Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

 The famously inoffensive comedian has had enough of our easily offended times. Source - Spiked - 30/04/24 Link TV comedy just isn’t funny anymore. That’s the verdict of Jerry Seinfeld, stand-up comedy legend and star of Seinfeld, one of the biggest sitcoms of all time. In an interview with the New Yorker at the weekend, he said: ‘It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, “Oh, Cheers is on. Oh, M*A*S*H is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.” You just expected, there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what – where is it?’ This dearth of new comedy is no accident, according to Seinfeld. ‘It’s the result of the extreme left and PC crap’, he says. ‘People [are] worrying so much about offending other people’, he warns, that nothing risky, innovative or actually funny ever gets made anymore: ‘When you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups [that say], “Here’s our...

PM declares UK will not accept migrants returned from EU as dozens of asylum seekers’ tents sprawl through Dublin streets Source - Daily Telegraph 29/04/24 Rishi Sunak has declared he is “not interested” in taking back migrants from Ireland as stark new images revealed dozens of asylum seekers’ tents sprawling through the streets of Dublin. The Prime Minister said Britain would not accept migrants returned from the EU via Ireland when the EU was refusing to take back Channel migrants who came from France. The row broke out after senior Irish ministers said they would draft emergency laws to send back refugees who had arrived from the UK to avoid being deported to Rwanda. On Monday, new pictures showed the tents stretching around the city’s International Protection Office and continuing along the road. They are reportedly being used by some 1,700 homeless asylum seekers in Dublin.  Some tents bore signs including “Seeking asylum is not a crime” and “EU’s racist asylum policy is crim...

Humza Yousaf breaks down as he announces resignation Source - Daily Telegraph 29/04/24 Link Humza Yousaf has announced he is resigning as First Minister of Scotland after his decision to scrap the SNP’s coalition deal with the Scottish Greens caused his leadership to unravel.  Delivering a statement at Bute House in Edinburgh, an emotional Mr Yousaf said he will continue in the role until his successor as leader of the SNP has been chosen. He said: “While a route through this week’s motion of no confidence was absolutely possible, I am not willing to trade my values and principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power.  “Therefore, after spending the weekend reflecting on what is best for my party, for the government and for the country I lead I have concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm. “I have therefore informed the SNP’s national secretary of my intention to stand down as party le...

 Group of MPs plot ‘100 Days to Save Britain’ including plan to back Mordaunt for leader after Dr Dan Poulter crosses the floor Source - Daily Telegraph 27/04/24 Conservative rebels are working on a 100-day roadmap to turn around the party’s fortunes after a Tory MP defected to the Labour Party. A group of Conservative MPs has crafted a “100 days to save Britain” plan including “quick wins” to convince colleagues to oust the Prime Minister and unite around Penny Mordaunt, the current Leader of the Commons. It comes as Dr Dan Poulter, a former Tory minister, crossed the floor on Saturday to join the Labour Party just days before the local elections, cutting Rishi Sunak’s majority to 49. Dr Poulter is the second person to defect to a rival party under Mr Sunak’s leadership, claiming that only the Labour Party could “cure” the NHS. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, welcomed Dr Poulter to his party and said it was “time to end the Conservative chaos”. His defection sparked bitter wo...

 New Zealand's conservative coalition swept into government with a clear vision   If the Tories go into opposition, they could do worse than look to our Antipodean cousins   People want decent homes and economic growth – anything else is window dressing Source - CAPX - 25/04/24 Link During the grim days of Covid lockdowns, one of the few comforts for liberty-loving Britons was the knowledge that, however bad things were, we weren’t as bad as New Zealand. Tales of Antipodean authoritarianism were a reminder that things could always be worse. Yet as the British right flounders on the cusp of electoral oblivion, the Kiwi right is insurgent, having to swept into government back in October 2023. For a while, it was Pierre Poilievre’s housing-driven revival of the Canadian Conservatives that offered the most obvious route back to power. Yet in New Zealand, we have a fully formed case study of right-wing renaissance; following a landslide Labour victory in 2020, the Kiwi right c...

The open border Dublin insisted on is now allowing asylum seekers to pour into the country Source - Daily Telegraph 25/04/24   Leo Varadkar left his job as Irish prime minister last month with compliments being lavished on him from all directions — especially the White House — for his triumph over Brexit Britain in forcing the retention of an open land border on Northern Ireland.  For many, the damage it did to relationships with unionists was a matter for satisfaction – one up on the old enemy. But while the Irish are traditionally uninterested in the law of unintended consequences, the results this time are potentially catastrophic. The “Ah-sure-it’ll-be-grand” cheery optimism of my countrymen can be very attractive, but it’s no way to address major crises. Take the Ukraine war, and the subsequent massive displacement of people.  The Irish love visionaries and virtue-signallers. Angela Merkel became widely admired as a heroine when in 2015 she opened her arms to 1.2 mil...

Shadow transport secretary to announce nationalisation amid moves for automatic refunds for delays and bringing down costs Source - Daily Telegraph 24/04/24 Link Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh is expected to announce on Thursday that her party will bring trains into state ownership within five years if it wins the general election. Labour also plans to use mobile phone apps to automate the existing delay repay scheme, which lets passengers claim refunds for rail journeys delayed by more than 15 minutes. Travellers will also be given a “best-price ticket guarantee” if they use a government-approved app to buy fares. The aim is to stop passengers from needlessly paying too much for fares bought from individual operators and third-party websites. Ms Haigh, who is launching the policy in a speech at Trainline’s London HQ on Thursday morning, will say: “Labour will deliver the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation.  “While the Conservatives are content to let Britain...

It hardly matters that Labour will be worse, when voters feel so betrayed by the Tories Source - Daily Telegraph 19/04/24 At the Press Awards on Thursday night, where we were both losers, my cartoonist colleague Matt (Pritchett) provided a perfect summary of the current consensus among Conservative voters. Telegraph readers, he observed, seemed to agree on two things: “That the Tories deserve to be booted out, and that Labour will be even worse”.  Faced with the choice of half-baked Conservatism or air-fried socialism (perhaps served with a side order of haggis), it is little wonder that Right-leaning people are dry-retching just at the thought of the next general election – let alone which box to cross.  On Wednesday, a survey of more than 5,400 voters conducted by former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft found that, although Conservative support is at rock-bottom, 45 per cent of voters still don’t want a Labour government. A substantial number of people agree that Labour will be ...

  PM blames Labour and Lords opponents for delay but pledges ‘regular rhythm’ of planes leaving through ‘summer and beyond’ Source - Daily Telegraph 22/04/24 The first deportation flights to Rwanda will take off in 10 to 12 weeks as Rishi Sunak admitted parliamentary delays meant he would miss his spring deadline. At a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister signalled the first flights were now likely in July but he pledged there would be a “regular rhythm” of multiple flights every month through the “summer and beyond” once the Rwanda scheme was operational. Mr Sunak blamed the delays on Labour and opponents in the Lords for “using every trick in the book” to block the flights as he warned MPs and Peers that he expected them to sit through the night on Monday to ensure the Safety of Rwanda Bill passes. The Bill, which paves the way for the flights by declaring Rwanda safe for asylum seekers, restricts asylum seekers’ rights to legal challenges to deportation and gives ...

Labour’s deputy leader ‘said she was landlady’ of house she claims was her main residence, it was claimed Source - Daily Telegraph 21/04/24 Link Angela Rayner’s bid to deal with the row over her two properties appears to have been dealt a blow following the disclosure of a document signed by her former neighbour. Sylvia Hampson has previously called the Labour Deputy Leader a “f---ing liar” for claiming that she was living in a different address to her then husband, which would have helped her to avoid paying a capital gains tax bill. She further confirmed she was a legal witness to the sale of Ms Rayner’s home and that she was asked by her to sign the document, which she claimed was her “principal property”. Mrs Hampson claimed that Ms Rayner asked her to sign the document, although she lived a mile away from her, next door to her then husband. Mrs Hampson was interviewed by Greater Manchester Police on Friday in relation to the matter. Police are looking into “multiple allegations” a...

The long shadow of the police investigation is not the only problem: voters are taking more notice of the party’s record in government Source - Daily Telegraph 19/04/24 Another day, another difficult headline for the Scots Nats. On Thursday, the party’s former chief executive, Peter Murrell, was charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the SNP.   The party’s dominance of Scottish politics is already under greater threat than at any time since Alex Salmond spectacularly won an overall majority in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election. Over the last two months, polls for this year’s Westminster election have on average put the party on just 33 per cent, twelve points down on 2019, and only neck and neck with a revived Labour party. Because Labour’s support is more geographically concentrated, on these figures the SNP’s opponents would likely be well ahead in terms of seats. That would help Sir Keir Starmer secure a Commons majority and, depending on the Liberal ...

Soon voters might start to notice, especially as England looks like it might finally be showing signs of resisting the intellectual tyranny Source - Daily Telegraph 18/04/24 Just as the Cass Report threatened to turn the tide of trans ideology in England, Scotland is doubling down on its commitment to that same philosophy. Primary schools north of the border are appointing children as “LGBT champions” and are being urged to ask pupils as young as four if they are gay, lesbian or trans, The Telegraph has revealed. It’s an initiative by LGBT Youth Scotland, a publicly-funded charity that also urges teachers to install gender-neutral toilets and claims that more than 200 Scottish secondaries – more than half of the national total – and more than 40 primary schools, have joined its LGBT charter for education.  As part of membership, staff are trained by the organisation, which provides an online guide and letter templates for children wishing to change their gender at school. A core pa...

Party will not reveal which address she put down on internal selection papers in 2014 or whether paperwork still exists Source - Daily Telegraph 15/04/24 Link   Labour is refusing to publish documents that would reveal where Angela Rayner claimed to be living when she applied to be a parliamentary candidate. The party will not reveal which address she put down on internal selection papers in 2014 or whether the documents still exist, citing the police investigation into its deputy leader. Officers are investigating claims she wrongly declared which house was her permanent address on the electoral register, which is a criminal offence. Ms Rayner says her former home on Vicarage Road in Stockport, which she purchased through the Right to Buy scheme at a discount for £79,000 in 2007, was her “principal property” until she sold it in 2015. She was registered at the property for five years after she married Mark Rayner in 2010, while he was listed at a different address in Lowndes Lane,...

 IDF says war cabinet has approved ‘offensive and defensive action’ despite warnings from Western leaders Source - Daily Telegraph 15/04/24 Israel has said it has drawn up plans to attack Iran in response to the unprecedented missile and drone strike. On Sunday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the country’s war cabinet had approved both “offensive and defensive action” despite warnings from Western leaders. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, called off an immediate retaliation following intervention from Joe Biden, the US president, who asked him to “think carefully” about his next move. But Israel said that it reserved the right to strike Iran at a “manner and time” of its choosing. It later told the United Nations that Iran had “crossed every red line” in its attack. On Sunday night, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss Iran’s attack, after a request from Israel. Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, told the council: “Regiona...

Britain has had a lucky escape avoiding Brussels’ disastrous, profligate mess Source - Daily Telegraph - 13/04/24 Link A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money. At the time these words are thought to have been uttered, concern was mounting over federal spending – in particular the 9pc of GDP going towards US defence. But the American military of 1962 may soon have a genuine rival for profligacy: the European Union’s mammoth Covid recovery fund, designed to reboot the Continent’s southern economies and finally forge a full-blown fiscal union. It is becoming painfully clear that the huge amounts of money Brussels borrowed is being wasted, with an investigation into fraud underway, accusations of corruption, and misallocation of resources. In reality, Britain had a lucky escape from the whole sorry mess – and while we may have failed to seize many of the opportunities from Brexit, staying out of this disastrous fund was one of them. It was launched with h...