This is Northumberland Calling 20.12.24

The Scalps, Mushy Peas, Verdicts and the race for Christmas No 1 edition

Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling

As the days of 2024 dwindled down to a precious few, the thoughts of some turn to which song will be the UK Christmas No 1. One of the contenders is a parody ‘It’s Freezing This Christmas’ by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers. It is currently topping the download charts and has managed to raise a significant sum for Age UK. The BBC are refusing to play it, based on its impartiality rules…https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/19/freezing-this-christmas-who-are-starmer-and-granny-harmers/ or https://archive.ph/afkPU

You can watch the video here:

Will Labour lose another minister before Christmas? Tulip Siddiq who has a remit for rooting out corruption apparently is embroiled in her aunt (the former prime minister of Bangladesh) embezzlement scandal. The family has been accused of siphoning off billions intended for improvement to the lives of the ordinary Bangladeshi citizens in the form of a nuclear power plant and other large scale building projects. Starmer is standing beside his minister for now. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/19/starmer-confidence-tulip-siddiq-bangladesh-anti-corruption/ or https://archive.ph/ucZIX

Peter Mandelson, the former Master of the Dark Arts for Blair has been picked to be Britain’s new ambassador to the US. Mandelson when he was first made MP for the very safe Labour seat of Darlington in the North East in the 1980s famously asked if mushy peas (a green pea puree beloved in the North East and served with fish and chips) was guacamole. He is however a canny operator and close to Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney who recently visited with Trump’s chief of Staff Susie Wiles. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/19/lord-mandelson-confirmed-ambassador-us/ or https://archive.ph/3KTs7

The verdicts came in the Pelicot trial in France – all 51 men guilty. The sentences ranged from 20 years for her husband to suspended. It is a trial which shocked France. In France, intent must be shown in the case of rape, rather how it is in the UK and the US (and most major European countries) where the woman must give her consent. Several of the men in the Pelicot trial ran the defence that her husband was there and agreeing and thus they figured it must be fine. Hopefully the law in France will now change and women will be allowed the agency to refuse. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/society/article/janice-turner-pelicot-trial-tm35z7x0v or https://archive.ph/Z1NQb

The Times have been running a series of articles on the scandal hiding in plain sight which are the Sharia courts/councils in the UK and the way they treat women – sharia courts (despite their name) are supposed to have no legal standing in the UK. They are mainly used by Muslim women seeking an Islamic divorce from their husband. A bit like Roman Catholics (if married in the Roman Catholic church) must obtain an annulment or divorce if they wish to remarry/take communion. Apparently a number of Muslims do not bother with a civil marriage in the UK. UK law does not recognise polygamy, for example but polygamy is so normalised within the Muslim community that an app for Islamic wills has a drop down menu to state how many wives a man has. Living together as couple does not confer any special rights under English common law (btw) and this can cause problems with access to children and dividing up of the assets if a couple splits. As a result of these councils, Shar’ia law (which was not really codified until the late 16^th century btw even if many of the hadiths appear earlier – this is true of both Sunni and Shi’a. Tension existed between the State and these sorts of councils going back to the Safavid and the early Ottomans btw) exerts influence over ordinary Muslims in the UK, particularly women because of how Islamic divorce laws work in the man’s favour. The answer is for British Muslim women to ensure that they are in a civil marriage recognised by the UK government as well as a religious one. https://www.thetimes.com/article/2a579ff6-54dc-4bae-9320-c74459b0695e or https://archive.ph/scAPb

You can see power really ebbing away from the Biden White House, the WSJ has run an article about how Team Biden hid his diminished capacity. Basically Team Biden told the ghost of Edith Wilson to hold their beer. ( https://www.wsj.com/politics/biden-white-house-age-function-diminished-3906a839 or https://archive.ph/EBa0U ) The Times has picked up the article and added a few observations of their own. https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/joe-biden-presidency-white-house-sb8d3kd6j or https://archive.ph/LVGv9

Syria with the fall of Assad continues to be a problem. The big winner is Erdogan and his brand of pragmatic Islamism. Syria is currently influx and attention should be paid to the multiple mass grave sites where it appears most of the Disappeared ended up (often after being horribly tortured). Currently it seems HTS (and extension Turkey) wants a one Syria state rather than federated states. Some of the overthrow was to neutralize the Kurds who have been steadfast in their opposition to ISIS. The Ottoman Empire 2.0 appears to be rising. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/19/mullahs-could-fall-if-they-do-turkey-rises-assad-iran-syria/ or https://archive.ph/N9Mpn

Stephen Fry has read the mood of the country and decided it was safe to say that Stonewall was talking nonsense. It would have been useful he had decided to say this much earlier (like back when people were losing jobs for making far milder observations) But basically cancel culture is now dead if you are a big enough name… something which the Left in general appears not to have noticed. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/cancel-culture-is-dead-the-left-hasnt-noticed/ or https://archive.ph/9Aj1b

The Prince and Princess of Wales decided to start their Christmas holiday and did not attend the Buckingham Palace lunch for the wider relations. They are expected to the walkabout at Sandringham on Christmas Day. They have also released their Christmas card. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/12/19/prince-william-skip-royal-christmas-lunch-children-palace/ or https://archive.ph/EsqST

I delivered my full manuscript to my editor late on Saturday. She has let me know that she will get back to me about it at the end of January so I can now concentrate on other matters such as Christmas.

My tree is up. Paddy has been helpful but is ignoring the tree in the main. It is also kept out in the sun room behind closed doors and therefore out of spaniel and pussy cat reach (in theory as ornaments always end up being knocked to the ground)

All that is left is to wish you, my readers, a very Merry Christmas. May the joy and the peace of the season infuse your household this year.

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. Depending on how firmly my Procrastination Princess tiara is attached (aka how well my actual writing is going), I may end up getting distracted.

Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.

If you like what you read on here, why not subscribe? It’s free and I don’t have any plans to put in a paywall. If you want to ‘reward me’, why not buy one of my books? Currently a number of them are on special at $1.99. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michelle-Styles/author/B00288QUJM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1729240286&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true