BOATWATCH #47

Boat crossings normally increase as winter begins to peter out, but last week Home Office-sponsored taxis collected zero migrants according to official data.  Spring is on its way, the lull won't last long...

LITTLE OWEN LANDS

Everyone's favourite little lefty gobshite has landed in Gorton and Denton for the big by-election.  The Guardian's Owen Jones has shifted his allegiance yet again recently, this time to the Greens, who have overtaken Reform to be the favourites to take the seat on Thursday.

In between campaigning for the open borders lunatics, he has been making videos for his social media followers.  Two days ago he posted a 25 minute video that mostly consisted of vox pop type interviews he'd made with constituents in the street.  He singled one such segment for a post on his social media channels that smacked of the condescending attitude we have come to associate with legacy media hacks.

Despite a plethora of intriguing responses and a variety of endorsements for the three main contenders in Gorton and Denton, the wee man honed in on a short exchange with one particular voter.

Watch below, with Richey's commentary.

Kudos to this lady, she came off eminently better in this clip than little Owen, who doesn't appreciate that small gestures matter a lot to ordinary people.  Manners and etiquette are still important to some folk in the godless debauched anything-goes society promoted by leftists like Jones.  The great irony is that the working classes will be the downfall of an ideology that was founded in their name.  Bourgeois twats like Jones will never comprehend that, as they exist purely in a middle class echo chamber that regards the proletariat with the same kind of disdain they would show towards a piece of dog shit they have stepped in.

The people are rising little man, and regardless of the result in Gorton and Denton they will not swing left.

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 19.02.26

It was a trio of Labour defences on Thursday, with one week to go before the big day in Gorton and Denton.  After accurately predicting last week's results, we got two out of three correct yesterday.

Plaid and Reform pushed Labour into third place in Caerphilly, while they fell to the Lib Dems in Cleveland.  Technically, the latter seat was vacated by an independent, as the incumbent quit Labour last October.

The result we didn't see coming was a gain for the Greens in Leicester, which may be symptomatic of a shift away from Labour in certain ethno-religious communities.  Stoneygate ward was 63 per cent Muslim according to the 2021 census.

It is probably for similar reasons that the smart money is going on the Greens to win in Gorton and Denton next week.  The Muslim population in the constituency stood at almost 30 per cent in 2021 and in a tight three way contest, this could be enough for the Greens to edge it if there is a big swing from Labour in that demographic.  This time next week we will know, but any predictions made will have been reached with very little degree of confidence.  Gorton and Denton has become notoriously difficult to call...

Van, Caerphilly County Borough Council

Pld: 374 (43.3%) -1.9%

Ref: 246 (28.5%) New

Lab: 231 (26.8%) -28.0%

LDm: 12 (1.4%) New

Pld GAIN from Lab

Stoneygate, Leicester City Council

Grn: 1,195 (30.4%) +22.9%

Lab: 1,089 (27.7%) -12.8%

Ind: 638 (16.2%) New

Ind: 453 (11.5%) New

Con: 327 (8.3%) -15.3%

Ref: 106 (2.7%) New

LDm: 62 (1.6%) -5.9%

Ind: 61 (1.6%) New

Grn GAIN from Lab

Zetland, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

LDm: 446 (50.5%) +15.2%

Lab: 191 (21.6%) -25.2%

Ref: 119 (13.5%) New

Grn: 65 (7.4%) New

Con: 62 (7.0%) -10.9%

LDm GAIN from Lab

LUCY'S LOUSY LETTER

While the smart money appears to have gone on the Greens sneaking victory in Gorton and Denton, the Labour machine - including third party smear groups like Hope Not Hate - have focused squarely on Reform UK and their candidate.  Labour are clearly more concerned with losing the seat to a right-leaning party than a crazed bunch of leftists, so much so that Lucy Powell has taken time out of the campaign to write a public letter to Reform's Matt Goodwin.

In an attempt to smear Goodwin, Labour's deputy leader and MP for Manchester Central has listed some apparently 'damning revelations' about his campaign team from a recent article by local rag the Manchester Mill.  She goes on to challenge Goodwin to publicly denounce the named individuals, who are alleged to have committed such heinous 'crimes' as using discriminatory language towards Muslims and sharing 'conspiracy theories' about the September 11th attacks and referring to Donald Trump - an Israeli puppet president - as an Israeli puppet president!

The letter can be seen below.

Imagine taking time out from actual campaigning to pull this mindless stunt?  She and her team could have been knocking doors or leafleting, but no.  All Labour have left in Gorton and Denton is name calling and smears.  The best thing Matt Goodwin can do in response to her letter is precisely nothing.  Throw it in the bin where it belongs and continue pounding the streets which is where the election will be won.

There's one week left, let Labour morons waste time throwing their silly labels around.  They don't stick like they used to.

TOON TUESDAY #91

A tough week for Chairman Starmer, but he's survived - for now.  Potential challengers are sharpening their knives ready to strike when the next scandal or electoral defeat rocks up.  The behind-the-scenes shenanigans was brilliantly illustrated by cartoonists from left and right last week, including a welcome return for Peter Brookes' portrayal of Ed Miliband as Wallace.  Please note that Morten Morland of The Times beat The Telegraph's Christian Adams to the 'Withering Heights' concept by a full week...

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Times

Christian Adams for The Sunday Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Sunday Times

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Times

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Ella Baron for The Guardian

Morten Morland for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Sunday Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Morten Morland for The Sunday Times

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Peter Brookes for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

THE RIGHT (DIS)UNITED

Rupert Lowe's decision to relaunch his Restore Britain pressure group as a political party has drew a mixed response to say the least.  Some are elated about what they see as an ethno-conservative party that can challenge the multi-cultural establishment, while others have lashed out at what they see as a major split in the right and a gift to Starmer and the left.  Some question whether Reform and the Tories are even 'right-wing' parties to begin with, while others on this so-called 'right' have deployed the tactics of the left by labeling Lowe and his new party 'racists'.

Name-calling won't bother Lowe.  Since his ejection from Reform, he has steadily built a profile as a no nonsense straight talking guy who appeals to a demographic that has long tired of suave fork-tongued politicians.  In years gone by the emergence of a new party would merely be a flash in the pan that would quickly be muted by the Lab-Con protection racket that has destroyed British democracy for decades.  Now, with the destruction of the Uniparty in full flow, democracy is booming like never before.  The game has changed.

So who should be concerned about the rise of Lowe?  A recent poll put Restore Britain on ten per cent, level with the Lib Dems in fifth place.  Crucially, this cut Reform's poll lead in half, from ten points to five.  Clearly, Farage's decision to eject Lowe could prove catastrophic to his hopes of winning the next general election.  However, there is no need for Reformers to panic just yet and they can look to a recent example from the left for potential salvation.

When Zarah Sultana rashly announced she and Jeremy Corbyn were launching a new party on the left, it appeared to be a hammer blow to Starmer and Labour, who were already reeling from a tough (self-inflicted) start to government.  It was viewed by many - including BTLP - as a major split in the making.  However, what followed was the most disastrous launch and development of a party we care to remember.  Eight months on 'Your Party' has no visible leader, has had more ins and outs in Westminster than even Reform and has not fielded a single candidate in an election to date.  In that time, the Greens have emerged as the biggest threat to Labour on the left, and they were endorsed by none other than 'Your Party' in the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.

Unlike Corbyn, Rupert Lowe is relatively new to politics.  Yes, he's built up a cult following on social media and produced a snazzy video to announce his new party, but can he build an actual root and stem political party and make it a success?  Time will tell, but if he wishes to usurp Farage and enter Number Ten in his place, he cannot waste the best part of this year squabbling with colleagues and failing to contest elections.  We are already almost half way thought this parliament.

Starmer and Labour will obviously very happy with this development, but it will not rescue them from a pitiful exit from government in three years.  Their voters are ditching them in hitherto unseen numbers, many to the Greens, but also to Reform.  Both Labour and the Tories are becoming less and less relevant and May's elections will show that.

It's by no means representative of anything other than our own social media following, but we thought we'd test the water with an emoji poll over the weekend.

At the time of writing the results are as follows.

Lowe = 2,519 (57.1%)

Farage = 1,067 (24.2%)

Badenoch = 209 (4.7%)

None = 617 (14.0%)

As ever, we do not endorse any political party at BTLP, regardless of the ebb and flow of the party political leanings of our supporters.  A broad church is how we defeat the establishment, not a myriad of ever splintering political parties.

MEME MONDAY #70

As promised, it was a bumper week for our Karl and the increase in output just happened to coincide with Chairman Starmer's worst week yet as PM.  Unfortunately, our distribution on Facebook remains drastically low with no obvious reason for the reduction.  As such, this hits our monetisation hard and last month's return from Meta was a record low.

While this started as a hobby almost eleven years ago, it has grown into a major project that is hampered by the fact we both work full time.  Funding could seriously impact our ability to do more, but sadly we generate barely enough to pay for our web domain and X subscription.  Donations are rare, but incredibly helpful as they are a crucial morale booster that shows us that our efforts are in some way appreciated.  The best way to do this is through the buymeacoffee site here, which we have re-styled as 'Buy us a pint each'.

Thank you.

Mon 9 Feb - 85 shares

Mon 9 Feb - 27 shares

Tue 10 Feb - 65 shares

Tue 10 Feb - 8 shares

Tue 10 Feb - 38 shares

Wed 11 Feb - 25 shares

Wed 11 Feb - 17 shares

Thu 12 Feb - 114 shares

Thu 12 Feb - 333 shares

Thu 12 Feb - 26 shares

Fri 13 Feb - 649 shares

Fri 13 Feb - 63 shares

Fri 13 Feb - 81 shares

Sat 14 Feb - 18 shares

Sun 15 Feb - 66 shares

Sun 15 Feb - 107 shares

BOATWATCH #46

A small flurry of boats during the course of Sunday and Monday were met by collaborator vessels in the Channel and those RNLI/Border Farce taxis brought more than 500 colonists ashore.  Bad weather later moved in and stalled further small boat crossings.  According to Migration Watch UK, only 2023 and 2025 exceeded the current total at this early stage in the year.

Total = 541 (up 485 from previous week)

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 12.02.26

Two seats were available on Thursday, with a third having been decided earlier this week.  All three of this week's vacancies have come about through the demise of the incumbents.

As we predicted, the Tories had too much in Bradford to easily hold off Reform.  The defending party was aided by a campaign gift from Reform, who had demanded the election go ahead despite the fact that the seat is vacated in 12 weeks time anyway.  The cost to the taxpayer was reportedly £30,000.

Not for the first time this week, the Labour party slumped to fourth place from first in Thursday's other contest.  Reform came from nowhere to take the Peterborough seat by a slender margin of 36 votes over the Greens.  As you can see from all three seats - the Labour vote is in freefall.

Worth Valley, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

Con: 1,815 (51.7%) -4.7%

Ref: 917 (26.1%) New

Lab: 425 (12.1%) -19.6%

Grn: 245 (7.0%) -1.0%

LDm: 83 (2.4%) -1.6%

Ind: 29 (0.8%) New

Con HOLD

Fletton & Woodston, Peterborough City Council

Ref: 565 (29.4%) New

Grn: 529 (27.6%) +16.2%

Con: 419 (21.8%) -11.8%

Lab: 323 (16.8%) -31.2%

LDm: 84 (4.4%) -0.7%

Ref GAIN from Lab

In Tuesday's action, Labour plummeted to fourth place in west Wales.  They had previously won the seat in a head-to-head with the Conservatives, but on Tuesday fell behind three newcomers.  The untimely death of their disabled councillor at the age of 34 didn't draw much sympathy among voters in the port town, with Plaid taking advantage of a very poor turnout.

Fishguard North East, Pembrokeshire County Council

Pld: 253 (33.8%) New

LDm: 135 (18.0%) New

Ref: 95 (12.7%) New

Lab: 83 (11.1%) -47.9%

Ind: 79 (10.5%) New

Con: 69 (9.2%) -31.9%

Ind: 35 (4.7%) New

Pld GAIN from Lab

TOON TUESDAY #90

This week we begin where we left off last week - with the scandal that could be the beginning of the end for Keir Starmer.  The Mandelson-Epstein affair dominated the toons all week and we end here with a flurry of Olympics-themed references to the direction of travel for our embattled PM...

Dave Brown for The Independent

Harry Burton for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Nicola Jennings for The Guardian

Dave Brown for The Independent

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Davey for The Sunday Telegraph

Chris Riddell for The Observer

Steve Bright for The Sun

Graeme Bandeira for The Northern Agenda

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Nick Newman for The Sunday Times

Nick Newman for The Sunday Times

Morten Morland for The Times

Stanley McMurtry for The Mail on Sunday

Pete Songi for The Mirror

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Steve Bright for The Sun

Peter Brookes for The Times

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Guy Venables for Metro