Category: EDITORIAL

Editorial comment from Matthew Steeples.

Our editor tells it like it is and he rarely minces his words

Starmer & Savile

Matthew Steeples calls out fake news site ‘Politicalite’ for falsely blaming Sir Keir Starmer for failing to prosecute the paedophile Jimmy Savile

Anyone who tells you Sir Keir Starmer isn’t a vast improvement on Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Her Majesty’s official opposition has to be off their merry rocker. That’s a fact, but, naturally, the spin campaign against this Southwark born Leeds and Oxford graduate has already kicked in.

With the self-declared “hottest right-wing tabloid news outlet [who support] Brexit, Trump and Populism” (take that to mean: “trashy fake news rag”) that is Politicalite claiming that Sir Keir “helped [the] renowned paedophile [Sir Jimmy Savile] evade justice in 2009, three years before he died,” one can see evidence of both the hard-left Corbynistas seeking revenge and the far-right looking for a new ‘leftie’ enemy to pin shame on.

Sir Keir, to the contrary of what the moronic headbanger founder of Politicalite, Jordan James, declared as fact very clearly condemned the situation that led to Savile getting away with his crimes. In 2013, he told the BBC’s Panorama:

“Without a change in the law, there’ll be another Savile… I think this is a very real issue that has been with us for a very long time. You can go back to the 50s and probably earlier to find examples, but you can find many more recent examples, and it’s a very simple proposition: if you’re in a position of authority, and you have cause to believe that a child has been abused, you really ought to do something about it.”

Whilst Starmer also admitted that Savile needed to be a “watershed moment” and wakeup call for the CPS – which he headed between July 2008 and November 2013 – he subsequently acted to propose altering the tests used to assess complainants’ credibility in sexual violence cases. In October 2013, he even went as far as to state: “For too long, child sexual abuse cases have been plagued by myths about how ‘real’ victims behave which simply do not withstand scrutiny. The days of the model victim are over. From now on these cases will be investigated and prosecuted differently, whatever the vulnerabilities of the victim.”

Hatemongering Politicalite, on the other hand, is a ‘publication’ that deserves to be called out. It has promoted Tommy Robinson and given a platform to James Goddard, the ‘Yellow Vest’ convicted of harassing the ex-MP Anna Soubry in 2019. Here, indeed, is something that the nation should most truly be ashamed of.

Pictured top: Sir Keir Starmer with his wife, Victoria.

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April 9, 2020
Dumb Daniel

Matthew Steeples calls out Daniel Hannan for ludicrously not wanting to encourage British people to consume locally produced food

Daniel Hannan claims to support localism. He wants to end Value Added Tax and replace it with a local sales tax, set by local councils. The ex-MEP is also obsessed with national sovereignty and whilst often bizarrely banging on about trading with Ethiopia also, today basically said he wishes to discourage British farmers to produce more on their own land.

Arch-Brexiteer Daniel Hannan has been mocked recently for his ludicrous analysis of how coronavirus will change our lives. In a column for ‘The Telegraph’ he bizarrely announced: “If coronavirus has one silver lining it should be the return of the bow and curtsy”. He elaborated: “A handshake can be an awkward thing – a clumsy, clammy grapple. But a woman breathes something of herself into her curtsy. She can make the gesture demure or haughty, coy or brazen… She can swish her skirts alluringly or bob coldly. The same is true, mutatis mutandis, for men. A bow allows you to convey precisely the degree of respect or affection you consider appropriate.”

Yesterday, at a local pub, I was able to fill this empty 750ml gin bottle with locally produced beer for just £2. Daniel Hannan: “What’s wrong with that?”

In an article for The Telegraph, this fan of Enoch Powell claimed “COVID-19 is pushing us to protectionism” and added that: “The idea that growing your own food makes you more secure sounds plausible, but turns out to be nonsense… If you think about it, national food self-sufficiency makes no more sense than village food self-sufficiency.”

Whilst rightly Hannan admits “we have one of the most innovative agri-food sectors on the planet,” wrongly he doesn’t want to encourage it. Here, in my self-imposed isolation in East Anglia, I’ve seen exactly to the contrary. Walking in the local countryside, I pass farms with roadside stalls. They sell locally produced eggs, locally produced fruit and veg and even offer locally grown flowers as well. The village pub – turned into a community shop due to it being unable to sell booze in its normal manner – now sells locally produced pies and locally made ale even (at a most reasonable just £2 to fill a bring-your-own bottle) to takeaway and frankly, it’s all for the good. People are eating more healthily here now and surprisingly these goods are being sold at a lower cost than they’re retailed for by the greedy middlemen – AKA the supermarkets – in normal times.

Growing local is good for the local economy and buying local is even better. Supporting your local food and drink producers is a jolly good thing and Daniel Hannan is dumb to say otherwise.

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April 5, 2020
Putting The Police Right

Former Chancellor George Osborne is right to call out the police whilst Lord Sumption is spot on in suggesting we should not put up with a “police state” suggests Matthew Steeples

A former Chancellor and a former Supreme Court judge have both justifiably lambasted Derbyshire Police over their “hysterical” behaviour in relation to the coronavirus outbreak.

In a tweet, George Osborne sensibly pointed out that “so many police officers are doing an incredible job in this crisis,” but then rightly tempered it by adding: “Forces that are stopping shops selling Easter eggs, putting black dye into lakes, setting up check points and buzzing lone walkers with drones have lost all common, and are undermining public consent.”

Lord Sumption, going further, directly called out those policing the Peak District. On BBC Radio 4’s World at One, he remarked:

“The behaviour of the Derbyshire Police in trying to shame people in using their undoubted right to take exercise in the country and wrecking beauty spots in the fells so people don’t want to go there is frankly disgraceful.”

“This is what a police state is like, it is a state in which a government can issue orders or express preferences with no legal authority and the police will enforce ministers’ wishes.”

Lord Sumption concluded by suggesting that Derbyshire Police had “shamed our policing traditions” and turned themselves into “glorified school prefects.”

I join George Osborne and Lord Sumption in their sentiments and surprisingly even, for once (and probably for this one-time only), find myself saluting Peter Hitchens even for spreading the former Supreme Court judge’s comments as widely as possible via Twitter. They deserve to be heard.

Yes, of course, the public must be careful and yes, we should heed the sensible advice of scientists and other experts at this time, but equally we must not pay attention to the exaggerated threat and pure drivel that is spouted by the mainstream media currently on a daily basis. Headlines such as the one we featured Monday where The Mail on Sunday disgracefully accused Michel Barnier of “infecting” Boris Johnson with coronavirus (in spite of the pair not having met since the outbreak began) are prime examples of this false scaremongering. Now that such behaviour has been correctly called out, it is time we all woke up and returned to some sense of rationality. Such will stand us all in far better steed.

Pictured top: A former quarry, now a lake, at Harpur Hill, Buxton in Derbyshire that Derbyshire Police disgracefully dumped black dye into. Unsurprisingly, their irresponsible tactic is likely to backfire as Instagrammers now are supposedly finding it – not as the police intended – “more appealing” for their selfies.

#PoliceState

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March 31, 2020
Shame on the Met

Matthew Steeples suggests that at a time when public resources are totally overstretched, that the Met Police are set to waste more money on the plainly pointless search for Madeleine McCann is an outrage

Let’s be honest: Madeleine McCann will most likely never be found. Whatever people might say and however much they might hope, with nearly £12 million of public money and much more private cash wasted on a search that has achieved zilch, zero, nada, anything more is just throwing good wonga after bad.

Now, with news last night that the Met Police will be allocating further funds to continue the search (at a time when they’re asking for retired officers to return to help police the public during the coronavirus outbreak), the public will be rightly outraged.

Whilst I and others have for years argued that the disproportionate allocation of resources to this case stinks and that other missing children (whose cases get little to no financial aid) deserve parity, this latest announcement is a step too far. Speaking to The Sun yesterday, an unnamed police source stated:

“There has been some recent speculation that the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance could be put on hold or discontinued because of the coronavirus epidemic and a shortage of officers working. This isn’t the case and we can’t see the outbreak causing a problem for this ongoing inquiry. Neither can the Home Office. We’ve been told there will hopefully be no problem with new funding.”

Gerry and Kate McCann’s closeness to the likes of Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Baroness Meyer has also aided their ability to keep the cash rolling in since their daughter ‘disappeared’ in May 2007. Equally, with mega rich ‘friends’ like the job killer Sir Richard Branson, the alleged sex abuser Sir Philip Green and the angry busybody J. K. Rowling on their side, the McCanns – unlike less wealthy parents of other missing children such as Kerry Needham – have been able to manipulate the media without good reason.

Frankly, nothing new has been uncovered in this case in years and now it is not the time to give more money. Instead, it’s time to shelve the search for Madeleine McCann and instead use precious and scarce financial resources to solve cases that can actually be solved.

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Missing still yet little to no police resources for their cases – Ben Needham disappeared in Kos, Greece on the 24th July 1991 aged 1 and his mother gets little help for her search; Martin Allen disappeared in London on 5th November 1979 aged 15 and though his brother, Kevin, keeps the case in the public eye as much as he can, he gets little to no help from the Metropolitan Police.

Meanwhile, Madeleine McCann – whose parents left the doors and windows to the apartment they were staying in and did not pay for childcare on that fateful night – disappeared on the 3rd May 2007 in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The investigation into how she went ‘missing’ has cost nearly £12 million of British public money thus far and more is going to be given. Something, frankly, does not add up and interested individuals should take a look at our previous analysis: “Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers.”

March 28, 2020
Moron of the Moment – James Abbott-Thompson

Diane Abbott’s policeman biting son is proof of her own inadequacies as a parent; this loopy Labour MP should get her own house in order before lecturing others

Diane Abbott is known for many things and sadly most of them aren’t endearing. She’s had sex with Jeremy Corbyn, she stupidly apologised after doing something amusing in drinking a canned mojito on a tube train and most recently, she went out with two left shoes on.

Now, with news that this dimwit and hypocrite’s privately educated son (and godson of the former MP turned vicar Jonathan Aitken), James Abbott-Thompson, has admitted “spitting at a police officer and biting his colleague” via video link to Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being refused entry to the Foreign Office, we can now observe a pattern emerging and that is: “Like mother, like son.”

Whilst wayward Abbott-Thompson – who also appeared in court in January in regard to another eleven alleged offences (including one of most inappropriately exposing himself on a hospital ward) – plainly has anger management and most likely mental health issues, his loopy mother must now realise enough is enough: Diane Abbott must get her own house in order before she hectors a single other.

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March 24, 2020
Heroine of the Hour – Lady Glenconner

Lady Glenconner speaks sense amidst the media encouraging panic over the coronavirus outbreak in Britain

In today’s Guardian, Lady Glenconner, the former lady-in-waiting to the late Princess Margaret, spoke sense when she reacted to the paper’s Hadley Freeman asking her about coronavirus during an interview. She most rationally responded: “I’ve been through the second world war and lived with someone with Aids at the beginning [of the Aids crisis]. I’m not scared of a little virus, you know.”

At times like these, we need more people like Lady Glenconner and Dame Vera Lynn (whose views we featured earlier this week). Yes, we must all be sensible and take precautions, but we must also take stock and remain reasonable. Britain did not beat Hitler by panicking; we did so by Keeping Calm and Carrying On.

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March 20, 2020
Taking The Flack

Matthew Steeples suggests that both the press and the legal system have a lot to answer for in the wake of the death of Caroline Flack

The media created her and the media took her away. Caroline Flack, in spite of plainly being a very troubled lady in other regards, was most definitely destroyed by both the press and the legal system.

In December, I recall sitting with a leading barrister on the day Miss Flack was due in court. We discussed the story of her arrest and aside from my pointing out that the police ludicrously overreacted in sending so many police cars to process an essentially minor alleged crime, the legal eagle I mention said something telling. In commenting: “They’ll kill her,” my friend sadly predicted the outcome we now all know and very much regret.

Miss Flack’s on-off boyfriend ‘victim’ was not prepared to give evidence against her, yet magistrates imposed conditions limiting contact between them. I, for one, hope that those very people wake up and examine their consciences this morning. They certainly have blood on their hands.

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February 16, 2020
Oh Good Grief!

Matthew Steeples suggests the fuss about Phillip Schofield “coming out” as gay is nothing but a storm in a teacup

This week, “the silver soufflé” that is Phillip Schofield – someone who is little other than a frothy presenter of trivial daytime telly – came out as gay. The reaction? Acres of column inches analysing this utterly lightweight yet totally overpaid man’s relationship with his wife, interviews galore and tweets aplenty followed.

Frankly, anybody with half a brain would take the view of a Twitter user named @WhatsEuroPinion and respond: “The press are obsessed with Phillip Schofield saying he is gay. Who cares, seriously, gay, hetro, trans, it’s all OK, but it is NOT news.” Going further, as the Mirror rightly pointed out, interest in this whole matter is nothing but “bizarre.” They ludicrously were trashed for being “cruel.”

To quote Schofield himself, one could say: “Oh good grief!” but remember this: There are more important things in the world to consider and instead of blabbering on about this trifling matter, perhaps the media could instead focus on asking about the missing Russia report and the matter of what went on between Boris Johnson and Jennifer Arcuri.

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February 9, 2020
MeGain Flies Commercial

Matthew Steeples joins those condemning the ‘Modern Day Mrs Simpson’ and her under-the-thumb hubbie ‘Prince Halfwit’

Today is the Duchess of Cambridge’s birthday, so naturally – as she always just has to do – the Duchess of Sussex opted most selfishly to upstage her.

Aside from repeatedly portraying her sister-in-law as some kind of ‘Stepford Wives-like’ character with too many children (“bad for the environment”), this mendacious meddler has now caused her husband to perform the ultimate volte-face and shockingly insult his own family.

With even her own disgustingly ignored father (who paid for her vastly expensive education) describing his brattish daughter’s move with the words: “I’ll just simply say I am disappointed,” ‘MeGain’ is now “reshaping” and becoming “financially independent” (take that to mean “raking in” as much as she can). In preparation, last June, she even trademarked the words: “Sussex Royal” as part of her desire to “create a global empire.” Plainly this delusional wench wants to take up where the late “I’m Stuart Baggs the brand” left off and become “Meghan Markle the brand.”

Aside from the fact that ‘Murky Mucky’ supposedly does not want to give up her £600,000 per year publicly funded entourage and Frogmore Cottage (renovated at a cost of £2.4 million courtesy of the Sovereign Grant in 2019), that these royals who want to be royals (but without the annoying hinderances they can’t be bothered with) have insulted not only the former Kate Middleton on her name day and the Queen also is a disgrace.

I say: Off to the Tower with the pair of them. The ‘Modern Day Mrs Simpson’ and the alleged PTSD sufferer ‘Prince Halfwit’ are nothing but a modern day outrage. Shame on them.

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January 9, 2020
A Kimono Too Far

Matthew Steeples suggests the reaction to Jolyon Maugham’s somewhat ill-thought tweet about killing a fox (whilst wearing a kimono) to be ludicrous at a time when thousands freeze on our streets

On Boxing Day, Jolyon Maugham tweeted about killing a fox trapped in his hen house with a baseball bat in his garden in central London.

Whilst this barrister should, perhaps, have realised that sharing such information wouldn’t go down well with the Twitterati and that he expressed what occured in a slightly ill-thought out fashion, it is clear that that this leading remain supporter was simply protecting his chickens from a creature that many consider “vermin” (ludicrously councils do not agree with this description).

Maugham – whom it seems was bizarrely wearing his wife’s green kimono during the incident – plainly later realised that if you live out your life on Twitter, you’ll likely be crucified by it too. Other users and the media subsequently thus reacted in outrage and given no doubt many shared Maugham in having post-Christmas Day hangovers, the shitstorm that followed was beyond overblown.

Later, after reporting himself (and being reported also by many others) to the RSPCA – an ineffectual organisation that I found disgracefully willing to do nothing when there was a dog in distress in my neighbourhood last year – Maugham then apologised. By then, however, it was too late and #JolyonTheFoxKiller was trending. The snarling hordes of this sub-world of social media had descended and still now, they are baying for this 48-year-old’s blood.

I’d suggest, instead, that the angry mob get worked up about the RSPCA’s refusal to turn up to deal with truly far worse cases of animal neglect and more importantly still a government that has done little-to-nothing to help the thousands freezing to death on our streets this Christmas. Show your true fury about something that really matters, but, please, Jolyon, next time: make sure you at least get dressed in something other than your wife’s bedroom gear.

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December 27, 2019