FlyTheNest

Morning all.

They paved over the White House Rose Garden for this

Well, this is a bold strategy

Morning refit

I'm running out of verbal ammunition to describe the ghastliness of Trumpworld and its offshoots , but I still appreciate the efforts of more inventive others .

Great fun, like the wild and sexy (all varieties !) cabaret scene in Thirties Germany, plenty of satire while the Real Business was evolving elsewhere ...

Plenty of good comments on the Freedland https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... bour-power

But what I'm really looking forward to is Little Yvette praying together with JD

Also, will there even be a Deputy Contest ?

After the TrumpVisit of iirc the 19th we have the LabourConf beginning on Sunday the 28th , Andrew Marr --

Because Angela Rayner’s resignation has happened so close to conference, it is possible for the leadership to use the NEC to stop and early deputy leadership election. Sensible though that might be, it would cause widespread anger.

Party members are already nervy and alarmed. Imagine the scenes on the floor and in the side-rooms of the Labour conference in Liverpool. If there was a contest – the worst outcome for Starmer – it wouldn’t necessarily be Healey against Benn, certainly not Kinnock against Militant, but it would look like a nostalgic left-right fight. And not in a good way. Even as the government tried to maintain focus, the public would be entertained by a multi-episode drama of “what Keir’s got wrong.”

And then, what would happen if a left candidate won and Starmer declined to make them Deputy Prime Minister? The media would have a ready-made critical voice at the heart of the Labour movement. On one flank, the prime minister would have lost control of his machine.

Again, if he moves swiftly and brutally, Starmer can probably stop any of this happening. What he can’t stop is a wider political conversation, or argument, about the direction of the party in the week of the loss of its deputy leader.

This is perilous because Starmer is already under such ferocious pressure – from the bond markets ahead of the Budget, from an incendiary, hysterical online movement of haters, and of course from Reform which, if there was an election today and the polls proved accurate, would sweep Labour aside and form the next government. Nigel Farage is already warning about the likelihood of an early general election.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/u ... p-election

Whingeing that the media are paying too much attention to the Birmingham Rally when the Libs and Greenies never had so much free publicity is missing the point.

They never had a polling lead over Labour. I agree that the media did contribute to the rise of Farage but they didn't 100% create the underlying political and economic circumstance such as globalisation and automation.

Well I was sadly mistaken.

‘Reclaim our flag’: saltire becomes cultural battleground in Scotland as tensions rise over asylum housing

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... um-housing

In recent weeks the blue and white Saltire has appeared flying high on lamp-posts around Falkirk and elsewhere across Scotland, from Maryhill and Tollcross in Glasgow to Peterhead and Aberdeen in the north-east.

In a direct parallel with the Operation Raise the Colours movement which has co-opted the St George’s cross in England, ownership of the saltire has become a new cultural and political battleground in Scotland.

Dickheads.

Delightful that the Burning People Alive Party has united with Reform !

The 'don't protest a genocide' law seems to be going great. I wonder if anyone at all, in the Labour Party, are having second thoughts?

Frog222 wrote: Sat Sep 06, 2025 2:40 pm Delightful that the Burning People Alive Party has united with Reform !

I would argue that Labour are pretty close to being fascist as well.

Incredible brain rot from Glinner

America, a totally normal country

I assume we're not going to get ANY crowd shots from the US Open final then?

ICE is busy in Puerto Rico too . Deporting people from Dominican Republic etc.

Husband of a colleague of little sister was getting citizenship, but now in hiding at home .

'Yay, Liz Kendall got sacked from the Department for Work and Pensions!'

'That's great, who did they replace her with?'

'Pat Mcfadden.'

'I see, you wouldn't happen to have a length of rope on you would you? That tree over there is looking quite inviting'.

As for Angela Rayner I'm afraid I've got very little sympathy. By all accounts (even on the left) it would have taken her 5 minutes online to discover the trust/stamp duty arrangement she'd made was wrong. For once the HMRC advice in those cases is crystal clear. And while it's laudable that she was doing it to provide for her disabled son it's a bit of a kick in the balls to realise she was setting it all up while voting to slash disability benefits for everybody else. She's managed to get herself hoisted by a number of her own petards simultaneously which is quite an achievement but I doubt we've seen the back of her. She's probably more of a danger to Starmer on the back benches than when he had her on a cabinet leash.

I'm away to stay in another Haven caravan park next week. I've been West to Morecambe Bay, North to the Firth of Forth, so this time it's East to the 'Blue Dolphin Holiday Park' on the coast between Scarborough and Filey. The only bit of the Yorkshire coast I know is around Whitby so I'm looking forward to a bit of exploring. I was thinking I'd be able to visit Flamborough Head (about which I've heard good things) but it's a 14 mile walk just to get there. I suppose I could get the bus but that kinda defeats the purpose of a walking holiday.

I love reading the reviews of these holiday camps, it always seems to be about half saying it was great and half saying it was hell. My Mum was a cleaner at the one in Berwick (which is also now a Haven) when I was a kid during the 70's so my brother and I would spend our Summers there with her while she was working and frankly even the cheap saver caravans I stay in now are the height of luxury compared to the horrors people stayed in back then. Not that it seemed to matter to them, if my childhood memories are to be trusted they were all permanently pissed Geordies and Glaswegians fighting each other.

Anyway here's the reviews for the one I'm going to be arriving at on Monday. It sounds wonderful and awful!

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Rev ... gland.html

This time I must remember not to cook using loads of garlic in the confines of a caravan like I did last time. Even I could smell myself on the train back.

Also after seeing some nonsense from Linehan I was curious about what 'sissy porn' was given that according to him it's responsible for magically making young men trans. Would it work on an older fellow like me? Truth be told as an old goth I used to wear make up and dresses (30 years ago) so maybe...

In fact no, it didn't. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places but all I found were regular porn videos with captions crudely added about taking a temporary sex swap pill. They would begin with a contrived reason why this pill had been taken then the bloke who was now a girl would find themselves in a situation where they'd have to have sex as a woman (and enjoy it).

Is that it? That's been a sexual fantasy throughout human history for fucks sake. We're all curious about how the other half feels which has been true from Ovid to Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde. A temporary transformation to be enjoyed until you wake up and the little fellahs back where it belongs.

Though to be fair I only watched about 20 videos, so what do I know?

CRAZY!

Meanwhile !

EDIT !

NOT "the biggest in history" !

Lots of missiles , but most of them relatively small ones <100kg, and only a small number got through, a score or so to still do lots of damage and as always too many casualties .

I checked Dresden recently in another discussion and the area-bombing was a huge tonnage --

"" 13/14 February 1945
City area RAF BC 772planes-- 1477.7tons HE 1181.6tons incendiary
TOTAL -- 2659.3 tons ""

I think the only thing about this stat, is that 45% seems rather low.

Early morning BBC at its best --

The mosque for Bangladesh’s transgender women
Heart and Soul

In Bangladesh, hijras - once a revered community - have long lived on the margins. Also known as the third gender, hijras form a diverse group, including those born intersex - meaning their physical traits don’t fit neatly into ‘male’ or ‘female’ categories - and transgender individuals. Traditionally seen as spiritual figures with the power to bless or curse, they are now outcasts, denied homes, jobs, and opportunities. But in a quiet village in Mymensingh, a spiritual revolution is taking place.

Reporter Sahar Zand has gained rare access to this community, spending time with its leader, Tanu - a transgender woman and practising Muslim - who has built a sanctuary where hijras can reconnect with faith. At the heart of this transformation is a Quran study group, offering hijras the religious education they were long denied, and a newly built mosque - the first in Bangladesh to welcome them as equals, after they were expelled from others. With the help of an imam who risked everything to stand by them, they are reclaiming their right to Islam.

But as religious conservatism rises, so do the threats against them. Their village is no longer just a refuge; it is the frontline of a battle for acceptance. Can faith be the key to breaking barriers, or will they be forced back into the shadows?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5tgm

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I only heard a bit of this , but thought it worth sharing .

So religious conservatism is rising in many parts of the world.

Ooh, lovely bit of racism from Starmer et al.

Good words from Zack

It's a bit rich of the Met Police chief moaning about arresting Glinner being a waste of police time, when this is happening

A warm welcome for Trump