Bruges Group Blog

Dear Bruges Group,  "In 2016, when 17.4 million people voted to leave the European Union, they voted for a different sort of country. A country with a sovereign parliament, in control over its future. While the Conservative Party delivered Brexit, we did not respect the spirit of the referendum. We did not take full advantage of the regulatory...

You wait ages for a euthanasia Bill and then three come along at once. First was the 'Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill'introduced on 27 March 2024 by Liam McArthur MSP (Lib Dem). There is no specific limit to the sufferer's expected remaining life: 'a person is terminally ill if they have an advanced and progressive disease,...

Many waves of world revolution find their common beginning in the "shot heard 'round the world" on the April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord. An intellectual contagion would sweep through France (1789), Haiti (1804), and the rest of the American Hemisphere carrying the good news of the rights of man, modernity, and rationalism as opposed to obscu...

At this year's Freedom Zone in Birmingham, the Bruges Group held its annual Conference alongside the Conservative Party Conference. We gathered alongside friends old and new, to conduct our own evaluation of what went wrong at the last General Election. Facing the worst electoral defeat in its history, the Conservative Party faces a choice - a choi...

According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph…"There were 10,422 foreign nationals in jails in England and Wales at the end of March this year, up from 10,148 at the same point last year. That represents around 12 per cent of all prisoners with each costing the taxpayer £47,000 to accommodate, feed and rehabilitate, totalling nearly £500 mil...

The following is taken from a monthly column contribution that I make to the Erdington Local newspaper, from July 2024 (see the link below and be sure to give them a follow)... https://www.erdingtonlocal.com/tag/jack-brookes/ After leapfrogging the Conservatives into second place in the 2024 General Election, Reform UK parliamentary candidate ...

                              "The Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is."  Winston S. Churchill, The Truth is Incontrovertible, (International Churchill Society; https://winstonchrchill.org/resou...

Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill was submitted for its first reading within a few days (26 July) of the General Election. The Bill says it is to 'Allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards, to be assisted to end their own life; and for connected purposes.' If passed it will for the first time here legalise the deliberate killing ...

The Labour Party has its Oxbridge officer class but the other ranks have to be kept in check or they - its power base - may wander off. As with the cynical saying about drug companies ('a patient cured is a customer lost'), a voter who aspires to the middle class is a mutineer to socialism. The ladder is, or was, education. So in 1965 grammar schoo...

A lasting regret of my time travelling in the ex Soviet Union is not having bought a postcard. In my mind I can still see the object of my regret. It was titled 'Sofia by Night'. The photo was of the main square in Sofia, Bulgaria. Brightly lit at night. No traffic, no people, not a dog, cat or owl, just an empty square. I never enjoyed my business...

On October 3, Boris Johnson shared with The Telegraph his assessment that Donald Trump would have stopped Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine—a striking indictment of the current leadership vacuum in Washington under Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Johnson's claim should be a clarion call to any American voters who care about the West's geopolitical ...

There was an irony that at the exact time both the last UK coal fired power station and the Port Talbot steelworks closed, the timing aligned exactly with the completion of my twelve months of temperature readings which I have been taking daily. After experiencing a pretty cold and miserable summer when most of August 2023 hardly got over 60f, I wa...

We are in the second stage of Blair reforms. The dark shadow of the former PM hangs over the new Labour administration. This Blairite legacy was always about 'constitutional reform', Supreme Court, devolved powers and field sports were their aspiration. It was something to excite the Labour membership's turgid mentality. Now in 2024 with a big Comm...

Parliament can do ANYTHING. Since 1688 the monarchy has been brought into Parliament; and since the nineteenth and twentieth century Reform Acts all the common people have gained admittance through their representatives, so that the two Houses of Westminster now embody the British nation as a whole. This is 'power to the people', absolute and unhin...

In a word and my opinion, no. Undoubtedly he is 'different.' Many people including myself have commented on his atypical gaze, one of the features on a checklist for autism (see #14 here); the tunelessness in his voice; the apparent lack of empathy; the rigidity of thinking and so on. But if the PM was crazy he wouldn't be the first. Take his PR ad...

It's getting to the point where some might contemplate emigration so as not to be murdered by a doctor. If it can happen to the Monarch it can happen to anyone. In January 1936 the dying King George V was given a hurry-up kill shot of morphine and cocaine; allegedly the moment was chosen to let The Times break the news, instead of the evening paper...

The Conservative Party has just suffered one of the worst general election defeats in its history following on from one of its greatest general election successes in 2019. Clearly something went wrong. The reason for one was the same for the other, Brexit and its benefits such as the security of our borders. Now, more than ever, there is a need to ...

 When I wrote the article: 'How to destroy a country' for this esteemed blog, I meant it to be seen as a warning. Sadly, from their actions, it appears our Labour Government have used it as an instruction manual, they have taken the art of wrecking this nation to frightening new heights. During the run up to the July 4th general election Sir K...

The typical employee's wage slip is something of a con. Here's how it works. For earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 p.a. there are deductions of income tax at 20%, employee NIC at 12% but an additional 13.8% NIC is paid by the employer. If someone on the average salary of c. £33,000 a year gets a raise of £1,000 the worker pays £320 in tax/NIC an...

There is a widespread misconception that in order to deal with the problem of illegal migration into the UK by migrants arriving on inflatable boats the UK has to withdraw from membership of the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR]. Whilst withdrawing from the Convention is unnecessary, what is necessary is ensuring UK Courts do not have to f...

Lord Mandelson is said to be behind the gifted-clothes hoo-ha about Lord Alli, the PM and his wife. Nonsense: this is Hamlet without the Prince. Casey Michael in the Mail on Sunday says that Tony Blair 'is offering extensive advice to Sir Keir Starmer behind the scenes.' Alastair Campbell, too - maybe Ali was behind Starmer's headline-catching visi...

Starmer's government has saddled up for a full Parliamentary session but the question of Labour's legitimation remains. This is not merely a new administration but one with a comprehensive socialist plan it wishes to implement. The potential impact of 'Golden' Brown's grand strategy on our constitutional arrangements is arguably far greater than th...

The average fees of a British boarding school are £37,000 a year. Adding twenty per cent VAT brings that up to £44,400. In Portugal the cost would be about 30,000 euro = under £26,000. Children can attend established 'international schools' to learn in their own language. But with the prospect of the Starmer regime lasting for a decade or more, ent...

On 4th of January 1884 a group of middle class socialists met to found the Fabian Society. They named their society after the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus who defeated the Carthaginians by avoiding battle. Instead, he wore his enemy down with guerrilla tactics. Their first motif summed it up. A Tortoise and a Wolf in Sheep's...

Sir Keir Starmer appears to be neither economically nor politically astute. Economics: the vote only just passed to abolish the Winter Fuel Payment except to those on Pension Credit may end up as a net cost to the Treasury. John Redwood tweeted beforehand 'Removing the fuel allowance from many low income pensioners will boost numbers on Pensioner C...

Jeffrey Titford 24.10.1933 – 09.09.2024  The following was released by Stuart Gulleford 10th September 2024 Jeffrey Titford, the former Leader of the UK Independence Party and two term MEP for the East of England, has passed away, after suffering from cancer. His family announced his death on 10th September, aged 90. Jeffrey was one of the fat...

In an age where data is often referred to as the "new oil," the conversation around digital privacy and data sovereignty has never been more critical. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, how personal data is collected, stored, and used has profound implications for individuals, businesses, and governments. Let's explore the complex la...

 I know the dangers of forming political opinions with a barman over a cold beer. I was in France's Perigord, normally a tourist hotspot. The mill-leat outside was busy with gushing water in stark contrast to bar trade. The barman told me that the season was catastrophic after such a wet early summer, then the French elections, European footba...

The Conservative Party has not had much luck in choosing leaders. The first to be elected by ballot, rather than appointed, was Edward Heath and we can debate how successful that choice was for national sovereignty or otherwise another time. The most recent term of Conservative government contains the stream of ineffective leaders the Party did not...

When it comes to online casinos, there will definitely be several familiar sights of the most popular table games, including Roulette, Blackjack, and Baccarat. Each has its particular appeal, strategy, and experience, so finding out which one best suits your preferences is important. But how can you be certain which game will be right for you? In t...

Very few people would have heard of the obscure American politician, Dick Tuck, but many may remember his famous quote after he lost the 1962 Senate Primary election, he said: "The people have spoke - the ba….d's". Those who follow political history will know that all Labour Governments are bad, they tax and regulate far too much and always end up ...

For the first time since George Washington was elected the United States' first president on April 20, 1789, the mass of land sandwiched between Canada and Mexico is absent a head of state. After forty-six consecutive presidencies, we are missing a fearless leader, a Chief Executive Officer, and Commander of our military. We are missing our top dip...

"I beg your pardon," they never promised us a rose garden, but they did. The new Labour government is unravelling and blaming it on everyone but themselves, but mostly on the last government, the members of which seem strangely silent for an Opposition whose job it is to oppose. 'Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party'. Th...

In today's interconnected world, the concept of national sovereignty stands as both a proud declaration of independence and a complex puzzle in the face of global challenges. Sovereignty, the authority of a state to govern itself without external interference, is a foundational principle of international law and a core aspect of a nation's identity...

In all the photographs I have seen of Sir Keir Starmer he has an abstracted gaze - 'puzzled' was Lytton Strachey's word for Dr Arnold. It is the inward look of a man serving some greater cause. And so he is. Starmer is an ideologue, not a democrat. Idealists build an internal model of the world that is distorted, like Minecraft or Lego, and use it ...

When Angela Raynor, deputy Prime Minister, called Conservative voters Scum she was using a Socialist tactic. So too was David Lammy, now Foreign Secretary, when he described Conservative MP members of the ERG (a group that supports Brexit and Democracy) Nazis. When challenged he said the label was "not strong enough". Socialism has always been nurt...

The UK is overpopulated. Someday we could face food shortages. Not for the first time. At the start of 1939 our population was below 48 million yet we were importing 60 per cent of our food - 55 million tonnes a year. By the end of that year, when the Nazis were sinking resupply ships in the Atlantic, imports had crashed to 12 million tonnes. Reade...

Just a week before Christmas in 1947 I came into the world by cesarean operation in the long gone Loveday Street hospital in Birmingham. My home with my parents, Bert and Rose, was at the bottom of a yard where I then spent the next seven years of my life until my parents managed to organise a mortgage to buy their first house. Like many places aro...

To address the global digital divide, we will first need to have a closer look at what the digital divide is? It basically refers to the gap between those who have access to modern communications and technologies and the ones who don't, which ultimately leads to the disparities to participate in the digital world. With the modern age of AI evolutio...

Renewable energy plays a crucial role in UK's energy security, referring an access that's reliable and affordable to the energy supplies that are necessary for economical and societal functioning. The renewable energy has become a major source to ensure energy security as the UK transitions towards an energy system that's more sustainable. In ...

The candidates for the Conservative leadership have been announced and are each hoping to be in the final two to be voted on by the membership. Why the Parliamentary Party ultimately get to restrict that choice is neither here nor there. It was in comparatively recent history that they themselves were not given that choice, but the leader was appoi...

Would Tony Benn be arrested today? For this is what he said in 1991 at the time of Maastricht: 'Riot is an old-fashioned method of drawing the attention of the Government to what is wrong… Riot has historically played a much larger part in British politics than we are ever allowed to know.' His point was that, deplorable though it might be, it coul...

During the reign of Tony Blair a slow fuse was lit under the values the vast majority of British people value as normal. Simply, democracy and fair play were the norm. Immigrants who happily integrated were welcome. Of course there were roughs who hate everybody, but by and large Britain was a success. Compared to most other countries with diverse ...

Western economies have become mired in low productivity resulting in insufficient funds to pay for essential services. Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon. For the first couple of hundred thousand years of man' s history on this planet productivity was stagnant. This was not due to a lack of technological innovations. Huge advances were made in the...

 There are three certainties that come with every Labour Government, these are: Labour always raise and find new ways to tax the population, they are hypocrites and every Labour Government has left office leaving the country in one hell of a mess. Sadly, nothing will deviate from this statement regarding our newly elected Socialist masters. As...

Not since the assassination attempt of the late US President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., has there been an attempt on the life of a president or presidential nominee prior to last week. A 20-year-old male with no criminal history borrowed his father's rifle, made his way onto the roof of a warehouse 150 yards from where former President Dona...

The unthinkable has happened, a conventional war on the continent of Europe, but the military has been slow to adapt. Yes, Europe has seen bloodshed since 1945; terrorism, militias fighting in Balkanised countries, unmatched airpower imposing diplomacy on those breaching the peace. However, our security cannot be taken for granted. The invasion of ...

Can we stop the cross-party lurch towards Armageddon? I love Quentin Letts' cheeky wit but in describing last week's PMQs as 'a bore' he missed this explosive moment from Rishi Sunak: 'I know at first hand how important it is that our Prime Minister can use his prerogative power to respond quickly militarily to protect British national security, so...

Reform and Trump have similar objectives. These have generally been mischaracterised as far right, but this new wave of populism is more about nationalism vs globalism than it is about left vs right. It is primarily concerned with what is seen as the theft of our national democracy in pursuant of global goals by international bodies that include th...

16th December 1944, western Europe. Hitler launches his last great gamble in the west. Fanatical Nazi soldiers were unleashed on unsuspecting Americans resting far away from where they thought the fighting would take place. The Battle of the Bulge was underway. This film explains the key role that the controversial victor of El-Alamein, Field Marsh...

In Covid-19: The Birth of a Killer, Dr. Jonathan S. Swift masterfully unravels the tangled web of political intrigue, scientific mishaps, and personal ambitions that led to one of the most devastating events of our time—an accidental release of a newly-produced deadly airborne virus from the Wuhan Biological Weapons Research Facility, within the Wu...

The United Arab Emirates is causing increasing concern in democratic capitals. Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted western nations to impose sanctions on them. The purpose was to constrain Russia's ability to wage an illegal war through economic sanctions. Although a bullies appetite is never sated this has not deterred the UAE and to a lesser ex...

We have just witnessed a six week long surrender culminating in a humiliating defeat that the vanquished have greeted with joy. The glad handing between Starmer and Sunak might lead people to imagine that England's footballers had triumphed, not that Sunak had failed. After the Conservative triumph in 2019, it quickly became obvious that the so cal...

I'm just going to say a very few brief words to mark this occasion and to mark some of the very significant problems that the conservative party faces going forward. And frankly, it now has to decide whether it really wants to be the Conservative Party. Firstly, a little good news there's not much of it about I'm afraid but over the last few months...

This was the 'coral anniversary' of the Bruges Group's founding and the mood was very thoughtful, given the historic defeat in last week's General Election. Addressing the meeting was Bruges Group Chairman Barry Legg. His key point was that the Tory Party has not been Conservative for decades. One questioner from the floor said that in a fairly lon...

Britain's political scene is sporadic, but one constant stayed through it all: skyrocketing national debt poor judgment in allocating public spending. Since 1988, national debt has gotten out of control, and now sits beyond GDP.   Parliament's economic judgment have faltered post-Thatcherism, with successive prime ministers failing to replicat...

 On 23rd June 2016 (St George's Day) the people of Britain voted to leave the European Union. This was an historic moment. We could say this was the 7th Brexit in history. And it is not complete yet, as we shall see. In effect, this was not the first Brexit, not the first time that Britannia separated her destiny from that of Europe. In 43 AD ...

So, now we have "change", whatever that means (it isn't clear); the Labour version of that word (whatever that is) allied with the Lib-Dem version, but certainly not Reform's meaning of the word. Meanwhile, the Conservative Party has split itself to oblivion. The parliamentarians and wider party were split as well, with the latter's wishes as to le...

Taiwan has long considered its island nation separate from mainland China, but the Chinese Communist Party have become dangerously close to tempting the United States into another war by circling the tiny nation-state with warships in recent weeks. Chinese President Xi Jinping has held that cooperation between the United States and China is a focal...

Four years ago Sir Keir Starmer asked Gordon Brown to plan "the biggest ever transfer of political power out of Westminster and into the towns, cities, and nations of the UK." This may sound good but it isn't. Far from ushering in a golden era of democracy it attacks what may be our country's most precious possession, the ability to hold power to a...

Some years ago, at a Cambridge University event, I talked to a young lady PhD student. She explained that she was hoping for a career in HMRC or the Treasury. To boost her opportunity she was preparing her thesis on the subject 'Flat tax inefficiency and economic damage'. It was a social event and I did not engage her starry eyed subservience to or...

The Labour Party of today came into being as we know it around 1900. Its roots lie in the trade union movement of the 19th century and thanks to such people as Keir Hardy the Labour Party was formed. However, there is an irony in the fact that over a hundred years later, the only people who can afford to vote for the party that was formed to repres...

Sir Keir Starmer's plans relating to the UK's future relationship with the EU are unclear, but then again, his ever-shifting image and (apparent) political position (embracing Corbynism and Blairism), in an attempt to appeal to both Left and Right, Middle and Working class, the old red wall and staunchly pro-EU constituencies, does rather confuse e...

As we move ever closer to the 4th of July, we deserve to hear the plans of those parties most likely to form the next government – the detail, and how any 'wish-list' would be costed. Until detail is supplied, then any manifesto promise, or gimmicky card 'pledge' is meaningless, as there is nothing specific against which to hold a newly-elected gov...

Back in 1997 I walked the streets locally and knocked on doors with the Conservative candidate in what was regarded as a safe constituency. It was a thankless task, but a worthy one and in spite of a cold response and some derision he was elected with a respectable majority. I remember standing outside a polling station as a Labour van went by blar...

Multiple credit cards and a carefree attitude to paying-off bills was at one time the preserve of the more feckless section of society. These days it seems to be a universal ill of local finances and it is a trend that central government has fostered. As local authorities teeter on the brink of insolvency – indeed by any 'normal' accounting assessm...

The discourse on Conservatism and its future remains alive and well. Elections may worry us, and new challenges may emerge, but the Bruges Group's resolve remains unshaken. On the 8th of July, we cordially invite you to a Drinks Reception to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Baroness Thatcher's Bruges Group. The reception will be held in the b...

Until July 5 we're enjoying a blessed holiday from Westminster prodnosing - no Covid-era gaggles of MPs in meeting rooms giggling 'Whatever can we make them do next?' Actually, for some of that time they had interim arrangements that let them WFH. Insofar as they worked at all - nono, that's not fair: many are grafters; but here is an extract from ...

Ask a child to tell you where their centre is and they'll point at their belly button. It's obvious. It's in the middle. Politicians of the legacy parties bleat incessantly about the 'Centre'. Apparently, no one ever won an election to anything unless they were precariously perched on a fence. Where has that got us? In reality the 'Centre' is the e...

ONS projections show a UK population increase of 6.6 million by 2036, of which 6.1 million will be due to immigration. Annual net migration of 315,000 will lead to a projected population increase of nine million people by 2046. That's eight cities the size of Birmingham. According to Migration Watch, "a child born today to an indigenous British cou...

 A phrase has come into the Zeitgeist – calling people the "Trump of their field." Elon Musk is the Trump of business. Meloni is the Trump of Europe. Many leaders still do not know how to react to former President Trump; to his decision to control immigration; 3+% economic growth and, especially, to the absolutely justified desire to implement...

Online businesses have been on a steady rise in the past decade. Researchers attribute this to the accessibility of the internet as well as the minimal startup capital. With online businesses, you do not need to worry about having physical inventory, physical equipment, or even paying for overheads that exist in a conventional business. However, du...

In 1997 the Tories used a now infamous poster caricaturing Tony Blair as having a demon's eyes. This was so over-the-top that it probably backfired. Yet two years later I was asking friends if they thought Blair was mad. They looked at me as though I was; though perhaps they see things differently now. He was the reason that for the first time in m...

President Biden has said he will not use his power to pardon his son Hunter if the latter is convicted in his gun trial. This may be a purely hypothetical scenario in any case, given what appears to be the political-partisan capture of much of the US justice system. Hunter might be as likely to secure an acquittal in Delaware, which elected Biden p...

Ben Pile reported in The Daily Sceptic that the Guardian recently published its survey of 'climate experts'. For the purposes of creating this story, the Guardian's Environment Editor Damian Carrington contacted 843 'lead authors' of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reports (IPCC) and 383 responded to his questions. The actual substa...

 Football clubs are valuable social assets. Their heritage typically goes back to the late Victorian period, when football emerged as the most popular sport of the working class. They have had close association with other local enterprises, particularly breweries (McCrae, 2008), and club directors were often significant employers in the area. ...

A Study by Jeremy Wraith  Download PDF File Here

Keeping people safe should be a top priority no matter where you are. With potential dangers virtually everywhere, any number of situations could take a turn for the worse, leading to an endless range of negative consequences. In mental health and correctional facilities, though, creating safe spaces becomes particularly crucial. In settings like t...

The regulations for casinos and gambling are different depending on where you are. The UK has a body called the UK Gambling Commission which ensures that gambling is fair and safe for all. This Commission operates under laws passed in 2005. On the other side of the English Channel, each country in Europe can have its own regulations but they must a...

Transcript of the conversation: the Italicized script is Sir Christopher Chope's responses We are in conversation with Sir Christopher Chope, Conservative Member of Parliament for Southampton, Itchen from 1983 to 1992 and then Christchurch from 1997 onwards. Early in his career he was a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environmen...

Words can define eras. Harold Wilson's government was full of people who, like their union paymasters, 'Acquiesced' so they could keep their jobs. Today, all of a sudden, all sorts of politicians, journalists and business people have discovered their contemporaries are guilty of egregious behaviour (not themselves of course). Are they all guilty of...

"Finished", "stuffed", "toast" . These have been the words and worse that many otherwise loyal Conservatives used about their own party recently. However, now that the election has been called in spite of such pessimism, there is hope for the beleaguered Tories.:  A week is a long time in politics, said Harold Wilson, so how much longer a...

 The World Health Organisation, with the support of governments, public-private agencies, profit-seeking multinational corporations, academic institutions, charities and foundations, has been allowed to become a medium for the international marketisation of medical tech and vaccines, and, if we are not careful, the use of these may become mand...

Many people feel that the political system isn't working for the people; that the major parties agree with each other too much and against our interests. But is 'direct democracy' the answer? It was practised in ancient Athens, where all the voters (free men) could be accommodated in the assembly and hear the arguments. They were a small, homogeneo...

Every now and then, like most people, I come across something which I feel others need to know about and e-mail details of whatever that has got my ire, or offended me, to many who I feel should be equally rattled. Usually when something has got my goat and I send the offending item around to my contacts, I may get a few people who, out of politene...

Other reasons for getting out  I have put together some material which I think should help to get the UK out of the ECHR completely and thus, also, enable us to stop the small boats. The failure to achieve this has been given as a major reason for the Tories' forthcoming debacle. There are plenty of people, even in Parliament, who are upset ab...

Many people today choose to grow cannabis. They enjoy watching the plants go from seeds to buds and appreciate having control over every step of the process. What should a new grower know before embarking on this incredible journey? Germination Seeds must germinate and sprout before they can grow, and this process typically takes four to ten days. ...

Attending one a Politiea event earlier in the year regarding stopping the boats on behalf of the Bruges Group it could be summarised as somewhat hesitant of the bill only providing half measures to combat immigration. The discussion revolved around the legal conservative perspective regarding the policy of "stopping the boats" through the...

How to destroy a country may not be an everyday item on the minds of many as they go about their daily lives. Most people living in this country have other things to to think about such as their jobs or juggling the household finances, a big question may be, if they lash out on a treat will they have enough money left to pay the rent or the mortgag...

According to the experts, Kier Starmer will be Prime Minister by March next year at the latest. On one level it makes little difference. The Conservative Party is indistinguishable from the Liberal Democrats, they are indistinguishable from Labour. Starmer pretends that Labour has moved right, to the centre ground. The reality is that while Cameron...

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken has done it again. As the President's chief foreign policy advisor Blinken has again created damaging diversity and exclusion within the ranks of the lead organization intended to promote Biden's foreign policy agenda. This month, Tony appointed Zakiya Johnson as the foreign ministry's Chief Diversion and Exclusio...

Saturday's Grand National was predicted to see £300 million collectively staked by over 10 million punters. Per capita that is less than a cheap ticket to a Premier League Football match - and the winner I Am Maximus came in at 7/1, very nice for those who got it right. But that merely is the tip of the ...

'Big crash coming' says Jimmy Dore, introducing his guest Paul Stone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBEofwgshI&t=20s They agree that the economy is being mismanaged, because interest rates are too high and the debt is ballooning. The problem is that everything depends on facts and interpretation, and about the only fact that is unchallengeab...

In an ever-evolving world where safety is paramount, bulletproof technology has expanded beyond traditional body armor. Here's a look at seven everyday items that now offer ballistic protection, often flying under the radar due to their inconspicuous nature. Ballistic Blankets Ballistic blankets, such as the NIJ IIIA Bulletproof Blanket Shield by A...

Alex Reinshagen | The Bruges Group March 19, 2024 The current US Administration (and Congress) needs to get its act together. The entire world - friends and foes alike - see how weak America is on the world stage. The United Kingdom would be correct in taking on more of a leadership role in keeping us from plummeting into WW III. Because right now,...

The Tory party having abandoned Conservatism is now drifting like a metaphorical Marie Celeste. From the Heroic 80 seats to a potential near zero. An updated story of "From Hero to Zero". Rishi Sunak having usurped the leadership plays Captain Ahab uninterested in the calamity he has unleashed. The plan is working he cries while the Tempest rages. ...

We have a two-tier pension system in the UK whereby MPs and public sector employees have a defined benefit or final salary pension, whereas private sector employees have a defined contribution or money purchase pension. This raises the question: should the pension arrangements of MPs be aligned with those of employees in the private or public secto...

Going back centuries alchemists were convinced they could turn base metals into gold, despite none of them being able achieve this, these days we laugh at them for their obvious foolishness and ignorance. Going forward in time, as machinery and technology advanced, a new breed of people were convinced they could invent a perpetual motion machine, l...

 Friday March 1st Rishi Sunak stood at a podium outside ten Downing Street. Like a trainee teacher lacking any form of sanction, he confronted a rebellious class. He did not quite say, "You are all very naughty", but it wasn't far-off. Lots of words, a threat to back the Police if they ever get off their knees. He had harsh words for two group...

Your body is like a machine, so it needs specific attention in various places and regular maintenance for optimal health. Also, building and maintaining strong muscles contributes to great strength, thanks to stronger bones and lesser risks of fractures as you get. Aerobics and other exercises strengthen your heart and lungs. However, strength trai...