Ann Widdecombe Murdered?

 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/10/police-investigating-death-of-ann-widdecombe

Melanie Phillips.

 Well that didn’t take long, did it?

On the day that 322 politically bankrupt and panicky Labour MPs made it all but certain through their backing that Andy Burnham’s coup against Sir Keir Starmer had succeeded and he would replace him as prime minister, Burnham — whose only claim to fame is the common touch he brought to his role as mayor of Manchester — chose to celebrate by sticking it to the Jews.

After meaningless bromides about condemning the Hamas-led atrocities in Israel on October 7 2023 and the “appalling” rise in antisemitism, as well as having “felt first-hand” the anxiety of British Jews about the “very real threat they face” after the lethal Manchester synagogue attack last year, he proceeded to parrot Hamas propaganda defaming Israel for defending itself against genocide. He did so using the same falsehoods about Israel that have fuelled the onslaught against British Jews as the presumed supporters of the cosmic and diabolical evil that apparently is the State of Israel.

In his video on X yesterday, Burnham said:

The terrible suffering in Gaza is a scar on our collective conscience. It’s completely unacceptable that innocent Palestinians including children continue to be killed. That there’s still a humanitarian crisis with too little aid getting in, and that the Israeli military continues to expand the area it controls in Gaza. We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government.

He approved of the pressure already imposed by the Starmer government including recognising “the Palestinian state”, placing sanctions on Israeli ministers and imposing “waves of sanctions on violent settlers and the organisations that support them”. He also supported the restrictions imposed on arms licences, he said,

to make sure that no British bombs or bullets can be used by the IDF in Gaza or in the West Bank.

He went on:

Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement killing innocent Palestinians. Netanyahu’s government is clearly attempting to taker a two state solution impossible. We need to do more, including … looking at further sanctions, both against those involved in the violence in Gaza but also measures to ban trade in goods with illegal settlements. I like many others feel passionately abut Gaza and I will work with international partners to stop the suffering, to ensure the Israeli government adheres to international law…There’s increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed. … holding the Netanyahu government to account… I will always take a fair and balanced approach and stand up for what is right.

This was all an obscene travesty of truth and fairness and a shocking display of either brainwashed ignorance or the most shameless cynicism.

There was zero condemnation of Hamas for causing that suffering in Gaza by using “innocent Palestinians including children” not just as human shields but as cannon fodder — war crimes against their own people.

He made no mention that Hamas has been regularly torturing and murdering Gazans who dare oppose the tyrannical terrorist group.

No mention that Hamas hid in the tunnels they built to commit war crimes against innocent Israelis, including children, while failing to build one single shelter for their own civilians. Hamas prevented the Gazans from sheltering in the tunnels because the Islamist barbarians wanted as many of them as possible to die under bombardment as a strategy of war to get the credulous, post-truth progressive world to support barbarism against civilisation. As has happened, and asd Burnham has now done.

It is Hamas, not Israel, that’s been repeatedly breaching the ceasefire in Gaza. Burnham omitted that bit, thus reversing aggressor and defender as is routinely done against Israel to delegitimise and destroy it.

No mention that Hamas, although much depleted, are still attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza and refusing to disarm because, as they have repeatedly declared, they intend to commit more atrocities against Jews.

No mention of putting more pressure on Hamas and its state sponsors in Qatar and Iran to abandon their genocidal agenda.

Instead, Burnham stated that Britain would refuse to provide a single bomb or bullet to help defend civilians in Israel under attack from Gaza or in the disputed territories known as the “West Bank”.

Just think about that. The incoming British prime minister believes it’s doing “what is right” to refuse to assist the prospective targets of genocide against their attackers.

Defaming the half million or so Jewish residents of these disputed areas, of whom a few hundred delinquent boys are genuinely mounting unprovoked attacks against local Arabs — a real issue that’s being grossly exaggerated as another weapon of delegitimisation against Israel — Burnham made no mention of the dozens of murderous attacks and plots against these Jewish residents that are being perpetrated or hatched every day.

He also parroted the untruth that the Jewish “settlements” in these areas are illegal. This reflects Britain’s long-standing and cynical misrepresentation of international law. The fact is that the Jews alone are entitled to live in the “West Bank” under international law many times over.

As for Israel committing war crimes, this is the foulest lie. Israel, which goes to enormous lengths to behave in accordance with the laws of war, has committed no war crimes. These have been committed instead in their thousands by Hamas against Israeli and Gazan civilians.

Why is Burnham parroting this disgusting rubbish? Why, indeed, is he giving Gaza top priority while the British public is still waiting to hear how he proposes to govern the United Kingdom? Why doesn’t he identify the murder of more than 40,000 Iranian men and women by the fanatical Tehran regime as a “stain on our collective conscience”?

The reason is simple. Amoral Andy is falling over himself to suck up to the “Gaza first” Islamists and the “Zios out” gang in his own party and throughout so-called liberal Britain, because he believes that this is where electoral success now lies.

Referring to Starmer saying shortly after October 7 that Israel had the right to defend itself, and subsequently being criticised for being seen to be slow to call for Israel to cease fire, Burnham also said:

I know many people feel that, at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right, and I am sorry about that. The response has too often not been good enough.

In fact, by parroting Hamas’s propaganda and then rewarding its murderous behaviour by recognising “Palestine”, Labour’s response to Gaza helped cause the killing of yet more Israelis at the hands of a galvanised Hamas that actually thanked it for “justifying” the October 7 atrocities. By defaming Israelis as diabolical and wanton killers, Labour also ramped up the Jew-hatred which has subjected British Jews to unprecedented vilification, intimidation, harassment and murderous attack.

If Britain had been subjected to a fraction of the thousands of missile and terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, not to mention the increasing stranglehold through a “ring of fire” by a regime intent on wiping it off the map, does anyone doubt that Britain wouldn’t have gone to war just as Israel has been forced to do — and would have been far less scrupulous than the Israelis have been about trying to safeguard civilian lives?

Yet for Burnham and the entire progressive west, Israel alone is not to be allowed to defend itself against annihilation. For Burnham and his ilk, all of Israel’s defensive military measures are instead acts of aggression.

This is not morality but depravity, and the disintegration of reason.

Burnham’s video will have caused a shudder among all who respect truth and justice, and all who understand the threat to Britain and the west from the Islamist onslaught that’s being laundered through the Palestinian cause. And he hasn’t yet even got his feet across the Downing Street welcome mat.

Nevertheless, it’s still not enough for the Israel-baiting far-left. The Telegraph reports:

But on Thursday night, both the Greens and Your Party said the comments had not gone far enough, as Mr Burnham refused to accuse Israel of committing war crimes unequivocally.

Robespierre, the architect of the French revolutionary terror who went to the same guillotine to which he had condemned an entire class of people, had the same problem.

Progressives always eat their own. But they help kill the rest of us first.

*** My new book, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege, can be bought on amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and other Amazon sites.

Birdie.

 

Are You Sure About THis, Kemi?

 Kemi Badenoch

The Conservative Party is for serious people, not a retirement home for failed politicians.

I am building a team that can run the country and deliver radical change in the 2030s.

Blogger: No! This is exactly what the Tory Party did become because it was/is riddled with Lib Dems/failures/wets/'one nation tories' inter al. Unless all these no-hopers are drummed out of your party before the next election - you may just as well give up!

Judgement Must Begin.

 

What Could I Possibly Say?

The most deluded man in Britain? Current level of welfare spend 'not a great concern' says minister in charge of reforming ballooning benefits system.

• See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source

By SOPHIE CHURCH - POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 22:43, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 22:45, 9 July 2026

Labour's disability minister has been branded 'completely deluded' after admitting the eyewatering cost of welfare is 'not a great concern'.

Britain's disability benefits bill has nearly doubled since 2019 and is set to rise to more than £41 billion in 2030 according to government forecasts.

The number of people claiming personal independence payments (PIP) has also rocketed past four million for the first time this year.

Yet Sir Stephen Timms, currently auditing the disability benefits system, said on Thursday that the current cost of PIP payments is 'not a great concern'. DM.

Thanks To Labour For Endangering Our People!

Thousands of 'tagged' criminals are not even fitted with the electronic devices, as bombshell report warns Labour's soft-justice plan set to 'increase risk to public safety.'

Thousands of criminals placed on electronic monitoring schemes never even get a tag fitted in the Ministry of Justice's chaotic, under-performing system, it has emerged.

DM.

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Please pray! China Voice of Persecuted Christians’ partner for China supports the families of prisoners of faith—with both emergency aid and ongoing support. Family members of those imprisoned for their Christian faith are left to support themselves—and often have few livelihood options, due to the stigma of having a family member in prison. Our partner also supports lawyers who defend the religious freedom of Christians and provides training for church leaders. Pray for Christians reportedly arrested, detained and questioned across several regions last month. Pray that those arrested—and their families—will know God’s grace, provision and peace. Pray for members of the hugely influential Early Rain Covenant Church, which continues to face oppression. More than 30 members (including children) were detained after a raid by police recently. The church has been constantly monitored since a sweeping crackdown in 2018. Its lead pastor, Wang Yi, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence. Pray for six leaders of a house church in southwest China who were arrested for running church activities such as Sunday School classes. Our partner says this is an example of the steady escalation of the campaign against religious freedom by China’s ruling Communist Party.

Archbishops Get A Decision Right For Once!

 

Archbishops allow ex-gay event to go ahead during Synod despite protests.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have given the green light for a fringe event featuring ex-gay Christians during the Church of England General Synod after coming under pressure from revisionists to cancel it.  CT.

RE Curriculum.

Inclusion of RE in national curriculum welcomed.

An RE teacher. (Photo: RE Today)

The government is planning on including Religious Education (RE) in the new national curriculum after key stakeholders reached an “unprecedented” consensus on the subject.

Previously, the content of RE classes was decided at the local level. Under the new proposals, all schools would have to teach the content of the curriculum, but would be free to expand on it in their own way.

The intention behind the plan is both to improve social cohesion and to bring an end to the “postcode lottery” of RE provision.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “With so much focus on what divides us – and race and religion so often at the heart of that division – equipping young people with the knowledge, understanding and values that religious education teaches could hardly be more important.”

Despite being a popular subject among students at GCSE level, the country has a shortage of specialist RE teachers. Many RE teachers in fact specialise in a different area and teach RE as a secondary subject.

This has led to concerns that in some areas of the country RE teaching is not up to standard or is done as a box ticking exercise.

The news that RE would be included in the national curriculum was welcomed by the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE) and the RE Council.

Katie Freeman, Chair of NATRE, said, “We welcome this historic consensus and most importantly the collaboration and dialogue that has taken place amongst all involved in the process.

"Placing RE in the National Curriculum will put it on an equal footing with other subjects, end the ‘postcode lottery’ of provision and ensure all students receive access to high-quality RE.”

Sarah Lane Cawte, Chair of the RE Council of England and Wales, welcomed "the Secretary of State’s recognition of the unprecedented consensus across religious and non-religious communities, educators and professional bodies". 

"A National Curriculum for RE will ensure every child, in every school, receives their entitlement to high quality religious education – in both religious and non-religious traditions – that is academically rigorous and personally inspiring," she said. 

Blogger: We shall see what transpires.

Butterfly.

 

Hidden Things.

Simply Incredible!

This past weekend, a part-time conductor in Chattanooga, Tennessee found out exactly how steep that price can be.

Jack Peterson had been working the Incline Railway — a historic attraction climbing Lookout Mountain that’s been running for more than a century — when he picked up the microphone on Independence Day and did something apparently unforgivable. He wished his passengers a happy Fourth of July and told them they were riding through the greatest country on the planet.

From Fox News:

“To the very, very few Americans in here, happy Independence Day. To the rest of you, welcome to the greatest country on the face of the planet, and if you disagree, you can leave.”

A passenger told him to shut up, and another filmed it for TikTok, tagging the clip with “racism” and “xenophobia.” The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority fired Peterson that same day.

CARTA’s chief of staff issued an apology “to the passengers who experienced this, and to everyone who has seen the video and felt its sting.” He then added — and I promise I’m not making this up — that CARTA “certainly agrees this is the greatest country on the face of the planet.”

Read that again. They fired a man for saying exactly what they claim to believe.

The passenger who posted the TikTok told Fox News he “did not intend to get Mr. Peterson fired” and hopes he gets his job back. His father, who filed the original complaint, said he was embarrassed — not by the country, mind you, but by a man celebrating it in front of his granddaughter.

Imagine having to explain to your grandchild why loving America is something to be ashamed of. What a lesson to pass down, right?

The hashtags told you everything you needed to know. Not “rude.” Not “unprofessional.” Racism. Xenophobia. That’s what loving your country out loud gets labeled now. I’ll let Peterson speak for himself:

“What has this country come to when someone can get fired on Independence Day for a patriotic statement?”

He’s since started a GoFundMe and received an outpouring of support, because most Americans heard what he said and nodded along. He said what they were already thinking.

This isn’t really about one conductor on a mountain railway. It’s about what we’re telling people when we punish someone for pride of country. Keep quiet. Don’t make waves. Love America if you must, but for heaven’s sake, don’t say it where anyone can hear you.

And if that’s the message, then what exactly are we celebrating on the Fourth? The most dangerous thing about Independence Day used to be fireworks. Now it’s a microphone.

Sources: Fox News, MSN.com, Daily Wire

Farewell, Ann - One Of The Few Truly Genuine Politicians. One Who Put The Will Of The People Above All Other Considerations.

      A true Christian, Ann Widdecombe will be missed by many.

Interesting.

 

Secular charity challenges UK Government’s evidence for LGBT conversion therapy ban

A secular sexual rights group challenged the reliability of evidence supporting UK Government plans for a ban on LGBT conversion practices, claiming the underlying data fails to justify the creation of a new criminal law.

Read More

Butterfly.

 

Is This Really News?

 

New study links marriage to lower rates of family breakdown. CT.

Matthew 7:2.

Colossians 2.

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

6) So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7) rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The Rot Deepens.

A lion in decline.

Scandal and incompetence have become hallmarks of Britain's public sector

Melanie Phillips Jul 7 ∙ Preview

This is an expanded version of my column in today’s Times (£).

Britain, by common consent, is broken. What’s broken it, however, is a fundamental collapse of leadership at all levels.

Leadership sets goals, inspires others, takes tough decisions and holds itself accountable for its failures. It sets an example for others in society to follow in behaving with integrity, responsibility and trustfulness.

None of that is currently the case.

This has become a problem with mainstream politics and culture across the west. Coerced cultural conformity has become the norm among its elites. Statesmen — men and women of stature, who rise above pursuing their own advantage to serve the best interests of their nation, and who stick to their principles despite all setbacks and brickbats — are thin on the ground. Politicians tend to follow the herd, promise bread and circuses with jam tomorrow, and then blame the public for turning against them.

In Britain, this process of cultural demoralisation and decline is the most advanced. Despite this, by virtue of its historic cultural power — and the global reach of the English language — wherever Britain goes today, the rest of the west will eventually follow. So what’s happening there should provoke concern...

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