Sunday 31 January 2021

CATHERINE WEST'S DUMB TWEET

Labour frontbencher Catherine West tweeted in July 2020 that the UK government's decision to opt out of the EU vaccine scheme was 'dumber and dumber'.  Needless to say, the tweet hasn't aged well.


If Britain was committed to the EU-wide procurement scheme, the mass vaccination currently taking place across the UK would not be happening.  In some EU countries the shortage of jabs has led to a suspension in their vaccination programmes, while Hungary has turned its back on the scheme and is looking to China and Russia for Covid vaccines.  The Czech Republic is also looking at the Russian vaccine.

Meanwhile, in response to the British vaccine coup, the EU responded in extraordinarily petulant fashion by threatening to impose border controls at the UK border with Ireland.  The decision to trigger Article 16 was quickly rescinded, but the damage was already done.  Having threatened to take the British government to court over the Internal Market Bill last year for pretty much the same reason, it was an act of rank hypocrisy and aggression.  Even arch Remainer Tony Blair criticised the move, saying it was 'very foolish'.  Indeed.

Needless to say, Catherine West is staying very quiet about the EU vaccine crisis - despite her role as Shadow Minister for Europe.  What an embarrassment.

Catherine West seen here at a 'People's Vote' rally with fellow Labour Remainer
Seb Dance

KWASI'S NOT CONFORMING

Kwasi Kwarteng

The new Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has lashed out at BLM in an interview with the Beeb's Nick Robinson.  Referring to attacks on monuments and statues he described them for what they are - 'illegal acts of vandalism'.  Only in today's media-driven leftist echo chamber could such a matter of fact statement be regarded as 'controversial', but the way in which the BBC presented his views you'd think it was.

In a BBC News article posted on Saturday it was clear that such views were not expected from the son of Ghanaians.  This a typically leftist trope about people of colour, who they arrogantly assume as their own.  The rise of black conservatism in recent years continues to rattle them, but the truth is that the more woke the left become the more they drive ordinary black people away.

Kwarteng also criticises the left's demands to 'decolonise the curriculum', although he states that he does not fully understand what it is they want to achieve by it.  His reference to BLM's 'cartoon-like view' of British history appeared to irk the BBC more than anything, but then this is a broadcaster that pushes BLM's agenda - not only to regular viewers, but even in its 'Bitesize' resources for schoolchildren.  Bitesize has not only presented arguments for 'decolonisation', but it has also presented other left-wing concepts such as 'white privilege'.

While Kwarteng himself may not get it, it's clear that the agenda of BLM, the hard left and the BBC is to demonise our past in order to churn out a disenfranchised generation who hate themselves and their own country.  National pride is an obstacle to Marxism and therefore it must be removed.  Little wonder that the flag burners of America are all enthralled by BLM.

BAME conservatives also provide a significant obstacle, particularly as BLM seek to divide people by race.  It's no surprise that when it comes to this Tory government, the likes of Momentum often single out the likes of Priti Patel and Rishi Sunak for particular criticism.  They want them gone in order to push their racially divisive agenda and tar their opponents with 'white privilege'.

The full Kwarteng interview can be found here.

Saturday 30 January 2021

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 24-30 JAN 2021

24.01.21 - Stanley McMurtry, Mail on Sunday
24.01.21 - AF Branco, Legal Insurrection
24.01.21 - Andy Davey, Sunday Telegraph
24.01.21 - Rob Bullen via Twitter
25.01.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
25.01.21 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
25.01.21 - Morten Morland, The Times
25.01.21 - Rich, Guido Fawkes
25.01.21 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics
26.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
26.01.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
27.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
27.01.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
27.01.21 - Dave Brown, Independent
27.01.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
28.01.21 - Peter Brookes, The Times
28.01.21 - Tjeerd Royaards, Cartoon Movement
28.01.21 - Graeme Keyes, Irish Daily Mail
28.01.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
28.01.21 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
29.01.21 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph
29.01.21 - AF Branco, Conservative Daily News
29.01.21 - AF Branco, Daily Torch
29.01.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
29.01.21 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
30.01.21 - Morten Morland, Spectator
30.01.21 - Peter Brookes, The Times
30.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

ZARAH'S PRIORITY GROUP

Hard left Labour youngster Zarah Sultana features in our latest YouTube video.  The MP for Coventry South recently popped up at a select committee hearing with a daft question for vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.  Watch below...


To get our videos as soon as they're uploaded, be sure to subscribe to our channel here.

Friday 29 January 2021

THE DEMONISING OF SWAYNE


When Tory lockdown sceptic Desmond Swayne says that coronavirus figures have been manipulated, he is stating a fact that even lockdown enthusiasts cannot deny.  100,000 people have not died from coronavirus in the UK - they have died within 28 days of a positive test.  This is not the same thing.  
Go to the official coronavirus dashboard or listen out next time they read out the daily figures on the news.  The 28 days disclaimer is an indisputable fact that cannot be avoided.

Of course this is not to say that tens of thousands of unfortunate Britons haven't died from the virus, but how many of those 100,000 died of natural causes, of strokes and flu, accidents, suicides, heart attacks?  Perhaps we'll never know, but the 100,000 figure is a demonstrable lie.  The trouble is that despite the presence of the disclaimer, the media's repeated headline reference to the death 'milestone' has embedded itself in the minds of gullible viewers.  Once again, fiction is triumphing over fact.

This week an interview came to light in which Sir Desmond spoke with a representative of Save Our Rights UK, an anti-lockdown group formed last year.  The interview took place in November and can be seen in full on their website.  He makes numerous astute observations and repeats views that he has quite often made in the Commons.  However, on this occasion the full might of the lockdown machine has come down on him simultaneously.

From self-appointed Labour attack dog Angela Rayner to the mainstream media and even his own party colleagues - Swayne is being bombarded with calls to apologise.  For what?  Having an opinion that is critical of lockdown?  If this is what it has come to then we truly are no longer living in a democracy.

The media has picked out three key points from his interview for particular attention.  Firstly, that coronavirus statistics are being manipulated.  The irony is that this is coming from the same broadcasters that add the 28 days disclaimer themselves.  Secondly, that the risk to the NHS is manageable and hospitals were running at normal capacity.  Again, the irony is that even the BBC themselves have used NHS statistics to show that critical care occupancy is not just 'normal', but it's actually quieter than the corresponding period in the pre-pandemic winter of 2019-20.  The key point to remember is that even at the height of panic over hospitals being 'overwhelmed', the Nightingales were not reactivated.

An article we posted earlier this month dealt with the issue of hospital scaremongering falsehoods.

The BBC, ITV, Sky and co didn't try to argue these points, but they had a counter-argument for a third statement in which Sir Desmond claimed that deaths were at the 'typical level' for the time of year.  As the interview was filmed in November, they looked back at the ONS stats for November which showed there were over 6,000 excess deaths in England and Wales for November when compared against the five year average.  However, it's unclear at which point in November the interview was filmed and worth noting that excess deaths for the previous month were less than 3,000 and a marginal 126 more than in October 2019.

Boris Johnson endures one of Desmond Swayne's regular diatribes

However, the headlines revolving around Desmond Swayne's interview deliberately and insidiously conflate lockdown scepticism with Covid denial and anti-vaxx theory.  The interview provided the smoking gun they required to tar him with that brush, something which they'd dearly wish to ascribe all lockdown sceptics.  For it wasn't necessarily because of anything he said, but because of the company in which he said it.

Save Our Rights UK is a group that organised many anti-lockdown protests last year, although it has nothing to do with Jeremy Corbyn's barmy brother Piers.  While there is little, if any, anti-vaxx material on their website, the media have designated them anti-vaxxers.  They have done this in order to tar Desmond Swayne by association.  This is sinister McCarthyism.

Labour's Angela Rayner has jumped on the bandwagon, tweeting incessantly over the last few days calling for Swayne's head.  For the second time this month she has written to the chair of the Conservative Party calling for action against one of their elected members.  Earlier this month she called for Andrew RT Davies to be suspended over a tweet in which he criticised Remain politicans.

In her official complaint about Sir Desmond she states that there is 'absolutely no evidence' to back up his claim about official figures having been manipulated.  What part of  'deaths within 28 days of a positive test' doesn't she grasp?


Appearing on Sky News, Rayner went much further than her letter and suggests that Swayne had undermined the vaccine programme, despite the fact he has never once questioned the veracity of any vaccine.  His beef has always been with the devastating restrictions on life and liberty.


While Boris Johnson himself has not yet been drawn in, senior figures around him have called on Swayne to retract his comments, including Michael Gove and Priti Patel. However, this demand is asking much more than just a mere apology of Sir Desmond, it is silencing his right to express an opinion.  This astonishing attitude from so-called 'conservatives' is what has turned our society into a sinister dystopia where only one train of thought is allowed to prevail and all dissent must be smeared and crushed - in the back of a police van if necessary.

As Sir Desmond quite rightly points out himself, if action is taken against him it will be 'punishment for thought crime'.  Thankfully, he is made of stern stuff and appears willing to be hung out to dry as a martyr to the sceptic cause if it comes to that.  Regardless of what happens to him in the coming days, history will judge Desmond Swayne to be a man of honour, principle and a true conservative.

Wednesday 27 January 2021

THE WOKERY OF LISA NANDY


Lisa Nandy's calm, measured and articulate performances during the 2020 Labour leadership election impressed many, including critics of her party.  At times it appeared as if she was the one candidate who could pose a significant threat to Boris Johnson.  Then came her interview on Good Morning Britain in which she was torn to shreds by Piers Morgan over the left's conundrum between trans vs women's rights.  It was a car crash interview that exposed a crucial weakness in Nandy's armour - despite being tarred a 'centrist' by Corbynistas, in actual fact she embraced the wokery of the hard left.


After finishing a strong third in the leadership election, Nandy was given one of the top jobs on Starmer's front bench - Shadow Foreign Secretary.  However, despite Starmer's overtures to the patriotic leanings of working class voters, Nandy has gone from woke to worse.  Recently she endorsed a report that suggested replacing the British Army with the name 'Gender-Balanced Human Security Corps'.  She referred to the report as 'inspirational' in a leaked Zoom call obtained by the Guido Fawkes blog.

Her apparent disdain for Her Majesty's Armed Forces is in line with previous statements she has made about the monarchy, the British Empire and Churchill.  During one leadership debate she said she would back the abolition of the monarchy, albeit she would put it to a referendum.  This was the most extreme view on the panel, with even hard left Long-Bailey saying she would maintain the status quo.  And in a pathetic signal to woke viewers, Nandy joked that she would have liked to have seen 'Queen Meghan at some point'.

Earlier on in her campaign Nandy had also criticised the British Empire, calling for the word 'empire' to be removed from honours and replaced with 'excellence'.  These views were expressed prior to the BLM uprising, as was her refusal to acknowledge Churchill as a hero figure.  She returned to Churchill again more recently by voicing support for the BLM vandals who defaced his statue last summer, accusing Boris Johnson of trying to 'start a culture war over a statue'.  In the same interview she also praised Joe Biden as a 'woke guy' who stood up for BLM.  She had hoped to attend his inauguration, but lockdown restrictions prevented her.

Last summer Nandy also spoke of her pride in BLM protesters.

Then again, none of this should come as a surprise considering her family background.  Her father is Dipak Nandy, an Indian immigrant and lifelong Marxist activist who appears to have a huge chip on his shoulder where Britain and the Empire is concerned.  He is a founder of the left-wing Runnymede Trust, a 'charity' that dedicates itself to race baiting and racially divisive campaigns.  No wonder Lisa adores BLM and its devastating effect on race relations.

While she made astute self-serving moves over Brexit to placate her Leave-voting constituents in 2019, Nandy appears to have no reservations about alienating them with woke politics.  Her views are more at home with the middle class metropolitan elites of our capital city, rather than the working class voters of Wigan who gave her a kicking in the 2019 general election, slashing almost 10,000 votes from her 16,000 majority.

If Starmer is serious about appealing to the old red wall seats he may do well to consider ditching Nandy at some point.  Consolidating your London base is pointless if you continue to fail elsewhere.

PRIME MINISTER'S QUESTIONS 27.01.21

Tuesday 26 January 2021

TORY SCEPTIC SHAMES LABOUR

A speech made in Parliament by Tory lockdown sceptic Charles Walker has inexplicably gone viral, almost three weeks after he gave it.  The member for Broxbourne addressed the lockdown debate on January 6 with an impassioned plea to think of those less fortunate who endure great hardship when stay at home orders are given: "These are people who are going to be worrying about their jobs, about their future, about their mental health, about their family relationships because they will miss people terribly".  He added that 'sadly, some of these people are going to break', a reference to the inevitable rise in mental health problems and suicide as a direct result of the restrictions.  It's worth noting that accurate suicide statistics are exceptionally difficult to obtain right now, apparently because inquests are subject to delays (but strangely we have Covid statistics streaming out of our TVs on a daily basis).

In his speech Walker singled out sneering journalists for particular criticism, but he was speaking about a much greater demographic ie. largely middle class lockdown enthusiasts who are able to work from home and appear unwilling, unable or just plain ignorant about the plight of those who are stuck in much smaller accommodation such as high rises or bedsits, with no access to green space, who may be already be unemployed, have no access to the internet, have existing mental health issues or who are just desperately lonely.

Click below for the speech in full.


This is the kind of speech that resonates with blue collar workers, many of whom will be jobless and struggling as a result of coronavirus restrictions.  Walker's stern criticism of the metropolitan elite speaks to the red wall and puts Labour to shame.  Where is the party of the workers?

The truth is that today's Labour Party is overwhelmingly run by wealthy elites who couldn't care less about blue collar workers and are more concerned with woke middle class crusades that alienate and mock the working classes.  And when Labour activists express surprise and an inability to explain how or why this demographic continues to abandon them they expose the delusion of the modern left.  The leaders they have consistently elected for decades have all been millionaires who never held a proper job in their lives.  Labour no longer speak for the workers, because they don't speak to the workers.

Monday 25 January 2021

INDEFINITE LOCKDOWN 'MADNESS' SAYS TORY

Tory lockdown sceptic Desmond Swayne has lashed out again at his government, telling fellow sceptic Julia Hartley-Brewer that people would not tolerate living under restrictions indefinitely.  He quite rightly points out that the imposition of lockdowns is supposedly to protect the NHS, but the government is now moving the goalposts in order to prolong the misery.  At one point in the interview Sir Desmond appears to promote an insurrection: "At some stage people have got to rise up and bring it down".  It may well come to that when the warmer months arrive, although in the Netherlands they are not waiting for spring to make their feelings known.

Click below for the clip.


At the moment the only upward curve in the UK pandemic is deaths, while new cases and hospital admissions are falling.  Deaths tend to lag four weeks behind hospital admissions, so one would expect deaths to start coming down next month, at which point we will be thanked for our compliance and told that the latest lockdown is working.  In fact, broadcast media is already using words to that effect, despite no evidence to back it up.  If the current UK lockdowns were effective then new cases would have started to come down around 10-14 days in, but new cases were already dropping before England (and Scotland) went into lockdown - and this was despite a huge surge in testing over the New Year period.


Lockdown is smoke and mirrors.  There is no evidence that it makes any impact at all, primarily because no-one can say with any certainty what would have happened without them.

As Richey pointed out recently, the stark contrast between California and Florida suggests lockdowns may have little effect on the virus.  California enforces a strict lockdown, including a curfew, while in Florida everything is open and people are not even required to wear face coverings.  Lockdown enthusiasts will be flabbergasted to learn that there is little difference between their infection rates, with libertarian Florida currently enjoying a slightly lesser rate.

The comparison between California and Florida was the focus of a MailOnline report over the weekend.

Sunday 24 January 2021

DAVIES RETURN RATTLES RAYNER

Andrew RT Davies

Andrew RT Davies has been appointed leader of the Welsh Conservatives following the resignation of incumbent Paul Davies.  This will be his second stint as leader, having led the Welsh party between 2011-18.  With Senedd elections barely three months away the Tories clearly wanted a new leader in place as soon as possible.  Contrast this with Labour's situation in Scotland where a six-week leadership election will install a new leader just two months before voters are due to go to the polls.

The return of RT Davies sparked a furious response from Labour's deputy leader.  Two weeks ago Angela Rayner had written to the chair of the Conservative Party demanding that he be suspended from the party following a tweet in which he highlighted the double standards of Remainers who criticised the storming of the US Capitol building.  The tweet was innocuous, but Rayner's response was vitriolic.  She lashed out again on Sunday morning with two tweets...



It's worth pointing out that just three months ago Rayner was chastised in the House of Commons for heckling a Tory MP by shouting 'scum' across the chamber.  A bit rich, dear.

Further reading

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 17-23 JAN 2021

17.01.21 - Bob Moran, Sunday Telegraph
17.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
18.01.21 - AF Branco, Legal Insurrection
19.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
19.01.21 - Morten Morland, The Times
20.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
20.01.21 - AF Branco, Flag and Cross
21.01.21 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics
21.01.21 - AF Branco, Legal Insurrection
21.01.21 - Giles Pilbrow, Private Eye
22.01.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
22.01.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
22.01.21 - AF Branco, Daily Torch
23.01.21 - Morten Morland, Spectator
23.01.21 - Peter Brookes, The Times
23.01.21 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph