit about the experience. Did you make your own placard?
Sure. The biggest demo I've been on was the 2003 stop the war demo vs the Iraq War. I went there with my wife and a bunch of friends who felt similarly opposed to the whole enterprise. Weirdly, I had a large union jack that I had bought some time earlier and I painted some kind of slogan on it. Perhaps not in my name or something like that, I can't remember. Nothing very original. There was a nice atmosphere. Interesting fact: you always get lots of nice looking girls on left wing demos. Probably more than on EDL marches. Lots of very funny very British placards. The sheer number of people was awe inspiring, proper hairs on the back of your neck stuff. Afterwards we ended up in Hyde Park I think and there were some speeches. Marches can be a bit slow sometimes. A lot of pauses. I always feel a bit self conscious shouting slogans in the street. But you tend to get less inhibited as time goes on. It's quite cathartic feeling like something you feel deeply about is also felt deeply about by thousands of other people. On one level the whole thing was pointless but it felt important to be there and speak out against what seemed like unspeakable folly. I'm glad I went.
Interesting retraction by the Grauniad. It looks like they were being trolled about Tyler Robinson being a leftist.
"Editor’s note: This article was updated on 12 September 2025 to remove summarized quotes after the verified source who attended high school with Tyler Robinson said after publication that they could not accurately remember details of their relationship."
Obviously the Woke, Islamic, Trans cabal got to the verified source. Shameful. (coming to a MAGA social media account shortly)
Yes. Those evil MAGA fascists altering images and making up shit to get a narrative across
Oh
“An image of Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk, wearing a pro-Trump shirt is being widely shared. But the image is digitally altered.
In the real photo, posted on Facebook by one of Robinson's family members, there's no logo or writing on his shirt.”
Poor old Leon, desperate for it to have been a muslim or a black or a trans or an illegal or at the very least a Democrat.
What we got was an all-American christian white boy from a staunch Republican family so you are clinging on to the "he was a leftist" for dear life!
He likely at least was a leftist Democrat, his family made clear his political views increasingly diverged from theirs
More likely he was further right even than his 3%er Dad.
Hardly, he was clearly AntiFa, see his unused ammunition with slogans like “Hey, fascist! Catch!”
Another said, “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao”,“Bella ciao” was an Italian song dedicated to those who fought against fascism during World War II.
you sound like Malcolm Muggeridge trying to get his head round Monty Python
You’d think the PM might have worked out by now that his advice is garbage .
The appointment of Imogen Walker, McSweeney’s wife, to assistant whip prompted accusations from some of her colleagues that it was tantamount to a No 10 power grab. “Morgan’s taking over big time”, one told PoliticsHome.
I know it shouldn't matter these days but it seems bonkers more common amongst politicians to have differing surnames in a marriage compared to the general public.
Powell too doesn't use her husbands name.
Changing name on marriage is a bit old school nowadays.
There’s the slightly nouv double barrelling thing. I imagine there are tiffs over which comes first.
Of course, the man could always take his wife's name...
My wife kept her surname (mainly for professional reasons), but we gave our son her surname as his last middle name. Hence not double-barrelled, but preserving her surname in his.
IMV there's no right answer to this, and if a couple cannot agree even this basic thing, their marriage is probably on rocky ground as it is. And it's no-one else's business to judge what they decide.
I reserve the right to judge the people who came up with my favourite name:
Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
BTW, if anyone is thinking of touring the Balkans, Bosnia-Hercegovina is stunning and unknown. Fantastic scenery, rural areas feel very remote and have that slightly run down behind the times feel that Eastern Europe had in the early 90s.
I was in Trebinje yesterday and apart from the overt Serb nationalism I loved it. A stunning location and a genuine Ottoman bridge (unlike Mostar). Also an Orthodox church built on a prominent hill as a bequest by a wealthy Serb in the USA in 1943, but not able to be realised until 2000 due to, as the explanation delicately put it, due to "difficult historical circumstances".
Puts our politics into perspective.
I've been to Sarajevo and it was one of the most memorable trips of my life. Absolutely beautiful and so much sad history.
BTW, if anyone is thinking of touring the Balkans, Bosnia-Hercegovina is stunning and unknown. Fantastic scenery, rural areas feel very remote and have that slightly run down behind the times feel that Eastern Europe had in the early 90s.
I was in Trebinje yesterday and apart from the overt Serb nationalism I loved it. A stunning location and a genuine Ottoman bridge (unlike Mostar). Also an Orthodox church built on a prominent hill as a bequest by a wealthy Serb in the USA in 1943, but not able to be realised until 2000 due to, as the explanation delicately put it, due to "difficult historical circumstances".
Puts our politics into perspective.
My father went wayyyyy back in the day when folk didn't even really travel and it was still under Tito. Said it was incredible place, but the civil war was inevitable.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
I find Yo Sushi a bit disappointing generally. Maybe it's better when done fresh on site.
She's 12 though and wanting the conveyor belt novelty, so her call. Have a Happy Bithday!
Exactly. There aren’t many conveyor belt options in central London. That’s what she would like. Which apparently, despite it being a mid range chain, makes my daughter an out of touch elitist.
Selfridges have a Yo Sushi - I walk past it once a fortnight.
Yes, that’s where we’re going.
Not a big fan of sushi personally. It’s just rice, with stuff.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
I find Yo Sushi a bit disappointing generally. Maybe it's better when done fresh on site.
She's 12 though and wanting the conveyor belt novelty, so her call. Have a Happy Bithday!
Exactly. There aren’t many conveyor belt options in central London. That’s what she would like. Which apparently, despite it being a mid range chain, makes my daughter an out of touch elitist.
Selfridges have a Yo Sushi - I walk past it once a fortnight.
Yes, that’s where we’re going.
Not a big fan of sushi personally. It’s just rice, with stuff.
I am going to Japan shortly, shall I pass on your opinion to them.....
So, I have diligently read this thread but I still can't work out what the Deputy Leader of the Labour party is for. They are not Deputy PM when in power, they don't even have to be in the Cabinet if the leader doesn't want them and it might be inferred from her very recent sacking that Starmer does not want Lucy Powell.
It is a position elected by the membership so it has its own power base but its purpose other than to mildly annoy the leader and to take over whilst a new leader is being elected remains obscure. What Powell seems to offer is a chance to snub the current leader/PM who has fairly consistently making an arse of himself and recently switched around much of his cabinet for no obvious purpose. Which seems somewhat inimical to a functioning government. As if we did not have enough problems in that direction already.
If ever. The F35 purchase, and the carriers which justified it, were a dreadful decision for UK defence capacity.
Now we're going to be forced to spend more billions on US kit to make the F35B semi-useful.
when i was SoS i told the US we would buy no more F35 unless the Meteor integration was bought forward. The time table was then changed. Now it has gone backwards. It is remarkable how quickly a Raytheon missile can be integrated……. https://x.com/BenWallace70/status/1966462661194850356
I’ve heard stuff in recent days that could end Starmer
Stop being pathetic and say what it is, instead of this feeble innuendo.
The ‘I know something you don’t’ tendency is utterly tedious. It’s not just Leon.
Either tell us or STFU.
I remember before the 92 election someone I worked with claimed that he knew people who had stuff on Neil Kinnock and if he was close in the election campaign it would come out and he’d be finished due to the scandal and so would Labour be.
Suffice to say it was total bollocks and there was nothing on him.
Large pinch of salt needed.
I won’t DM @JosiasJessop because he’s so boring. But if you want I will DM you (Snip)
Is it the one about how one of your books influenced Anders Brevik into his hideous murders? You've claimed that in the past...
I see reports Downing Street is briefing that Keir Starmer has full confidence in his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. Given the PM’s record that suggests he will not be long in his current post.
So, I have diligently read this thread but I still can't work out what the Deputy Leader of the Labour party is for. They are not Deputy PM when in power, they don't even have to be in the Cabinet if the leader doesn't want them and it might be inferred from her very recent sacking that Starmer does not want Lucy Powell.
It is a position elected by the membership so it has its own power base but its purpose other than to mildly annoy the leader and to take over whilst a new leader is being elected remains obscure. What Powell seems to offer is a chance to snub the current leader/PM who has fairly consistently making an arse of himself and recently switched around much of his cabinet for no obvious purpose. Which seems somewhat inimical to a functioning government. As if we did not have enough problems in that direction already.
The purpose is fairly irrelevant; it's just there in the party's constitution. But it matters, every once in a while, when the party is in crisis.
I’ve heard stuff in recent days that could end Starmer
Stop being pathetic and say what it is, instead of this feeble innuendo.
The ‘I know something you don’t’ tendency is utterly tedious. It’s not just Leon.
Either tell us or STFU.
I remember before the 92 election someone I worked with claimed that he knew people who had stuff on Neil Kinnock and if he was close in the election campaign it would come out and he’d be finished due to the scandal and so would Labour be.
Suffice to say it was total bollocks and there was nothing on him.
Large pinch of salt needed.
I won’t DM @JosiasJessop because he’s so boring. But if you want I will DM you (Snip)
Is it the one about how one of your books influenced Anders Brevik into his hideous murders? You've claimed that in the past...
While the US government is engaged in purging anyone who said something off colour about the recent assassination, what are the odds this guy loses his job ? Or even apologises.
I was reading the Beeb report on the MP office fire, and saw that they will have a Newton hearing to determine whether the arson was intentional (he says he started the fire on purpose, but didn't plan to burn down the building)
I've not heard of a Newton hearing, so looked it up. Seems to be like a meta-trial, without the jury, to establish a contested fact in the charge
Named after R v Newton 1983 case, when the defendant admitted buggery but claimed that his wife had consented; does anyone know how that worked out?
New - PM explicitly asked Mandelson about links to Epstein before he gave him US job - D Street asked 3 Qs about flat stay, charity, and why he carried on friendship after Epstein's conviction - 2 sources say Mandelson told No 10 he did NOT stay in apartment while Epstein was in jail in 2009 - No 10 believes now he was overall 'economical with the truth' More online soon...
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
You’d think the PM might have worked out by now that his advice is garbage .
The appointment of Imogen Walker, McSweeney’s wife, to assistant whip prompted accusations from some of her colleagues that it was tantamount to a No 10 power grab. “Morgan’s taking over big time”, one told PoliticsHome.
I know it shouldn't matter these days but it seems bonkers more common amongst politicians to have differing surnames in a marriage compared to the general public.
Powell too doesn't use her husbands name.
Changing name on marriage is a bit old school nowadays.
There’s the slightly nouv double barrelling thing. I imagine there are tiffs over which comes first.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Why on earth should she
This is raw politics and she can claim she took down Mandelson
Do you really think Labour would pussy foot around this if it was a tory ?
If ever. The F35 purchase, and the carriers which justified it, were a dreadful decision for UK defence capacity.
Now we're going to be forced to spend more billions on US kit to make the F35B semi-useful.
During the Brexit negotiations I mooted the idea of trying to break the deadlock by giving the EU one of those carriers as the EU Navy flagship. A symbolical sacrifice and act of penance to soothe the savage breast. All we'd have lost is a white elephant, and they could have felt good by hanging it with star spangled bunting.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Why on earth should she
This is raw politics and she can claim she took down Mandelson
Do you really think Labour would pussy foot around this if it was a tory ?
You are my favourite amti-Starmer poster now. It used to be Urquhart but he's not got your doggedness and momentum.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Oh, give over. There are VERY pertinent questions for Kemi to ask on who knew what about the vetting of Mandelson - and when. Starmer is very fortunate there are no PMQs during the conference season. He is in a very sticky spot - and unless something drastic happens in the meantime, those questions will still be valid in October. That gives plenty of time for Starmer's team to get their story straight - but only if that story doesn't collapse under scrutiny.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
I think it was @OnlyLivingBoy snark that he as throwing turnips at
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Why on earth should she
This is raw politics and she can claim she took down Mandelson
Do you really think Labour would pussy foitot around this if it was a tory ?
You are my favourite amti-Starmer poster now. It used to be Urquhart but he's not got your doggedness and momentum.
Maybe but as I am fairly immobile, in my 80's, and have Sky on together with a subscription to the Guardian with access to other media I am able to see a story and post it
And before you respond with currygate it wasn't just me on the case and many think Starmer got away with
New - PM explicitly asked Mandelson about links to Epstein before he gave him US job - D Street asked 3 Qs about flat stay, charity, and why he carried on friendship after Epstein's conviction - 2 sources say Mandelson told No 10 he did NOT stay in apartment while Epstein was in jail in 2009 - No 10 believes now he was overall 'economical with the truth' More online soon...
Mandy being economical with the truth, I mean its a total shock, if only he had a reputation for such things and therefore massively unsuitable for the role he was given.
My Dad and twelve year old me accidentally strolled through the poll tax riot
We were on a rare trip to London staying at the RAF Club on Piccadilly, and spent the day at the Imperial War Museum, walking both ways. On the way we went through Trafalgar Square, where the crowd was starting to build up, over Waterloo Bridge. On the way back, hoping to avoid it, Dad decided to go over Westminster Bridge and through Parliament Square. Not his wisest ever choice
I saw a fair bit of violence, which was kind of fitting after the War Museum, but don't remember feeling in danger. I think my Dad might have been a bit more worried; he told me not to tell my Mum about how close we'd been to it!
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
It was led by Tommy Robinson and addressed by Bannon, it was a nationalist right rally not just an anti Starmer rally
Did you go along - sounds right up your street ?
No I did not, I do not even vote Reform left alone for Robinson and Advance but it does show he has a following
I'm watching the rally and it's beyond awful. It's mostly been Evangelical Christians mixed in with a load of non British alt right celebs. The alt right are so hypnotised by MAGA and Trump that they can't see that this kind of thing doesn't play well here. They should have had bagpipers, brass bands, Welsh male voice choirs etc.
New - PM explicitly asked Mandelson about links to Epstein before he gave him US job - D Street asked 3 Qs about flat stay, charity, and why he carried on friendship after Epstein's conviction - 2 sources say Mandelson told No 10 he did NOT stay in apartment while Epstein was in jail in 2009 - No 10 believes now he was overall 'economical with the truth' More online soon...
Mandy being economical with the truth, I mean its a total shock, if only he had a reputation for such things and therefore massively unsuitable for the role he was given.
Isn't ability go be economical with the truth one of the main requirements of diplomacy?
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
It was led by Tommy Robinson and addressed by Bannon, it was a nationalist right rally not just an anti Starmer rally
Did you go along - sounds right up your street ?
No I did not, I do not even vote Reform left alone for Robinson and Advance but it does show he has a following
I'm watching the rally and it's beyond awful. It's mostly been Evangelical Christians mixed in with a load of non British alt right celebs. The alt right are so hypnotised by MAGA and Trump that they can't see that this kind of thing doesn't play well here. They should have had bagpipers, brass bands, Welsh male voice choirs etc.
I hope Welsh male voice choirs would avoid it like the plague
New - PM explicitly asked Mandelson about links to Epstein before he gave him US job - D Street asked 3 Qs about flat stay, charity, and why he carried on friendship after Epstein's conviction - 2 sources say Mandelson told No 10 he did NOT stay in apartment while Epstein was in jail in 2009 - No 10 believes now he was overall 'economical with the truth' More online soon...
Mandy being economical with the truth, I mean its a total shock, if only he had a reputation for such things and therefore massively unsuitable for the role he was given.
That is very much chucking Peter Mandelson under the bus, and it will be interesting to see if he takes it or decides to respond.
New - PM explicitly asked Mandelson about links to Epstein before he gave him US job - D Street asked 3 Qs about flat stay, charity, and why he carried on friendship after Epstein's conviction - 2 sources say Mandelson told No 10 he did NOT stay in apartment while Epstein was in jail in 2009 - No 10 believes now he was overall 'economical with the truth' More online soon...
Mandy being economical with the truth, I mean its a total shock, if only he had a reputation for such things and therefore massively unsuitable for the role he was given.
That is very much chucking Peter Mandelson under the bus, and it will be interesting to see if he takes it or decides to respond.
They don't call him the Prince of Darkness for nothing. Unlike Kemi always going two footed in public or Big Dom twattering about it, if he does, he will make sure he has plausible deniability for the sudden found uncomfortable situation that has arisen via anonymous leaks of information to the Times.
Steve Bannon is apparently going to speak at today's far right mob event.
Guardian says Hope not Hate expecting 40,000 to turn out.
I'm hoping they will have all crawled back under their rocks by later this afternoon as I'm going to a wedding in the centre of town. If they kick off at the sight of me and my brown missus I guess I can always pretend to be JD Vance.
And I’m going into the centre for our daughter’s birthday as she wants sushi from a conveyor belt, and the Yo Sushi in Selfridges is bizarrely the closest to where our son’s working at the V&A. I hadn’t banked on coming across a far right demo when we made our plans.
Yikes. Being attacked by fascists while going for sushi is every middle class Metropolitan elitist's worse nightmare.
Sorry I can only like this one once , what a privilged bellend comment that was, totally detached from real life.
Sorry Malcolm, can I just check what you’re saying?
That I’m a privileged bellend because my daughter, on her 12th birthday, would like to go to a sushi place with a conveyor belt. And that the fact we might come across Tommy Robinson in a far right demo might not have been number one on our birthday wish list?
What should I be doing instead? What “real life” do I need to attach myself to? Suggesting our daughter goes for something a bit less foreign, like eels pie and mash, and then join in with the protesters? Would that be suitable real life to you?
Some posters on here really are gratuitously nasty.
I think it was @OnlyLivingBoy snark that he as throwing turnips at
It wasn’t. He was misinterpreting OLB’s joke as snark, and strongly agreeing with it.
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Once, back, in the mid-90s, against a Tory threat to privatise Scottish Water. Tommy Sheridan led the march. I bought his book and he autographed it. Since then, I decided that when I am benevolent dictator of this country I will totally ignore protest marches, so I don't see the point of participating myself any more.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
It was led by Tommy Robinson and addressed by Bannon, it was a nationalist right rally not just an anti Starmer rally
Did you go along - sounds right up your street ?
No I did not, I do not even vote Reform left alone for Robinson and Advance but it does show he has a following
I'm watching the rally and it's beyond awful. It's mostly been Evangelical Christians mixed in with a load of non British alt right celebs. The alt right are so hypnotised by MAGA and Trump that they can't see that this kind of thing doesn't play well here. They should have had bagpipers, brass bands, Welsh male voice choirs etc.
I hope Welsh male voice choirs would avoid it like the plague
You'd hope but they had an evangelical Hakka on earlier so there's always some weirdos who will do it
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Once, back, in the mid-90s, against a Tory threat to privatise Scottish Water. Tommy Sheridan led the march. I bought his book and he autographed it. Since then, I decided that when I am benevolent dictator of this country I will totally ignore protest marches, so I don't see the point of participating myself any more.
I went to a school full of farmers children who were all taken out of school for the Countryside Alliance march. One of them snidely asked me what I did during the march and I told them I'd been breaking into farms. Didn't make me very popular.
You’d think the PM might have worked out by now that his advice is garbage .
The appointment of Imogen Walker, McSweeney’s wife, to assistant whip prompted accusations from some of her colleagues that it was tantamount to a No 10 power grab. “Morgan’s taking over big time”, one told PoliticsHome.
I know it shouldn't matter these days but it seems bonkers more common amongst politicians to have differing surnames in a marriage compared to the general public.
Powell too doesn't use her husbands name.
Changing name on marriage is a bit old school nowadays.
There’s the slightly nouv double barrelling thing. I imagine there are tiffs over which comes first.
Of course, the man could always take his wife's name...
My wife kept her surname (mainly for professional reasons), but we gave our son her surname as his last middle name. Hence not double-barrelled, but preserving her surname in his.
IMV there's no right answer to this, and if a couple cannot agree even this basic thing, their marriage is probably on rocky ground as it is. And it's no-one else's business to judge what they decide.
I reserve the right to judge the people who came up with my favourite name:
Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
The Very Reverend Oliver William Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. Dean of Lincoln cathedral not all that long ago.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Why on earth should she
This is raw politics and she can claim she took down Mandelson
Do you really think Labour would pussy foitot around this if it was a tory ?
You are my favourite amti-Starmer poster now. It used to be Urquhart but he's not got your doggedness and momentum.
Maybe but as I am fairly immobile, in my 80's, and have Sky on together with a subscription to the Guardian with access to other media I am able to see a story and post it
And before you respond with currygate it wasn't just me on the case and many think Starmer got away with
You are on a roll. Perhaps you could relitigate Currygate. Call the police!
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Once, back, in the mid-90s, against a Tory threat to privatise Scottish Water. Tommy Sheridan led the march. I bought his book and he autographed it. Since then, I decided that when I am benevolent dictator of this country I will totally ignore protest marches, so I don't see the point of participating myself any more.
I went to a school full of farmers children who were all taken out of school for the Countryside Alliance march. One of them snidely asked me what I did during the march and I told them I'd been breaking into farms. Didn't make me very popular.
I know a number of people who have been on a demo exactly once. For one group it was the Countryside Alliance over fox hunting. The other group was against going to war with Iraq.
IMHO both groups were right. Both drew large numbers from well outside the usual suspects.
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
Sky News just now is saying Arsenal winning is the only good news for him recently as he is in a lot of trouble and apparently Badenoch has raised the stakes by saying he has 'lied to the nation', not something she could say in the house
Kemi needs to be careful not to overdo it. She doesn't want this to become all about her throwing unsubstantiated claims about.
Why on earth should she
This is raw politics and she can claim she took down Mandelson
Do you really think Labour would pussy foitot around this if it was a tory ?
You are my favourite amti-Starmer poster now. It used to be Urquhart but he's not got your doggedness and momentum.
Maybe but as I am fairly immobile, in my 80's, and have Sky on together with a subscription to the Guardian with access to other media I am able to see a story and post it
And before you respond with currygate it wasn't just me on the case and many think Starmer got away with
You are on a roll. Perhaps you could relitigate Currygate. Call the police!
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
That is a very big amti-Starmer rally.
It was led by Tommy Robinson and addressed by Bannon, it was a nationalist right rally not just an anti Starmer rally
Did you go along - sounds right up your street ?
No I did not, I do not even vote Reform left alone for Robinson and Advance but it does show he has a following
All decent conservatives should distance themselves from all thing's Robinson and Reform
So on current polls that is a third of the voters gone then
As I pointed out to you last night, your team need to go in at Farage and the right of Farage with their Doc Martens polished and ready for action. These people are a source of votes to be wrestled back. They are not your friends. You need to call Farage out for who and what he is.
“When we spend, it increases the value of the business and how much we have to put away,” [said the owner of GPS Marine]. “Nobody wants to invest, everyone is just battening down the hatches and weathering out the storm.
“The really sad thing is that the losers are the guys who work for us. We have had to reduce our head count by 30%.”
I was reading the Beeb report on the MP office fire, and saw that they will have a Newton hearing to determine whether the arson was intentional (he says he started the fire on purpose, but didn't plan to burn down the building)
I've not heard of a Newton hearing, so looked it up. Seems to be like a meta-trial, without the jury, to establish a contested fact in the charge
Named after R v Newton 1983 case, when the defendant admitted buggery but claimed that his wife had consented; does anyone know how that worked out?
When there is a plea of guilty a jury never comes into existence, so any contested matter can't be decided by a jury. If you take manslaughter for example, the sentences actually handed out vary from a suspended sentence to life imprisonment, so establishing the basis of the plea, if prosecution and defence don't more or less agree, can be of maximal importance.
Who knew bringing back Peter Mandelson would all end in tears... Who knew! 😂
Supposing they brought back Boris. Would that end differently?
IMHO Mandelson was brought in as he had no issue in descending into the murky worlds that politicians inhabit and working effectively there on behalf of the UK. The only real issue was that he had gone 'native' as they say.
Who knew bringing back Peter Mandelson would all end in tears... Who knew! 😂
Supposing they brought back Boris. Would that end differently?
IMHO Mandelson was brought in as he had no issue in descending into the murky worlds that politicians inhabit and working effectively there on behalf of the UK. The only real issue was that he had gone 'native' as they say.
I don't for one minute think he was working effectively on behalf of the UK.
His entire career, he has been working effectively on behalf of himself.
When did Number 10 and Keir Starmer become aware of the leaked emails between Lord Mandelson and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?
Here's the best timeline we've been able to pull together. All timing BST
Monday, 15.36
Bloomberg contacts Mandelson about the extraordinary cache of emails. It sends him a 2,000-word front-up email, including extensive details of the messages in which Mandelson expressed love and support for Epstein after his conviction. Mandelson does not respond
Tuesday
Early on Tuesday morning senior figures in the Foreign Office become aware of the Bloomberg front up and the emails. The Foreign Office notifies Number 10
At this point senior figures in both Number 10 and the Foreign Office are aware of the emails and have a detailed readout of their contents
Sir Oliver Robbins, perm sec at the foreign office, is tasked with getting a response from Lord Mandelson
Mandelson urges Number 10 'not to wobble'. One govt source says he is 'incredibly dismissive'. He does not respond formally to Robbins's questions
Bloomberg contacts Mandelson again, giving him an extended deadline of 10pm on Wednesday to respond with a comment. That email also receives no response
In the meantime Mandelson takes matters into his own hands. He presses ahead with a pre-planned interview with The Sun which he now wants to use as a vehicle to get ahead of the story
The foreign office is said to have urged him not to. He decided to do so anyway
On Tuesday night Mandelson goes ahead with the interview. He says that he deeply regrets his links to Epstein and apologises
More significantly he reveals the existence of the emails and discloses that they will be published in due course. He says they are 'very embarrassing'
He suggests he was a victim of Epstein and fell for the lies of the 'charismatic' paedophile
Mandelson's interview with The Sun is broadcast. At this point Number 10 is aware of the emails, their contents and the fact that Mandelson is verifying their existence on the record in a broadcast interview
Bloomberg messages Mandelson on WhatsApp on both his US and UK mobiles, asking him to respond to the questions he had been sent. 'I don't know what these emails are or where they come from,' he replied
He asked Bloomberg how it had obtained them
Wednesday, 12.05
Keir Starmer is pressed by Kemi Badenoch over Lord Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein
Starmer gives a forthright defence of Mandelson, expressing his full confidence
'The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with Epstein, and he is right to do so. I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship'
Wednesday, 3.49pm
Bloomberg messages Mandelson about the emails again. 'I am taking advice on legalities and will revert'
Wednesday, 4.50pm
The Sun publishes details of some of the emails that were originally obtained by Bloomberg News. It says they were circulating around Washington DC. They include three of the most damaging emails
Lord Mandelson does not dispute the veracity of the messages
Wednesday, 8.45pm
Bloomberg publishes the full emails. They are part of a wider cache of 18,000 emails from Epstein. Epstein messaged Mandelson on a now defunct BT Internet email address
'I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,' Mandelson says in one. 'I can barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain'
Thursday, 10am
Starmer has a meeting in Downing Street with Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, and Johnny Reynolds, the chief whip, with one item on the agenda - Lord Mandelson's future
Reynolds says he has been inundated with messages from concerned backbenchers - more than 50 have been in contact. 'The PLP won't wear it,' he says
Starmer decides to sack him, but there are two problems
First, it is early in the morning in Washington and Mandelson is asleep. There is a delay while Olly Robbins calls the US residence and aides wake Mandelson. It means that the announcement in the Commons is also delayed, with ministers also having to stall for time
Second, Mandelson may no longer be ambassador but he has not been sacked. He remains a government employee
By choosing not to resign he has forced the government to find legal grounds to sack him or pay him compensation for losing his job. He could be in line for a six figure settlement
Number 10 says that Starmer first read the emails that evening and found them 'reprehensible'. It says the information in the emails is 'materially different' from what was known at the time of Mandelson's appointment and that the emails 'only emerged in the last 24 hours or so'
The Times is told that both the Foreign Office and Number 10 were aware of the Bloomberg front up message on Tuesday morning
Government sources say that Starmer was not **aware** of the messages when he spoke at PMQs. This has yet to be confirmed on the record by No 10
This is the best timetable we've been able to pull together from multiple sources in government
I'm told that there are several different timelines circulating in government which are still being worked on
Number 10 and the foreign office will now come under mounting pressure to disclose exactly what it knew, and more importantly who knew, about the emails
The Times is told that both the Foreign Office and Number 10 were aware of the Bloomberg front up message on Tuesday morning
Government sources say that Starmer was not **aware** of the messages when he spoke at PMQs. This has yet to be confirmed on the record by No 10
This is the best timetable we've been able to pull together from multiple sources in government
I'm told that there are several different timelines circulating in government which are still being worked on
Number 10 and the foreign office will now come under mounting pressure to disclose exactly what it knew, and more importantly who knew, about the emails
How the flying feck do Capita/ TV Licencing get away with this? I get at least one dodgy letter a month from them, but this is pure bollocks.
I keep an eye on a TV free second home that belongs to a friend. He has been receiving monthly letters for over 26 years, but as far as we know, none of the frequently threatened visits has ever occurred.
How the flying feck do Capita/ TV Licencing get away with this? I get at least one dodgy letter a month from them, but this is pure bollocks.
It's infuriating. I get letters like that, and worse, regularly. If a private individual behaved like this they're rightly be open to a charge of demanding money with menaces.
I suspect there are lots of older and vulnerable people paying for licences they don't need because of these risible threats.
Out of curiosity, have any PBers been on a protest march?
Inadvertently. Was heading into downtown Athens and found this lot beside me. It was billed as a General Strike but quite a few places were working including some very ratty staff at the Post Office where I was trying to collect a parcel I'd sent forward.
Was all over by lunchtime and they all retired to the cafe for a post-strike drink.
Comments
Kemi knew, but she knew about Rayner before Starmer did.
The hard thing about Starmer and Ed Davey that you have to get your head around is, they really are stupid. They don't have the intellect to just be pretending to be stupid.
https://x.com/CrimeLdn/status/1966838440776929733
I went into a Sainsburys the other day and they had fitted these massive airport style detector arches. And it was in a posh town too.
Its quite hard to convince the public crime is down, best time ever to be alive, when you pop down the shops and see this kind of stuff. The optics for the government / police being in charge of the situation is terrible.
In the late nineties I went for a dirty weekend with a gf to a hotel in central London. After we checked out on the Sunday morning, we found the Countryside March going past the front door. We felt "what the hell!" and joined in, ending up joining a friendly family who shared strawberries and champagne in ?Hyde Park?.
About five years earlier, I was on a D6 bus on the Isle of Dogs. The bus was stuck behind a BNP march after Derek Beackon was elected. The 'march' was about half a dozen sad-looking men, and were massively outnumbered by the police. There were not many counter-protestors about, perhaps because the whole event looked so sad.
Whereas spirit and wine and beer will be in him.
(Hopefully it will have been obvious to you that my comment was a joke, from one metropolitan elitist to another).
I ended up at an EDL protest in Manchester in 2009.
The really upsetting thing, I was wearing genuine Burberry and those fuckers were wearing knock off stuff.
The trip from Manchester Piccadilly to the Midland Hotel was an experience, with my then future wife to be, who was very white.
I was in Trebinje yesterday and apart from the overt Serb nationalism I loved it. A stunning location and a genuine Ottoman bridge (unlike Mostar). Also an Orthodox church built on a prominent hill as a bequest by a wealthy Serb in the USA in 1943, but not able to be realised until 2000 due to, as the explanation delicately put it, due to "difficult historical circumstances".
Puts our politics into perspective.
Another said, “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao”,“Bella ciao” was an Italian song dedicated to those who fought against fascism during World War II.
Caution, this is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen as the tweet includes video footage, I will never again criticise people who put pineapple on pizza.
There is a pizza in Brazil topped with ants, known as tanajura pizza, which features the flying leafcutter ants,
a seasonal delicacy harvested during their swarms in April and May.
https://x.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1966601145360490798
Colombia's highest court has ruled that Meta violated a porn star's right to freedom of expression when it deleted her Instagram account.
The South American nation's Constitutional Court said on Friday that the tech firm had removed Esperanza Gómez's account "without a clear and transparent justification" and without offering similar treatment to other, similar accounts.
The 45-year-old, whose account had more than five million followers, is one of Colombia's best known adult content actresses.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8wlxwy1exo
(By that stage, ETA was on its last legs militarily, and going for horribly soft targets, with lots of collateral damage.)
It simply wasn't on, and the Spanish people (and an expat scientist) came out onto the streets to say so.
I know, padre centristo...
Even on Amazon Gold Blend 200g is £6.75. Not actually expensive per cup, but it's one of those things which feels expensive when it comes time to buy it.
https://bsky.app/profile/alastairmeeks.bsky.social/post/3lyn2fdygps2b
There was a nice atmosphere. Interesting fact: you always get lots of nice looking girls on left wing demos. Probably more than on EDL marches. Lots of very funny very British placards. The sheer number of people was awe inspiring, proper hairs on the back of your neck stuff. Afterwards we ended up in Hyde Park I think and there were some speeches.
Marches can be a bit slow sometimes. A lot of pauses. I always feel a bit self conscious shouting slogans in the street. But you tend to get less inhibited as time goes on. It's quite cathartic feeling like something you feel deeply about is also felt deeply about by thousands of other people.
On one level the whole thing was pointless but it felt important to be there and speak out against what seemed like unspeakable folly. I'm glad I went.
Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
Not a big fan of sushi personally. It’s just rice, with stuff.
Integration of Spear 3 and Meteor has slipped until the early 2030s.
https://x.com/UKForcesTracker/status/1966398413144027266
If ever.
The F35 purchase, and the carriers which justified it, were a dreadful decision for UK defence capacity.
Now we're going to be forced to spend more billions on US kit to make the F35B semi-useful.
It is a position elected by the membership so it has its own power base but its purpose other than to mildly annoy the leader and to take over whilst a new leader is being elected remains obscure. What Powell seems to offer is a chance to snub the current leader/PM who has fairly consistently making an arse of himself and recently switched around much of his cabinet for no obvious purpose. Which seems somewhat inimical to a functioning government. As if we did not have enough problems in that direction already.
https://x.com/BenWallace70/status/1966462661194850356
https://x.com/afneil/status/1966819399798510053
Prince Andrew Drama | Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbjZaq9JdV8
I don't know if it'll have the same energy they did with Look 20 years ago.
But it matters, every once in a while, when the party is in crisis.
If Benn had beaten Healey back in 1981, the SDP might well have taken Labour's place in the FPTP duopoly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Labour_Party_deputy_leadership_election
Or even apologises.
A Fox News anchor saying "Or involuntary lethal injection or something just kill them" about people living on the streets live on air.
https://x.com/ahouse4all/status/1966549930845368802
Met Police estimate around 110,000 attending the Unite the Kingdom rally
I've not heard of a Newton hearing, so looked it up. Seems to be like a meta-trial, without the jury, to establish a contested fact in the charge
Named after R v Newton 1983 case, when the defendant admitted buggery but claimed that his wife had consented; does anyone know how that worked out?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_hearing
you could write an entire book about this post and I will for the right price
https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social/post/3lyo35z23mk2j
New - PM explicitly asked Mandelson about links to Epstein before he gave him US job
- D Street asked 3 Qs about flat stay, charity, and why he carried on friendship after Epstein's conviction
- 2 sources say Mandelson told No 10 he did NOT stay in apartment while Epstein was in jail in 2009
- No 10 believes now he was overall 'economical with the truth'
More online soon...
As I said at the time, Starmer should have bitten Farage's hand off.
This is raw politics and she can claim she took down Mandelson
Do you really think Labour would pussy foot around this if it was a tory ?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/13/keir-starmer-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein-emails?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
And before you respond with currygate it wasn't just me on the case and many think Starmer got away with
We were on a rare trip to London staying at the RAF Club on Piccadilly, and spent the day at the Imperial War Museum, walking both ways. On the way we went through Trafalgar Square, where the crowd was starting to build up, over Waterloo Bridge. On the way back, hoping to avoid it, Dad decided to go over Westminster Bridge and through Parliament Square. Not his wisest ever choice
I saw a fair bit of violence, which was kind of fitting after the War Museum, but don't remember feeling in danger. I think my Dad might have been a bit more worried; he told me not to tell my Mum about how close we'd been to it!
I get at least one dodgy letter a month from them, but this is pure bollocks.
Tommy Sheridan led the march. I bought his book and he autographed it.
Since then, I decided that when I am benevolent dictator of this country I will totally ignore protest marches, so I don't see the point of participating myself any more.
IMHO both groups were right. Both drew large numbers from well outside the usual suspects.
“When we spend, it increases the value of the business and how much we have to put away,” [said the owner of GPS Marine]. “Nobody wants to invest, everyone is just battening down the hatches and weathering out the storm.
“The really sad thing is that the losers are the guys who work for us. We have had to reduce our head count by 30%.”
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/sep/13/wealthy-parents-rush-to-give-children-their-assets-as-tougher-uk-inheritance-tax-rules-loom
IMHO Mandelson was brought in as he had no issue in descending into the murky worlds that politicians inhabit and working effectively there on behalf of the UK. The only real issue was that he had gone 'native' as they say.
His entire career, he has been working effectively on behalf of himself.
When did Number 10 and Keir Starmer become aware of the leaked emails between Lord Mandelson and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?
Here's the best timeline we've been able to pull together. All timing BST
Monday, 15.36
Bloomberg contacts Mandelson about the extraordinary cache of emails. It sends him a 2,000-word front-up email, including extensive details of the messages in which Mandelson expressed love and support for Epstein after his conviction. Mandelson does not respond
Tuesday
Early on Tuesday morning senior figures in the Foreign Office become aware of the Bloomberg front up and the emails. The Foreign Office notifies Number 10
At this point senior figures in both Number 10 and the Foreign Office are aware of the emails and have a detailed readout of their contents
Sir Oliver Robbins, perm sec at the foreign office, is tasked with getting a response from Lord Mandelson
Mandelson urges Number 10 'not to wobble'. One govt source says he is 'incredibly dismissive'. He does not respond formally to Robbins's questions
Bloomberg contacts Mandelson again, giving him an extended deadline of 10pm on Wednesday to respond with a comment. That email also receives no response
In the meantime Mandelson takes matters into his own hands. He presses ahead with a pre-planned interview with The Sun which he now wants to use as a vehicle to get ahead of the story
The foreign office is said to have urged him not to. He decided to do so anyway
On Tuesday night Mandelson goes ahead with the interview. He says that he deeply regrets his links to Epstein and apologises
More significantly he reveals the existence of the emails and discloses that they will be published in due course. He says they are 'very embarrassing'
He suggests he was a victim of Epstein and fell for the lies of the 'charismatic' paedophile
Mandelson's interview with The Sun is broadcast. At this point Number 10 is aware of the emails, their contents and the fact that Mandelson is verifying their existence on the record in a broadcast interview
Bloomberg messages Mandelson on WhatsApp on both his US and UK mobiles, asking him to respond to the questions he had been sent. 'I don't know what these emails are or where they come from,' he replied
He asked Bloomberg how it had obtained them
Wednesday, 12.05
Keir Starmer is pressed by Kemi Badenoch over Lord Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein
Starmer gives a forthright defence of Mandelson, expressing his full confidence
'The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with Epstein, and he is right to do so. I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship'
Wednesday, 3.49pm
Bloomberg messages Mandelson about the emails again. 'I am taking advice on legalities and will revert'
Wednesday, 4.50pm
The Sun publishes details of some of the emails that were originally obtained by Bloomberg News. It says they were circulating around Washington DC. They include three of the most damaging emails
Lord Mandelson does not dispute the veracity of the messages
Wednesday, 8.45pm
Bloomberg publishes the full emails. They are part of a wider cache of 18,000 emails from Epstein. Epstein messaged Mandelson on a now defunct BT Internet email address
'I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,' Mandelson says in one. 'I can barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain'
Thursday, 10am
Starmer has a meeting in Downing Street with Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, and Johnny Reynolds, the chief whip, with one item on the agenda - Lord Mandelson's future
Reynolds says he has been inundated with messages from concerned backbenchers - more than 50 have been in contact. 'The PLP won't wear it,' he says
Starmer decides to sack him, but there are two problems
First, it is early in the morning in Washington and Mandelson is asleep. There is a delay while Olly Robbins calls the US residence and aides wake Mandelson. It means that the announcement in the Commons is also delayed, with ministers also having to stall for time
Second, Mandelson may no longer be ambassador but he has not been sacked. He remains a government employee
By choosing not to resign he has forced the government to find legal grounds to sack him or pay him compensation for losing his job. He could be in line for a six figure settlement
Number 10 says that Starmer first read the emails that evening and found them 'reprehensible'. It says the information in the emails is 'materially different' from what was known at the time of Mandelson's appointment and that the emails 'only emerged in the last 24 hours or so'
The Times is told that both the Foreign Office and Number 10 were aware of the Bloomberg front up message on Tuesday morning
Government sources say that Starmer was not **aware** of the messages when he spoke at PMQs. This has yet to be confirmed on the record by No 10
This is the best timetable we've been able to pull together from multiple sources in government
I'm told that there are several different timelines circulating in government which are still being worked on
Number 10 and the foreign office will now come under mounting pressure to disclose exactly what it knew, and more importantly who knew, about the emails
Telegraph reporting one in one out flights will start on Monday but will this be lost in the story of Labour's meltdown ?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/sep/13/can-keir-survive-inside-the-plot-to-bring-down-the-prime-minister?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
I suspect there are lots of older and vulnerable people paying for licences they don't need because of these risible threats.
Was all over by lunchtime and they all retired to the cafe for a post-strike drink.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greek-workers-strike-over-soaring-prices-low-wages-2022-04-06/