Nikolay Kalinin shares his thoughts on Magdalen College removing a portrait of the Queen
At the postgraduate Magdalen College in Oxford, the students voted to remove a print of the Queen that was hung up in their Common Room in 2013, justifying their decision by stating that the figure represents “recent colonial history,” with one student saying that “patriotism and colonialism are not really separable”.
The removal of the picture has prompted instant backlash, with education secretary Gavin Williamson calling the decision “simply absurd,” while Piers Morgan wrote: “Can we vote to have Monarch-ordered Tower of London imprisonment powers restored for these insolent wastrels?”.
It seems ironic how people like Gavin Williamson supported a “university free speech bill” a month ago, but now are condemning the decision of the students to use that power of freedom of speech to take down a print through democratic means to a vote. This truly shows that to them freedom of speech is fine as long as it supports their own ideology.
Regarding the ideology behind the removal, I do not agree with the statement that patriotism is inseparable from colonialism, because you can still love Britain and condemn its colonial past. However, I do understand where the students come from, since the monarch was the head of the British empire, and therefore seen as responsible for some of its worst atrocities such as the Amritsar massacre.
Overall, I don’t necessarily agree with “cancelling” the Queen, but I do think that there should be more debate about Britain’s colonial past, how we should deal with it and what the monarchy means to this country nowadays.
The print of the Queen removed as part of Magdalen College students’ decision to invoke what some condemn as “cancel culture.”
Crackpot clairvoyant Michael Schneider claims he’s found the location of Madeleine McCann’s body; he remarkably did so with Google Maps, his fingers and the help of God (according to the ‘Mirror’)
When the British government is in a mess – the current case being whether the 21st June ‘unlockdown’ will actually occur due to the ever-increasing prevalence of the Indian variant of coronavirus – they encourage the reeling out of another senseless story about ‘disappeared’ Madeleine McCann.
Sharing suggestions from a clairvoyant – yes, you read it correct, a crackpot clairvoyant – named Michael Schneider, the paper reported that the BKA, “Germany’s equivalent of the FBI,” are “appropriately incorporating” his belief that ‘Missing Maddie’ is “buried in a forest just six miles where she vanished… into their work.”
Schneider argues he “does not give out such information lightly,” yet then laughably explained: “I look at a photo of the missing person and ask myself upwards towards God whether this living being is alive or dead.”
Continuing, this clearly off-his-merry-rocker 50-year-old fruitcake then added:
“After that I take an atlas or a road map and look at large areas superficially. Afterwards at Google Maps and Earth. Then I let my fingers and my eyes circle over these maps until they stop on a spot and mark it.”
Elsewhere, the MailOnline shared their thoughts on the development and declared:
“He isn’t the first clairvoyant to claim supernatural powers have helped him pinpoint Madeleine’s location. Nine years ago, detectives studied 100 logs from psychics that were previously ignored and termed ‘a waste of resources.’”
“And in 2017, the family were hit by a cruel hoax after Susan Kelly demanded payment from the family as she claimed to know ‘the truth’ about Madeleine’s whereabouts.”
Responding to Schneider’s plainly nothing but a publicity prank prattling, the frankly utterly useless German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters witlessly warbled:
“Several psychics have responded to our call for help in the past year and offered assistance. In some cases, we also received concrete tips. We do not ignore them, but we are cautious.”
On Twitter, members of the public called out this claptrap for what it truly is. One user named Eli remarked: “There’s a sucker born every minute” whilst another concluded: “If you wish to know where Madeleine McCann is… ask Kate and Gerry.”
Going further and echoing our previous sentiments about the total misallocation of £13.5 million to a case that plainly isn’t going to get solved whilst neglecting to support the families of other missing people, one David Osland shared an image of another child who went missing and quite rightly asked: “Any reason this poor boy didn’t get the same priority as Madeleine McCann?”
Pictured top: Michael Schneider (left) and Gerry McCann with an image of his ‘missing’ daughter, Madeleine McCann – a child supposedly ‘taken’ on the 3rd May 2007 after she and her siblings were left alone in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
Living it Large – Gerry MccCann enjoying a round of golf (left); Kate McCann at Downing Street, London hobnobbing with Missing People CEO Martin Houghton-Brown, the Duchess of Gloucester and the then Home Secretary Theresa May on 23rd May 2012 (right).The ‘MailOnline’ shared that the location former TV reporter turned clairvoyant Michael Schneider believes where Madeleine McCann’s body is buried is just six miles from where she ‘vanished’ in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. They added: “[He] has told police officers the ‘exact co-ordinates’ of the spot he believes the youngster’s body can be found in a fresh blow to the McCann family… His clairvoyance technique includes looking at photographs of a missing person and asking God ‘whether this living being is alive or dead,’ before turning to atlases and Google Maps until they ‘stop on a spot.’”
Twitter reactions to Michael Schneider’s batshit bonkers claims…
EXCLUSIVE – Kirby Sommers shares another chapter from her latest book ‘Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography’ with readers of ‘The Steeple Times’ and this time explores the currently incarcerated socialite’s life in London in the 1980s
Chapter Seven. Ghislaine in the 1980s.
Annabel’s is a private members’ only club in Mayfair located West of London. It was founded in 1963 by Mark Birley then married to Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart after whom he named it. Annabel would later marry Sir Jimmy Goldsmith, rumored to be a spy, and who, in the early 1970s became a friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s.
It was the first of its kind – a club for the very affluent, the very powerful or the very famous. Their clientele included the royal family. Charles, Prince of Wales who everyone believed would be King in short order and his younger brother, Prince Andrew. It was the only club that Queen Elizabeth ever attended. In later years it became the go to club for younger royals like Princes William and Harry.
The entrance was lined even from the earliest days with the rich, the powerful and the beautiful where streams of the upper-class descended into the basement to party. Journalists were never admitted and the entertainment included The Rolling Stones, Diana Ross and in earlier days Ella Fitzgerald. Joan Collins was in the club dancing one evening and a photographer from the Sun had managed to get himself into the club. He snapped a photo of her and was immediately plucked off the dance floor by two burly men who left him lying on the pavement outside sans the film in his camera.
After tumbling down the stairs into the poshest basement on the planet one is welcome into a den of hedonistic indulgence. The rooms were covered in wild wallpaper along with paintings by Picasso and racy nude drawings. The bathroom sinks were in the shape of golden swans and the walls a sensual floral pink. A life size gorilla sitting on a chair stood guard at the end of the hallway. It was over the top eccentric, but most of all it was posh.
In the 1980s Ghislaine Maxwell was one of the ‘somebodies’ along with her friends from Oxford. As with the debutantes of days long gone Ghislaine would murmur, “Take me to Bel’s” to the man of the moment. And, one of her ‘men’ in the 1980s was David Faber – a future MP.
Annabel’s was the sort of place where anything went and where “smooching” in one of dozens of its nooks and crannies was as much a part of the experience as kicking off one’s shoes or one’s clothes and losing oneself to the pulsating euphoria of the music on the infamous wooden dancefloor.
David Faber is a descendent of several British politicians. He also happens to be the great-grandson of the founder of MacMillan Publishing.
More tidbits about David include that his uncle, Maurice Macmillan, worked with Sir Edward Heath during the time he was Prime Minister. Heath is alleged to have sexually abused children commencing in 1961. He served for 51 years as a member of Parliament and died in 2005.
It should be noted that MacMillan was taken over by Robert Maxwell in November of 1988 for $2.6 billion. Although Maxwell claimed he had no plans to dispose of the company’s assets, one month later he sold a piece of it, Intertec, to an investment group led by Rothschild, Inc – the same company that served as his adviser in the purchase. Robert S. Pirie the Co-Chairman and CEO of Rothschild North America was his advisor in the transaction. In 1993 Pirie went on to became the Senior Managing Director of Bear Stearns & Co.
I thought it interesting that all the people in the Maxwell world circled around to those in Epstein’s world and so I tracked down an old New York Times article. It states, “Bear Stearns hired Mr. Pirie as a senior managing director. The firm, known primarily for trading, is trying to increase its banking business.”
Below is a photo of David dragging a disheveled and unbalanced 22-year-old Ghislaine while holding up her arm attempting to keep her steady on her feet at Annabel’s.
While Annabel’s always maintained a “no photo” policy banishing any member who breached protocol, nowadays with the advent of social media, their house rule has morphed into: “Photography within the club and posting to social media should be discreet and not involve or feature other members and their guests.”
Ghislaine and David began their romance while both at Balliol College, Oxford University. There is a second photo of Faber with Maxwell at the Chelsea Arts Ball during the club’s extravagant New Year’s Eve party on December 31, 1985. And there were probably many more before all things Maxwell began to get scrubbed off the internet after Jeffrey Epstein’s second arrest on July 6, 2019.
Ghislaine’s father, Bob, who had already cozied up to the Royal family and was fond of having his photo taken with Prince Charles, Princess Diana and the Queen would have been delighted to know Ghislaine was dancing up a storm and rubbing elbows with the royals. Prince Andrew was also a frequent guest at Annabel’s which is an 8-minute drive to another one of his favorite clubs: Tramp.
The Chelsea Arts Club is another private members’ club established in 1891. To be considered as a member one needs to be sponsored by two current members. It was known for its hedonism where literally anything was allowed. Nudity, sex, homosexuality at a time when it wasn’t the norm – everything happened behind the ever-changing murals hand-painted by their resident artists.
Ghislaine wasn’t the only woman David romanced. While at Oxford he also dated Sally Gilbert, a leggy blonde, who is said by a contemporary of his to have “pursued him with great determination – he didn’t have a chance.” She became a television weather girl and they married in 1988.
By 1992 Sally had fallen out of love with David finding him to be lacking in warmth and found herself being comforted by the world’s most celebrated cad, James Hewitt. Faber when filing for divorce cited James Hewitt as co-respondent.
Major Hewitt, it should be noted, was Princess Diana’s riding teacher and in the Household Cavalry when tasked to give her riding lessons. Hewitt, while romancing Farber’s soon to be ex-wife, revealed himself as having a five-year affair with Princess Diana that began in 1986. To avoid getting caught Diana used the codename ‘Julia’ when sending mail to Hewitt.
Hewitt told the world, via a book co-authored with British journalist Anna Pasternak, that he was Princess Diana’s lover in 1994 when she was still married to Prince Charles, the future King of England. Diana was bitterly hurt and devastated when she learned he had shopped around the story of their affair. Although there are claims she continued to see him afterwards up to several months before her untimely death in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Ghislaine Maxwell was not considered a good student during her time at Oxford, not by her professors and not even by herself. She did however earn the nickname “Good Time Ghislaine.” This suited her just fine.
From the awkward looking teenager Ghislaine had grown into an adult. She seemed taller than her height, perhaps because of her heels, or how she carried herself. She was thin with broad shoulders and thick black layered hair. Her complexion was pale and according to people who knew her at the time she had “an intense sexuality, an almost androgynous allure.”
Ghislaine learned to use her sexuality to get what she wanted. And what she wanted the most was to marry a wealthy man. This appeared, however, to be out of reach for the girl who had everything.
Robert Maxwell was fond of saying, “I have a “beautiful daughter who is just like me.”
Author, sex abuse survivor and advocate Kirby Sommers previously exclusively revealed the previously unknown name of the 9-year-old child sat on the lap of Jeffrey Epstein on his private jet to ‘The Steeple Times’ in February. To order her latest book ‘Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography’ click here.
Tardis-like Grade II listed lodge house currently for sale could be Britain’s smallest detached house; it measures 10-foot by 8-foot and today also we feature some other examples of the nation’s smallest character packed homes
Whilst the Mirror wrote of what they called “Britain’s smallest detached house” in April – measuring 12-foot by 26-foot and priced at £140,000 – we can go one better and today feature a Grade II listed detached house in North Yorkshire measuring just 10-foot by 8-foot.
More practical than the £810,000 2.5-foot by 65-foot Knightsbridge “corridor” mews houseThe Steeple Times included in March 2017, 481 square foot Sunset Lodge forms one of a pair of symmetrical lodges standing either side of decorative wrought iron gates to Grimston Park, near Tadcaster – a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion of the Italianate style that has now been converted into thirteen individual residences.
Sunset Lodge forms one of a pair of symmetrical gate lodges at the entrance to Grimston Park in North Yorkshire.Grimston Park has been occupied as a grand country residence, was used by the RAF in the Second World War and subsequently became an events venue. It was converted into 13 residences more recently.
Tardis-like internally in that it actually extends over 2 floors with a mezzanine sleeping platform also, the majority of the living space is actually underground. Featuring a kitchen with an “orangery style roof” with a sunken patio beyond, there is also a living area, a “barrel ceilinged” shower room and a dressing room also.
Parking is provided outside for two vehicles and lawned gardens extend beyond. The estate beyond includes a stud-livery, parkland and buildings occupied on both a residential and a commercial basis.
Agents Carter Jonas initially marketed the property at £299,950 in March 2020, but have since reduced that sum to £250,000. The present owners, Tom and Rebecca Hallisey, paid just £85,000 for the building 15 years ago and thus stand to return an increase of +194% if they sell at asking price.
Speaking of the property to the Yorkshire Post in March 2020, Rebecca Hallisey remarked: “It was in a poor state of repair but [when we first saw it, but] we fell in love with it and we could see it had potential.”
She continued: “We moved a lot before we came here but we have stayed because we love the building and it is such a beautiful, peaceful place to live. We wish we could stay forever and we are only moving for health reasons as we need a single-storey home.”
The Numbers – Sunset Lodge, Grimston Park, Grimston, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, LS24 9DB, United Kingdom
May 2021 – Reduced in price to £250,000 ($355,000, €291,000 or درهم1.3 million) or £520 per square foot ($738, €605 or درهم2,700 per square foot) with Carter Jonas.
March 2020 – Placed for sale for £299,950 ($425,700, €349,100 or درهم1.6 million) with Carter Jonas.
June 2006 – Sold for £85,000 ($121,000, €99,000 or درهم443,000).
Some Other Examples of Britain’s Smallest Homes
Starborough Castle, Dormsland, Lingfield, Surrey
Featured in The Steeple Times in April 2017, this Grade II* listed scheduled ancient monument stands in 10 acres and has a 44 million gallon moat. It features a mini great hall and was offered for sale for £1.75 million.
20 Britten Street, London, SW3
Also featured in The Steeple Times when for sale in 2017 for £600,000, this 290 square foot detached house measured 8.5-foot by 14-foot. Estate agents estimated it could be worth £1 million when renovated, but as of May 2021, it remains in unloved condition.
The Round House, Stanton Drew, Somerset
In December 2016, we wrote about this Grade II listed former toll house that extends to just 146 square foot. The 18th century, detached, thatched property was priced at just £110,000 at the time.
24a The Boltons, London, SW10
At the other end of the price scale, but still the cheapest, smallest house on one of London’s smartest streets, The Boltons in London, this £6.5 million terraced residence was home to novelist Jeffrey Archer from 1972 to 1976. Surprisingly due to it widening as it goes back, it actually provides 3,123 square foot of accommodation over 4 floors – so is not as quite as small as it initially seems.
Liverpool drug dealer Carl Stewart sent down after sharing an image of a block of Marks & Spencer mature blue Stilton in the palm of his hand is a reminder of the curious case of Max Clifford and his “short penis”
Whilst the pernicious PR peddler Max Clifford’s “short penis” – identified by a number of victims who’d never met one another – was undoubtedly that serial sex offender’s undoing, a Liverpudlian drug dealer was sent down for 13 years and 6 months last Friday because of his stupidity with a block of M&S mature blue Stilton cheese.
39-year-old Carl Stewart of Gem Street, Vauxhall, Liverpool used the handle ‘Toffeeforce’ on the EncroChat encryption service to supply large amounts of class A and B drugs including cocaine, heroin, ketamine and MDMA to his customers. He was also, however, stupid enough to share an image of himself holding a block of cheese in the palm of his hand there also.
“After the encryption device was busted by law enforcement agencies, Stewart was identified,” according to the Liverpool Echo, as this snap allowed for “his fingerprints to be analysed.”
Of the cheesy conviction, Detective Inspector Lee Wilkinson of Merseyside Police remarked:
“Carl Stewart was involved in supplying large amounts of class A and B drugs, but was caught out by his love of Stilton cheese, after sharing a picture of a block of it in his hand through EncroChat.”
“His palm and fingerprints were analysed from this picture and it was established they belonged to Stewart.”
“Stewart was handed a substantial sentence of 13 years and six months, and this should serve as a stark warning to anyone involved in this criminality that there are serious consequences.”
“As part of Operation Venetic, Merseyside Police has so far arrested more than 60 people, many of whom have been charged with serious drug trafficking or firearms offences. This year will see a number of these people continuing to appear before the courts, and we welcome each and every one.”
“Merseyside Police, along with law enforcement agencies across the world, will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of those people who think they are above the law, and we will continue to target anyone involved in serious organised crime to keep this positive momentum going.”
Carl Stewart’s criminal career crumbled after he was unwise enough to share his love of cheese on the European communications network EncroChat (shared image pictured) – which at one point was used by 60,000 subscribers. Police infiltrated the network between March and June 2020 during a Europe-wide investigation and the company ceased operations because of the police operation in June that year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeqMAIIDfCM
The YouTube channel ‘Gangster Times’ shared the story of Carl Stewart’s conviction with its 45,700 subscribers on Saturday 22nd May 2020. Of his sentence, the channel’s spokesperson observed: “Absolute madness, the cops don’t leave no stone unturned, who’d have thought of that?”In October 2015, ‘The Steeple Times’ featured the story of the ‘The Dine and Dashers’ Frederick Gross and George Hammond. This pair of “galloping gourmets” racked up bills at The Berkeley Hotel, the London Hilton, The Mandarin Oriental and The Dorchester totaling £765 and before a bill could be presented, ran for the hills. They were caught on the basis of CCTV evidence and DNA left on a pair of glasses.This mural of the thankfully now “brown bread” Max Clifford with his pants down appeared on a wall in Battersea in March 2014. It thankfully did not show the megalomaniac monster’s small penis, but the image of this menace not a man was captioned: “I can make you famous!” The lesson in both his case and that of Carl Stewart is: “It’s the small details that get you in the end.”
As the ‘Mirror’ publish yet another “nothing new” story about ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann, Matthew Steeples suggests: “Why not instead allocate some coverage to other missing people?”
In July last year, the MailOnline ran a ludicrous story suggesting that “a new witness has come forward to claim that Madeleine McCann is alive and living with a German family on the Algarve.” They did not name this supposedly beady eyed individual, but suggested “she saw the by-now teenager in a supermarket just 40 miles from where she disappeared speaking German.”
Unsurprisingly like most ‘leads’ in this curious case, this far-fetched suggestion never resulted in any further developments and now, this morning, it’s been the turn of the Mirror to muddy the waters yet again.
Note Nothing New McCann 2021 – Gerry and Kate McCann pictured out running in the days after the ‘disappearance’ of their daughter. Soon thereafter, claiming the Portuguese police were “setting them up,” the couple fled back to Britain.
Aside from banging on about a note left in a staff message book at the resort, the paper shared that Mr and Mrs McCann have recently declared on Facebook: “We love you and we’re waiting for you and we’re never going to give up.”
This morning, I counter: “Why don’t the Mirror and MailOnline and others stop printing such drivel and why don’t they instead help the thousands of other families of missing people who get little to no assistance instead?”
Missing Madeleine – Questions STILL without Answers
Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 7’?
Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?
Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
Martin Allen vanished without a trace in London on 5th November 1979 aged just 15. Though his brother, Kevin Allen, has kept the case in the public eye as much as he can, he gets little to no help from the Metropolitan Police. Again today, I ask: “Why isn’t money from the public purse allocated to solving this case and thousands like it and why, instead, has fast approaching £13 million been allocated to a case that has not been solved in 14 years?”Luke Durbin disappeared aged just 19 in Suffolk in May 2006. In spite of his mother’s tireless campaign to attempt to find her vanished son, why don’t the police devote more resources to the search for him?Ben Needham, then aged just 1, disappeared on the Greek island of Kos on 24th July 1991. He has been missing for over 29 year and in the time since his mother, Kerry Needham, has shockingly come under attack from supporters of the family of Madeleine McCann. Of this in October 2015, she commented: “It feels like a personal attack on me. It is deeply, deeply hurtful. I have myself had massive amounts of slanderous abuse from supporters of the McCann campaign in the past but I have never taken that personally. It’s freedom of speech. But it is getting the names of two missing children out there which is really important.”
‘The Steeple Times’s’ Matthew Steeples to answer questions live during 2-hour YouTube premiere of his ‘Maxwell, McCann & Menendez’ interview with Shaun Attwood on Saturday 8th May
Filmed late last month, a 2 hour, 15-minute interview between Shaun Attwood of Shaun Attwood’s True Crime Channel and Matthew Steeples of The Steeple Times will premiere on YouTube tomorrow, Saturday 8th May 2021 at 10am.
Touching also on other topics including the paedophile Rolf Harris and the potentially unsafe conviction of Mark Alexander, a man campaigning with the support of Terry Waite CBE to clear his name in connection with the 2010 murder of his decidedly deviant father in Buckinghamshire, Steeples comments of the interview:
“I have followed Shaun Attwood’s honest to its core YouTube channel – which most deservedly already has 669,000 subscribers – for some time. For me, what piqued my interest was when Attwood got someone to answer the door at Ghislaine Maxwell’s Kinnerton Street mews house in September 2019 and in doing so proved that the setting of that infamous photograph with Prince Andrew with his ‘chubby fingers’ around Virginia Roberts remained still in-situ.”
“Attwood’s interviews with abuse victims such as The Lost Boys actor Corey Feldman and crusading author Kirby Sommers have repeatedly allowed viewers to be presented with previously unheard narratives about truly shocking cases. His attention to detail and dedication to presenting facts rather than gossip is impressive and his own experiences in the justice system clearly have clearly guided his ability to understand what lies beyond what is fed to the public by the mainstream media.”
“It was thus an honour and a pleasure to be interviewed by a man whose own past plainly has resulted in a quest for a juster justice system and I hope viewers will gain some insights into angles about cases that remain very much of the moment when watching tomorrow.”
“I will be present in the ‘live chat’ on the YouTube channel on Saturday 8th May 2021 between 10am and 12:15pm and look forward to exploring the thoughts of viewers regarding the cases that Shaun Attwood and I discussed.”
Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – The full podcast will be available to view tomorrow, Saturday 8th May 2021, via YouTube from 10am. A live Q&A with Matthew Steeples will be available during from 10am to 12:15pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSqCX44DGWk
Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – A trailer for the forthcoming show can be viewed online before then.Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “As Terry Lubbock faces certain death from terminal cancer, it is right that finally Essex Police are making progress in the investigation into his son’s rape and murder on 10th March 2001,” observes Matthew Steeples. Pictured: Michael Barrymore rolling around on the floor drunk with convicted racist bigot Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben (left) and Terry Lubbock bed-bound next to a picture of his late son, Stuart, as he begs the others present at Barrymore’s pool party to finally tell the truth about what happened that fateful night.Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured left on a throne in Buckingham Palace), if she had half a brain, would now seek a plea bargain,” argues Matthew Steeples. “Instead, because she’s so arrogant, this mendacious minx and all-round mucky madam will likely continue to keep quiet about what really went on with her, her ‘bestie’ Prince Andrew and his ‘Lolita Express club coat’ wearing chum, the now deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.”Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “I believe it is correct that the victims of parental abuse Erik and Lyle Menendez were finally able to be brought together again after 22 years of incarceration without a sight of one another in February 2018,” shares Matthew Steeples. “I also believe that the fine work of crusading individuals including the journalist Robert Rand (pictured left with Lyle Menendez) and the juror in one of the cases, Hazel Thornton, will help them on a path to what they deserve given the truth of what they endured at the hands of their plainly wicked parents: Freedom.”Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “I will forever continue to question why the case of ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann has been allocated nigh on £13 million in public money,” comments Matthew Steeples. “Why don’t the families of other missing people, such as Martin Allen, Luke Durbin and Ben Needham get that level of state-funded assistance also?” Pictured: Kate McCann with then Home Secretary Theresa May MP at a party in Downing Street, London hosted by the latter for associates of the former in July 2016.Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “Rolf Harris (pictured right) may have served his time,” shares Matthew Steeples, “but the legacy of him and the links of this clearly evil ex-public figure to other high profile sexual abusers such as the ex-TV anchor Stuart Hall (pictured left with Prince Edward dressed as a ‘Joker’) deserves to continue to be highlighted.”Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “Doubts about so much of the evidence submitted by Essex Police in the case of Jeremy Bamber make me believe that his conviction for the murders at White House Farm deserves at the very least reinvestigation,” shares Matthew Steeples. Speaking of his “fresh hope” for a referral to the Court of Appeal in March 2021, Bamber himself stated: “The lack of disclosure by Essex Police has been at the heart of my case from the outset, and is still a feature today in an attempt by the Essex Police to maintain my wrongful conviction. I feel confident however that the CCRC will do their utmost to achieve disclosure of vital material in order to obtain my justice.”Maxwell, McCann & Menendez… And Matthew Steeples – “‘Could Mark Alexander have actually been wrongly convicted of the murder of his father Samuel Alexander?’ is a question I think deserves exploring,” shares Matthew Steeples. Speaking of the case, greatly respected humanitarian Terry Waite CBE commented: “I am disturbed by the conviction of Mark as I find it difficult to believe that a complete forensic examination was conducted before the jury found him guilty by a majority verdict. It was pointed out by the judge in his summing-up that the evidence was circumstantial, but even so he was convicted and sentenced. A forensic investigation of the site was conducted by a chartered engineer and chartered geologist in 2017. This examination ought to have been conducted before the trial, but for reasons unknown to me it was not. Given that the site had been excavated by the police when searching for the body and afterwards refilled it was not possible for the expert to be totally certain about the dates when the different levels of concrete were laid. However, his conclusions, which are fully recorded in his report, suggest that the top level of concrete could not have been laid by Mark Alexander as he was not in that location at that time and can prove this. The report raises in my mind a reasonable doubt as to the safety of this conviction.”
Susie Dent shares the fascinating origin of “going to the polls” just as Count Binface looks to get more votes than Laurence Fox in spite of the latter having a ludicrous £5 million campaign pot
With voting underway across the country, “that woman in Dictionary Corner” Susie Dent this morning shared with her 753,000 followers on Twitter the origin of “going to the polls” this morning:
Origin of the day: the ‘poll’ in ‘going to the polls’ originally meant ‘head’, referring to the counting of heads or votes. A ‘noddypoll’ was an incompetent fool, a ‘clod-poll’ a blockhead, and a ‘tadpoll’ (later ‘tadpole’) a ‘toad-head’.
“It has been a very long, and very tedious, London election campaign, but for some of the capital’s voters, perhaps bewildered by the multitude of different voting systems employed and vast number of candidates for Mayor or the London Assembly, there has been one bright spot: Count Binface.”
“In elections that were postponed from 2020, among the various races-within-the-race for City Hall, there is a fascination among those who long ago tired of the lies of Tory Shaun Bailey or the deadly dull platitudes of Sadiq Khan (did you know: his father was a London bus driver?), the idea that a geezer with a bin on his head could attract more votes than the spittle-flecked campaign of Laurence Fox has lightened the mood these past couple of weeks.”
“And what’s more, unlike so much of so many of the pointless political campaigns, Binface is actually doing some good, by raising thousands of pounds for homelessness charities.”
Elsewhere on social media yesterday, Count Binface himself shared an amusing video based on Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody asking his followers to make him their first choice today. The Steeple Times’ editor Matthew Steeples duly obliged when he headed to St Columba’s Church of Scotland in Pont Street, SW1 this morning and casted a protest for Max Fosh as his second choice also.
LONDON! Here's my final pitch to be your mayor, and/or the UK's next Eurovision entry. Make me your first choice vote, and together we will crush the loopy candidates. (You know who I mean.) #VoteBinfacepic.twitter.com/lZ7BpqE7Qv
Going to the Polls – Count Binface morphed into Whitney Houston to share his final pitch to be the next Mayor of London “and/or the UK’s next Eurovision entry.” He urged: “Make me your first choice vote, and together we will crush the loopy candidates. (You know who I mean.)”
Origin of the day: the ‘poll’ in ‘going to the polls’ originally meant ‘head’, referring to the counting of heads or votes. A ‘noddypoll’ was an incompetent fool, a ‘clod-poll’ a blockhead, and a ‘tadpoll’ (later ‘tadpole’) a ‘toad-head’.
Going to the Polls – Boris Johnson was escorted to vote in Westminster by his latest baby mama Carrie Symonds at just before 8am this morning. Whether she had to help the ‘noddypoll’ PM mark his voting card or not is unknown.Going to the Polls – Many Twitter users mocked the ex-actor Fox and remarked of their desire for Count Binface to actually be his ex-wife Billie Piper in disguise.Going to the Polls – The parody Boris Johnson account went further and declared: “To be honest, I don’t care if we take Hartlepool, as long as Count Binface beats that streak of piss, Laurence Fox.” 1,200 clicked “love” in response. Author Emma Kennedy added: “When Count Binface gets more votes than Waitrose Tommy Robinson tomorrow, I look forward to the 3682 5k thinkpieces/profile articles in The Telegraph and Sunday Times telling us what a brave visionary Count Binface is. Also: BBCQT AHOY!” and got 1,600 “loves” also.Going to the Polls – John O’Connell announced: “Duty done. I voted. Now I can freely spend the rest of the day taking the piss out of Shaun Bailey and Laurence Fox, and cheering on Count Binface.”
Nikolay Kalinin suggests that in spite of their crusade against Tory sleaze, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer is failing to make any inroads and finds himself in a multifaceted mess
A week ago, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer attempted to present himself as the superhero British politics needs in order to rid the country of Tory sleaze. He proffered that his scrutiny at Prime Minister’s Questions and photo-ops at John Lewis illustrated that Labour will annihilate the Tories in tomorrow’s elections simply because the governing party are just ‘no good.’
Yet, the truth for Sir Keir is actually far bleaker and a multifaceted mess, as ever since February the gap between the Conservatives and Labour in the polls has been increasing in the governing party’s favour and this has mostly been due to the UK government’s incredibly successful vaccination programme.
Even after the ‘Wallpapergate’ scandal, it seems like nothing much has changed, as a YouGov poll has projected that on 6th May, Labour is most likely to lose 59 seats in ‘Red Wall’ local councils, whereas the Conservatives are set to gain 90. Furthermore, 38% of people in ‘Red Wall’ council areas have stated that Boris Johnson would “make the best Prime Minister,” compared to just 30% for Starmer.
The by-election in the Hartlepool constituency meanwhile – which has been described as the first litmus test of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership – has also left many expecting Labour will lose their hold over the area. A poll conducted by Good Morning Britain concluded that 50% of the people interviewed in the area would vote for Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer, compared to the 33% that would vote for Labour candidate Paul Williams.
In even worse news for Labour, another GMB poll concluded that most people in Hartlepool had favourable feelings towards Conservatives (46%), compared to Labour’s 31%. Furthermore, 45% of people expressed negative feelings towards Labour, compared to 31% who expressed negativity towards Conservatives. It seems therefore like Labour is on the path to losing the seat, which has been controlled by them since its establishment in 1974.
Still, there has also been evidence in the last few days that suggests otherwise; a recent UK voting intention poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies has seen the Conservatives’ lead being slashed by 4%, whereas Labour has gained 4% in the polls, meaning that the gap between both is now a mere 2%.
As expected, Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan is expected to retain his position as he maintains a fairly stable lead in the polls, with predictions that he’ll get 61% in the first round whereas his hapless Conservative rival Shaun Bailey will achieve a mere 39%.
There’s a dangerously high chance that the Conservatives will be able to use the vaccination success in order to win over the voters in councils and in Hartlepool, who will ignore the fact that their PM has used donated money for his own expenses and didn’t even disclose it.
Why has Sir Keir Starmer, in general, failed to deliver a fatal blow to the Tories in the lead-up to the elections? It’s most likely due to lack of a uniting ideology, but more importantly due to the lack of opposition; because of the government’s role in fighting against COVID-19, it’s possible that the role of Labour as an opposition party has been substantially reduced, as they are actually unable to scrutinise the Tories like they would normally have had had there been no pandemic. In some way, Sir Keir seems to be lacking the appeal that Jeremy Corbyn had as Labour leader, which allowed the party to receive an influx of members after decades of falling membership.
So far, the sleaze scandals have not hurt the Conservatives at all – as a matter of fact support for them has been increasing – and even more surprisingly the Labour Party that has been leading the campaign against sleaze is getting pummeled in the polls. It truly is concerning that a party that has such a large lack of connection with people is leading in the polls, because this should not happen in a country that is supposedly a representative democracy. We’ll just have to wait and see, but a very important first signal will emerge with the results tomorrow.
Starmer’s Multifaceted Mess – Sir Keir Starmer certainly did not help himself when he found himself kicked out of a pub in Bristol in April. His minder’s bullyboy conduct reflected very badly upon him and the fact that his aides had not checked the venue out first shows a shocking lack of coordination on the Labour Party’s part.Starmer’s Multifaceted Mess – Sir Keir Starmer believes: “Another future is possible,” but thus far he has failed to convince he is the man who could deliver such in post-coronavirus pandemic Britain.
Vast Scots Baronial mansion Carbisdale Castle – nicknamed ‘The Castle of Spite’ – goes on sale for sum 97% lower than it cost to build in the 1900s and 25% less than the sum spent on its 2010 renovation
A mega-mansion termed “the last grand castle built in Scotland” that cost £62 million to build between 1905 and 1917 has gone on sale for just £1.5 million in spite of developers having spent a small fortune on its renovation to date.
Extending to 41,433 square foot, category B-listed Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland is gargantuan in size compared to an average 818 square foot British home. Its construction began after the resolution of the then Dowager Duchess of Sutherland, Mary Caroline’s dispute with her late husband’s children from his first marriage, but ultimately the palatial pad was not completed until five years after her own demise.
Cash Consuming Carbisdale Castle – Mary Caroline, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland (1848 – 1912) and George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, His Grace The 3rd Duke of Sutherland (1828 – 1892). According to one source, the “deviant duchess” enjoyed an astonishing income of £100,000 per year until her death and married her third husband, a politician and businessman, Sir Albert Rollit (1842 – 1922) in 1896.Cash Consuming Carbisdale Castle – The castle was used as a youth hostel for 66 years from 1945 until 2011.Cash Consuming Carbisdale Castle – Its vast size made it ideal for institutional usage.
Featured on these pages in August 2014 and April 2016 after it was placed for sale after being used for 70 years as a youth hostel, the allegedly haunted building was sold to a London based investment firm now known as Faro Capital after being reduced in price from £1.2 million to £900,000. At this stage, £2 million had already been spent on renovations due to extensive water damage in 2010.
In the years since, Faro Capital have cleared Carbisdale Castle of its institutional contents and put in place plans to return the structure to use as what they term a “world class single family residence.” Now, of its current condition, a surveyor recently remarked: “The building offers a superb blank canvas,” according to current selling agents Strutt & Parker.
Speaking to The Scotsman late last week, Robert McCulloch for Strutt & Parker remarked of the sale of Carbisdale Castle:
“Already there has been interest. The property is in a state of partial renovation so it lends itself to being either a private residence or a commercial venture.”
“There has been interest in it as a hotel and also those who are interested in its charitable use. With its proximity to the North Coast 500 driving route and the rise in domestic tourism, I am sure people will see a lot of opportunity in this property.”
Carbisdale Castle, however, is still not without problems. Aside from its vast size and the associated costs of maintaining such a white elephant, it comes with a mere 20 acres of land and that is split into various spread-apart parcels. Thus, for a likely oligarch or business titan buyer – who will have to be someone with very, very deep pockets – privacy and security will remain an obvious issue.
The Names & Numbers – Carbisdale Castle, Culrain, Ardgay, Sutherland, IV24 3DP, Scotland, United Kingdom
May 2021 – Placed for sale with Strutt & Parker for £1.5 million ($2.1 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.6 million) or the equivalent of just £36.20 per square foot.
2017 onwards – Of progress since purchase by Faro Capital, Strutt & Parker remarked in 2021: “The current position is that, since 2017, significant works have been carried out to the castle pursuant with the approved consent but the works required to complete the project have been put on hold.”
“This provides the flexibility to purchasers to either complete the development of the castle as a private home, or seek to vary the Listed Building Consent to include the development of the building for commercial use or the subdivision of the building as residential apartments.”
“The intention of the project was to combine all of the decorative features and grandeur of the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland’s original creation with services, systems, fixtures, fittings and layout of the highest contemporary quality together with reorganisation of the existing accommodation to suit 21st Century living and the development of a spa and swimming pool as complementary features.”
Works to Carbisdale Castle have included the stripping down of the building, the removal of redundant items, the excavation of a proposed swimming pool and the replacement of heating systems and lighting circuits.
September 2016 – Sold to Sloane Street, London based Faro Capital Limited (formerly known as the FCFM Group), who planned to turn the building into a “world class residence.”
April 2016 – Reduced in price to just £900,000 ($1.2 million, €1 million or درهم4.6 million) or the equivalent of just £21.70 per square foot.
August 2014 – Offered for sale by Savills for £1.2 million ($1.7 million, €1.4 million or درهم6.1 million).
2010 onwards – After extensive water damage caused by frost, £2 million ($2.8 million, €2.3 million or درهم10.1 million) is spent on renovations.
1945 – 2011 – Used as a youth hostel.
1944 – Gifted to the Scottish Youth Hostel Association (SYHA) by Colonel Salvesen’s son, Captain Harold Salvesen.
22nd June 1941 – Used as the location to host the Carbisdale Conference at which it was “agreed that that the Russian forces, should they enter Norwegian territory, would not stay there after the war.”
1933 – Sold to Norwegian shipping and whaling tycoon Colonel Theodore Salvesen and used during the Second World War as a “safe refuge” for King Haakon VII of Norway and Crown Prince Olav, later King Olav V, during the Nazi occupation of Norway.
The Dowager Duchess (better known as ‘Duchess Blair’) had been jailed for 6 weeks after being found guilty of stealing documents during her divorce and when that was eventually finalised, it was agreed that a castle would be built for her just outside the Sutherland lands.
She intentionally chose – supposedly to spite them – a prominent hillside site visible from the very railway line the Sutherlands used to travel south and insisted that the clock tower of the house only had three clock faces. On the side facing Sutherland, the face is blank as “the Duchess did not wish to give the time of day to her former relatives.” As a result, Carbisdale Castle gained the nickname ‘The Castle of Spite.’
