“President” Isaac Herzog last night entered his hotel – the Intercontinental Park Lane – through a service door and kitchens.
He did not transit any of the public areas of the hotel, where I was stationed disguised as an elderly Scottish drunk at the bar. I carried out this role with great dedication.
It also allowed me to wander around the basement areas as a well-spoken elderly Scottish gentleman, slightly befuddled and looking for the toilet. Finding no end of lurking policemen – who were all very helpful – I was able to confirm this was indeed where Herzog was staying and a demonstration was whistled up.
Watch| Activists protested in front of the hotel where Israeli President Isaac Herzog is staying in London, demanding his arrest for his role in crimes against the Palestinian people.#Israel pic.twitter.com/p3dznsgcvm
— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) September 10, 2025
The demonstration was very loud and effective inside the hotel and definitely well worth doing again. The police attempted to move the demonstration away under the Public Order Act.
Greta Thunberg was acquitted last year in exactly these circumstances when charged for protesting outside this exact same hotel. The magistrate ruled that police instructions to move on were “unlawful”. That is worth remembering for the next couple of nights.
I had dashed down from Edinburgh, literally just dropping everything and heading to the station, on hearing that Herzog’s visit was starting a couple of days earlier than expected. I attended the PSC demonstration outside Downing St. Frankly it was disappointingly small – not much more than one person for every mile I had covered to get there.
The change of date, short notice and a tube strike all contributed, but I do hope protest will grow during Herzog’s three day visit. Be inspired by this precedent:
In 1848-9, Hapsburg General Julius von Haynau crushed uprisings in Hungary and in Brescia with extreme force. In Brescia about 1,000 were killed, both revolutionaries and civilians, including women and children, with widespread rape, floggings and executions.
In Hungary about 2,000 revolutionaries were killed across four “battles” and a slightly larger number of civilians were massacred, again with widespread rape, flogging and looting.
In 1850 Haynau was on a private visit to London and touring the Barclay and Perkins brewery in Southwark. He was recognised by some draymen who pelted him with refuse and chased him from the brewery, where a larger crowd joined in.
Eventually Haynau took refuge in the George Inn on Borough High Street, where he hid either in a waste bin or under a bed (accounts differ). Eventually he was rescued by the police but nobody was arrested.
Generations of schoolchildren – myself included – were taught that the Haynau incident was something to be proud of and an example of how foreign “tyrants” should be treated in London. The government of Prime Minister Lord John Russell – grandfather of Bertrand Russell – refused to prosecute the draymen, to the fury of the Austrian government.
Herzog is of course actively participating in a Genocide far worse than anything Haynau did, and was directly quoted by the ICJ as indicating intent of genocide.
Starmer is meeting Herzog today for the second time since the ICJ cited Herzog as showing intent of Genocide, and since Herzog signed bombs to drop on Gaza.
There is no diplomacy being pursued on this visit. Nor was it initiated by Starmer. It is the Israelis emphasising their control of the British Establishment, and demonstrating that they can do what they wish – commit genocide, bomb Qatar, bomb Tunisia, and much more. It is simply a visit to underline who is the boss, and that we can do nothing about it.
Let us summon the symbol of the draymen of the Barclay and Perkins brewery. It is the people, not Starmer and his corrupt, grasping clowns, who embody moral conscience.
———————————
My reporting and advocacy work has no source of finance at all other than your contributions to keep us going. We get nothing from any state nor any billionaire.
Anybody is welcome to republish and reuse, including in translation.
Because some people wish an alternative to PayPal, I have set up new methods of payment including a Patreon account and a Substack account if you wish to subscribe that way. The content will be the same as you get on this blog. Substack has the advantage of overcoming social media suppression by emailing you direct every time I post. You can if you wish subscribe free to Substack and use the email notifications as a trigger to come for this blog and read the articles for free. I am determined to maintain free access for those who cannot afford a subscription.
Click HERE TO DONATE if you do not see the Donate button above
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
PayPal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address NatWest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Bitcoin: bc1q3sdm60rshynxtvfnkhhqjn83vk3e3nyw78cjx9
Ethereum/ERC-20: 0x764a6054783e86C321Cb8208442477d24834861a
Nice one Craig. Hope the fcuker ends up in the garbage where he belongs.
Boy, how far have we as a nation advanced socially and morally since the dark depraved days of 175 years ago.
Thank you once again Mr Murray.
“There is no diplomacy being pursued on this visit. Nor was it initiated by Starmer. It is the Israelis emphasising their control of the British Establishment, and demonstrating that they can do what they wish – commit genocide, bomb Qatar, bomb Tunisia, and much more. It is simply a visit to underline who is the boss … ”
If this is correct, and I have no reason to doubt it, then will Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Your Party’ be able to acknowledge it, and, if so, what would they propose to do about it?
No, they’re unlikely to find the courage. AFAIAA Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t yet pointed the finger at those who stopped him getting elected in 2019 – the same people who curiously removed another of Boris “my mother’s family controls Marks and Spencer, and I loved my free holiday in Occupied Palestine” Johnson’s earlier opponents, Ken Livingstone.
“He did not transit any of the public areas of the hotel, where I was stationed disguised as an elderly Scottish drunk at the bar.” Hey Craig, is this a part for which you have some previous rehearsals?
Great work. We need you more than ever!
https://x.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1965704653016039795
“I had a pretty thorough search inside for his route in the guise of an elderly drunk Scottish gentleman in a suit and tie, looking for the toilet.
A role for which I have been preparing meticulously my whole life!”
I’m wondering what happened to this “the UK will recognise the state of Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a Two State Solution.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-words-on-gaza-29-july-2025
Have you been rootling in the Dustbin of History?
Summon the courage of the Nepalese more like.
£100 worth of whisky sounds expensive. Was it worth it, just to confirm his hotel, if you already knew? I suspect most of the demonstrators were local.
Anyway I’ve let my MP know about the photograph you’ve provided of Israel’s President signing bombs to be dropped on civilians, and that we shouldn’t connive at crimes aganst humanity.
We didn’t already know, we had a tip-off we were unsure if we could trust.
‘ In an unusually tough-worded speech, von der Leyen denounced a “man made famine” in Gaza and “a clear attempt” by Israel to “undermine the two state solution”. But she also called Europe’s inability to find a response to Israel’s actions “painful”.
France is ending all payments to Israel.
Euronews
And from Ukraine
‘ On the night of 10 September, Russia carried out a massive strike against Ukraine: around 415 drones and more than 40 missiles targeted 15 regions.
In the Khmelnytskyi region, a missile hit a sewing workshop, leaving several people injured. In the Zhytomyr region, one civilian was killed.
But this attack also crossed a new line. At least eight Iranian-made Shahed drones violated Polish – NATO – airspace. This was not a lone incident, but a coordinated incursion by strike UAVs aimed towards Poland.
Delays in sanctions and security decisions only embolden Russia. Russia must feel that its war cannot be expanded and must be brought to an end.’
Hey ho – way to go
A: “But she also called Europe’s inability to find a response to Israel’s actions “painful”. “
Wonder who made it so painful? Maybe she can think of someone who gave 100% support to this genocide, painfully obvious to anyone paying attention, from its inception, and name and shame them.
Travel bans, a full trade embargo, denial of all flight path privileges, massive sanctions, and a fully armed task force to bring aid to Gaza – that might be a good workaround to this supposed ‘inability’ to find a response.
With a reminder that an attack on any NATO country’s vessels is considered an attack on all.
If only she could find someone in a position to propose and enact some of these obvious responses?
Alyson
Only a rumour but I read that these ‘attack drones’ were Heath Robison style drones made up of old Russian parts and parts not from Russia or Iran.
Don’t worry though ‘ Experts ‘ are analysing them now.
Considering Russia blew up three factories in Ukraine that were making the German Taurus missiles and confirmed that happened, then these drones suggest that Putin has gone soft.
Perhaps now he’ll give back the 20% of Ukraine gained and the West will never mention it again?
The Ukranian people will still have to pay back what their ‘Allies ‘ have given – sorry lent them though.
Neither a Lender or a Borrower be.
This type of vist is only made possible because the ICC did – somehow – not include Herzog in the arrest warrant against the israelis, still Herzog was the person that claimed that there are “no innocents in Gaza” just days after october 7 and he is of course part of the very regime that conduct the genocide. It seems that ICC by design exlcuded Herzog so he could keep traveling around the world.
A citizen’s arrest would be nice.
A citizen’s arrest would be pretty risky. Herzog’s bodyguards looked pretty big and I bet they were armed too.
Please watch your health Craig. According to Google A1 “Drinking four Lagavulin double whiskeys (assuming a double is 2 oz) would likely result in heavy intoxication, potentially reaching or exceeding a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.16% to 0.20% or higher, depending on factors like your weight and metabolism. This level of intoxication is well beyond being drunk, putting you at a significant risk of alcohol poisoning and impaired function.”
Och, I was just starting!
I’ll Hic! to that.
Anecdotal, but I knew someone who drank a bottle of single malt a week and he lived to a ripe old age.
As far as liqueurs go, more of a limoncello devotee myself.
Did he drink it all in one sitting, once a week, though?
In what capacity did Blair take part in discussions to displace the 2 million population of Gaza, under the so-called ‘Trump Riviera’ plans? If involved as a private citizen, isn’t he in direct violation of UK govt policy, i.e. a two-state solution – a Palestinian state, which along with the West Bank includes Gaza. If acting in some official envoy role, on behalf of the Starmer govt, shouldn’t we know that too?
I find it shocking that they charged you 13.5% service charge and then expected a tip !
The 13.5% alone is shocking. They’re probably hoping people won’t see it as a ‘tip’, but as some obligatory charge. Absolute scam as far as I’m concerned, and becoming increasingly common.
Would it be less shocking if they just added 13.5% to all the published prices? At least the service charge is “discretionary”.
Hardly makes that clear, though. It says “Total Due”, as if there were no say about it – and suggesting you might want to tip more on top is surely deceptive.
It’s not like they’re selling it wholesale and then adding a service charge. Personally, I like it as much as the “handling fee” add-on, as if that was an exceptional add-on that you had put them to the trouble of doing.
Good undercover work Craig, I hope you are feeling ok after the in-the-line-of-duty indulgence. Wonder where Herzog and Starmer are meeting? Surely not in a laundry basket! Hope Herzog gets thoroughly intimidated on his ride to meet with Starmer. Can you call the police to alert them to the fact that the subject of an international arrest warrant is loose in London!?!? Just making it known that you want them to do their job. Make a change for them, rather than arresting placard holders opposing the genocide in Gaza!
Yesterday evening’s protest outside Downing Street seems quite well attended according to (perhaps later) this:
https://x.com/ShabbirLakha/status/1965484144634589257
Two protests planned this evening.
One at 5:30 outside Chatham House, St James Square, where Herzog is expected to speak, and a follow-up at 7:00 outside Downing Street where he is expected to have a meeting with Starmer.
“Bring your pots and pans.”:
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/
Remember, kids – the “Chatham House rule” doesn’t cover people who have nothing to do with the RIIA but who take photos of attendees entering a building to attend a war criminal’s talk.
Oh shit! You mean Herzog wasn’t included in the ICC arrest warrant!!!!
Brilliant Craig, well done.
Should note though that prime minister Lord John Russell is infinitely more notorious today – at least outside Britain – than Haynau is. A forefather of today’s western liberal genocidaires.
I take it you’re writing about John Russell’s role in the Irish Potato Famine. As long as Robert Peel and his Tories governed, government relief prevented the worst results of the failure of the potato crop. When they were replaced by Russell and laissez-faire liberals, the famine reigned unchecked.
The best that can be said in 2025 is that at least they didn’t slaughter the people as they starved.
Sir Keir Starmer has no such compunction.
“There is no diplomacy being pursued on this visit. Nor was it initiated by Starmer. It is the Israelis emphasising their control of the British Establishment, and demonstrating that they can do what they wish – commit genocide, bomb Qatar, bomb Tunisia, and much more. It is simply a visit to underline who is the boss.”
Yes indeed. The ratchet is being tightened a click.
See also the pigs’ heads outside mosques in Paris. And in Britain, the white power flags.
Quite possibly the non-sacking of Peter Mandelson can be filed under the same header. But I have an open mind on that one. “Petie” has lots of “friends” – Ariel Sharon was one, Michael Bloomberg is another. If Elon Musk wasn’t, he probably is now. Given the possibility that Jeffrey Epstein was supplying male children as well as female children, one has to wonder whether one of Mandelson’s other friends may be “another form of royalty” from himself, namely the “king”.
It’s possible Mandelson had a role in putting Starmer into the Labour leadership and then No.10.
I thought that was a certainty.
Starmer is still PM? What the hell is going on in the UK? (Nothing in today’s WaPo about political developments in the UK.)
@Lysias – Do you mean regarding Mandelson? What people forget is that Mandelson was one of Cummings’s predecessors as “prince of darkness”, and when he says there are more very embarrassing things to come out we should rest assured that he has carefully prepared what he is saying and it is almost certainly for damage limitation and expectation management. He’s not in the position of someone clasping his hand to his forehead exclaiming “Oh no, there’s more to come out about me!” as if he was talking to his bathroom mirror. He really isn’t. This guy is no fool and he understands the media, and I have no reason to think he’s weak when under pressure.
If someone wants to increase the pressure on Mandelson re. Epstein – although this isn’t the only pressure point for Mandelson – I would say ask him what he means about Epstein leaving him with ” ‘interesting’ friends” to “entertain”. Note that the inverted commas around the word “interesting” are his. What does he mean? Why be so coy? It sounds as though he could well mean underage prostitutes or sex slaves. I mean that would be an obvious guess, because we know what Epstein was doing. Y’know, rather than friends who could talk about conversations on philosophy or literature or theatre they’d been having at All Souls College in Oxford. Or scientific research, or whatever. Mandelson wouldn’t have to go to a private island in the Caribbean to meet THAT kind of type. I doubt Mandelson has many interests other than his bank balance, power over other people, and his c***.
Starmer still has a massive majority, Lysias, and half of his MPs are newbies. Compared to the Tories, Labour are hugely sentimental vis-a-vis their leaders. When he was merely Leader of the Opposition, he repeatedly claimed on the record that Israel had the right to starve children to death, to little dissent from within his party ranks. I doubt he’ll be going anywhere soon. What the hell is going on in the UK? Answer: Slightly less industrial-scale child gang rape – compared to which the crimes committed on Epstein Island appear to resemble a game of pass the balloon at a Christian summer camp – than 15 years ago.
Anyway, I see our host has been needlessly funnelling circa £90 in profit to the government of Qatar (or £75, if he declined to pay the service charge). I really don’t like giving cash to Qatar even for gas & gas-generated electric, and would be happy to pay double if there were any way to ensure that my gas only came from the UK’s exclusive economic zone or that of Norway.
Is there a protest planned for tomorrow [Thursday] ? I was at the protest on Saturday and learnt that there would be one. However I note today that protests were taking place against President Herzog due to his earlier than anticipated arrival but it is not clear from my review on-line if there are protests planned for Thursday.
Any info would be helpful.
Thanks.
“Israel’s long arm will act against its enemies everywhere. There is no place where they can hide.”
^ Occupation defence minister Israel Katz.
A case of nuclear-armed, baby penis-mutilating nutters who claim tribal god-promised rights to Jerusalem etc. declaring war on anyone in the world who won’t bow down to them?
This has gotta end at some point.
The white supremacist regime in South Africa wasn’t anything like this crazy.
Free clue to anyone from the Qatari emirate reading this: there isn’t going to be a unified Arab response to the Israeli attack on Qatar, or even a unified Gulf Arab response. (I will reconsider this statement if the UAE shows the Occupation the door.)
Brian Red.
I doubt they’ll do anything of any significance, they’ll wail and moan and rail but that’s about it.
“The GCC, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have a Joint Defence Agreement, which states,
“an attack on one member is an attack on all”
A test for the Peninsula Shield Force. Will they act? now when reports are coming in that the U.S. was onboard right before the attack.”
Israel’s main news TV station Channel 12 reported that the strike in Doha failed to hit the designated targets, because Hamas leaders left to pray, leaving their phones behind, making Israeli intelligence think they were still inside.
It was also leaked, that Iranian IRGC figures were also targeted and killed based on signals intelligence; not from their own mobile phones, but those of their drivers and bodyguards.
You’d think their adversaries would wise up and spoof this targeting system into oblivion, with multiple false positives etc.
The white supremacist regime of South Africa never had the degree of support that the US regime now gives to the Zionist regime.
If the US and UK are assisting would our respective leaders even know?
I suppose they could veto it if determined not to assist – at the risk of diplomatic trouble – but they aren’t micromanaging FVEYs and the military. So if they don’t query and there is a general directive to provide assistance, they can always plead ignorance. In the UK, investigative journos are hamstrung by the “neither confirm nor deny” nonsense and the parliamentary side-stepping regarding matters pertaining to national security. Far too much secrecy around decisions taken in our name that rightfully should be open to democratic scrutiny and debate. I hope Zarah and Corbyn’s new party takes these things seriously, and has a policy to legislate the obsessive, frustrating secrecy away – maybe as part of a new, written constitution.
Make it so says Picard, but I doubt it will happen.
“The Metropolitan Police’s counter terrorism division has appointed a senior specialist prosecutor to “urgently” review an application for an arrest warrant against Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Middle East Eye can reveal.
MEE reported on Tuesday that Herzog, currently in London, is set to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Number 10 on Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday morning pro-Palestine campaign group Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) instructed a legal team to apply for an arrest warrant to be issued for Herzog on “charges of aiding, abetting or procuring direct and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects”.
The Met responded to FOA that afternoon in an email seen by MEE.
In the email, officers confirmed that “the Counter Terrorism Division received the papers relating to your request in respect of Mr Herzog.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/met-police-appoint-prosecutor-urgently-review-application-israeli-presidents-arrest
Am I right that heads of state when they arrive in Britain are met on the airport tarmac by a representative of the royal household, e.g. the Lord Chamberlain?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Benyon
Dunno what relevance this has protocol-wise when it’s not a state visit, but presumably there will still be some sacred feudal-type protocol?
I for one, will be more than delighted to pay for the whisky, 4 fold. Well done Craig!
Sir Keir Starmer
“My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk.
It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.
We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear – there can be no justification for political violence.”
Kirk got what he fought for…
2023:“Charlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths ‘Unfortunately’ Worth it to Keep 2nd Amendment”
https://www.newsweek.com/charlie-kirk-says-gun-deaths-worth-it-2nd-amendment-1793113
Yes it is absurd, Starmer is showing more support for a right-wing radical vs the “support” he uttered for the 60000 killed palestinians and the nonsense about “political violence have no place in a society”, sigh, yeah that comes from someone that actively back a genocide – the epitome of political violence. Cannot make these people up.
Excluding the support from his right-wing/MAGA fanbase, Kirk are hailed by people like Starmer because he had the “right” right-wing views, and that was that he was pro-israel. So obvious.
“Cannot make these people up”
Indeed not.
Nor the fact he remains highly respected by Britain’s political journalists and opinion formers. (Likewise Lord Mandelson, despite their sudden pretence to be shocked by him.)
Sorry, Pal, you’re an asshole
If the Hamassholes hadn’t invaded Israel on 7/10, not one Gazan would be dead or injured
I’m really not sure which is worse, an ignorant stupid bigot or an intelligent lying one.
or one that uses an americanism like ” asshole ” rather than, eg Tony aRsehole? Mr aRsehole must be on early shift, or maybe he’s been up all night composing that incredibly erudite & perceptive comment and trying to spell ” not ” correctly .
I mean, the entire world knows that up until 7/10 23 Gaza was a virtual paradise; overseen by beneficent, more-or-less divine descendants of the wise Solomon, who lavished nothing but love, compassion and absolute, whole-hearted concern for their human flock . Right?
Actually this comment by “Tony R” is informative because it illustrates that the MSM have kept most people in complete ignorance of reality. Most regular readers of Craig’s blog know that Israel was killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza before “7/10”. For example, this UN website https://www.ochaopt.org/data/casualties tells us that between 2008 and the middle of 2023, Israel killed over 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza strip, about a third of them women or children. The website acknowledges that this is an underestimate of the total because for a killing to be entered into the database, it has to be validated by at least two independent and reliable sources.
But most people don’t know that, because the MSM never report such things.
LSM, Lame Stream Media is what we call it.
Mr R’s whole schtick is strangely reassuring. Its lack of imagination, knowledge and, most significantly, its demonstration of extremely low intelligence are so transparent that his post may be dismissed with zero effort.
Just like those of so many of his peers.
@Tony R
You don’t support the right of return then? Imagine calling people by a demonym based on the concentration camp you’ve put them in, and then saying they’re “invading” somewhere when they break out.
Isaac Herzog is probably entitled to citizenship of Ireland and Poland. Maybe one of those countries’ foreign ministries can sort him out with a lawyer when he gets to the dock at the Hague.
He’s the invader.
Off-topic, but distressing news: a study found that a majority of university students in the USA essentially oppose free speech. Specifically,
.
Link
This is a worrying sign. American democracy could perish because citizens don’t esteem it enough. Salman Rushdie at Hay-on-Wye spoke about Donald Trump, saying “I don’t know what to do with it – he was elected”, but added: “So was Hitler, by the way.”
Getting big money out of politics may be an important priority for America, and not only there.
The USA is the only country I know of that at some public meetings including on university campuses has the speaker at the front and cops with truncheons standing looking out over the audience to make sure nobody gets angry.
From a war on terror to a war on anger?
Sorry, remind me exactly what this American democracy is ?
A simple academic-type answer might be government based on the U.S. Constitution. However a better idea might be to point to artistic works that depict or express it. I can think of one painting in the Congress Building in Washington that I saw as a visitor in the 1990s that expresses an essential aspect of it: Washington resigning his commission and declining to be a dictator, in other words handing power back to the people. Here’s a wiki article about that painting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_George_Washington_Resigning_His_Commission
An example of film expression might be the TV series The West Wing.
However I don’t see the present President willingly giving up power as Washington did. The judiciary and limited resistance within Congress may be the last lines of defence, to prevent a slide into dictatorship. Whether American democracy survives Trump, certainly the 2026 mid-terms, may well determine whether it survives in the longer term at all.
“Washington resigning his commission and declining to be a dictator, in other words handing power back to the people.”
You do realise that that was in the 1770′ and the US has changed quite a bit in the 200 odd years between then and now? How many amendments have there been to the US constitution? You might as well cite Cincinnatus as an example that democracy is alive and well in Italy.
American history, particularly since WW2, demonstrates that ‘the people’ never had a say and were stamped upon if they ever dared step out of line.
Vietnam, Kent state university, McCarthy, Nixon, Clinton, Biden, JFK, 911, …
‘It’s called the american dream because you have to be asleep to believe it’, George Carlin.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=Don%27t+dream+the+american+dream+
The spirit of something lives on despite changes in the body (just as we don’t disappear when we grow into adulthood and start shaving or grow beards). The spirit of America as expressed in the Washington painting is still alive in many people, while changes to the Constitution are comparatively superficial.
“The spirit of America as expressed in the Washington painting is still alive in many people, ”
Quite possibly, but those people aren’t the ones running the country.
Pigs heads in Paris and flags all over Norfolk, put up by aggressive men, both events on the same day that Herzog arrives in the UK and France states it will cease giving money to Israel?
What group is responsible for the flags on every lamp post? What is their purpose and who paid for them?
Is there any connection other than temporal between these events?
Someone in a shop told me that the flags were to celebrate the Lionesses’ football victory. In that case it’s surely time to take them down now.
Assuming this wasn’t a sinister conspiracy, the energies of the flag raisers might be better put into planting trees, removing litter and helping soup kitchens.
The MP was trying to find out who put them up. I was always taught that flags matter. Half way up lamp posts they looked like they were at half mast at first glance. As I recall Welsh nationalists were arrested for burning the Union flags and the Welsh Government was told not to fly the Welsh flag over its Parliament building.
Red crosses on mini roundabouts in Wales take a lot of work to transform into red dragons on green and white. The Red Cross flown on ships was the flag of Genoa and denoted that British ships were under the protection of Genoa. Saint George was from Syria.
Is this disrespect for protocol and standards becoming tricky to negotiate? If they are just for decoration or for celebrating sport then okay, but if they are intended to cause annoyance then I suppose people can just say their opinions
Dear Alyson, I’d like to exclude our village here in Norfolk, it has a flag on my house for two years as you come into it, and a Palestinian flag flying on a mast as you leave the village. I collected signatures door to door and have only encountered very few people who believe what comes out of the pro Zionist press and media, the genocide Endloesung of this murderous crook is supported by our corrupt western economies and politically inept party politicians.
But not here locally.🙂
Over the past few years, there have been an increasing number of occasions where small groups of anonymous men, often masked, have intervened to stir things up in a fascist direction – in Sweden, Germany, France, and now Britain (Tower Hamlets being a case). For some reason, railway stations seem to feature quite a lot.
Something like the pigs’ heads in Paris requires at least that the Renseignements Généraux (now renamed) look the other way, because if they find out afterwards that “somebody” has been doing something so potentially explosive in its effect on the “mood of the capital” that they didn’t know about, they won’t mess about following the Queensberry Rules when they deal with that “somebody”. No “human rights lawyers” will be likely to be much help to the “somebody” in question.
It looks pretty certain that the French state authorities and the Zionists were involved, rather than teenaged Zemmour fans acting on their own authority and fancying a bit of a frisson.
In Britain it can’t be long before “It’s okay to be white” posters go up, which is already the meaning of the St George’s and Union flags anyway. A couple of tweets from Elon Skum and maybe a bit of symbolism or “meming”, more advanced than “Pepe the Frog”, and the slogan would be everywhere.
Much of the media will then say “Well surely it is okay to be white”. Can people imagine the Spectator, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Express, and GB News *not* taking this line? What about ARRSE and Mumsnet? The Sun, the BBC, and X can help spread the photos. Any remaining parts of the media with liberal audiences will say “Yes it is okay to be white, but … whisper whisper … once the gorillas of the white working class, in their white vans or in Wetherspoons, or wherever, get the taste of blood, you can guarantee they’ll go on the sociopathic rampage, so it’s best not to say it”.
Meanwhile in France a strike is planned for 18 Sep. That’s a Thursday so it’s likely to get more parents out on the streets than if it were a Wednesday like yesterday.
Many years ago, I was involved in a demonstration. It was a very small demonstration, but the local press still came out to cover it. I remember them asking all the demonstrators to stand close together, then they photographed us with a narrow-angle lens to imply that we were just a small part of a much larger demonstration, when in fact we were all there was. This is how the media operates and always have done. They have a message to put across and they will take enough photos to make it look as if the thing they are writing about is a widespread phenomenon, be it anti-road protestors or flags on lamp posts. I call it the “Strident Minority Effect”.
Lord Mandelson has been sacked.
Funny how the BBC plus the rest of the media call him “Peter” rather than “Lord” now. Mustn’t embarrass the “king”, eh?
Sacked for links with Epstein that were widely known years ago. I wonder what the real reason was? In the past week we have had the Angela Rayner resignation, the Boris Johnson non-revelations, Mandelson resignation, the Herzog visit, of course, the 9-11 anniversary, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and next week Trump’s state visit… It can’t all be the coincidence of a ‘busy news week’, surely – although maybe it is?
“I wonder what the real reason was?”
Same as always, I expect, stepping out of line and upsetting the wrong people.
That’s the third time this worthless POS has been sacked from a government position for extremely dubious goings-on in his private life. He obviously thinks ethics is a county to the east of London.
He’ll be OK though, he’s had his pernicious snout in the Westminster and Brussels troughs for decades now.
I wonder if he’s learnt to tell the difference between avocado and mushy peas yet?
The famous story about Peter Mandelson was that he once went into a northern fish and chip shop, spotted the mushy peas on display, and asked for “some of that guacamole”. His Lordship was truly a man of the people. Do I need the sarc tag?
Another story that an effort was made to suppress was that Peter Mandelson had once been Gordon Brown’s lover and they’d had a right bitchy breakup.
Many journalists believed this – and it was hinted at all over the place – so perhaps it isn’t true.
This article in the New Statesman drips with references:
https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2009/06/mandelson-brown-blair-prime
UK in turmoil Starmer government falling apart, lowest approval rating.
France in turmoil NBC News:
Protesters set fires as they blocked highways and gas stations across France early Wednesday as part of a new nationwide movement. Authorities deployed 80,000 police, who made hundreds of arrests and fired tear gas to disperse crowds.
Meanwhile in Germany Friedrich Merz stated his belief: “Putin is a war criminal. He is perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time that we have seen on a large scale. We must be clear about how to deal with war criminals: There is no room for leniency”.
All three leaders of the coalition of the willing i.e. Boots on the ground and planes in the air want to confront Russia in Ukraine, these clowns have lost the plot. They say we must take on one of the most powerful military forces in the world with more nuclear weapons than the US. We must borrow hundreds of billions of Euros and cut social services and Pensions for everybody (as per Mark Rutte) only then (when we have beaten Russia) can we call our counties great again. IDIOTS.
Harry Law
September 11, 2025 at 14:20
Putin’s Russia is willing to spend (?) trillions of rubles and cut social services and Pensions for everybody.
For what are (?) hundreds of thousands of young Russians dying?
“Putin’s Russia is willing to spend (?) trillions of rubles and cut social services and Pensions for everybody”. Russia is doing very well and will withstand the proxy forces ranged against it, It is existential to Russia. The recent meeting in China with the other BRICS leaders China and India comprising nearly half the population of the earth indicate that you JK redux are on the wrong side of history.
The Ukraine war is lost, the three villains indicated in my comment above want to prolong the slaughter, with the inevitable result of more territory lost and more Ukrainian dead. Ukraine could end up a land locked rump state forever begging its European neighbors for handouts.
Harry Law
September 11, 2025 at 15:31
The war is existential to Russia? No, it is existential to Putin and his regime.
On the other hand, it is certainly existential to Ukraine.
Your regret for Ukrainian dead does you credit.
Presumably you also regret the Russian dead?
But you didn’t respond to my question: “For what are (?) hundreds of thousands of young Russians dying?”.
It is not existential to either country.
For the continued existence of the Russian Federation as an independent country, instead of as a vassal-State of the USA, like Britain and the EU countries. If I’d been Russian, I’d have volunteered. My country lost its independence long ago, but I’d like to think there are countries in the world not controlled from Washington.
Townsman
September 11, 2025 at 18:07
Seriously?
Couldn’t Russia have survived as an independent country inside its own borders without attacking its brother Slav country?
What did Russians gain by the invasion of Ukraine apart from hundreds of thousands of corpses?
Russians, not the Putin regime.
The Donetsk and Luhansk republics left Ukraine in 2014.
“Meanwhile in Germany Friedrich Merz stated his belief: “Putin is a war criminal. He is perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time that we have seen on a large scale.”
Benjamin Netanyahu – “Hold my beer”
Frank Hovis
September 11, 2025 at 15:16
Putin has killed even more of his neighbours than has Netanyahu.
And that’s saying something.
“Putin has killed even more of his neighbours than has Netanyahu.
And that’s saying something.”
Putin, personally, as far as we know hasn’t killed anyone and neither has Netanyahu (outside of his service in the Israeli “Defence” Force). So, in effect, it’s saying nothing, a skill which you have honed to a fine art.
Not personally perhaps. Both men employ minions to do the dirty work for them.
“Putin has killed even more of his neighbours than has Netanyahu.”
How many of his neighbours did Churchill killl in WWII, then? How many has Zelensky killed?
” Both men employ minions to do the dirty work for them.”
Well, obviously they did.
Self defence.
“Self defence.”
Self defence? Germany invaded Poland, not Britain. What is Zelensky trying to achieve by getting hundreds of thousands of his countrymen killed, get Russian troops out of Ukraine? He could have done that by signing a peace treaty in March 2022, but he didn’t, so they died. That makes him personally responsible. Similarly, there was no need for Britain to go to war with Germany.
JK Redux: Putin has killed even more of his neighbours than has Netanyahu.
Lies as usual, some 22000 kids have been killed in Gaza, in comparsion and in total, 11000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, and that is a population that is almost 20 times bigger than that of Gaza!
Jack
September 12, 2025 at 08:00
I didn’t specify civilian deaths. I said that Putin’s military (not Putin personally of course, he’s a nice guy when you get to know him) had killed even more of his neighbours than Netanyahu has.
When Hitler invaded Poland, the ensuing deaths included Polish military as well as civilians.
Hitler was responsible for them all.
“Hitler was responsible for them all.”
By that reckoning, Churchill was responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in WWII, yet he was still revered as a great hero and given a state funeral. It’s not what you kill but who you kill that counts.
Bayard
September 12, 2025 at 09:12
Not sure what point you are trying to make.
Mine is that the piece of shit (Putin) who started the war of choice in Ukraine is entirely responsible for all the ensuing deaths, military as well as civilian.
More even than those caused by another pos, Netanyahu.
JK Redux
“I didn’t specify civilian deaths”
We do not have to. According to studies, some 77000 ukrainian soldiers have been killed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Total_casualties
If you compare that number and judge it in comparsion with the the palestinian fighters death toll in Gaza and in turn judging it based on the fact that the ukrainian population is almost 20 times bigger than that of Gaza you realize that Netanyahu is without a doubt a way bigger killer than Putin is.
Jack
September 12, 2025 at 10:43
You seem to analyse deaths caused by Putin & Netanyahu in Ukraine & Gaza respectively as pro rata the size of the relevant population.
Killing one person on the Island of Sark is worse than killing a thousand in Beijing?
FWIW I just count the number of dead…
JK Redux
There is a reason why there is almost a consensus amongst experts that there is a genocide that goes on in Gaza but very few, if any, claim that there is a genocide that goes on in Ukraine. How come? Well obviously because the destruction and death toll is higher in Gaza (comparatively speaking).
“More even than those caused by another pos, Netanyahu.”
but a lot less than those caused by Zelensky. If Zelensky had not decided to fight, his tally would only be in the tens of thousands, whereas now it’s in the hundreds of thousands and for what?
Harry Law,
“these clowns have lost the plot.”
It looks that way if we assume they’re acting in what they perceive as the best interests of their own citizens, but think of them as latter-day Satraps and it makes more sense. As subservient governors of provinces in the US Empire, who are prepared to sacrifice their own people in service to said Empire, they’re acting more rationally. And corruptly, too, of course – they’re feathering their own nests now and in the future thanks to roles in the global establishment that’ll be granted to them for their loyalty.
They’re traitorous and corrupt, but not idiots.
There was a time when I’d be surprised by something like this, but not anymore.
Pearson Engineering is owned by the Israeli government. Now, it has hired a lobbying firm run by the husband of Hollie Ridley, Labour’s general secretary.
The Labour Party’s general secretary is married to a lobbyist for an Israeli arms firm, Declassified can reveal.
Pearson Engineering is based in England, but is part of Israel’s state-owned arms giant, Rafael.
The company makes a range of military equipment and has been the subject of several pro-Palestine protests.
Records show that it has recently hired a lobbying agency called Anacta UK, which is run by former political adviser Teddy Ryan.
Ryan was a senior director of the Labour Party until last year – and is married to the party’s general secretary, Hollie Ridley.
Ridley is seen as “entirely loyal” to the prime minister, having joined Labour as a trainee organiser in 2011 and risen up the party ranks.
Anacta is an arm of Australian firm Anacta Strategies, co-founded by David Nelson who was hired by Keir Starmer to help run its general election campaign last year.
The company has been described as the “first Starmerite lobbying firm” and says it is “designed to help businesses navigate the policies, politics and personalities of the UK’s national, regional and local governments”.
As managing director, Teddy Ryan also owns shares in Anacta UK.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/top-labour-official-married-to-lobbyist-for-israeli-arms-firm/
Did you know you would be Kermiting a public order offence if you call the police Muppets. Here Jimmy Dore details two arrests, the second of which a man was warned, then arrested even though he did not repeat the Muppet jibe, to an Inspector no less. The Inspector is a real life Muppet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfOX0oI9sQE
Offensive to muppets….