This is Northumberland Calling 11.10.24
The Tory centrist plots come unstuck and justice delayed edition
Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling
The Tory leadership election has reached its final stage (and not before time scream the crowd). On Tuesday evening, it looked like James Cleverley was a shoo in to make the final two. On Wednesday, there was dismay when the result was revealed Kemi Badenoch had gained the most votes, followed by Robert Jenrick and Cleverley was out. How could this happen cried the One Nation Tories. Why has the Tory party taken a swerve to the Right? Dark Arts afoot obviously. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/10/tory-centrists-threaten-revolt-over-jenrick-badenoch/ or https://archive.ph/T2RzL
As long-time readers know, I am firmly Team Kemi Badenoch. I like her straight talking and think she is a breath of fresh air in politics. She is an engineer by training. As she said you can’t have things which are cheap, fast and good in the public sphere. You can only have two out of the three. So it is an unabashed Go, Kemi, go from me. This is her campaign launch video https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1844468060989816838
Robert Jenrick is a chameleon. He was once a Remainer and pro-Europe and has since re-invented himself. He is now preaches the dangers of immigration and wants Britain to leave ECHR. He is very pro-Israel. A friend is a former constituent and can’t stand him. He calls Jenrick Mr Wobble-Bottom and says that he was singularly unhelpful to the point of being downright rude. My friend did eventually solve his problem and was proved right in the process btw. Jenrick’s wife Michal Berkner is Israeli-American. The Times did an in interview with her last week and she came across as the classic manipulative political wife dedicated to soft power politics, very much a force of nature. She would not look out of place in House of Cards imho. Thus, the kerfuffle , plots and counter-plots did not surprise me. As I promised Chana, this is her profile: https://www.thetimes.com/article/132efcec-64a4-4068-9aca-90a2ed7c7582 or https://archive.ph/ZIdh2
The Princess of Wales made an unscheduled public appearance yesterday. She went with the Prince to visit Southport, and met with several of the stabbing victims, spending over an hour with them. This is a major function of the Royals in the UK visiting communities like that. It is hoped that she will make the Remembrance Day commemorations in November and her Carol Service in December. She wore burgundy which is supposed to be one of this autumn’s colours in the UK. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/kate-princess-of-wales-first-engagement-cancer-southport-5gnblzzkv or https://archive.ph/8r8Jt
The British Criminal Court System is in a state of almost total collapse. The backlog of cases has now reached nearly 75k. Only cases which are tried quickly are those cases where the defendants are refused bails because of custody time limits (people are only allowed to be held in jail for a specific length of time before they are tried – there is no longer such a thing as an oubliette.) It was a deliberate policy under the Cameron and May governments. Things only became worse during Covid and then there was the barristers’ strike because the government refused to increase the fees after holding them steady for 30 years, despite a commission telling them that they needed to. Starmer is now seeking once again to limit days judges can sit. Finally the press are starting to take notice. Justice delayed is justice denied to all concerned. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/10/court-system-in-danger-of-collapse/ or https://archive.ph/cAgJN
Lithuania has installed ‘dragon’s teeth’ and other measures to slow an invasion down at the bridges and crossings with its border with Russia. This move follows similar moves by Poland. The NATO countries which have Russia and Belarus as their neighbour are not taking any chances. They are investing in deterrence and defence now rather than being complacent. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/10/lithuania-installs-dragons-teeth-potential-russian-attack/ or https://archive.ph/gcD2c
A man is suing the discredited charity LGBT Youth Scotland for negligence which he says led to sexual abuse. The embattled charity has had been named in several high profile cases of sexual abuse in recent times. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/discredited-gay-and-transgender-youth-charity-sued-for-negligence-lb986t8cq or https://archive.ph/QlflI
The Guardian have temporarily removed a hugely insulting and frankly anti-Semitic review of the Channel 4 programme One Day in October. The review complained that the factual programme de-humanized the Hamas terrorists because it did not conduct any interviews with them and allow to explain why they indiscriminately raped, murdered and looted civilians in kibbutz Be’eri (not sure of the moral judgement here but I understand certain people in the US are of the same mind – that this moral depravity can be explained away and overlooked). It is amazing that it got through editorial or perhaps not as the Guardian has form. I watched the documentary on Wednesday night. The BBC Storyville: Surviving 7 October We Will Dance Again was perhaps a harder watch for me, but that could have been because it was the first one I saw and so I was already angry. One Day did not do interviews with Hamas but neither did it conduct interviews with the IDF or any of the security services who were supposed to protect the kibbutz but were conspicuous by their absence. Instead, they spoke to the civilian survivors — the dental nurse who hid for hours in a toilet trying not to breathe, the woman who watched her husband bleed out as he valiantly held the unlocked bomb shelter door shut and little Emily Hands who spent her 9th birthday in captivity and whose father initially thought she was dead. Heartbreaking.
The big take away for me from both documentaries was that the Containment policy which included the provision that the Army or the police would come in the unlikely event of an infiltration failed (as appeasement always does). No one came. The first fourteen soldiers to arrive, got hit and evacuated their wounded (and none of the residents). No one else arrived for many hours. The bomb shelters were not built as places to hide and became killing zones. Both documentaries are worth watching. They help explain why the IDF has gone into Lebanon and are dealing with the credible threat before it happens. From the released footage, it would appear the preparations were far further advanced than they considered. It appears they have abandoned the failed appeasement and are taking action because the rest of the world hasn’t.
This Stephen Pollard in the Jewish Chronicle on the review. https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/why-is-the-guardian-shocked-that-terrorists-are-portrayed-as-monsters-oww7txj5
Suella Braverman was prevented from speaking at Cambridge on Wednesday due to her views by pro-Palestinian hecklers as her safety and that of the attendees could not be guaranteed. The increased cost of providing security was too great or the small society who wanted everyone to attend to bear. The free Speech Union has reached out to her to offer pay security costs btw. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/09/suella-braverman-cambridge-university-postpone-palestine/ or https://archive.ph/0vE6J
Jenny Linday’s new book Hounded is officially published today. It is a very good exploration of cancellation and soft banning. It speaks not just to her experience but to many other Gender Critical women’s experiences. A literature officer from Creative Scotland tried to have it banned from bookshops. Lindsay will be speaking at a FSU meeting in London on the 14th at 7:30 pm BST about her experiences along with Kate Clanchy who was targeted in 2020 for her Orwell Prizze winning memoir and later dropped by her publisher (she did reach a settlement and the book has been republished by Swift Press) and Matthew Hamilton (Douglas Murray’s literary agent) on Does Publishing have a Freedom of Expression Problem? . You can attend the meeting via zoom (free if you are a member) https://freespeechunion.org/event/hounded-out-does-publishing-have-a-freedom-of-expression-problem/
Yesterday, I received the cover for my latest Secret Princess for the Warrior which comes out on 25 March 25. It has the right feel.
I am currently working on the sequel to that one and waiting for my editor’s early thoughts.
Paddy has had a good week rampaging about the garden as I picked yet more apples and generally engage in the autumn tidy up.
If you want to find me during the week, I have started putting things on Celia M’s Jottings in Purple which is where a number of refuge FP commentators are hanging out as they dislike the current FP policy on comments. The discussion is usually lively as you might expect from former FP commentators.
Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.
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They think they have recovered part of Sandy Irvine's body on Everest. Not his camera though. So the mystery endures. Did Irvine and Mallory make it to the summit in the 1920s or not? One could argue -- not only must you make it to the summit but you must make it safely down like Hillary and Norgay did in 1953. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/11/everest-body-sandy-irvine-found-rewrite-history-hillary/ or https://archive.ph/F3U5p
michelle, several news outlets keep mentioning catherine's new elegant yet understated sapphire and diamond eternity band which she has been wearing since returning back to public life. i thought on one hand it was lovely that she received diana's engagement ring for her engagement ring all those years ago, but i also have to wonder what kind of a burden it must be at the same time, to be a walking public museum of sorts while wearing it. it's SO associated with diana, even after all these years of will and catherine's marriage, that i'd think there would come a point where while it's so iconic, it becomes an albatross for the person that inherits it. its also a huge ring, and i can only imagine it must be pretty unwieldy to wear. (i'll be it must knock and catch on everything as well as fall to the side of the finger because of the weight...) because catherine hasn't been seen wearing her engagement ring since her cancer treatments ended for public events, i would suspect that its with all the other royal jewels for safekeeping and perhaps future formal events. however, the royals (british and others) have re-worked & re-fashioned jewelry suites, tiaras, crowns and other jewels for eons. my question: do you think they had diana's engagement ring made into the eternity band??? it would be a way of keeping the symbolism but also creating something more in line with kate's style and lifestyle for this next stage of her life. i would think it would have certainly been large enough to make an eternity band with, too. would they dare? would the public "allow" it, even though when it comes down to it it's not up to them??