And Then, We'll Charge The Makers Of 'Gladiator 2' With Cruelty To Animals...?

It would make as much sense, with all the strangling of CGI baboons...

Most of the laws that prohibit the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse imagery have been in place since the 1990s. Back then, Photoshop was in its infancy. The physical photographs that paedophiles shared were no less vile, but they were easier for the police to seize and destroy. Since then, technology has completely changed the way these people operate, making it possible to create and distribute horrifyingly life-like images and videos of children in seconds.

Yes, 'life-like'. It's not real. But maybe there are cases of real harm. Give us a 'for instance', will you?

A 15-year-old girl rang the NSPCC recently. An online stranger had edited photos from her social media to make fake nude images. The images showed her face and, in the background, you could see her bedroom. The girl was terrified that someone would send them to her parents and, worse still, the pictures were so convincing that she was scared her parents wouldn’t believe that they were fake.

And will this go down as 'a sexual assault of a child' in official government figures? I bet it will. Making the figures utterly worthless, since no-one's actually been assaulted. 

That is why we are taking urgent action through a raft of new offences that will finally close the legal loopholes that paedophiles are exploiting to ruin young lives. If you are found in possession of a “paedophile manual”, you will now face years in jail. For the first time, we’ll imprison the people who are making the AI models that generate child sexual abuse material. Those who run or moderate websites where paedophiles share advice on how to groom children and avoid detection will spend a decade behind bars.

And where are you going to build all the extra jail space that will be needed, since they are actually at bursting point? Or will you simply let out genuine abusers to put away people getting naughty with pixels? 

If It's Too Early To Lay Blame, It's Surely Too Early To 'Console'...

After the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Ronald Reagan ended an Oval Office address with the consoling thought that its crew had slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. Successors such as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden also shone in the crucial US presidential role of consoler-in-chief.

But that was then, this is now. And that’s why a ‘Guardian’ columnist is speaking favourably of ol’ Ronnie.

How would Donald Trump fare in his first test since returning to the White House?

You just know he's itching to write his foregone conclusion, no matter what, don't you? After all, this is a 'Guardian' column.  

In grave, mellow tones, Trump did the things that heads of state are supposed to do, acknowledging an “hour of anguish” for the nation, paying tribute to emergency rescue workers and offering solace that the victims’s journey ended in “the warm embrace of a loving God”.

But...but... 

Did he leave it there, channeling the sombre mood, fading with dignity into the background and handing over to experts who know what they are talking about? Are you kidding? This is Trump. He went on, ominously revealing that he had “strong opinions” on the collision (never mind the facts). With aggression creeping into his voice, Trump pivoted to an all-out attack on his Democratic predecessors and blame the accident on policies of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

But if it's too early to lay blame, isn't it also too early to 'reassure' the nation? And after all, didn't NASA incompetence and carelessness cause the deaths of those astronauts?

Do we know that the policy of DEI didn't play a part? After all, the helo wasn't following the flight plan it was supposed to. The ATC didn't notice this. No-one did anything to prevent the collision.

Trump claimed Obama had pushed “mediocre” standards for air traffic controllers, a job that requires “superior intelligence”, but Trump had raised them during his first term. “When I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before.”

And indeed, there's a class action lawsuit ongoing regarding these wretched Biden era standards that focussed on everything but competence at the job. 

Last week Trump signed an executive order restoring his standards. He explained: “We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent – the word talent, you have to be talented, naturally talented genius. You can’t have regular people doing that job.” It’s almost as if you need a master race.

If you want to stop aircraft parts raining from the sky on a regular basis, maybe you do.... 

The 'Mail' Needs A TV Show Called 'QI'...

...for 'Quite Ignorant':

It was a Learjet. They aren't equipped with ejector seats, being civilian luxury passenger aircraft.

The 'Guardian' Might Get Away With This....

 

...but surely a spammer posing as a big company like Walmart can afford a spellchecker?

Sunday Funnies...

Wait, no rotten tomatoes? 

Well, I Can’t See This Going Wrong…

Half a million students studied GCSE or A-level history in the UK last year, but just 2,000 of them tackled the origins of the conflict raging in the Middle East. Why? According to one history teacher, Meredith Cann, schools often fear criticism from parents if they tackle sensitive topics.

Mainly because they do it wrong.  

Children are hungry for the chance to study contested and topical periods of history, says Cann, the programme manager at Parallel Histories, an education charity.

Are they? Is there any evidence of that? 

It’s not just Israel and Palestine; other contested subjects often avoided by schools include the impact of the British empire, and the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Really? I thought modern history in schools was 100% 'the British Empire is the root of all evil'..? 

Most schools, she says, restrict their history curriculum to periods that are distant in time or geography.

Well, it IS in the title, after all... 

Parallel Histories promotes new ways to study and understand conflict, helping teachers confidently explore the roots of contemporary wars from Ukraine to Gaza with students, and assess the legacy of leaders such as Winston Churchill. It seeks to reach across community divides and provide an antidote to populism and extremism.

Oooh, I bet it doesn't. I bet perpetuating conflict is its main goal. It is, after all, a fakecharity that gets most of its money from grants, almost certainly from government and other quangos...

“It’s really easy for children to think of history as a list of dead people and what they did. But history is the version of the stories which have shaped and are shaping so much of the modern world,” Cann says. “It’s about how things have been interpreted, and how people have used this history. And that’s where we link to current affairs without treading that line into politicising.”

Good luck trying to walk that line! But let's see an example of the stuff they want to churn out to the kiddies, shall we? 

Parallel Histories works with prominent historians and spends months sifting through sources to draw up the ebooks that are the basis of debates on each topic. For example: was Winston Churchill a racist warmonger who used inhumane forms of warfare? Or was he a visionary leader who saw the threat posed by nazism from the start and led Britain to help defeat Adolf Hitler?

I can pretty much guess the answer. 

The materials on Churchill include a chilling account from his memoir of a military campaign in Afghanistan. Acts that today would probably be considered war crimes are described in his own words. “We destroyed the houses, filled up the wells, blew down the towers, cut down the great shady trees, burned the crops and broke the reservoirs in punitive devastation,” Churchill wrote.

See? 

Another Pathetically Lenient Sentence & Authority Incompetence …

A mum-of-five whose dogs savaged a pensioner has been jailed after ignoring warnings about the “vicious” animals.

'Savaged' doesn't quite fully sum up the damage done here:

Vic Franklin had to have his arm and leg amputated after being attacked by Chloe Taylor’s two rottweilers in Lewes Close in Bognor.

This is the case reported last year, and it's another one replete with all the usual issues; totally innocent victim, filthy chav owners of the vicious mutts, idiot onlookers weeping because armed police shot the poor doggies... 

Taylor, 27, wept as she was taken down today after being jailed for 27 months and told she will spend at least half in custody.

But she's not the only person who should be in the dock, not by a long chalk:

Judge William Ashworth told Taylor she ignored repeated warnings about the dogs who she knew were getting out of her insecure garden.

"The dogs were left insecure outside in the garden,” he said.

"A garden they had escaped from many times before and a garden you were aware was not secure."

The judge said Taylor had been officially warned about neighbours’ concerns and advised she was in breach of the tenancy agreement by keeping them at the house.

All those warning, and yet, they were never followed up by action. What was the point? 

A series of warnings over the aggression shown by the dogs were issued and ignored by locals, council and police, the judge said. The last warning came two days before Mr Franklin was attacked.

If they had acted on that one, he might still have all four limbs. And in fact, he doesn't owe his survival to the police who finally turned up to end the threat permanently, but to a civilian - his neighbour: 

The rottweilers mauled Mr Franklin for 11 minutes before his neighbour appeared after hearing the dogs barking and shouting. His partner looked out at the horrific scene outside and shouted: "Oh God, there is a man being attacked by a dog."

Mr Jones armed himself with a large spirit level and went out to confront the dogs.

Hard not to agree with this commenter: 

 

Tweet Of The Month

                                               

Post Title Of The Month

Longrider provides a blast from the past in his post on the Muslim fez-wearer....

Quote Of The Month

John Wall at Harry's Place on Kier Starmer: 

Starmer is basically a technocratic middle manager who decorbynised Labour but attracted criticism for dumping the Corbynite policies he’d previously endorsed. Many expected him to emulate Kinnock by doing the necessary dirty work, losing an election and being replaced.

Well, give it time... 

Post Of The Month

Natalie at Samizdata asking the big questions....

The Solution Is Surely In The Hands Of Your ARVs

Enforcing a ban on XL bully dogs is placing a huge burden on policing with millions of pounds spent on veterinary bills and kennelling, police chiefs have said. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said kennel spaces were reaching capacity, with costs “increasing by the day”. It said veterinary bills and the cost of kennelling banned dog breeds had risen from £4m in 2018 to more than £11m between February and September 2024. It can cost about £1,000 a month to keep an XL bully in kennels.

What evidential value do they have alive that they don't have dead? None. So when called out to an attack, stop seizing them alive! 

And insist the courts impose financial penalties on the moron owners.  

Mark Hobrough, the NPCC’s lead for dangerous dogs, said the ban was placing a huge burden on policing. Hobrough, the chief constable of Gwent police, said: “We are facing a number of challenges in kennel capacity, resourcing and ever-mounting costs, and as of today we have not received any additional funding to account for this. We urgently need the government to support us in coping with the huge demand the ban has placed on our ever-stretched resources.” Hobrough said conversations were ongoing with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs but there was no formal agreement “whereby any funding has come into any police force to account for these additional demand factors”.

Perhaps they, too, believe the answer's staring you in the face, Mark? Getting rid of the dog enthusiasts in the ranks would be a good idea too...

The NPCC tactical lead, Supt Patrick O’Hara, said he did not think all XL bullies were automatically dangerous but they had the “propensity” to be by their “sheer size and power”. O’Hara said: “In the right hands, with the right socialisation, with a really responsible owner, a lot of those dogs will never come to notice.”

Which is what, some sort of comfort to the bereaved pet owners and families of savaged children and adults? 

Or You Could Design Rubber Tips For Them, Idris?

Idris Elba has called for kitchen knives to have their ends rounded off in a bid to tackle the UK's violent gang crisis.

Oh, not this old chestnut again... why is this overpaid mummer flapping his gums anyway? 

Speaking ahead of the release of his documentary... 

Ah! 

...Idris Elba: A Year Of Knife Crime later this year, the 52-year-old actor made a number of suggestions to help bring an end to knife crime. The Luther star said that whilst banning the sale of zombie knives was a positive step in tackling the issue, he also believed ninja swords should be outlawed and suggested kitchen blades have their sharp point removed.

Prisoners in jail are pretty inventive about sharpening toothbrush handles to make shivs, but I'm sure this wouldn't happen elsewhere, eh, Idris? Not that any manufacturer of kitchen implements is going to take a blind bit of notice.  

He told the BBC: 'Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say. But you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it.'

I looked up the term 'innovative', Idris, and...

Maybe you should manufacture little rubber tips that people could buy to apply to the hundreds of thousands of knives in kitchens in the country, Idris, make a bit of cash on the side?

The award-winning screen star also believes young people in London gangs are 'not big and scary', adding it is 'sad' that society has 'turned our back on them'.

I think it's the gangs who have turned their back on society, isn't it? 

He also felt big tech and social media needed to take more responsibility over the issue, saying: 'When it comes to big tech, there needs to be accountability within their own policies, and their policies need to be educated and driven by what society deems is right or wrong.

'It's great that you're a big company, you make a lot of money, got lots of social media followers, that's fantastic.

'But by the way, we don't like knives, we're not going to tolerate you advertising knives to young people, please.

The tech companies aren't doing the 'advertising', that would be the thugs making TikTok rap videos, Idris.... 

'We don't like porn, we don't like this, we don't like bully dogs, it can be done in a society, and in my opinion, where democracy leads, it takes a village.'

And this one is clearly missing its idiot. He seems to think everything - tools, social media - is to blame for violent gang stabbings except the violent members of gangs doing the stabbing. 

Refreshing!

Donald Trump's border czar has responded to Selena Gomez's sobbing video over deportations, saying the administration has 'no apologies' and that anyone who doesn't like it should take it up with Congress.

This is how all such appeals to emotion should be treated, when they aren't simply ignored. 

The sweeping raids across the country have seen violent criminals rounded up and sent packing on government flights at break-neck speed. Liberals and celebrities are in shock, despite Trump promising for months that they would happen on his first day back in office.

Well, they are used to promises being made, but not kept by their Democrat buddies, after all... 

Gomez has since deleted the video after it did not sit well with social media users, who were quick to slam her for not using her reported net worth of $1.3 billion to take action herself.

By doing what, exactly? 

Megyn Kelly also slammed the Emilia Perez actress for putting on a display of crocodile tears, claiming she wanted to push an agenda that her fans disagreed with. 'She deleted it after her fans taught her that the majority of the country stands behind these policies, but I'm sure she was shocked to get any blowback whatsoever,' Kelly said. 'She’s unwell. Obviously, this is an unwell person… And by the way, anybody who takes their phone works up in tears and posts a video of themselves crying into their phone is sick. That's a sick person.

'Tears happen. They tend to happen privately. If they happen publicly. I think you should quickly move on and recover, but I don't understand the person who works it and tries to squeeze out more tears to make themselves look extra sad.'

I can tell you, Megyn. They are attention seekers. But the attention Selena got was the wrong kind. 

Want To Kill Someone And Guarantee A Lenient Sentence, But Can't Drive?

Don't despair! Just get a fighting breed dog! 

The owner of an XL bully dog which chased and killed a man has been jailed for three years. Ian Langley, 54, was mauled in Shiney Row, near Sunderland, on 3 October 2023, and died in hospital from "catastrophic" neck injuries.

No, it didn't do so off its own initiative. It was set on the victim:

Shortly before 19:00 BST on 3 October 2023, Mr Langley, who came from Liverpool and was known in the area as "Scouse", threw a stone at Bell's Maple Terrace home and smashed a window, prosecutor Jolyon Perks said.

Bell ran out of the house and chased Mr Langley and his XL bully dogs Titan and Sapphire followed through the open front door, Mr Perks said.

Titan overtook Bell and, after about 330ft (100m), dragged Mr Langley to the floor and clamped its jaws around Mr Langley's neck, the court heard.

If he'd run out of his kitchen with a knife and cut the man's throat, or with his car keys and run the victim down, would he have got such a paltry sentence? 

Given he has 32 convictions for 69 offences on his record, shouldn't that count towards him being banged up for longer? 

The dog "firmly resisted" all attempts to pull it away, Mr Perks said, and Mr Langley suffered "catastrophic injuries". Bell was eventually able to remove Titan and took him home before returning to Mr Langley's side and calling 999.

Armed police killed Titan at the scene, with Sapphire also later put down, the court heard. When officers arrived, Bell, now of De La Pole Avenue in Hull, told them to "just kill" the dogs, Mr Perks said.

It's great when the police dispose of the murder weapon for you aheead of a trial, isn't it?

The court heard Titan had savaged the leg of a Yorkshire terrier after escaping from Bell's home in July 2022, with Bell asking people for a lighter so he could try and burn his pet's nose to get it to release the other dog. In June 2023, both Titan and Sapphire got out and attacked another dog for up to 10 minutes, with the ordeal ending after Bell threw water over them.

And of course, because it was considered just 'dog on dog' and not an indicator of future issues, nothing was done. What a pity Mr Bell's grieving relatives can't sue the police for that. 

Bell was was also disqualified from having custody of a dog indefinitely.

Which might mean something, if only there was any mechanism in place to check.  

Why Is A Policy Required For Something That Shouldn’t Exist?

Councillors are set to discuss adopting a revised version of the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit.

Wait, the what?! 

The toolkit, designed to help staff and governors in Brighton and Hove's schools and colleges create inclusive policies for trans children, will be considered at the Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet meeting on January 23.

'Trans children' don't exist any more than vegan cats do.... 

This will be the fifth version of the toolkit, which has been regularly updated since its first release in 2013 to reflect changing legislation.

Changing legislation desperately trying to snuff out this nonsense, I hope. 

The consultation on the review of the toolkit included an online consultation, engagement sessions involving local schools to gain the views of young people, and a number of focus groups.The feedback received covered a range of opinions, with the majority either in support of the toolkit or feeling it should go further to promote and safeguard the rights of trans and non-binary children.

Well, it IS Brighton and Hove... 

Respondents from outside the city were more negative about the toolkit.

Sanity! 

They Must Love You On eBay, Cherry!

A statue of Noddy has been saved from being thrown away after a council bought it for £500.

Did they have a whipround in the council chambers, I wonder, or did they just dive into the Bank of Taxparer again? 

For more than 20 years the Enid Blyton character has sat in his car outside the toy shop Piccola in Epping, Essex. After the shop's owners decided to retire and close up, Epping Town Council acquired the figure so it could remain part of the town.

Why? I mean, I would have paid £500 to have it dumped!  

Cherry McCredie, the town's mayor and Epping Town councillor, said: "All High Streets are changing and independent shops are departing. To lose the much loved Piccola as the owners of Noddy were retiring was bad enough, but to lose dear Noddy was even worse."

Get a fucking grip woman! You don't even know where you're going to put the thing? 

Piccola had been on Epping High Street for the past 58 years. McCredie added: "At the town council meeting, [on] 14 January, we will be discussing plans for his new site, maybe even a great unveiling!"

Noddy's new location in the town is yet to be revealed by the authority.

Maybe they should make it Mayor?  

H/T: IanJ via email

Maybe Rethink That Headline, BBC News...

Oooh, matron..!

After finishing university and moving back to Birmingham, Khiefa Gabbidon struggled to make friends when she started work. The 22-year-old had a job in the tech industry which she described as a male-dominated field and said she did not have any women around her. "I looked around to see if I could find any female friends but I couldn't so I thought 'I'm going to have to create something'," she added.

A female friendship group? Well, that wasn't what I was expecting... 

Eager to find her clique, Ms Gabbidon created a community group for women in May called Space For Girls. It encourages like-minded women to meet up and take part in a range of activities such as running sessions, meals out and hiking. The group has since attracted more than 8,000 followers on Instagram and a WhatsApp community of more than 1,500 women.

Maybe the BBC are recruiting ex-Sunday Sport writers?

H/T: IanJ via email

Some ‘Gladiator’

Police are investigating after Gladiators star Apollo was reportedly harassed by a stalker on set, at his flat and during a meet-and-greet with fans. Security has been increased around the star, real name Alex Gray, 33, one of several athletes appearing in the hit BBC One show, The Sun on Sunday reports.

A woman targeted Gray at TV studios in Sheffield, an apartment block where he was staying and during a personal appearance at a shopping centre, the newspaper said.

 Russell Crowe's gladiator needed no security to fend off stalking pussy....

Sunday Funnies...

Mating rituals worse than ex-Labour MPs' Twitter timelines...

What Happened To 'To Protect And Serve'?

Lindsey Stech received a motion alert from her doorbell camera on Dec. 18, revealing a man lurking in her yard with a flashlight. Stech called 911, and a deputy was dispatched to investigate but found nothing during the initial search. When Stech later spotted the man again through her camera, she called 911 to request the deputy's return. The operator, however, declined her request."There is nobody outside," the operator told the caller. "Well, I mean, I'm looking at him right now," Stech insisted. "They're not going to come by again," the operator replied."I'm going to say goodbye now," the dispatcher said, ending the call. "There's nothing more that I can do now. Have a good night."

Should have simply told her 'I'm getting my gun to shoot him' and she'd have had half the precinct at her door... 

Stech described feeling "lost, hopeless and panic-filled" as the situation unfolded. Ultimately, the deputy returned, spoke with the man, and informed Stech that he was allegedly waiting for another woman, as reported by WYFF.

Sounds dodgy as hell, but at least they did respond. 

Following the incident, Spartanburg County 911 issued a statement acknowledging the dispatcher's failure to communicate effectively with Stech.

Couldn't really bluff this one out!  

The agency apologized, pledged to implement additional training, and confirmed personnel action against the operator.

Probably just a writen warning. And they'd do none of that if it hadn't been for being shamed into it... 

H/T: The Jannie via email

Wrong Simile – Try ‘Shoved Down Our Throats’ Instead

Artificial intelligence will be “mainlined into the veins” of the nation, ministers have announced, with a multibillion-pound investment in the UK’s computing capacity despite widespread public fear about the technology’s effects.

Government wants it, so 'public fear' isn't even a bump in the road or a pothole to navigate... 

Keir Starmer will launch a sweeping action plan to increase 20-fold the amount of AI computing power under public control by 2030 and deploy AI for everything from spotting potholes to freeing up teachers to teach.

Promises, promises... 

The government plan features a potentially controversial scheme to unlock public data to help fuel the growth of AI businesses. This includes anonymised NHS data, which will be available for “researchers and innovators” to train their AI models. The government says there would be “strong privacy-preserving safeguards” and the data would never be owned by private companies.

And we believe them, don't we, Reader? 

Technology companies including Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI welcomed the plan as Starmer said the “AI industry needs a government that is on their side”.

So do the voters, but... 

The prime minister is also aiming to accelerate investment in new miniature nuclear reactors as it seeks to power the energy-hungry technology.

If he's facing down the NetZero nutters for this, it has to be a bad idea... 

It Seems A Really Easy ‘Fight’ To Win, To Me…

I am uneasily aware that around this time last year I wrote that my drive to acquire material things had somewhat subsided: I was older and wiser, had everything I needed, was repelled by the sheer volume of stuff in the world, blah blah blah. Unfortunately, the internet seemingly viewed that as fighting talk, an impossible-to-turn-down challenge, and in recent months I have once more found myself wanting stuff. Lots of stuff.

I suppose you've not considered putting the phone or tablet down?

It’s not surprising perhaps – stuff is everywhere, whispering, or shouting, to us from every screen we stare at. “The constant stream of ads on Instagram is exhausting,” said my best friend gloomily just last week, and she’s right: my eyes are constantly assaulted with offers of miracle goop for my mature skin, wellness gadgetry, expensive knitwear and greenwashed “disruptors” of almost everything. I just spent a minute scrolling and was offered, in quick succession, a “calfPRO” (no idea, alarming), kombucha, cleanser, an eco frying pan, “reminiscent of Phoebe Philo-era Celine” jumpers and, bafflingly, Canadian sea urchins.

That seems a rather odd selection of targeted ads. 

In this newly lawless age for social media there are bigger problems than the relentless onslaught of targeted ads, but in addition to the urgent upskilling in critical reading the world needs, we need to work out how to fight back against all the stuff the internet wants us to buy.

I already have - ignore them and scroll past.  

I’ve been trying to deinfluence myself in recent weeks and it’s quite the battle – I am weak-willed and made stupider by the minute by internet nonsense, and the algorithm is tireless. But I have a secret weapon: I know my craven, ridiculous desires intimately, which helps me shout them down. Now when tempted, that’s exactly what I do.

There! Wasn't so hard after all, was it? 

The Insanity Of NetZero Rumbles On

Newcastle Brown Ale's extra-large 'pint' bottle, Grolsch's famous porcelain top flask and a slice of lime in the neck of Mexican lager Corona may all become things of the past, say industry bodies. It is feared the government's 'Extended Producer Responsibility' scheme will slap an additional cost of 5p per bottle on manufacturers, forcing some breweries to switch from glass to cans.

Another Labour triumph! Out with the beloved old, in with the shiny new!  

The new green levy on food and drink packaging, which comes into force in April, is aimed at reducing heavier packaging such as glass.

Which, given glass is so easily recyclable, is nonsense. Did they not think it would have consequences? 

According to the Government's own analysis, the tax could increase Britons' yearly grocery bills by up to £56 per household. British Glass chief executive Dave Dalton said: 'We believe the cost could be even higher once additional supply chain costs and VAT are added.'

So, they did. They just didn’t care. 

Mr Dalton, whose body represents the UK glass industry, added: 'The bottom line is that the Government's packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme is putting thousands of jobs at risk in a sector that employs 120,000 in its supply chain - potentially shattering the UK glass sector.'

Shouldn’t Labour be concerned about job losses? 

A spokesman added: 'We are committed to cracking down on waste and boosting recycling.

'These reforms will create 21,000 jobs and lead to more than £10billion investment in recycling over the next decade, while meaning taxpayers don't foot the bill for managing waste.'

Ah, it’s ‘Rachel from Complaints’ maths, where 21,000 is more than 120,000!

Whereas You Exploited Her For Employment Opportunities...

The Archer Project - a homelessness charity - is upset one of their livestock is no more:

Keeley was mostly known as 'Sheffield Keeley' on TikTok and was sought out by people to video her singing popular songs.

But despite bringing 'joy' and going viral, homelessness organisation The Archer Project claims Keeley was 'exploited for likes'.

In a blog post published on Wednesday, January 15, a spokesman said: 'Just for likes, that's what it comes down to. They exploited her just for likes.

'When we say exploited, that's what we mean. It wasn't a casual filming of someone you come across, which many think is bad enough.

'No, she was sought out, she told us she was given money to be on social media, to swim in fountains in the middle of winter or dance in an inebriated state like a performing clown or whatever.

'She was effectively being fed booze to perform because that was her addiction.

'Dance and we'll give you more of what you crave, what you can't do without, what your body craves and needs. Dance and we'll reward you with the funds to buy more.

'Some will say they didn't know. Come on, let's be real, it was hard to not know.

'Her alcoholism was the attraction, her fuelled with drink and what she would do when drunk, that was the sought after video.

'She didn't have the ability to care for herself in any way. She was physically at risk, emotionally at sea and unable to assess safety from danger.

So what did your charity do to save her from this? 

'The truth is she was a person, a daughter, a niece. She was a human being not an entertainment.'

She wasn't a reason for your continued employment either. 

How Will Raising The Tax You Pay Motivate Anyone?

Upcoming changes to stamp duty will "motivate" first-time buyers to buy a property, according to the Halifax.

So, it's going down, and making houses more affordable? No, Reader. Quite the opposite... 

The average price of a UK home ended 2024 close to the £300,000 mark, the UK's biggest mortgage broker said. Its calculations suggested UK house prices increased by 3.3% when comparing the end of the year to the start, although the average value dipped slightly in December. It means the average home now costs £297,166, it added. In April, house buyers in England and Northern Ireland will start paying stamp duty on properties over £125,000, instead of over £250,000 at the moment.

The only reason this might just 'spark first time buyers' is if they decide to buy now before it gets any higher - they will be those already intending (and able) to buy.  

Housing experts expect sales to increase over the next few months, ahead of the stamp duty changes, before falling away afterwards. Alice Haine, analyst at Bestinvest, said: "This will deliver a particularly heavy hit to first-time buyers who will not only need to raise enough money for a deposit but also enough to cover the higher tax bill."

And once that small pool has run dry, what then? 

Should Have Stayed In The Working Men’s Clubs Then

Drag artists are under unprecedented pressure as they are “more visible, but also more debated” than ever before, performers have said, as they paid tribute to The Vivienne. The international drag community came together in London for RuPaul’s DragCon UK over the weekend, its first large gathering since the Welsh performer’s death.

Danny Beard, a fellow winner of Drag Race UK who hails from Merseyside, believes a growing tide of bigotry towards the community is fuelled by transphobia. Drag artists are “more visible but also more debated than ever”, they said, and certain corners of the society have become more comfortable not viewing them as people.

Or more accurately, not viewing them as people who should be given access to read to children at the library.  

“There’s this real rightwing vile propaganda at the moment, and I feel that drag queens get the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to transphobia - I get to put this on and take it off, but our trans brothers and sisters can’t,” Beard added.

Juno Birch, an independent drag artist who identifies as a transgender woman outside of drag, said LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, were under more public scrutiny than ever before.

It might help if they didn't put themselves in danger by pretending to be something they are not - not every community reacts passively when they find out they were deceived.  

Ginger Johnson, the winner of series five of Drag Race UK, said the situation was “as dire as ever” as drag artists had to live with constant abuse and personal attacks online from people who wanted to insult their “lives, passions and families”.

No, they are welcome to all that, just stay in their lanes and they'll be fine. We'll tolerate womanface even though we've been told blackface is a big no-no, for some reason... 

“It’s just identity politics really, and it’s anger over nothing. They speak about drag but don’t know anything about it. They don’t know the transformative power of it. They don’t know how it changes peoples lives, and they don’t know how it saves peoples lives.”

Ah, yes, we all remember that classic pop song, don't we? 'Last Night A Man In A Frock Saved My Life'. 

So, It's Not Just Car Drivers....

Newcastle Upon Tyne magistrates court was told Addission was drunkenly riding home in his horse and carriage. When police arrived, Addison, who was on a suspended sentence at the time, continued to ride the animal along West Road. When appended, Addison still refused to cooperate and the officer had to use PAVA spray on him in order to detain him.

Well, it must have come as a welcome change from idiots in Audis, I suppose 

District Judge Kate Meek said: 'Quite frankly, it's the first time I have come across a charge of a person being drunk in charge of a horse on a highway.

'You can see why it's an offence because horses are big and powerful things. If you're drunk, you're not capable of controlling that horse and, if it does go out of control, it's a danger to everyone around.'

I wonder what his excuse will be? 

Jonathan Cousins, defending, said: 'Mr Addison was riding his horse home. Police wanted to speak to him. He rode off. He gets back on the horse.

'She follows him in her vehicle. He pulls up and, when the officer pulls in behind him, he's on his mobile phone to his family trying to seek assistance with the horse or for someone to come and take it.

'He has stayed out of trouble since this.

'It was clear he was intoxicated by his manner. The officer sought to stop him doing that. He was not cooperative. The officer followed in her vehicle and the defendant was eventually apprehended.'

Pathetic. Call that a defence? 

Addison, of no fixed abode, has now been fined a total of £250 after he pleaded guilty to being drunk in charge of a horse and obstructing a police officer.

*sighs* 

So Now We All Know, Kier… They Weren’t ‘Far Right’, They Were Just Right

And that's what worried you the most. So don't think we can be bought off with a public enquiry that will be carefully stage-managed to exonerate you.

Charlie Bentley-Astor covered the brief trial and the revelations on Twitter, revealing the horiffic events preceding the murders, and the utter failure of the authorities to seize on chances to prevent it. We were all braced for some sort of state failure, of course, but no-one - me included - had any real idea how bad it would be. 

His obsession with mass killings was also known to the authorities, but it is not clear whether they were aware of his father’s link to the Rwanda genocide of 1994.

It can now be revealed that Alphonse Rudakubana, a taxi driver who arrived in the UK in 2002, is thought to have fought with the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), an armed force that battled the Hutu-dominated regime in Rwanda and eventually brought an end to the mass ethnic killings of 1994.

He is reported to have been an RPA officer, possibly relatively senior, based in neighbouring Uganda, where his family are thought to have fled well before the genocide.

Well, there's no 'unrest' now, so why can't they be sent back? 

But, some will cry, why do you doubt a public enquiry will be effective? Well, Reader, simply this:

Police have found no evidence that the Southport attack was motivated by political, religious, racial or ideological causes, meaning it cannot be classed as an act of terrorism despite him having possession of a document proscribed under terrorism laws.

Normal people will say 'if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has in its possession a terrorist manual and ricin, then it's probably a duck terrorist'. But a carefully selected public enquiry will use this sleight of hand to avoid reaching any conclusions that might threaten the squinty-eyed piece of filth in No 10.

Is The Law An Ass?

Well, hearken back to this case:

A police appeal for the named and pictured (note: from mugshots!) wee scamps thought to have been responsible.

And now, without recourse to the Men In Black's neuralizer, we are expected to simply do our own forgetting! 

Two boys, aged 15 and 16 – who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Bromley Youth Court in separate hearings on Thursday this week each charged with Kelyan’s murder and are due to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday. Bromley Youth Court heard that Kelyan was stabbed repeatedly on his journey home from school and died from a severed femoral artery.

So I think we can conclude (assuming they are the same youths) the answer is 'Yes. Yes, the law IS an ass'. 

Not Very Bright, Are They, Nurses?

Speaking outside the hospital, another nurse said: 'There was a row with a patient. It just got out of hand but it wasn't a case of the patient going berserk.'

Umm, what? 

'It was just a disagreement that can happen late at night. It happens all the time but it's shocking that the nurse was attacked.'

Good grief! Why on earth is this nurse trying to play down what was, by all accounts, a savage attack on a colleague with a weapon of opportunity? I wonder... 

Detective Sergeant Craig Roters said: 'This is a serious incident which has left a woman in a critical condition.

'Our thoughts are with her family and colleagues, and we will continue to support them throughout this investigation.' Greater Manchester Police said there would be an 'increased presence' around the hospital while officers conduct their enquiries, and to offer 'reassurance'.

I'm sure it's very reassuring, but you can't be there all the time, can you?  

Here We Go....

...for the long awaited trial of the Southport murderer, and the government's getting twitchy:

Whoever drew this is a genius! 

Also D-Day for Ricky - place your bets!

Update: Ricky trial now delayed until 11th August! But we finally have the mugshot of Rudakubana:

Nice Try. 'Guardian' Picture Editor...

....but that's not an iced bun. It's a cream eclair.

Say What, 'Mail'..?

Rhino gore, they don't 'maul'...

Sunday Funnies...

History, sometimes, it's really shit... 

You Just Can’t Save People From Themselves!

Much furore about the Kiena Dawes case, and most of the approbium falling on the police who 'failed to save her'.

During a six-week trial, Preston Crown Court heard how the hard-drinking, cocaine-snorting body-builder went from professing undying love to his girlfriend to physically and mentally breaking her. He punched and kicked Kiena, tried to drown her by holding her head in a baby bath and threatened to 'drill her teeth out'.

Did this come out of the blue? Was there no clue that he was a wrong ‘un? 

In 2019 he attacked his then-partner, Kayleigh Anderson, following a two-day coke and booze session with an uncle.

Didn't think so! Why, then, did she shack up with him? He was a friend of her brother - did her brother not warn her?

In the 12 months before she killed herself, she called police no less than five times either to report that she had been assaulted or give details of the domestic abuse she had suffered. On four of the occasions, she was visited by officers at her home. Twice she had visible injuries, including a black eye when she was six months pregnant.

And the police did their best, within the laws, but…. 

But Kiena was so scared of Wellings that it was only when he brutally assaulted her in front of their baby, 11 days before she died, that she finally backed efforts to prosecute him.

*sighs* 

Even then, police failed to support her as they might have, granting Wellings bail and then failing to lock him up when he apparently breached his bail conditions.'I was in hospital longer than he was in the cells,' she would write in a message shortly before she killed herself.

They can only withhold bail under certain circumstances, thanks to the crisis in our prisons - they don’t make that law, they just carry it out. 

Wellings was not charged until June last year but when he was the charges not only included assault and controlling and coercive behaviour but manslaughter as well, for which he has been cleared.

By the jury, and I suspect the police involved were as furious about that as everyone else... 

Following Kiena's death, Lancashire Constabulary referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over its handling of the case and the contact they had with her. The police watchdog later announced that it found one officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct and two officers had a case to answer for misconduct relating to actions or omissions connected to the victim's reports of domestic abuse.

I wouldn't consider that any sort of victory, as the bar is so low on these things.  

If You Aren't Already 'Uncomfortable' As A Grown Adult Playing This....

...then trust the march of woke practices to swoop in to save you!

Critics have slammed the newest installment of the Dungeons and Dragons rulebook for 'going woke.'

Is it just a PR stunt, though?

In the game's 2024 Player's Handbook, 'races' are now 'species' and some character traits have been separated from biological identity, according to The New York Times. 'A mountain dwarf is no longer inherently brawny and durable, a high elf no longer intelligent and dexterous by definition,' the newspaper explained.

Mustn't forget the snowflakes!  

Wizards of the Coast, the Dungeons and Dragons publisher owned by Hasbro, implemented a trend that allows players to stop the game when they feel uncomfortable.

'The signal shouldn't trigger a debate or a discussion: thank the player for being honest about their needs, set the scene right, and move on,' the book said.

How can a group play a game if one or more of them can stop complying with the rules at any point? It's like playing 'Monopoly' when someone can exempt themselves from paying when they land on a hotel!  

The foreword of the book shared online said the original game excluded and disrespected women as well as and portrayed slavery 'not as a human tragedy but as a commercial transaction.'

The buying and selling of human beings was a commecial transaction. Still is, in some parts of the world where the practice never ended. 

Of course, the snowflakes are ecstatic:

Others have embraced the changes claiming they make the game more inclusive for players. 'What they're trying to do here is put up a signal flare, to not only current players but potential future players, that this game is a safe, inclusive, thoughtful and sensitive approach to fantasy storytelling,'

Ryan Lessard, a writer and frequent Dungeons & Dragons dungeon master told the Times. 'Wanting all your players to be comfortable and have fun is good actually,' one social media user said.

But you don't want that. You don't want those happy with the way the game has been played for years to have fun, simply because you want to dictate what counts as 'fun' in the first place. 

Solution To Future Issues – Mandate DNA Samples From All Captive Animals In The UK

DNA samples from four lynx that were captured after they were illegally released in Scotland could be used to help track down the culprits behind the ill-conceived scheme.

 Could, yes, but only if they had something to compare them to…. 

Conservationists believe ‘rogue rewilders’ could be behind the release of the animals into the countryside near the Inverness-shire village of Kingussie. Experts believe the big cats (Ed: *sigh* No, they are not 'big cats'...) were transported from Ireland or elsewhere in Europe by rewilding activists, often referred to as guerrilla rewilders, who have grown tired of waiting for official reintroduction schemes.

 I'm not sure why the finger would be pointed at foreigners…. 

Mr Packham said DNA could play a role in discovering more about where the cats came from. He said: ‘If these animals or any of their lineage have been kept in captivity there’s a chance we can find out more. ‘We might not be able to find the perpetrator though.’

Conservationist Derek Gow, a long-standing advocate of reintroducing lynx in Scotland, said the illicit release was never going to be viable as the animals were too tame. But he said authorities will find it hard to trace the big cats’ lineage because there is no DNA database of lynx held in captivity in the UK.

Then perhaps there should be? 

Another Ambitious And Unworkable Policy Crashes And Burns

The government is to scrap the 2035 ban on gas boilers in its new housebuilding standards.

It was a Tory policy, so Labour will expect to get kudos for doing so, despite the fact they are up to their necks in NetZero madness... 

The previous Conservative government had laid plans to phase out gas heating for homes by banning the sale of new gas boilers by 2035, so people replacing their gas boilers after that date would instead have to buy a heat pump or other environmentally friendly way of heating homes.

The former prime minister Rishi Sunak was criticised by scientists and policy experts when he announced his backtrack on a range of environmental measures. This included significantly weakening the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, instead aiming for only an 80% phase-out.

About the only sensible thing he did, but it was too little, too late.  

Now, the plan will be scrapped altogether and there will be no requirement to replace a gas boiler with an environmentally friendly alternative. Government sources confirmed the future homes standard (FHS), expected to be published soon, will not include a ban on gas boilers. They also confirmed there will not be a ban on the sale of gas boilers by 2035 and people will not have to remove them from their homes.

As if that could ever have been a viable option? 

The long-delayed regulations are expected to make solar panels on roofs optional rather than mandatory, as campaigners have called for. Current plans for the FHS are only to “encourage” builders to equip homes with some solar panels “where appropriate”. This is despite the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, having promised a “rooftop revolution” during the election campaign.

The election campaign's over, and the 'rooftop revolution' all Labour MPs are worried about now is if the voters get angry enough to storm Paliament and throw them off the roof into the Thames!  

We’re The Sweeney, Son, How About Some Vivaldi?

Residents in northwest London have been told by police to “play classical music” to deter criminals after a spate of drug-fuelled crimes and robberies in the area.

I would claim astonishment but I fear it wouldn't be believed. Nothing the Met do astonishes me anymore. 

Car windows have been smashed and drug deals have been reported in broad daylight in St John’s Wood, with one person found taking crack cocaine on a doorstep. One resident claimed he was threatened by a drug dealer and warned he would be “shot and chopped up” after confronting them, the Sun reports. Another resident, a businessman who lives near the Abbey Road recording studio, told the newspaper he had sent pictures of similar offences to the Met Police in the hope they would solve the issue.

Fancy expecting the Met, of all farces, to be interested in ordinary crime!  

In response, he said he had received an email from a police constable advising him that should he witness an incident, he should film it, if safe to do so, and call 999. The email added: “You can also contact your housing association/the council and ask them to play classical music as this has proven to deter and prevent crimes.”

Which is why I often hear it in my local Tube station. While the staff ignore the thugs pushing their way through the barriers because they clearly haven't bought a ticket. The only time I don't see this is when the police attend to man a knife arch.

Strangely the email also added that music should not be played at excessive volume “as that can cause other complaints”.

And god forbid there be complaints! Crime can be tolerated, but not complaints. 

The Met told the Standard: “While clearly well-intentioned, the advice in the email sent to the resident in this case doesn’t reflect Met policy.”

Translation: "Shit! He said the quiet part out loud!" 

And What Is The RSPCA Doing?

No, don't tell me, I already know - nothing. 

A young terrier cross has found itself at Many Tears Animal Rescue in Llanelli in heartbreaking circumstances. 14-month-old Bella grew up as a normal puppy in a happy home but has now been left without sight after being attacked on two occasions. "Sweet" Bella was sadly attacked by one of the resident dogs she was living with which caused her eye to rupture and meant it had to be removed. Tragically, as she was healing from her surgery, the dog, who was much larger than her, attacked her once again and ruptured her only remaining eye.

A family allows their dog to savage their other dog not once, but twice, and from the so-called animal protection charity there's not a peep. And it's Wales again - why are dangerous dogs so popular there?

Bella is also in the sad situation of looking for a new home, after her owners decide to rehome her for own safety, and her unfamiliar surroundings are making everything a lot more difficult for her. Many Tears have described Bella as "very noise-sensitive" and heartbreakingly cries when she is left alone.

What I'd like to see done to those owners would probably get me banned from Blogger...

I Don’t Have Any Thinking To Do, Gaby…

Mainly because, under other circumstances, the police would undoubtedly be hunting him for the murder of another identikit black kiddy-thug. Except they struck first.

Kelyan was a caring boy, according to his mother, and his teachers called him “funny, kind and ambitious”. But he was not an angel. An aspiring drill rapper, he had been expelled from school, spent time in care, and lately got into trouble with the law. He was on the way to meet his social worker when he died and, according to the BBC, was due in court shortly himself on charges of carrying a machete.

QED. 

His mother used a word we have heard a lot over the past few days to describe what had gone wrong for him. He had, she said, been groomed. That adult criminal gangs are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to recruit schoolchildren should not be news to anyone.

They aren't forcing them to make TikTok drill rap videos as well, are they Gaby?  

Boys such as this, Longfield has argued, aren’t freely choosing a life of crime any more than 13-year-olds in Rochdale were choosing (as some police officers wrongly concluded two decades ago) to become sex workers, and in both cases what they need is swift protection from predatory adults.

The children of Rotherham and Oldham didn't get that, yet they killed nobody, they haven't recorded rap songs about killing their tormentors, have they? So I'll pass on any further taxpayer-funded efforts to stop these street rats from killing each other.  

Now the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, is leading a cross-government “young futures” unit designed to bring together the threads of everything that is happening in young people’s lives, from a mental health crisis that may be aggravating offending rates to the loss of specialist youth services. (One recent analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculated that teenagers in neighbourhoods where all the youth clubs in walking distance had closed – as 30% of youth clubs in London did between 2010 and 2019, thanks mostly to budget cuts – were 14% more likely than their peers to have a criminal conviction.)

Ah, the magical qualities of youth clubs. No, don't quibble, just pay up, taxpayer, and England will be a better place again... 

It's A Matter Of National Shame That They Were Ever Under Investigation In The First Place....

...but then, the animal lovers who complained will never accept the harm these dogs (originally thought to have been XL Bullies, now confirmed as the latest menace, Cane Corsos) can cause:

Metropolitan Police firearms officers who shot dead two dangerous dogs during a stand-off on a canal towpath have been cleared of wrongdoing.

On Friday, Scotland Yard said the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had concluded its investigation into the incident, finding that the incident had been handled correctly.

Why on earth did it ever take so long? The video of the incident was quite clear! 

Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, who leads policing in the area, said: “The IOPC investigation has been extensive, examining every aspect of what happened that day and scrutinising body worn video, mobile phone footage and CCTV of the incident as well as consulting dangerous dog experts.

“The investigation found the officers faced a really challenging situation and made numerous attempts to get the owner of the aggressive animals - after they had attacked a woman and her dog - to surrender them to prevent further injury to anyone.

“The officers demonstrated impressive restraint and bravery in trying to resolve the situation in the face of the owner repeatedly refusing to comply, and only took further action when they were left with no choice after the dogs came free of the man’s grip.”

What a total waste of IOPC time. Hopefully this will give the cops renewed confidence in dealing with dangerous dogs in the future, and we will see more action taken like that from the US cops.  

It’s Not ‘Unfair’ If They Committed The Crime

Survivors of domestic abuse are being criminalised and unfairly punished in the broken justice system, top lawyers, campaigners, and experts have said in a major call for government reform. Figures including Cherie Blair KC, former Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird KC, and campaigning lawyer Harriet Wistrich are among the signatories to a letter from the charity Women in Prison, calling for an end to “unfair criminalisation of women”.

Oh, go on. Give us an example of this 'unfairness', then.  

They say the signs of domestic abuse and its impact are not taken into proper account when a woman ends up being prosecuted for a crime.

A crime she's committed? How is that unfair? 

One survivor who went to prison said: “My boyfriend was a drug dealer who abused me financially, sexually, emotionally and physically.

“When we’d go out, he’d say ‘You’re carrying the drugs’. I was scared to say no.

“I was arrested and given a custodial sentence. I don’t ever want to see women going to prison after experiencing what I went through.”

Well, they won't if they choose better partners, and refuse to do anything illegal for them. But...you didn't, did you? You committed the crime. You are just proffering an excuse.  

At the Labour Party conference in September, Ms Mahmood said “for women, prison isn’t working” and announced the creation of a new body, the Women’s Justice Board, which aims to cut prison numbers.

“Rather than encouraging rehabilitation, prison forces women into a life of crime”, she said. “After leaving a short custodial sentence, a woman is significantly more likely to commit a further crime than one given a non-custodial sentence.”

So, the answer's obvious - give them longer sentences!  

Police Appeals & Picture Cropping

Anyone else wonder just what that hand gesture the cops have gone to such trouble to try and crop out of the image is? Yeah, me too. No wonder the police farces are stepping away from Twitter, they don't like the questions it allows people to ask.

No doubt some poor PC spent ages sweating over MS Paint. Or maybe they just got the guy they used to crop out the Black Power salute on that well-used photo of Stephen Lawrence...

DEI And Democrat Environmentalism Kills!

Despite the usual suspects pushing the 'This is climate change, NOW will you obey?' message for the LA wildfires, it doesn't seem anyone is prepared to listen, and for good reason.

The main target of their anger is LA mayor Karen Bass, who was away in Ghana when the fires began. When she did eventually show up to give a press conference, she informed her now desperate citizenry that all the help they needed could be ‘found at URL’. She had meant to give the emergency website for victims of the fire to visit, but it appears the script in front of her only said ‘URL’ – the shorthand for all web addresses. Thinking on your feet is not a Bass speciality. Ms Bass is utterly out of her depth. Everyone already knew that her last budget included $17.6 million (£14.4 million) of cuts to the fire department. Now a leaked memo has revealed that just days before the fire, the city also asked the fire department to make an extra $49 million (£40 million) of budget cuts.

Whoops! Oh, well, I'm in no doubt that once they return to rebuild, most of LA will still vote Democrat. Some people just don't learn.  

And of course, they won't even question why some come to pour fuel on their flames. 

Another major factor is the dried-out underbrush and unmanaged forests that, under the right conditions, become flammable with almost a single spark. In LA, brush and forestry needs to be regularly cleared. It wasn’t. Why? Well, according to Edward Ring, co-founder of the California Policy Centre, a conservative think tank, environmentalist lawsuits have consistently blocked the necessary logging, grazing and thinning of forests. This allowed California’s forest density to increase to about five times what it had been for the past 20 million years and turned them into tinderboxes.

And this accusation appears to be gathering pace like the wildfires that are still raging out of control.  

Then there are the water issues. Hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water running out of them as the fires began. By 3am on Wednesday, Janisse Quinones, the chief executive and chief engineer of the LA Department of Water and Power, confirmed all three water storage tanks in the area – each holding about 1 million gallons – had run dry.

I wonder if there's a clause in her contract that says 'No water? No pay!' - it'd be nice to think so, wouldn't it. And this isn't something that wasn't foreseen. 

What makes all this so lamentable is that these problems were all made plain just two months ago. In November, firefighters battling a large blaze in the Santa Susana mountains, some 15 miles north of Palisades, similarly reported issues of low water pressure and outright unavailability. Ventura County Fire chief Dustin Gardner later said at a community meeting: ‘Did water run out? Yes... when those hydrants – on the west side or in the Estates – wherever they went dry, firefighters adjust to that... we’re used to that.'

The things firefighters are 'used to' seem a little...changed...from what we all fondly imagine they would be, Dustin. 

The authorities have been found wanting, the buck must stop with someone, and ultimately that someone is California governor Gavin Newsom. Hoping to douse the criticism coming his way, he has announced an investigation into why the hydrants were short of water. But a big part of any inquiry will undoubtedly be his role in the management of California’s water resources and forests.

The mismanagement of the water allegedly being to protect a species of fish. Gavin is hopefully about to find out that fish don't vote.  

The political firestorm facing the Democrat is made worse because Donald Trump is now on his case.

Good. 

In a video that has gone viral, a mother whose daughter’s school burned down ran up to Mr Newsom and asked what he was doing to solve the crisis. His grandiose reply that ‘I am literally talking to the President right now’ came unstuck when the woman asked to listen to the call, forcing him to admit that he wasn’t actually speaking to Joe Biden. ‘I’ve tried five times to get through’, he mumbled weakly. ‘Why is the President not taking your calls?’ she demanded.

Just like UK politicians, the first response is to lie, comfortable in the fact that they are rarely challenged on it by the sycophants in the media.   

Not Lovin’ It

You'd think he'd be able to spot any lurking perverts, wouldn't you?

McDonald's workers have said they are still facing sexual abuse and harassment, a year after the boss promised to clean up behaviour at the fast-food chain. One 19-year-old worker, Matt, told the BBC some of his colleagues were scared of going into work, and that managers would "touch up" other members of staff.

Maybe that's why the Stratford Westfield branch seems to hire useless hijabis who can't get my order right? 

The UK boss of McDonald's has been summoned on Tuesday to answer MPs' questions for a second time, including over claims of sexual abuse.

Does anyone ever refuse to go? I sure would. Let them fume and grandstand to an empty chair.  

Mr Macrow told MPs then that the firm was taking action to improve working conditions, after the BBC uncovered widespread concerns over the treatment of staff. However, one current and two former workers from different parts of the country, claim that the restaurant audits that were promised, were stage-managed by the branches.More than 700 current and former junior employees are now taking legal action against the firm, accusing it of failing to protect them.

The only winners are going to be the lawyers. As always.  

I Didn't Expect Matt To Weigh In...

...on the rape gang scandal, and this is pretty soft-pedal, but not wrong!

 

*Checks Calendar* Nope, Still Winter

 I got this on Friday when I checked my Tube app:

'Leaf fall'? What leaves are left that haven't already fallen?