Her Majesty The Queen launches two home brewed beers just as it is announced that drinkers have drunk stocks nigh on dry in the wake of ‘unlockdown’
This morning, just as BBC Radio 4’s Today programme announced that pubs are literally “scraping the barrel” in desperation to find beer given customers have gone wild since lockdown restrictions were eased, The Sun revealed that “Her Majesty has moved into home brewing with two new bitters” made with crops grown at her Sandringham Estate.
Said like her late mother to be “partial to a gin and Dubonnet” according to her former chef Darren McGrady, the Queen’s 5% ABV Golden IPA and 4.3% ABV Sandringham Best Bitter are being sold at a punchy price of £3.99 per bottle, but have already attracted plaudits galore.
According to the paper, one unnamed fan remarked:
“To drink beers that the Queen’s had a hand in is the stuff of legend.”
“I can just imagine her supping the first pints and giving her royal thoughts on the taste. Unlike most of the home brews I’ve tried, these are actually really tasty.”
“I’m sure Prince Philip would be very proud that the estate is producing these ales as I know he was a fan of a good real ale.”
“Good on Queenie. She always knows what the country needs – and this summer, more than ever, it’s a beer.”
Sadly, however, you’ll only currently be able to buy the beers – which are made “using organic Laureate spring barley and spring water from a nearby borehole” – if you head to the estate shop on the Sandringham Estate.
The current monarch is surprisingly not alone in lauding the benefits of beer. In February 2015, we reported that Queen Victoria once remarked: “Give my people plenty of beer, good beer, and cheap beer, and you will have no revolution among them.”
Legal challenge to Boris Johnson’s government’s completely illogical refusal to allow indoor hospitality venues to open whilst allowing indoor retail to open to be decided on this week
In spite of venues with outdoor space being allowed to serve customers on their terraces and in gardens, the hospitality sector in the UK will continue to lose around £200 million per day until the government allows them to serve indoors in mid-May.
This week, following a perfectly sensible legal challenge by Sacha Lord, the night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, and Hugh Osmond, the founder of Punch Taverns, the government could be forced to bring forward the date for indoor opening for bars, pubs and restaurants.
Lord and Osmond together quite sensibly argue there is no justification or scientific basis for indoor hospitality to be kept closed for five additional weeks after non-essential retailers in England were allowed to serve customers indoors from 12th April. Their call is correct and the continuation of this illogical set of double standards is doing just one thing: Dealing another body blow to an already devastated sector.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning of their challenge to the crackpot crazy decisions of borderline bonkers’ Boris Johnson’s Tory government, Osmond remarked:
“This is something of a David versus Goliath battle. We are reassured that David won in that instance.”
“At the start of this pandemic there was a totally understandable assumption that hospitality venues might be responsible for the spread of infections. The vision of drunken people in crowded pubs is an easy and obvious target that people understand.”
“The data [now] definitively shows that hospitality was not the major source of infections.”
Elsewhere on Twitter on Friday, Lord remarked: “The government’s defence is just in… They must be concerned, they’ve put their No. 1 legals on the case, Sir James Eadie QC, the First Treasury Counsel.”
Going further this morning, he added: “Thank you for all the good luck messages. It’s not necessarily today, the Judge has said: ‘The week commencing the 19th.’ Again, a real long shot, but as soon as there’s news, I’ll post it here. Enjoy the sun.”
Today, all at The Steeple Times join those supporting the logic of allowing indoor hospitality venues to reopen and reopen now. Let’s get the indoor show back on the road.
Pictured top: Restaurants such as Fifty Cheyne in Chelsea, London have tables that are very clearly separated from one another. As shown in this image, diners can be socially distanced in a manner perfectly reasonable. Why shouldn’t such places – which lack outdoor dining areas and thus cannot even benefit from the currently allowed outdoor opening rules – not be able to get back to business whilst small, cramped shops with little-to-no precautionary measures are allowed to trade?
Hospitality vs. Headbangers – Echoing scenes from December 2020 reported on in ‘The Steeple Times,’ on Sunday the ‘MailOnline’ reported on yet another swarm of maskless, tempestuous teenagers descending on Harrods on Saturday. Sharing the article on Twitter on Monday, Hugh Osmond remarked: “It is surely clear that all-seated, licensed hospitality venues, with table service only, cannot present more of a risk than non-essential retail… Open indoor hospitality now.”Hospitality vs. Headbangers – Giuseppe Turi, who owns Enoteca Turi on Pimlico Road, London, SW1 with his wife Pamela, is currently just serving people on his two outside tables “after loyal customers begged him to reopen,” the ‘Daily Star’ last week reported. Speaking to the ‘Mail on Sunday,’ Mr Turi added: “It doesn’t really make financial sense with just two tables, but our customers are so desperate to come back. We are now fully booked until May 17 when we can open inside. We are very excited to connect with our regulars again, but unfortunately we’ve not been able to accommodate everybody.” The chances of this business making a profit from such activity stand in the area of “zilch-zero-nothing,” but provide proof that it is businesses that are showing initiative and not the illogical, rudderless, incompetent government of Boris Johnson.Hospitality vs. Headbangers – Last October, Richard Caring, owner of many of London’s best-known high-end restaurants, stuck up two dummies of Boris Johnson (in spite of having previously given over £510,000 in donations to the Conservative Party previously). At the time of the lockdown then in place, Caring raged: “Make no mistake, this is a disastrous decision, taken by people who do not understand what terrible damage they are doing to the country.”
As Brian Basham peddles another puff piece for mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell today, ‘The Steeple Times’ reminds him that we covered this news first on the 6th March
PR peddler Brian Basham has friends in high and low places and today, yet again, his chums at The Telegraph gave him acreage in a puff piece where he tried to big up the currently incarcerated mucky madam he’s acting as “spokesman” for, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Of “breaking news” this morning (that we’d covered first on the 6th March and later on 10th March also) that Maxwell was selling her “showgirl-hooker-esque” Belgravia mews house, bombastic Basham – who’s also been prone to keeping his fingers busy retweeting the obnoxious oddity Owen Jones of late – told the Barclay family owned rightwing rag:
“She is selling the house in order to pay her lawyers. There is already £5 million ($7 million, €5.9 million or درهم25.7 million) set aside but this will take it to more than £7.2 million ($10 million, €8.4 million or درهم36.7 million).”
“Ghislaine will be sad to see the house sold. She is devastated by all this. She will have a lot of good memories. She will be terribly sad to sell the house. It was her refuge in London.”
Whether such “good memories” included Prince Andrew bonking in the romp pad’s supposedly tiny bathtub on 10th March 2001 was unsurprisingly not discussed, but yet again Brian Basham’s obsequious spin that the ‘Bouncing Czech’s’ daughter is trying to cooperate with authorities as she seeks bail ought to be called out for what it truly is and that is “complete Barry bull.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday, our editor, Matthew Steeples, appeared on Shaun Attwood’s True Crime Channel to discuss Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s curious real estate shenanigans. A link to the half hour discussion will follow on YouTube in due course and will be published in The Steeple Times also.
Pictured top: PR peddler Brian Basham (left) and demanding deviant Ghislaine Maxwell with her one-time lover croaked paedophile and ‘ex-bestie’ of ‘Randy Andy,’ Jeffrey Epstein.
Basham-ing About – Shaun Attwood visited 44 Kinnerton Street, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8ES in September 2019 and managed to film the white bannister that was also seen in the now infamous photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell lurking as the Duke of York wrapped his chubby fingers round the waist of Virginia Roberts (now married and known as Virginia Giuffre) on 10th March 2001.Basham-ing About – ‘That’ photograph that Prince Andrew has so desperately tried to claim to be a fake that nobody at all has managed to discredit yet. Of it, even ‘Grubby Ghislaine’s’ own brother, Ian Maxwell, told Radio 4 this week: “I recognise the setting.”Bashaming About – Ghislaine Maxwell purchased 1,000 square foot 44 Kinnerton Street on 22nd January 1997 for £290,000 ($401,000, €337,000 or درهم5 million) and tried to flog it for £2.6 million ($3.6 million, €3 million or درهم3 million) in September 2020 through agents Aylesford. Of it, one leading property commentator remarked: “It’s the kind of house that could have featured in ‘Smiley’s People,’ in fact it’s the kind of house where the showgirl-hooker Mandy Rice-Davies could have cavorted with John Profumo.”
As her brother takes to the airwaves to PR her on Radio 4, Ghislaine Maxwell’s sale of her “showgirl-hooker-esque” London townhouse for an astonishing sum 44% lower than it was marketed at is branded a “shenanigan”
This morning, Ian Maxwell was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Talking extensively and featured in several segments, the brother of Ghislaine Maxwell went into PR overdrive and attempted to spin that his sister deserved bail. He even went as far to insist of a woman whom managed to disappear for nearly a year: “She is no longer a flight risk… This is not somebody who’s seeking to flee.”
Going further, the businessman banged on about the “grotesque” conditions within the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and bleated about his sinister sister’s hair falling out and her being served “brown water.”
Mr Maxwell claimed that he “assumes” the Duke of York – who allegedly sexually abused Virginia Roberts (now married and named Virginia Giuffre) in a bathroom at his sister’s Kinnerton Street mews house on 10th March 2001 – still considers Jeffrey Epstein’s henchwoman “as a friend” and moaned: “The water that is provided through the prison is brown and the food that she’s given is very highly microwaved and basically inedible.”
Whilst admitting he “wished she’d never met the man [Jeffrey Epstein], obviously,” Mr Maxwell attempted to slam the fact the alleged victims of his sister have not been named, but meanwhile elsewhere The Steeple Times can today reveal that the financial shenanigans surrounding the sale of ‘Grubby Ghislaine’s’ London home are starting to look increasingly curious.
Last night, a leading property expert often quoted by the BBC who did not wish to be named, told us:
“Estate agents Aylesford were instructed to sell 44 Kinnerton Street in September 2020. They sought £2.6 million for the house and when it failed to sell, they later reduced the price to £2.1 million.”
“It’s the kind of house that could have featured in Smiley’s People, in fact it’s the kind of house where the showgirl-hooker Mandy Rice-Davies could have cavorted with John Profumo.”
Going further, Yeoman’s Row, Knightsbridge based agent Matthew Kaye of Kaye & Carey added: “Knowing the street as I do, 44 is one of the smaller houses which I assume it to be a little over 1,000 square foot in size. Depending on the condition, I estimate the freehold value to be circa £1.8 million to £2 million.”
Given that the Maxwells tried and failed to raise finance on the property – quite possibly due to its association with an incarcerated jailbird alleged sexual offender – in December 2020 and given last week that the mucky madam’s lawyers announced a sale on the property was pending at a sum of just £1.45 million, another agent remarked:
“This sum seems incredibly low and it sounds to me like the notorious Maxwell family are upto financial shenanigans yet again. This asset is most likely being moved to an entity they themselves have connections with rather than ‘sold’ to someone unconnected.”
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” he concluded.
The Names & Numbers – 44 Kinnerton Street (AKA ‘Mucky Madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s Bathtub Bonk Pad’), Belgravia, London, SW1X 8ES, United Kingdom
March 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer offered cash from the “pending sale of her £1.45 million ($2 million, €1.68 million or درهم37 million)” home as part of a package when they sought bail for the mucky madam for a third time. This sum is 44% lower than the September 2020 asking price and 400% higher than the January 1997 purchase price.
March 2021 – Knightsbridge estate agent Matthew Kaye of Kaye & Carey tells The Steeple Times: “Knowing the street as I do, 44 is one of the smaller houses which I assume it to be a little over 1,000 square foot in size. Depending on the condition, I estimate the freehold value to be circa £1.8 million to £2 million ($2.5 million to $2.8 million, €2.1 million to €2.3 million or درهم9.2 million to درهم10.2 million).”
December 2020 – Members of the Maxwell family attempted to raise finance on the property but are not successful.
September 2020 – Estate agents Aylesford list 44 Kinnerton Street for sale for £2.6 million ($3.6 million, €3 million or درهم3 million) on a freehold basis, a sum 797% than the January 1997 purchase price. They subsequently later reduce the asking price to £2.1 million ($2.9 million, €2.5 million or درهم10.7 million) according to a leading property expert.
August 2019 – According to Insider, a woman with “long hair [who] appeared to be in her 60s” was seen entering the property. She “denied that the socialite owns or lived in the house, claiming instead that the elusive socialite lived elsewhere down the street.”
10th March 2001 – Prince Andrew allegedly had sexual relations with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts in a bathroom in the property. He continues to deny this occurred whilst claiming that a photograph of himself with Miss Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell on the first floor of building is a fake also.
22nd January 1997 – Ghislaine Maxwell paid £290,000 ($401,000, €337,000 or درهم5 million) for the three-storey leasehold mews house. It is situated at the heart of the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor Estate.
Murky Maxwell’s Property & PR Projects 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s decision to go on record on Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme this morning on behalf of his mucky madam sister, Ghislaine, appeared remarkable. It was most likely orchestrated with the help of their PR peddler, Brian Basham.Murky Maxwell’s Property & PR Projects 2021 – Of the now infamous photograph of Prince Andrew – which he continues claims to be fake, but which has never been proven to be such – on the landing of the property with Virginia Roberts on 10th March 2001 with Ghislaine Maxwell to the rear, Ian Maxwell remarked: “I recognise the setting.”
Matthew Steeples joins those condemning the BBC for their balls-up in describing the now deceased murdering monster Phil Spector as “talented but flawed”
This morning on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Emma Barnett quite rightly highlighted that the broadcaster she works for “got it wrong” yesterday in their initial reporting of the death of the convicted murderer Phil Spector.
Running a story minutes after this vile abuser and crazed killer’s demise was announced, the BBC lauded him by astoundingly declaring: “Talented but flawed producer Phil Spector dies aged 81.” Unsurprisingly, the corporation then found itself very deservedly slammed on social media for their crass and insensitive insult to this deranged lunatic’s innocent victims.
I, myself, later shared their tweet, but added a mocking caption that pointedly applied ‘Auntie’s’ thoughts to other equally vile deceased individuals. It read:
“Talented but flawed” gravedigger Peter Sutcliffe.
“Talented but flawed” TV manipulator Sir Jimmy Savile.
This BBC balls-up should now be reversed: Yesterday didn’t mark the death of someone who ought to be remembered as “talented but flawed.” It marked the death of the monstrous murderer of an innocent 40-year-old actress, model and charity volunteer with her whole life ahead of her, Lana Clarkson.
Pictured top: Megalomaniac murderer Harvey Phillip Spector (26th December 1939 – 16th January 2021) with his innocent victim, Lana Clarkson (5th April 1962 – 3rd February 2003). She is the one who deserves to be remembered fondly, not him.
Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
"Talented but flawed" gravedigger Peter Sutcliffe. "Talented but flawed" TV manipulator Sir Jimmy Savile. "Talented but flawed" PR peddler Max Clifford. https://t.co/2YtP258Stc
The BBC got it entirely wrong in lauding the violent, psychological abuser and murderer Phil Spector as “talented but flawed” yesterday in their reporting of his death. They should be ashamed of this insult to slayed Lana Clarkson and his other victims – who also included his own children (who were “forced to perform sex acts with his girlfriend for his pleasure”) and various partners.Forgotten Victims, Remembered Killers – Media coverage of the 2007 murder Meredith Kercher in Italy focused more on the conviction and subsequent annulment of Amanda Knox that the 21-year-old victim. Equally, media coverage of the 2010 murder of Anni Dewani in South Africa focused on her husband’s possible involvement in her death more than her as 28-year-old victim.Another example of the BBC making an utter balls-up of reporting came in October 2020 when the corporation was subjected to a “backlash” after running a “tone-deaf” trailer for a four-part documentary film about the 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp in South Africa by her arrogant psycho Paralympic sprinter boyfriend Oscar Pistorius. Many criticised the BBC due to the fact that neither the trailer for the programme nor a tweet about it mentioned the innocent, slayed 29-year-old victim.In May 2017, the BBC was attacked for its “inappropriate and ghoulish” coverage of the death from lung cancer of the unrepentant convicted serial killer Ian Brady. Of reporting specifically on Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme, one Twitter user declared: “The BBC has made a serious editorial misjudgement.” Another slammed them for asking if this monster was “mad” or just “bad.” Twisted Brady (pictured here with his equally evil lover and co-conspirator Myra Hindley) never revealed where he buried his last child victim, a 12-year-old schoolboy named Keith Barnett, and this innocent boy’s mother was thus never able to give her son a dignified burial before she then died herself
Chuka Umunna MP speaks sense on Britain’s membership of the Single Market
This morning, Chuka Umunna spoke for many when he was interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme.
The Labour MP commented:
We’re saying from the point of view of London where you’ve got over 600,000 jobs that are linked to our membership of the Single Market, whether you voted to Remain or Leave, you didn’t vote to be poorer.
Our membership of the Single Market was not on the ballot as it were, during that EU Referendum campaign. We’re saying that yes you can be outside of the European Union and be in the Customs Union, like Turkey for example and you be outside the European Union and in the Single Market like Norway.
You can actually reform the ways freedom of movement works within that context. For example, at the moment there’s one thing that we don’t do that could do now under free movement rules – which have never, by the way, been unconditional. So, for example, if somebody comes here, and they’ve been here for three months, they haven’t got work, and there’s no prospects of that, they can be asked to leave. We don’t do that at the moment.
And there are counties in the Single Market like, for example, Lichtenstein who have actually been able to apply quotas to the number of EU citizens coming. So, I don’t accept this kind of binary explanation of how things work.
We can actually stay in the Single Market, have the benefits it brings but also reform the way our immigration arrangements work.
Yesterday, Umunna was joined by sixteen general election candidates to launch a pamphlet called Stop Hard Brexit: Why London needs the Single Market. He should be saluted for this bold move and for his wise words today also.
Yesterday the Scottish came out in force and voted ‘no’ to independence. Though the ‘Better Together’ campaign’s win is by a relatively small margin and though their campaign was poorly orchestrated, it is a victory nonetheless and we should all celebrate the common sense of this decision. (more…)
The head of MI5 between 2002 and 2007 was once nearly thrown out of a pub after being mistaken for a prostitute whilst training to be a spy. In December 2013, Manningham-Bullerguest presented Radio 4’s Today programme and interviewed an the actress who has played her fictional counterpart, Dame Judi Dench. Northampton born and the daughter of Viscount Dilhorne, the surname of this expert intelligence analyst’s husband has only ever been revealed as “David”. Spooky.
This “avid bee-keeper” is the main presenter of BBC Radio 4’s World At One. When interviewed by The Guardian in 2011, Oxford educated Kearney stated: “I wouldn’t think of myself as a Loose Woman”. We’re glad to hear it. This voice of reason is indeed far from that.
