THE MASK SLIPS (AGAIN)

Many Labour supporters are clinging to Covid restrictions like a child clings on to their favourite toy.  You see them in the supermarket, still wearing their facial comfort blankets despite multiple injections and the common knowledge that Covid has mutated into little more than a cold.  There is no doubt that with their party in government we would all still face daily restrictions on our lives - one only has to look to Labour-run Wales to know that.  Unlike in England, a mask mandate remains in place - in fact it was never lifted after it was imposed in 2020.  In London the Labour mayor has also decreed that masks must still be worn on the tube, albeit only his supporters are obeying that diktat.

In the Commons there is a sharp divide over mask wearing.  While the overwhelming majority of Tory MPs have discarded them, you will struggle to find a bare face on the Opposition benches.  It makes little sense, but Starmer and co (along with the SNP socialists) continue to mask up anyway.

Is it a virtue signal, a quest to maintain fear or a mixture of both?

What's clear is this.  They don't actually believe that the mask serves any practical purpose in preventing the spread of anything but fear.  How do we know this?  Just scroll through the social media posts of any Labour MP and you will find plenty of bare faced photos from beyond the Commons.  Who can forget the hundreds of bare faces on display at the Labour conference last autumn?  Not a mask in sight.

Only yesterday Keir Starmer himself tweeted a series of photos from a visit to Burnley with Lisa Nandy.  The visit was indoors and there were clearly a significant number of people involved.  Were they wearing masks?  See for yourself...

Labour's mask wearing is political theatre, nothing more.

CHAR TROLLED BY OWN SIDE

Hapless Labour MP Charlotte Nichols has been trolled on Twitter after a self-indulgent and somewhat bizarre tweet.  On Wednesday she bemoaned the fact that she could not renew her 26-30 railcard as she turns 31 in April.  She accompanied her narcissistic musing with a photograph of her fellow Labour MP Tony Lloyd, pictured with an arms seizure during his time as Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner...

It didn't take long before detractors began to mock the neurotic MP and quite rightly so - how could she tweet something so flippant when there are millions of British people currently forced to choose between eating and heating?

One fellow Labourite was clearly not amused by Charlotte's 'humour' and fired off a series of mocking tweets...

Despite being part of Corbyn's 2019 intake and a member of the Socialist Campaign Group, Nichols is not popular on the far left and is routinely accused of being a 'centrist'.  That's certainly the vibe from the above tweets.

And people say the Tories are divided!

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FOUR JABS

When newsreader Huw Edwards announced on Twitter that he had been suffering from Covid (despite having had three jabs), former Labour MP Ann Clwyd dropped the absurd bombshell that she had already had four jabs!  It's not clear how Ann managed to squeeze in a fourth jab in the space of a year or why, but she's taking no chances and will presumably be going for number five before the daffodils have drooped.

Both Edwards and Clwyd are symptomatic of the mass psychosis that still blights large sections of our society - primarily the middle class, Remain voters and lefties, groups which are by no means mutually exclusive.  Edwards mused how things might have been 'without the three jabs for protection'.  Well, considering the fact that none of those three jabs prevented him from catching Covid and falling ill, quite possibly no difference at all.  He's only 60 for goodness sake.  The average age of hospitalisation and death is greater than average life expectancy.

If only our paid off scientists, TV doctors and politicians had promoted vitamin D supplements during the winter months - instead of spending billions on fear propaganda, quarterly jabs, free test kits and the NHS app - tens of thousands would surely have been saved.

That's not likely to wash with Ann Clwyd, whose party supported every destructive measure that our wretched governments imposed.  She knows what's best for people.  She was one of the Labour MPs who voted against the triggering of Article 50 in 2017, despite the fact her Cynon Valley constituents voted Leave by a 57 per cent margin.  She also backed the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was unrepentant as recently as 2016.

Despite being such a reprehensible character, Clwyd will retain the title 'Right Honourable' until her death.  This is due to her appointment to the Privy Council in 2004.

No wonder Ann is so keen to take up a quarterly jab - or even monthly.  As part of the establishment she's doing her bit to justify the government's vaccine procurements - reportedly enough to jab every single adult in the UK nine times over.  The fact that she's a 'socialist' enriching big pharma billionaires is just one of those quirks of a pandemic that appears to have overwhelmingly duped the left, perhaps in keeping with a natural desire to offload individual autonomy to the big state.

And at her age, myocarditis is not so much of a concern.

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 17.02.22

Nine seats up for grabs this week - two Conservative defences, one defence each for Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens, plus four open contests triggered by independents.  

Overall the Tories are up two seats, Labour up one, while the Lib Dems and the Greens broke even.  The Tories took two of the independent seats, Labour took a third.  The Tories lost a seat to an impressive Lib Dem surge in Northamptonshire, but gained a seat from the Lib Dems with a stunning victory of their own in Leicestershire (Oadby and Wigston).

The Green Party did not contest Stainburn and Clifton this time round.  UKIP were absent from Park.  Labour stood down in Wigston Meadowcourt, presumably to give the Lib Dems a free run.  This backfired and the Tories took the seat, despite the Labour absence.

Stainburn & Clifton, Allerdale Borough Council

Lab: 354 (54.6%) +25.1%

Con: 294 (45.4%) +28.2%

Lab GAIN from Ind

Southmead, Bristol City Council

Lab: 780 (41.2%) -1.9%

Grn: 729 (38.5%) +19.7%

Con: 279 (14.8%) -13.4%

LDem: 82 (4.3%) -5.7%

TUSC: 22 (1.2%) New

Lab HOLD

Thurston, Mid Suffolk District Council

Grn: 845 (64.4%) +25.2%

Con: 399 (30.4%) -3.5%

LDem: 37 (2.8%) -8.2%

Lab: 32 (2.4%) -4.8%

Grn HOLD

Collingham, Newark & Sherwood District Council

Con: 982 (56.3%) +26.5%

LDem: 594 (34.1%) +18.8%

Lab: 168 (9.6%) New

Con GAIN from Ind

Park, North East Lincolnshire Council

Con: 715 (38.8%) +1.8%

Lab: 578 (31.4%) +13.8%

LDem: 478 (26.0%) -2.0%

TUSC: 70 (3.8%) New

Con HOLD

Oundle, North Northamptonshire Council

LDem: 1,683 (47.2%) +22.6%

Con: 1,423 (39.9%) -3.5%

Lab: 337 (9.4%) -4.9%

Grn: 124 (3.5%) -9.8%

LDem GAIN from Con

Collingham Nottinghamshire County Council

Ind: 2,009 (63.8%) New

Con: 898 (28.5%) -11.7%

Lab: 224 (7.7%) New

Ind GAIN from Ind

Wigston Meadowcourt, Oadby and Wigston Borough Council

Con: 833 (63.4%) +29.3%

LDem: 377 (27.1%) -24.6%

Grn: 133 (9.5%) New

Con GAIN from LDem

Tavistock North, West Devon Borough Council

Con: 379 (39.3%) +24.4%

LDem: 337 (35.0%) +16.3%

Grn: 163 (16.9%) New

Lab: 85 (8.8%) -9.3%

Con GAIN from Ind

Abbreviations

Lab = Labour

Con = Conservative

Grn = Green

LDem = Liberal Democrats

TUSC = Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Ind = Independents

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT GUTO

Johnson and Harri - a pair of leftist clowns

With the ongoing Partygate controversy and mass walkout of his advisors, there was some faint hope that some vestige of conservatism may be rekindled in our hapless Prime Minister.  It was, after-all, a Conservative government that was elected in 2019.  We have not yet seen a conservative government - in fact quite the opposite.

A return to conservative values would surely save his skin, but Johnson appears to be determined to drive his party into the ground and deliver us into the arms of the wooden plank Keir Starmer.  Perhaps a clear statement of that direction was the recent appointment of Guto Harri as his new 'Director of Communications' - a post synonymous with the name of its inaugural holder, Alastair Campbell.  Each Prime Minister from Blair onwards has had a couple of DoCs during their time in office, with the exception of Johnson.  He is on number four already and only halfway through his term.

It's not clear how much input, if any, those previous three advisors had on Johnson's rejection of conservatism, but it is highly unlikely that the woke Harri will revert the trend.  His most recent job was as a presenter on GB News, but that stint was exceptionally short-lived after he bizarrely took the knee live on air in support of BLM.  Harri was suspended following that incident and later quit after he accused the station of 'replicating cancel culture on the far right'.  Having previously been a BBC journalist for almost two decades, that outburst should come as no surprise.

In his new role at Downing Street, Harri has already let his strong anti-Brexit feelings get the better of him.  In his first week he was involved in a Twitter spat with Dominic Cummings and outrageously retweeted criticism of his employer's supporters (see below).

Harri swiftly deleted his retweet, but the cat was out of the bag.  He later announced that he would no longer be tweeting and his Twitter account has been silent for more than a week.

Harri's first week as DoC was nothing short of a disaster.  It was Harri who broadcast the story about the PM singing 'I Will Survive' and in that same interview he described his new employer as 'not a complete clown'.  The latter bit was lampooned by Morten Morland in The Times (see below).

That Harri is still in his job suggests that Johnson has more than a little faith in a man with whom he has worked before.  Harri was a member of Mayor Johnson's team during his first term in office.  However, since leaving that role Harri has not been kind to Johnson in print.  During the Brexit impasse Harri described Johnson as 'sexually incontinent', having picked 'the wrong side' in the referendum and someone who would be 'hugely divisive' as leader.  One thing that Harri did praise was how Johnson had 'appealed to the left' during his time as London mayor.

It doesn't bode well does it?

Furthermore, we now hear that Harri lobbied government on behalf of Huawei - the tech firm reportedly under the control of the CCP.  Where is our country heading if the Prime Minister hires a man who is so far to the left that he accuses GB News of being 'far right'?

Johnson may be abandoning Covid restrictions, but we may still be on course for the social credit project...

BROWN'S AFGHAN DEMAND

The UK national debt currently stands at more than £2 trillion, the highest it has ever been and not likely to be paid off in the lifetime of anyone alive today.  It is an astonishing figure and has been reached thanks to the government's absurd Covid policies of the last two years.  A knock-on effect of those policies has been the rise in inflation and soaring gas prices, which will plunge many households into financial difficulty - if it hasn't already.

Do our masters care?  The same globalist movers and shakers who ordered lockdowns, mandates and crippling restrictions on our daily lives appear to not give a toss about the consequences.  Take Gordon Brown, who left his brief time as PM to hook up with the United Nations and World Health Organisation.  On Tuesday he tweeted about the plight of Afghans.  You remember Afghanistan, right?  That country that was number two on the hit list of globalist neocons such as Blair, Bush and Rumsfeld.  It's now facing a humanitarian catastrophe despite the West having poured billions into it for two decades only to end up replacing the Taliban with the Taliban.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Brown was one of those who supported the invasion.  Now he is demanding the UK government cough up billions more in order to stave off the catastrophe that he and his globalist chums are ultimately to blame for.  You couldn't make it up.  And at a time when the UK is in a colossal mountain of debt and our own people are being forced to choose between heating and eating.  Disgraceful.

Labour and the establishment they support don't care about you.  They hate you.

NEIL OLIVER'S MONOLOGUE 12.02.22

"Keeping our children safe used to run through our society like lettering through Blackpool rock". What happened?  "The number of suicidal children has soared - on our watch" muses Neil Oliver in his latest GB News monologue.  The culprit, of course, is the incessant lockdowns and scaremongering of the last two years.  "Covid barely touched our children - society hurt our children", he continues.  And he's right.  Those who imposed mask mandates in schools and those who complied by forcing masks on children - deploying terrifying psychological blackmail in order to do so - were all part of this damaging societal abuse.  And for those who happily agreed to inject their children with a substance that could potentially kill them, for the purpose of protecting them against a virus that does not harm them - perhaps there is a special place in Hell for them.

The word 'collaborator' should be used freely in the years to come.  The saddest part about this is the shameful reality that the majority of our fellow citizens submitted themselves to almost every Covid diktat, no matter how absurd and unreasonable.  Many continue to wear face coverings in shops, despite the fact we now know the virus has mutated into nothing more dangerous than mild flu.  Sad.

Click below for Neil's 11 and a half minute monologue on how we sacrificed children at the altar of Covid fanaticism.

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 6-12 FEB 2022

06.02.22 - Tom Stiglich, Twitter

06.02.22 - Nick Newman, Sunday Times

06.02.22 - Morten Morland, Sunday Times

07.02.22 - Guy Venables, Metro

07.02.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

08.02.22 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

07.02.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

07.02.22 - Morten Morland, The Times

08.02.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

08.02.22 - Brian Adcock, Independent

08.02.22 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

09.02.22 - Patrick Cross, Twitter

09.02.22 - AF Branco, Flag & Cross

09.02.22 - Bob Moran, Twitter

10.02.22 - Cian Ci, Twitter

10.02.22 - Chip Bok, Twitter

10.02.22 - Bob Moran, Twitter

10.02.22 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

10.02.22 - Pete Songi, Twitter

11.02.22 - Dave Brown, Independent

11.02.22 - Peter Brookes, The Times

11.02.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

12.02.22 - Peter Brookes, The Times

12.02.22 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

12.02.22 - Harry Burton, Irish Examiner

12.02.22 - Tom Stiglich, Twitter

12.02.22 - Jimbob, Gab

12.02.22 - Ben Jennings, i

A STEP TOO FAR FOR LOUDMOUTH COYLE

Labour backbencher Neil Coyle has been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after he let his loud mouth get the better of him once again.  The latest controversy follows an allegation that he made racist remarks in the presence of a mixed race journalist.  Coyle, who represents Bermondsey and Old Southwark, has also been banned from all parliamentary bars following a separate incident in which he is alleged to have screamed obscenities at a Labour staffer and a Tory MP.

Henry Dyer (pictured above right), 24, is of half Chinese descent and reported Coyle to the Speaker following the clash that he says took place at Strangers' Bar in Westminster on Tuesday 1 February.  Dyer was with two other journalists when Coyle approached and began discussing various topics including recent revelations regarding Labour MP Barry Gardiner's involvement with a Chinese spy.  Coyle is initially accused of saying that Gardiner had been paid by 'Fu Manchu', referencing the 20th century Chinese supervillain.  Dyer took umbrage at the remark, pointing out that he was of Chinese descent, to which Coyle is then said to have remarked: "From how you look like, you've been giving renminbi [Chinese currency] to Barry Gardiner".

Coyle is then alleged to have made an obscene two fingered gesture towards Dyer when he left the bar.

Coyle had caused another scene in the same bar the previous evening, having allegedly shouted obscenities at both a Labour staffer and a Tory MP who intervened.  He is reported to have shouted 'F*** you! What are the benefits of Brexit?' at the staffer - Coyle is a staunch Remainer - before telling the unnamed Tory MP to 'F*** off and lose some weight'.  The Southwark News reports that the staffer had suggested that Brexit had 'not been a disaster for the UK'.

The Speaker has now banned Coyle from all bars on the parliamentary estate for six months.  The Labour whip has been suspended pending an investigation into his remarks towards Dyer.

Neil Coyle is renowned for expressing strong opinions and has repeatedly made disparaging remarks about Brexit voters, leading to many deleted tweets and empty apologies.  He is very vocal on Twitter and frequently clashes with his own Labour comrades, particularly those on the hard left.

Further reading

Burnham vs Coyle

So Much For Labour's New-Found 'Patriotism'

Ashfield MP Challenges Coyle

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 10.02.22

Three by-elections this week and all in the south of England.  It was a clean sweep for the Lib Dems who held a seat in Eastleigh, while gaining two more - at the expense of an independent in Somerset and the Conservatives in Wealden.  Their gain in Wealden appears to have been assisted by the absence of a Labour candidate this time.  Last time Labour picked up 24.7 per cent of the vote.

The Lib Dem share of the vote was up in all three seats, while it was another fairly disappointing night for Labour who saw their vote share dip in both seats contested.

There were rare outings for Reform UK and the SDP, both of whom finished last.  A mixture of scant resources and the rarity of electoral appearances will continue to hinder the progress of any small party, regardless of how many MEPs they had three years ago.

Independent candidates were absent from both the Eastleigh and Somerset contests.  The latter was triggered by the incumbent independent having been disqualified from the council due to lack of attendance.

Eastleigh Central, Eastleigh Borough Council

LDem: 781 (43.9%) +7.0%

Lab: 433 (24.3%) -4.5%

Con: 362 (20.3%) -4.8%

Grn: 140 (7.9%) New

RefUK: 64 (3.6%) +0.2%

LDem HOLD

Alcombe, Somerset West and Taunton Council

LDem: 259 (50.2%) +17.7%

Con: 223 (43.2%) +24.2%

Lab: 21 (4.1%) -6.8%

Ind: 13 (2.5%) New

LDem GAIN from Ind

Hailsham South, Wealden District Council

LDem: 394 (59.7%) +30.9%

Con: 254 (38.5%) -8.1%

SDP: 12 (1.8%) New

LDem GAIN from Con

Abbreviations

LDem = Liberal Democrats

Lab = Labour

Con = Conservative

Grn = Green

RefUK = Reform UK

SDP = Social and Democratic Party

Ind = Independents

PRIME MINISTER'S QUESTIONS 09.02.22

Click below for today's PMQs.

The House is in recess from Thursday 10 February.  The next PMQs will be on 23 February.

NORMAL SERVICE TO RESUME SHORTLY

Due to a combination of technical problems and ongoing health issues affecting members of our team, our output has been temporarily disrupted.  Last week's edition of The Week in Cartoons will be retroactively inserted into the blog later this week, while regular features will be back up and running at around the same time.

Going forward, the health complications that have mainly slowed us down primarily on Facebook, may limit our output for the foreseeable future.  We should be able to maintain regular features on the blog, but memes and videos will be few and far between.  Richey's presence on social media channels (Twitter, Gab and GETTR) will resume imminently after technical gremlins brought him down on Tuesday.

NEIL OLIVER'S MONOLOGUE 05.02.22

"We should be in the post-mortem phase of the pandemic" muses Neil Oliver in his latest searing GB News monologue.  That's not the case, while governments around the world cling to the phantom menace in order to enact the plans of the global powers that pull their strings.  Meanwhile, the media refuse to accept or question whether the whole pantomime was even necessary.

Our hero proceeds to demolish Nicola Sturgeon's latest madcap idea to perpetuate Covid restrictions in Scotland, primarily in schools where pupils are still being prepared to accept state totalitarianism as the norm.  He then draws in the entire Western world and asks why politicians are not being held to account for the disaster of lockdowns.

It's a grim piece, but it must be said - and repeatedly so - until the powerful criminals who perpetuated this nightmare are driven from their public roles.  Watch below...

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 30 JAN-5 FEB 2022

30.01.22 - Andy Davey, Sunday Telegraph

31.01.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

31.01.22 - Morten Morland, The Times

31.01.22 - AF Branco, Legal Insurrection

01.02.22 - Josh, Twitter

01.02.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

01.02.22 - Guy Venables, Metro

01.02.22 - Morten Morland, The Times

01.02.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

02.02.22 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

02.02.22 - Dave Brown, Independent

02.02.22 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

02.02.22 - AF Branco, Americans Care

03.02.22 - Guy Venables, Metro

03.02.22 - Steven Camley, Herald

03.02.22 - Dave Brown, Independent

03.02.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

04.02.22 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

04.02.22 - Josh, Net Zero Watch

04.02.22 - Patrick Chappatte, Boston Globe

05.02.22 - Patrick Chappatte, Le Temps

05.02.22 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

05.02.22 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph