This is Northumberland Calling 28.7.23

A morality tale in action

Hello America! This is Northumberland calling

On Monday, the BBC and the journalist who broke the story about Nigel Farage’s de-banking being solely down to financial reasons apologised. On Tuesday, the CEO of Nat West Dame Allison Rose admitted that she was in fact the source of the leak about Nigel Farage’s finances. The Board of Nat West originally regretted her  error but said that they were unanimously standing behind her and would only dock her £5 million + pay packet. They failed to consult their largest shareholder, the UK government. The Prime Minister and various members of the cabinet were unhappy.  By 3 am Wednesday, Allison Rose had resigned. By 3 pm she had booted off a number of high profile government quangos.  Thursday saw the resignation of the CEO of Coutts. Sunak has pointedly not endorsed the chairman of the Board.  NatWest reported better than expected profits this morning. The chairman has vowed to stay on but admitted he serves at the behest of the shareholders.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/26/natwest-board-meeting-alison-rose-quit/ or https://archive.is/BHc1w

All the UK banks were summoned to a meeting earlier this week where the City Minister Andrew Griffith reminded them of their duty not to police freedom of expression. There is to be an independent review of Coutts’ action and the FCA has not ruled out investigating them if that review is unsatisfactory. Of course what Rose did is illegal.  Thou shalt not reveal a client’s financial details to the media is banking 101 and if a low level member of staff did that, they would be sacked and would not be entitled to their pension or any other benefits. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/27/natwest-debacle-bone-headedness-corporate-moralising/  or https://archive.is/Ci7Fn

This is Farage’s op-ed on why he is waging war on Woke Capitalism and woke banks in particular. He is probably one of the most consequential British politicians never to hold office. https://archive.is/7hMqG

Some people in the media think it is all over blown because it is Nigel Farage and he is a showman (something Coutts should have remembered when they decided to de-bank him for non- financial reasons). Some people miss the point. Matlis’ comments are very much – and so Mrs Lincoln leaving aside what happened to your husband, how was the show at the Ford  theatre? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/27/emily-maitlis-nigel-farage-victimhood-coutts-account-row/  or https://archive.is/lIioI

This is from the Reverend Fothergill who was debanked for giving feedback to his bank that he wasn’t happy about them  supporting Pride in such an overt manner. There are 10k other people who deserve to have their cases looked at. Maybe Matlis thinks they are playing the victim as well.  https://archive.is/Nj1gk

All this turned the spotlight on Woke Capitalism in the UK and its potential for destroying democracy in a way it had not done before. This is an ongoing story. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/27/woke-capitalism-is-a-monster-of-the-states-own-making/ or https://archive.is/5VckY

Why Progressive is not liberal from the Speccie makes a number of good points on the subject.  https://archive.is/ITHOx

Labour abandoned its commitment to self id. Sir Kier Starmer decided that he did know what a woman was after all – namely an adult human female and that sometimes, women did need safe spaces. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/keir-starmer-woman-adult-female-trans-gender-identity-policy-labour-2023-bj6mdx8zf or https://archive.is/gBr1n

No apology to Rosie Duffield and a number of Labour MPs including Dawn Butler stated that their views on the subject had not altered. Butler previously stated that she believed babies were born without a sex.

This new piece  from Richard Dawkins explains why Ms Butler is mistaken. The rebuttal piece in the New Statesman by Jacqueline Rose shows why Gender Ideology adopted the ‘no debate’ stance.  https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2023/07/biological-sex-binary-debate-richard-dawkins

Wildfires have caused havoc for British tourists and locals alike in Greece. Authorities in Corfu blamed many of the fires on arsonists who take pleasure out of other people’s pain. The hot weather has not helped in getting the fires under control. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/this-is-greeces-worst-july-on-record-for-wildfires-lq5jvq9wr or https://archive.is/HQGhS

The Met Office has had to intervene after a widely reported paper suggested the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The paper apparently used overly simplistic methods to arrive at its catastrophic conclusions. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/27/amoc-ocean-collapse-dont-fear-met-office-gulf-stream/ or https://archive.is/LE6rM

This piece in Unherd examines scientific papers and explains the hierarchy including what is meant by low quality research and why consensus or expert opinion is the lowest grade of scientific research. It asks has GIDS learned from its failure? https://archive.is/bdnIo

Just Stop Oil pranked again by Just Stop P---ing Us Off  and shown for what they are  -- middle class hobbyists who want to get arrested rather than people who actually want to make a difference. This was a vegan banquet to celebrate their ‘activism’.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/27/just-stop-oil-prank-josh-archie-youtube/ or https://archive.is/UvItV

If you have started your Christmas shopping early (some people must) the big theme in children’s toys is apparently nostalgia. Barbie and Furbys are predicted to be big sellers. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/28/furby-barbie-lead-john-lewis-christmas-toys-list/ or https://archive.is/9BEib

Finally the annual ritual of swan upping has taken place. It has been ongoing since the 12^th century. This year, the cygnet count was down significantly due to avian flu. Avian flu continues to decimate sea bird colonies in Britain. It originated in China some years ago and has really wrecked havoc.  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-swan-upping-census-reveals-40-drop-in-cygnets-on-river-thames-ccztt8rw3 or https://archive.is/VZwcY