The Divided State of Europe

'We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare bill': Not the Daily Mail's words but those of the ex-Labour minister Starmer tasked with writing his defence review - and who has now lost all confidence in dithering PM​

Two former Labour defence secretaries have urged ministers to slash welfare to boost spending on Britain's security.

In an excoriating speech, former Nato chief Lord Robertson said Britain's national security had been left 'in peril' by Labour's failure to live up to promises to increase defence spending.

The Labour grandee, who wrote the Government's strategic defence review last year, accused Rachel Reeves of blocking funding for the armed forces and urged ministers to free up cash by slashing the bloated benefits budget.

'The cold reality of today's dangerous world is that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget,' he told an audience in Salisbury.

'Britain's welfare budget is now five times the amount we spend on defence. So I ask, are we certain that this is the right priority - jeopardising people's future safety and security, while maintaining an increasingly unsustainable welfare bill?'

Asked how defence secretary John Healey had taken his criticisms, Lord Robertson said: '[He was] extremely, extremely angry with me, but sometimes you just have to say something.

'My country is in danger, so I felt that I had to speak out. That will be uncomfortable in the short term, but in the longer term, they know what they need to do.' He added that 'many soldiers died as a result of the failure of the Labour government to act upon defence procurement' during the war in Afghanistan.

He was backed by fellow Labour peer Lord Hutton, who served as both defence and work and pensions secretary in the last Labour government.

Lord Hutton urged Sir Keir to grip the issue as the 'defining moment in his premiership', saying he has 'a very, very short period of time to start putting this right and sending out the signals to Putin' that Britain is serious about defending itself.

He told Times Radio the Government has 'got to get a grip on the rising welfare budget'. But he warned that, almost two years in, 'there's no real sign that it's got any agenda for correcting the very steep rise in welfare payments'.

(More on the link)

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Yeah, dump the British people, and pay generals more.
nivek said:

'We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare bill': Not the Daily Mail's words but those of the ex-Labour minister Starmer tasked with writing his defence review - and who has now lost all confidence in dithering PM​

Two former Labour defence secretaries have urged ministers to slash welfare to boost spending on Britain's security.

In an excoriating speech, former Nato chief Lord Robertson said Britain's national security had been left 'in peril' by Labour's failure to live up to promises to increase defence spending.

The Labour grandee, who wrote the Government's strategic defence review last year, accused Rachel Reeves of blocking funding for the armed forces and urged ministers to free up cash by slashing the bloated benefits budget.

'The cold reality of today's dangerous world is that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget,' he told an audience in Salisbury.

'Britain's welfare budget is now five times the amount we spend on defence. So I ask, are we certain that this is the right priority - jeopardising people's future safety and security, while maintaining an increasingly unsustainable welfare bill?'

Asked how defence secretary John Healey had taken his criticisms, Lord Robertson said: '[He was] extremely, extremely angry with me, but sometimes you just have to say something.

'My country is in danger, so I felt that I had to speak out. That will be uncomfortable in the short term, but in the longer term, they know what they need to do.' He added that 'many soldiers died as a result of the failure of the Labour government to act upon defence procurement' during the war in Afghanistan.

He was backed by fellow Labour peer Lord Hutton, who served as both defence and work and pensions secretary in the last Labour government.

Lord Hutton urged Sir Keir to grip the issue as the 'defining moment in his premiership', saying he has 'a very, very short period of time to start putting this right and sending out the signals to Putin' that Britain is serious about defending itself.

He told Times Radio the Government has 'got to get a grip on the rising welfare budget'. But he warned that, almost two years in, 'there's no real sign that it's got any agenda for correcting the very steep rise in welfare payments'.

(More on the link)

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Dejan Corovic said:
Yeah, dump the British people, and pay generals more.
Click to expand...

If the people are in a welfare state then theres a huge problem surpassing any grievances about who gets paid more...

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The deceit, deception and the duplicity have finally caught up with Sir Keir. He must resign in wake of Mandelson security vetting scandal​

There is something almost Shakespearean about the way it has come to this. Remember where it began – on that grey July morning, with Keir Starmer striding confidently up Downing Street, pledging not just to renew British politics but cleanse and purify it.

Now the man who vowed to restore standards, dignity and trust to our nation stands finally, and fully, exposed.

A liar. A charlatan. A capricious fool.

The revelation that Peter Mandelson failed his formal vetting by the security services prior to his elevation as Washington ambassador is, on one level, staggering.

That Keir Starmer forced through Mandelson's appointment to such a highly sensitive post, then misled parliament, the Press and the British people about the true facts, elevates this to a scandal on a par with Profumo's perfidy.

But on another level it was all too predictable. It was clear back in March – when Starmer refused six times to answer Kemi Badenoch's simple question about whether he'd spoken to Mandelson before his appointment – that the PM feared this was the crisis that would terminate his premiership.

And now, despite the misplaced mobile phone and deleted messages, we can all see why. Last year Starmer stated to Parliament directly and unequivocally that 'full due process was gone through' in relation to Mandelson's vetting, and that as a result he retained full confidence in him.

What's more, he claimed that it was the same process routinely undertaken for all new ambassadorial appointments.

Yesterday's revelations confirm beyond doubt that statement was a clear, cold, calculating lie. Not only had the initial vetting been conducted – on the Prime Minister's orders – by two of Mandelson's close personal friends (the PM's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications director Matthew Doyle).

But the subsequent formal vetting process had red-flagged Mandelson. And according to the Labour-supporting Guardian, which broke the story, Foreign Office officials had to invoke a rarely used procedure to override the vetting decision.

But it's not just the lies. As I've been writing for several weeks, since the Mandelson scandal broke, and MPs voted to force the Government to release all the documents relating to this sordid affair, Starmer and his aides have been involved in a comprehensive and concerted attempt to cover up the truth.

Set aside the convenient theft of McSweeney's mobile, along with the loss of reams of sensitive and pertinent messages it contained. Thousands of other emails and messages have 'disappeared'. Relevant briefing documents have been deleted. And as the Guardian also reported, 'senior government officials have been considering whether to withhold from parliament documents that would reveal that Mandelson was not given vetting approval from security officials'.

Yet even the lies and the cover-up pales into insignificance compared to the enormity of what the latest Mandelson disclosure reveals. I spoke to a senior member of the Whitehall security establishment. They said: 'Do you realise how rare it is for someone to fail vetting? Whatever it was, it must have been something really major.'

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Starmer's not fit to run the country: Kemi launches blistering attack on 'weak, lazy and incompetent' PM as Mandelson crisis threatens to force him out of No10​

Sir Keir Starmer has been branded a man unfit to run the country, who has lost the moral right to govern after the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal.

In an excoriating verdict on the Prime Minister, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch also condemns him as a PM consumed by his own survival who was putting national security at risk.

And with Sir Keir fighting for his political life, she renews her call for him to do the decent thing and resign – and to stop blaming officials for why he didn't know that Mandelson was appointed US ambassador despite having failed a crucial security vetting.

Writing for The Mail on Sunday, she says: 'The hypocrisy is staggering... He is taking the public for fools.'

She also says: 'Keir Starmer claims to be furious with officials. It is us who should be furious with him ... While he protects himself, decisions are delayed and problems fester.'

Mrs Badenoch's intervention comes ahead of a crucial week which could decide the Prime Minister's future, starting with his statement to MPs in the Commons tomorrow in which he will reiterate claims he did not know about Mandelson's vetting status.

But just 24 hours after tomorrow's Commons showdown, Sir Olly is expected to publicly defend himself for the first time at an explosive meeting of the foreign affairs committee.

Mrs Badenoch's brutal takedown of the Prime Minister came as:

It emerged that security chiefs handed a dossier to Sir Keir's team about Mandelson's dubious links to Russia and his relationship to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2023, further undermining the Prime Minister's claims he had no knowledge of the unsuitability of his appointment.

The Tories plot a major Commons D-Day showdown over the scandal, using the same tactics first weaponised against Boris Johnson by Sir Keir himself.

Armed Forces minister Al Carns was said to be on 'resignation watch', with some Labour MPs insisting that Sir Keir must either quit or face a leadership challenge in the wake of his 'serial failure of judgment' over Mandelson.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on Sir Keir to publish a separate Cabinet Office due diligence report on the New Labour grandee, completed before he was appointed, adding that 'chucking civil servants under the bus isn't good enough'.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar stood by his call for the PM to quit, saying the latest twist in the Mandelson affair 'demonstrates why I said what I said in February'.

Former Labour minister Graham Stringer told the MoS last night: 'When the challenge to Sir Keir comes, I cannot say – but a challenge is inevitable.

(More on the link)

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Harry has found a new way to torment his father. He isn't just deluded and dim-witted, he's dangerous​

What planet is deluded Prince Harry on, lecturing Putin and Trump on the eve of King Charles’ historic trip to America?

Watching him address the Kyiv Security Forum on a secret visit to that country, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry as he said in all solemnity: ‘I am not here as a politician.’

‘I am here as a soldier who understands service, as a humanitarian who has seen the human cost of conflict.’ He then proceeded to call out both Presidents Putin and Trump, the two most powerful leaders of the world.

That this dim-witted, tone-deaf lost boy believes he has the right to lecture world leaders – or that anything he says now should be taken seriously – is beyond parody.

Not that I have any time for either Trump or Putin, both of them are monstrous human beings.

But Harry’s absurd intervention in world affairs isn’t just the folly of a foolish prince who decided to jot down some thoughts while idling away the hours at his sun-kissed multi-million dollar Montecito mansion.

Its cynical timing smacks to me of naked opportunism.

For he appears to have timed it to coincide – dare I say it, overshadow – his father King Charles’ and Queen Camilla’s historic visit to America next week.

Even as the King is about to attempt to repair the fragile Special Relationship between Britain and the US by meeting Trump in Washington, his idiotic son is aiming pot shots at the President.

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What a lemon...

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Starmer's toe-curlingly awkward Cabinet showdown revealed: How deluded PM brushed aside resignation demands and carried on as if nothing happened​

Keir Starmer was hit with another resignation today after a toe-curling Cabinet meeting where he tried to brush aside calls to step aside. Jess Phillips declared she had lost confidence in the PM's 'fight and drive' as his grip on power loosens further. The intervention came after members of his top team - said to include Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood - privately urged him to make a graceful exit in the wake of disastrous local elections.

But Sir Keir effectively dared his rivals to move against him this morning, telling the weekly gathering in No10: 'The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered. 'The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.' Health Secretary Wes Streeting, regarded by Sir Keir's dwindling band of allies as being behind the coup, was present to hear the stark message. However, Sir Keir is said to have immediately moved on to the Iran war.

According to one Government source: 'Keir said in Cabinet that he won't discuss the elections or his leadership, and that he will only speak to cabinet ministers about that individually. Then after the meeting he refused to see Cabinet ministers individually.' Extraordinarily Housing Secretary Steve Reed appeared to be posting on social media from inside the Cabinet room, urging people to 'unite behind the PM'.

A few loyalist ministers spoke to waiting reporters as they exited through the famous black door - although a grim-faced Mr Streeting strode away silently. Pat McFadden insisted nobody had challenged the PM during the meeting. Baroness Chapman said Sir Keir was still in charge. 'I saw a Cabinet united and focused on dealing with the issues that are confronting the British people,' she said. She added that Mr Streeting had spoken, but only 'about the work that he's doing in the Health Service'.

One Government source goaded that Mr Streeting's failure to bring up the leadership at Cabinet showed he had 'lost his nerve'. The dramatic scenes came as Miatta Fahnbulleh joined the rebellion, becoming the first minister to quit. She is regarded as closely linked to Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband. Significantly, one of Sir Keir's closest allies Darren Jones said he would not 'get ahead of any decision' when asked this morning whether the PM would lead the party into the next election.

More than 80 MPs have now publicly called for his resignation, telling him to 'get real' and recognise 'it's over', while six ministerial aides have walked out. Labour's Left-wing is panicking that Blairite Mr Streeting has outmanoeuvred them and will end up with the keys to No10. They want to slow the process so Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham can get back into the Commons and be a contender.

In a sign of the rising tensions, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said this morning: 'Wes Streeting has launched a coup for fear of a democratic process and whilst candidates are blocked. Handing leadership to Mandelson's protege is a gift to Reform.'

As Westminster faces the prospect of a fourth PM being kicked out in just four years today:

The UK's borrowing costs have jumped as markets take fright at the danger of the Government lurching to the Left;

Rachel Reeves has pulled out of an event in the City of London as the sense of crisis mounts;

Andy Burnham has been spotted arriving at Euston station amid rumours he will announce a path to return to the Commons;

Concerns have been raised that the King will be embarrassed by having to deliver a State Opening speech for a 'zombie' PM;

A despairing minister has admitted Labour MPs look like hypocrites after condemning the Tories over a 'carousel of chaos';

A poll has showed Labour support falling back after the local elections, level-pegging with the Greens on third.

(More on the link)

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Belfast burns as protesters vow to 'get the foreigners out' after 'asylum seeker knife attack'​

Belfast is up in flames after furious protestors torched targets across the city in response to the brutal knife attack on its streets last night - defying government ministers' calls for calm.

Ugly scenes have broken out, with reports of masked men clashing with police, kicking in doors to 'get the foreigners out', and setting up checkpoints to search cars for asylum seekers.

Northern Ireland's First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, condemned the 'outright thuggery', saying that 'groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice'.

Anti-immigrant unrest sprung up in several cities across the UK after Monday night's attack. A 30-year-old man, described by police as a Sudanese asylum seeker who had been granted indefinite leave to remain, has been charged with attempted murder.

Multiple houses were set on fire in Belfast, along with numerous vehicles, rubble piles and street barricades. These continued to burn as night fell, attended by a vast force of firecrews.

Dramatic scenes came after protesters pushed a flaming bin into a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road soon after crowds first began to gather, burning it to a cinder.

In the Lower Newtownards Road area in east Belfast, around 100 masked men made their way down the street kicking in doors and smashing windows, saying they were 'getting the foreigners out', the BBC reported.

It was also reported that groups of locals had set up checkpoints and were checking passing cars for foreign nationals.

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Belfast's night of fury over 'asylum seeker knife attack': Houses, cars and bus torched as ministers condemn 'thuggery' and Sudanese man, 30, is charged with attempted murder​

Violent protests broke out in Belfast last night as hundreds of masked protesters torched homes and vehicles following the arrest of a Sudanese migrant over a brutal knife attack. Houses, cars, a bus and a supermarket were set alight as parts of the city descended into chaos, with some suggestions that non-white residents were deliberately targeted by some of the fires. Northern Ireland's First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, condemned the 'outright thuggery', saying that 'groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice'. A two-month-old baby was among those rescued.

Sir Keir Starmer has said the disorder in Belfast was 'shocking and completely unacceptable', adding: 'It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it.' Protesters were said to be targeting HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation), where multiple people live in a shared property - and which some claim are being used to house migrants at the taxpayers' expense.

The unrest came in direct response to the horrific stabbing attack the night before, when a Sudanese migrant inflicted knife wounds to a man's face, neck and back in a residential street. Described by police as a 30-year-old asylum seeker who had been granted indefinite leave to remain, the suspect was last night charged with attempted murder and will appear in court court today.

But behind the unquestionably damnable violence were grave new questions over a gaping 'backdoor to Britain'. The Sudanese suspect legally crossed from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland three years ago under a long-standing arrangement which means no passport checks are conducted.

He took a bus from Dublin to Belfast and immediately claimed asylum, the authorities revealed under pressure for answers yesterday. A few months later, the Home Office granted him a five-year visa as a refugee.

There are growing calls for a review of border security measures deployed under the Common Travel Area (CTA), which allows freedom of movement between Ireland and the UK. The victim was named locally as Stephen Ogilvie, in his 40s, who last night remained in a serious condition in hospital. It is understood he lived in the same block of social housing as the suspect.

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... and now a 40 something year old man is permanently blinded because of that p.o.s

If we had attacks like that anywhere near here I'd be back to every day carry - because I have that option, pity others have had that taken.
 

John Healey and his No2 quit as Starmer and Reeves put welfare and Net Zero before national security - all while military leaders warn we haven't faced such a global threat for generations​

Keir Starmer is 'unable' to defend Britain, his own Defence Secretary said on Thursday as he quit with a furious blast. John Healey accused the Prime Minister of being too weak to face down Rachel Reeves over the defence of the nation.

Mr Healey revealed that plans signed off by the PM and Chancellor will increase defence spending by just 0.08 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade, despite rising threats across the world.

Senior defence figures warned that the threadbare settlement would leave Britain 'in danger'. On Thursday, the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, was also on resignation watch.

And Armed Forces minister Al Carns followed Mr Healey out of the door less than an hour after a Sky News interview – not authorised by No 10 – in which he said the funding proposals were not good enough.

Despite the warnings, Sir Keir signalled he will stick with the funding plan rejected by Mr Healey as he scrambles to publish the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) before he faces a leadership challenge.

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The surge of Europe's hatred for Israel​

Europe's growing hostility towards Israel has led to a surge in anti-Semitic incidents across the continent, making it harder for Jewish tourists to travel freely without fear of exclusion.

The problems Jewish holidaymakers are encountering abroad come as the number of anti-Semitic attacks has increased sharply worldwide, with last year seeing the highest number killed in such incidents for 30 years.

But aside from episodes of violence, such as the Hanukkah attack in Sydney and the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC, Jews are also experiencing increasing levels of day-to-day discrimination.

From LGBTQ+ saunas in Spain and German hotels to Slovenian airports, places that purport to welcome all are increasingly shutting their doors to Jewish customers.

'Hate speech, notably antisemitism and Holocaust denial, has reached levels not seen since World War II,' said UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany in a recent report on anti-Semitism in schools.

Additionally, almost half of Europeans believe anti-Semitism has increased in their country over the past five years, especially in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, according to data from Eurobarometer.

On May 29, a Jewish lesbian couple were thrown out of a Spanish LGBTQ+ sauna after one of the other customers saw one of them wearing a Star of David pendant.

The incident – which Israel has described as an 'anti-Semitic attack' – took place at Sauna Thermas in Barcelona, which on its website advertises itself as a 'gay sauna' that 'welcomes everybody'.

(More on the link)

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Life in liberal hellscape Britain is so much worse than many of my countrymen admit… JD Vance must keep lecturing our useless government until they listen​

Apologizing has long been a cultural reflex for us Brits.

But now the fear of causing offence is so great we're at risk of losing our voices completely - and it seems the US has plenty to say about it.

Never one to stay in his lane, Vice President JD Vance has been particularly vocal hitting out at UK government plans to ban social media for users under 16 years old – yet the latest evidence of Big Brother online censorship.

Yet far from transatlantic meddling, Vance has actually become a much-needed voice of reason.

Especially when blasting the UK's 'retreating' free speech which has seen us pandering to a rollcall of woke agendas and sleepwalking into scandals.

The recent murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak is a case in point. Stabbed to death by Asian assailant Vickrum Digwa, the student lay dying while handcuffed by police who assumed Nowak was the offender rather than the victim. Digwa, as was later revealed, had falsely claimed he had been racially abused by Nowak and had acted in self-defense – rather than the other way around.

Amid the parallels with the 2020 George Floyd murder in the US, Vance played up one big disparity in the aftermath.

'Each time a life like his is lost, the proper response - the only response - is righteous anger,' said Vance on X - a barb aimed at the more muted UK reaction compared to the Black Lives Matter protests more than one-half decade ago.

Vance was right; the condemnation over Nowak's death was more of a whimper than riot.

Predictably, Vance was accused of stirring up division by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. OK, the Prime Minister may have a point. But allegations of 'divisiveness' have become an all-too-common charge to pin on anyone highlighting double standards.

Of which there are sadly many.

You see, while the UK political elite were busy kneeling for Black Lives Matter – there's little doubt they forgot to stand up for equally important causes. Particularly right here at home.

Just ask the victims of the 'grooming gangs' scandal that saw mainly Pakistani men target underage white girls as young as 11 for sex. This sorry saga was allowed to play out for decades with victims ignored and blamed, opportunities missed by head in the sand authorities fearful of being seen as racist.

Texas is a long way from England, but Elon Musk, another loud voice from across the pond, took valid swipes that ramped up the pressure on the British Government. His drip feed of disses on X has been credited by many for forcing a government U-turn on holding a public inquiry into the Grooming Gangs.

This week, the Rape Gang Inquiry was finally published. The report claims the number of sexual assault victims could be as high as 250,000. Although the Inquiry features powerful survivor testimonies, it has mostly found deafening silence in the UK.

And even when the stakes are lower, the subject matter far less sensitive, some form of censorship appears never far away.

In truth, airing any punchy opinion in modern Britain can be problematic. We're terrified of causing offence but at the same time super quick to be offended. Far worse, even the most well-meaning among us lean into a reactive cancel culture that is trickling through every part of society.

My own village in West Sussex isn't immune. It's the sort of quaint idyl depicted in a Hallmark Christmas movie and like any small community is anchored by a church, village shop and a pub - which I'm now banned from.

My crime? Making the innocuous observation in an article that a favorite pub, The Swan Inn, had priced out many of the local people and was catering more for the Jaguar-driving visitors.

'This will be your last drink here,' announced the manager with a death stare like Michael Corleone ordering a hit on a rival mafia clan.

'We've read the article, you're not welcome.'

In a similar vein my thoughts on how village churches could benefit from being more welcoming and less cliquey saw me harangued by members of the community clearly unable to accept any point of view divergent from their own.

Laughably these are the sort of people whose social media feeds are full of ubiquitous 'be kind' and 'respect other opinions' platitudes.

And we can't overlook the irony that when dear old Blighty does get a little more vocal, it's usually in the form of some self-flagellation to attack our national identity and values.

Contrast that with America, where the Oval Office proudly displays a bronze bust of Winston Churchill, one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century. Meanwhile, back on home turf in Parliament Square, London, a Churchill statue is routinely daubed with graffiti during climate change or Palestine protests.

The protests could not have been rowdier as proud royalist Donald Trump reveled in his unprecedented second invite to Buckingham Palace last September. And the return visit from King Charles to the White House proved a diplomatic masterclass at a time of escalating geopolitical tensions.

While in Washington, The King urged US lawmakers to defend democratic values against aggressors in a 'volatile world'. Sadly, many of the most aggressive 'aggressors' are right here in England.

And what did our 77-year-old still cancer-stricken monarch get on his return to home soil? Jeers and placards from anti-monarchy demonstrators taking the shine off most of his official duties.

It's a shame such energy and efforts couldn't be channeled into celebrating our once great nation rather than attacking it.

Sadly, we're now a country increasingly browbeaten by skewed political correctness, gagged and gormlessly following the herd. As we stand silent in the face of murdered young men and sexually assaulted teenagers, no wonder Britain is taking lectures from Uncle Sam.

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nivek said:
Just ask the victims of the 'grooming gangs' scandal that saw mainly Pakistani men target underage white girls as young as 11 for sex. This sorry saga was allowed to play out for decades with victims ignored and blamed, opportunities missed by head in the sand authorities fearful of being seen as racist.
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I wish people would stop characterizing it in this way. There is a clear incentive structure in British public life for people not to pursue cases like the grooming gangs. The press blame the "fear of being seen as racist", when the real problem is the creators and enforcers of this incentive structure. What people really fear are their careers and lives being ruined for pursuing the truth, and for most that is too high a price to pay.
 
I normally hesitate to comment as I don't think the media lens we have access to portrays an accurate picture of the UK or Europe just as it doesn't correctly portray the US to non-Americans. I'd like to think that if I traveled there it wouldn't be what I am led to expect but do fear that it may be to some degree.

The incentive structure you speak of is part of this Woke/Leftist BS here except I think being larger it's taken longer to saturate to quite that degree. At least nobody is being locked up for social media posts but had we continued in the direction we had been going we probably would be. Starmer may be our Biden/Harris administration. The example given of being banned from a local pub is very familiar; an extreme reaction to expression an opinion contrary to what that incentive structure finds acceptable.

I am not a huge conspiracy theorist but it's hard for me to believe there isn't some deliberate intense nonstop campaign to create this division for purposes I can only guess at. The masses are easily manipulated. As hard as it is to take Donald Trump at times - and believe me it is - he seems to be the unexpected factor that campaign has done its best to squash, unsuccessfully. Never seen anything like it. If you have to ask yourself why the answer is always about the money - just look at some of the loudest voices over here on the Left and their sudden personal wealth.

I like to say that things tend to collapse under the weight of it's own bullshit which explains why he got elected again but caution that it applies to him too.
 
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Fire bears down on Bordeaux: Inferno so big it generates its own thunderstorms threatens entire city​

An 'apocalyptic' wildfire bearing down on Bordeaux is so big it is generating its own thunderstorms, with 38C heat threatening to fan the flames of the terrifying blaze.

More than 325,000 people have fled the region, in southern France, as the inferno burns down forests and destroys villages.

Firefighters are struggling to contain the flames, which stretch kilometres, leading volunteers, including local farmers, to help all they can.

Convoys of tractors were spotted driving through towns on Sunday towing huge water tankers in an effort to reinforce the fire crews heroically battling the blaze, injuring 75 and killing two.

One farmer was pictured wearing personal protective equipment as prepared to drive into the inferno to reinforce crews with water.

Some 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 military personnel and around 1,200 police have been deployed to the Gironde region.

It ranks among one of the worst fires to hit France in peacetime down on Bordeaux: Inferno so big it generates its own thunderstorms threatens entire city as Italy and Spain also continue attempts to suppress their own terrifying infernos.

The Bordeaux blaze has caused an unprecedented 'pyrocumulonimbus' - a gigantic fire cloud that creates its own winds and packs lightning that causes more fires.

But despite the efforts of emergency services, who have been battling the fire for days now, 38C temperatures threaten to spread the flames.

Eric Brocardi, of the National Firefighters Federation of France (FNSPF), said: 'It's a David-versus-Goliath scenario... at some point, we'll find a weak spot and strike there.'

It comes as France enters its fourth heatwave this summer, spreading panic as wildfires across the country destroy thousands of tonnes of crops - leading to fears of vegetable shortages on supermarket shelves.

French president Emmanuel Macron has called a Monday morning crisis meeting with his cabinet to discuss the emergency.

(More on the link)

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