Category: EDITORIAL

Editorial comment from Matthew Steeples.

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

Save The Swan

Matthew Steeples highlights that not only the appalling case of two swans and five cygnets being shot in Kent but also other problems facing these majestic birds

This summer, on The Serpentine in Hyde Park, I witnessed a Chinese tourist attempting to hug a swan. Though I told him how unacceptable this truly was, he simply shrugged his shoulders (he plainly couldn’t speak a word of English) and attempted to carry on. Though hindered by one of my arm being in a sling, in a slightly wingless fashion, I managed to pull him away and the majestic yet wrongly targeted bird waddled off into the water.

Yesterday, an even more shocking case of “swan abuse” was sadly highlighted with news that that two swans and five cygnets had been found wrapped in plastic bags and thrown in a stream in Benenden, Kent. After X-rays of the birds were taken it was revealed that these innocent creatures were peppered with pellets and thus victims of what an RSPCA inspector, Dave Grant, termed an “absolutely disgusting” attack.

An X-ray of one of the birds that was so brutally slaughtered

Given that virtually all swans in England and Wales are owned by the Queen, it has been suggested that the birds were targeted due to their association with royalty. Stephen Knight of the Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton, Middlesex remarked:

“The reason they pick on swans is because it is widely know that they belong to the Crown, so they are a symbol of the establishment.”

“The kind of people who do this are faceless bullies that have got no moral compass. Someone once posted a gag that was titled ‘how to upset the Queen.’ It included a picture of a gun and swan, which was locked in a cage. After that we saw a little spike in shootings.”

Elsewhere, it has been revealed that the “Bin the Bread” campaign to stop people feeding swans bread has resulted in many of the birds now being underweight. In comments to The Telegraph, the Queen’s Swan Marker, David Barber, Member of the Royal Victorian Order, remarked stated “there is no good reason” not to feeds swans bread. He remarked that many now wander the roads and put themselves in further danger whilst looking for food and added:

“Supporters of the campaign claim that bread should not be fed to swans on the grounds that it is bad for them. This is not correct. Swans have been fed bread for many hundreds of years without causing any ill effects.”

“While bread may not be the best dietary option for swans compared to their natural food such as river weed, it has become a very important source of energy for them, supplementing their natural diet and helping them to survive the cold winter months when vegetation is very scarce.”

“There is no good reason not to feed bread to swans, provided it is not mouldy.”

“Most households have surplus bread and children have always enjoyed feeding swans with their parents.”

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December 3, 2018
The Berk Bercow

Speaker Bercow brings shame on himself and Britain through his mendacious ways (yet again) suggests Matthew Steeples

John Bercow could be criticised for marrying a rough bird named Sally (who then had an affair with his very own cousin and flirted outrageously on television with the somewhat strange gypsy Paddy Doherty) but now he’s finally gone too far.

Though Bercow is a Remain supporter and displays a ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ sticker in his somewhat decrepit Land Rover Freelander (something readers would think would make him endear to me), I now call out this dwarf-like rat as the disgrace that he truly is.

In a story in today’s Daily Mail, it is revealed that Speaker Bercow claimed £17,103 in travel expenses in the period between January and September 2018 (on top of all that this deservedly much loathed individual has nabbed in the past).

That a Speaker of the House of Commons even needs to travel beyond the chamber is perplexing but that he even claimed £1,368 to take three people to a funeral of a friend just takes the biscuit. This cretinous creep should be now given a one way ticket. To where I hear you ask? Siberia.

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November 29, 2018
The Murkiness of Maddie

Matthew Steeples questions the reasoning of the continued funding into the investigation into the ‘disappearance’ of Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann deserves justice. That’s undeniable but what is utterly wrong is that so do all the other missing and presumed dead children.

That ‘Maddie’s’ supposedly respectable middle class doctor parents – guilty at the very least of child neglect on the basis that they left their children unattended in spite of having the resources to afford a babysitter – continue to attract media attention and have managed to persuade the state to part with £11.95 million (plus millions more from the public) is an absolute outrage.

If this innocent child had been working class would she have attracted such resources? I think not and if, as Janet Street-Porter pointed out in the Daily Mail today, ‘Maddie’ had not been “cute and blonde,” would people still be interested?

Aside from parties in Downing Street with their mate Theresa May and trips on the alleged abuser Sir ‘Shifty’ Philip Green’s plane, Gerry and Kate McCann mostly have spent recent years hanging out with the likes of the charity tin loving Baroness Meyer and her “red socked fop” hubby Sir Christopher. They have drained resources that could have been used to find countless others and it is jolly well time that this pointless and ridiculous search was stopped.

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November 16, 2018
Bring Her Down

Matthew Steeples calls for Theresa May to follow her resigning ministers and JUST GO

Today was a moment in history. First, Theresa May lost a fair few cabinet ministers and then she stupidly claimed: “A good Brexit is possible.”

This deranged and shabbily dressed woman – sadly not even taken on by the equally incompetent Commie Jeremy Corbyn – was given free reign in the House of Incompetents (where most MPs sat playing on their mobile phones) to stupidly announce we’d have “an ambitious future” and a “brighter future for our country.”

With the pound crashing and companies fleeing from our borders, Mrs May – deserted by even that well-known GMTV knicker flasher Esther McVey – faced questions from Ken Clarke who rightly pointed out that we will lose “huge flows of inwards investment.” As a counterpoint, the pugnacious but this time on the point Iain Duncan Smith remarked: “My concern is that we had the sovereign right… But we do not have the sovereign right to leave this arrangement.”

Basically, we live in a land that has become a joke. Even ‘The Vulcan’ John Redwood got it: “This House now has a clear choice… £39 billion has just been said for nothing.”

It is time for Theresa May to go and it is time she did it now.

#MakeNovemberTheEndOfMay #BringHerDown

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November 15, 2018
Trounced Theresa

Matthew Steeples suggests Theresa May’s time truly is up

Theresa May stood at The Centopah yesterday and looked like a she was about to be run into the ground.

Next to the scruffy (as could be easily and always predicted) Commie Jeremy Corbyn, this lackadaisical and utterly pointless woman presented an image of somebody with a dress sense that reflected her status: That of an epic failure. Plainly the clothing suggestions of her only real friend, the charity tin loving Baroness Meyer didn’t pay off.

With the DUP deserting her and ‘Cain and Abel’ (brothers Boris and Jo Johnson) having turned also, we predict May’s next moment will be to follow the path of Julius Caesar. This is a woman whose hand has fallen off the tiller and a woman whose own party is now at war with itself.

People thought John Major was bad but by God, we’re in a situation worse. This may not something akin to the Suez Crisis and the resignation of Anthony Eden (as Jo Johnson described it), but it’s jolly well time Theresa May just faces up to the facts and grabs her and her ‘Garden Gnome-like’ husband’s spoils of premiership before she’s deservedly shoved under the bus.

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November 12, 2018
Trounced Theresa

Matthew Steeples suggests Theresa May’s time truly is up

Theresa May stood at The Centopah yesterday and looked like a she was about to be run into the ground.

Next to the scruffy (as could be easily and always predicted) Commie Jeremy Corbyn, this lackadaisical and utterly pointless woman presented an image of somebody with a dress sense that reflected her status: That of an epic failure. Plainly the clothing suggestions of her only real friend, the charity tin loving Baroness Meyer didn’t pay off.

With the DUP deserting her and ‘Cain and Abel’ (brothers Boris and Jo Johnson) having turned also, we predict May’s next moment will be to follow the path of Julius Caesar. This is a woman whose hand has fallen off the tiller and a woman whose own party is now at war with itself.

People thought John Major was bad but by God, we’re in a situation worse. This may not something akin to the Suez Crisis and the resignation of Anthony Eden (as Jo Johnson described it), but it’s jolly well time Theresa May just faces up to the facts and grabs her and her ‘Garden Gnome-like’ husband’s spoils of premiership before she’s deservedly shoved under the bus.

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November 12, 2018
Calling for a Coup

Matthew Steeples suggests the mess that is currently Britain needs a wake-up call and it needs a coup

It’s all David Cameron’s fault: There was no need for him to call a referendum on leaving the EU and all that has resulted – in the wake of him walking away in the most cowardly fashion – has been a tragedy for our once great country.

Stranded now in the land of limbo, Britain faces a situation, as reported today on the Mail Online, of a wishy-washy “Canada-style” deal with Europe. This represents an example of the politics of division and the politics of non-practicalities; it will result in nothing but further mess and nothing but additional chaos.

With the “enfant terrible” and bully boy Arron Banks rightly facing an investigation for effectively having funded the campaign that caused what will basically bankrupt Britain with foreign funds, it is now time for something else. Even he thinks that we should now remain in the EU but what Britain actually really needs is new leadership and it needs it now: It’s no longer time for Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, it’s time to get the tanks on the lawn and it’s time for a coup.

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Referendum cheat Arron Banks

Communist cretin Jeremy Corbyn

G4S profiteers Philip and Theresa May

Smug coward and all round prat David Cameron

November 4, 2018
No Offence Taken

Matthew Steeples questions the validity of getting easily offended as a man “offends” a woman on the Underground by dressing as Samuel L. Jackson

People will always find reasons to be offended it seems. In the days of the overblown #MeToo movement our snowflake society cannot cope with anything that isn’t politically correct.

This morning’s Mail Online reported that a woman was outraged when she spotted a white man who’d made himself look like Samuel L. Jackson for Halloween on a London Underground train.

Whilst I personally wouldn’t do such a thing – for starters, I do not “do” fancy dress of any kind – that the bizarrely named Petra-Isabella Joli declared it “a bit racist” is a little bit ridiculous.

Why not get angry about something a little bit more serious?

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October 29, 2018
The Poppy Pariahs

Matthew Steeples names and shames the retail giants who won’t be selling Royal British Legion poppies this year; they include Boots, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Tesco, Waitrose and Wholefoods

Even ‘Murky’ Meghan Markle – down under in New Zealand on tour – is sporting one right now; the humble poppy. A mark of respect to those who fought so we didn’t end up living under a regime of terror, most surprisingly, isn’t available at a single supermarket in Belgravia, Chelsea, Fulham or Knightsbridge.

Today, I visited Sainsbury’s in Elizabeth Street, Belgravia in the hope of buying a Royal British Legion poppy. I asked at the counter and was met with: “We don’t sell those things.” I then telephoned the company’s press office and was told: “Our employees got the wrong end of the stick.”

Subsequently, by email, a media relations executive working at the firm, Jordan Grant, replied and commented: “We can reassure customers poppies will be available in store this week.” Given it is already 29^th October and Remembrance Sunday is just 13 days away, this is hardly acceptable – especially given the store is already selling Christmas decorations (Christmas Day is 57 days away).

Next, in frustration, I visited Tesco on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. Situated directly next to the National Army Museum and close to the Royal Hospital – home to the legendary and widely respected Chelsea Pensioners. On asking for a poppy, a till operative lackadaisically remarked: “We do not sell those things. We are a supermarket.”

Waitrose Belgravia – commonly known as “Celebrity Waitrose” due to the likes of John Cleese and Lady Helen Taylor being regulars –presented a similar but worse response. The customer service desk operative at the flagship store told me: “We do not condone war so do not sell poppies. It is against our company policy.”

A friend, on my behalf, visited Wholefoods and was told: “We don’t know what poppies are” (they, at least, suggested donating to a homeless charity). She also got told at Boots: “We don’t sell things like that” but did find a lovely pair of Sikh gentlemen selling poppies in the Fulham Broadway underground station. She gave them £25.

A phone call to Selfridges was met with: “We do not supply poppies” but Harrods came through. Their customer service desk call handler announced: “We will be selling poppies later this week. We like to support the Royal British Legion.”

Shame on the high street retailers of Britain. Not a poppy in sight and not an ounce of support for the heroes who’ve saved us. This is an utter disgrace and it should be named as such.

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October 29, 2018
Repugnant Robinson

Matthew Steeples suggests that continued interest in the case of Tommy Robinson illustrates a very dangerous extremist underbelly still exists in British politics

Whatever the complexities of the case against Tommy Robinson and Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC’s decision to refer the allegation of contempt of court against him to the Attorney General, one thing is clear: the appearance of him and his thug-like followers outside the Old Bailey today simply shows that British politics has still not managed to see off far-right extremism.

Former English Defence League (EDL) leader Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – arrived at the court this morning supported by “hundreds of supporters” according to the BBC. As he left, shouts of “Oh, Tommy, Tommy” and “We want Tommy out, we want Tommy out” emanated from what was described as “an enthusiastic crowd.”

Supported also by the equally nasty nutcase Gerrard Batten, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), who took to a stage to remark: “It looks very much like when Tommy was jailed, for the alleged contempt of court, this was about who he was, not what he was saying,” 35 year old Robinson himself then decided to speak. He announced he thought he’d “acted in good faith” when he violated reporting restrictions on grooming trials at Leeds Crown Court in May and announced: “My continued prosecution is because of who I am rather than what I did.”

Bizarrely next – as his supporters chanted the mainstream media were “scum” – Robinson then described himself as a “journalist.” He added:

“What’s changed is that last night they received my statement of evidence to go before the court. It would appear my treatment is exceptional. I would ask to be treated the same as every other journalist.”

“To the journalists: The British public do not trust you, they do not believe you. You are the enemies of the people.”

Whether the allegations against Robinson are ultimately proven true or false, right-minded individuals will surely accept the scene outside the court today to be illustrative of the continued presence of dangerous extremism in a country considered to be tolerant. Messrs Batten, Robinson and their far-right opinions represent a threat to us all and they deserve to be highlighted as such.

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October 23, 2018