We have long known Mr Windsor behaved badly as Prince Andrew by choosing Epstein as a friend and being too close to a convicted paedophile. The King rightly stripped him of royal duties and titles.
Over the last week Mr Windsor, no longer a working royal, has been interviewed under caution by the police. The big story will be when the police bring charges of a criminal offence or announce they are not bringing charges. Until we know the outcome there is no significant news.
Yet with obvious government encouragement the media goes on and on about the need for reform of the monarchy and behave as if Mr Windsor is an important and powerful person when he has been removed from all public roles.
It looks as if the government aided by the BBC want to spend most time on this to bury or downplay much more important and urgent stories.
1. The huge tax hit reported in the latest figures and the damage this is doing to jobs, business and net incomes
2.The refusal of the Chancellor to use the Spring Statement to launch a proper growth strategy or to get the cost of living under control by new policies on energy, Council taxes, motoring costs and the rest
3.The disgraceful and expensive give away of the Chagos islands
4. The UK refusal to help the US to put pressure on the murderous Iranian regime
5.The dreadful EU re set deal and the Gibraltar deal where no texts are made available to the UK Parliament and people
6.The continuing failure to tackle the rape gangs seriously
7.The continuing refusal to make the legal changes necessary to smash the gangs and stop illegal migration.
Note how there is so much discussion of Mr Windsor but much less of Mr Mandelson. Those MPs who want a more transparent royal family should start by early and comprehensive publication of the Mandelson papers as demanded by the Commons.
February 22, 2026
I agree,
Skipping over the ‘scndal’ to the real news
February 22, 2026
AMW is the governments Squirrel. The story will be endless assisted by the BBC to bury the excrement show they are presiding over.
February 22, 2026
Smoke n’ Mirrors
February 22, 2026
Defund the BBC! But of course they won’t because it is so useful.
Incidentally “The UK refusal to help the US to put pressure on the murderous Iranian regime” would not be on my list.
The US is a far more murderous regime than Iran (look at the headcount across numerous regime change wars over decades). They just generally kill foreigners rather than their own citizens. We took part in nearly all of those wars, too.
We can’t claim the moral high ground. Not least against Iran, where in 1953 we destroyed their democracy and installed a “murderous regime” in order to keep pinching their oil. The Iranians had their susequent 1979 revolution, and we should leave the murderous consequences to them. Not our business. The Israelis and US-Israel lobby are pushing the war agenda, and we’ve no good reason to help them or anyone else destabilise more of the Middle East and send millions of refugees westwards.
February 22, 2026
W,
Agree about Iran. Not in my interest to facilitate another ‘forever war’ that could mushroom into an even wider conflict.
February 22, 2026
It’s not just the BBC who have been reporting Mr Windsor’s travails. The big three news agencies – Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse – have all published the picture taken in the limo after he was released – and have reported his arrest globally
When he was arrested Mr Windsor will have had his fingerprints taken, along with a mugshot – and a DNA sample in accordance with standard police procedures
The DNA sample will be compared with DNA on the police database, taken from the clothing of crime victims, unsolved historical cold cases, samples from crime scenes etc. Doubtless, his DNA will be passed to the American FBI investigating Epstein’s nefarious activities, for similar comparisons.
The institution of the monarchy will never be the same again. The UK republican movement will be invigorated, believing that abolition will enable a ~5p cut in income tax.
February 22, 2026
SG
A 5p cut in income tax would cost approx £32 to £35 billion.
Abolition of the Monarchy woild save approx £500 million.
Please explain how abolishing the Monarchy would fund a 5p cut in income tax.
February 22, 2026
Strictly speaking it would be about £500 million per year.
But the following set of tables, particularly Table 5, shows Sam to be right:
http://www.gov.uk 24/06/2025 ‘Direct effects of illustrative tax changes bulletin (June 2025)’.
February 22, 2026
I’m a little confused by your post hefner
I said £500 million was the approx cost of the Monarchy.
February 22, 2026
Yes, it’s obvious that is what is going on and I’m very disappointed that Talk TV and even GB News have allowed it to completely dominate their schedules.
February 22, 2026
Of course the Mr Windsor, formerly known as Prince, affair is being used to deflect.
I doubt there is anyone among us who hasn’t had that thought, I mean it’s not like we haven’t seen such tactics to ‘bury bad news’ before.
It is a big story though, because it is a web of deceit and wrongdoing by people who we fund and who preach morality to us mere mortals.
It’s a gift from the Gods to the Global Communists within our system, as being rid of the Monarchy is and always has been a hoped for outcome.
(Comments on King and P of Wales deleted. They have to work with the government and read out government policy ed)
It is now essential every right thinking public official with some power and leverage insists on getting to the bottom of who knew what, who did what and who covered for it.
This applies more so to the rape and torture gangs, no more deflections, no more Mr Nice Guy. This goes ( a long way towards ed)the top and the top needs decapitating for it.
Likewise Starmer’s sneaking us back into the clutches of the EU. It is outrageous how those in politics preach to others abroad about democracy, and worry more about the effects of regimes in other lands on their people.
February 22, 2026
Cheap headline journalism from the MSM. A ‘story’ that keeps on giving.
February 22, 2026
Ramadan is the biggest story on the BBC this morning …..peace & love & joy
February 22, 2026
Starve yourself for God.
February 22, 2026
Classic case of a good day to bury bad news.
It is also helpful to Epstein’s American network to deflect the attention to the UK and away from the one big thing the others all have in common.
The photo of Andrew Windsor looking absolutely traumatised in the back of a car was a very lucky scoop for the photographer.
February 22, 2026
I agree – I would add to your list of seven.
Refusal to ditch the insanity of rip off energy costs due to net zero, to row back on the workers rights bill, the wars on landlords, the counterproductive was on non doms and private schools and all the other doomloop lunacy.
February 22, 2026
Good Morning,
Thank you Lord J. for pointing this out, I have been using alternative sources for news over the last day or two to avoid this unimportant domestic scandal. Why unimportant, even if it brings the present monarch down the line of succession is well set.
If I may pick up one point mentioned, No. 4, allowing the US our military facilities to strike Iran; Ms Badenoch was asked directly by a UK TV news show, if she would allow the US to do so, her answer: ‘If it is in the national interest’. Perhaps Lord J and others may not find this a satisfactory answer? Not given this issue any thought, Ms Badenoch? Don’t want to take a position? Aren’t ALL government decisions supposed to be in the national interest…. Ready for office…. I don’t think so.
February 22, 2026
Agreed.
You might think it a wonderful opportunity for the rest of the serious MSM to take the lead … except they are at it too, the Telegraph with picture of police pushing a van which got stuck in a field while the Beeb comments on a broken gate at a Norfolk police station
etc ed
February 22, 2026
Even in disgrace the ex-prince and Falklands veteran continues to serve his country, as a human shield pushed out to take the bullets while government cowers behind the parapet.
Whatever he may have done, the spectacle of a witch hunt in full cry is never a pleasant one.
As to Mandelson, our host need have no fear. One witch at a time. The noble lord (and his political patrons) know their turn will come.
February 22, 2026
Brown’s intention to sell gold and reinvest the proceeds in foreign currency deposits, including euros, was announced on 7 May 1999, when the price of gold stood at US$282.40 per ounce. It is $5,110 now. If only the UK economy had grown by 12% PA for 26 years under Labour and Cameron, May. Boris, Sunak as gold has in $ terms.
From the provost of Oriel College, Oxford Sir Derek Morris
Ode to Post Neoclassical Endogenous Growth Theory
Men often think of Halcyon days of long ago
But much past time was dreary, nasty, full of woe
And for this problem no one could think of any good solution
Until one day, along came the Industrial Revolution
Man’s labour, engines and his keenest wit
Produced all manner of goods, some welded, others knit
And in this way Man’s welfare grew at a rapid rate
Saving many from a much more horrible fate
Bright Scotsmen, and some English too
Studied hard; and so they thought they knew
That this was not just something plainly magical
But was due to free markets – and explanation quite classical
But when, later, wise men asked where all the growth came from
Then many, even great economists, were struck dumb
All the statistics that they gathered were quite clear
The hard toil of people and machinery were small beer
Only inventions seemed to have any effect
And from where these arose everyone was quite bereft
So people then began to get rather weary
Of the once almighty neoclassical growth theory
But then new analyese, oh do subtle
Questioned all this and led to its rebuttal
A new explanation arrived, over which there was quite a fuss
Technical progress – innovation, ideas – were “endogenous”
Invention was crucial but needed embodiment
In people – in skills – and in capital investment
So these were important to make growth shine
Although others had known this for a very long time
All this was important to men in Whitehall
Who hadn’t had much luck with growth rates at all
Now they had reason to spend on capital, education and skills
And made sure this happened through many Parliamentary Acts and Bills
This was very much favoured by one Gordon Brown
Who soon became much the biggest man in town
And if critics did all this approach then query
He answered “it’s post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory”
February 22, 2026
LL!
I was not expecting a poetry post from you. It’s up there with McGonagall’s finest.
A lot easier to understand than ‘Ode on Intimations of Immortality‘ too.
‘ Beauty is truth, truth beauty’ as a PPE graduate once recalled.
February 22, 2026
I’m no Royalist. If they all disappeared i really wouldn’t care. But i suspect you’re correct to point out they are a very useful distraction right now.
February 22, 2026
They do work together very well – but it seems they need each other.
A real government would have thrown the BBC to the wolves long ago, while if the BBC had been reporting honestly this government might have fallen by now.
The BBC are masters at manipulating the news and telling us what to think, The government is simply adept at deceit and hiding the true facts when it suits them.
How do you correct all of this duplicity and put things right?
February 22, 2026
I agree, The BBC and media are focussing on the British and Commonwealth monarchy as if being instructed to take their eyes off peter Mandelson and Gordon Brown who used xxxx Prince Andrew. Good to see the USA are asking how come no new arrests have been made over there yet.
If Andrew answers questions saying he doesn’t know he would be telling the truth, he really is that (ill informed? ed).
February 22, 2026
All this focus on Andrew but he was very far from being Epsteins only known associate.
How many others have been arrested and interviewed in the US – or did it go too deep for comfort amoungst the social and political elite there? These people have deep pockets and will sue at the drop of a hat but hopefully the authorities are busy digging away and unravelling it all.
Let’s not forget our own Peter Mandleson either. etc Ed Will he be arrested and ( interviewed to see if he should Ed)face the prospect of criminal charges? What’s good for former royalty should be perfectly fine for him too. Or does he know where all the bodies are buried…?
Reply Both Mr Windsor and Mr Mandelson have denied any criminal wrongdoing and neither face charges.
February 22, 2026
But one was arrested (and one was not) My Lord. Why?
The media focus has largely shifted to the Royal and away from the Politician.
How convenient for those in No 10 who were involved in Mandleson’s Lazarus-like rise back to public life for the third time and who also likely have no love of the monarchy either. Two birds with one stone.
February 22, 2026
reply to reply…. YET
February 23, 2026
Excellent – Peter Mandlerson has achieved parity with AMW.
February 22, 2026
Indeed. Browns ridiculous intervention has clearly been designed as part of this deflection. If he rally though Mr Windsor was misusing RAF bases etc when he was PM he should have done something about it at the time. Removing Mr Windsor as trade envoy was one of the many things the coalition had to do to clear up the mess left by Blair brown and Labour. The mandelson part of this story is much bigger. Indeed it now seems that it was mandelson who got Mr Windsor made trade envoy, a position for which he plainly had no qualifications, over the advice of HM the King.
February 22, 2026
Indeed Labour misjudgement was well in the air in the Brown years.
February 22, 2026
TTK asking for a the police to investigate Mr Windsor over trafficing etc.
Whilst TTK tries to bury/ delay/ obscure any type of investigation into the rape gangs – this delay is the worst.
Then as you correctly point out, Mandelson is managing to find a new rock to hide under whilst all the noise is made over Andrew.
I have heard so many people say “TTK is a decent man”. He is not. He is the lowest of the low.
Of course the Tories famously did not act on the rape gangs either, but neither did they push the fact that they are completely innocent, decent and wanting justice like TTK. TTK a truly disgusting individual. Well aided and abetted.
February 22, 2026
A decent, kind and intelligent man said Sir Jim Ratcliffe of the dire Two Tier Kier – surely he should say sorry for saying this when it is so far from the truth.
February 22, 2026
What about including that our Minister of Defence says he wants the U.K. to send UK troops to Ukraine?
Or the SoS of DESNZ pursuing a path to sabotage our energy, industry, economy and hence national security?
February 22, 2026
‘UK should send non-combat troops to Ukraine now’ former PM Johnson tells BBC.
February 22, 2026
“Non-combat troops”. So – troops without rifles? Will they be directing traffic? Will they be handing out food rations, blankets, bottles of mineral water? Or just sitting around playing cards?
Poor old Boris, he really has lost it this time.
February 22, 2026
As well as the government, the Civil Service and judiciary using the Monarchy to deflect attention from their decisions and actions they’re also deliberately using a series of pre-planned dead-cat-on-the-table policies and U-turns.
February 22, 2026
Exactly, the so-called ‘dead-cat’ on the table. They have even raked one of the big time Socialist losers in to have his say ‘Gordon Brown’ the country the people are still to this day paying for his ineptitude. Pensions, Gold Nuclear, Bonds, Financial Crisis all owned by Gordon Brown, and the minions the people of the UK are still paying his debts while Starmer and Parliament add to the pile
February 22, 2026
The fall from grace by Andrew M Winsor is a slow burn story that has been in the papers for the past several years. His odd living arrangements with his estranged wife has led to endless speculation, but none of it is in any way a crisis in the monarchy. It is just another chapter in the well documented history of royalty and its peculiarities.
The real story is Mandelson. His deep roots in the establishment is keeping him in the background but it can’t last.
He was the person who advocated for Prince Andrew ro be given the job of globe trotting trade ambassador, even after Prince Charles now King advised against it.
It was Mandelson who was connected to Russian oligarchs, American lobbyists, and of course Epstein. It was Mandelson who advised ahead of publication secret government decisions who he advised we have yet to establish. Then we have the hand of Starmer involved in this sordid saga of duplicity and intrigue. It was Starmer who appointed Mandelson to the highest diplomatic position in our national diplomatic service.
He had been warned not to do that but went ahead and here we are.
The rot is well established within the Labour party and within this government.
Reply Mr Mandelson denies he did break any law and has not been charged with anything.
February 22, 2026
‘proper growth strategy’ growing the size of the State in some peoples mind is increasing GDP. The more tax the State consumes, throws away, the more they can collect – isn’t tax ‘growth’
February 22, 2026
‘The UK refusal to help the US to put pressure on the murderous Iranian regime’ Our Government, our Parliament want to make this about them attacking POTUS, when he is trying to thwart another despot obtaining Nuclear Weapons, a concern when they are funding and encouraging terrorism.
Nuclear proliferation, something 2TK’s World Order, International Law and World Government, the UN is wrong, more socialist contradictions and hypocrisy .
February 22, 2026
I wasn’t aware of the deal on Gibraltar but I have been predicting that Starmer, afte Chagos, will give away Gibraltar to Starmer’s allies in the EU who hate Britain as much as he does. I wonder which territory will be next. The Falklands. How ironi that this Trotskyite and his Marxist Gang scream blue murder against Trump in order to preserve Denmark’s colonial possession of Greenland, the continuance of which the Greenlanders themselves want to end. But self determination, the oldest established human right, is not one recognised by human rights lawyers Starmer and Hermer. Disgusting bunch.
February 22, 2026
‘Mr Mandelson’ the Socialist love child of Blair. Of course he has done nothing wrong, neither has the other guy when you think the Courts, the Law have yet to bring charges. But yes disproportionate focus when there are things, big things known to be out of kilter and plain wrong.
February 22, 2026
All a bit hypocritical when this Parliament cant stop the Boats, maybe wont stop the Boats. But they can threaten people returning home, the Chagos Islanders with jail and fines. Then threatening to starve them out by threatening to cut off humanitarian supplies.
Where is Parliaments, its MPs, fabled UN Charters and International Law now?
Tossed aside? Should we be following the money?
February 22, 2026
‘announce they are not bringing charges’ that wont be a big story that will be shuffled away as it demonstrates the use of authoritarian powers for publicity. While the rape gangs, the ones that have done great harm in the UK are sidelined, delayed in hope that in a generation those responsible for the Laws would have been forgotten
February 22, 2026
I agree 100% the government continues to fail to provide leadership on important issues for our country
The BBC is obsessed with reporting scandal and fails to prioritise to issues that matter
February 22, 2026
In terms of Labour’s energy policy, let’s not lose sight of what the recent, successful, AR7 renewables auction represents. This is the largest single procurement of clean energy capacity in UK history. It proves that the auction system can scale, that renewable technologies are commercially mature and that the cost argument against net zero has collapsed.
The West Burton solar project alone is a powerful symbol, as the site of Britain’s last coal-fired power station now becomes a clean energy hub. This is not accidental. It’s a result of policy reform, brownfield repurposing strategy and a grid connection pathway that makes sense
The hard work starts now. Can we rapidly build the grid infrastructure that is necessary to connect 14.7GW of new generation? Can we mobilise the UK supply chain to manufacture, transport, and install at this unprecedented scale? Can we co-ordinate planning, skills, and investment across 201 projects without bottlenecks derailing timelines?
The answer will determine whether Miliband’s 2030 net zero targets are achievable. Expect howls of protest from NIMBY vested interests, Farage, Tice, 30p Lee, Badenoch etc – orchestrated by the petrostates-funded right-wing press and the fossil fuel lobby
Reply More absurd claims. The combination of high guaranteed prices for these projects with the costs of the extra grid they need and the costs of gas powered back up make this very expensive power. No signs of build out of anything like enough hew pylons and cables.
February 22, 2026
Funny how Britain’s (he’s genetically British) current World Genius, Elon Musk, is not proposing harvesting solar power even in Texas.
He is keen on harvesting solar power to run data centres, but the only way this can be achieved is to site them in space.
February 22, 2026
Nothing dirty about CO2 tree plant and crop food.
To reply:- the proposed shift to heat pumps (and EVs) will give very high winter demand for electricity on a few very cold winter days. This will demand vast increases in grid capacity, wind capacity and gas, wood, coal, nuclear… back up (virtually no solar in winter) perhaps 20 x current capacity. All this vast investment largely wasted for 80%+ of the year! Total insanity for Milibrain!
February 22, 2026
On these few very cold winter days heat pumps (especially air sourced ones) are least efficient but these days are the days you need the most heat and have the least Solar and often little wind too.
So Kemi will lower interest rates for student loans. Well she will need to gain power first which look very unlikely indeed. The real problem is giving student soft loan of circa £50k for usually worthless degrees in fairly worthless subjects and often fairly useless universities to students who often have not even got half decent A levels. They students have largely been conned!
Reply That is her point- cut down on worthless degrees.How come you know public opinion in 2028-9 already?
February 22, 2026
@Sakara Gold – all at significant subsidised costs, keeping the UK at the top of the league table as the most expensive country for energy. Causing UK output to be dearer than the equivalent elsewhere, loosing UK jobs and a chance to fund a future. So yes a great contribution from our Marxist Parliament to the destruction of the UK
February 22, 2026
@ The Rt Hon the Lord Redwood – reply
The strike prices for onshore AR7 new capacity were £65.23/MWh for solar PV projects and £72.24 MWh for wind. These should be compared with the average wholesale electricity price last week of £72.00/MWh and with an estimated £147/MWh cost for new gas-fired CCGT plant. CCGT back-up needs are being rapidly replaced by cheap battery storage
The successful AR7 round follows wider government action to cut energy bills, including taking an average £150 of costs off domestic bills from April.
Included in AR7 are the first tidal projects awarded CfD’s. Being an island, the UK has enormous untapped tidal resources which could be exploited for baseline power
Reply Yes, so the contracts are dearer than current wholesale when you add in back up and extra grid costs.The £150 off bills is not cheaper power but higher taxes – the costs are being transferred to general taxation.
February 22, 2026
To reply indeed the plan is insane.
See the electrification delusion:- Kathryn Porter is spot on!
On this Special Episode of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Kathryn Porter, energy consultant, commentator and the founder of Watt-Logic, on the suicidal delusions of our green elites’ electrification crusade.
February 22, 2026
SG:
The £72.24/MWhr are 2024 prices for tiny onshore wind projects. The CfD 2024 price for the large fixed offshore wind projects are £91.20/MWhr and £216.49/MWhr for floating offshore wind which the CEO of GB Energy has said we will need as we are running out of shallow water. The DESNZ Electricity Generation Costs 2025 Annex A – Additional Estimates and Key Assumptions – calculates that for Gas CCGT 93% load factor for commissioning 2030 the cost to build and operate is £109/MWhr. However, this calculation includes a “carbon cost” of £41/MWhr. Hence the real cost is £109/MWhr – £41/MWhr = £68/MWhr. The 2024 CfD price of solar is £65.23/MWhr but until the SoS for DESNZ solves the problem of varying amounts of wind and sunlight, particularly at night for solar, a reliable and dispatchable power supply depending solely upon these renewables will need some form of backup and this adds enormously to their costs.
February 23, 2026
SG :
I forgot to mention that your quoted price of £72/MWhr for wholesale electricity, and hence the price for gas as the last addition to the system must be gas as it is only source which is dispatchable and hence able to match demand, includes £30/MWhr carbon tax. So the gas is actually £72-£30 = £42/MWhr and hence far cheaper than any renewables even without adding the renewables additional costs of grid stability and also storage until the SoS for DESNZ solves the problem of varying wind and solar, particularly solar at night.
February 22, 2026
SG:
Nice try SG to boost support for Net Zero and renewables, but I’m afraid as a Kings College London report has shown public support for Net Zero by 2050 has plummeted with the share of the UK public who say the country needs to reduce carbon emissions to net zero sooner than 2050 has nearly halved since 2021. Net Zero isn’t going to happen anyway as it’s impossible and any attempt will bankrupt the country. Renewables do not have sufficiently high ERoEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested- see David Turver’s Substack Eigenvalues “Why ERoEI Matters”) values to maintain our civilisation and the currently very low prices are because we’re buying subsidised coal fired and possibly slave labour made wind and solar infrastructure from China whilst ignoring all the costs of grid upgrades, grid balancing and the storage/backup necessary to obtain a secure, reliable and dispatchable supply of electricity. The Clean Power 2030 project will not survive once the planned DSR (Demand Side Response, aka rolling blackouts) start – see P47 Table 2 of the NESO report. I think the public are finally beginning to wake up to the fact that there is no climate crisis and Net Zero is simply an impoverishment and control project.
February 22, 2026
@SG
From the Telegraph today
UK factories, data centres and office blocks are paying 81pc more for electricity than companies in France, according to analysis published on Sunday by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), a think tank.
This has left Britain at a “significant competitive disadvantage” compared with its Continental neighbour
Every one gets to laugh when the UK cant afford a tomorrow
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/22/net-zero-british-factories-pay-twice-france-electricity/
February 22, 2026
Unless we repopulate Parliament with sound, capable, mature people I’m afraid Parliament itself will destroy Britain.
All the subjects listed above by JR are viewed as ‘boring’ by the delinquent class.
The fact that they are critical to civilised life seems to bypass the unthinking acolytes.
Funny thing about life, it’s mundane and dull most of the time and petrifying in bursts.
However yesterday in Manchester the streets were a literal mass of Alfa Males waving our precious flags. Nothing could stop them. Please God nothing ever will.
February 22, 2026
LA,
Alfa, Lancia, Fiat etc are noted for their reliability.
Even Jeremy Clarkson would concede that.
February 22, 2026
Not noted.
February 22, 2026
Alfa Romeo car owners? 😂
February 22, 2026
‘Click-Bait’ from the Express
“Parliament ‘must launch a Treason probe into Andrew and Mandelson’, senior MP
Parliament must launch a treason probe into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein, a senior MP has demanded. Former security minister Tom Tugendhat said a special committee of MPs, peers and retired judges should look into the implications for the state.”
In reality nonsense grandstanding. But it would be a good way to open the doors to all acts of ‘Treason’ by the untouchable, high and mighty, particularly amongst the UK’s Legistrators. Its for that very reason I doubt it will gather much traction
February 22, 2026
Re (5) Just another example of Labour’s usual …’ we will not be giving a running commentary on….’ – Take your pick. Perhaps SKS was right however, when saying ” We are not the Britain of the Brexit Years anymore ” if you look at some basic facts and figures since our EU exit on the Facts4eu.org site report dated 14/2/26. Have to support too Lord JR’s quoted words on that same report from which I quote just the third paragraph: ( See the rest on the report ) ” How dare this government that gained only one third of the votes in the election and now commands under one fifth support seek to wantonly give away our freedoms and our sovereign powers that come from the people ” Exactly.
February 22, 2026
Pt 4 needs rewording : Trump’s brinkmanship on Iran which threatens to start a regional war, disrupt oil supplies and therefore cause a massive crisis for the world economy. Whether the UK’s bases are used is incidental compared to what’s really at stake.
February 22, 2026
While the former Prince Andrew may have done something wrong, and that will come out in time, there is no doubt that the Government and Media are using him as a distraction.
This Government is doing so many things wrong; their wrongdoing will dwarf AMWs when it all comes out.
Maybe the police should arrest Miliband for deliberately destroying UK industry, arrest the PM for the Chagos Islands giveaway and blocking/delaying the rape gang inquiry, and the Chancellor for destroying jobs, especially for young people.
Reply The damage done by Ministers is not against the law but is a good reason to vote them out
February 22, 2026
Unfortunately the discussion on the monarchy is not deliberately designed to avoid the big issues. Most British people seem more interested in TV soaps than in politics and the royal family is akin to a soap. Most people just believe all politicians are hopeless and they are all as bad as one another (or as one of my friends put it long ago, “they are all tarred with the same brush”. ( Often more people vote in reality TV polls than in local elections). I don’t quite agree and there is some public hypocrisy in condemning Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for the common political and society-wide practice of leaking information even though he was maybe enhancing trade opportunities (which was his unpaid job) in so doing.
February 22, 2026
One question: why do you say “with obvious government encouragement”? I Asserted this to someone who said there’s no evidence for this & I couldn’t think of obvious evidence (other than brown’s intervention)
Reply The various stories re taking him out of line of succession, follow up on role as trade envoy etc must have been govt briefed
February 23, 2026
Noted thanks
February 22, 2026
Many have said that it is a ploy to divert attention, however if most are thinking this ,then the manoeuvre isn’t very successful.We don’t wear blinkers or incessantly focus but rather see the different pictures as they are reported and only on that information make possible scenarios internally in respect of what has happened in society previously both to ourselves and the wider public.They certainly cannot streamline our thought processes
February 23, 2026
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Andrew story is opportunistic scapegoating: any suggestion that Mandelson might have misused public contacts for private gain might lead to lids being lifted on his ex-colleagues. It would be astonishing if ( no one among ed) among 1449 sitting members and many ex-members (had done this ed)
I was particularly amused to see Gordon Brown fulminating about the abuse of public expenditure, almost as if he thinks we have amnesia.
February 23, 2026
On a different topic. Here is the reply to my complaint about the pro EU bias in the Today programme where they dodge my complaint.
Dear Mr Frazer,
Thank you for contacting us about Today on BBC Radio 4, February 12.
During the broadcast, Simon Jack interviewed the former Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Lord Jim O’Neill. In the interview, Simon stated the following: “And just one other thing, if I look at the front page of the Daily Telegraph this morning it’s saying ‘Labour up for closer ties with Europe’. It seems to be incontrovertible that things like trade, with our biggest trading partner have fallen. To what extent has that become a very attractive option for a PM and Chancellor keen to promote growth, and what would be the political cost of that?”
We have previously reported that economists and analysts generally assess the impact of leaving the EU single market and customs union on 1 Jan 2021 on the UK’s goods trade as having been negative. Further detail can be found via the BBC Verify article linked below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdrynjz1glpo
Additionally, it’s important to note that the way the question is framed does not take a specific position on the matter. By asking to what extent this is the case, it remains open-ended, allowing the guest to express the view that they may not consider it an attractive option.
We very much value your feedback. Complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC. This ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people quickly, and helps to inform decisions about current and future content.
If you’d like to understand how your complaint is handled at the BBC, you might find it helpful to watch the short film on the BBC Complaints website about how the BBC responds to your feedback. It explains the BBC’s process for responding to complaints, what to do if you aren’t happy with your response and how we share the feedback we receive.
Kind regards,
BBC Complaints Team
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
February 23, 2026
Your list of “more important and urgent stories” is missing the most important one, ie out of control legal immigration. We have things like the vast number of Afghans given visas by Ben Wallace, the outrageous increase in national insurance discounts for Indian nationals working here as so well documented by Katie Lam, and the sheer volumes overwhelming our country.
I was in a hotel over the weekend, so got to see some terrestrial TV. One notable section was a “retired government economist” who was of the view that the American public sector should do its best to resist the will of the elected American government. Seemingly because he does not like Trump and friends. It was obvious this is what he, and his friends, did while Liz Truss was in office. So, we really do need to “drain the swamps” here.
February 23, 2026
Spot on