Tag: parliament

Morons of the Moment 2024 – Filthy Fylde Conservative Association

As man-pestering Mark Menzies, the MP they have supported since 2008, is exposed for yet more sordid sexual shenanigans, the Fylde Conservative Association yet again prove themselves a bunch of nutty nincompoops by sharing tweets about “vile degenerates” making “sexually explicit” comments

The Fylde Conservative Association clearly didn’t give two hoots when the MP they have repeatedly supported since his selection as a candidate in 2008, Mark Menzies, got accused of shady sexual shenanigans with a 19-year-old Brazilian male hooker named Rogerio Santos in 2014.

At that time, when Santos alleged pugnacious politician Menzies asked him to “buy ‘the poor man’s cocaine’ methedrone” and “have sex with him,” then Councillor Brenda Ackers brazenly barracked: “He has the total support of myself and two other members of the management team, they both support Mark also. [Members will be] very upset, both on Mark’s behalf and the fact that we like things to run smoothly in Fylde.”

This very same gaggle of gaga grannies that Ackers headed also didn’t give two hoots when this Scottish born Roman Catholic faced a police investigation for allegedly getting a dog pissed-off-its-skull in 2015. Equally, they didn’t give two hoots that this menace-to-men also faced further police questioning for “brawling” with a friend in 2015.

Later that year, the very same membership of the Fylde Conservative Association – when Menzies was subsequently proven “just” to have stood on and taken pictures whilst yet another of his so-called “friends” getting the aforementioned pooch pissed to the point of “poisoned” and “intoxicated” – clearly chose to show not an ounce of moral backbone. They again selected this raging rotten-to-his-core ratbag in 2017 and 2019.

Now, as mucky Menzies faces allegations that he misused party funds to “pay some bad people” in yet another sexual scandal involving multiple men, the Fylde Conservative Association have yet again swept the issue-in-hand under the carpet. On Tuesday, on their Twitter feed, this bunch of brazen buffoons reposted a tweet by Rishi Sunak.

It read: “This government is cracking down on the vile degenerates who make sexually explicit ‘deepfakes.’ We’re introducing a new law to ban the creation of these distressing and abusing images… Making a sexually explicit ‘deepfake’ image without consent is to become a new offence, with those convicted facing a criminal record and an unlimited fine.”

Curiously however, the Fylde Conservative Association – whose members would definitely feel at home with other “naughty Tory” sex pests including Charlie Elphicke and “bum groper” Chris Pincher – failed to make any mention of their views on Mark Menzies and his “middle of the night” activities involving one of their number paying “money after [Menzies] meeting a man he met on a dating website.”

According to The Guardian: “The source said Menzies had gone to the man’s flat, before going with another man to a second address, where he continued drinking. People at the address falsely claimed he had been sick and demanded £5,000 for cleaning up and other expenses, according to this account.”

“The source close to Menzies told The Times he paid the money because he was afraid of what would happen if he refused, but had insufficient funds in his own savings. They claimed he offered to repay the sum, but that local Tories who controlled the campaign funds said he did not need to.”

Whatever next for the Fylde Conservative Association? A party fundraiser for ‘Not-So-Dishy-Rishi’ down the local male brothel in Lytham St Annes?

Editor’s note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples and watch his current nightly show on YouTube at 8.30pm daily.

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The Fylde Conservative Association (FCA) showed no sense of shame for their support since 2008 of Mark Menzies – a mouse not a man capable of waking old ladies at 3.15am to demand help in paying off “bad people” he’d supposedly hooked up with via gay dating websites. Instead, on the very day Menzies was exposed by ‘The Times’ – and after they clearly would have been approached for comment – they opted to retweet a missive about Rishi Sunak’s government “cracking down on the vile degenerates who make sexually explicit ‘deepfakes’” and which mentioned a “new law to ban the creation of these distressing and offensive images.” Perhaps, the concept of those in glass houses and stones had passed the gaga grannies and grandpas of Fylde that form the FCA by, but maybe they should have dealt with their own local degenerate, Mark Menzies, at an earlier date given his previous form with Brazilian rent boys, photographing friends poisoning dogs and getting them drunk and “brawling” with supposed friends.

Forced to resign the Conservative whip on 17th April 2024, Mark Menzies has previous form having been the subject of front page about his activities with young men on several occasions. One is left asking: “What on earth was it about this scandal prone scrounger that made the Fylde Conservative Association to continue to select him as their parliamentary candidate four times from 2008 onwards? Could they really not find someone with more decency and dignity than this degenerate deadbeat?”

Mucky menace and former Marks & Spencer employee Menzies tweeted on the 12th April about “concerns” about St Annes beach. He failed to address the fact there have bene far more significant “concerns” about his personal behaviour for months. In an “exclusive” in which she “broke her silence” on Thursday 18th April 2024, the ‘Mirror’ reported that Katie Fieldhouse, 78, a former Lady of Mayoress of Fylde, said she received a call from Menzies at 3.15am on 1st December 2023, “in which he allegedly asked for £5,000 as he was locked in a flat with some ‘bad people’ … and branded his behaviour unacceptable.” Ms Fieldhouse claimed she “refused and called his office manager who later stumped up the sum, which had risen to £6,500. She was later reimbursed from a campaign fund paid for by donors, the paper reported… Ms Fieldhouse told the ‘Mirror’ that she later contacted the Tory party, in January to express her ‘concerns’ about Mr Menzies. ‘I spoke to the chief whip on the 3rd of January and told him my concerns’ she said. ‘All the things that had happened accumulated in my head. I came to the conclusion that something had to be done about it because I have a great fondness for my constituency. Ms Fieldhouse would not comment when asked if she thought the MP should resign. But she said: ‘I put my faith in the Conservative Party to deal with Mr Menzies.’ She continued: ‘I am a devout Conservative, all my life, and also a devout Christian, and I cannot accept his behaviour. It is very upsetting.’ Ms Fieldhouse said she was approached by ‘The Times’ after speaking to the chief whip. And she added: ‘I have read the article in ‘The Times.’ Everything in it is true.’” Ms Fieldhouse had previously not been named in ‘The Times’ article by senior investigations reporter Billy Kenber whilst Menzies responded: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”

Brenda Ackers – who defended her chum Mark Menzies in 2015 by stating: “He has the total support of myself and two other members of the management team, they both support Mark also. [Members will be] very upset, both on Mark’s behalf and the fact that we like things to run smoothly in Fylde” – herself has form. In September 2013, according to Blackpool rag ‘The Gazette,’ Ms Ackers was “reprimanded by the mayor” for refusing to apologise for making “disrespectful remarks.” Speaking to the paper, she raged: “I don’t know why the mayor interrupted me because nothing that I said was in any way objectionable.” In turn “rebuking her,” another councillor stated: “When the mayor stands, the councillor sits down” as she was “greeted with heckles of ‘sit down, shut up.”

The Twitter handle of the repeatedly disgraced MP’s former constituency association has not even updated to reflect the fact that he is no longer a Conservative Member of Parliament.

April 18, 2024
Theresa’s in the Trough
Matthew Steeples highlights that it is not just David Cameron who has been sticking his piggy fingers in the trough; Theresa May also ‘pocketed’ over £1.2 million in the last year alone

Whilst the media are busy banging on about David Cameron’s bungled attempts at lobbying for Greenshill Capital and the ensuing sleaze scandal that has followed, the majority have missed what his immediate successor has been upto since she was turfed out with the trash by her fellow Tory turncoats.

Yesterday afternoon, however, Guido Fawkes shared news of the ‘Jobs for the Boys and Jobs for the Girls’ ex Tory leader – and don’t forget it’s bins for Sir Philip May and wandering in the wheatfields for his weird wife, the new ‘Lady T’ – when they suggested that the hapless Conservative MP for Maidenhead has pocketed over £700,000 from speeches since standing down as Prime Minister.

Going further this morning, after analysing the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as of 15^th March 2021, The Steeple Times can reveal “Brexit means Brexit” Lady May’s latest declaration to be an astonishing £1,075,706 in total – and that’s before adding in her £81,932 MP’s salary and office expenses.

Of this sum for outside earnings, all but one payment is for work for foreign entities and the only payment for ‘work’ in the UK came from JP Morgan. That totalled £160,370 for “two speaking engagements that were cancelled” and this accounted for just 15% of the total ‘earned.’

Whilst we’re at it, let’s not forget ‘MayBeNot’ also managed to secure herself life membership of the Carlton Club and ‘VIP’ perks at Heathrow Airport and Amanda Wakeley and this is all before we get onto her hubby’s no doubt not-too-shabby salary from Capital Group also.

Today we politely enquire: “Why isn’t anyone in the mainstream media wagging a finger at the greedy grubber Theresa May yet or asking her: ‘How on earth do you find the time to serve your constituents?’”

Theresa’s (mostly overseas) trough since February 2020 – £1,075,706
- 19^th February 2020 – Dubai Women Establishment, UAE
  - Speech – £115,000 for 19 hours work (including travel).
- 26^th March 2020 – Structured Finance Association, USA
  - Speech – £115,000 for 25 hours work (including travel).
- 6^th March 2020 – Brown University, USA
  - Speech – £115,000 for 14 hours work (including travel).
- 6^th March 2020 – Trinity University, USA
  - Speech – £115,000 for 26 hours work (including travel).
- 22^nd April 2020 – JP Morgan Chase, UK
  - 2 speaking engagements – £160,370 for zero hours to date (will be rescheduled).
- 25^th June 2020 – World 50 Inc, USA
  - 3 speaking engagements – £101,169 for 7 hours work “to date.”
- 17^th September 2020 – Telmex Foundation, Mexico
  - Virtual speaking engagement – £46,750 for 6 hours work.
- 18^th September 2020 – World Knowledge Forum, South Korea
  - Speaking engagement – £136,000 for 30 hours work (including travel).
- 9^th November 2020 – Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, USA
  - Virtual speaking engagement – £45,500 for 6 hours work.
- 20^th January 2021 –The Richmond Forum, USA
  - Speech – £48,245 for 3 hours work.
- 20^th January 2021 – TPG Communication, France
  - Speech – £39,000 for 2 hours work.
- 4^th February 2021 – Society of the Four Arts, USA
  - Virtual speaking engagement – £38,672 for 5 hours work.
What else has Theresa been pocketing lately from her ‘Magic Money Tree’?
- An MPs salary of £81,932 plus expenses “to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having somewhere to live in London or their constituency, and travelling between Parliament and their constituency.”
- An £85,000 per year salary from the Office of Theresa May Limited “until further notice” for just 24 hours work per month or just 288 hours work per year.
- Honorary life membership of the Carlton Club.
- ‘VIP treatment’ at Heathrow Airport, valued at £4,200 a pop, at least 14 times totalling at least £58,800.
- Substantial rental income from a flat in London owned jointly with her husband.
- A discount card from Amanda Wakeley, “which has the potential to be of registrable value.”
Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

Theresa’s in the Trough – Theresa May may go down in history as one of the very worst Prime Ministers ever, yet she and her hedge fund tin banger husband Philip have pocketed titles and are set to receive multi-millions of pounds in future income.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc9tToN5XGk
Theresa’s in the Trough – Sir Philip May’s employer’s, Capital Group, are regularly quite rightly criticised over the legitimacy of their potentially unethical investments. Plainly and frankly, he and his wife don’t give a damn.
April 15, 2021
A Perverted Parish

Internationally infamous Handforth parish council member Brendan Murphy faces jail for calling his neighbours “perverted” and a “tart” and a “peeping Tom”

Handforth parish council became infamous in December when a “doughty clerk” named Jackie Weaver mercilessly “kicked out” argumentative male councillors whilst “barely blinking when being yelled at” by them.

By February this year, the council’s meeting were being “dogged by rows again,” but now further scandal has emerged after one of its members, Councillor Brendan Murphy, was convicted of harassing his neighbours over a 13-year period.

Whilst the bickering councillors of Handforth provided light amusement for millions at the height of December’s lockdown, 79-year-old Councillor Murphy it seems is headed to jail for labelling his elderly neighbours “perverts” and “The Tart” and “The Peeping Tom.”

“Maverick” Murphy, currently a member of the Real Independent Group and the “first Macc Tory to ever be sacked” in December 2001 according to the Macclesfield Express, was found guilty of two charges of harassment at Stockport Magistrates’ Court last Friday.

Featured in the Daily Mail earlier this week, Murphy stood accused of “hounding” his neighbours Christopher and Margaret Boyd “with barbed comments after they fell out over a dispute about local gossip… and alleging he was underpaying his council tax.”

With police called on over 19 separate occasions, Murphy – whom unsuccessfully (unsurprisingly) stood for Parliament for the Conservative Party in the Vale of Clywd in 2001 – Mr Murphy told the court:

“I call Mr Boyd a ‘Peeping Tom’ and his wife a ‘Tart’ for a good reason and I think my legal response is justifiable.”

“I saw a CCTV camera on the wall filming me and I jokingly said, ‘I see you are a peeping Tom.’ I also said: ‘Mind you don’t fall off that roof, I cannot give you the kiss of life,’ but that was a joke too.”

“On one of the occasions, I was out with my dog. Mr and Mrs Boyd were walking down the road hand in hand swinging their arms looked very happy.”

“I said: ‘I’m glad to see you are so happy’ but instead of crossing the road she lurched into me and the dog whimpered in pain and that is when I called her a tart.”

“I think they are making a big deal out of this. I do not do it every day. I am an elected active councillor and I do a lot of community work.”

“There have been instances where I did say in response to them and they would stare, laugh, and sneer.”

“Mr Boyd is a very active DIY man with improving the garden, etc. His garage is his workshop, and he makes a loud noise that I do not want to hear.”

“People use the word ‘tart’ in lots of different ways and I will continue calling them a Peeping Tom and a tart as long as the cameras are still there.”

“I say these words 100 times when I see the cameras and it just gets it off my chest. There are nastier things I could say.”

Responding after being convicted, Murphy of 6 Hilton Road, Disley, Cheshire, SK12 2JU “confirmed that he intends to remain as a Cheshire East councillor” and boldly declared: “An immediate appeal will be launched, I am confident the conviction will be overturned.”

Previously, in April 2012, Brendan Murphy was found guilty of harassing Mr and Mrs Boyd. At that time he was fined £300 for harassment, ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs and given a restraining order prohibiting “him from speaking to or making gestures at the Boyds,” according to Macclesfield Live.

Murphy, the kind of person even “snitchin’” Priti Patel wouldn’t welcome to her street, will be sentenced on 26^th April. He remains on unconditional bail until then, but will go down in history with the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring as an ultimate neighbour from hell.

A Perverted Parish 2021 – The row between Brendan Murphy and his neighbours Christopher and Margaret Boyd escalated after they installed a fence in 2007 as part of an attempt to stop him harassing them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB3P_0GAi0I
A Perverted Parish 2021 – Councillor Brendan Murphy, a man prone to calling his neighbours “perverts” on hundreds of occasions, was one of the councillors involved in December 2020’s infamous Handforth parish council Zoom debacle.

March 26, 2021
Priti Uncommunicative

‘Priti Useless’ Patel announces every arrival into Britain will be forced to quarantine for 10 days, but doesn’t bother to say from when

Normally a government policy announcement would be accompanied by three simple things: When, Where and How.

However, Priti Patel – a wicked wazzock of a woman best known for her “chickin’ or pasta” dollin’ out” style airline hostess outfits and for minglin’, crackin’ on and snitchin’ on neighbours – in today announcin’ that all arrivals into Britain will be escorted to hotels by police to quarantine for 10 days, missed all three.

As usual, well-known bully ‘Priti Useless’ proved that this is a government that believes in gettin’ things movin’ without botherin’ with detail. God help us all.

Pictured top: Priti Patel donned a British Airways hostess style neck garment to cover something up (love bites or restraint bruising, perhaps) when she appeared in Parliament earlier this week.

January 27, 2021
A French Farce
Matthew Steeples slams the likely coverup of the latest Conservative Party sex scandal involving a still unnamed MP as a “French farce” and suggests that the Tories really shouldn’t sweep this matter under the carpet

One would have thought the Conservative Party would have come to its senses after the “French farce” debacle with the currently in the clink abuser ‘Naughty Tory’ ex-MP Charlie Elphicke and his tawdry replacement MP wife, Natalie.

Aside from both Theresa May and Boris Johnson having protected accused and, in some cases, convicted sex pest Members of Parliament in recent years, this morning the Mirror hinted at a coverup over the sidelining of an investigation into a “campaign of control and sexual abuse” of a woman by a “monster Tory MP” – a man said to be a former minister in his 50s.

In the report into this “French farce” of an investigation – which does not name any of the parties involved – the Mirror exclusively shared that the “top lawyer” Nigel Edwards QC has now taken on the woman’s case on a pro bono basis and reported allegations that:
- The woman, a lady in her 20s, was supposedly subjected to sexual assaults in July 2019 and October 2019 by the Conservative MP.
- The alleged victim claims to have been raped by the MP in January 2020.
- The same man is said to have “told her what to wear and screamed if she wasn’t smiling” during a period in which she worked for him.
- The woman’s mother told the paper that her daughter was “in shock and sobbing” after incidents and “has since been diagnosed with PTSD and is on medication.”
- The same man is said to have threatened the woman on a night out, shouted at her in the street “with raised fists, screaming in her face, and swearing at her.” On that occasion, the then reportedly “tried to push her into a taxi.”
- The MP subsequently “demanded” his victim then “come to his office and begged forgiveness” and that is “when one of the sexual assaults happened” allegedly.
- The MP then allegedly “told her he’d come after her and destroy her life if she told anyone what happened. If she didn’t do as he said, he boasted that he’d wreck her career.”
- 14 people with supporting evidence were not questioned by the police.
- Relevant documents from Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis and The Havens were not collected by the police.
- Key evidence including text messages and phone records were ignored by the police.
- Officers dismissed her claims because she was in a relationship with the MP and then “victim blamed” her.
Now, in spite of the police having decided not to proceed with any investigation into the allegations of rape, sexual assault and coercive control, Edwards told the paper:

“We are giving advice as to her options. There could be a civil claim for the damage done. A private prosecution could be considered if all other options have been exhausted.”

“All options will be explored and remain open so justice can be done and ensure any dereliction of duty or abuse of power is not unchallenged.”

Aside from doing nothing to stop Natalie Elphicke inappropriately pestering the judiciary on behalf of her convicted sex offender husband with the help of other MPs even after he’d been jailed, the fact that the Tories continue to sweep the matter of sexual abuse in their party brings nothing but shame on the entire lot of them yet again.

Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

A French Farce – This morning’s revelations in the ‘Mirror’ show that the Conservative Party have learnt nothing from the scandal of ‘Naughty Tory’ arse slapper Charlie Elphicke.

A French Farce – In October 2017, the ‘Evening Standard’ revealed that a dossier of 36 Conservative MPs accused of “inappropriate behavior towards colleagues, including allegations of sexual misconduct” had been put together by the party. Ludicrously, little-to-nothing was subsequently done about these supposedly “highly inappropriately” behaved abusers and their twisted antics. Now, once again, that the party are sweeping allegations under the carpet is an outrage.

A French Farce – There is nothing new about Tory MPs and sex scandals. In 1986, “kinky” Harvey Proctor MP – a man linked to Jeffrey Epstein’s mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell via his then employer – was found guilty of gross indecency with teenagers.

A French Farce – The comedian Andrew Lawrence mocked the “French farce” that is the Conservative Party’s attitudes to sexual misconduct to his 26,000 subscribers on YouTube in August 2020, but it must be remembered that the victims of creepy ‘sex pest’ MPs have been subjected to criminal sexual abuse. For that, such offenders should be brought to justice – whoever they may be.
January 17, 2021
A Chelsea Essential

Management of Fulham Road Italian The Chelsea Corner share their anger at the British government with protest posters against Lockup 3.0 and restaurants being branded “non-essential”

Deservedly featured as one of our ‘Five Stalwart Restaurants for your Rolodex in The Royal Borough’ in May 2019, the management of The Chelsea Corner on Fulham Road, SW10 have quite rightly taken a stand against the latest ludicrous government rules that categorise them as “non-essential.”

Echoing our sentiments last September when ‘Bosie The Clown’ brought in his stupid 10pm bar, pub and restaurant curfew, hardworking Jonny Lekaj has decided to put a number of posters in his windows slamming the blanket closure of restaurants nationwide as an “attack on small businesses.”

Aside from highlighting the fact that multi-national, big businesses like Starbucks and McDonald’s are allowed to continue to operate, Mr Lekaj sensibly argues: “If you can close businesses at will, without a though for anyone’s livelihood, why not close junk food producers? If junk food, alcohol and cigarettes kill 21 million people ever year… Why are those items constantly available?”

He is also correct to highlight the greed of landlords at this time and the uselessness of the government and of them remarked: “Landlords aren’t negotiating with us in RENT, open or closed they want their money! Neither is the GOV helping us with it.”

We salute the management of The Chelsea Corner and urge our readers to stand with them and other small businesses against this shameful business wrecking Tory government.

The Chelsea Corner, 451 Fulham Road, London, SW10 9UZ remains open for takeaway. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3055 0088.

Pictured top: One of The Chelsea Corner’s notice with, rather ironically, a police car to the left on Sunday 10^th January.

Jonny Lekaj, manager of The Chelsea Corner, is right to make a stand against the ludicrous decision to force restaurants to close nationwide in Lockdown 3.0.

The signs at The Chelsea Corner read:

This is an attack to small businesses, our hard work and the people of this country. When is enough enough?

If you are not going to pay my rent, why should I close?

Closed because you’re unsafe in a restaurant where tables get cleaned for every person, where staff uses masks, where everyone uses hand sanitizers… But you are safe to shop at a big company where a product has been touched by thousands and cleaned by no one.

We have a choice to make Eating and having a Place To Live or “Staying Home” as the Gov says. We can’t all do Zoom calls, we aren’t all rich and this shouldn’t be a choice we have to make.

We are all essential businesses as long as we are out here trying to make a living for our children.

Everyone at the Parliament got a raise of £3,000 for doing what? Zoom calls and misleading this country into depression but we the ones fighting to keep food in table are being shut down while following every GUIDELINE that came from them.

Landlords aren’t negotiating with us in RENT, open or closed they want their money! Neither is the GOV helping us with it.

You can go shopping in a supermarket or in a shopping centre with more than 200 people, but you can’t come and eat with your family at a restaurant with a max capacity of 50 people.

Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Costco, McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks etc can stay open. Only small businesses need to shut down because the highest risk to get infected is inside a small business.

If you can close businesses at will, without a though for anyone’s livelihood, why not close junk food producers? If junk food, alcohol and cigarettes kill 21 million people ever year… Why are those items constantly available?

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The Chelsea Corner is a popular neighbourhood Italian restaurant situated at the corner of Fulham Road and Gunter Grove in London, SW10.

In another image, captured yesterday, the same police car appears to the left of yet another of The Chelsea Corner’s protest signs.

January 11, 2021
Pampered Peers Prattle About Avocados

Avocados and a “lack of British chefs in the kitchens” get the goat of out-of-touch British peers just as Norman Fowler calls for their numbers to be cut

This morning, the Mirror revealed that “pampered peers” in the House of Lords have spent 2020 complaining about the quality of avocados just as, in a year when the country teeters on bankruptcy, the taxpayer has propped up their loss-making dining rooms and bars to the tune of nearly £2 million in subsidies.

Of this news, at a time when Marcus Rashford has shamed the government over its meanness towards providing free meals for poor school children, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael told the paper:

“Boris Johnson stuffing the House of Lords with his dodgy mates is clearly having its effect.”

“Instead of playing at Downton Abbey, these peers should be looking beyond their own dinner plate and address the real problems people across the country are facing.

Shockingly paid £305 plus travel expenses for each and every day they attend, yet charged just £3.70 for a full English breakfast, peers also “griped” about the halting of the sale of alcohol of the Parliamentary Estate due to coronavirus restrictions. One even whinged that “there were not enough British chefs in the kitchens.”

Elsewhere, last week, Lord Fowler, the lord speaker of the House of Lords, quite rightly argued in the Guardian that “there are too many lords” and remarked on Boris Johnson adding another 52 peers during 2020.

He questioned the sense of the resulting total number of 830 – “despite a cross-party agreement three years ago that numbers should over time be reduced to 600” – and questioned the fact the Lords is almost 200 larger in number than the Commons “and far in excess of what needed to transact its business.”

Going further and wading into the row over the disgraceful appointment of the “cash-for-access” tainted Tory donor Peter Cruddas by Johnson “in defiance of advice from the Lords Appointments Commission,” Fowler remarked:

“As we have just seen, its recommendations can be overridden by No 10. The result is that a prime minister has the power on his or her own to add peers to a house of parliament that can make and, within limits, unmake laws. Is this what the public expect in the third decade of the 21st century?”

“When making appointments it has become obvious that governments wish to avoid parliamentary scrutiny. Both of the initial announcements of new peerages in the last 12 months have been made when parliament has not been sitting. It simply adds to the impression that the choice of peers is the exclusive preserve of No 10 – and the less publicity the better. This may be fine for the government’s public relations team: whether it is fine for parliament is another matter.”

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Pampered Peers Prattle About Avocados –In March 2015, ‘The Steeple Times’ reported that “peers had complained about being left ‘scarred’ after having had their dinner bookings cancelled and were angered by the size of the menus, ‘chaotic’ table layouts and ‘inferior cappuccinos.’”

Pampered Peers Prattle About Avocados – Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler PC is quite right to call for reform of the House of Lords. A 2017 “analysis of voting, speaking and expenses records in the Lords, [showed a] ‘something for nothing culture among peers” by the Electoral Reform Society astonishingly revealed “115 Lords – one in seven of the total – failed to speak at all in the 2016/17 session, despite claiming an average of £11,091 each, while 18 peers failed to vote but still claimed £93,162” and that expenses claims had soared by 20% in just two years “at a time when public services have been under strain.”

Pampered Peers Prattle About Avocados – In January 2018, the ‘National Geographic Discovery Channel’ reported on a peer complaining about a pork chop that was “uneatable, tough and dry, and clearly cooked for hours before.” Of some “gone off” smoked salmon, another member added: “It really was disgrace.”

December 28, 2020
Nasty Nat’s Naughty Notes

‘Nasty Nat’ Natalie Elphicke MP – wife of convicted ex-MP turned sex offender Charlie Elphicke – rightly called out for pestering the judiciary with naughty notes

When she’s not curiously crowing on Twitter about the crappy Brexit trade deals that her government keep screwing up, Natalie Elphicke MP – wife of the disgraced and deservedly jailed sex predator “naughty Tory” and ex-MP Charlie – has been getting her colleagues into the sh*t.

Reported first this morning in the Guardian, immigrant hating ‘Nasty Nat’ and the likes of the trout-mouthed Theresa Villiers, it seems, have been shamefully “seeking to influence a judge overseeing a hearing this week on whether references written in support of the former MP Charlie Elphicke can be made public.”

Admonished as “improper” conduct for their attempt “to seek to influence the decision of a judge who would ultimately rule on the basis of evidence and argument in court,” ‘Nasty Nat’ and her five colleagues – whom also included David Freud, Sir Roger Gale, Adam Holloway and Bob Stewart – should be ashamed of themselves.

Quite rightly, the Guardian also reported: “An application is being made on Wednesday by the Guardian, The Times and Associated Newspapers for release of the letters where the author is a public figure, in public office or holds or has held a position of public responsibility.”

Pictured top: Tory trashbag Natalie Elphicke MP with her filthy sex pest husband and ex-Tory MP Charlie Elphicke. The Belgravia resident turned bottom slapping brute has quite rightly now locked up. Long may he rot!

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November 24, 2020
The Wonders of Walking

Axminster gym owner Aneesa California is wrong to announce she and upto 200 others will defy the lockdown rules; the nation should instead get its walking shoes on during Lockdown 2

We all need exercise and we’re all going to need to ensure we keep fit during the impending lockup-lockdown, but as the late great legend that was Dr. Thomas Stuttaford rightly pointed out in The Times regularly, we should remember that “walking every day is the route to fitness.”

Gyms, on the other hand and contrary to a myth created to bamboozle the masses into parting with membership fees, are not ‘essential’ and news that upto 200 owners of such premises are going to defy the rules from tomorrow is actually not to be encouraged.

Going further of his theory in 2004, the ‘Good Doctor’ quite sensibly remarked: “The emphasis on gyms, sports stadiums and workouts is well intentioned but perhaps not the way to ensure a healthier Briton. The way to living longer and to be healthier and athletically fitter into old age is to take regular steady exercise every day. Twenty minutes to half an hour’s brisk walk a day — preferably all in one go — is enough.”

The Wonders of Walking – The late Dr. Thomas Stuttaford (1931 – 2018) was a well-known proponent of walking being the best form of exercise.

The Wonder of Walking – Aneesa California (pictured with her husband Jesse) would do well to heed the comments of Professor Jonathan Ball rather than defy the rules. She could, instead, for now, encourage her clients to take up walking and could perhaps get them on the path to pavement pounding.

Whilst nobody rational is celebrating ‘Bosie The Clown’s’ decision to close anywhere that generates employment and again today we most vehemently raise our objections to the shuttering of socially distanced restaurant spaces, for example, gym owner Aneesa California should not be congratulated for her announcement that she will likely refuse to close her doors.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk yesterday, “defiant” Ms. California remarked:

“Absolutely [we will stay open]… I’m in contact with around two hundred gym owners across the UK and we’re all having a discussion on [staying open] as we speak.”

“Obviously Parliament has to vote on this between now and Thursday, but we’re all pushing and applying pressure on our MPs to back us in classing us as essential.”

“‘I wouldn’t say it’s breaking the law, it’s guidance, everything they have said is guidance… We are going to take a financial impact, but this is not about money.”

“I’m in touch with legal aid and other people regarding fines, which I’m willing to pay, but, right now, we’re not breaking any law.”

Elsewhere yesterday, the BBC Radio 1 analysed the facts about “gyms and coronavirus.” In a report by Christian Hewgill and Eleanor Roper for Newsbeat, virologist Professor Jonathan Ball of the University of Nottingham was quoted. He quite sensibly stated:

“You do tend to exercise quite vigorously [in gyms], that means that you can breathe rapidly and quite deeply. Therefore, we’d expect that you could potentially produce droplets or aerosols that could go on to infect other people.”

“There’s always a risk that you might interact with someone who’s infected [without either of you knowing] and that allows the virus to transmit.”

Now readers, here’s a call to action for the coming month: Get your walking shoes on and pound those pavements.

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November 4, 2020
Flicka-ing off the Safety
Conservative MP for Kensington Felicity ‘Flicka’ Buchan should be utterly ashamed of herself for voting against safety measures to prevent another Grenfell Tower disaster

Last night, the Conservative Party disgracefully led the way to beat the Fire Safety Bill in the House of Commons by a margin of 318 to 188.

Most surprisingly, leading the way against a proposed piece of legislation that would have put the “official fire safety recommendations made during phase of the Grenfell inquiry put into law” was Felicity Buchan MP – whose Kensington constituency includes the very same tower where 72 people died and 74 others were hospitalised as a result of a catastrophic fire exacerbated by flammable cladding.

Summed up best last night by Evolve Politics, the perfectly sensible recommendations rejected by Buchan (‘Flicka’ to her friends) – a woman who previously said “up yours” to her 69% remain voting constituents – and her colleagues included:
- Creating national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise buildings during emergencies.
- Urgent inspections of fire doors contained in all multi-residential buildings.
- A legal requirement for the owners or managers of multi-residential buildings to check fire doors at least every three months to ensure they are working effectively.
- A legal requirement for the owners or managers of high-rise buildings to provide details of external walls and the materials used to the local fire service, and inform them of any changes.
- A legal requirement for the owners or managers of high-rise buildings to provide paper and electronic versions of building plans to local fire services.
- A legal requirement to ensure all high-rise buildings have a premises information box which includes a copy of floor plans.
- Regular inspections of lifts required for use by firefighters and the mechanism that allows them to take control of it.
The Steeple Times contacted Miss Buchan for comment via Twitter early Tuesday. Tellingly, ‘Flicka’ has yet to respond as to why she failed to support measures that – if they had been in place on 14^th June 2017 – could most definitely have saved her constituents’ lives.

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Flicka-ing off the Safety – Twitter users unsurprisingly rounded on Felicity Buchan and her Conservative colleagues over the outcome of the vote.

Flicka-ing off the Safety – Nick Thomas-Symonds MP described ‘Flicka’s’ decision to vote against the recommendations as “appalling” and suggested: “Many of her constituents will feel let down and have serious questions to ask.”

Flicka-ing off the Safety – Another Twitter user named Nile pointed out her behaviour was that “of a sociopath.”
September 8, 2020