Category Archives: Britain’s politics

October 22, 2024 · 12:48 pm

British Satire at its Most Fertile Ferment

Edward Tew, in The Sunday Times, 7 July 2024,where the title runs this: “Farewell to the Tory clown show, a true satirist’s dream”

For the last six years I’ve been engaged in a secret love affair with Jacob Rees-Mogg. This may be news to him, considering we’ve never met, but I’ve fantasised about him being given a sponge bath by his nanny, pushing women and children off the Titanic on his way to a lifeboat, as an object on Antiques Roadshow and even poking his “plonker” through a suet pudding for his premium OnlyFans customers. I’m not a pervert, I’m a satirist.

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September 30, 2024 · 9:06 pm

Toffsy Turvy in the UK: A Labour Party Government?

Edward Upali in Canada

After 14 years of chaotic rule, the governing Conservative Party of the UK, lost the General Election to the Labour Party on July 4, this year.  However the Labour Party, battered by successive election losses and the threat of losing ground to the Liberal Democrats, had transformed itself to be almost an image of the Conservative party, never mind their working class supporters. Since the July 4, election, Labour were out to reassure the British voting public that they have nothing to fear from a Labour take over, and that life would go on as usual, except for the old age pensioners.

 

 

 

 

The Labour Party was led by Sir Keith Stramer LLB, KCB, KC. the leader of the Opposition since 2020, became the Prime Minister of the UK on July 4.  Rishi Sunak, B.A. M.B.A , the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Conservatives became the leader of the Opposition.

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September 22, 2024 · 8:51 pm

Facing Wokism in Britain Today

Matthew Said, whose title in The Sunday Times reads “If you think we’re past peak woke, we may not even be halfway up that hill” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Unconscious bias training and cancellation are mainstream for the young. Just wait until they’re in charge.

Here’s what ‘woke’ means and how to respond to it

In the Second World War, the Allied bomber command had a problem. Aircraft were flying missions over Germany and being shot down in ever greater numbers. The top brass decided that they needed additional protection in the most vulnerable areas (it would be impossible to cover the entire aircraft, as it would be too heavy to take off). But where to place the armour? The good news is that they had plenty of data from craft that had returned to base, and they showed a clear pattern: there were lots of bullet holes in the wings and fuselage, but not so many on the cockpit and tail. The answer seemed obvious: put armour on the wings and fuselage.

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September 18, 2024 · 2:40 am

Left-wing Groupthink is strangling UK’s Universities

Matt Goodwin, in The Sunday Times, 1 September 2024 where the title reads “Left-wing groupthink is strangling universities, so count me out”

Having watched free speech being marginalised by a narrow monoculture over two decades, Matt Goodwin is stepping down from teaching students

This summer, after more than 20 years of teaching and researching in Britain’s universities, I decided to quit my full professorship. While I remain an honorary professor I will no longer teach students or carry out my usual academic duties. This is the first September in two decades that I will not be welcoming first-year students on to campus.

Why?

Universities are weighed down by financial problems, an ideological monoculture and a shift in focus to “student satisfaction”

   ILLUSTRATION BY RUSSEL HERNEMAN

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September 7, 2024 · 9:18 pm

Age-old Themes Imbricated within the Palestine-Israel Conflict

 Simon Sebag Montefiore, in The TIMES, 6 September 2024, where the title reads: “A conflict built on centuries of myth-making” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi **

‘Forever wars’ do not exist but bringing peace to the Holy Land is complicated by so much of its history being wilfully misunderstood.

There was a moment during the last significant negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, in May 2008, that is relevant today. Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian minister of negotiations, told the Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni: “It’s no secret we’re offering you the biggest Yerushalayim in history. But we must talk about the concept of al-Quds. We’ve taken your interests and concerns into account … ”

 

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August 15, 2024 · 1:09 pm

A Turn-Around! UK slashes Israel at the UN

Fair Dinkum

Golly gosh!  What a turn around! The UK government condemning Israel for killing large numbers of Palestinians sheltering in 17 schools! Why has it taken the UK government two years to wake up to Israel’s goal to wilfully slaughter all Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank?

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August 5, 2024 · 7:12 pm

Of All Places! Lankan Asylum Seekers stranded in Diego Garcia

News Item in The Island , 23 July 2024 … where the title reads “Urgent request to relocate Lankan asylum seekers from Diego Garcia amid escalating crisis”

Facing an urgent and escalating threat of harm to migrant children detained on Diego Garcia, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy requested their relocation to the UK on July 16th, as reported in the Solicitors Journal. This request to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper follows a warning from the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Commissioner, who reported severe living conditions and recent suicide attempts among the detainees....visit The Island web-ref for  photo of  this cluster of refugee boat people

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July 29, 2024 · 1:32 am

A Meeting of Cultures: The Unique Vernacular Chapel at Trinity College, Kandy

Ranil Bibile … reproducing an old essay without all its pictorial  embellishments because the author does not have the original photos in his computer “as .jpegs as the articles were composed 20+ years ago and there have been many computer changes since then.” 

 Kandy! The very name is redolent of history, culture, festivals, dances, caparisoned elephants, and historic rituals. Ancient temples nestle in remote corners of this Cande Udarata – the old Kandyan Kingdom. The architecture, hipped roofs, frescoes, wood carvings and antiquities of these places of worship provide a veritable feast for the eyes, vying for attention with the surrounding vistas of cloud-capped mountains, rivers, waterfalls and verdant plateaus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 26, 2024 · 1:56 am

Appraising Belfast Before a Historic Cricketing Tussle

Danny Byrne Circular Report …. with title imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Arriving in Belfast for the Ireland vs Zimbabwe Test Match ……….

If I ventured in the slipstream

Between the viaducts of your dream

Where immobile steel rims crack

And the ditch in the back roads stop

Could you find me?

Would you kiss-a my eyes?

To lay me down

In silence easy

To be born again    ………………………………………………… Astral Weeks – Van Morrison

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July 14, 2024 · 8:12 pm

NATO’s Global Ambitions on the Path to Imperial Conquest

Observer in a Black Sea Port

This You Tube item serves up an excellent discussion and critical analysis of some of the key clauses of the recent NATO communique. It is entertaining too. There is a vast gap between the intellectual rigour applied in this discussion, compared to NATO’s communique which is a distortion of reality and historical truth, and is sheer propaganda.

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