The Steeple Times

Tag: Donald Trump

  • Theresa’s Trumped

    Theresa’s Trumped

    Blundering bin bag Theresa May will form a minority government today, but it won’t last; the nation want her and her nasty party gone

     

    From the moment Theresa May awkwardly held Donald Trump’s hand in Washington back in January, it was all but over. Cursed by appearing a poodle to the worst POTUS in history, Britain’s then unelected Prime Minister showed herself as a kowtowing coward and a mandateless moron.

     

    May – a self-declared “goody two shoes” whose outfits are supposedly chosen with the help of her ‘charitable’ chum Lady Meyer and whose “most naughty moment ever” was supposedly “golly gosh, running through fields of wheat” – had not needed to call an election but doing so has rightly cost her dear. When the contest was announced back in May, the public, represented best by ‘Brenda from Bristol’, told her: “Not another [election]. Oh for God’s sake, I can’t honestly… I can’t stand this”, but on this Lady Macbeth-like harridan blundered.

     

    Theresa’s Trumped – Theresa Trump got it so wrong and should go – Blundering bin bag Conservative leader Theresa May will form a minority government today, but it won’t last; the nation want her and her nasty party gone
    Philip and Theresa May – a bumbling ‘Wallace & Gromit-like’ duo unsuitable for the task of steering our nation through Brexit and beyond

     

    Appearing on the BBC’s One Show with her garden gnome-like husband, Philip, foolish Mrs May car-crashingly joked about whose responsibility it was to take the bins out – there are, after all, “boys jobs” and “girls jobs” – and kept repeating her mantra of “Strong and Stable”. It was no longer about parties, it was “Theresa’s Team” but what the nation rightly came to understand her as was as one of the worst Home Secretary’s in modern history. Here, indeed, was a woman who’d closed our police stations and here was one who’d shut our fire stations; here was a woman whose friendship with the McCanns had resulted in them getting £11 million for their pointless search and here was a woman whose inquiry into historic abuse cost £100 million, yet, again achieved nothing for victims.

     

    Though, surprisingly, for once, former UKIP’s former leader Nigel Farage got it right in stating: “The vicar’s daughter came across as insincere and establishment… Jeremy Corbyn fought and an amazing campaign and came across well”, it took Labour’s Tom Watson to sum up the mood of the nation when he remarked: “She said she was strong and stable. The public saw she was weak and wobbly”.

     

    The Tory leader shot herself in the foot yesterday and as Paddy Ashdown concluded: “Mrs May: Enough is enough”. Let’s now put the rubbish out and let’s consign Theresa May to the bin bag of history.

     

  • Letters – Green Business Goes Lib Dem

    Letters – Green Business Goes Lib Dem

    Influential business leaders from green sector back Lib Dems in Thursday’s General Election in a letter to ‘The Steeple Times’

     

    Sir

     

    The environment has been shut out of this election.

     

    Economic growth has provided the world with abundant food, medicine, energy and raw materials. However, unmanaged it is destroying the ecosystem, wiping out fauna, flora, forests and seas. An ecological meltdown will cause economic ruin, political turmoil and threaten the very existence of human civilisation.

     

    Air pollution causes 40,000 premature deaths in the UK each year.  With greenhouse gases and habitat depletion, together, they are having a catastrophic effect on our environment, contributing to global climate change, wildlife, crop and forest damage, rising sea levels, floods and haze.  Whole countries could drown under water or starve under drought, driving migration and climate wars.

     

    The path to a sustainable future requires the creative power of our best scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, backed by the courage of politicians to think long term.

     

    Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris accords is an act of environmental vandalism on a global scale.  And by refusing to condemn him, Theresa May is aiding and abetting him.

     

    Only the Lib Dems combine the ambition to bring forward climate change targets and support for the Paris agreement, with an entrepreneurial approach to investing in cutting edge clean technologies, and commitment to international institutions to enable Britain to be a world leader in protecting the global environment.

     

    Britain has been part of the cause.  By supporting the Lib Dems on 8th June, Britain can also be part of the solution.

     

    Yours faithfully

     

    Simon Blakey, managing director, SAB Global Energy

    Duncan Brack, independent environmental policy analyst

    James Cameron, chairman, Green Running

    Mark Campanale, founder, Carbon Tracker Initiative

    Christopher Clement-Davies, editor, International Energy Law Review

    Simon Clement-Davies, managing director, Augusta & Co.

    Jason Cooper, founder, Jason Cooper Architects

    Ray Georgeson MBE, director, RGR-Ray Georgeson Resources

    Dr Mark Hinnells, solutions director, Susenco

    Dr Susan Juned, senior consultant, Greenwatt Technology

    Adam Knight, co-founder, Social & Sustainable Capital

    Richard Lill, financing and construction manager, Energiekontor UK

    James McNaught-Davis, green venture capitalist, Wetherby Capital

    Vickram Mirchandani, managing director, Coronation Power

    Hylton Murray Philipson, founder, Wingate Ventures

    Mark Petterson, co-founder, Warwick Energy

    Patrick Sheehan, founder, ETF Partners

    Heather Stevens CBE, chair, The Waterloo Foundation

    Jane Vaus, project director, Sustainability Hub

    Andrew Warren, chairman, Federation of Open Homes Network

    Andrew Wiseman, former chair, UK Environmental Law Association

     

    All of the above have signed in a personal capacity.

     

     

  • London

    London

    Donald Trump’s response to Saturday’s London terror attack was wholly inappropriate

     

    After the recent attack on Manchester, we saluted Donald Trump for having “spoken for the majority” in referring to the evil suicide bomber as a “loser”. Last night, however, after a similarly evil assault on London, the 45th POTUS got it completely wrong when he took to Twitter to share his thoughts as to what had happened.

     

    At 12:17am, Trump tweeted:

     

    We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!

     

    After immediate criticism about his immediate politicisation of a developing incident involving death and injury, Trump tempered his message a few minutes later at 12:24am. He added:

     

    Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there – WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!

     

    His response was deemed less than adequate and political commentator Iain Dale spoke for the majority when he responded:

     

    Nice of our closet ally to express his sympathy and support at a time like this. Instead he uses this to make a political point. Wanker.

     

    If Trump had reacted similarly to how he had over Manchester, he would have been lauded. Instead, he reverted to type and once again illustrated himself to be nothing but a buffoon. Shame on him and shame on the disgusting losers that attacked London.

     

    #LondonAttacks

     

  • Annabel Mullin – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    Annabel Mullin – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    A 20-question interview with criminal justice expert, former police officer and Liberal Democrat candidate for Kensington Annabel Mullin

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    To live every moment to the fullest and make the biggest difference to people’s lives that I can.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    I love the motto ‘carpe diem’ (seize the day). When I was younger, Dead Poets Society was one of my favourite films.

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

    Brexit.

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    Currently I’m missing not seeing my children much because I am campaigning so hard.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    Knowing that my children will have a great future.

     

    Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

    One of the things I would like to see in Kensington is more support for small businesses and local shop owners that help to create our community. We are currently facing threats to our local services from business rates and that is something that needs to be addressed.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    I loathe it when people say things they don’t mean. ‘Strong and Stable’ is currently high up there.

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    I agree. I support that concept. Having worked at Crisis, I continue to support homeless charities. I also love shopping in our fabulous Kensington charity shops.

     

    The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

    Mobiles are amazingly useful and I’m a bit of an addict to my device. However, there is a time and a place for them.

     

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    George Orwell, Harriet Harmen, Lawrence of Arabia, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, Sophie in’t Veld, Hercule Poirot, Hilary Clinton, Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Williams, Paula Radcliffe, Prince and Laura Kuenssberg.

     

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    My meal would be steak, chips and red wine followed by tiramisu. I’d rather like to eat it high up in Petra overlooking the wondrous landscape.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    That depends entirely on which time zone you are going by.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    A martini, preferably an espresso martini.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    Now, dinner parties with close friends but when I was younger, more partying.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    My husband.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    The ‘Archers Appreciation’ group on Facebook… With wine.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    A dragon.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    A Mercedes-Benz Gullwing.

     

    Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    That I was an ultra-marathon runner and completed the Marathon Des Sables in 2008.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    An elephant – the house is littered with them, candlesticks and birthday cards for my eldest’ fifth birthday.

     

    Annabel Mullin was born and brought up in Kensington and Chelsea. She is mother of three young children, a keen environmentalist and a cyclist. She is a criminal justice expert and has spent most of her life working in London as an analyst, a Metropolitan Police officer in Soho and Mayfair and as an assistant psychologist with prisoners with mental illness. Recently she has worked as a PhD researcher at UCL.

     

    Follow her on Twitter at @annabelmullin and @KCLibDems.

     

  • Wally of the Week – Andre Walker

    Wally of the Week – Andre Walker

    Whackjob former Tory activist turned Jared Kushner employed ‘journalist’ Andre Walker tells ‘The Steeple Times’: “In the words of Trump: ‘You are fake news’” (and then blocks us)

     

    Andre Walker is of the Donald Trump school when it comes to dealing with situations he doesn’t like: This former Tory bullyboy turned Breitbart braggart and Jared Kushner employed Observer “lobby correspondent” thrashes around, shouts loudly and then throws his toys out of the pram.

     

    On Tuesday, after being asked a series of questions about his role in the Conservative Party’s 2015 battlebus scandal via Twitter over a number of weeks, self-confessed “fat, northern… bit of a bruiser” Walker sent The Steeple Times a final tweet and then blocked us. It read:

     

    “I have never run any bus of any description ever. In the words of Trump, ‘you are fake news’”.

     

    Far-right provocateur Walker – whose career highlights have included being forced to resign as a political aide after being exposed smearing colleagues in 2010 and for his connections with the ‘Tatler Tory’ Mark Clarke and events that culminated in the suicide of another activist named Elliott Johnson in 2015 – then charmingly justified his move to his 78,000 followers:

     

    “I’ve only ever blocked one person on Twitter but it’s got to be two now”.

     

    We’re honoured.

     

    Pictured above: Andre Walker (top circle) with his especially pleasant chum, Mark ‘Tatler Tory’ Clarke, below.

     

  • The Cat That Didn’t Get The Cream

    The Cat That Didn’t Get The Cream

    Though Julian Assange’s cat may have looked on smugly yesterday, all its bail jumping owner achieved was to make himself appear arrogant and ridiculous

     

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has evaded British justice for 2,356 days and though, yesterday, he may have stood on a balcony and pontificated about how he won’t “forgive or forget”, all he achieved was once again to show himself as a tedious pillock and complete nuisance.

     

    In the time this narcissistic Australian has been holed up in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in Knightsbridge, with his help, Donald Trump has become 45th President of the United States of America and all avenues of Swedish prosecutors investigating him over an alleged rape exhausted. It is a shameful state of affairs and it is utterly wrong that this bail jumper continues to think he’s above British law.

     

    In response to a question as to whether she would support Britain extraditing Assange to the US, another self-serving sort, Theresa May, conveniently dodged a bullet yesterday. This equally smug woman blandly answered:

     

    “Any decision that is taken about UK action in relation to [Assange] were he to leave the Ecuadorian embassy would be an operational matter for the police”.

     

    #BirdsOfAFeather

     

    Picture: Julian Assange’s cat in the window of the Embassy of Ecuador in London on Friday 19th May 2017 (with sweets thrown on the windowsill by supporters supposedly keen to feed it and its bail jumping owner), © Matthew Steeples.

     

     

  • Louise Rowntree – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    Louise Rowntree – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    A 20-question interview with public affairs and communications consultant and Liberal Democrat candidate for Chelsea & Fulham Louise Rowntree

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    Treat others the way you want to be treated.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    You’re not living unless you take risks.

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

    Theresa May.

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    Time to ‘mong’.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    Being the fastest swimmer in the world.

     

    Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

    It was going quite well in Britain until Brexit.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    “How are you?” instead of “hello”.

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    With three children, a small business and the General Election, I am conscious that I don’t do enough to help out in the local community currently. Locally, I’m ambassador for the Fulham Cricket Club – which gives free cricket training to children whose parents wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it, and has linked up with a number of charities including Hammersmith & Fulham Refugees Welcome. More generally, I donate (a modest sum) to Save the Children each month.

     

    The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

    My late father always said: “You can tell who’s important. They’re the ones without a phone”. When on a train take calls in the corridor, try to avoid taking them when with others but – if you must – ask permission first. Never put your phone on a table if with others.

     

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    Vincent Cassel, Nancy Wake (‘The White Mouse’), Ian Hislop, Michelle Obama, Mick Jagger, Amy Schumer, Guillaume Canet, Diana Ross, Jimmy Fallon and the entire cast of Saturday Night Live.

     

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    Chinese dim sum, on a boat on the River Thames going through Chelsea and Fulham.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    Any time, as long the occasion fits and you can handle your drink.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    A Negroni, but in a glass, not from the bottle.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    Ours: Because my husband DJ’s and we always have to threaten to call the police at 4am.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    Jessica Arora: Fashion guru, co-founder of NotSuchAModelMum and a good friend.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    Eating a whole box of salt and vinegar Pringles whilst drinking wine in bed and watching American TV series’.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    A rowan tree: I’m a descendant of Vikings who invaded York over a thousand years ago and took their name from the local rowan tree – which morphed into ‘Rowntree’: Rooted, earth, strong, proud – it sums up both my Yorkshire ancestors and me.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    A Lada: Old fashioned, rare, traditional and scrubs up surprisingly well with a bit of polish.

     

    Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    I was taught how to fight at the age of five, but thankfully have only once had to.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    A Mappin & Webb clock my late father was given when he retired from the bank he ran, a couple of Delft vases from a Belgian flee market, a Limoges egg which belonged to my late grandmother, and my son’s Grade 2 Music Theory certificate.

     

    Louise Rowntree is a lawyer-turned-public affairs and communications consultant who grew up in Chelsea and lives in Fulham. She is married to Raphael, a Belgian lawyer, has three sons and is standing as the Liberal Democrat for Chelsea & Fulham in the 2017 General Election.

     

    Louise worked for several years in Brussels – where she ran Hill & Knowlton’s Trade & Competition department. In 2012 she founded her own, niche, consultancy Rowntree & Associates and moved back to London soon after. She has personally advised heads of state, ambassadors, ministers, multinationals, NGOs and law firms.

     

    Follow her on Twitter at @louise_rowntree.

     

    Photograph by Micki Scupin Rogers.

     

  • Adrien Gaubert – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    Adrien Gaubert – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    A 20-question interview with Adrien Gaubert, award-winning co-founder of myGwork – an inclusive LGBTI recruitment hub

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    Positivity and fun. I am grateful to be alive and able to do what I do. Enjoy every moment.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    Just be yourself, be honest and work towards a goal. You’ll achieve it.

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

    Bashar al-Assad.

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    I miss living in China. I am a great fan of Chinese culture and their way of thinking.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    To give food and shelter to everyone.

     

    Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

    Our financial system protects the wealthy and has given up on the poor.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    “God wants” – I don’t believe, if there were such a thing as God, he would expect anything from humanity.

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    Whenever someone asks me for a coin in the street, I give them a smile and give them what they have asked for. I believe such people are incredible brave to ask others for help and comfort. I personally support anyone in need without distinction or judgement. I never buy sandwiches for homeless people when they ask for cash even if they might use it to buy alcohol or drugs. If I were living on the street, I might also want to get high so as to forget about my situation.

     

    The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

    Your microwave could explode anytime, but you use it everyday. I believe mobile phones are a great communication tool and I would not give mine up.

     

    myGwork co-founder Adrien Gaubert – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    I would take my brothers, my mum and my grandma and grandpa (with whom I watched the movie adapted from the Agatha Christie novel when I was a child).

     

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    I would eat some really spicy Sichuan food.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    12pm if it is summer and a holiday. 7pm during the week.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    If it is just one, then tea but if I get more than one, martinis.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    Mexican weddings. Those people clearly know how to celebrate.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    Probably me.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    Cigarettes.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    I have no tattoos and I am not a fan of them as a form of expression. Personally, I would not get a tattoo to remember who or what I love.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    A Jaguar. They are safe and fashionable.

     

    Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    I have a twin brother.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    Flowers.

     

    Adrien Gaubert is a 29-year old Frenchman who now lives in London. He co-founded myGwork, a networking and recruitment platform to promote diversity for LGBTI professionals and graduates, with his twin brother, Pierre.

     

    Follow the Gaubert twins on Instagram at @thegaubertwins

     

  • Trumping a Visa

    Trumping a Visa

    Kushner family exposed for promoting their links to the Trump presidency to flog flats (with visas) to Chinese investors

     

    Yesterday, The Washington Post, in revealing that the Kushner family are hawking properties complete with investor visas, illustrated yet another appalling example of what is fast becoming the shadiest presidential dynasty in history.

     

    According to the paper, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, was in Beijing on Saturday to promote a New Jersey apartment complex named Kushner 1 to “a ballroom full of wealthy Chinese investors”. The event, which had been promoted with a brochure tagged: “Invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States”.

     

    Of the way in which the Kushner family behaved, Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration remarked:

     

    “It’s incredibly stupid and highly inappropriate. They clearly imply that the Kushners are going to make sure you get your visa… They’re [Chinese applicants] not going to take a chance. Of course they’re going to want to invest”.

     

    Unsurprisingly, journalists found themselves evicted from the shindig. The Kushners’ reasoning? “The presence of foreign reporters threatened the ‘stability’ of the event. This is not the story we want”.

     

    Pictured above (left to right): Nicole Kushner Meyer, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Kushner and Donald Trump.

     

    Trumping a Visa – Jared Kushner’s family exposed for promoting their links to the Trump presidency to flog flats (with visas) to Chinese investors by The Washington Post – Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Kushner, Donald Trump, Nicole Kushner Meyer, Kushner 1, China.

  • The Busy Borwicks

    The Busy Borwicks

    Son of Kensington MP Lady Borwick’s curious connections to the people who ensured both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump revealed

     

    On Sunday, Carole Cadwalladr of  The Observer published a lengthy and well researched article that, amongst other things, examined the connections between The Hon. Thomas Borwick – the son of the Conservative hereditary peer The Rt. Hon. The Lord Borwick and Kensington’s Member of Parliament Lady ‘Call me Victoria’ Borwick – and the controversial US hedge fund titan and backer of Donald Trump, Robert Mercer.

     

    A director of a multitude of companies, in spite of being just 29 years old, “new media expert” Thomas Borwick – whose mother was forced to apologise “after using City Hall resources to promote her husband’s [now defunct] electric vehicle business” in 2009 – it now transpires, was not only Vote Leave’s chief technology officer but previously worked with SCL/Cambridge Analytica and AggregateIQ. Borwick currently touts himself to his 202 followers on Twitter as the founder of a political canvasing consultancy named Kan.to, an organisation that he boldy claims “will out-organise, out-plan, out-leaflet, out-twitter, out-work and out-vote all of its opponents”.

     

    Mercer, one of the owners of the far-right Breitbart News Network as well as being a major shareholder in Cambridge Analytica, is a man whose “sinister” connections to both Trump and Nigel Farage have rightly been widely criticised. On that basis, that the son of fervent Brexiteer Lady Borwick – a woman whose constituents voted 69% to ‘Remain’ and whose domain was home to a greater proportion of EU nationals than any other London borough in 2016 – has links to this billionaire and his activities should only encourage the voters of Kensington to ditch her and her out-of-touch party.

     

    We urge Kensington based readers to support Annabel Mullin of the Liberal Democrats on 8th June. This principled lady is the only person who can realistically unseat Lady Borwick and she is the only candidate who will support the beliefs the majority in this constituency continue to hold dear.

     

    #DumpLadyBorwick #VoteAnnabelMullin