BOATWATCH #72

Despite all of the rhetoric from Burnham and his party about boat crossings being down, records continue to be broken in 2026.  On Monday, the all time record number of migrants in a single boat was surpassed for the third time this year.  230 colonists were collected by a Border Farce vessel, many of whom were dangling one leg in the water as they entered British waters in a 49ft long inflatable.  This broke the previous all time record of 165, which was set on 23 July.  This in itself bested the 128  record number of colonists picked up a couple of weeks earlier on 12 July.

In a sign of how the French collaborate with the invasion - as opposed to honouring any of the multiple Anglo-French agreements and hundreds of millions sent their way by successive UK governments - a French Navy vessel failed to intercept the migrant boat on Monday.  In fact, the naval ship was in the process of escorting the boat into UK waters when two passengers called for their help.  The French Navy rescued the two migrants and returned them to Calais, but did nothing to prevent the remaining 230 passengers from continuing their journey into the hands of the UK Border Farce.

This all comes a couple of weeks after the Shadow Home Secretary filmed migrants boarding boats on a French beach, while police officers simply stood and watched.  Chris Philp expressed dismay at what he witnessed, despite having been a member of the government that let in the biggest wave of boat migrants this country has ever seen.  We see you, Mr Philp - just as we see you, Mr Jenrick.

Total = 828 (up 535 from previous week)

PETER LYNCH INQUEST SILENCE

The inquest into the death of Peter Lynch concluded on 5 August with a predictable silence from the legacy media.  Richey covered this in a video posted last week on Facebook, during which he explored the double standards of an establishment that is determined to erase the injustices meted out to the native peoples of these islands.  With the tragic death of the controversial ex-Cambridge professor Jason Arday currently dominating media headlines, this two tier reporting will once again be plain for all to see.

Professor Arday's cause of death has not been confirmed, but given the circumstances around his departure from Cambridge University, the general assumption is that he may have ended his own life.  Peter Lynch took his own life, too.  In time we shall see if Professor Arday's inquest is also roundly ignored by legacy media.  It is highly doubtful.

Richey discusses the Lynch inquest below, recorded prior to the death of Professor Arday (24 minute watch)

English lives matter, white lives matter, European lives matter, all lives matter.  That we have to say any of these things is incredulous, but the fact we are chastised for doing so and labelled 'racists' and 'bigots' is symptomatic of a creeping totalitarian and genocidal mindset that we must root out, expose and defeat.

BY-ELECTIONS 13.08.26

We had a Westminster by-election and two council seats up for grabs this week.  We begin with the Clacton clown show...

Clacton

Nigel Farage (Ref) 22,239 (63.3%) +17.1%

Count Binface (Ind) 9,455 (26.9%) New

John Stevens (Rejoin EU) 492 (1.4%) New

Tony Francis (Ind) 432 (1.2%) New

Pamela Walford (Ind) 371 1.1%) New

Laurence Fox (Reclaim) 347 (1.0%) New

William Clouston (SDP) 256 (0.7%) New

Nick Pelas (Ind) 202 (0.6%) New

James Ransley (Consensus) 192 (0.6%) New

Stephen Ingram (Ind) 159 (0.5%) New

Kai Stephens (British Democrat) 132 (0.4%) New

Attieh Fard (Ind) 126 (0.4%) New

Derrick Morris (Ind) 100 (0.3%) New

Michael O'Keeffe (Ind) 65 (0.2%) New

Martin Davies (Freedom Alliance) 60 (0.2%) New

Robin Green (Ind) 59 (0.2%) New

Rees Cowne (Ind) 50 (0.1%) New

Adham Alkhatip (Forward) 49 (0.1%) New

Amy Morris (Ind) 46 (0.1%) New

Andy Erlam (Ind) 44 (0.1%) New

Joseph 77 (Ind) 42 (0.1%) New

Nick the Incredible Flying Brick (Loon) 28 (0.1%) New

Ketankumar Pipaliya (UK Voice) 21 (0.1%) New

Martyn O'Brien (Ind) 19 (0.1%) New

Howling Laud Hope (Loon) 18 (0.1%) New

Tony Cane (Ind) 17 (0.1%) New

Daniel Pocock (Ind) 16 (0.1%) New

Baron Von Thunderclap (Loon) 15 (0.04%) New

Abi Hookway (Ind) 14 (0.04%) New

Marc Wilkinson (Ind) 11 (0.03%) New

Marcus White (Everyone is God) 10 (0.03%) New

Gerry Smith (Ind) 9 (0.03%) New

Woke Trump Carrzee (Ind) 8 (0.02%) New

Glenn Cummings (Ind) 7 (0.02%) New

Ref HOLD

Triggered by the resignation of Nigel Farage, which could have been a career-ending calamity.  If he'd lost on Thursday to one of the many joke candidates, it would have been a difficult road back for the man whose party has led most of the polls since 2024.  Predictably, it was a routine hold and he received more votes than all the other 33 candidates combined.  However, his troubles are far from over in relation to the infamous £5million donation.  He can still be removed from office if he is found to be in breach of the MPs' code of conduct.  If he is suspended from the Commons for at least ten working days he will face automatically face a recall petition and if ten per cent of Clacton voters sign it there will be yet another by-election.  However, there are no rules that prevent Farage from standing again, even if he has been thrown out of office in this way.

Thursday's by-election was a record breaking contest for multiple reasons, most notably for the length of the ballot paper.  While all the main parties chose not to indulge Farage's ploy, 33 other candidates came forward - an all time record number.  All but one of them lost their £500 deposit and in doing so earned the treasury a grand total of £16,000.  The left-wing media and certain Labour donors had rallied around the character of 'Count Binface' in order to provide a potential upset, leading to a flurry of jokes and viral memes mocking the Reform leader.  Thanks to this publicity, Binface easily saved his deposit, but he did not come anywhere close to unseating Farage.

Other records set by this by-election summed up its farcical nature.  The Monster Raving Loony Party stood three candidates, which had never been done before, while its leader 'Howling Laud Hope' surpassed a record set by his predecessor - 'Screaming Lord Sutch' - for the most by-elections contested.  The three Loons amassed a paltry 61 votes between them, with Nick the Incredible Flying Brick coming out on top with 28 votes.  Third place went to the Remain outfit Rejoin EU, while Laurence Fox finished sixth and was the best placed of the remaining myriad of conservative and libertarian candidates.

Nigel Farage did not attend the count and made up some excuse about police advising him to keep away on the basis of a 'credible threat'.  Essex Police denied any such advice was given.  Farage clearly did not want to participate in the very bad optics of him standing alongside Loons and and loony bins.

Karl - Ref HOLD ✔

Rich - Ref HOLD ✔

The following council vacancies were also decided on Thursday, incuding a tricky defence for Labour in which they slumped to fifth.  Once again, there was no sign of any electoral progress being made by Burnham and his party was propped up from finishing last in both seats by the presence of a couple of lowly independents.

Honiton St Michael's, East Devon District Council

LDm: 727 (45.5%) New

Ref: 401 (25.1%) New

Con: 321 (20.1%) -10.4%

Ind: 74 (4.6%) -16.0%

Lab: 55 (3.4%) -22.4%

Ind: 19 (1.2%) New

LDm GAIN from Lab

Triggered by the resignation of the incumbent, who had quit the Labour party last year and had been sitting as an independent.  He had been elected in 2023, becoming the council's first 'trans' member, masquerading as a woman called 'Violet'.  No reason was provided for his leaving the party or vacating his council seat, but his departure from Labour came a few weeks after the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of what constitutes a woman.  With the party leadership having grudgingly accepted the ruling, it appears that 'Violet' spat his dummy out.  His exit from the council triggered a fascinating contest in a ward that was split three ways in 2023.  One of the Conservative candidates took first place, with Labour in second and the third seat going to a Liberal (not to be confused with the Lib Dems).  The Liberals did not stand this time and both of the newcomers surged past Labour and the Tories.  However, the Lib Dem's electioneering machine in the West Country proved too much for Reform.

Karl - Ref GAIN ✘

Rich - LDm GAIN ✔

Almondbury, Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council

LDm: 1,749 (43.9%) +14.5%

Ref: 1,078 (27.0%) -10.0%

Con: 528 (13.2%) +4.4%

Grn: 347 (8.7%) -8.0%

Lab: 181 (4.5%) -3.4%

Ind: 103 (2.6%) New

LDm GAIN from Ref

Triggered by the resignation of the Reform incumbent, just 48 days after being elected on May 7.  Initially, no reason was given for his departure.  The local Labour party pointed to various politically incorrect social media posts, which eventually drew out a statement that the resignation was due to 'significant medical challenges'.  Clearly, this was yet another example of Reform's growth spurt outpacing its ability to procure quality candidates.  Reform emerged from the May elections as the largest party in Kirklees and they currently run the council as a minority administration, although they have already lost two seats, with a second councillor having gone independent.  Yorkshire and the north of England in general has never been fertile ground for the Lib Dems, but they sprung a surprise result on the outskirts of Huddersfield on Thursday.  It wasn't even close.

Karl - Ref HOLD ✘

Rich - Ref HOLD ✘

Richey led Karl by six points going into week 11 of their head-to-head.  Karl managed to claw a point back last week and that was the best he could hope for again this week.  As it turned out, that solitary differential went to Richey, who extends his lead to seven.

MEME MONDAY #95

Slim pickings again this week as Karl continues his recovery.  He did produce three original memes towards the end of the week, while the rest of the week was made up of Richey's combination of reworked memes and originals.

Mon 3 Aug - 39 shares. Richey took this old meme and simply changed
the text in the speech bubbles

Tue 4 Aug - 132 shares

Fri 7 Aug - 941 shares. Karl's second meme since leaving hospital was
also our most popular meme in some time

Sat 8 Aug - 189 shares

Sun 9 Aug - 176 shares.  Paid for by Cambridge taxpayers, some of
whom consistently support left-wing candidates like the Labour
council leader Katie Thornburrow (circled). The huge student
population in Cambridge who vote for Lab-Green clowns don't pay
council tax and don't care how other people's money is spent

Sun 9 Aug - 4 shares.  Another old meme that
Richey took and re-edited 

Sun 9 Aug - 29 shares

No Facebook Stories were published last week, but they will return soon.

BOATWATCH #71

Appearing a little later than usual, due to the fact Home Office staff appeared to be on holiday over the weekend and failed to update the figures.  As Burnham jetted off to an unspecified holiday destination, the numbers slumped in comparison to the previous week.  However, on Monday there has been an all time record broken for the third time this year - more on that next week.

Total = 293 (down 883 from previous week)

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 06.08.26

This week we had three Conservative defences and one each for Plaid and Reform.  The head-to-head returned after a two week absence, with a 100 per cent accuracy rate for Karl.

It was an excellent polling day for Reform, who finished either top or second in all five wards.  This included two gains from the Conservatives in Norfolk and a hold on Tyneside.  It was not so great for Labour, whose best finish was a second place in that Tyneside contest.  Elsewhere, they collected no less than three wooden spoons and a double digit drop in vote share across four wards.  This was Labour's worst weekly performance since Starmer announced his resignation.

Hengoed, Caerphilly County Borough Council

Pld: 509 (49.9%) -4.9%

Ref: 371 (36.4%) New

Lab: 103 (10.1%) -35.1%

Con: 21 (2.1%) New

LDm: 16 (1.6%) New

Pld HOLD

Triggered by the election of the Plaid incumbent to the Senedd on May 7.  All the other by-elections triggered in this way came and went weeks ago, which begs the question as to why it took Labour-run Caerphilly almost three months to hold the last remaining one.  The Hengoed ward is sandwiched between Plaid territory to the west and Labour territory to the east.  It was last contested in 2022, when it was a simple head-to-head between Plaid and Labour.  Reform's entrance in this by-election demolished the Labour vote, with a huge swing pushing Labour into third place.  However, it was not enough to dislodge Plaid.

Karl - Pld HOLD ✔

Rich - Pld HOLD ✔

Heacham, King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council

Ref: 289 (37.8%) New

LDm: 219 (28.7%) New

Con: 163 (21.3%) -3.8%

Lab: 93 (12.2%) -11.4%

Ref GAIN from Con

The first of two vacancies in neighbouring wards.  Both incumbents resigned their posts simultaneously, for similar reasons unrelated to party politics.  In Heacham, the incumbent had already relinquished his role as Norfolk county councillor in May and upon resigning his remaining council seat, stated he was pursuing 'a number of interesting opportunities'.  He had won the second available seat here in 2023, having finished a considerable way behind the first placed independent and only 31 votes ahead of the third placed Labour candidate.  There was no independent candidate this time, leaving Reform to sweep to victory as the Tories slumped to third.  The first of three wooden spoons for Labour.

Karl - Ref GAIN ✔

Rich - Ref GAIN ✔

Snettisham, King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council

Ref: 229 (35.1%) New

LDm: 211 (32.3%) New

Con: 169 (25.9%) -25.8%

Lab: 44 (6.7%) -11.4%

Ref GAIN from Con

The incumbent here had been the leader of the council going into the 2023 election, at which the Conservatives lost overall control for the first time in 20 years.  He had his fingers in a few pies and resigned recently in order to pursue other professional and charitable work.  An independent candidate stood here in 2023 and finished second with 241 votes.  She was absent this time and, as with Heacham above, this appeared to benefit the two newcomers in what was an identical result in terms of party placings.

Karl - Ref GAIN ✔

Rich - Ref GAIN ✔

Hooley, Merstham & Netherne, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council

Grn: 934 (41.8%) +3.4%

Ref: 545 (24.8%) +14.0%

Con: 454 (20.4%) -3.7%

LDm: 166 (7.5%) +0.9%

Lab: 138 (6.2%) -14.0%

Grn GAIN from Con

Triggered by the death of the incumbent, who was only in his early 40s.  He had intended to stand down at next year's election anyway, having undergone three years of treatment for tongue cancer.  The Conservatives are the only party to have ever held outright control of Reigate and Banstead, but the council slipped into no overall control in 2024, with the Tories continuing to run it as a minority administration.  Dwindling Tory numbers over the years coincided with the steady rise of the Greens in this affluent borough.  Their success is very evident in this ward, which in 2022 had three Conservative councillors.  The Greens have won every election here since, wiping out all three of those Tory council seats.  They are now just one seat behind the Conservatives on the council, but unfortunately for the Greens, this authority is being abolished next year and merged into East Surrey Council.

Karl - Grn GAIN ✔

Rich - Grn GAIN ✔

Harton, South Tyneside Council

Ref: 628 (35.3%) -6.7%

Lab: 354 (19.9%) +5.1%

Grn: 312 (17.5%) -1.5%

Ind: 285 (16.0%) -8.2%

Ind: 119 (6.7%) New

Con: 57 (3.2%) New

LDm: 24 (1.3%) New

Ref HOLD

A case of poor candidate vetting by Reform was the trigger for this contest.  Reform obliterated Labour on South Tyneside in May, gaining 41 of the council's 54 seats.  Labour slumped from being the largest party on 28 seats to just one.  In the Harton ward of South Shields, Reform won all three seats and it was the second placed candidate that drew the attention of Hope Not Hate.  The so-called 'anti-fascist' organisation led by communist Nick Lowles, uncovered various politically incorrect online comments by the Reform councillor.  When he was approached by the local press, the new councillor said that he was under the impression he had resigned weeks earlier and complained that Reform had misled him about the amount of work involved in being a councillor.  Making certain his resignation, this could have been a tricky defence for Reform, but they managed to hold off Labour with relative ease.

Karl - Ref HOLD ✔

Rich - Ind GAIN ✘

Karl was lagging seven points behind Richey before his hospitalisation, but he has managed to claw one back on his return.  This was the team's best week yet, with just one incorrect forecast from a possible ten.  Karl is now back up above the 50 per cent accuracy mark, but with only three by-elections next week, Richey's lead is safe for a wee while.

R.I.P ROD LIDDLE

Last weekend Britain lost one of the great journalists and commentators of our time.  It was with great shock and sadness that news broke on Monday of Rod Liddle's death at the relatively premature age of 66, following an unspecified short illness.

Liddle was often tarred with various names, usually ending in 'ist' or 'phobe', and proudly lived up to the label of the 'most offensive columnist of his generation'.  However, he was not always a provocative voice on the right - in fact quite the opposite.

Roderick Edwin Liddle was born in the Kent town of Sidcup on 1 April, 1960, with April Fools' Day becoming an apt date for such a witty man.  Aged just eight, his family relocated hundreds of miles to the north and settled in Middlesbrough, where Liddle would attend a local comprehensive.  He progressed into further education and soon became embroiled in hard left politics, exacerbated by his attendance of the London School of Economics, where he ironically studied one of the 'useless fucking degrees' he would later go on to rail against - social psychology.

He was a self-professed Trotskyite in his teenage years, having joined the Socialist Workers' Party.  He later joined the Labour party and was on the payroll in the mid 1980s, primarily as a speechwriter.  As his career in journalism took off, he took a backseat from party politics, but remained a Labour member until his suspension in 2016.  He was suspended and later expelled after he used his Spectator column to attack what he perceived as a prevalence of anti-Semitism in some elements of the Labour party.  Because he had singled out Muslim activists in the article, he found himself outrageously accused of 'racism'.

The EU referendum of the same year further alienated him from the left and he went on to passionately campaign for the Leave mandate to be enacted.  He joined the Social Democratic Party in 2019 and stood for them in the 2024 general election.  He found the SDP's left-oriented economics, combined with socially conservative values, the perfect fit.  He finished fourth in his local constituency of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, 0.2 per cent shy of saving the party's deposit.

An uncompromising and witty journalist who was not afraid to tackle sensitive subjects, he was a strong critic of the establishment and a staunch defender of the Leave mandate.  A teenage socialist who developed into a complex political animal with a libertarian streak and conservative values, dismayed by Labour's abandonment of the working classes.  He never forgot his roots and passed away in a Middlesbrough hospital on Sunday.

Karl has lovingly compiled a video compilation of some of Rod's media appearances and comedy skits.  Watch below or on YouTube (32 minute watch)

Rod Liddle will be fondly remembered and sorely missed.

STATUS UPDATE

As regular readers will know, we are currently depleted due to a serious illness.  Although Karl was discharged from hospital last week, he is largely bed bound at home and under strict instructions to rest.  He has a 10 inch incision from his abdomen to his chest, held together by metal staples, with further complications that are too unpleasant to list here.  His partner is adamant that he take a complete break from BTLP, but Karl being Karl, he has already completed some work this week.

He has spent much of his waking hours trawling through footage of the late Rod Liddle over the course of the last few days.  Compiled into a half hour video compilation, we will post it to the site this afternoon, alongside a short obituary penned by myself.

Karl will also be participating in this week's by-election preview, which will appear later.

However, in order to placate doctors and concerned relatives, we will be continuing to scale back in some areas.  Toon Tuesday did not land this week and will be put on hold until further notice.  The return of Woke Wednesdays will also be pushed back.  I will try and keep some memes ticking over on Facebook, but late summer and early autumn are typically busy periods for me at work, so there will continue to be gaps in between.  I did film a video monologue last weekend on the Covid scamdemic, but there was a section in the middle that was not factually correct.  Without Karl to edit that section out, I did not post it.  I have sent him the video, but he is under no obligation to do anything at all right now.  I will continue to film bits and pieces as and when I get the time.

It's a long road back to recovery and we both thank you for your support and understanding in the mean time.

Richey

MEME MONDAY #94

It was another difficult week as a one man band, but Richey did his best in between jobs.  He managed to film a short video midweek, but the memes were on short supply during that period.  Hoping for more content this week, fingers crossed.

Mon 27 Jul - 65 shares

Mon 27 Jul - 35 shares

Fri 31 Jul - 7 shares.  14 hours it took!

Sat 1 Aug - 27 shares

Sun 2 Aug - 6 shares

Sun 2 Aug - 2 shares.  Richey uncovered this old meme and updated it

Sun 2 Aug - 100 shares.  Karl reworked this from his Starmer version and it marks
his first work since leaving hospital last week

Richey managed two Facebook Stories last week, both of which drew pushback.  Firstly, people complained that the poll was 'fake news' (it wasn't) and secondly, the migration lobby took issue with the Ceuta post - declaring that a) most of the migrants had been returned and b) Ceuta is not in Europe.  The first part is true, in that most of the invaders were returned, but not all of them.  Unaccompanied minors who claim asylum cannot legally be removed, many of whom from previous stormings of Ceuta have been transferred to the Spanish mainland and granted asylum.  Secondly, while the territory of Ceuta is located in north Africa, it is part of the European Union and the intention of the invaders is to use the Spanish territory as a stepping stone to the Spanish mainland, from where they can disperse across Europe.

It is a fucking invasion, numpties.

It's not been easy the last two weeks, but you can show your appreciation for Richey's efforts by buying him and the bed laden one a very reasonably priced pint each here.  The irony is that Karl won't be drinking alcohol of any descripion any time soon!

BOATWATCH #70

One of Burnham's first embarrassing gaffes occurred last week - first, if we exclude every single one of his excruciatingly cheesy social media video clips.  On Tuesday he declared that Shabana Mahmood's 'very rigorous plan' to bring down Channel crossings 'is working'.  The very next day a whopping 752 colonists arrived on nine boats - a record daily figure for 2026.  Impeccable timing one might say.

The numbers may be down in comparison to 2024 and 2025, but we are still heading for around 30,000 arrivals this year if the current trajectory is maintained.  This would surpass the Boris and Rishi waves of 2021 and 2023.  Burnham and his MPs can keep trotting out the line that crossings are 'down', but the British people want the boats stopped altogether.  30,000 people would eclipse the entire population of British towns like Bathgate, Great Yarmouth and Melton Mowbray.  And let's not forget that immigration is cumulative, meaning that every year tens of thousands are added to those that are already here.

For eight years our leaders have allowed this to happen unabated, acts of treachery there for all to see.  Last week four colonists drowned trying to cross the Channel and the government released the following familiar statement: "Every death in the Channel is a tragedy and a stark reminder of the dangers posed by criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people for profit."

The same government says nothing when our own people are raped and murdered by colonists.

Total = 1,176 (an increase of 295 from the previous week)