The ginger prince and the dusky whore - the gift that keeps on giving

The news that Mr and Mrs Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor are remigrating to the Disunited Kingdom has caused sighs of relief in the offices of British Commissions to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the offices of the Prime Ministers of those countries, which had been suggested as possible next stops on the quasi-royal spongers' itinerary. 

The news has also provoked gales of laughter across the twitterverse, and endless fun for memesters. Here's an example.

It's from the Babylon Bee, of course -- your trusted source for Christian satire. If you'd like to read the article, click here.

But wait, as Vince Offer used to say, there's more!

And here's the link. Walt loves (and recommends!) the BB -- always good for an LMAO, much needed these days. If you decide to subscribe, tell `em Walt sent ya!

Uniparty politics FAILS in UK... still working in Canada though

    I often think it's comical... fa-la-ah-lah

        How nature always does contrive... fa-la-ah-lah

    That every boy and every gal

        That's born into this world alive

    Is either a little Liberal

        Or else a little Conservative! Fa-laaaa-lah!

Private Willis (of the Grenadier Guards), in Iolanthe, book by W.S. Gilbert

Ever since the electoral reforms of the mid-19th century, the Mother of All Parliaments -- the Westminster Parliament of the so-called United Kingdom -- has been dominated by a party of the left(ish) and one of the right(ish). The latter calls itself "Conservative". The "Liberal" party, as the former was known when W.S. Gilbert wrote those lyrics was supplanted in 1924 by the Labour Party, which, under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, is now having its turn at bat.

The Right Honourable Mr Starmer has a rude awakening a couple of days ago when his party was thrashed in a local elections bloodbath which saw it routed on English councils, and destroyed in Wales and Scotland.

His Majesty's Loyal Opposition can take no cheer from the Labour debacle, as the Conservatives also lost hundreds of council seats across Once-great Britain. Labour also lost control of the devolved parliament of Wales, to the nationalist Plaid Cymru party, while the Scottish National Party kept its majority in Scotland.

While the slightly less leftish Liberal Democrats and the loony Green Party made gains, the big winner was the Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage. Mr Farage now looks the best bet to be the next prime minister of the Disunited Kingdom, as pressure mounts on Sir Keir to fall on his sword. See "Over 100 Labour Politicians Call on Prime Minister Starmer to Resign After Election Disaster", Breitbart News, 10/5/26.

What we are seeing here is nothing less than the destruction of Britain's two-party system, where power is rotated between two parties with virtually indistinguishable liberal democratic policies, who might better be called not "Labour" and "Conservative" but "Ins" and "Outs".

Vote share projections by Rallings and Thrasher suggest that if a general election had been held on the same day as these local elections, Labour would have scored only 15%, with Reform on 27% and the Tories on 20%. The Greens and the Lib Dems were both on 14%. At a Westminster election those numbers would probably produce a hung Parliament, with Reform the largest party but well short of an outright majority.

Prime Minister Starmer has argued that his Labour party stands its best chance at political survival with him at the helm, rather than tacking to the left or right with a replacement leader. Speaking to The Observer yesterday Saturday, he said he hopes to be in power for the next eight years, meaning that he hopes to lead the party to victory in the next general election in 2029. 

For his part, Nigel Farage boasted of a "truly historic shift in British politics" and said he is "heading for Number 10" (i.e. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence), as Reform plundered seats in previous Labour strongholds in the North and Midlands. Mr Farage predicted that Starmer will likely be removed from office by mid-summer, and joked that he would be "very sad" to see Sir Keir ousted, adding "he is the greatest asset we have got."

Meanwhile the Canadian parliament continues to be controlled by the Uniparty, a de facto coalition of the leftish ("but not so much as under Trudeau!") Liberals and the rightish ("but not so much as under Harper!") Conservatives. 

The only thing the two parties disagree on is who should sit on which side of the House of Commons. The general election of 2025 resulted in a hung parliament, with the "New Look Liberals" four seats short of a majority, In the year since, that embarrassing shortage of power has been rectified by the simple expedient of having three Liberals and one pinko (NDP-er) cross the floor to sit on the government side. Canuckleheads will now be ruled by the wokesters of the Laurentian Elite until the next election in 2029.

A case of mistaken identity, shurely

 I don't believe anyone will dispute my assertion that the liberal elites of Not-so-great Britain (aka the Disunited Kingdom) are even more nutso about political correctness than are those of Canuckistan and the Excited States of America. 

Nor will anyone argue that political correctness and freedom of speech are antithetical. All the same, it comes as a surprise that Internet censorship should  now be extended to the other side (as opposed to our side) of the political spectrum. But here's a headline that proves it, posted by the far left British Socialist Workers Party.

Did you check out that logo? The SWP is a charter member of the loonie left, for sure. And yet, the UK edition of rt.com reports, they were temporarily booted from Facebook, only to be restored hours later with no explanation given for what the Lefties called "silencing of political activists."

Dozens of related pages remain banned. The party said its main account, as well as its local pages, were deactivated on Friday, calling in an "attack", while demanding the profiles be "reinstated immediately." In a press release, the SWP said "Facebook has shut down the accounts of one of the biggest left wing organisations in Britain," adding that only racist conservative fascists deserve that kind of treatment. [Ed., please check the last clause. I'm not sure it's an accurate quote.]

While the SWP said Facebook provided no rationale for the move, it noted that its page often posts "in support of Palestine, Black Lives Matter and against Boris Johnson’s Covid policies," and was "silenced for speaking out on these issues."

How then, do they explain why they were shut down? Walt can reveal that it was a simple case of mistaken identity. Google "socialist workers party" and you'll eventually find an entry for the "National Socialist German Workers Party" (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), aka the Nazi Party. And you know who they were, right? 

It's pretty easy, then, to see what happened. Still, it's amusing that the far left should now be bleating about the kind of attack on free speech which those even an RCH* to the right of centre have been experiencing since the daze of the Obama presidensity. Look good on `em!

* RCH - a unit of measurement known only to engineers.

Wot? Brexit ain't done yet? Walt explicates the muddification

The story so far... Way back in June 2016, the people of the so-called United Kingdom got a rare chance to vote on an issue, as opposed to for or against a political party. After years of dithering, the Conservative government of the day, led by the Rt. Hon. David Cameron, called a referendum on whether or not the country should remain in the European Union. This was the result.

Instead of "country", let's say countries. London, the capital region (and (((international banking))) centre) voted to stay in the EU. So did Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The rest of England and Wales voted to take back control of Britain's affairs (particularly her borders) from the globalist Euro-weenies. Since there were more non-London English voters than all the others combined, the overall result was nearly 52% in favour of what became known as Brexit.

The first lesson the British people learned -- should have known already -- is that the people don't actually rule or govern anything. The ruling is done by governments, not the people wot put them there. So it fell to the government of Theresa May (who succeeded Mr Cameron, who had unwisely campaigned on the "remain" side) to make a deal with the other 27 (or so) members of the EU to put the borders back in place and disentangle the great ball of red tape devised by the Brussels sprouts.

A coalition of one-worlders, loony lefties and minor parties clamoured for a do-over of the referendum, and generally obstructed Ms May's efforts, so she called a snap general election in June 2017. It resulted in a Conservative minority government supported by the Ulster Protestant baskets who call themselves the Democratic Unionist Party.

Subsequent UK–EU withdrawal negotiations resulted in a withdrawal agreement in November 2018, but the UK parliament voted against ratifying it three (count `em, three) times. The Labour Party wanted any agreement to maintain a customs union, while many Conservatives opposed the agreement's financial settlement on the UK's share of EU financial obligations, as well as the "Irish backstop" designed to prevent border controls between Ulster and the Republic of Ireland.

Ed. here. I don't understand that last bit. You mean the Protestant Ulstermen refuse to be part of Catholic Ireland, but they don't want a hard border between the two parts of the island? Exactly.

In March 2019, the UK parliament voted for May to ask the EU to delay Brexit until October 31st, so a better deal could be sought. Having failed to pass her agreement, Ms May resigned as prime minister in July and was succeeded by the Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson. He sought to replace parts of the agreement and vowed to leave the EU by the new deadline, with or without an agreement. On October 17th, his government and the EU agreed on a revised withdrawal plan, with provisions for a special status for Northern Ireland. The British parliament approved the new agreement, but rejected plans to pass it into law before the Hallowe'en deadline, and forcing Mr Johnson's government to ask for a third Brexit delay, to 31 January 2019.

So everything's fine now, right? Ed. Errr, no. Having suffered a couple of defections along the way, Mr Johnson heads a minority government, dependent on the support of the DUP. With no guarantee that the enabling legislation will be passed by March 31st... or ever... Mr Johnson wanted an election to put an end to the uncertainty, one way or the other. The head of the Labour Party, Jeremy Lenin [Corby, shurely. Ed.] refused, but on Tuesday did a flip-flop and directed his members to join the Tories in approving an early election to break the deadlock. Brits will go to the polls on December 12th. Merry Christmas! [Happy Holidays!, shurely. Ed.]

Brexit has turned into a tussle for the soul of the country, and will be the main issue on which weary voters will have to decide. Mr Johnson's Conservatives tout his deal with the EU and claim they can get Brexit done at last, while Comrade Corbyn's Labourites are promising to negotiate a "softer" Brexit, following which they will give the British public the final say by... wait for it... holding a second referendum!

Will this vote break the Brexit deadlock? Who knows? [Certainly not you! Ed.] The rise of smaller parties means the possibility of a hung parliament is greater now than in previous decades. If the December election fails to deliver a party with an overall majority, Brexit could go in a number of different directions. A hung parliament with a minority Conservative government would likely mean more of the same paralysis that has dogged British politics for the past year. If Labour emerges as the largest party, that makes a second Brexit referendum more likely, given that's also the ambition of the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party.

And even if the Conservatives won a majority on the back of their promise to "get Brexit done," the saga won't be over. Mr Johnson would be able to get his deal through Parliament by the next deadline, but that's only the start. Months of negotiations with the EU about a future trading partnership would certainly follow, and the risk of a no-deal Brexit could return all over again if a trade deal isn't concluded by the end of the Brexit transition period in 2020. So while this vote will likely set a new Brexit course for Britain, it would be naive to think the issue will be off the agenda by the beginning of 2020. We wish all our British readers a Happy New Year!

"Stop Islamisation!" banner unfurled on London bridge

"Raise high the banner!" Now there's a catchy exhortation for you. Not new, but catchy. It could serve as a slogan for the Identitarian Movement (see "Further reading", below), which made its presence known in London this morning. Anti-Islamization activists unveiled a large banner on Westminster Bridge, so their message -- "Defend London - Stop Islamisation" -- faces directly into Westminster, the mother of all parliaments.

Here's a closer look. The movement's name and logo are seen beside "Defend London Stop Islamisation". ["Islamisation" is the British spelling of what we call "Islamization". Ed.] Displaying it prominently in the heart of Not-so-great Britan is the latest in a series of Identitarian demonstrations in cities across Europe, calling attention to the group's anti-immigration cause.

A statement posted to social media immediately after the action explained the symbolism of the location. "On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place on Westminster Bridge. The Islamist inspired attack killed 5 people and injured more than 50. London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, believes that the threat of terror attacks are 'part and parcel of living in a big city'. On the contrary, we think that the source of Islamisation lies in mass immigration, which must be stopped."

Further reading:
"Far-right 'Identitarian' movement aiming to launch UK branch, but who are they?" RT Question More, 23/10/17. Includes photo of two very beautiful Aryan girls!
"Identitarian movement - Germany's 'new right' hipsters" Deutsche Welle, 23/6/17.
"Aux Français! L'avertissement du Général Charles De Gaulle", WWW 25/8/12. The greatest leader of modern France warned about the dangers of Islamization in 1959!

Scottish independence referendum

Agent 6 writes to say that if Theresa May is returned to power in tomorrow's UK election (see "British election too close to call?", earlier today), her next big challenge will be the demand of the Scottish National Party for another referendum on independence for the land of Robbie Burns.

If, in the referendum, Scotland should vote for independence, what's left of the United Kingdom will be known as the "Former United Kingdom", or FUK.

In a bid to discourage the Scots from voting "Yes" in this referendum, Theresa May will campaign with the slogan "Vote NO, for FUK's sake."
She feels Scottish voters will be able to relate to this.

British election too close to call?

I can work up but little interest -- and less excitement -- about the UK general election. Polling day is less than 24 hours off. I won't be voting, don't even know how to bet.

Theresa Maybe (as The Economist dubbed her) called the snap election after only two years in power, hoping to run a bare majority in the House of Commons up to awesome numbers. The thinking (?) behind doing so appears to have been that the UKIP had effectively disbanded itself after the Brexit referendum, and the Labour Party had all but committed suicide by choosing a leader -- Jeremy Corbyn -- from the loony left. [But he's on the right in the picture! LOL Ed.] The Liberal Democrats, the party of the mushy middle, look like being reduced to only a handful of seats, and the Green Party have yet to elect a member of parliament.

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, Mrs May looked to have the winning strategy. The polls had her Conservative Party well ahead, with most of the betting being on the spread. Then came the Manchester massacre. Then, just last weekend, the London Bridge terrorist attacks. As if those things weren't enough to shake one's faith in Mrs May's leadership, she flip-flopped on a pledge to end the cap on social care bills. The Reds [Labour, surely! Ed.] and even some of her own supporters said the financial impact on seniors -- very determined voters, that lot -- amounted to a "dementia tax". As for fighting back against Islamic terrorism, Mrs May is having trouble living down massive cuts to the police budget when she was Home Secretary, and her party's failure to cut immigration to under 100,000 per year, as they had promised.

So here we are, less than 24 hours out, and a projected Tory win by over 20% has dwindled to 6% or less, depending on which poll (if any) you believe. It's possible (but not probable) that Labour may win, making Mr Corbyn Prime Minister. That would really shake things up. Mr Corbyn appeals to the naïve young people who, in America, supported Bunny Sanders. But Mr Corby is way way to the left of Mr Sanders. He is an avowed Marxist, who, under previous leaders, defied the Labour whip 428 times. Among other things, he opposed anti-terrorist legislation (!) and the invasion of Iraq. His inner circle is even more hard-line. His shadow chancellor (= minister of finance) is an admirer not only of Marx but also of Lenin and Trotsky.

For many reasons, British politics has become almost as polarized (and polarizing) as that of the Excited States of America. Realistically, the choice for voters is between the right (Conservatives) and the hard left (Labour). There is no more "moderate centre". That means the real losers of tomorrow's election will be the "progressives" and liberals, and for that, much thanks.

Question from Ed.: Are you going to call this or not?
Answer from Walt: Not. Lifetime pct .988.

Manchester bomber: "lone wolf" or "known wolf"?

"We really don't know what his motive was."
"Just a deranged individual who acted alone."
"A lone wolf..."
That's what the authorities told us about Lee Harvey Oswald. Remember? That's what they try to tell us every time a murderer -- terrorist, assassin or otherwise -- does something horrendous, like killing a VIP or maybe just a couple of dozen innocent kids. The reason for downplaying any possible links to a criminal gang or terrorist network is to excuse the "authorities" from their failure to prevent atrocity or take any effective action to obliterate (President Trump's excellent word) the group of malefactors responsible.

No sooner had the dust settled into the pools of blood from the victims of the Manchester massacre than police -- forced by pressure from blogs like WWW to name the attacker -- started saying Salman Abedi, pictured at left, was born in Britain (omitting his Arab ethnicity) and ISIS' claim that he was a jihadi "cannot be verified" (therefore isn't true). What a load.

That whitewash (pun intended) didn't last long. In my third update to yesterday's post, I told you that Inspector Knacker had felt the collar [= "arrested" in Americanese. Ed.] of a 23-year-old -- unidentified, of course -- who is "helping with the investigation", which means being beaten with rubber hoses until he talks.

Catching up with the latest developments this morning, the mojo wire tells us Manchester police have arrested three more men, including Mr Abedi's brother, in connection with the suicide bombing. The arrests had been made in the south of the city, in the same neighbourhood where the 23-year-old was arrested and a number of homes were searched. Why have they arrested these four people? Because... wait for it... "Police are trying to establish if bomber Salman Abedi acted alone or whether there could be a risk of further attacks."

The AP report goes on to say that "British police and intelligence agencies are working to piece together Abedi's allegiances, as the country's law-and-order chief said it's 'likely' he did not act alone." No shit, Sherlock! Then British Home Secretary (responsible for police and security) Amber Rudd dropped the other shoe, admitting that Mr Abedi had been known to security forces "up to a point." For instance, they knew he had made a number of trips to Libya and Syria. Did they have him under observation? Errr, no. Did they investigate his associations and connections? Errr, no. Not until now. Did they do anything to prevent him from exterminating dozens of "infidels"? Supply your own answer.

FOOTNOTE AND WOW!!! Near the beginning of yesterday's post, Ed. queried how the Americans got into this. Turns out the name of the attacker and other "sensitive details" of the investigation into the Manchester massacre were made public not by the UK authorities, but by "American officials". British officials had said that making all their findings public could compromise the ongoing investigation, but they were undermined by their counterparts in the US, who promptly handed over many of the police's findings to American media outlets. See "British officials warn American government to stop leaking details of Manchester terror probe", in The Sun (UK), from which the picture of the Islamic terrorist was scraped.

UK tells Muslim women "Learn English or get out!"

Word reaches us today of an incredibly politically incorrect statement by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Meeting with a group of Muslim women to announce funding for English classes for female Muslim immigrants, Mr. Cameron told them that, in order to integrate into British society, they'd better improve their English, and right sharpish too! Or else, he added, they could face deportation!

Did Mr. Cameron really say that? The story on the AP mojo wire says he emphasized that Britain has expectations for those who want to live in the country. "I think it’s quite right to say to people who come to our country that there are many rights that you have here -- it’s a fantastic country to live in -- but there are also obligations that we should put on people who come to our country, and chief amongst them should be obligations to learn English, because then you can integrate, you can take advantage of the opportunities here and you can help us to build the strong country that we want."

But (as the usual gang of anti-racism and "human rights" activists were quick to cry out) why just Muslim women? Well, it seems that single male Muslim immigrants -- including the 1000s of refugees and asylum-seekers admitted to the UK every year -- don't want to marry British-born girls, so they send home to south Asia and the Middle East for nice virginal Muslim brides. The prospective spouses are required by the British government to demonstrate English language skills to standards of roughly that of a child starting primary school. But once they arrive, they lose interest in learning, with the result that there are some 200,000 Muslim women in the country who can't are functionally illiterate.

Under the government's new plan, spouses would have five years to improve their ability to a higher standard, after which "No speak English!" gets you a ticket back to Armpitistan. How about that? How bad must the problem of integrating aliens be for the famously tolerant British to even consider such a discriminatory, Islamophobic, racist, yada-yada-yada measure? We on this side of the pond would never do such a thing... would we?

Footnote: Even as Mr. Cameron laid down the law to the Muslim ladies, the British House of Commons debated a motion to bar Donald Trump from entering the UK. Why? Because Mr. Trump thinks it would be a good idea to bar Muslims from entering the USA. Ah, perfidious Albion! But the debate doesn't matter, because Parliament can't bar anyone from entering Not-so-great Britain. That power rests with the Home Office.

CCTV is watching you!

Not SCTV... CCTV -- Closed Circuit Television. In his latest "clip book", The [Un]documented Mark Steyn (Regnery 2014), friend Mark writes: "It accompanies you as you make your way to work whether by car, bus, train, or taxi. And it's there waiting for you at the end of your shift, as you go to buy your groceries or head to the movies."

He goes on to quote from The Defector, a novel by American author Daniel Silva: "...CCTV, the ubiquitous network of 10,000 closed-circuit television cameras that gave London's Metropolitan Police the ability to monitor activity, criminal or otherwise, on virtually every street in the British capital.... The subjects of the United Kingdom, birthplace of Western democracy, now resided in an Orwellian world where their every movement was watched over by the eyes of the state."

Mr. Steyn says that's true, except for the "10,000" cameras. By some calculations, he wrote in 2009, the snoop-robots [Walt's phrase. Ed.] numbered some 5,000,000. That would include this one, ironically watching innocent people passing by the home of... wait for it... George Orwell!

Thanks to Agent 34. Walt knows you're watching!