Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th March 2026

[refitman]

Morning all.

[refitman]

I'm sure that neither of these headlines come as a surprise to anyone. The fact that the second one even appears of very telling. It looks like Farage might be trying the Trump playbook?

[Frog222]

I'm sure that neither of these headlines come as a surprise to anyone. The fact that the second one even appears of very telling. It looks like Farage might be trying the Trump playbook?

Just a small whinge, but that is a far too typical 'screenshot' social media post with no bloody link to the article --

Out of the 45 polling stations, 41 said they did not have CCTV activated in the building as it would have compromised the secrecy of the vote during polling day, in line with official advice.

Really, can CCTV film which way you vote ?

"We have spoken to the four Democracy Volunteers observers present at polling stations on the day of the by-election - 26 February - who have shared with us their eyewitness account," police said

"This includes some instances of more than one voter going into a booth at the same time, and instances of people looking over the shoulder of voters.

"The information they have provided to us estimates this may have happened on 32 occasions across 15 polling stations.

"The observers do not allege any verbal instruction or physical conduct that indicated one person was directing or coercing another regarding how to vote."

"The absence of this information means there is no remaining reasonable line of enquiry," police added.

--------------------------------------------------------------

More detail in the article, some dispute as to when the Volunteers raised their 'concerns' -- "" Mr Ault reportedly told Sky News that observers “did raise the issue of family voting with individual presiding officers during the day before we left or when they were not busy.” " https://fullfact.org/politics/democracy ... ly-voting/

[refitman]

I can't believe that the Labour vote is collapsing, after they've done so much to help improve people's lives (at least that's what I've been told by hardcore Starmer supporters).


On a completely unrelated note

[Frog222]

I like the funding priority given to those London-Elite MP's !
https://archive.ph/jlWml

Yet for all the challenges facing Starmer — his dire poll ratings, the looming cost of living crisis and fears of a catastrophic set of election results in May — the prime minister is ­increasingly optimistic about his chances of survival.
Allies believe his handling of the Iran war, particularly in standing up to ­President Trump and refusing to get involved in the initial offensive, will be enough to stay the hands of his critics, however bad the election results.
The prime minister is also benefiting from a Mexican stand-off between his putative rivals.

[Frog222]

Fight on several fronts leading to collapse, warns Israeli general
Military chief Eyal Zamir tells Binyamin Netanyahu that the IDF needs laws for conscription, reserve duty and mandatory service as war exhausts reservists

In recent weeks the Israel Defence Forces has deployed an extra 100,000 reservists to the West Bank, Lebanon, Gaza, southern Syria and Iran — in addition to the 50,000 that were already in service. It has left mainstream Israeli society to bear the cost of the war, with many soldiers in their seventh round of duty since October 7 — taking them away from their lives for more than 365 days. The shortage has reignited the debate over the ultra-orthodox segment of Israel, the Haredim, who refuse to serve.

“The IDF needs between 25,000 and 30,000 new soldiers. It has so many missions and so many activities, it seems impossible to implement all its war goals with the current personnel,” said Michael Milshtein, who has authored books on Israel’s defence challenges and heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University.

Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped casket of Staff Sgt. Ori Greenberg during his funeral.
Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped casket of Sergeant Ori Greenberg
Mahmoud Illean/AP
Milshtein pointed to the establishment of over 150 new Jewish settlements and outposts in the West Bank over the last two years, often in isolated locations, raising the demand for battalions and soldiers to guard their communities and purportedly prevent violent clashes between settlers and Palestinian villagers. There has been a marked increase of settler violence across the West Bank since the start of the war, with extreme factions emboldened by an economically and ideologically supportive government, fuelling hatred against Arabs, and army battalions inside the area that are part of the settler movement and ideology.

https://archive.ph/wip/wnGGe

[Frog222]

Jan Morris: the letters that reveal her pre-transition torment
Sara Wheeler’s biography of the author and historian Jan Morris includes a treasure trove of hidden letters that shine a new light on the writer’s transition and remarkable marriage

In April 1972 a story appeared in The Spectator announcing that Morris was to complete her transition in Casablanca. She published a denial, and Rosemary Goad, an editorial assistant at Morris’s publisher, Faber, reported to the office, “If he has an operation at all… he will most definitely have this in England.”

In fact, Morris had decided on Casablanca. Her room at the clinic in Rue Lapébie, a narrow street parallel to the palmy Avenue du Général d’Amade, had floral curtains and a balcony looking onto the “non-architecture” that had begun to blight urban Morocco. Fatima, Morris’s kindly nurse, told her that patients in residence included a Greek, two Americans and a lecturer in sociology at the University of Lancaster. Burou did his rounds, affable and “dressed for the corniche”.

She had the operation on Saturday night, July 8. Burou had performed his first male-to-female reassignment 18 years previously and had clocked up many hundreds. By 1972, the procedure took only an hour.

https://archive.ph/wip/imRLu

[refitman]

I see they're going for conspiracy theories to attack the Greens

[refitman]

Woodcock living up to the second part of his name

[Frog222]

Latest news from retired MI6 spook who knows the terrain well, the Iraqi shia appear to be joining in with the houthis ...



When somewhat younger he delivered arms to the mujaheddin who became the taliban .

[Sky'sGoneOut]

A thunderstorm rolled over here a couple of hours ago and there was an almighty bang. The lights flickered, my TV glitched and the internet lights on my router immediately vanished. After an hour I thought that would be it until tomorrow but after another half an hour the router reset itself and came back to life. Hurrah. God knows what and where the lightning hit but it sounded close.

Guess who was blearily awoken by his alarm this morning and cursed because it was an hour early? I honestly thought there was something wrong with my phone and was bemusedly fiddling about with the clock settings before it slowly dawned on me what had happened.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Also sorry for the shit QT review the other night. I was knackered and stressed and just not feeling it.

Fortunately for them and me it's time for Easter.