Keir Starmer’s Achievements are Poverty, Inequality and Genocide.
“The Prime Minister says his government has got “the big political decisions right”. Let’s go through them.
The government chose to cut welfare so it could spend even more on weapons and war.
The government chose to demonise the sick and disabled.
The government chose to keep children in poverty until it was dragged kicking and screaming to finally scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The government chose not to bring water into public ownership, not to tax wealth and not to implement rent controls.
The government chose to arm Israel and participate in genocide.
The government chose to let the US use British air bases for its war crimes in Iran.
The government chose to let Palantir get its hands on our NHS.
The government chose to scapegoat migrants and refugees for its own failures.
Poverty, inequality and genocide. Those are the government’s big decisions. And that is how this government will be remembered.”
Source: Jeremy Corbyn 11th May 2026
HM King Charles III. A Real World Leader.
This was a magnificent speech. It delivered scathing messages to Trump but in a subtle, dignified fashion that demonstrates how immensely wise is our King.
He no longer stands in the shadow of his mother. While her light will never be dimmed, Charles is a monarch for our future, He will express his opinion more often. He will intervene when he thinks he can contribute and he comes from the most extraordinary viewpoint. His vision is broader, more long term and objective than any other world leader.
It’s a long time since we’ve had any reason to be proud in Britain but Charles has brought that to us. He demonstrates that a parliamentary monarchy is probably the best version of democracy when, to our great fortune, we have such an intelligent, well-informed, gracious and considered King.
Our politicians should take careful note. This is the example to follow. No other world leader comes close to Charles in stature and value.
HRH William, Prince of Wales, Visits the Children of Gaza
His grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, refused to visit Israel her entire life. She made it clear, publicly and privately, that she would never set foot in a state built on oppression and apartheid. She knew exactly what that regime was, long before the world finally woke up to it.
His mother, Princess Diana, openly embraced the Palestinian cause. She visited Palestinian hospitals, held the children, and stood with the people when it was neither trendy nor politically safe. And now Prince William himself quietly meets Gaza’s sick and injured children—moved by their courage, just like his mother would have been, just like his grandmother always was.
One day the British government will seize back its moral courage from Israeli influence and stand for the same principles that the British people and our Royal Family stand for. On that day we will celebrate the downfall of the Zionist collaborator, Keir Starmer, his Israel-funded cabinet and the traitors in the Conservative Party who have given their allegiance to the terrorist state.
The Best Value Handheld Vaporiser Yet.
A vaporiser is now the essential tool for consuming prescribed cannabis. The legislation doesn’t specify you must use a vaporiser but smoking is prohibited and you can only gain the full benefit of cannabis through inhalation. A new vaporiser from Norddampf has just come on the market and it’s the best value yet at just over £100. Don’t bother trying to order through the Facebook ads though. It’s bizarre that they spend money on reaching a UK audience because they won’t deliver to UK but you can get it on Amazon here.
You don’t need to spend a fortune. Most vaporisers are vastly overpriced and you need to be smart, not follow the herd to the established brands.
What has concerned me since the law change in 2018 is that patients and consumers are being massively overcharged for what is very simple technology with low manufacturing costs. All it involves is a battery, a heating element, a bowl and a mouthpiece. The market leader, Storz and Bickel’s Mighty+, is a great machine but at an RRP of nearly £350, it’s completely ridiculous, a rip-off.
About four years ago I discovered what was called the ‘Tobor Elite’ at less than £100. I’m still using it today, the very same one all along, every single day, for about three or four hours every evening. It’s brilliant, the best handheld I’ve ever used and I’ve tried them all. Read my original review here.
I advocated for the Elite across social media but I don’t think I convinced many people. Reaction seemed to be that either I was getting paid for it or what I was claiming was too good to be true. Now, to my delight, comes the Norddampf Relict, almost identical design to the Tobor Elite but with some real improvements.
If the Tobor Elite is a bit rough and ready, it needs cleaning and tuning up like it’s an old, carburettor-driven sports car, the Norddampf Relict is like a Porsche, quality engineered in. A satisfying feel of solidity and reliability. The mouthpiece is much better than the Elite which has tendency to become clogged. The one thing Norddampf hasn’t learned is the benefit of a larger bowl. Filled perhaps only a quarter-full, the Elite’s large bowl enables far better vaporisation than in a smaller space.
It was nearly 20 years ago that I first became aware of the idea of a vaporiser. I experimented with various contraptions, most of which were completely useless but when I first tried a Volcano my eyes were opened. It’s still the best vaporiser on the market but it’s bulky, cumbersome and at least needs its own, dedicated table. In fact, if someone can suggest a trolley at coffee table height that can be wheeled out of sight when necessary, I might even buy my first Volcano.
The handheld vaporiser has now become ubiquitous. Or at least it has for those of us in the know. The media and our dozy political leaders still think that cannabis means smoking. To be fair, I still enjoy the occasional no-tobacco joint but they are incredibly wasteful and nowhere near as effective as a vaporiser that you know how to use properly.
The pharmacology of cannabis is totally different when consumed though the gastrointestinal system. Holding oil under the tongue so that it is absorbed through the mucus membranes is better but nowhere near as effective as inhalation.
Of all the work I’ve done in cannabis reform over the years, probably the most consequential is when I was consulted in 2018 by the Department of Health and MHRA on development of the new regulations for legal access to cannabis as medicine. I argued strongly that one of the greatest benefits was easy and accurate self-titration of dose by inhalation. It was vital to convince them of this so that cannabis flower would be classified as a medicine. See recommendation 5 in this report of the consultation.
Trump at Davos
Trump isn’t mad. That would be an easier explanation. In truth he is systematically mendacious, evil to the core, high as a kite on testosterone injections and who knows what other stimulants.
This ramble at Davos was ridiculous, a succession of bluster and lies. Virtually nothing he said was truthful or accurate.
Patriotic Americans need to remove him from office immediately. He is by far the most dangerous man on the planet since Adolf Hitler.
Robert Jenrick is the Epitome of the Very Worst of British Politics
A prominent member of the Conservative Party that destroyed Britain between 2016 and 2024, Jenrick keeps swerving, dodging and slithering, desperate to gain advantage in the cess pit that our House of Commons has become. He has committed enough acts of treason against the British people, now he does so against his own party, pretending he has no responsibility for its appalling record.
There are many others who challenge his title as the worst: Suella Braverman, Priti Patel, Oliver Dowden, Mark Francois, George Freeman, Andrew Griffith, John Hayes, Simon Hoare, Andrew Mitchell, Iain Duncan Smith, Nick Timothy, Gavin Williamson, etc, etc. The list is so long and all of them are incompetent, authoritarian, racist and mostly in the pay of the Israeli state while supporting genocide.
But Jenrick eclipses them all in his sickening, self-serving, tabloid tactics for attracting attention and stirring conflict.
British politics is completely broken. Both Labour and Conservative, the government and official opposition, consist of corrupt politicians concerned only with lining their own pockets and holding onto their fat salaries and generous expenses by any means necessary. The Liberal Democrats, who I voted for at the last election, has some good individuals but a weak leader and a completely ineffectual presence in Parliament. Reform is the tip of the spear in racism, xenophobia, authoritarianism and hatred of all minorities. In truth, most Conservative MPs toe the Reform line.
I admire Zack Polanski and the Greens. Plaid Cymru is a good choice for my homeland of Wales. If I was a Scot I would vote for the SNP and independence. The Northern Ireland MPs govern in an area of the UK that is totally different from Great Britain. The sooner Ireland is united the better.
The rise and fall of Robert Jenrick is an exact parallel with the decline of Britain and he bears a heavier responsibility than most.
I Trust the BBC Much More than Any Other Media Outlet
Look at who’s attacking it – the Telegraph along with the rest of the press, the Conservatives, Nigel Farage, Reform and Donald Trump. It’s not difficult to know who to trust!
It’s the Daily Telegraph that leads the assault on the BBC and there couldn’t be a sharper contrast between these two news providers. I was brought up seeing my father read the Telegraph every day and I followed him. For most of my adult life it was by far the best newspaper, both for the sheer quantity of news it published and the middle road it took between the Times, which could be very dry and the tabloids, which have always been a trivial form of entertainment rather than serious information. In the last few years, however, it has descended into the gutter and now ranks alongside the Daily Mail as not just trivial but mendacious.
To be fair, the Times has also deteriorated. Now much more readable, it has frittered away its reputation for accuracy and can no longer be considered reliable. It’s instructive that its current editor, Tony Gallagher, is a former editor of the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and the Sun. Another valuable insight can be gained by reading the comments on the Telegraph and Times websites. They show a readership that is predominantly further to the right even than the publications themselves. This is alarming.
I now read both the Times and the the Guardian but I trust and respect the BBC’s journalism far more. I don’t understand why the BBC pays so much attention to the press. It is a dying medium, moving ever further to the authoritarian right on a daily basis. I would like to see the BBC stop following the press, stop allowing it to set the news agenda, stop reviewing the newspapers. Newspapers have nothing to offer the BBC and are a negative influence on its work.
Of course, I have my own issues with the BBC, its pro-Israel stance and failure to report fairly or accurately the Palestinian point of view. The Centre for Media Monitoring report of June 2025 analysed 35,000+ pieces of BBC content showing that Palestinian deaths are treated as less newsworthy. There is systematic language bias favouring Israelis and an almost complete suppression of genocide allegations with interviewees cut off as soon as they mention the word. Palestinian voices are suppressed with hardly any representatives given an opportunity to speak.
The other issue on which the BBC is failing badly is drugs policy. It simply isn’t covered While there are many reports of the ‘War on Drugs’, law enforcement activity, drug deaths, violence and gang warfare, never ever does the BBC look at policy. On any other issue, when a major problem is identified, there would be interviews with experts, analyses of policy options, etc. There is a complete blackout in the BBC on drugs policy. Some of this can be explained by the terrible truth that politicians don’t want to talk about it,. In fact they will do anything to evade the subject, only ever telling us that they are ‘tough on drugs’. There is a ‘group think’ in British politics and media that believes prohibition is the only option. They are too cowardly to look at the alternatives.
But I back the BBC. I want to see it toughen up. I want to see it do better on Israel and on drugs policy but overall no other broadcaster comes close. The people now attacking it: the Telegraph, the rest of the press, the Conservatives, Nigel Farage and Reform – well that just confirms it, I know exactly which side I’m on!
The Don Done Good
Trump’s two great skills have always been bragging and bullying. He’s used them both to great effect in Israel. Bullying was what Netanyahu needed and it was probably only Trump who could do it.
So while it does stick in my throat a little, I say thank you and pay him due respect for stopping the slaughter. I have grave fears that Netanyahu will yet find excuses to start the killing again but perhaps he will be in fear of upsetting Trump and will restrain himself.
Now the priority must be to maintain the peace but then to bring Netanyahu, some members of his government and the IDF to justice. This must also apply to some members of Hamas if they are still alive.
Providing the peace lasts, soon enough Trump’s attention will wander but the rest of the world must remain steadfast. If Netanyahu travels to any country other than the USA he must be arrested and sent to the Hague to stand trial.
What is Israel?
Israel is historical fiction. The idea comes from the Bible, the most successful work of fiction ever, and the story of a people called the Israelites, named after their ancestor who was called Israel or Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. The legend developed and the name ‘Israel’ eventually came to refer to the people as a whole. The ‘Land of Israel’ is described as a promised homeland.
That is all there is. It has as much basis in fact as the Hobbit, the Loch Ness monster, Robin Hood or Beowulf.
Then in the 19th Century the idea of Zionism appeared driven by the need for a Jewish homeland in response to antisemitism, and influenced by European nationalism. Zionist leaders decided that there should be a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The idea developed over time, even gaining Hitler’s support in the 1930s, as he thought he could deport all German Jews to Palestine. Eventually after WWII and the Holocaust, the UK and USA supported the invasion of Palestine by about 100,000 Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. They drove out about 750,000 Palestinians by military force and so established the state of Israel.
This was quite clearly a terrible war crime but to our eternal shame, probably because of guilt over the Holocaust, UK and USA manipulated the UN into post facto ‘legalisation’ of it. There you have the cause of all today’s problems after 77 years of slaughter and subjugation of Palestinians by Israel.
Charlie Kirk
I’d never heard of Charlie Kirk until he was shot, which was an awful, despicable crime. I’ve since learned that I profoundly disagree with him on almost everything but I am in awe of his courage and encouragement of open debate. It’s a sharp contrast with our weak, cowardly, mainstream politicians who don’t have the balls to debate difficult issues. Despite our differences, I think he was a hero and a martyr for democracy and free speech.
Peter Reynolds 