The Coffee House Wall – 22nd/28th February

Posted on February 23, 2016

This is the Coffee House Wall for this week. I won’t say that it is your chance to communicate with us, as we are all in this together. It is, nevertheless, the Conservative Blog post that has no particular theme, and where everything is on topic. Let’s just remember that we want to avoid ad hominem attacks on others. We don’t want to engage with trolls. We want to moderate our language ourselves as responsible and mature adults, choosing to use fruity language only where it is necessary. This is our opportunity to show what the Spectator Coffee House Wall could have been like.

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242 thoughts on “The Coffee House Wall – 22nd/28th February”

  3. Frank P
    February 23rd, 2016 – 15:42
    Oh dear, and I thought we were friends. What does your link tell
    me?

  4. Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/23/biological-man-set-to-become-national-student-womens-representative/

    “Anna Lee describes himself as a “queer trans disabled lesbian woman”, and is currently the LGBT officer at Lancaster University Student Union, having already spent two years on the national women’s committee. Last year, Mr. Lee won a battle to share toilets(*) with biological women at his University, despite being quite open about his sexual interest in them and retaining all his male biology.”

    (*) I’m surprised that Noa allows this sort of thing on his patch…

  6. Sorry Anne, I was looking for an excuse to launch that video parable and my twisted mind used your little quip as a springboard. You of course need no reminder that the snakes are already among us and I doubt you would take one to your bosom. Problem is, there are lots of barmy bastards who are keen on importing them by the millions.

  8. Herbert Thornton @ 16:53

    The only mutation of God the barbarian can think of (an obvious one anyway) is reading the word backward, Herbert.

    On resemblance:

    Has anyone noticed the similarity between Boris and Winston, the man the blond pretender admires so much? And not only physical – medium height, well endowed body, slightly hunched back neck – but historical, too.

    In 1939, a man residing in no10 flies back from the Continent with a piece of paper intended to save Britain (and the world) from being taken over by the might of Germany, the deal isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, Winston takes over, after years of pain, suffering and death, he succeeds in keeping Britain free and sovereign, he himself joins the ranks of the Greats .

    Three generations later, a boy, also PM, flies back from the Continent with a piece of paper of a deal to save Britain from being taken over by the might of Germany, the deal isn’t worth the paper it’s written on either, Boris takes over, after years of pain, suffering (hopefully no death), he succeeds in keeping Britain free and sovereign, he himself also joins the ranks of the Greats.

  12. Baron

    “well endowed”?

    Personally, I don’t have that kind of information about either of them.

  15. All right, all right, but you cannot deny some similarity: Britain under pressure, sovereignty at stake, trips to the Continent, pieces of paper, failures of the going PMs, a new man takes over, harsh fighting ensues, Britain victorious, free, the man in charge a hero, no?

    If only Boris saw the pictures who could give the same greeting, Malfleur.

  17. Malfleur @ 21:47

    The meaning here isn’t the one you have in mind, Malfeur, it also refers to one’s wealth, assets, money.

  18. EC @ 22:29

    How unfair could one get, EC? Forget the bloody bike, you may as well go for the stick, fashionable then, not now, or the cigar. It’s the 21st century, we’ve moved on.

    It’s the similarity of political essence of the two cases, not the trappings either man favours.

  19. EC @ 22:35

    In no way would the barbarian accept the rag’s satire demolishes his case, EC. History never repeats itself word for word. Or did you expect for it to work then both men to be called Winston, smoke cigars, paint, ride bikes ….

    The second Boris’s stage isn’t finished yet, we must wait what happens in June and later. Have patience, young sir, the old lady hasn’t yet sung.

  20. Peter f. M.

    Could you please put a note at the end of the `Comments`each week saying `Go to the latest CHW.(click below)` ?…..as I sometimes miss this.

    Doe’s anybody else do this and wonder where everone has gone,with no new enteries?

  21. Baron – 22:43 & 22:51

    Just having a bit of fun, Baron. Remember that?
    It was Boris and his bikes that set me off…

  22. EC @ 22:35

    Ah! The Beano! – and The Dandy!

    Stations on the road to Shakespeare, graduating through The Hotspur and The Wizard!

  23. “…In Great Britain, the defection from the Conservative government of the very colorful mayor of London, Boris Johnson, probably the most popular political figure in the country, to lead the campaign to take Britain out of the European Union has the makings of a decisive setback for the European federalist idea, and of a new turning for Britain — which remains one of the world’s most important countries, fifth in GDP, and one of only four to six countries with a seriously deliverable nuclear military capacity. If Britain were to chart a new course, with associate common-market status with Europe, and with enhanced economic and political cooperation with its historic allies in the Commonwealth of Nations, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and Singapore, it could be a co-leader of a fairly coherent and important force in the world, with combined GDP of about $9 trillion (90 percent of China’s, and larger than Germany and Japan combined). Such a grouping would have a political status unscarred by the sort of horrible outrages that still besmirch the respectability of the Russians, Chinese, and even the Germans and Japanese.” [continued]

    This is Conrad Black in New English Review.

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/63675/Trump-is-Rising—-and-so-is-Boris-Johnson

    By the way, why does no one ever seem to post comments following articles in that excellent magazine?

  24. Roger Stone, a long-time friend and a political adviser of Donald Trump jas just been banned by ‘dead-man-walking’ TV channel, CNN.

    Stone’s book, Jeb and the Bush Crime Family, suggests that Conrad Black’s comments on that family in my previous post have had all the pubic hair, as it were, air-brushed out.

    Interviews with Roger Stone can be found on Prison Planet and Infowars.

  25. Malfleur at 00-00 :24 Feb.

    The Wizard:
    What would that be…about 12,000 words per week of close type for secondary school boys….and there were three others like it,all published in the Beano-size format.

    By the age of twelve most boys were up to this reading standard after simply old-fashioned schooling.

    In (say) 1959 most pupils in the last year of Junior School would be able to read: “Just William”;”Biggles”;the cadet version (minus the sex scenes) of “The Cruel Sea”…….And “The Diary of Anne Frank”.

  26. Frank P : 22 Feb at 21-00

    Unfortunately I can no longer find the photo of Lord Salisbury (PM in the late years of Victoria) riding his tricycle around central London;large Victorian gentleman’s beard an-all.

  27. This alien company `Cadbury` recall products.

    Since being taken over by American interest the quality of their products have declined.
    When it comes to the £5 tins of Roses Chocs……you can find small packets of Thorntons at £1 a time which together cost little more then Roses (in £ shops and Wilkos)…..along with Supermarkets own brands;and other independent companies (often in £ shops)….or just the `misshapes in £ shops…….not to mention the products in ALDI….equivalents of Bounty and other brands,along with quality foreign marks.
    We don’t need Cadburys;it is just the brand marketing that keeps it going.

  28. Malfleur
    February 24th, 2016 – 00:14

    You indicate that the piece your link leads to is by Conrad Black.

    I’ve read it. But can it really have been written by Conrad Black?

    To my mind the style of the writing feels considerably different from Black’s.

  29. Herbert Thornton

    I was surprised to see that article do such a snow job on the Bushes. I singled it out for Conrad Black’s view that there is life after Brexit. It may be however that either he has a new major defect in his judgement or that we have awakened from Old Error into Trumpery, because here is an article by Black as recent as February 16th in that decidedly RINO publication, National Review, which sees the Jeb candidacy as on the rise.

    Perhaps a question in the Comments section might resolve the matter!

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431387/donald-trump-strong-jeb-bush-rises-south-carolina

    Trump, you may have seen, has now added a call for an audit of the so-called United States Federal Reserve Bank and the questions of a /11 Truther to an assertion that Hillary Clinton committed a crime in the email affair. A brave and honourable man, but I hope he accepts no invitation from however close a friend to go blue quail hunting in South Texas.

  31. Radford NG 2300
    I did the same:

    Fergus Pickering
    February 24th, 2016 – 07:25

    Continental Drift

    Today military men
    Lie their way through Number Ten.

    Tectonic plates drifting south
    People left to feed, hand to mouth.

    Governments shout and bawl
    As yet more legislation is passed for us all.

    Yet more power passed to the European Union
    Unelected bureaucrats force more laws upon us.

    Trade Unions jumping up and down in unison
    It’s only now they realise its costing jobs.

    We’ve got our feet well cemented
    On hallow ground, our ancestors fought for
    Where lives were lost and others dented
    Not to allow more European Union laws through the backdoor.

    Now we have to leave them to it
    We have to let themselves implode
    We need a new set of rules – exquisite
    Otherwise we will lose our natural home.

  32. Does anybody remember Radio Fun and Film Fun? Also, I loved Enid Blyton’s “Sunny Stories” which I was given every Friday night with my comics.

  33. EC @ 23:28

    No need to explain, EC, if anything the poorly educated Slav enjoys hard hitting postings, this is what helps to get the truth of the issue out, not on this issue though, Baron’ only too aware it’s overstretching it, but weirder things have happened, and both were the most popular politicians of their time …. (nuffofthisnonsense0.

  34. Herbert Thornton, February 24th, 2016 – 04:41

    “You indicate that the piece your link leads to is by Conrad Black.”

    The “Conrad Black” banner at the top of the article indicated that.
    I found Black’s ‘comb over’ quite amusing.

  35. Baron – 09:42

    At present, the “OUT” campaign is comprised of two bickering factions. If it stays that way then the “IN” lobby will win. I suppose that it is possible that Boris could save the day by getting them to coalesce around him as the front man. But is that likely? Boris is much better in print than on TV where he is inarticulate and easy meat for the reptiles of the MSM biased in favour of the “IN” campaign.

    The “OUT” campaign needs a leader who’s both articulate, good on TV and knows all the issues inside out. Step forward Mr. Farage, PLEASE!

    As things stand, imo, OUR only hope is that Dave appoints George Osborne his front man / chief salesman for the sale of the century.

  36. Radford NG – 02:01

    Your revelation that Uncle Bob was a cycling enthusiast confirms my deepest suspicions about him!

  37. anne wotana kaye
    February 24th, 2016 – 09:23
    “Does anybody remember Radio Fun and Film Fun? Also, I loved Enid Blyton’s “Sunny Stories” which I was given every Friday night with my comics”.

    Anne, when I was very young, in the 1940s, I used to adore “Sunny Stories”, and when I was a bit older, “Girls Crystal”, plus of course the Beano & Dandy.

    My reading nowadays, owing to limited vision, is mostly of ebooks, which for me have the great blessing of allowing the print to be enlarged. I wonder why present-day paperback fiction books are mostly in decent size print, whereas non-fiction is nearly always in unreadably small print, and the more serious the subject, the smaller the print gets, almost as if the publishers don’t want you to read it.

  38. EC
    February 24th, 2016 – 09:59

    I checked back three times looking for the Conrad Black banner. It was only on the third attempt that I saw it!

    My wife’s been telling me for at least a year that I need new glasses.

  39. Having been distracted with domestic duties and clinical imperatives, when I finally clicked into this site I expected it to be buzzing with fury over the front page of the DTel. (Pay-wall)

    A list of clapped out generals, obviously all with their fingers in the bunce of the military industrial complex have all signed a letter saying “We are safer in Europe”.

    ” Brexit would leave Britain vulnerable to the threats of Isil and Russia”, say Military Chiefs.

    What!!

    Why?? Does this mean that you old bastards have depleted our military capability so comprehensively that we are a spent force and now have to rely on the frogs, the gerries and the eyeties to defend the country that got them out of the shit 1939-45?

    Treasonous propaganda. Bramhall of all people. Was this the deal??

    Cameron out!!

    Be brave and Brexit!

    More later when I’ve fisked this scaremongering Shite!!

  41. I share your disgust, Frank. In fact this whole business of multi-signatory letters by groups of meddling panjandrums of one sort or another attempting to influence what happens in this country pisses me off. Since it most unlikely that this gang of superannuated political appointees would suspend their internecine back stabbing and jealousies long enough to organise themselves sufficiently to sign the pretence of a jointly written letter it must have been orchestrated by someone. And the public deserve to know by whom and why – and when.

    Fat chance of any idle bubble-dwelling bastard in the media investigating that. It doesn’t take much guessing though. One of Vichy Dave’s ghastly cronies or wonks would have drafted it, since it contains all the scaremongering elements that useless uber pundit has been peddling lately. Then there would have been the usual ring round to secure signatories with God’s know what inducements, promises or threats. And it would have been organised long before Vichy Dave’s charade in Brussels in order for it to be released, carefully timed, to reinforce his spin. The fantastic thing about this piece of outrageous theatre is the way the media follow its stench with such gullibility, as though the story is the opinions pretended rather than the fabrication perpetrated. It is a wonder to watch Vichy Dave going through the motions of his third rate corporate PR spin routine and realising that the media are by and large letting him get away with it. That he should think any sentient being will swallow his crap must be another measure of his insouciant arrogance. I think that I now actually detest him more than Gordon Brown.

    I hope and trust that Vichy Dave and his whole rotten Westminster dung heap get a bloody nose on 23rd June, that the British people give him and his kind – and that gang in Brussels – the proverbial two fingers.

    My attentive fury over Vichy Dave’s continuing pantomime has been somewhat distracted by making the mistake of watching the Black Panthers Storyville documentary on iPlayer. I knew it would be revisionist but the treatment of the Huey Newton case was shocking for what was omitted and the whole thing was a ghastly piece of race huckstering theatre glamorising the gang and promoting its “community” activities. Watching its “veterans” and their useful idiots polishing up the chips on their shoulders was a reminder of just how much of the insanity of the modern West is owed to the Children of the Revolution, now all grown up and infesting the establishment.

  42. EC @ 10:17

    Good point, EC, although is Nigel really the one who could unite not only those who actively campaign, but also those who are undecided, but will vote in the referendum? Boris doesn’t feel like a unifier either, as you say. Who then can do it?

    The best leader would be HM the Queen, as the Head of State she is the ultimate defender of our sovereignty, and the issue transcends politics, no?

  43. Lesley
    February 24th, 2016 – 17:45
    “Girls Crystal” was a great favourite of mine too! I have a Kindle Fire, and buy books (on Amazon) to read. The books are very reasonably priced, and like you I appreciate making the print larger to suit my eyesight. Must admit I miss physically holding a book, but at least I can now read at night, when plagued by insomnia, I no longer feel guilty at disturbing my husband. By the way, there are some excellent non-fiction ebooks, and I think the Kindle is one of the best modern inventions.

  44. Malfleur @ 00:14

    No comment on a posting or link doesn’t imply a lack of endorsement or even interest, Malfelur. Often there is no time to do it.

  45. Frank P @ 20:06

    The barbarian read the letter coming back from London, Frank, for a while entertained the idea of writing to all of them stressing two points:

    It was under their watch our military have been reduced to a level where even the Trooping the Colour event puts them under manpower pressure.

    Their contention that our EU membership furnished additional strength against Russian aggression borders on the moronic. They might have also argued that the said membership also aids fire prevention, boosts potato yields, prevents mosquito bites.

  46. The London Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Boerse are talking, will very likely merge.

    What’s the share the former will hold in the joint company? Just 45.6%.

    Instead LSE fighting for the top slot, as was the plan when London was the undisputed financial centre, the outfit has surrendered to its former rival. Not the first, or the last surrender, Baron reckons.

  47. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek PM says that unless the refugees are equally shared by all EU members, Greece will boycott the EU. Hardened by the recent fighting with the Mutti, he undoubtedly means it.

  48. Some papers in the East speculate about the likely split of Syria into a federal state in three parts – the Syrian secularists chunk (including minorities like the Christians), and the Sunni and the Kurdish segments.

    This may follow the partial ceasefire starting the coming Saturday, agreed between the Americans and Russia, partial because those warring parties that refuse to subscribe to it will still be bombed.

  49. Colonel Mustard @ 21:29

    Good stuff, Colonel.

    Btw, there already is an argument who actually signed the letter.

  50. RobertRetyred has posted some items at the bottom of the last CHW;including a satire on Cameron-speak. (Somebody else confused like Fergus and me.)

  54. Zero Hedge records speculation that ‘inflation and economic growth are supposed to be rising in a world as manipulated by central bankers as this one. Instead, the opposite is taking place’.

    There is a sound argument to be made, however, that the west’s economies, like its military, are being deliberately crashed.

    Baron writes of the proposed merger of the London and Deutsche Börse are ‘not the first, or the last surrender’. The questiom would be to whose flag. While it looks to be the Franco-German racket, or ever closer union by the back door, it seems pretty clear to me that the black hand of the Bilderbergers is at work here, and in the destruction of our military.

    The subtext of the following article from Commentary magazine in which Nixon is seen to have thought the American military had accomplished “Zilch” after dropping 3 million tons of bombs on Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam suggests that forces not clearly identified had a say in whether Nixon continued as president or not.

    https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/bob-woodwards-sins-omission/

    Why we have such difficulty in admitting or at least investigating the possibility that such forces,ostensibly friendly, might be working across borders in the western world to destroy our civilization and enslave our grandchildren, I do not know. What at bottom are after all the much touted “lessons of history”?

    Why have Osborne, Balls , Agius, Ferguson, Flint and the other Britons in attendance not been called to explain the agenda of last year’s Bilderberg Conference? Do we think think there is no connection between these talks and events which followed? Is it not our responsibility to ensure that the minutes of those meetings are not as “interesting” as those of the Wannsee Conference?

  56. The issue was not the amount of bombs dropped on Vietnam, which in any case must be split into the contexts of strategic and tactical bombing, but the restrictions the White House itself placed on the strategic bombing campaigns. Nixon’s scribble was a soundbite simply expressing his frustration but the war was being politically directed and hampered by his regime. It was a “gloves on” war with so many self imposed restrictions and anxieties, especially in the air campaign over North Vietnam, that ultimate failure was unsurprising.

    Both Nixon and Johnson before him were obsessed with how the war was playing domestically, which was basically shaped by an anti-war media, and how it might affect their electability. Neither of them, like Obama, had the resolve to win a war and subordinated strategy to their fear of public opinion – and it was an opinion being manipulated by the vested interests of the Soviet Union and North Vietnam through their many useful idiots in the USA.

    Nixon had no understanding of the realities involved in prosecuting an air campaign against the North Vietnamese. Throughout the conflict Haiphong was off limits to bombing and able to import Soviet arms and munitions without hindrance. The Americans tip-toed around the Chinese, terrified that any attack on Chinese support for the North Vietnamese would escalate the war. Like Obama Nixon signalled withdrawal to placate a domestic disapproval and effectively demoralised every soldier and airman in theatre.

    The whole thing was shambolic from beginning to end in terms of political direction and the 3 million tons of bombs were the least of it.

  57. Other than that there is definitely a “direction” which seems to be governing the political elite to take decisions and pursue policies that are less than protective towards those they should be most responsible for. There seems to be a consensus, a “settled science”, in the views that the politicians share, which is unassailable by events or challenges.

  58. Radford NG

    “”I don’t like to think it of people who took the oath to Her Majesty, but there is sadly a trend of career officers ‘going native’ and becoming part of the Establishment the more time they spend outside of bases and in the Ministry of Defence,” he [Hookem] added.”

    As Baron wrote above at 22:19, “The best leader would be HM the Queen, as the Head of State she is the ultimate defender of our sovereignty, and the issue transcends politics, no?”

    I don’t see how the monarchy stays out of this. It has a dog in the fight, surely, where the EU is dedicated to the dissolution of sovereignty? But perhaps the monarchy doesn’t care…?

  60. Malfleur at 01:07

    I don’t know if the monarchy cares about this or not. What I am certain of is that the monarchy doesn’t seem to have more than a handful of brain cells between them. Whether that is due to inbreeding or the long-term effects of drink and drug use probably makes little difference.

  61. In “The Telegraph” today
    By Agency8:59AM GMT 25 Feb 2016
    A drama teacher who smeared Nutella over the naked body of an infatuated 14-year-old has been jailed for 20 months.
    Prosecutors said Andrew Willson even had the youngster pulled out of a science lesson so they could enjoy a romp at a friend’s house.
    He made sure that the girl was returned to the Rossendale school so she could catch the bus home, so her parents remained unaware, Burnley Crown Court was told.
    SURELY A VERY GOOD ADVERT FOR NUTELLA – PERSONALLY I HATE THE STUFF!!!!

  63. EC
    February 25th, 2016 – 10:37
    Definitely nutty! I hate Nutella, and am a Marmite Lady.
    With all the misery and nasty news, felt like a little light relief.

  66. So 323 thousand come in.
    They keep coming through thick and thin.
    Well stop them today,
    Just as Boris would say.
    Or else we’ll put Dave in the bin.

  67. John birch
    February 25th, 2016 – 07:46
    From the spectator. Tomorrow.
    How on earth is it possible to ever have an agreement among these people.
    The myth of the plucky Kurdish warrior
    Our favourite allies in Iraq and Syria have problems and divisions of their own
    Paul Wood
    Paul-Wood
    27 February 2016
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    On Nawroz, the Persian New Year, last March, Isis sent a holiday greeting to the Kurds. They published several videos of Peshmerga fighters, now prisoners, kneeling, handcuffed and wearing the usual orange jumpsuits. In one video, a prisoner is shot in the back of the head; the rest have their heads sawn off with a knife. In a deliberate twist, no doubt relished by the leadership of the so-called Islamic State, the killers were themselves Kurds. ‘You all know the punishment for anyone who fights the Islamic State,’ says one. ‘It is death.’
    The executioners did not wear masks and were quickly identified by Kurdish intelligence. Retribution followed. In an incredibly risky operation, a small team of Kurdish special forces slipped into Isis-held Mosul and killed one of the men who had wielded the knife. ‘We sent them a message,’ said the Kurdish official who told me about the hit, a tight smile of triumph on his face.
    The Kurds are ‘our plucky allies’, often outgunned by Isis yet still taking the fight to the enemy. If you visit Kurdish northern Iraq, the politicians and their commanders are not just accessible but hospitable. Many speak English, having been refugees in Britain or the US in Saddam’s time. Everyone loves the Kurds and so they have benefited from uncritical, sometimes fawning, coverage of their war with the jihadis. This has led to serious problems being glossed over.
    The war against Isis began badly. During the Isis blitzkrieg two years ago, the vaunted Peshmerga — literally ‘those who face death’ — fell back again and again. A western diplomat told me the first to run were the officers, ‘some with quite famous names’. They fled Sinjar, leaving the Yazidis to their fate. It even seemed as if the Kurdish capital, Erbil, might be abandoned; it was saved only when the US began airstrikes. One analyst explained it by saying that Peshmerga recruits, just like teenagers anywhere, were now more likely to have played Call of Duty than to have fired a real weapon. To some, the myth of the Kurdish mountain warrior was just that.
    I’ve seen the reality first-hand. That summer, while filming a report at a little town called Jalawla, I found myself cornered with half a dozen Peshmerga fighters in a filthy, rubbish-strewn basement, Isis on both sides of the building. For an agonising 15 minutes, it seemed we would be overrun. I crouched on the stairs, looking up in terror. A fighter next to me was shot in the thigh. If we survived the gun battle, all of us expected to end up in the orange jumpsuits. At times, the Peshmerga seemed gripped by panic. I can’t blame them. But such a firefight would probably look very different today, with the Peshmerga’s two years of combat experience.
    The Kurds have pushed Isis back, taking territory they hope will one day form the borders of an independent state. The Arabs who live there are seen as a threat to that ambition. A report from Amnesty International last month is a reminder to western governments that in supporting the Kurds they are intervening to help one side in a civil war. Amnesty accuses Kurdish forces of ‘destroying entire villages’ in areas captured from Isis in northern Iraq, something it says may amount to war crimes. ‘When the Peshmerga retook the village the houses were standing,’ one Arab resident tells Amnesty’s researchers. ‘Later they bulldozed the village. There is nothing left.’ There are dramatic satellite pictures: one before-and-after image of a village shows 95 per cent of the buildings razed.
    The report details such destruction in the countryside around Jalawla, where our frightening brush with Isis took place. A Kurdish general there told me the town and its villages were 90 per cent Arab because Saddam had colonised the place in the 1970s. And most of the Arabs sympathised with Daesh (Isis), he said. He was probably right on both counts. But that makes it no less of a crime that, as one recent visitor to the region told me, houses are daubed with graffiti saying ‘Kurds only — Arabs out.’
    The Kurdish representative in Washington, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, is acutely aware that the West went to war twice, in Bosnia and in Kosovo, over ‘ethnic cleansing’. Brought up in the UK, she was a journalist on the Observer in London at the time. She tells me that where damage has been done, ‘in all cases, either the village has been destroyed by Daesh or by airstrikes.’ She also says that many Arabs chose to leave voluntarily ‘because frankly they know they shouldn’t have been there in the first place’.
    She points out that Kurdish northern Iraq is sheltering more than a million displaced Arabs. Sometimes, ‘the men have gone to the Daesh side and they have sent their women and children to the Peshmerga. They know we will put their women and children somewhere safe and leave them alone… Kurdistan is a multi-ethnic, multi–religious society. Whether we’re part of Iraq, whether we’re independent, we have to live with the Arabs, the Turkmen and everybody else.’
    The Peshmerga are really two different forces loyal to the main Kurdish parties, the KDP and the PUK, which fought each other in the 1990s: ‘the darkest and most shameful period of our history’, Ms Abdul Rahman calls it. There are once again tensions between the two factions. ‘I am not at all convinced that the Kurds’ own civil war is over,’ says Professor Gareth Stansfield, an expert on the subject. This doesn’t mean they are about to stop fighting Isis and (absurdly) start fighting each other. But ‘they’re just a quick step away from reverting back to their old command structure. Everybody knows who is KDP and who is PUK. That’s a very big problem.’
    The fragile accord was nearly ripped apart in the autumn when President Masoud Barzani of the KDP decided to remain in office, despite his second and ‘final’ term having expired in 2013. There were street protests — though they were as much about salaries as the political crisis. The Kurdish economy is in trouble. Oil, the main source of income, has fallen to $30 a barrel, from around $100 when Isis was on the offensive. The central government in Baghdad has stopped sending money to the Kurds. Wages for government workers, including the armed forces, haven’t been paid in months.
    A foreign visitor attended a dinner recently hosted by some senior Kurdish officials. He watched as they uncorked several bottles of Château Margaux, a wine that costs anything from £200 a bottle to £1,200, depending on the vintage. ‘We’re sitting there drinking the Château Margaux and a minister says to me: “We don’t have enough money to pay our Peshmerga.” ’ The dinner had both members of the KDP and the rival PUK present — it’s no surprise that the street protests are directed in part at the whole political class as much as any one party. Diplomats refer delicately to ‘transparency issues’ — that is, corruption. There has yet to be a ‘Kurdish spring’, says Professor Stansfield.
    President Barzani has seized the opportunity presented by Isis, promising to go ahead with a referendum on Kurdish independence. This might have been an attempt to distract people from their economic misery — or he might have been acting on the long-held and deep desire of Kurds for the safety of their own state. Regardless, western governments hope he is not serious, because they have always insisted on the territorial integrity of Iraq. ‘This leaves British policy in a shambles,’ says Professor Stansfield.
    Iraq, though, is simple compared with Syria. There, the US-led coalition is bombing in aid of a Syrian Kurdish militia called the YPG, the most effective ground force against Isis. But the YPG are in a tacit alliance with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. They are advancing not just against Isis but against a range of rebel groups, including some armed by the Americans. In Syria, the US is involved in a proxy war against itself.
    The Turks — whose chief fear is not Isis but Kurdish nationalism — have been shelling the advancing YPG. Which means that the US is backing both a Nato ally and the militia that ally is attacking. The YPG, for its part, may not be too keen on Kurdish independence in Iraq, because they hate President Barzani — who would be father of this new nation — and are allied to the rival PUK. The YPG is more concerned about Turkey than Iraq, which is not surprising given that it is effectively the same organisation as the PKK, the Kurdish nationalist group inside Turkey. Because the PKK is internationally proscribed as a terrorist organisation, Britain and other western governments have to pretend the two — the PKK and the YPG — are different.
    That is a fiction, as Iraq is itself these days, and Syria too. But Iraq is a necessary fiction. The alternative might be truly bloody ‘sectarian cleansing’. One Sunni tribal leader told me he feared the genocide of millions of Sunnis in Baghdad. The truth is that both Iraq and Syria long ago ceased to exist as nations. ‘Iraq is broken,’ says Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman. ‘People talk about, “Oh the Kurds want to break up Iraq…” First of all, it’s broken already, and second, we didn’t break it. It was broken from the day it was created. It’s never worked as a country.’
    The Kurds are putting that belief into action in the disputed territory of their future border. Consumed by the battle against Isis, all that western governments can do is to avert their eyes.
    Paul Wood is a BBC Middle East correspondent.

  68. Frank P
    February 18th, 2016 – 02:17
    …
    “As for the Scalia passing. Alex, as usual jumps OTT with no credible evidence. The worst scenario I would dare to even imagine, is that he may have had ‘company’ which put an added strain on his already overtaxed ticker. That would explain why his family didn’t ask for an autopsy. But even that is scurrilous speculation. Looks to me that his only excesses were food and drink – the greatest mass murderers on the planet. But after 79 years of a good and productive life; a fine family man: WTF?? Let him rest in peace and now we can watch the squabble over his replacement with our customary cynical detachment. ‘Natural causes’ is good for me.”

    *****

    As Frank P had a nice word to say for me last week, or for one of my posts at least, and in the interests of a United Front for Brexit, I have overridden my snide default drive and will try to present the following comments without resort to it in commenting on his above post of February 18th.

    Furthermore, as I do not want to make a federal case out of this affair, I will not set out the panoply of circumstantial evidence available which indicates the possibility of foul play. It is readily available online. As to “credible evidence” of the non-circumstantial variety, observers will notice that most of what might have been expected to be available, under normal circumstances, has been destroyed.
    As a former police officer, Frank will be familiar with the routine, the ‘standard operating procedure’ as I believe the Americans call it, to be followed when a corpse or an apparent corpse is discovered in a jurisdiction where basic principles of English Common Law apply. In fact it was floated by someone that the public purse of Presidio County, Texas, had been so depleted by the cost of autopsies and inquests for illegal immigrants and persons ‘of no fixed address” as we used to call them in England, that the procedures for Mr. Justice Scalia were necessarily skimped.

    The fundamental principle of our tradition is surely that any death is assumed to be the result of foul play unless and until it is proved to have been otherwise. To this end, the site at which a body is discovered is secured as a “crime scene” and Frank P will be able to tell us the restrictions which are placed on people and things on, entering, and exiting the scene. It would be tedious to detail these. The standard operating procedures and in particular the relevant provisions of the Texas Code were in this regards comprehensively violated.

    “Alex [Jones], as usual jumps OTT with no credible evidence.”

    No, in fact he sent one journalist to El Paso where Mr. Justice Scalia had been summarily embalmed and his bodily fluids flushed down the drain. That journalist and two colleagues and a cameraman also stayed in the ranch where Mr. Justice Scalia is said to have died and visited the local town of Martha from which a county judge, Cinderella Guevara, telephoned in her decision that no autopsy be held, a decision made without seeing the body, or indeed without being supported by any medical qualification and apparently in violation of law.

    Did any other representatives of the media visit Texas to ask any questions? Not that I am aware of. May be they all shared Frank P’s anodyne view of the matter.

    On the one hand, Cinderella Guevara gave her views on the cause of death over the telephone without visiting the ranch and seeing the body. On the other, Mr. Jones who is also not a medical practitioner and had not seen the corpse, in calling for a proper investigation, opined in a broadcast that Mr. Justice Scalia “was killed deader than a hammer” – two views of perhaps equal weight?

    Remains only Frank P’s unsavoury innuendo.

    In an interview with Mr. Justice Antonin Scalia, given not long before his death, he is asked if he is not concerned that his decisions might upset someone. He replied chillingly:

    “What can they do to me? It’s even better than academic tenure, I get life tenure!”

    Here is a more street-wise approach:

    http://www.occurrencesforeigndomestic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Madsen-on-Scalias-death.pdf

    Let’s get real about American politics, shall we?

  69. The newspapers and other agencies of comment are awash with tidings of the upcoming referendum, unfortunately there is an elephant in this particular room which is being resolutely ignored. The composition of the electorate, I.E., who has the right to vote on this question? The answer as things stand is virtually anyone resident in this country, irrespective of the length of that residency.

    This situation can not be permitted to stand unchallenged. Millions of people have flooded into this land over the past decade and a half, an enormous proportion of whom have no knowledge or respect for our history or traditions, and in many cases actively hate us. That such people should be granted a say in the future of our nation is unconscionable, I cannot think of another country which would tolerate a similar situation. The political elite will, of their own volition do nothing, as is their wont, but this question is of too great an import for the metropolitan righteous amongst the lefties to be allowed to dismiss this issue as an example of ante antediluvian proletarian prejudice. For once we must stand up for our rights, and our traditions while we still have some left to fight for.

  75. @19:29

    In spite of all that, there really should’ve been a post mortem. It would have spared a lot of fuss and bother.

  76. Stephen Maybery – 15:57

    I am not surprised at all, but we do need the evidence, to tell the Remainians.

  77. Migrants [in Dusseldorf , Germany] Who Threatened To Cut Throat Of 6-Year-Old Lied About Age To Get Into Classroom
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/25/migrants-who-molested-12-year-old-girl-lied-about-age-to-get-into-classroom

    While in Rotherham, there’s no requirement to lie about your age:
    Rotherham Police Had Sex With Abused Girls And Covered For Relative Sex Groomers
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/25/rotherham-police-had-sex-with-abused-girls-and-covered-for-relative-sex-groomers

  78. PC gone mad: Outrage as school calls police after pupil looks at Ukip website in class
    A SCHOOLBOY was hauled out of class and interrogated by detectives after politically correct teachers reported him to the POLICE for visiting the UKIP website.
    “Teenager Joe Taylor was flagged up for political extremism by the deputy head after he used a school computer to click on the party’s website.

    The 15-year-old went online earlier this week to research immigration following a classroom discussion on the subject, logging on with his school username.

    But he was stunned when teachers subsequently reported him to the police, claiming he had raised welfare concerns by visiting “politically incorrect websites”.

    Amazingly he was referred to a specialist team whose usual brief is preventing vulnerable youngsters from being groomed and indoctrinated by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadis.
    The youngster, who attends Wildern School in Hedge End, Southampton, was then hauled out of class on Wednesday morning so that he could be quizzed by an officer from Hampshire police.

    During the interrogation the detective reportedly accused the youngster of being a UKIP “activist” and said it was “not right” that he had visited the party’s website.
    He revealed that he received a phone call from teachers at Wildern on Monday morning telling him the police had been contacted over his son’s internet use, and asking him to attend a meeting with officers on Wednesday.

    When he arrived he was informed that Joe’s access to the UKIP website had flagged up safety concerns, which had been passed on to the police’s specialist radicalisation team.

    Mr Taylor, 52, said: “On Monday I receive a phone call and they said he’s been looking at some politically incorrect material at school.

    “My first reaction was to ask them if it was porn, but they said no – it was the UKIP website. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

    “We went into reception with the police officer and their first question to my son was ‘why are you a political activist for UKIP’?

    “I asked why are you worried about the UKIP website and they said ‘well, we don’t think it’s right’.”
    Mr Taylor said his son had also accessed the English Defence League (EDL) website before Christmas after the pair watched a BBC documentary by former leader Tommy Robinson.

    The UKIP voter said he regularly discusses political issues including immigration and the EU with his son, but that he is free to form his own world opinions.

    He said: “I was furious that they flagged him for looking at the UKIP website. I think it’s outrageous really.

    “They tried to call him a political activist for UKIP and they asked him ‘why do you believe that’s the way forward?’

    “I’m a UKIP supporter and I said ‘what’s wrong with that?’ They really quizzed him over UKIP.

    “They are almost like the thought police. It’s shocking really.” ”

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/647539/Ukip-UK-Independence-Party-school-police-called-website

  81. One of Baron’s posting’s missing. Why?

    Trying to post the same again, a message of duplicate posting appears. Is the barbarian in purifying purgatory, Peter?

  83. RobertRetyred
    February 25th, 2016 – 23:06

    ‘Yes!’ to Brexit. ‘No!’ to Thought Police – it’s the same Battle of Britain!

  84. Baron at 00-12.

    It’s almost a miracle that pushing a button produces results in less then a second;usually the right results.All this over a world wide network with giant computers somewhere sending signals.
    The `duplicate posting`comes from your own server assuming you’ve made a mistake.I’m not sure how to get around this.
    Peter appears to be engaged elsewhere on other business currently.

  85. Jimmy Saville

    Spectator /DIQUS censors `sex` and `s*x:have to enter short paragraph by paragraph to get it through.

  87. EYES WIDE SHUT – SCALIA DIES AT A SECRET SOCIETY MEETING – TIME FOR AN INVESTIGATION NOW?

    Here is 1st Hour of Alex Jones Show February 25th in which he comments on the story in the Daily Mail (see above) and Washington Post.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2-QnVuZCg

    Could it be time to look a little more closely at secret societies of which Cameron and Osborne are members.

  89. Here’s the Third Hour. Following up on this story of the Satanic Illuminati in the USA.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfDwDGLHJJY&ebc=ANyPxKoXqhTQJRr9r-pjJR7fmsmBy2SJ0NXiWkuVasOgWrWczjCryJVz02_902WBPHtXY3CCEC3EwDO2D7bAigBx5sJR9h-PZw

    Should we be looking more closely at the Illuminati’s operations in England and whether the notorious paedophile ring said to be operating in our political class (broadly defined) is a part of them – not to mention the Bilderberg gatherings.

    Any comment on all this from the Archbishop of Canterbury, not to mention the defender of our country’s faith…

  90. Baron

    If you want a brief summary of some of the reasons for insisting on an investigation of Mr. Justice Scalia’s death, try the input from “Lionel” in the Third Hour above which starts at about 27 minutes in. Alex Jones is irritating for his many interruptions, but it is in his nature to bubble over in such circumstances – and who can really bllame him?

  91. Colonel Mustard 19-43
    I’m not so sure, now we have to view the past with the values of today I’ve been reevaluating situations to see if I’ve been groomed by predatory women who only wanted my body to satisfy their lust.
    It’s easy to laugh because these groomers are very clever at what they do and a young innocent man can be abused without realising it until 50 years later.
    For example, after you’ve been taken advantage of by one of these unscrupulous women and then she asks shall we do it again we need to consider the situation.
    Is she using subtle abusing methods instead of allowing you to decide what you want to do with no coercion involved.
    You might want to check your stamp collection in case any of the little hinges have got brittle and broken. ( a regular nightmare)
    But by clever predatory grooming you end up going nowhere near your stamp collection for the rest of the day.
    In retrospect I can see I have suffered and therefore am a victim, but I try to be strong and face each new day bravely because yes I am a survivor.

  92. On a more serious note , what about the sight of the flying Scotsman in steam again.
    Beautiful, just beautiful. Something that makes an engineer go weak at the knees.

  94. Impossible to post. Baron clicks on the the ‘comment’ button, the screen changes, but the posting’s missing.

  95. Radford NG @ 02:34

    Everyone knew or strongly suspected, but the top management, Radford. For 30 plus years, the greatest paedo had had if off not only with underage vulnerable girls and boys, but cadavers, too, and the top management is so distant from the employment layers down below they haven’t a clue.

    How believable is this?

    The horrific abuse happened under their watch, it was the result of the culture they created, culture of celebrity and fear, but what with the corporation being the BBC, everything can be sorted with ‘we’re sorry’. Criminal, the whole affair is criminal.

  97. Further to Baron’s posting at 20.10.

    The link wouldn’t go through, the article seems too pro-Russian, it’s not over yet in Syria, but watch the video within it. Is the towelled clown right saying the Saudis have the bomb? That’s scarier than anything else that has originated in the hellhole of the ME.

  99. Pat on Donald:

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/iHLcrfhwPtc?&rel=0

    Spot on, but then we’ve been saying the same, he just articulates it so well.

    Why is it the Obama has failed to spectacularly, and not only in Syria? Could it be he really had no intention of killing off ISIL? After all the ‘caliphate of common thugs’ was an offshoot of the anti-Assad rebels, a fighting group encouraged, possible even armed by him either directly or through its Saudis/Turkish friends.

    It could also be he had no chance of destroying the ISIL thuggery even if he wanted to because his hands are shackled by all the feely ‘uman rites’ legislation that has found its way on the US statute books. He may not have initiated it, most of it he inherited from earlier presidents, but he did little to dump it, if anything added to it.

    And lastly, there’s also the little matter of America’s weaponry. It was the top in the 70s and 80’s, the procurement of it has carried on till now, but other nations, notably the Russians, have in the meantime developed weaponry that seems to have an edge over it, see the B-21 announcement above.

  100. John birch @ 14:05

    Pity, they don’t run it regularly, John, the demand would be massive. Baron has missed it, he even didn’t know it was planned, not much of it got mentioned in the press.

    Just imagine a group of entrepreneurs organising a run of the beauty lasting (say) half a day with meals, drinks, a touch of the old Orient Express luxury, over every weekend when the commuter traffic is lower than during the working week. It would be a goldmine, Baron reckons.

  101. RobertRetyred @ 15:28

    We’ll never know the full truth, Radford, but the more the barbarian hears about the nuances of Boris’s decision, the more he thinks it was his wife who called it, and rightly so.

    The blond wonder ain’t a heavyweight when it comes to principled decision making, she seems to be, and she’s bloody right. Whatever the consequences of our leaving the monstrosity on jobs, investment, trade, the loss of sovereignty is just something that goes beyond anything else. Only someone who has completely lost faith in the ability of Britain to govern herself could contemplate it.

    Stay in, and we’ll be at the mercy of ‘qualifying majority voting’. Failed politicians from the 28 member countries, for it is what the Commissioners are, or the parliamentarians from countries that have but a short history of genuine democratic governance will shape our future. It doesn’t bear thinking about unless one envisages Britain as a nation in which the Anglo-Saxon contingent is reduced to a subservient minority. God forbid.

  102. Malfleur @ 05:09

    How many hours of it altogether, Malfleur? Keep in mind there are only 24 hours in a day.

    Still, if Baron finds it hard to fall asleep, he’ll tune in. A deal?

    Btw, not that long ago when a man called Balls was attending a conference of the nasty people, getting delivered to a wrong hotel entrance, dropping papers all around the street (you remember?), he (Balls) was supposed to be a member. What happened to his membership since he got kicked out of the House? Could you tell us?

  104. “Nutella? Sound’s like one of SamCam’s or Geldorf’s offspring.”

    Clive Anderson: I hear Salman Rushdie’s very jealous of you.

    Nigel Lawson: Why?

    CA: Cos he couldn’t call his daughter … Salmonella.

    (Tish! rattle on the snake drum)

  106. Ed Balls’s website by the way, though lacking any information on his membership of the Bilderberg Group, has a blog pasted “by Ed’s team” (Mrs. Balls?) headed ‘Holocaust memorial will stand beside Parliament’ complete with ‘learning centre’ (library?).

    I thought the Holocaust was mainly a German thing. If we must have a memorial however, I hope it will illustrate British troops liberating Belsen and will be of the quality of the one on the Embankment to Bomber Command:

    http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Airmen-in-Memorial.jpg

  107. Malfleur @ 22:06

    The man’s brainless juxtaposing the adoption of the synthetic currency with our staying in the EU then arguing it was prudent to refuse the former, foolish to leave the latter. Every thinking person would rather argue that ‘no’ to the EU would have been as prudent as was the ‘no’ to the Euro, which is essentially a very important brick that makes up the EU, and since we missed on the first ‘no’. we have a chance to say it in June..

    And no, the prosperity argument doesn’t cut it either, there are 196-28 i.e. 168 countries that don’t have the EU membership, some, particularly those that resemble the UK, have done better than we in the time we’ve been an EU member.

    It is above all about sovereignty, about our making decisions that satisfy our needs, our interests, our goals, help to shape our destiny. By all means we should trade with the EU, but what we shouldn’t be doing is allowing others to make decisions for us.

    The boy (Cameron) is in favour of leaving because he really hasn’t govern on his own, it’s co-governance with the EU. We should leave, find a leader capable of governance on his or her own, someone like Winston or Margaret.

  108. Baron – 21:00

    I can see why Boris might like Brussels: he grew up there ( 🙂 a bit), went to school there and has worked there, so no wonder he likes the place, but if he believes sovereignty is sacrosanct, no wonder he is an Outer! I am not saying that is the end of the story or that he is suitable material for PM, but those who ridicule him for changing sides have ignored that many in the Tory party were waiting for CMD to state his case. They could do little else. We didn’t know the contents or any timing: CMD held all the cards. We knew they were all jokers, but if your job, your career, your influence was on the line, it was too big a risk – to loose it all for nothing. At least now, if they lose it, it won’t be for nothing – it will be after a hard fight.

    Boris might have ulterior motives, but don’t all politicians: in fact, most people do, and I do think something snapped when Cameron came back with so little – and then bigged it up. It offends the intelligence of anyone with intelligence! And his wife ( and Richard North @ eureferendum.com ) made the issue impossible to ignore. 🙂

    When those, like W. Churchill’s grandson in the DT, say we need to stay in, in order to save the Europeans from themselves, I despair! With majority voting, we rarely get a look in, and we have had 40 years trying! 🙂

    I think Boris will be an asset to the campaign, as are Gove, Farage and Redwood et al, but each must play their part – like a cabinet, in fact, each playing to their strengths!

    And if Boris is taking advice from his wife, so much the better: he did make a good choice.

    I think the expectation of there being one organisation for the Outers is part of the Establishment’s disruption tactics. OK, there needs to be an umbrella group, but it needs to be a coordinating group. I saw the Grassroots Out meeting video, and all looked OK, with everyone please that everyone else was there.

  109. A Tale of Two Headlines

    “George Osborne warns a Brexit would cause a ‘profound economic shock’ to the UK and vows to try and stop it ”

    “We’ll thrive out of the EU, says bank chief: Lloyds boss gives vote of confidence to a Brexit… and he’s from Portugal”

    Daily Mail

  111. Baron – 23:42

    It could. Britain need not follow an identical path, but it does need to head in a very similar direction. I hope our referendum will be a first step.

  112. Malfleur @ 23:21

    It’s unarguable that bureaucracy chokes everything it touches, and Brussels is nothing but another layer of it. We do not need it.

    And another point:

    When Adolf became Chancellor in 1933, he asked the Reichstag for plenary powers, got them in the Enabling Act. The German Parliamentarians have voluntarily voted themselves out of governing Germany. Things went fine for some half a dozen years, then turned sour, we all know how it ended in 1945.

    Brussels apparatchiks with their zeal to control are anywhere near the Austrian painter’s dictatorial obsession, but the point here is that as the representatives of the German people freely and willingly gave up the right to represent the people of Germany (with disastrous consequences), so is the boy voluntarily prepared to surrender our sovereignty to a bunch of unelected bureaucrats, (people who may be well intentioned, but who have no electoral endorsement whatsoever). It’s more likely than not the consequences may be not be dissimilar to those suffered by the German nation in the middle of the last century.

  115. NEATHERGATE.

    The Daily Mail reveals the whole story of Tony Blair’s treason over immigration.

    Article written by Tom Bower,born Sept 1946 to Jewish refugee parents from Prague.
    Educated:LSE. Became barrister for NCCL. Worked for BBC 24hrs and Panorama till1987. Unsuccessfully sued for libel by Maxwell,Branson,Conrad Black and Richard Desmond.

    Link as RobertRetyred above;and

    http://dailym.ai/1S7gKld

    Do pass it on.

  117. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE FOOLING, MR. CAMERON?”

    “The European Union is the principal motor behind the Islamization of Europe. It is formally surrendering an entire continent to Islam while destroying established national cultures, and is prepared to harass those who disagree with this policy.

    This is the greatest organized betrayal in Western history.”

    http://gatesofvienna.net/2016/02/june-22nd-1593-the-austrian-army-defeats-the-turks-at-sisak-the-gateway-to-central-europe/

  119. RobertRetyred, February 27th, 2016 – 00:25

    Thanks for that DM promo for Tom Bower’s book. Great stuff. I agree 100% about Blair, and I’m really pleased that someone else(*) has finally highlighted (fingered?) the egregious Barbara Roche’s role in our societal destruction! (* I’ve commented about her on numerous blogs over the years)

    I don’t know why people get so worked up about Polish immigration though. Back thru the ’60s at least 25% of my school year group were Poles. Great people. The more recent arrivals from Poland have come here to work, not to the claim benefits that are the objective so many that come from elsewhere. Also, Poles are culturally compatible and integrate, more or less, seamlessly here.

    If the constructors of telemachus’ conservatory happened to have been Polish and had succeeded in outbidding (price/quality/efficiency) the indigenous chancers/fuckwits/rogue traders masquerading as the worthy successors to the great British tradesmen (*) then to quote Ed Balls, then “So what!”

    (* The shortage of skilled and reputable British tradesmen was guaranteed by successive governments (of each colour) when they cut back and then dismantled almost all the vocational training courses at FE colleges – during the same period that industrial apprenticeships dried up completely. Then, suddenly, everybody had to become an unskilled “graduate” in order to get a clerical job previously quite capably done by school leavers with four of five ‘O’ Levels – if they were/are lucky enough to find a job at all!)

    Nobody was complaining about the Poles when they poled up, tooled up, in Vienna in 1683 to rescue the west, once again, from the advance of the peace loving Caliphate:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_III_Sobieski

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna [1683 seige]

  120. For once telemachus was delighted to receive a Google alert @ 1205

    “I don’t know why people get so worked up about Polish immigration though. Back thru the ’60s at least 25% of my school year group were Poles. Great people. The more recent arrivals from Poland have come here to work, not to the claim benefits that are the objective so many that come from elsewhere. Also, Poles are culturally compatible and integrate, more or less, seamlessly here”

    I can attest to their work ethic second to none

    Mebbe we could gip at the fact that they, like the Irish are steeped in Catholicism
    Remember Urban II
    They have not yet apologised for their misdeeds -Of all the religious wars in human history waged by any religion, at any place, and at any time, none have been bloodier, more genocidal, more barbaric, and more protracted than those initiated by Urban II’s Crusaders
    *
    That said

    I can concur with EC that for this reason alone (Polish work ethic) we should vote Remain
    *
    Now I am off to join Leanne Wood’s group at the rally (Carwyn Jones will not be there, sadly)

    http://www.gulf-times.com/story/481504/Corbyn-to-attend-rally-against-nuclear-arms

  121. EC

    Seems the stalker has transferred his attentions from The Colonel to you by means of his ‘Google alerts’.

    Can’t we at last all agree that the time has at last come to canvass Peter to rid this site of this pest. Not only has he coughed to stalking, he has, as ever, misrepresented your post.

  122. Frank
    If I get a mention
    I, in the tenets of natural justice, should have the right of reply

  124. Frank P – 14:17

    I’m afraid that “der maligne Unruhestifter” [@13:55] is as muddled with his timelines as with his thinking about just about everything else! To be fair, and it’s my fault, his reappearance was sort of expected, with the reference to his ” fabled conservatory” triggering his involuntary response. In that respect he differs not at all from Pavlov’s dog.

    Too much of anything will kill you whether its water, immigration or our resident evil. The latter’s obsession with this little corner of the blogosphere is pathological, as his tortured contrivances illustrate.

    Frank P – 15:11

    Brilliant! 🙂

  125. Fox News and WSJ both from the Murdoch Stables have ganged up to attempt to derail Trump’s run for the nomination. Watch out for dirty tricks.

    Rubio is looking like a sixth-form future PPE student who is practising for the debating society. Cruz looks like a managing clerk for a team of ambulance-chasing shysters.

    At the moment Murdoch is vacillating between Cruz and Rubio before placing his bets. We’ll see!

    The US electorate is like a soft chair – the shape of the last arse that sat on it.

  126. John birch @ 07:15

    Almost never dull, but highly enjoyable are the forays of Fred on everything. But is he correct here?

    What follows are two bits of the rant of his you’ve referred us to, John, the barbarian enjoyed alot, more for the crafting skills that the message itself:

    “Suppose that Jimmy Joe McWhilliker in Lost Hope, Tennessee genitally mutilated his daughters, refused to let them go to school, forced them to wear funny black bags, didn’t let them go out alone, made them marry smelly elderly Pakistanis against their will, and killed them if they weren’t virgins. That’s equal? To what?”

    and

    “Put thirty million Japanese in America, or Americans in Japan, and trouble will result. This, even though the Japanese are an advanced and well-behaved people, and Americans are reasonably close. But Somalis, for God’s sake? Syrians?”

    Does anything strike you on the two extracts?

    In either one, Fred essentially segments the tribal differentiation into non-Muslim and Muslim. True in the latter example he also suggests that mixing alot of Americans with the Japanese (or vice versa) is likely to engender trouble, but does it, or rather would it? If, as he says one were to transport 30mn Nihon burghers into the Republic one cannot expect miracles from day one, but Baron reckons given a year or two, the two cultures will find a mutually acceptable accommodation with each other.

    We have here a sizeable Chinese community. Does anyone feel the local Mandarin speakers are any real threat to anyone or anything? In the Czech Republic the Vietnamese are more numerous than the Chinese here (for reasons not relevant for the argument), they speak their own language, keep to themselves, bother nobody and willingly accept the habits, traditions, and mores of the locals, even if they seldom participate in them.

    It goes further than that. It’s not so much the people themselves that’s the festering boil in the countries Fred mentions at the start of his piece. It’s what drives them to behave as they do. It’s the implanted ideology, the belief system that was pumped into them, the habits and stuff that goes with the creed.

    You may find it unfair to bring Boris into it, but it helps to make the point simply. His predecessors worshipped Allah, stuck their behinds away from Mecca five times a day, knew the Koran by heart. You look at him today, any difference from any of us?

    EC’s posting about the Poles at 12.05 fits the argument of the barbarian, too. There are negative aspects of their being here – too many of them, not all speak the language, job competition with the indigenous lot and such like – all considered, however, these negatives are solvable, often very quickly.

    What’s not doable though is a cohesive, peaceful, workable societal construct with a high and growing share of a culture that not only feels unable to assimilate, but exhibits signs of a takeover of the host culture.

  129. Quote (February 27th, 2016 – 1355):-

    “Of all the religious wars in human history waged by any religion, at any place, and at any time, none have been bloodier, more genocidal, more barbaric, and more protracted than those initiated by Urban II’s Crusaders”

    vs

    “Of all the religious wars in human history waged by any religion, at any place, and at any time, none have been bloodier, more genocidal, more barbaric, and more protracted than the 200-year “holy wars” by the Western Crusades against the Arabs and Islam.”

    Hmm. “der maligne Unruhestifter” (brilliant) is apparently channelling “the Caliph” once more and misquoting one Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi:-

    https://www.radioislam.org/sindi/croisades.htm

    Radio Islam? Here is how they describe themselves:-

    “This Site is owned by a group of freedom fighters from different countries in support of Ahmed Rami’s global struggle.

    “Radio Islam is working to promote better relations between the West and the Muslim World. Radio Islam is against racism of all forms, against all kinds of discrimination of people based on their colour of skin, faith or ethnical bakground. Consequently, Radio Islam is against Jewish racism towards non-Jews.

    “World Jewish Zionism, today, constitutes the last racist ideology still surviving and the Zionist’s state of Israel, the last outpost of “Apartheid” in the World. Israel constitutes by its mere existence a complete defiance to all international laws, rules and principles, and the open racism manifested in the Jewish State is a violation of all ethics and morals known to Man.”

    Oh, dear. The multi-masked face of the re-enthused Corbynista now reveals itself as an anti-Semite (it’s notorious propensity for manipulative, misrepresentative and uncredited cut’n’pasting is already well established)

  130. And “Unruhestifter”:-

    troublemaker
    agitator
    incendiary
    disturber
    scaremonger
    ratbag
    makebate (a person who causes contention or discord)
    boat-rocker
    trouble maker
    mischief-maker

  131. It seems from the most recent pronouncements (the generals, the CBI, Jeffery, the boy ….) that if we leave the Brussels grotesque monster, the country will be in ruins, the world will find it hard to avoid collapsing, too.

    Didn’t the boy and his lackeys knew of the ‘calamitous consequences’ they are articulating now before they offered the unwashed the referendum? If they didn’t, what are we paying them for? It’s their job to ponder the future, debate different scenarios of it, have vision.

    The fear factor is the best weapon they have, uncertainty pulls towards status quo, as the wise saying goes ‘better the devil you know than the one you don’t’, but the danger for the ‘remain’ tribe is in that they could overhype the horror of the future outside the EU to a point where leaving turns into a challenge, that’s what gets the best out of people, the need drives the must, and when that happens, no amount of scarring will help them.

    What was it the brave men and women fought for, many losing their lives in WW2? The governance of Britain by Mutti’s controlled Brussels?

    Out it must be.

  132. Frank P @ 18:16

    And Baron thought it was a boat trip with a bio massage thrown in as a bonus, Frank. How poorly educated could one get?

  134. Colonel Mustard @ 18:20

    The site at the link you quote is now “not available”. A bit quick that. Could there be a spook connection between it and the cut’n’paster?

  135. Malfleur 22.31 26th Feb

    I wasn’t 100% sure before. Now, I am.

    You are correct: we’re being subsumed at the whim of an incredibly subtle interloper.

    If we fail to respond, we are but a blemish on history.

  136. A belated happy birthday to Sir Robert Mugabe, possessor of seven (7) honours degrees. That’s seven more than David Cameron, whose highest qualification is, figuratively, an NVQ in Sustainable Development.

  137. Press Assoc.
    A certain Mohammed (age 21) charged with murder (wildly reported ) of Mosque `reader` in Rochdale on 18 Feb.

  140. Malfleur February 27th, 2016 – 22:57

    I can still follow the link ok. Sounds like wherever you are it might have been blocked.

  142. Redneck (23:13)

    Nah …. just agitprop, with their ‘google alerts’ full on.

    Mind you, these days … could be the same thing, I fear!

  143. Which of the following takes precedence?

    (a) Conventions
    (b) Statutes
    (c) Treaties
    (d) Protocols
    (e) Regulations
    (f) David Cameron’s last minute James Bond-style Save the Planet “deal”
    (g) Regulations
    (h) Directives
    (i) ECJ judgments
    (j) Some deeply hypothetical twat with a white beard?

    Answers on a postcard …

  144. Btw the full title of Dr Sindi’s article is:-

    “THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN TERRORISM AGAINST THE ARABS:
    THE CANNIBALISM AND BLOODBATHS OF THE CRUSADES
    (1095-1291)”

    Dr Sindi apparently holds a Ph.D in International Relations! Der maligne unruhestifter used to post comments demonstrating his bigoted ignorance of the Crusades at the other place. In the context of his latest cut’n’paste (exposed at my 1820 above), his entreaty to us to give “the (ISIS) Caliph a fair hearing”, his description of Bush as “Crusader Bush” and his admission that you know who with the two ‘c’s in her name is an “associate” begin to reveal where he is coming from. He appears to be one of those communists so fervent about the Palestinian cause that he consorts with their extremists.

    This really comes as no surprise from the creature who allegedly walked arm in arm with Tariq Ali for the Viet Cong in Grosvenor Square. Corbyn must be like a dream come true for him.

  146. “allegedly walked arm in arm with Tariq Ali for the Viet Cong in Grosvenor Square”

    I remember, I remember. At roughly the same time as Sir Hans Krebs was supervising his Oxford doctorate in a branch of science coyly unspecified.

  147. The headline writers can hardly keep up!

    End of the British Army? EU plots ‘scandalous’ military merger if UK votes to stay in
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/648052/EU-referendum-Brussels-plot-military-merger-UK-stay-in-British-Army-UKIP

    Tory meltdown as Foreign Secretary hurls four-letter abuse at anti-EU rival after trying to hide secret report on PM’s deal
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467459/Tory-meltdown-Foreign-Secretary-hurls-four-letter-abuse-anti-EU-rival-trying-hide-secret-report-PM-s-deal.html

  148. IDS: No10 can sack me but the EU fight is too important to back down
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12176291/IDS-No10-can-sack-me-but-the-EU-fight-is-too-important-to-back-down.html

    Boris claims he is like James Bond fighting EU ‘baddies’ but Osborne slaps him down saying Brexit ‘isn’t an amusing adventure’
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467478/Boris-claims-like-James-Bond-fighting-EU-baddies-Osborne-slaps-saying-Brexit-isn-t-amusing-adventure.html

  149. While CMD thinks leaving will reduce our security, forgetting that the Continent cannot patrol its borders properly, lets in bombers, rapists, sexual predators and those with uncontrollable bowels 🙂 , we get a different point of view:
    Brexit would STRENGTHEN national security, blasts former Army Commander
    http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/648113/National-security-strengthened-Brexit-EU-UK

    But don’t worry, Brussels has delayed banning high powered kettles until after the referendum!

    I kid you not! 🙂

  150. RobertRetyred @ 00:11

    Time for a populist merger of the better half of the Tories with UKIP?

    The momentum and passion of the Brexit referendum campaign may produce it de facto.

  151. RobertRetyred @ 00:14

    Those photographs in the Mail article could be closer to the truth poetically than we know.

    Is the Bildenberg Conference this year before or after the referendum? Osborne may want to mark his diary.

  152. To confuse unease about Zionism as anti-Semitic is to be as naive as the unthinking who say supporting the right of the Jewish People in Palestine to self determination is anti-Muslim

    Anti-semitism is as old as Christianity. “Jesus was killed by Jews”. But, as a word is a German construct based on envy in mid Europe in the nineteenth century. Anti-Semitic Germans saw Jews an unwelcome presence, a cancer that preys on society and seeks political control by clever devious means, while controlling finance and the professions

    The Southern Baptist right and their allies on blogs in the UK extend the very nineteenth century philosophy on to the state of Israel because it is a Jewish state. Thus anti-Zionism is anti-semitic. And when critics of Israel, without themselves being anti-semitic, mention Jewish hegemony, the Southern Baptist apologists scream anti-semitism

    But Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is political conquest and the spread of Jewish settlements in these territories is against international law. The subsequent discrimination against Israeli Arab citizens in society is wrong

    To say so is anti-Zionist

    Not anti-Semitic

    A well respected polemicist and my mentor said this (a direct unadulterated quote)

    “The daily suffering of the Palestinians does not excite the liberal conscience of Europe, guilt-ridden (and for good reason) by its past inability to defend the Jews of central Europe against extinction. But the judeocide should not be used as a cover to commit crimes against the Palestinian people. European and American voices should be heard loud and clear on this question”

  153. “To say so is anti-Zionist
    Not anti-Semitic”

    Rather evident that the anti-semites of the left (and their pattern of increasing anti-semitic behaviour under Corbyn is both noted and on record) do not apply that sort of semantic differentiation when denouncing “Islamaphobia” or anti-immigration versus anti-immigrant.

    But then those denounced do not usually possess the sly connivance of the left in inventing new words that permit them to split hairs, count angels dancing on the heads of pins or paper over the many contradictions, double standards, hypocrisies, deceptions, deceits and plain old lies that are their stock in trade, as der maligne unruhestifter so regularly demonstrates for us. “I shall now retire” – yet another lie, called out as such and now proven to be so.

    Those who deploy anti-Zionist rhetoric must by definition be opposed to the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel. Since that aspiration for re-establishment emerged from centuries of enforced dispersal or ghettoisation, oppression and persecution those who oppose it must be considered at least unsympathetic towards the historic plight of the Jews. They are also required by their anti-semitic articles of faith to distort the history of Palestine and especially of surrounding Arab “nations”.

    So, no, the attempt to peddle that sly differentiation is rejected, even without the long standing evidence of extreme left wing support for and romanticising of the Palestinian extremist and terror groups which began in the 1960s. Or to excuse the rather nasty tendencies of some on the left to exaggerate and denounce anything Jews might do collectively to assert their right to a homeland and to defend it whilst excusing or attempting to justify acts of terror and violence against them by Palestinian jihadi groups.

    In Stuttgart in 2011 Robert Spencer spoke courageous truth to a pro-jihadi mob (from 4:07). They tried to stop him, literally barking their madness as you do here. Then, there, the German police intervened to ensure that he could speak in peace without being harassed or assaulted. In the UK the police would probably arrest him if he had not already been banned from entering the country. Shame on you Theresa May.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67kAQzw6LhA#t=360

  154. telemachus @ 06:53

    Your mentor, telemachus, like many others who hide their enmity towards the Jewish people behind the veneer of anti-zionism is brainless or devious, or both, and possible blind into the bargain.

    You look around today who does the killing with the aim of boosting the membership of the club, you read little history to educate yourself on who’ve done the killing since the club was setup (for the same reason), you listen to those who know more about the teachings of the Abrahamic faith we’re talking about than you or your mentor (see below).

    If you do this and come not to the view that it have never been the Jews who did the killing (just the opposite, they have always been the ones who got prosecuted, expelled, killed)) then there’s no help for you. You should go jump from any cliff you can find, the higher the better.

    The best solution for the two rivalling schools of thought religious (and anyone else who who has to co-exist with them) would for the Jewish tribe to take over the lands of the ROP altogether (and not just in the Palestine, throughout the ME), guiding the pre-medieval followers of the creed, re-educating them, pushing them towards reformation similar to that engineered by the Christians few centuries ago.

    Listening to the man in the vide does give one the creeps for it is from the small seeds of hatred festering in the minds of some of those listening to him that atrocities of the ISIL sort grow.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi02W4ytZ9w

    Btw, what are you doing up at seven on Sunday morning blogging, shouldn’t you be still asleep dreaming about the cumryd’s victory?

  155. Colonel Mustard @ 09:40

    Top marks, Colonel, with distinction.

    Take note, telemachus, here’s your mentor.

  156. There was a huge Christian community on the Mediterranean shores of the Middle East in the early Middle Ages. It was the rise of militant Islam in the eastern Arab lands and Arab and Turkish incursions from the 7th Century and subsequent oppression and persecution of long established and indigenous Christian communities that gave rise to the Crusades. The Crusades were an essentially defensive response which it has become fashionable in the modern, guilt accepting, self-hating, bien pensant Western self-destruct mode to decry and misrepresent.

    Any cherry-picked charge of atrocity against the Crusaders will merely demonstrate an ignorance of the reality of mediaeval warfare.

    One of the most objective and accessible studies of the subject is Michael Haag’s ‘The Tragedy of the Templars’, sub-titled ‘The Rise and Fall of the Crusader States’, which sets the record straight and indirectly draws a parallel between the essentially tolerant, defensive and protective nature of the Crusader States and modern Israel as well as the intolerantly belligerent forces threatening both.

  158. “Any cherry-picked charge of atrocity against the Crusaders will merely demonstrate an ignorance of the reality of mediaeval warfare.”

    Indeed! Here’s Bill Warner with a 5 min primer on the Jihad vs Crusades. The full version is well worth watching, as are the rest of his videos.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_To-cV94Bo

  159. For those interested:

    Discussion at the Spectator about- among other issues – quality of discussion threads: Fraser Nelson’s latest on the ‘Spectator experience’.

    One poster has asked for the old Coffee House Wall to be reinstated.

  161. Col Mustard:

    I’d be very interested to know about the Islamification of what is now Malaysia and Indonesia. I’ve googled it but the articles I’ve found aren’t very satisfactory. It appears that the rulers and the elites were converted, but I’ve found no explanation why the bulk of the people (except in Bali) gave up Buddhism and Hinduism. Surely that wasn’t voluntary? What sort of pressure was used (jizyya?) and what lessons can be learned by the west?

  162. For those used to peddled lies of the friends of the Southern Baptists, perhaps you should heed these figures for the Israeli assault on the brave people of Gaza in 2014

    United Nations OCHA data: Gazan Dead-Total 2205 (civilians 1,483). Israeli Civilian Dead 5
    Yes Five
    Five
    *
    And Further
    Israeli West Bank settlements are in direct breach of Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention, which forbids an occupier from transferring its own civilians into the territory it occupies. And Article 55 of the Hague Regulations states that an power’s role is to safeguard occupied properties and maintain the status quo. Further Article 43 of the Hague Regulations states that an occupying power must uphold order and safety and respect the laws of the occupied country

    So why do we tolerate these violations

    Because the American Administration(s) are in the grip of the American Christian Right
    *
    Finally, now that Hamas** has accepted a 2 State solution, why does Netanyahu deny the Palestinians their right?

    ** http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.587047

    *

    I will stick to my mentor,a truly Great Man, thankyou Baron 10.16

    “Modern Zionism is the ideology of secular Jewish nationalism. It has little to do with Judaism as a religion and many orthodox Jews to this day have remained hostile to Zionism”

  163. Damaris 11.25

    Your comment was excellent

    “PS: If you make comments subscriber only I fear that their number will decrease still further. I’ve noticed a marked decline in the number of comments and votes over the last few months. I don’t know what that means, as you have reported that readership is at an all time high. However, I used to come here more often as it was a lively place with regular posters I ‘knew’. It was a vibrant commenting community”
    *
    You may wish to reflect why so many here are either barred or choose to ignore the vibrant columns

  164. “…Ch Supt Harwin said anyone found committing a hate crime would be brought to justice. “While racially motivated recorded crimes in Rotherham are lower than this time last year, we are aware that this is an under-reported issue. This is something we are addressing by working closely with third-party reporting centres and exploring how we can improve our response to this crime,” he said.”
    “We really want victims of hate crime to feel confident in coming forward so if you have been a victim, or know someone who is a victim, please do tell someone, whether that is the police or another agency. We can deal with reports and information in confidence.”
    So, whilst those who are angered by and complain about the systemic rape of white children by Pakistani muslims are to be pursued for ‘hate crime’ reports made to Islamic third party agencies, no measures to prevent future mass rapes are announced by the same culturally cringing incompetent police force that ignored the reports of such crimes for over ten years!

    You couldn’t make up such discriminatory, destructive and insane self loathing and contempt for the society it is supposed to protect.

  168. Telemachus 11.36:

    The comment you quote plus others I made about what makes a good discussion thread, expressed in a polite, low-key way, has been removed by Fraser. The many abusive, sneering troll comments on the same thread remain. There must be some association between Fraser and the abusive troll. I will never go back there again.

  169. I still subscribe to the Spectator. However I visit and comment at their website less since it came under sustained disruptive attack by the You_kid multiple account trollery. Besides that the pernicious presence of the der maligne unruhestifter, who took it upon himself in various guises to patrol up and down each thread tagging with provocative agitprop any comments that departed from his extreme left wing orthodoxy, was also becoming exceeding tedious.

    That presence is perhaps understandable given the leftwards drift of that once conservative magazine and the extreme left’s strategy of attempting to intimidate or suppress any debate they disapprove of but it is remarkable to find his intrusive megalomania tolerated here.

  170. Radford NG 12.39 28.2.16.

    Was Crippen innocent. Demand for independent enquiry.

    Did King Harold shoot himself in the eye? A historical investigation.

    Was Alfred wrongly accused of burning the buns? Cameron demands answers.

    Do not scoff. We are turning into a society that cannot say NO.

  171. Damaris Tighe February 28th, 2016 – 13:02

    Ironic given that editor’s supposed defiance of Leveson in the defence of a free press! Sadly the magazine declined with the arrival of his Labour sympathising sidekick whom the der maligne unruhestifter liked to reference in chummy terms, especially when threatening to have commentators “proscribed”.

  172. PS The removal of visible down votes by Disqus made the hostile manipulation of threads by multiple account trolls easy. They quickly learned that by registering multiple anonymous down votes against a popular comment they could move it down the thread. Where numbers of up votes made that impossible they settled for multiple up voted tagging of the top comment.

    Only the creatures of the left play those games because they are essentially dishonest and seek power by subterfuge and deceit.

  173. Col M:

    I have now been blocked from making further comments on that thread. Now that I’ve cooled down I see that the comments that have been removed (not only mine) refer to either 1) the ‘silent majority’ who use BTL to express their concerns about mass migration & Islam, & 2) those of my comments that might be construed to question the number of people really visiting the site. Under (1) was the top comment (not mine). I believe you – the Speccie has been taken over by people with an agenda.

  174. C
    February 23rd, 2016 – 16:41
    Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/23/biological-man-set-to-become-national-student-womens-representative/
    “Anna Lee describes himself as a “queer trans disabled lesbian woman”, and is currently the LGBT officer at Lancaster University Student Union, having already spent two years on the national women’s committee. Last year, Mr. Lee won a battle to share toilets(*) with biological women at his University, despite being quite open about his sexual interest in them and retaining all his male biology.”
    (*) I’m surprised that Noa allows this sort of thing on his patch…

    Tsh EC, shame on you to think I would proscribe gender fluidity, or seek to prevent the active transfer of such fluids!

    Would you have me wrestling with this highly sexually charges, dis-engendered cross-wit fuck up in the Ladies lavs in Bailrigg? What would be my fate should I loose, (as in all probability I would!)

    A fate worse than death I imagine.

    As they say, the fish rots from the head… the gravy trainers presiding over such insanity are not going to rock the boat by attracting attention to themselves by speaking out against such nonsense!
    http://thetab.com/uk/lancaster/2015/03/05/expenses-scandal-vice-chancellor-clocks-27k-travel-expenses-929

    Better to consider Lancaster University as a chimera, an anomaly, a rogue Zika mosquito transported northwards in by eco car from exotic Kensington or quaint Lambeth some rainy September morning, to inject its virus into Lancashire…

  176. Btw, if you read Fraser Nelson’s post you’ll see he lets drop that Cameron reads Coffee House Wall. I’ve always assumed that the Boy doesn’t have the time. But maybe that explains the editorial policy, now that it’s usual for journalists’ career paths to include posts as political ‘advisers’.

  177. Damaris Tighe @ 11:25

    Unfortunately, Damaris, some of the postings have been removed from the piece, Baron’s amongst them. So much for the freedom of speech the rag is supposed to support.

  178. Do the UK and Australian Police ‘harass’ their citizenry differently? Chasing thieves, burglars and drunk or drug affected drivers doesn’t seem to have the same priority here.

    A local Australian police station received this question from a resident through the feedback section of a local Police website:

    “I would like to know how it is possible for police officers to continually harass people and get away with it?”

    In response, a Sergeant posted this reply:

    First of all, let me tell you this… it’s not easy. In the rural area we average one cop for every 505 people. Only about 60 per cent of those cops are on general duty where we do most of our harassing.

    The rest are in non-harassing units that do not allow them contact with the day to day innocents. At any given moment, only one-fifth of the 60 per cent of general duties are on duty and available for harassing people while the rest are off duty. So, roughly, one cop is responsible for harassing about 6000 residents.

    When you toss in the commercial business and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible for harassing 15,000 or more people a day.

    Now, your average eight-hour shift runs 28,800 seconds long. This gives a cop two-thirds of a second to harass a person, and then only another third of a second to drink an iced coffee AND then find a new person to harass. This is not an easy task. To be honest, most cops are not up to the challenge day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilise some tools to help us narrow down those people we can realistically harass.

    PHONE: People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. “My neighbour is beating his wife” is a code phrase used often. This means we’ll come out and give somebody some special harassment. Another popular one is, “There’s a guy breaking into a house.” The harassment team is then put into action.

    CARS: We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars with no insurance or drivers with no licences and the like. It’s lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light. Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, they are drunk, or have an outstanding warrant on file.

    LAWS: When we don’t have phone or cars, and have nothing better to do, there are actually books that give us ideas for reasons to harass folks. They are called “statutes”. These include the Crimes Act, Summary Offences Act, Land Transport Act and a whole bunch of others… They spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the law, you can just drive around for a while until you find someone violating one of these listed offences and harass them. Just last week I saw a guy trying to steal a car. Well, the book says that’s not allowed. That meant I had permission to harass this guy.

    It is a really cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well. We seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it. Why? Because, for the good citizens who pay the tab, we try to keep the streets safe for them, and they pay us to “harass” some people.

    Next time you are in the area, give me the old “single finger wave”. That’s another one of those codes. It means, “You can harass me.” It’s one of our favourites.

  179. Damaris Tighe February 28th, 2016 – 11:30

    Many online sites refer superficially to the Islamification of South-East Asia as benign or peaceful, referencing a lack of actual early documented history. But by exploring the history of other religions in those lands under their own reference, e.g. Buddhism, Hinduism, you will find that in many cases it was far from benign or peaceful. The route of conquest and influence was through Central Asia and India.

    This gets very little study in the West for two main reasons. Firstly the obsession with Imperial guilt that obfuscates the reality of pre-Imperial dynastic, religious and tribal conflict in the region and secondly, I guess, to avoid offending the current official policy platitudes contrived to “keep the lid on” here (in the minds of the stupid politicians who rule over us). On the contrary, Muslim scholars are less reticent about the historical realities and historian Mohammad Habib, for example, has said with regard to the history of India: “Alone among the many Muslim invaders of India Muhammad Qasim is a character of whom a conscientious Mussalman need not be ashamed.”

    As with the British Empire a mixture of military force and peaceful treaty arrangement facilitated the spread but unlike Empire there was no secular division of state and religion. Religious tolerance was state controlled, formalised and prescribed in subservience to Islam. This is in contrast to Empire where missionary activities, even if approved of and supported by the Victorian establishments, were separate from government and independently pursued without state coercion.

    “Over 15th and 16th centuries, a Muslim militant campaign led by Sultans attacked Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms and various communities in the Indonesian archipelago, with each Sultan trying to carve out a region or island for control. Four diverse and contentious Islamic Sultanates emerged in north Sumatra (Aceh), south Sumatra, west and central Java, and in southern Borneo (Kalimantan).”

    “These Sultanates declared Islam as their state religion and pursued war against each other as well as the Hindus and other non-Muslim infidels. Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian and Animist communities in these Indonesian Sultanates bought peace by agreeing to pay Jizya tax to the Muslim ruler, while others began adopting Islam to escape the Jizya tax. For example, Jizya was imposed on unbelievers of Islam in Sumatra, as a condition for peace by the local Sultan. In some regions, Indonesian people continued their old beliefs and adopted a syncretic version of Islam. In other cases, Hindus and Buddhists left and concentrated as communities in islands that they could defend. Hindus of western Java, for example, moved to Bali and neighboring small islands.”

    So your best bet to explore further, rather than to search under the category of Islamification, is to search under the individual pre-existing religions and to investigate their own history as it pertains to contact with Islam. You will find that history much less sanitised.

  180. Baron:

    See my reply to Col Mustard on what has been removed. Everything even mildly critical of editorial policy – or might be construed as such – has gone. FN has an ego problem. Out of interest, what did you say?

  182. Damaris Tighe February 28th, 2016 – 13:41

    Well if that opinionated, plate-spinning uber pundit in No.10 has influence there no surprises! Vichy Dave is a great believer in controlling and censoring views that he is scornful of, as witness his various antics following his EU renegotiation sham and his unhealthy penchant for Chinese firewalls and filters.

    They should relax. The comments threads are no more than an extended collection of unedited ‘letters to the editor’ from the man on the Clapham omnibus. The more excited they get about it the more heat is generated.

    They won’t though, because like the government they are terrified of attracting the wrath of the various mobs of the left wing agenda, the Leveson and Miller “third party complaint” crew. No British politician has yet shown the Napoleonic courage to respond to that motley crew with a long overdue “whiff of grapeshot” and of course its unelected advocates infest the offices of state anyway, especially the influential non-governmental organisations.

    We must resign ourselves to the fact that we now live in an age of ‘soft’ state tyranny, that those who rule over us desire not just to control and order our lives but what we might think, write and say too.

  183. Mind you, Lancaster Uni may have its good points,

    http://thetab.com/uk/lancaster/2016/02/12/meet-gemma-hughes-founder-lingerie-football-uk-5096

    The Tab blog may be worth a look on dark nights when you find yourself quoting the script verbatim before its spoken on the Freeview repeats of old, pre-leftie BBC comedies. Try the utter wrongheaded post-marxist doctrinal insanity of this gem for starters…

    http://thetab.com/uk/lancaster/2016/02/26/vagina-talk-lancasters-take-vagina-monologues-5559

  184. Damaris Tighe @ 13:56

    Apart from making light of Fraser’s opening statement that the operation is run with Prussian efficiency (‘Prussian efficiency, Fraser, you’ve obviously not come across an outfit run by a Prussian’, or words to that effect), Baron homed exclusively on their editorial policy saying ‘in the choice of topics it followed the MSM herd, avoided controversial issues like a plague, and was always PC.

  187. And another thing on the same subject, Damaris.

    FN reign at the Spectator will always be defined by his firm promise to investigate Neathergate, then chickening out. Shortsighted that, the issue hasn’t come to the boil yet, but it will.

  188. Baron:

    There’s an article on Blair about it today at Breitbart, with a morsel of new information. Unfortunately Breitbart articles aren’t that great.

  189. TWEET by: Edward Snowden
    ‎@Snowden

    2016: a choice between Donald Trump and Goldman Sachs.
    8:07 AM – 28 Feb 2016

    (h/t Prison Planet)

  190. If you can get hold of today’s ST, do because it has a piece by Niall Ferguson on populism. It’s worth reading even if you disagree with the argument, or the man who makes it.

    He starts by quoting a colleague of his Danielle Allen from Harvard, who compares the rise of Trump to that of Adolf in Germany in the 1930s, then he (Ferguson) rightly debunks the analogy.

    He offers a different comparison with the mid-1870s to mid-1890s timespan both here and in the Republic pointing to Donald resemblance to William Jennings Bryan (google him if you want). It fits better, in Baron’s humble view it’s spot on, but what he proceeds to argue is that the US Constitution was ‘deliberately design to prevent a demagogue from becoming President (Bryan failed three times’), hence Donald will never make it.

    That may be true, who can tell, but what he fails to mention is that the populism of the Bryan variety had a powerful effect on the mainstream of politics then as will Donald’s populism have on today political realignment. It has to, if the Republic is to avoid an implosion.

  191. Damaris Tighe @ 14:29

    Thanks for the tip, Damaris, but why do you find B’s shots on issues of the day of inferior quality?

    The shelf-life of anything, well almost everything, published in the MSM or on-line sites is what? A day or a week at the most. It’s like gossiping, chatting, a spontaneous reaction to events. One can hardly expect the quality of a well researched book, no?

  193. On the last but one page of the ST there sits a small column headed ‘Protesters honour murdered Putin critic’.

    It’s about the 7,000 people who gathered in Moscow few days ago, a rather pitiful number. Baron would be there, too, if he resided in the Russian capital, not because he endorses the dead man’s take on things, but because he was brave enough to articulate it.

    The piece ends with ‘Nemtsev’s supporters suspect his murder was ordered by powerful Chechens who assumed it would ingratiate them with Putin’. That’s what the barbarian thinks, too.

    What the piece doesn’t say is that the most powerful (so far anyway) of the Chechens, a thug called Kadyrev (he runs Chechnya), suggested few weeks ago that objecting to the Putin’s line on anything should be considered a crime, it should be enshrined in statutes. You can well imagine the uproar it has caused, and not only in the opposition media. Another attempt at ingratiation, Baron reckons. It didn’t work, few days ago Kadyrev said he would resign because ‘he has done his bit’.

    Not that it concerns many, but the barbarian reckons his days are numbered, he may even finds himself facing a judge.

  194. Radford NG @ 15:13

    Baron has read the piece, Radford, and you posting.

    It’s not enough, the whole affair should be looked into officially by agencies of the State as a crime against the indigenous people. For purely political reasons, the country has been flooded with people of another race some of whom may want to do us harm. Pity the crime of treason is no longer on the statute books.

  196. Damaris Tighe – 14:22

    I don’t think Frasier’s little consultation article is going too well, do you?

  197. Baron:

    I meant only that Breitbart London tends to repeat well known information that isn’t news any more. The news advertised by the headline is often a sliver bulked out by what has been posted many times before. No, I don’t expect a dissertation! Just that I’ve been disappointed that the headlines often don’t deliver.

    That said, they’ve done a very good job this year reporting on the migrant crisis & events in Cologne. The Speccie has been very late the party, if present at all. I get the feeling that since last summer they really, really, don’t want to talk about it. Btw, Hexhamgeezer, a thoughtful Speccie poster of long standing, was banned by Fraser for pointing this out.

  199. EC:

    Hee hee! How right you are. Fraser must be cursing that his Sunday has been ruined by having to patrol the comments for anything other than fawning appreciation of his esteemed organ.

  202. The MSM have become rather silent about the Syrian ceasefire, Ukraine, and the investigation into the MH17 tragedy. It may be explained, in part anyway, by the significance of the EU referendum, but one would expect at least some interest in the three issues, don’t you think? Yet scanning all major papers one would be hard put to find even a small scrap of information about any of the three, in the recent past, headline grabbing topics.

    Here is John Helmer on the the MH17 disaster, well, just one case involving the fight for justice on behalf of one single victim.

    (This chap Helmer is based in Moscow, often comes up with information that suggests he must be well connected with sources on intelligence not only in Russia, but in the West, too. If you were to scan his blog you would find another piece on Lebedev that may help to understand the plight of the Independent).

    http://johnhelmer.net/?p=15188

  203. EC @ 15:37

    Intriguing link, EC, but if you asked Baron the girls are overdressed, the knee-high socks would have been enough, no?

  204. Noa @ 14:15

    Your ‘gem for starters’, Noa, has put Baron off his dinner, how could you? But still, is there an equivalent site of the pleasure aperture for our gay friends?

    Btw, what has happened to Frank, he’s been suspiciously quiet, the barbarian misses his slicing of things, hopes he’s fine, still breathing, building up the strength to vote out in June.

  209. Baron @ 19:01

    Seriously funny! Someone did a lot of work. Give it as an Easter Egg to someone who is still on the side of the New World Order.

    By the way, I take Frank’s P’s point at yesterday @ 23:59. It was flagged early on the Wall though that Trump might yet prove the Benedict Arnold of this populist movement. My own sense at present is that will not be the case. Senator Jess Sessions is endorsing him. Meanwhile, the other half of the Democrat party, the Republicans, are preparing to nominate Mitt Romney – a sign of desperation I would think.

    Meanwhile, as a result of the posts above on the subject of the other place, I paid a visit and was amazed at the posts. Infowars seems to be catching on:

    Fir example:

    The Reincarnated Sausage • 9 hours ago
    I find it amusing that the media is attempting to portray the flooding of Europe with immigrants as some kind of unfortunate accident

    The plan to flood Europe with immigrants from Africa was conceived by one of the founders of Pan European ideology, Count Richard Nikolaus von Coudenhoven Kalergi.

    The idea, worthy of an Orwell or Aldous Huxley novel, was to flood Europe with millions of immigrants and to subjugate and destroy a millennium of European sophistry as culture via ethnic genocide of the caucasian people of Europe.

    It’s such a bizzare story, it was only ever really mentioned on Stormfront type white supremacist websites by frothing loons………….until that is, Merkel and the EU began flooding northern Europe with millions of immigrants and what seemed like a hysterical conspiracy theory has actually started to become reality in the last few years. It also reinforces the view held by myself and many others that Blair, Mandelson and co, were part of this conspiracy to “rub our faces in diversity”

    Pretty terrifying stuff.

    There’s nothing scarier than politicians and elitists “playing God”

    You know there’s trouble ahead when these kinds of ideas come out into the open.
    4 • Reply•Share ›
    Avatar
    WarriorPrincess111111 The Reincarnated Sausage • 4 hours ago
    You forgot to mention that Merkel was awarded and accepted the medal from the Kalergi Society last year.
    1 • Reply•Share ›
    Avatar
    oliver cromwell The Reincarnated Sausage • 6 hours ago
    well my only hope is they like civil war and when it comes the likes of Blair will be on the list

    WarriorPrincess111111 oliver cromwell • 4 hours ago
    Yes, on the front line!

    mr humphreys The Reincarnated Sausage • 8 hours ago
    Well summarized. Infowars uploaded on Youtube a special report on this very subject last week. Kalergi wanted a mixed Eurasian population with equal measure of negro to resemble Egyptians as red2black points out. And as you point out the curse of the Kalergi mummy has come back in the shape of Mutter Merkel and the British version in the form of Labours conspiracy to smash our blonde blue-eyed bloodline (like Isis) and blackball over the Conservative Party (pun intended). If it wasn’t so tragic and treacherous and shameful and evil and disgusting and nasty and swinish and loathsome and shocking and ……….it would be funny, which it is most decidedly, not.

    WarriorPrincess111111 mr humphreys • 4 hours ago
    That is the reason why terrorists will never try to take over the UK – it is being run by a destruction team as it is!

  210. Erratum: Jeff Sessions –

    Trump has just introduced him to the crowd btw and he is making a patriotic speech in his usual eloquent terms. Where is our British equivaleny?

  215. FREEDOM OR SLAVERY

    Norman Tebbit on Boris Johnson’s and Michael Gove’s Brexit Call

    “…As I did my weekly shopping yesterday in Waitrose I was encouraged at the number of people who told me that they would vote to win back our independence. And that before the Brexit Army, led by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling, Iain Duncan Smith, Theresa Villiers, Lord Lawson, Labour’s Kate Hooey and the Ukip irregulars under Nigel Farage have really opened fire.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12168018/With-Boris-Johnson-and-Michael-Gove-on-side-the-momentum-is-now-with-the-Brexit-Army.html

    Btw, the link to Norman Tebbitt on our Blogroll is now out of date.

  216. FREEDOM OR SLAVERY

    John Redwood

    “I see myself as a good European. I like my continent and many of its people. As a good European I do not want my country to hold up plans for more European integration, nor do I want my country to be dragged into that Union.
    The UK is an outward looking global country, trading with the five continents, and friends with many countries worldwide. To restore and foster our democracy we need to leave. There will be no additional economic risks for us outside the EU. On the contrary the risks that come from being too close to the Euro, having to pay into an ever rising EU budget and being pillion on their wild ride to political union mean we must leave to cut our risks.”

    http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2016/02/28/economic-uncertainty-and-the-eu/

  217. FREEDOM OR SLAVERY

    Alexander Boot

    “…The annual net number of immigrants quadrupled under Labour, and such dramatic increases are never accidental; they betoken deliberate policy.

    Tom Bower, a fine investigative reporter, has just published a book about it, which I haven’t read yet. However, familiar as I am with Mr Bower’s work, I’m sure he gathered an amazing corpus of evidence proving that there indeed was a conspiracy behind that massive influx…”.

    http://www.alexanderboot.com/why-blair-and-his-ilk-want-to-destroy-britain/

  219. Apologies – that “Farage” blog is feeble in its coverage, though the interview of him by George Galloway is ok. I thought it was other than what it was.

    Is there a good UKIP or ukip or Faragesque or reasoned ant-EU blog that anyone could recommend for the Blogroll until after the referendum?

  223. Sky News coverage of the EU referendum: five minutes of Matthew Hancock in a ludicrous fear-mongering spiel during which he made idiotic self contradictory claims about 16 years of strife if Brexit is the the result (using Switzerland as an example – we should be so lucky). This was followed by a speech from the SNP leader, without sub-titles, so I only got the gist of it, which was that she would demand another Scottish referendum if we Brexit.

    No counterbalancing interviews whatsoever.

    Fair and balanced my arse! Ofcom to note!

    If any dithererers among the electorate were converted to the remain camp as a result, then we deserve to remain under heel of the Bastards of Brussels.

    OTOH, I am convinced that ‘the silent majority’ will be so pissed off by the bias of the media and the condescending arrogance of Cameron’s Cowardly Kuntz that they will Be Brave and Brexit in droves.

    I know I ‘m preaching to the choir, but FFS!

  224. I get the impression that Farage is a busted flush. So many people, over the years, he regarded as a threat and stabbed. He has always had a compliant crowd in the NEC. Kilroy Silk was so regarded, whatever happened to Knapman etc? The latest to go is Suzanne Evans a very good television interviewee. Sacked.

    When you watch the interview given by IDS yesterday on the MARR programme. Farage is not in the same league. UKIP did a service. There are good men and women involved but with Farage they will never move forward. If they do not tell him his time is up UKIP will fade into history.

  226. I do agree with Frank P 11.51. SKY are a disgrace. I just send them emails to the Editors complaining. The latest was asking why the Ministers who are supporting the OUT campaign are called REBELS?

    I wonder if, like the BBC, SKY get monies from the EU?

  228. Noa @ 14:22

    The man is a wanking poodle, agreed, Noa, but here Baron suspects the influence of his farther, a great Chancellor, probably one of the best since WW2. He (the son cum farther) is spot on, thanks for the link. The Albert bit is revealing, the barbarian has been guilty, too.

  229. Hello, anyone there?

    When someone asks a direct question to someone else and that person takes the time to answer it at best endeavour there is a reasonable expectation that the reply will be acknowledged rather than (apparently) ignored!

    If my replies are going to be disregarded anyway I’ll save time in future by not bothering to reply.

    😉

  230. Frank P @ 11:51

    How charmingly you, guru, with the ‘ followed by a speech from the SNP leader, without sub-titles, so I only got the gist of it’.

    More of it, please.

  231. Colonel Mustard @ 14:50

    If the guilty party is the poorly educated Slav, apologies, Colonel. What was the question?

  232. Alan Eastwood (12:30)

    Your email must have had an effect. A later bulletin involved a retired major general* who was very much for Brexit and for rational and well argued reasons, too, unlike Hancock’s half baked bullshit.

    * Apologies to the major general, I’ve alreadyforgotten his name, should have made a note. He’s undoubtedly forgotten mine too. One of the drawbacks of incipient dementia. ☺

  233. John birch @ 12:30

    Tragic story, John, the woman must be deranged, mad, not in control of her actions, there can be no other explanation for what she’s done – a woman decapitating a four year old – no amount of hatred, religious or any other, could have been behind it, madness could.

  234. Colonel Mustard (14:50)

    If I am the offender – please forgive me, also. For personal reasons ( I won’t bore you with the details) I haven’t had time to read the backlog of this platform for a few days; if you have addressed any of my previous posts, rest assured that when I read them I’ll duly acknowledge them. Might I add that I’m extremely grateful for your past efforts hereupon, which are often seminal and always worth reading. Your historical perspectives are well-researched, limpid and very valuable to someone like me who spent his life dealing with exigencies and had little time to study past iniquities of our fellow men (other than the CRO files of my immediate adversaries in the the business of criminal enterprise). I’m trying to catch up and find your posts very helpful in that regard. As for your evisceration of the resident troll: not only comprehensive, but highly entertaining. Keep it up, please. ☺

  235. Noa (14:22)

    Dominic Lawson has his quirks, but he was a far superior editor of the Speccie than an of his successors, imho.

    His sister writes well, too. Pity she entered the world of TV celebrity, which corrupts most hacks.

    Anyway, thanks for that link, which I enjoyed immensely.8

    Thanks also for the Aussie Sergeant’s answer to the harassment complaint.
    That will travel well, I assure you. Wonderful satire. His future should be assured when he retires. He could write a column in any reputable organ.

    I’ll bet he already has a blog?

  236. Baron February 29th, 2016 – 14:57

    Not you Baron!

    Frank P February 29th, 2016 – 15:39

    Or you Frank! And thank you for your kind words of encouragement!

    Damaris had asked me about the Islamification of SE Asia but she seems to have disappeared again! The square in my comment was meant to be a smiley as my chiding was intended in good humour!

  237. Colonel M

    Yes, Damaris is sometimes like the errant choirboy, who crept into the crypt, commented, then crept out again. ☺

    Sorry, Damaris, but I did clean up the old joke, as I know you are a lady. Stick around, your contributions add to the craic.

  239. Damaris, I am surprised
    All blogs have rules
    And this is no exception

    1. You cannot be reasonable
    2. You must never support the Government of the day
    3. You take every opportunity to denigrate the religion of peace
    4. You must regard Breitbart as the closest to the Gospels we have today
    5. You take as read that anyone who promotes egalitarianism must be attacked

    But the Golden Rule is that you cannot upset

  240. Tetley

    An attempt at irony? Poor enough, sarcasm really, as we know the lowest form of wit. And so, most becoming.

    Be grateful tPat FM, whom you have often made the subject of your personal insults and abuse at the other place, demonstrates a Christian spirit of forgiveness & tolerance by letting you promulgate your canards and sly bigotry here.

    I for one have none of the tolerance to which you pretend and would cast you, into the fiery chasm.
    “…what time his Pride
    Had cast him out from Heav’n, with all his Host
    Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
    To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
    He trusted to have equal’d the most High,
    If he oppos’d; and with ambitious aim
    Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
    Rais’d impious War in Heav’n and Battel proud
    With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
    Hurld headlong flaming from th’ Ethereal Skie
    With hideous ruine and combustion down
    To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
    In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
    Who durst defie th’ Omnipotent to Arms.”

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