TOON TUESDAY #81

In the third and final part of today's special triple bill, it's yet another selection on what appears to be the most briefed about Budget in the history of Number Eleven.  We begin with an exceptionally rare reference to Reeves' rental scandal, which was successfully buried thanks to a favour from Buckingham Palace in which news of Andrew's excommunication was deliberately released to nudge her from the headlines...

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Graeme Bandeira for The Northern Agenda

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Sunday Times

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Matt Pritchett for The Sunday Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

That's all, until next week...

TOON TUESDAY #80

In the second part of today's special triple bill, we look at the fallout from the Beeb's deliberate mis-representation of President Trump's speech near the Capitol on the day of the so-called 'insurrection'...

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Peter Brookes for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Tom Stiglich on X

Nicola Jennings for The Guardian

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

NEXT UP:  The Budget

TOON TUESDAY #79

We're back today with a triple edition of topical memes to make up for the three week absence.  We begin with prison problems for Dave Lammy, rumours of a Wes Steeting challenge to Starmer and the COP30 climate scam conference...

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Graeme Bandeira for The Northern Agenda

Peter Brookes for The Times

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Graeme Bandeira for The Northern Agenda

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

NEXT UP: The fake news BBC

MEME MONDAY #61

Karl's absence continued last week and Richey tried his best to fill in the gaps with some topical efforts...

Mon 10 Nov - 216 shares

Tue 11 Nov - 33 shares

Tue 11 Nov - 135 shares

Wed 12 Nov - 44 shares

Wed 12 Nov - 64 shares

Thu 13 Nov - 117 shares

Sat 15 Nov - 56 shares

Sat 15 Nov - 1,430 shares

Sun 16 Nov - 82 shares

Sun 16 Nov - 82 shares

The only Facebook Story published last week was a personal message from Karl, who has spent the last fortnight away from home dealing with a close family bereavement.  He is very grateful for the messages of support.

BOATWATCH #36

It was a bleak week thanks to the weather, but that did not deter multiple crossings by hundreds of colonists, including the day that Storm Claudia struck.  The young men on the boats can always rely on the RNLI and Border Farce vessels to pick them up, come rain or shine...

Total = 566 (down 1,206 from previous week)

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 13.11.25

Just the five seats were contested on Thursday, with Labour absent among the defending parties.  We expected at least three of these to be holds, with Reform UK a potential gain in Lincolnshire and the Lib Dems a possible upset in North Somerset.  Reform did indeed take the East Lindsey seat from the Conservatives, but the Lib Dems went in completely the wrong direction and crashed to fourth in North Somerset, where the Greens held easily.

It was a good week for the Greens, who also bested the Lib Dems in Canterbury, where they dislodged the incumbents.  They did not impress so much in leafy Oxfordshire, whey they entered as newcomers in lowly fourth place.

Labour stood in four of the five seats, finishing last in two and fourth elsewhere.  In Oxfordshire they could only muster a pathetic eight votes.

Wincheap, Canterbury City Council

Grn: 842 (39.1%) +24.1%

LDm: 518 (24.1%) -12.2%

Ref: 351 (16.3%) New

Lab: 276 (12.8%) -25.5%

Con: 166 (7.7%) -2.6%

Grn GAIN from LDm

Chapel St Leonards, East Lindsey District Council

Ref: 586 (65.8%) New

Con: 139 (15.6%) -20.7%

Ind: 60 (6.7%) New

Lab: 48 (5.4%) -27.7%

LDm: 42 (4.7%) New

Ind: 15 (1.7%) New

Ref GAIN from Con

Bethel a'r Felinheli, Cyngor Gwynedd Council

Pld: 659 (59.2%) -25.0%

Ind: 369 (33.2%) New 

Ref: 76 (6.8%) New 

Con: 9 (0.8%) New

Pld HOLD

Long Ashton, North Somerset Council

Grn: 1,254 (55.7%) +25.1%

Con: 399 (17.7%) -7.2%

Ref: 349 (15.5%) New

LDm: 129 (5.7%) -28.8%

Lab: 121 (5.4%) -4.5%

Grn HOLD

Ridgeway, Vale of White Horse District Council

LDm: 442 (43.1%) -14.9%

Con: 250 (24.4%) -17.6%

Ref: 204 (19.9%) New

Grn: 144 (11.9%) New

Lab: 8 (0.8%) New

LDm HOLD

POST-SCAMDEMIC HIGH

Socialism all too often spells economic disaster and the policies of Rachel Reeves are taking Britain down a gloomy fiscal path.  It's no great surprise that our economic outlook is grim, with the woman in charge light on qualifications, business acumen and her inspiration stemming from the likes of Ellen Wilkinson, whose portrait hangs in Number Eleven.  Wilkinson was a a founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who later went on to serve as education minister in the Labour government of Atlee.

We already know that the outlook for 2026 has been downgraded, with many factors at play - including rising inflation, higher interest rates, a rising tax burden, high street franchises continuing to struggle, a lack of inward investment and an exodus of business from the country.  Some of these could be tackled by Reeves with decisive measures, but with a Budget still weeks away we are being dealt a series of scaremongering rumours and/or leaks on a daily basis.  If every news headline is to be believed, there is no business sector or demographic that is safe from further tax rises.  The likelihood is that such speculation stems from a series of leaks designed to encourage a sigh of relief when the Budget actually does drop.  'Ahh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be', is perhaps the kind of reaction hoped for.

It may also be to some extent a sounding out exercise, to see which proposals face a lesser backlash.  The problem is that the constant speculation drives economic uncertainty and the threat of further tax rises does nothing to halt the exodus of firms leaving the UK.  And if firms continue to leave and high street franchises continue to go bump, unemployment will rise...

Unemployment has either risen or stabilised since Labour came into office last year.  It has yet to make a downward turn and this year it has risen sharply twice, resulting in the most recent figure of five per cent.  This presents the highest unemployment rate since February 2021, when the scamdemic was almost one year in.  It doesn't look good and if the figure rises again in the next quarter it may well draw level or even best the worst of the scamdemic.

Well done Labour voters!

MEME MONDAY #60

Due to Karl's continuing absence, this is the shortest Meme Monday yet.  Last week's meme output was a mixture of work he created prior to his departure and some old memes republished for their topical value.  Normal service is not likely to return until next week at the earliest, with no Toon Tuesday or Woke Wednesday again this week.

Thu 6 Nov - 79 shares

Fri 7 Nov - 163 shares

Sat 8 Nov - 131 shares

Sun 9 Nov - 328 shares

Sun 9 Nov - 15 shares

If you appreciate Karl's work through the years, you can show it by buying him a metaphorical pint here.  This helps fund our work and serves as a vital morale booster.