MEME MONDAY #74

With such derisory distribution levels on Facebook, we have opted to wind things down a wee bit in the meme department.  We are not alone in noticing how distribution has dropped off in recent weeks, with other creators also bemoaning a loss of reach and revenue.  It appears that Facebook is moving in the direction of video content, potentially to compete with TikTok, and this is something we may have to adjust to sooner rather than later.

Our biggest drawback in this department is time and software.  Karl doesn't have anything resembling decent editing software and is not prepared to fork out from his own pocket.  If we could somehow replace the lost revenue from Facebook we could perhaps put this to good use and then in turn more professional software can save us time and effort.  At the moment Karl only possesses very basic single-track editing software, which requires very time consuming workarounds for multi-layering sound.

If anyone can donate software please leave a comment on this post, or send us a direct message via X.  As always, you can bung us a few quid any time via PayPal or BuyMeACoffee.

Mon 9 Mar - 18 shares

Tue 10 Mar - 27 shares

Wed 11 Mar - 49 shares

Thu 12 Mar - 749 shares.  This meme bucked the downward trend and
became our most shared meme in more than a month

Fri 13 Mar - 157 shares

Sat 14 Mar - 122 shares

Sat 14 Mar - 14 shares

Sun 15 Mar - 126 shares.  Another example of how the Lab-Con uniparty
is not prepared to tackle the border crisis

Sun 15 Mar - 8 shares.  Produced just in time for the Oscars, during which
there was sure to be plenty of highly articulate 'fuck ICE' and 'fuck Trump'
messages from the woke left Hollywood elite.  As it turned out, the political
speeches were kept fairly short (no Meryl Streep this year)

Facebook Stories are another avenue to redress the loss in distribution revenue and can include short video clips.  In an ideal world Richey would record a short video in the morning before work and upload it himself direct from his phone.  Unfortunately, Richey point blank refuses to have Facebook on his phone, so this would probably create more work for Karl during his workday.

In any case, Karl is ensuring that Facebook Stories are featured via at least one of our Facebook pages at any one time, with last week's selection below.

DOG WHISTLE BESTS LEGO HEAD

An awkward embrace as Lucy Powell is elected deputy leader

In an absolutely woeful contest, Lucy Powell has emerged victorious over Bridget Williamson in the fight to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour's deputy leader.  Less than 17 per cent of Labour members and affiliates could muster the enthusiasm to cast a vote, with Powell receiving 87,407 votes against Williamson's 73,506.  The poor turnout is in stark contrast to the last deputy leadership election, in which Rayner stormed to victory on an almost 60 per cent turnout.

A lot has happened since the 2020 election and while Rayner did not publicly rock Starmer's boat too much, it's unclear whether her successor will be similarly brought to heel.  Like Rayner, Powell is another Greater Manchester MP on the soft left of the party, and her victory was definitely not what Starmer wanted.  His much preferred option was rising star Phillipson, who - as a centrist like him - could have steadied his sinking ship.

Instead, it's the woman he sacked as Commons Leader less than two months ago.  Powell was reportedly not best pleased with her dismissal, which should have happened four months earlier when she made her disgusting remarks about rape gangs.  However, Starmer stood by her during that controversy, something that will now haunt both of them as they reluctantly team up.

The deputy election outcome is another dagger in a long list of mostly self-inflicted wounds for Starmer.  Time will tell as to how much damage Powell can inflict on his position.  She already has a rocky relationship with his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and as a close ally of Andy Burnham, she potentially has another motive for undermining Starmer.  Her position on digital IDs is unclear, with many on the left of the party opposed to the non-manifesto policy.  It could be another future flashpoint, with passage through the Commons by no means guaranteed at this point.

The election itself may have been uninspiring, but the result is further proof that the party remains divided.  With Powell back in the sphere of influence, that division could grow exponentially.

David Lammy remains the deputy PM, which is a separate post to that of deputy leader and is appointed by the PM as opposed to the membership.

TOON TUESDAY #72: PART ONE

We're splitting Toon Tuesday for the first time.  The second part will have a very different tone and subject and will be posted this evening.

Meanwhile, this first part focuses on another dreadful week for Starmer.  The Rayner debacle and battle to succeed her has been swiftly followed by the Mandelson debacle.  Also on the menu is the build up to President Trump's visit (to be continued next week), while the ongoing clampdown on free speech in the UK also gets an airing...

Graeme Bandeira for The Northern Agenda

Dave Brown for The Independent

Dave Brown for The Independent

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Dave Brown for The Independent

Martin Rowson for The Guardian

Morten Morland for The Sunday Times

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Guy Venables for The Metro

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Morten Morland for The Times

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Jason White for The Guardian

Grizelda for Private Eye

Christian Adams for The Sunday Telegraph

LEGO HEAD VS DOG WHISTLE

The contest to replace Angela Rayner as Labour's deputy leader will be a head to head between Bridget 'Lego Head' Phillipson and Lucy 'Dog Whistle' Powell.  Emily Thornberry and Paula Barker dropped out earlier on Thursday, as they had no chance of garnering the 80 nominations required from MPs.  Bell Ribeiro-Addy was the only other remaining candidate, but she too failed to get anywhere near the threshold.

MP Nominations

Bridget Phillipson (Houghton & Sunderland South) ..... 175

Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) ................................ 117

Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham & Brixton Hill) ................ 24

The smart money will be on frontbencher Phillipson to succeed Rayner.  She is seen as one of Labour's rising stars, while Powell is still freshly tainted by her frontbench sacking over her despicable rape gang remarks.

WOKE WEDNESDAYS #35

A Warwickshire secondary school has found itself the focus of national outrage after it sent home a 12-year-old girl last Friday for wearing a Union flag dress on a non-uniform day.  If that wasn't bad in enough in itself, the day in question was themed a 'culture day' and pupils had been encouraged to wear 'traditional attire' that reflects their 'nationality or family heritage'.  As a girl born in Britain to British parents, what could be more appropriate than a dress emblazoned with a Union flag?

However, staff at Bilton School - which is situated in a suburb of the predominantly English market town of Rugby - instantly barred the girl from participating in the event.  She was told the dress was 'unacceptable' and sent to the school reception where she was made to sit in isolation for three hours.  Her father Stuart got a phone call from the school at 9am, but could not get away from work to collect her until noon.

He later told reporters: "My daughter should not be made to feel embarrassed about being British, and she shouldn't be punished for celebrating being British - nobody else I've spoken to can quite get their heads around it.  I've had hundreds of people reaching out to me from all over the UK, as well as Australians, I've had Polish, people from America all reaching out.  We should be able to send our kids into school to celebrate British culture and history."

His daughter Courtney had also prepared a speech to contribute to the event.  It was to go as follows:

Hello everyone. 

Today I want to talk about my culture - British culture - and why it’s important to me.

In Britain, we have lots of traditions including drinking tea, our love for talking about the weather and we have the Royal Family. 

We have amazing history, like Kings and Queens, castles, and writers like Shakespeare.

It's also modern, diverse and always changing - with music, fashion and food from all around the world blending into daily life. And let’s not forget fish and chips! 

It's also the way we speak, our humour, our values of fairness and politeness, and the mix of old traditions and new ideas. 

But sometimes at school, we only hear about other cultures - which is great because learning about different countries is interesting and important. But it can feel like being British doesn’t count as a culture, just because it’s the majority. 

I think culture should be for everyone - not just for people from other countries or backgrounds. Being British is still a culture, and it matters too. It’s part of who I am.

So let’s celebrate all cultures - whether they come from far away or right here at home. 

Thank you!

It appears that Marxist university graduates who have infiltrated our education system - including schools in sleepy market towns - don't think being British should be celebrated full stop.  As news of the incident spread, a hollow apology was issued and the girl was invited to return to school in her dress to make the speech.  However, her father claimed she had been made to feel so ashamed that she no longer felt comfortable wearing the dress.  This is exactly what these hard left traitors want - to suppress national pride and shame children who are white and British.

A spokesperson for Keir Starmer was asked about the incident and replied: "The Prime Minister has always been clear that being British is something to be celebrated".  Headlines suggesting that Starmer himself has 'spoken out' in support of the girl are misleading.  His education secretary Bridget Phillipson has also said nothing.

Last week's MailOnline meme generated 13 comments and four shares on Facebook.

TOON TUESDAY #49

The left continue to melt down over the Trump administration continuing to do what it was elected to.  The lunatic fringe have turned their sights on Elon Musk's motor company Tesla, with forecourts and cars being torched.  Conservative artists on X were among those pointing out the hypocrisies of the mob...

Jimbob on X

Tom Stiglich on X

Tom Stiglich on X

SKS Cartoons on X

British newspaper cartoonists have very much been focused on Keir Starmer's own Elon Musk-inspired antics, with proposals to slash the benefits wage bill top of the agenda.  That's a story that will rumble on and we'll likely cover it next week.  Meanwhile, here are a handful of Labour-oriented efforts, including a subtle reference to the Speaker of the Commons aka 'Long-Haul Lindsay'...

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Nick Newman for The Sunday Times

STARMER BEMOANS 'ISLAMOPHOBIA'

In our latest YouTube video, Richey delves into Keir Starmer's exploitation of 'Islamophobia Awareness Month'.  Yes, seriously.  In a climate of surging anti-Semitism and rampant Islamist protests, the Labour leader has released a video bemoaning 'Islamophobia' in which he tries to paint British Muslims as a collective victim.

Click below or watch on YouTube (13 minute watch)

STARMER MISSES PMQs

Having tested positive for coronavirus Keir Starmer is now self-isolating for a fifth time, albeit this is the first time he has himself tested positive.  A tweet from his Twitter account just 47 minutes prior to PMQs does not lend any clues to his looming absence (see below).

In the photograph attached to the tweet Starmer is seated between his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and her deputy Bridget Phillipson.  As it is light outside we can only assume that it was taken on the same morning.  Until recently both individuals would have been required to self-isolate following Starmer's positive test.  They no longer need to if they are fully vaccinated, which is what we can assume considering that when it came to Labour's response to the Budget on Wednesday afternoon it was provided in person by Reeves - with Phillipson sat behind her.

Rachel Reeves responds to Rishi Sunak, with Phillipson on her left

Of course they can still catch the virus and transmit it, which does make a mockery of the rule change (and also the notion of vaccine passports).

As Starmer tested positive via a lateral flow test and is not displaying symptoms, there is a very good chance - as much as 50 per cent - that he does not have the virus anyway.  Our own Richey Edwards was informed by NHS track and trace recently that lateral flow tests are at best only 60 per cent reliable.

The most obvious question arising from this week's PMQs is why Starmer anointed Ed Miliband as his substitute.  Angela Rayner stood in for him last time, but this week she was nowhere to be seen on the front benches.  On Tuesday Starmer denied that he was keeping her sidelined following recent criticism, telling Good Morning Britain that her absence was due to a bereavement.  Is it just a coincidence that this appears to have coincided precisely with the murder of David Amess?  Her Twitter account fell silent the day that Amess was murdered and she has not been heard of since.

A period of bereavement?  Or, if the Mail on Sunday is to be believed, a period of penance imposed by Starmer in relation to her 'Tory scum' remarks?

LABOUR DITCH WOMEN

For a party looking to win power it would surely be suicide to throw half the population under the bus in order to assuage a tiny virtually insignificant minority.  And yet that's just what Labour has done in response to the trans furore over Rosie Duffield's stance on the biological status of the human female.  Is this what passes for 'progressive' these days Sir Keir?

Karl has edited together a compilation of recent comments by senior Labour politicians on this issue for our YouTube channel.  Watch below.

STARMER SIDES WITH TRANSFASCISTS

Keir Starmer has thrown one of his MPs under the bus during an interview with Andrew Marr on day two of Labour's conference.  Unrepentant feminist Rosie Duffield has repeatedly fallen foul of trans activists with her supposedly 'controversial' views about protecting the sanctity and identity of womanhood.  The Canterbury MP skipped the conference due to ongoing threats against her from trans activists - let's just call them transfascists - and Marr was keen to get the leader's views on her stance.

"Is it transphobic to say 'only women have a cervix'?" Marr asked, referring to one of Duffield's most famous tweets.  Starmer was clearly uncomfortable with the question, but instead of sitting on the fence he leapt off it and came down firmly on the trans side: "It is something that shouldn't be said, it is not right".  Cue cries of anguish from feminists everywhere - and quite rightly so.

Little wonder that Starmer was reluctant to explain why such a statement was wrong.  He's definitely not following the science here...

On Monday morning Starmer's front bench colleague Rachel Reeves was asked a similar question by LBC's Nick Ferrari.  The shadow chancellor's epic stuttering in response to the question was comedy gold, but her desperate attempt to sidestep the question was still a far better course of action than her leader's cut and dried anti-female stance.

Also asked the question was Reeve's understudy Bridget Phillipson.  The MP for Houghton and Sunderland South actually did a much better job than both her superiors and successfully batted away questions from TalkRadio's Julia Hartley-Brewer...

While fence-sitting on the issue appeases all and is clearly a more advisable approach than Starmer's disgraceful anti-feminist response, why must Labour politicians steadfastly refuse to recognise a simple biological fact?  While we don't stand with Rosie Duffield on much, if anything else, she is spot on in this debate.

RATTLES AND DUMMIES

When last week's no confidence vote in the government was announced it was clear from Jezza's reaction he wasn't impressed.  What did he expect?  Surely he did the maths beforehand?  It appeared to be a case of someone having built their hopes up against highly unlikely odds.  And then came the sulk - he's not talking to Theresa.  How pathetic?  The nation collectively shook their heads, as did many of his own MPs.  Some even spoke out in open rebellion, while others accepted the Prime Minister's invitation to talks.  It was a disastrous move by crybaby Corbyn.

He justified his sulk by adding a pre-condition in refusing to talk.  This was pounced on immediately by Labour's opponents, but the criticism was also voiced by one of his own MPs Mike Gapes.

Within days of Corbyn's childish antics up stepped another infantile prick from the same party.  Daft Dave Lammy, not exactly the most respected MP as it stood, embarked on a similar pathetic game plan to his party leader.  Except this time Corbyn was the target of the tantrum!

With the March 29th clock ticking down Dave declared over the weekend that the party would split... unless it backed the so-called 'People's Vote'.  Lol.  He immediately drew criticism from fellow MPs.  It was a disastrous move!  No lessons learnt.  Dave compounded his sulk by appearing alongside remoaners from other parties today and announcing that he and his (one) supporter (MP Bridget Phillipson) would work with the Lib Dems and other anti-Brexit parties as they had 'no choice'.

Dave's rattle is out of the pram, but then it was never returned to the pram since the morning of 24th June 2016!