There's Nothing 'Shocking' About This...

...this is a typical dangerous dog owner, and a usual response when they do attempt to halt their beast's rampage (usually they run away).

This is the shocking moment a pet owner repeatedly kicked a crazed dog as it mauled another pooch after a row broke out on the street. The fight, believed to have happened in Irvine, Scotland, is said to have started with two people fighting before one person removed the muzzle from their hound's mouth.

These people are as feral as their animals, and have as little place in society as them. Sunak shouild have ordered a cull, not just a ban.  

Another man can be seen shoving a walking stick between the dogs in a futile attempt to separate them.

Sounds like he was applying that walking stick too gently and to the wrong miscreant,  

Speaking of the distressing incident, one witness wrote on X: 'It wouldn't let go its jaw locked on the poor dog.'

MailOnline has contacted Police Scotland for comment.

Ah, the myth of the 'locking jaw' assumed by idiots to be the cause, rather than face up to the fact that these dogs are bred to bite and hold on no matter what.  

You Fed The Crocodile, So It Would Eat You Last...

...and now you can't use it's skin any more:

Copenhagen fashion week has just announced that it will ban exotic skins and feathers from its catwalks next year, becoming the biggest industry event yet to do so. “Skål to Copenhagen fashion week for raising the bar for other events,” says the vice-president of corporate projects at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), Yvonne Taylor. “Now all eyes are on other fashion week organisers, who must follow suit.”

Is that a 'must' in the sense that fashion is known for following the crowd blindly, or 'must' in the sense that they were craven over real fur so you guess they'll be craven over this as well?  

But there is still a long way to go. While the prohibition follows similar moves from smaller fashion weeks, such as Stockholm and Melbourne, as well as brands such as Burberry and Chanel, it will be a while until exotic skins, including crocodile, snake, alligator and ostrich, as well as ostrich and peacock feathers, are considered cruel in the same way as fur.

Well, you don't have to kill the bird to get the feathers, since they moult, and expecting the celebs who cried over cute foxes and minks to do so over 10 foot man-eating reptiles is a fool's errand, so yes. 

While there has been no marked spike in the use of exotic animal skins, one of the most high-profile designs of the last year was the so-called Millionaire Speedy bag. Made out of crocodile skin, the Pharrell Williams design for Louis Vuitton lived up to its names with a price tag of $1m.Saltwater crocodiles have one of the most lusted-after skins in the industry, according to a report from the ethical fashion advocacy group Collective Fashion Justice, and “luxury brands such as Hermès and Louis Vuitton not only source these skins but now own factory farms themselves.”

And you won't see many animal rights nutters making midnight raids to let them out!  

It's Just A Deli, Jay...

When I first came across Freddie’s I was excited. For all my lack of faith or observance these dishes, kept alive by a vestigial memory of the shtetl, root me. Then I hesitated. Could I really write about a Jewish restaurant given the current political turmoil? Would I get abuse for doing so? Surely better to keep shtum.

Good grief, you're a food reviewer. This is a new food outlet (and the dishes look amazing) so why wouldn't you want to review it? 

At which point I knew I had no choice: I had to write about it. The horrendous campaign of the government and armed forces of Israel in Gaza cannot be allowed to make being Jewish a source of shame.

And why are they doing what they are doing?  

When Hamas mounted their 7 October attack on Israel, they committed both an atrocity and a provocation.

Ah, so you are aware of the cause for their action.  

With so many hostages taken, there were no good options for the Israeli government. Nevertheless, they managed to choose the very worst one.

Gosh, how sad they never thought to seek the opinion of the 'Guardian's' corpulent food reviewer, I'm sure you'd have steered them better...  

Funny how you don't say what they should have done instead.

They have killed thousands, starved many more, destroyed homes and turned their country into a pariah.

It's not a pariah at all, It's the only country in the Middle East that's not a complete basket case. The only country I'd feel safe to visit.  

As it happens, they have also made life for Jews who live outside Israel and have no responsibility for the decisions its government takes, so very much harder.

I deplore what Israel is doing.

No, Jay, sadly we have done that, the UK, by not clamping down at the first signs of what a fifth column we've been stupid to invite into our country believes and wants. And that is something I feel shame about.  

A Lot Of People Seem To Act This Way Already

What would really make you happy? More money, more fulfilling work, more time to spend with your loved ones? All good, but have you considered a box of raisins, a few episodes of Bluey and a nap? That’s what Dr Hasan Merali is suggesting (well, sort of). He’s the author of Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas: Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for a Happier, More Successful Way of Life and man, am I torn by his thesis that the toddler life philosophy offers valuable adult wellbeing lessons.

Really? Well, toddlers are also enormously self-absorbed, so most modern journalists are already more than half-way there.  

There is plenty to admire in the toddler Weltanschauung. In a New York Times article on his book, Merali highlights their talent for positive self-talk and insatiably asking questions.

Ah, yes, that indeed is something modern journalists could certainly do with, then they might serve a more useful function than simply regurgitating government & charity statements without thinking.  

Merali also points out that toddlers move “joyfully and instinctively” for up to five hours a day. This is vastly easier when you don’t have to sit at a desk to pay for Ella’s Kitchen pouches and Duplo or get stabbing shoulder pains simply by putting your socks on.

Oh dear.  

Toddlers also laugh six times as much as adults. I envy that unbridled joy, the kind you can only feel when you have never contemplated climate breakdown, global suffering, PMQs or renewing your home insurance.

Can you do anything about any of those things? No? Then why worry? 

...they are unfettered, anarchic id, lacking the ability to regulate their emotions and any grasp of logic, capable of terrorising an entire household (city?) if they don’t get their way.

Modern progressives already behave like toddlers then. What more would they need to learn from this book? 

Another Police Recruitment Success!

Another triumph for the diversity hiring scheme?

A police officer who lied about being repeatedly attacked by her fictitious ex-boyfriend has been sentenced. Nadia Thurley, 29, a probationary officer with Hampshire police, alleged she had been assaulted 14 times over a seven-month period.

Thurley, who has complex post-traumatic stress disorder, denied perverting the course of justice but was found guilty after a trial.

I'm sooooo tired of seeing 'PTSD' used as an excuse for everything, especially when it's someone who have never been in a war.  

H/T: Insp Gadget via Twitter

Streaming TV: Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (Prime)

After several films with different actors playing Clancy's titular hero, I was somewhat dubious about the prospects for a TV version. 

But I should have known Amazon hardly ever lets you down! John Krasinski was great in the role. The show was fast-paced and had some spectacular scenes, including one set in London.

It’s Not Just ‘The Right’, Zoe

Pretty sure lots on the left hate you too.

Freshly re-enamoured of the world of two wheels, I have plunged straight back into the cycling discourse, the perfect microcosm of the wokeness split in all its forms. Take the ex-footballer Joey Barton, who is being sued by Jeremy Vine for calling the broadcaster a “bike nonce”. Meanwhile, the socials are full of people furiously agreeing that aggressive cyclists pose more danger to them than articulated lorries.

They are a lot harder to spot, and hear, being silent. And they are often on the pavement, which isn't true of the lorries.  

The fervent attacks on low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and low-emission zones such as Ulez in London are really just a full-throttle loathing of people on bikes, aggrandised by acronyms and libertarian bat signals.

There's nothing organised about this, it's more that wherever you go, there's a lot of cyclists behaving as if the rules of the road are not meant to apply to them.    

Before our very eyes, Nigel Farage is channelling the world-changing rhetoricians of yore in an argument against “anti-car fanaticism”. Who would want more cars? Someone who finds cyclists really annoying, that’s who.

Or those who want to get their shopping, which is pretty hard to do on two wheels.  

Anti-cyclists are easy to categorise: they find the concept of the do-gooder infuriating and the idea of minding their own business untenable.

Like Leftists, Zoe? 

Cyclists, on the other hand, are impossible to categorise; you might just as well try to build a theory of mind for pedestrians. Some of us are rude, some of us are not; some of us shoot red lights and won’t wear hi-vis; some of us obey the rules of the road and behave very responsibly. Some of us think we are looking after our health and fighting the good fight against climate catastrophe; some of us just like getting places faster. It’s not a political act; it’s fun. Especially when you have a new bike.

I see nothing 'fun' about it, but each to their own. Just stop at the red lights, eh?  

And I Bet He's Still A Judge...

In a November 2020, the ruling judge, WK O’Hanlon, sitting in the first-tier tribunal for immigration and asylum cases, said: “Having considered all of the evidence before me in the round, notwithstanding my concerns as to the honesty of the appellant in relation to certain aspects of his account, I find that the appellant had been consistent in his evidence with regard to his conversion to Christianity.”

He was consistent, all right. Consistently wrong: 

The Home Office’s legal team said it did not accept Ezedi’s conversion was “genuine and long-lasting”. When asked by an official during a Home Office interview what the Old Testament was about, Ezedi replied: “Jesus Christ.”

The old fool in the wig probably thought "Well, that's about the same level of 'belief' we could expect from a Church of England official" 

It's As Regular As Clockwork...

...cometh the election, cometh the idiot: 

A Green Party activist has lost part of her finger after a dog chomped down on it while she was posting campaign fliers through the letter box. Danica Priest, who is running to be a councilor in the Filwood area of Bristol, was left in hospital after a dog took the end of her digit off.

*sigh* 

Liberal Democrat candidate Caroline Gooch added: 'Sorry to read that. Noone should be maimed using a letterbox.

'If people have bitey dogs they should have a letterbox cage or external letterbox.'

There's another option, of course, but why would a LibDumb ever think of it?  

And a third, Tash, continued: 'Oh poor you, wishing you better.

'Old trick, take wooden spoon to push leaflets through/hold letter boxes open.'

Well done, Tash.  

Quick Work, For Once!

Detectives have arrested a man at Heathrow on suspicion of murder, hours after a man was hit by a car and killed in east London. The Metropolitan police launched an investigation after being called at 5.11am to reports of a collision involving a car and pedestrian in East Ham. A 35-year-old man was found injured at the scene on Barking Road, near to the junction with Arragon Road. Officers responded and provided first aid, but despite the efforts of the emergency services, the man died a short time later.

Good work, but...murder?  

Urgent inquiries led to the arrest of a 33-year-old man at Heathrow at about 3.30pm on Sunday. He has been detained on suspicion of murder, and a 30-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Both remain in custody.

Sounds like they had little difficulty identifying the suspect, but also sounds like a simple hit & run. Strange we aren't told where he was heading... 

DCI Joanna Yorke, leading the investigation, said: “I am aware that a large number of people had been at an event in Barking Road overnight and many would have witnessed the incident. I am appealing for those people to come forward immediately. Your information could be vital to the investigation.”

Ah. now it's all clear. Another of those benefits of diversity, obviously.