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.”
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?
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.
Nikolay Kalinin calls out Grant Shapps’ decision to replace ‘GB’ car stickers with ‘UK’ ones as utterly ludicrous
There are so many things that Conservative MPs could focus on right now.
They could work on reviving British business – if they truly care about Brexit – or strengthening links between the different regions in order to prevent them from declaring independence, but instead they decided to instead obsess about car stickers. Yes, you heard it right, car stickers.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps recently announced that production of traditional ‘GB‘ motifs used by British drivers abroad will be discontinued in favour of a legal emblem stating ‘UK.’ Their reasoning? The Daily Mail reports it is being done “as an attempt to win over unionists amid heightened tensions over post-Brexit border checks” and in order to “send a clear message about Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.” Exactly how the new rule will “win over unionists,” however, was not explained by the minister.
Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger responded to the announcement by stating: “I can’t see the point. It seems to me to be a complete waste of money when we don’t need to be wasting money. It also seems to be a slap in the face for people who are proud to be GB.”
However, another Tory MP told the Mail: “The United Kingdom is stronger because it has the link with Northern Ireland because if you say Great Britain you are excluding Northern Ireland. I think it strengthen the ties at a time when we have got a problem.”
If the transport secretary really cared about “including” Northern Ireland within the country, he would by this point get on with the construction of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland that Boris Johnson pledged to build a few months ago, which would benefit national trade and establish an easier connection between Northern Ireland and the rest of UK.
Policy like this affirms what many online satirists and journalists have been saying: The Conservatives care about anything but the people they’re supposed to represent. Instead of passing legislation designed to help people, they introduce initiatives that are either pointless, such as One Britain One Nation Day, or do things that make life worse for people, for example by not closing the country in time when the Delta variant began to spread.
COVID has exposed even more how these people absolutely don’t care about the public’s wellbeing, because while Boris Johnson has pledged to remove the rule of compulsory mask-wearing in shops and public transport, a recent poll by YouGov has concluded that 71% of people in England, Wales and Scotland want mask-wearing to be compulsory after July 19th, with 66% saying that the rules should remain in shops and enclosed public spaces.
If you need more evidence, just look at the Conservatives trying to suppress the right to protest with the Policing and Crime Bill, which Labour proposed to amend by introducing a minimum sentence for rape. Unsurprisingly, the Conservatives voted against the amendment. They don’t care about the people who suffered violence in their households during lockdown, because as Labour MP Angela Rayner stated, the Conservatives are “more interested in protecting statues than protecting women.”
The Conservatives need to realise that even though they have a 363-seat majority, that does not grant them immunity from public scrutiny and accountability. They still have a job of representing the people, and it’s about time that they started doing that, instead of passing laws that are unnecessary and pointless.
Pictured top: Aside from being “beguiled” by the e-scooter lobby, as we reported on Sunday, Grant Shapps is now set to inflict his plain personal obsession with ‘UK’ stickers over ‘GB’ stickers on the British public.
Shapps’ decision has been ridiculed on all sides of the political divide. It will not only anger Brexiteers, but also those whose loyalties still are to the European Union.Of the move, Ian Liddell-Grainger MP remarked: “That is a bit bloody rum. I can’t see the point. It seems to me to be a complete waste of money when we don’t need to be wasting money. It also seems to be a slap in the face for people who are proud to be GB. It is a waste of time, a waste of money. I don’t know why we are bothering.” Going further, ‘The Sun’ added: “The AA described the move, which was settled on in May but not announced, leaving them feeling left ‘in the lurch’ as stocks of some 50,000 ‘GB’ motifs are now completely worthless.”
Previous advice, such as shown in this video shared on YouTube in February, is now out of date. Those that don’t follow the new rules, ‘The Sun’ concludes: “It will be a legal requirement to slap the ‘UK’ one on your car, and rule flouters could face fines. These will be down to the individual countries.”
An examination of the true character traits of the Duchess of Sussex’s PR peddling biased ‘bestie’ Omid Scobie by Nikolay Kalinin
Apart from being a royal editor for Harper’s Bazaar, Omid Scobie claims to be “an authoritative voice on the lives and philanthropic endeavors of the royal family’s younger members.” Strangely though, very little is actually known about this mysterious meddler and given his supposed “fame,” isn’t it strange that there isn’t even a Wikipedia page about him?
On his Twitter feed, Scobie does pompously announce that he’s written a “Sunday Times bestseller” called Finding Freedom about Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their subsequent marriage and defection from the royal family to contradictorily being “private” in the commercial sector. He doesn’t, however, add that said tosh filled tome went to half-price, bargain basement in most bookstores.
In August 2020, the ‘Daily Mail’ shared that plastic-not-fantastic Omid previously worked at gossip magazine ‘Heat’ and partied with the ‘glamour model’ Jodie Marsh. They mentioned how somebody had “airbrushed” Meghan Markle’s “entry on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia… to include more flattering details days before her romance with Prince Harry became public” and illustrated the ‘Finding Freedom’ author’s “drastic transformation” in two very different photographs.Illustrating himself to be anything but a real journalist, “influencer” Scobie told the ‘Women in Leadership Publication’: “A casual follower be forgiven for thinking that royal news is just fizzy commentary on the pomp and soap opera of The Firm” in their spring 2021 edition. He self-importantly added: “Reaching millions on Twitter has also enabled my own views and advocacy to travel further” and concluded: “I want to do everything I can to ensure that individuals from every background can get a seat at the table.” Here is someone far from a journalist; here, in fact, is someone who should just be called out as the Duchess of Sussex’s PR peddler.
According to HITC, Scobie was born in Oxfordshire to an Iranian mother and a Scottish father. His papa, Bill Scobie, runs a marketing group called Lingo; it has only one Twitter follower and he purports also to be a musician.
Scobie’s journalistic career began when he worked as a reporter for the gossip go-to Heat. He quit the magazine after he claimed that an executive called him a “P**i” in an email. Whether he was compensated or got an apology for this unproven allegation remains unknown.
Meanwhile, WaliKali suggests that Scobie’s net worth is $800k. It is not only mysterious as to how they managed to calculate that, but it’s also impossible because this means that his net worth is more than that of say LBC host Nick Ferrari – even though the latter has a bigger audience than Scobie and is certainly a far better-known figure.
Scobie’s circle of associates is just as curious; for example, Markus Anderson – a man who mysteriously went from a waiter at Soho House to become one of their top consultants – supposedly introduced Scobie to Markle and was the one who led him on the path of becoming an unofficial spin doctor for the Sussexes. Not much is known about Anderson in general; he was born in Canada and according to Town & Country, “his upbringing has influenced his taste in beverages.”
Scobie has a verified Twitter account with over 70,000 followers, which sounds legitimate, except for the fact that in reality 26% – almost 19,000 – of those followers are fake. If you’re the kind of person who uses fake followers, that means you are the kind of person who has no legitimacy in the media industry.
Things are no better for Scobie’s associate Carolyn Durand, who co-wrote Finding Freedom. She has over 12,000 followers on Twitter, of whom almost 44% – in other words 5,293 followers – are fake. It’s surprising how she is also verified on Twitter.
The “Sunday Times bestseller” Finding Freedom has 4/5 stars on Amazon.co.uk, which gives the impression that it was well-liked by readers. It is true that the book did top the charts in the UK, selling 31,000 copies in almost a week. However, what many forget is that a group of people called “Sussex Squad” – which sounds like a battalion of people who could execute anyone who dare criticise the Duchess of Sussex – had been leaving fake 5-star reviews on Amazon on purpose, until Amazon stopped that by limiting reviews to “verified purchases.”
The analysis of the book from esteemed media outlets were no better; whereas on Amazon the book is listed as being described by the Daily Telegraph as “utterly gripping,” the actual review references it as “a one massive moanathon – a one-sided, highly biased, self-pitying account of the relationship (between Harry and Meghan).”
What’s even worse is that both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex actually disowned the biography before it was even published; as the Daily Express reports, the Duchess of Sussex’s lawyer had claimed that the book is “either extremely anodyne and/or I understand are the product of creative licence and/or are inaccurate.” Bizarrely, later, her representative argued that she contributed to the book, but did not provide the authors with the contents of the letter sent to her estranged father.
Scobie’s unreliability can also be evidenced by the fact that he accused the Duke of Cambridge’s aides of planting reports that the latter was “worried about Harry’s mental health,” while not providing evidence that this was the case. Honestly, if you want some-one to believe your side of the story regarding the affair, you have to provide solid evidence, and that goes for both sides.
It seems that ITV too have become suspicious of ‘Spin Doctor Scobie’ as his comments about “planted reports” were cut at the last minute from their documentary Harry & William: What Went Wrong? It aired last night and told opinions on the story about Princes Harry and William’s supposed “rift.”
Scobie is also advertised on the HarperCollins website as the host of ABC’s “popular” podcast The Heir Pod, yet the podcast is anything but popular. If you go to Chartable, a service which provides statistics on podcasts, the podcast does have a rating of 4.7 stars out of 5, but only on the basis of 735 reviews. Meanwhile, popular podcasts within the news category – of which The Heir Pod is listed in – such as the BBC’s Global News podcast and The Ben Shapiro Show have thousands of reviews, which demonstrates that there is practically no engagement with Scobie’s podcast.
Another piece evidence of the podcast being anything but “popular” is the fact that it doesn’t chart in any of the big markets such as the US, UK, Canada or Australia. At the time of writing, The Heir Pod charts in Argentina (160th place), Kyrgyzstan (248th place), Antigua and Barbuda (125th place) and Bhutan (138th place). It thus seems to me like ABC is pointlessly wasting millions on a podcast which its target audience doesn’t even want to listen to.
Similarly, Scobie and other members of the sanctimoniously sinsister “Sussex Squad” have silenced and attacked Kate Robertson, a youth organisation leader who criticised the Duchess of Sussex on Twitter for not resolving her grievances with the royal family in private. Eventually, they forced her to delete the tweet and apologise.
Later, Scobie went on Good Morning Britain and justified what happened by saying: “Everyone’s allowed the right to have an opinion on this,” but then also stated: “It stands out when someone speaks so against the couple.” To me, this sounds like pure reinforcement of double standards. Honestly, if you have to rely on ‘cancel culture’ and suppression of freedom of speech in order to defeat your opponent, you don’t deserve to be called a journalist and you certainly should be seen as a threat to society rather than a respected public figure.
What all of this demonstrates is that Omid Scobie is not a genuinely honest reporter and most certainly not the “authoritative voice on the lives and philanthropic endeavors of the royal family’s younger members” that he claims to be. The truth, instead, is that Omid Scobie is a washed-up, childish clot who tries yet fails to portray himself as someone with legitimacy and it’s about time that he got exposed for being nothing but ‘MeGain’s’ number one PR peddler.
Whilst Omid Scobie’s podcast, #TheHeirPod, was “downgraded from ‘a real chore’ to ‘unlistenable’” according to ‘Royal Analysis,’ the true revelation is that it isn’t even popular in the places where it surely should be most relevant, Britain and America.An analysis of Omid Scobie’s Twitter feed clearly shows that a large proportion of his followers are a bit like himself: FAKE.
When he’s not bragging about wearing Balenciaga, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior or sharing photos of his dog, Yoshi, on his Instagram account, the ‘Finding Freedom’ author constantly bangs on about how he believes the royal family to have racist elements. His speculation is rarely supported by anything other than unnamed sources that give his suggestions little to no credibility.Markus Anderson with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and her mother, Doria Ragland.
Canadian waiter turned Soho House director Markus Anderson was allegedly the person to have introduced Prince Harry and the then Meghan Markle. This “champagne partial” individual has been repeatedly linked also to Omid Scobie online on sites such as Quora whilst the site ‘Royal Analysis’ has reported: “Well, apparently, Omid and Markus used to be very close. I don’t think it’s out of the question for Markus to have facilitated Meghan and Omid getting together to strategize about what positive press coverage Omid could give to Meghan.”
Former church hall on the Isle of Lewis to be sold for just £34,000 in spite of the fact that it could earn the buyer £300 per night
Lionel (Gaelic: ‘Lìonal’) forms part of the Barvas (‘Barabhas’) civil parish on the Isle of Lewis, the largest island of the Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. Like the castle we featured last month, it is extremely isolated but unlike that white elephant, it is situated on an island that has a population of some 20,000 and where the main industries are crofting, fishing, peat cutting and weaving.
Accessed by a daily ferry from Ullapool on the Scottish mainland that takes 2 hours and 30 minutes and served by an airport also, Lewis remains an extremely religious island and though the Sabbath is still observed mostly, the sale of a church hall is indicative that change is perhaps on the way.
Offered by Future Property Auctions this week, the non-listed former church hall at Lionel is described as a “super investment opportunity” with “development potential” as an Airbnb that could rent for “upto £300 per night ($417, €347 or درهم1,500 per night) at peak times.”
Extending to 820 square foot in total currently with a large, double height single room and entrance vestibule, the detached building has been listed with a remarkably low guide price of just £34,000 ($47,300, €39,400 or درهم173,600) and is described as potentially also being capable for use as a permanent home, creche, museum or public library with “super income earning potential.”
Bidding online for the church hall opens at 10am on the 7th May 2021 and closes at 4pm on the same day on the Future Property Auctions website.
The interior of the building is watertight but in need of renovation. Sadly, character features including pews have been removed, but there is clearly potential to create a two-storey single dwelling house with earning options as a holiday home within the space.Viewed from the rear and side, the plot on which the former Lionel Mission Hall is clearly not large, but it is surrounded by farmland.For someone seeking peace and quiet, the location would be ideal. Equally, given tourism is a source of local income, the earning potential of the building once renovated as a holiday let is clear.A view of the former church hall from the road.A site plan shows the limited land that surrounds the building.Clearly, as shown by this map, the property is certainly remote.
Iceberg home formed in part from the former Chelsea studios of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012
The grand location used as Uncle Monty’s London home in Withnail & I – the 1987 classic dark comedy starring Richard E. Grant – was West House at 35 Glebe Place in Chelsea. That building was sold to François Pinault, the owner of amongst other things Christie’s, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, for £20 million in 2011, whilst last month we featured an equally fabled residence in a street once home to artists, but now the preserve of billionaires – the £6.95 million former residence of the now in exile oligarch Sergei Pugachev at 53 and 54 Glebe Place.
Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported that Pugachev’s publicity craving ex-partner and mother of three of his children, ‘Karen-esque’ Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, had finally been evicted from that property. “It’s not our choice to leave, it’s painful and oh so sad” blubbed this batshit bonkers woman on Instagram, but now there’s another house for sale in the street that will make headlines and this time because of its connections to an esteemed art nouveau architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928).
Glasgow born Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his Black Country born wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (top) and a replacement plaque commemorating their association with the building that is located on the garage door at 43 Glebe Place. A plaque was first erected to mark the centenary of the Glasgow School of Art in 2009, but was “removed at some point between 2009 and 2015.”
Bizarrely sold in November 2012 for a sum £55,000 lower than in February that year, 43 Glebe Place has just come to the market for £14.95 million through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – a sum 1,178% higher than eight years ago.
Now vastly larger due to the fact that it has been ‘iceberged’ with the addition of an entirely new ‘mega-basement’ level (of similar concept to that created under the five houses opposite during their controversial merger by Monsoon and Accessorize owner Peter Simon in 2015), 43 Glebe Place is formed from the merger of a simple cottage and two artists’ studios. It now extends to 3,871 square foot in total over three levels.
One section of the property formed from the artists’ studios – known at that time as 43a Hans Studio – was used by Mackintosh from August 1915 to circa 1923 whilst his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864 – 1933), occupied the adjoining space.
The studios were entered through “a small high walled courtyard” which now forms the garden of the newly created house and during this period, the couple lived nearby in Oakley Street, SW3 also. They had been forced to move to London after being banned from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, where they had previously lived, as Mackintosh had been suspected of being a German spy due to his “affinity with Austria.”
Of their time there, writing in 2016, Mackintosh expert Sheila Harris remarked:
“As with most studios the ceilings were high, in order, most probably, to capture as much as light as possible and although they were fairly austere, with the furniture, artefacts and decorative panels originally housed in their Glasgow home, the place would soon have become an extension of their artistic lives.”
“Let’s not forget that whilst Mackintosh was working quietly in his studio another, completely different, scenario was unfolding outside his studio door. A resident of Glebe Place wrote: ‘Never shall I forget how suddenly Chelsea seemed to become an armed camp… Army motor lorries were rattling noisily along the normally quiet Embankment, and those hot nights we lay awake listening to the heavy rumble of laden troop-trains, all night long… It was a heart-rending sight to see the young men of all ranks going up the steps of Chelsea Town Hall to enlist.’”
“Clearly Mackintosh and Margaret embraced life in Chelsea and made the very best of their new-found circumstances. They adopted their new surroundings, making their studios an inviting, hospitable place to spend their days, often in the company of like-minded people. They certainly faced up to the challenges of living in the capital city which was the target of so many bombing raids.”
“Whilst little evidence can be found on the daily routine of the Mackintoshes’ life in London, we know that they… spent their days in the adjoining studios in Glebe Place, and many evenings were enjoyed at the Blue Cockatoo [a long since gone local hostelry in Oakley Street that was popular also with Augustus John and other “artistic Chelsea denizens”] meeting friends and colleagues for dinner… We do know that Margaret held parties, including children’s parties, at the studios.”
Given what the estate agent Turnbull terms a “three year, multi-million pound rebuild by the current owners, creating an exquisite and self-indulgent London home for themselves,” it is doubtful that the Mackintoshes would now recognise their former home. It now provides a 21-foot by 16-foot reception room with a ceiling heght of 14-feet and a study area with a mezzanine beyond, a 30-foot long dining kitchen, 3 bedroom suites, a wine cellar and a gym with a steam room. There is a somewhat narrow garage, off-street parking for an additional car, a 24-foot by 23-foot garden and a 22-foot long roof terrace also.
In their marketing literature, The London Broker interestingly point out also of the freehold house: “This property currently has mixed use. The buyer should speak to their solicitor and seek advice to confirm that this could significantly reduce SDLT.” Who said the rich don’t like a bargain?
The Numbers – 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom
July 2020 – For sale for £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) through agents The London Broker.
November 2012 – Sold for £1.17 million ($1.48 million, €1.30 million or درهم5.43 million)
February 2012 – Sold for £1.225 million ($1.548 million, €1.366 million or درهم5.687 million).
A large entrance hall is formed out of the majority of the ground floor of the original, surprisingly unlisted cottage.Out of one of the studio spaces, a vast dining kitchen with doors to the courtyard garden has been created. It is bright and airy as a result of its ceiling lights.Beyond is a reception space, again with studio windows above.Another view of the room.A dividing glass partition leads to a space intended as a study. It has a mezzanine above.The master bedroom suite is to be found in the original cottage. It has its own terrace.The bathroom of the master bedroom also has a door onto the terrace.In the newly recreated ‘iceberg mega-basement’ daylight is brought in courtesy of a lightwell. A most useful wine cellar can be seen at the end of this corridor.The other two bedroom suites are located on the lower level.Also below ground is a large gym. It seems an ideal space for health conscious super-rich yummy mummy types to work out their frustrations in.The courtyard garden (looking towards the original house and garage) is quite charming and restful.The courtyard garden (looking towards the studio conversion section).A floor plan of the very much enlarged property.
A BBC video briefly mentioning Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s time at 43 Glebe Place. Video courtesy of The 78 Derngate Northampton Trust.
Flamboyant Uncle Monty plied Withnail and Marwood with booze in his drawing room at 35 Glebe Place in the film. His intentions were less than decent. In 2011, the house was sold for £20 million to the billionaire businessman François Pinault – reportedly the 27th richest man in the world as of October 2019.
In suggesting obese people slim to avoid death by coronavirus Lorraine Kelly is spot on; she’s also right about Harry and MeGain
The ‘Queen of Gorbals Gobbledygook’ that is Lorraine Kelly OBE has struck again. In her column in The Sun today, this “gritty heroine of our times” spoke for the nation in announcing: “Telling obese people to slim is no insult.”
Quite correctly pointing out the obvious in stating: “This awful coronavirus is far deadlier to those who are overweight,” this “gritty heroine of our times” has yet again shown herself to be a lady of metal rather than a fluffy friend of the vain and the vacuous.
Completely the opposite of daytime dimwits like ‘Verging on Vile’ Vanessa Feltz (whom could most definitely do with losing a few pounds herself) and the ‘Daytime David Icke’ 5G conspiracy theorist Eamonn Holmes in her approach, Ms. Kelly did not seek to “fat shame,” but instead shared her own experiences and offered solutions rather than highlighting problems.
“This is not about going on a stupid faddy diet,” cautioned the Glasgow born presenter before adding: “It’s all about a lifestyle change and doing exercise you enjoy. My advice, which is hard-earned over the years, is not to have too much unhealthy food in the house, especially right now in lockdown when it’s so easy to sit watching TV while guzzling whole packets of biscuits. If you don’t buy the junk, you won’t be able to gorge on it. That’s not to say you can’t have a treat. You can. Just don’t eat a whole plus-sized bag of Maltesers or only leave a few Hobnobs in the biscuit tin.”
Concluding on this particular topic, Ms. Kelly remarked: “I wish you luck” before turning to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Of this tedious duo she stated:
“I’m confused. Harry and Meghan demand privacy and are suing a Sunday newspaper to ensure they are left alone… They want to have as normal a life as possible… And yet… They have moved to Los Angeles, the very hub of celebrity culture.”
Here, Lorraine Kelly highlights a pair not in need of “luck” since they’ve already burnt through plenty of that. Instead, ‘Hapless Harry’ and ‘Mendacious MeGain’ just need lobotomies and one-way tickets to nowhere.
At a time when her billionaire brother Sir Richard is deservedly taking a pounding for trying to rape the state, multi-millionairess Vanessa Branson could have perhaps postponed the launch of her self-indulgent autobiography
It’s not Vanessa Branson’s fault that she’s the sister of the all-round dickhead Sir Richard Branson, but it is she alone whom made the choice to gauchely publicise a book about her anything but modest life during the worst pandemic since Spanish Flu.
Serialised, as only it could be in the top paying publication for such guff, the Daily Mail, Vanessa Branson’s One Hundred Summers: A Family Story has a stench of what the Scottish would call “guff” about it. Aside from bemoaning “sulking about” buying a tidal island complete with 9 houses in the Inner Hebrides – which she terms “Neverland Found” – this privileged woman boldly touts her book as: “Taking the reader on a journey from the dying embers of Edwardian England, through the trauma of two world wars, the hedonism of London in the 1980s and ‘Cool Britannia’ in the 1990s right up to the present day.” How utterly endearing.
Just like her self-publicising brother, this constantly crying 61-year old former art gallery owner plainly cannot get enough of herself. Here is a ramble through holidays in palazzos in Venice and trips to LA; there’s an arts festival in Morocco and there’s a second home in Sussex. Life ain’t that shabby for this woman, but all she does is moan. Her husband comes and goes (and comes and goes again and again), but with such she name-drops how Grayson Perry gave her a pot charmingly featuring the words “Marriage Wrecker” next to “images of fat middle-aged men with drooping breasts and sagging scrotums” and Tracey Emin wrote her a poem for her to use on her headboard. Its read: “Oh God you made me feel so beautiful/ And then I wanted to feel it again and again. With myself, by myself/ Never forgetting.” That’s surely enough to make anyone join in blubbering with this very, very rich multi-millionairess.
With her brattish brother condemned even by that pillar of capitalism that is The Telegraph as “Now Virgin Atlantic’s biggest liability,” Vanessa Branson could not have chosen a worse time to launch her tome. Though lauded as: “A vivid and charming tapestry of English eccentricity, fortune, fate and passion,” One Hundred Summers is more likely to ultimately be remembered just as a tale of the pathetic appendage of the deservedly most loathed man of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Here is one book we most definitely will not be recommending as essential lockdown literature.
Boisdale prepares for celebration of ‘Victory Over CV19’ with the launch of fourteen ‘war bonds’ to be redeemed when gastronomes can again gather
With outposts in Belgravia, Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf and Mayfair, Boisdale is a London institution where the late, great Baroness Trumpington – a legend known best for once sticking her fingers up in Churchillian fashion at a fellow peer in the House of Lords when she took umbrage at some nonsense he was spouting – was given a prize for writing an article titled: “If I ruled the world” in 2015.
Baroness Trumpington and Sir Winston Churchill both enjoyed sticking their fingers up at things they did not like; they’d both have given the finger to COVID-19.
Now, like all restaurants throughout the land, Boisdale is sadly temporarily shut, but its affable and somewhat eccentric proprietor Ranald Macdonald has decided to prepare his customers for the better days that will be with us soon.
Presented as ‘war bonds’ and featuring imagery of Churchill, the celebratory ‘Victory Over CV19’ vouchers on offer include everything from two whole lobster thermidors or a 20oz Scottish chateaubriand for two with four side dishes for just £75 (usually £120) to a private victory party with food and wine to the value of £2,000 for just £1,500.
Those wanting a real steal can opt for a £295 ‘Belvedere and caviar’ bond with 200g grams of Russian Oscietra caviar and a whole bottle of vodka to wash it down with (normally £695), but sadly the only thing Macdonald cannot provide is Churchill’s very own presence. When coronavirus is banished, the greatest ever wartime leader would have most definitely have reused the remark: “In victory I deserve it. In defeat I need it” as the very first champagne cork goes pop.
To buy Boisdale ‘Victory Over CV19 War Bonds’ click here.
Shaped like a seashell and of a style akin to something out of either The Hobbit or Teletubbies, ‘The Seashell’ was built to make the most of the views it enjoys over Loch Sunart and the Morvern Hills beyond.
The wood clad building is primarily formed from natural materials, including honed tree trunks from local forests, and an eco friendly turfed roof dotted with wild flowers. Accommodation consists of an open plan living-sleeping-dining-kitchen with a double spa bath, a separate wet room, cloakroom and utility room.
Aside from 0.2 acres of surrounding land, The Seashell is available either with or without an additional 0.5 acre plot that that comes with full planning permission for an additional dwelling.
A larger adjoining 3-bedroom contemporary house on a 1.19 acre plot, Aspen Lodge, is also for sale. Offers over £450,000 ($596,000, €506,000 or درهم2.2 million) are sought for it and a closing date of Tuesday 21st November at 12 noon has been set for offers for both properties by agents the Galbraith Group.
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Scottish castle on sale for just £130,000; it comes without a roof and is located near the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire
A castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland is for sale for £130,000 ($168,000, €143,000 or درهم616,000) in spite of being nothing other than a roofless shell.
Reduced in price from £150,000 ($193,000, €165,000 or درهم710,000) and dating to 1565, Knockhall Castle in the coastal village of Newburgh, near Aberdeen is described as “having been in the current owner’s family for hundreds of years” and was accidentally burnt to the ground by Jamie Fleming, “a servant fool” of then owners the Udny of that Ilk family, in 1734.
Presented in “stabilised” condition, the B-listed building stands on a small plot accessed by a private road. It is close to the Trump International Golf Links course at Balmedie and Forvie Sands, a designated nature conservation area populated by seals.
Savills have the listing and market the structure as “a blank canvas for someone to develop the building’s full potential as a spectacular family home or business.”
Of this fixer-upper, in which James VI is reported to have stayed in July 1589, Historic Scotland add:
“Knockhall Castle, in the parish of Foveran, is situated near the mouth of the river Ythan and was probably built in 1565 as an L plan towerhouse of three stories and an attic with a projecting staircase tower on its northside. The tower does not have a parapet and the gables have skews rather than crowsteps. To the south of the castle there was an enclosed courtyard, but all that now remains of this is a fragmentary round tower at the south east angle of the enclosure which incorporated a dovecot on its upper level. The tower has undergone significant alteration, probably in the second quarter of the 17th century.”
“The tower is lit by large rectangular windows in the south and east walls. These are arranged more or less symmetrically and their raised margins suggest they are insertions dating to the mid 17th century. The earlier windows which have survived have a typical roll moulding of mid 16th century type, and some appear to have had gunloops in their sills. The basement is pierced by a number of wide-mouthed gunloops but also has some fairly large windows which have the raised margins of the 17th century windows.”
“The entrance is in the re-entrant angle and the lintel of the door is inscribed with the date 1565. Above this are two empty heraldic panels and at eaves level there is a projecting stone shelf which appears to have been intended to shed water away from the entrance doorway. The doorway gives access to a corridor running the length of the building and leads to the main stair. Entered off the corridor, on the left, is the kitchen, complete with fireplace, sink and drain. The main block contains a large cellar also with a sink and drain. Both spaces are vaulted although that over the kitchen has collapsed.”
“The circular stair is wide and provides access both to the principal upper floors in the main block and to those in the wing. The tower is externally complete and in there is often sufficient evidence for a tower to be restored for modern occupation without detracting from its historic significance.”
“The planning of this tower, with a large stair serving the two wings, and with ample light through the large rectangular windows, would also make its adaptive re-use possible.”
“It should be noted that there is significant potential for associated archaeology surrounding the tower. In schemes of adaptive re-use, archaeology is an important issue to be addressed.”
