OneGuyFromBarlick

That man is too unstable to have control of that sort of power....

It's been announced this morning that Musk has reversed his decision about the Ukraine and use of his satellites.
See THIS BBC report on the U Turn....

I hope the FBI leant on him and told him to stop helping Putin.

Have a listen to Peter Oborne and his opinion about Truss. Qite damning and very persuasive.

Kate Bingham is in the news because her book has been published describing her job of delivering the Covid vaccines during the pandemic and the difficulties she encountered in dealing with the government and civil service. Below I've posted some of an interview she did with the The Times last Saturday. Her book, The Long Shot, is published by OneWorld.

Abstracted from an interview with Kate Bingham by The Times, 15 October 2022...

Despite working 7 days a week, from 7am to 10pm, she believed that she was “thrown under the bus” by Downing Street. On one occasion she was the victim of “an extraordinary ambush” by Matt Hancock, then the health secretary, who accused her of incompetence and a lack of ambition during a meeting with other cabinet ministers.

Bingham, who is married to the Tory MP Jesse Norman, describes herself as the very opposite of a politician, with no political agenda. She was baffled by the partisan nature of the world she joined as chairwoman of the vaccine task force.

“I wasn't allowed to brief the opposition, so it was being politicised, even though it shouldn’t have been,” she told me. “If you are getting vaccines to help the vulnerable not get really seriously sick and die, it doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from, or who you vote for, that is a national issue. And that is what was missing. Everything was seen through a political lens.”

She would sometimes find herself “in an Alice in Wonderland situation, with more than a hint of Monty Python to it”. Her own experience was more like something out of The Thick of It, the political satire about foul-mouthed spin doctors. Bingham was “quite clear” that Downing Street briefed against her, leading to a string of negative stories in the press. “It was a really bad time,” she said. “I was definitely pretty upset by it. You don't sleep so well and all of that.”

She found it hard to understand the motive for the hit job. “Cynically, if [the news] was positive, they wanted the prime minister to get credit. If it was negative, they wanted to distance themselves. I think they thought I was getting too big for my boots.”

At the critical moment when the vaccine task force needed to recruit thousands of volunteers for clinical trials, she was told no minister was available to promote the message but was banned from speaking to much of the media herself. “I was told, `You can do Woman's Hour and Hereford and Worcester radio.’ It was bizarre.” It felt as if she were fighting with both hands tied behind her back.

Having spent most of her working life in the private sector, Bingham found it frustrating to enter a world where politics trumped pragmatism and process apparently mattered more than outcome.

Thanks for that Peter. Absolutely disgraceful way to treat a good woman. (Hancock didn't treat his wife any better did he.)
That level of ethical behaviour is operating now in the present chaos. Makes you shudder to think of it.

I had one of those OMG! moments when I heard this on the news this morning...
`Ex-UK pilots lured to help Chinese military, MoD says' LINK
Former British military pilots are being lured to China with large sums of money to pass on their expertise to the Chinese military, it is claimed. Up to 30 former UK military pilots are thought to have gone to train members of China's People's Liberation Army. The UK is issuing an intelligence alert to warn former military pilots against working for the Chinese military.

Attempts to headhunt pilots are ongoing and had been ramping up recently, western officials say. A spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence said the training ​and the recruiting of pilots does not breach any current UK law but officials in the UK and other countries are trying to deter the activity. "It is a lucrative package that is being offered to people," said one western official. "Money is a strong motivator." Some of the packages are thought to be as much as £237,911 ($270,000). The retired British pilots are being used to help understand the way in which Western planes and pilots operate, information which could be vital in the event of any conflict, such as over Taiwan.'...

I wonder if the Sinophiles Cameron and Osborne actually encouraged this when they were making overtures to the Chinese government? How did we let it go on for so long? How could ex-RAF pilots think this was OK, to train the enemy and give away our secrets? Perhaps they don't know their history, how the Royal Navy trained the Japanese navy in the early 1900s, then the Fleet Air Arm trained Japanese pilots how to fly from carriers and engage enemy warships to greatest effect. Where did that end? In the devastating Pearl Harbour attack and the sinking of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser Repulse caught by surprise off Singapore. One of the older Japanese navy pilots flew back over the location of the sinking of RN ships the following day and dropped a wreath on the water.

Protesters close Dartford Crossing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-63296648
Apparently they're causing traffic chaos with miles of queues. They're supposedly well secured so I don't know why they don't just open the bridge and leave them there until they get hungry. They can arrest them when they come down for tea.
Alternatively they could hit them with a tranquilizer dart and lasso them from a helicopter

After two days the protesters have been removed from the QE2 bridge at Dartford. They're not popular people.

The same thought about keeping the bridge open occurred to me Kev. But no, someone had the power to press a button and close the bridge and so they did and hit the headlines.... Where was Suella in all this?

Big Kev wrote: ↑18 Oct 2022, 17:27 After two days the protesters have been removed from the QE2 bridge at Dartford. They're not popular people.

Have the police stuck them in jail?

Tizer wrote: ↑19 Oct 2022, 09:40

Big Kev wrote: ↑18 Oct 2022, 17:27 After two days the protesters have been removed from the QE2 bridge at Dartford. They're not popular people.

Have the police stuck them in jail?

Probably not, I can't find any updates other than they were arrested. Most likely a slap on the leg, there is still a police presence around the crossing. I suspect the media may be keeping quiet so as not to give the protesters further publicity, or maybe not

Talking about Suella..... Did you catch her rant about the 'Guardian reading, tofu eating wokerati!'?

"When the Going Gets Tofu , the Tofu Get Going"

I see Suella has been hitting the news again, I shall reserve her for the Politics department.

Big Kev wrote: ↑19 Oct 2022, 10:21 I can't find any updates other than they were arrested. Most likely a slap on the leg, there is still a police presence around the crossing.

I tend to support their action but only if what they were doing didn't cause passing motorist to be distracted to a point of danger.
An analogy would be Blackpool illuminations would you close the prom because people may look at them?

It will need wiser councel than me to sort this one out.

plaques wrote: ↑20 Oct 2022, 08:16 An analogy would be Blackpool illuminations would you close the prom because people may look at them?

No, but I'd expect the traffic to slow to a snail's pace like it does at Blackpool illuminations (or at least as it used to do as I remember it). Stonehenge likewise causes traffic jams on the A303.

Even moving at a steady slow pace is better than completely immobile. The protesters were securely fastened to their perch and apart from being a side show, if they fell off it would have been their own fault. Good job the AcK-AcK teams didn't stop when the blitz was in full flow. Another example of H&S gone mad in my view, crack on!

Tizer wrote: ↑20 Oct 2022, 09:58 No, but I'd expect the traffic to slow to a snail's pace like it does at Blackpool illuminations (

The 'lights' seem to be a shadow of their former self (if that's possible )

I look at this webcam occasionally - seems a bit grim today. Even in the dark the lights are less than impressive. Perhaps their day is over? Blackpool Prom

They have dumped all the original lamps and replaced all the displays with new LED equivalents I believe. Your web cam view looks a bit lacking so here is this years switch on and displays. They look fine, actually better than the old ones in my opinion.

PanBiker wrote: ↑20 Oct 2022, 10:38 Even moving at a steady slow pace is better than completely immobile.

Fairly standard traffic flow for the Dartford crossing

PanBiker wrote: ↑20 Oct 2022, 11:10 Your web cam view looks a bit lacking so here is this years switch on and displays. They look fine, actually better than the old ones in my opinion

Agreed -it is real time and it's raining though. Try again tonight.

It's a long time since I went, and memory is not reliable, but I agree the video you linked (thanks) is very good. I loved the Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves tableau. I wonder when the 'woke' lot will notice it.

My memories of 'The Lights' are mainly about the coach traffic on the A 59 which in the days before the motorways was the direct route from Leeds and the NE to the Fylde coast. Gisburn was the natural place for a comfort and food break and the Commercial must have been a god mine. That's why Vaux breweries built and ran the Coronation at Horton Road end. To take advantage of the annual Sunderland traffic.

PanBiker wrote: ↑20 Oct 2022, 11:10 They have dumped all the original lamps and replaced all the displays with new LED equivalents I believe. Your web cam view looks a bit lacking so here is this years switch on and displays. They look fine, actually better than the old ones in my opinion.

I sort of liked the glow of proper light bulbs, though the displays could be seen daytime, unlit in the day they always looked "dead" noted the shape but it took the power to bring the shapes and backgrounds to life, like the fairground lights of the touring shows of the autumn as the fairs visited the firework displays in the park. London's lights I think have been White LEDs for a couple of years at least in Regent Street, the display determined by the shape rather than the colour, havent seen Leeds' effort for some time now so wonder what they have. In Otley the lights used to be stored in a large shed behind the town museum, with the Rotary Club Santa Sleigh.

This headline `Ukraine war: Iranian drone experts 'on the ground' in Crimea - US' reminds me of the Wagner mercenaries who are carrying out Putin's wishes in Ukraine as well as other regions of the world. The UK and its allies should declare Wagner mercenaries to be terrorists and go after them wherever they operate, just as we have done against Al-Quaeda, ISIS etc. They are much better fighters than the Russian army soldiers and have better equipment. Destroying the Wagner Group would be a great benefit in Ukraine and all other places where they are operating. And Putin can't claim it's an attack on him or Russia because he always claims they're nothing to do with him even though he provides them with their funding and welcomes their actions.