Comments by "Ash Roskell" (@ashroskell) on "Professor Tim Wilson"
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This was a criminal conspiracy which resulted in the ruination of countless lives and family members. Deaths, false imprisonments, reputations and careers destroyed. The police should be charging a whole raft of people with perjury, fraud, perverting the course of justice, falsifying official records, reckless endangerment, criminal intimidation and many other offences.
And, most of all, each victim should be receiving full exonerations from the High Court and SEPARATE compensation and ALSO damages. The issue of punitive damages should be referred to the state as yet a third matter for the courts. And, being the, “biggest,” miscarriage of justice in British history (arguably among the worst too) it is incumbent upon the highest courts in the land to fully air this dirty laundry.
It would make heroes of those with the courage to see to it. And then we would all know who Kemi Badenoch really is.
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This is rapidly becoming the Farage Show, which is exasperating to me. But, in fairness, these are issues that do merit discussion and would naturally make your YouTube followers naturally interested . . . I mean the followers who aren’t playing the client media’s Farage game.
As to Farage’s response to the outing of his racist party members, come on, Prof Wilson? P-lease? . . . It’s the standard far right play book. Make a virtue out of every hint of dodginess, calling it, “speaking for the man in the street,” or making a, “joke,” out of it. And when it gets too blatant to handle, call it a, “CONSPIRACY,” and blame someone else! Usually the very people who exposed you or whom do you the most harm in that set of circumstances.
Surely you don’t give Farage ANY credence, do you?
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Kier Starmer has a flat and uninspiring delivery but he may well grow into his job. But at least he won’t be clowning like Johnson, Robotic and disconnected like Sunak, or plain loopy like Truss. Boring, honest and consistent will do me just fine thanks.
Many private schools are bastions for the privileged and should pay their fair share. I think you’re clutching at straws when you harken to this ECHR idea, since you could use the same argument (and legal mechanisms) to point out that all other industries and businesses have to pay their fair share of taxes and there is no lawful reason to exempt private education, making them, “special,” in some way. Remember, child care homes, elderly residences, care centres, hostels and accommodation for the disabled ALL have private sector investors, making profits out of public need and paying their taxes for them. What makes private education so special? The only thing the public can see is that it’s the Tory MP’s kids who all attend these schools. That doesn’t seem fair?
But, here’s the kicker. The latest MRP poll to study this issue in recent weeks (as discussed on the YouTube channel, A Different Bias) shows us that, despite any personal and anecdotal evidence you may have to the contrary, the one demographic that has little to no objection to private education paying VAT is the parents of privately educated children.
They, like the majority of the country, do NOT object to paying taxes nearly so much as they object to the breakdown of the services that those taxes are supposed to pay for!
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I haven’t read the article and now feel compelled to ask, would I get anything out of reading it now, since you have already imparted the salient facts? I’d rather not read anything from that rag if I don’t have to, but if you feel it’s one of those topics that needs more attention in order to form an informed opinion, I will.
I think certainly you’re right, as it’s precisely the type of exploit that so strained his relationships with his tutors at Eton.
Consider the themes of that article? MONEY. It’s always the topic of money that is used to ding that antisemitic bell, isn’t it? And to use that term you described (one I didn’t know of before now) in a complaint related to finances is obviously meant to trigger antisemitic images in the mind of the reader. His calculation will have been that he would get away with it because it’s a largely unknown term and its full meaning will pass many by, despite having a sufficiently Semitic chime to it to strike a chord in the imaginations of readers, yet only chiming fully with the crowd that he intends to raise a nod and a wink from.
He also will have considered that he could dismiss any complaints from within the Labour Party by suggesting that their track record on antisemitism is not so great. If I were thinking in truly Machiavellian terms, I might even suggest that this could be just the first in a series of attacks to come? Johnson’s way of, “sending up a balloon,”to see if he can refocus the public discourse onto Labour’s weak spots? But, perhaps that’s a little deep, even for him?
Johnson is a lot of things, but the bumbling buffoon persona is all part of the act, convenient for defending himself at times like these. He’s a good writer and he knows exactly what he’s doing as a skilled manipulator of the reader’s imagination (once again taking notes from his idol, Winston Churchill) especially in prose, when he’s had time to martial his thoughts and edit himself.
A Times editor would probably have questioned his use of that term, perhaps even spiked it, but a Daily Mail editor is more likely be one of the nodding winkers that Johnson is attempting to appeal to.
I hope someone with a little pull over there lodges a formal complaint. I certainly think someone should.
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Correction: I double checked this, but Newman did NOT ask Oakshot, “how much,” she got paid. She merely mentioned that she had, “accepted a lot of money,” from Hancock, and seemed to be coming to the question; At what point did you decide to betray his trust? I think Oakshot sensed this difficult question was coming, and the potential for the timeline to show that she already knew Hancock’s darkest secrets and merely plotted to get more out of him until she felt she could get no more, rather than instantly responding in shock to terrible revelations which she felt the public should know? Her response was to very slyly throw up this red herring of getting indignant about a question she had not been asked and to fixate on it, thus (in her own distorted imagination) providing a context for which she could indignantly end the interview. It was a very Rees Mogg type of response in fact, attempting to draw the focus onto a none existent question.
Yes, Newman’s handling was somewhat inept, as I kept expecting her to simply say, “I didn’t ask you how much you were paid and I don’t care. The point is, you took a lot of money to do a job and then decided to betray your client’s trust; something for which you have a history,” or something along those lines. But the whole thing degenerated into a rather unedifying display in the end, which did nothing for either party’s reputation.
However, Newman was right to remind Oakshot that she was as much, “the story,” as Hancock. I think that prospect alarmed her more than anything? The idea that people will be constantly bringing up her history of betrayal and unsubstantiated rumour-mongering, rather than her getting to be the pundit who casts judgement upon the souls of others, probably reminds her that she will one day be sharing a waiting room in Hell with Matt Hancock.
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Who was it who said, “Politics is about the art of the possible”? In that sense, people vote with a sense of optimism, of possibility, dare I say, “hope,” even? We can forgive lying in politics, but it’s very much about what you lie about, when and how? We interpret political misdirection in certain ways, internalise it and quite often colour the result with our own filters, making some politicians able to get away with more, just because we like them.
Johnson was one such case in point, until he did real, palpable harm to the public. People are still grieving over Covid, Grenfell Tower and various other scandalously mishandled injustices, and they’re taking those grievances to the polling booths in three weeks.
What happened at the end there? Very abrupt and mid-sentence? Did your battery run flat?
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The irony is that their coverups draw more attention and cause them to be even less popular than the actual things they’re covering up! I mean, who the hell will be even remotely, “surprised,” that all of these WhatsApp messages contain nothing more than a gag reel of sick jokes at the bereaved’s expense, confessions of knowingly doing harm, insider dealing for their friends and family’s brand new, “companies,” meant to provide the protection equipment for hospitals, and MP’s handing off all of their own responsibilities to civil servants!?
My dad, having had a series of mini strokes, was like that protagonist in the Christopher Nolan film Memento, where he couldn’t make new memories and he kept asking for his wife, my mum, whom we’d buried the year before. He had it explained to him over and over again that his four children were not allowed to be with him, and why, but forget again within minutes. So, in his world, he died of Covid, alone, and heart broken, unable to comprehend why he was alone.
After going through a series of loopholes, so I could get permission to attend his funeral, travelling from Scotland to England, I returned home, weary and emotionally exhausted, so I only have myself to blame for putting on a current affairs program. But the first image I saw when I got back, now SEARED into the scar tissue of my neuro-divergent brain, was some Tory press wonk, standing before the agog press and a live camera, ACTUALLY LAUGHING OUT LOUD at the drunken antics of Cabinet members and Number 10 staff at a series of parties for Boris Johnson’s birthday!
I can never relate that vertigo inducing sensation you get when you have been forced against your better judgement to place your trust in the government at a time of genuine, worldwide crisis, only to see that they drunk at the wheel! And LAUGHING IN YOUR FACE! I know there are many out there who went through something similar, some of them with worse mental health issues than me to begin with. And I will NEVER forgive or forget that utterly self-entitled, reckless, arrogant, cruel indifference to the fates of so many trusting fools like me.
So now, when I hear that they want to cover up what we all KNOW we will find - cruelty, selfishness, indifference, arrogance, theft under the guise of business as usual and flat out incompetence - I once again feel that revolutionary RAGE boiling in my blood. It will be good for the country when the Tories are sent into the wilderness and not allowed to re-enter the corridors of power until they’ve culled their far right deliberate antagonists of the people and self enriching Masonic lodge Liberal Economics clubs they call, “think tanks,” altogether. But in the mean time, we have one HELL of a mess to clean up and a MOUNTAIN of hard cash to reappropriate for the people who earned it.
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So, I went off to look at the inaugural The Culture Report video, letting Mr Robertson know that it was on the strength of your recommendation that I was there and I must say, I was transfixed. This is not something that MSM seems to be discussing in any detail at all, yet the noises of dissent seem particularly numerous and loud in Russia right now, if TCR is to be believed?
The question for me is more to do with how much his video speaks of hope over judgement? Or whether this guy really has his finger on the pulse and is sensing the real, growing rumblings of change in Russia?
I certainly hope he is right, but only time will tell. He shows clips and clearly uses sources correctly. But, as to how, “controlled,” all of this stuff is remains another question. If Putin is flushing out dissenters, by using agents to speak out, so as to encourage others, in a, “glasnost,” like sham, just to identify these people for a new, “hit list,” it wouldn’t be the first time.
I’ll give this guy a chance and follow his channel for now, to see where this leads, if anywhere.
But, I do disagree about Putin being dead (you offer no sources or links to follow up on that assertion that I know of) and I do believe that if he were to be bumped off or, like Nikita Khrushchev after the Cuban Missile Crisis, forced into, “early retirement,” that would present Russia with a face saving opportunity to withdraw troops from Ukraine (either partially or entirely) and seek a, “reset,” with with west in return for sanctions relief. Do you not see that as a possibility?
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It’s a worrying statistic if you’re a monarchist, I suppose. And if that survey company is a reliable one, which I can’t guess at. I have always been a republican (with a small, “r”) despite having huge admiration for Queen Elizabeth II’s character and personality. Though I hear the arguments in support of the institution with a sympathetic ear, largely because I respect our nation’s history and ideas about continuity. And because I do see the royals as having a hugely beneficial role to play in diplomacy and what they call, “the feel good factor,” of the nation. I site those examples above tourism, though the coin tourism generates is not to be sniffed at.
I do not doubt for a moment that Elizabeth would, “put him away,” now, regardless of her alleged request of Charles that he, “look after,” Edward on her deathbed. A request that could be read in any number of ways.
The royal family has the resources to offer Edward a reasonable income and a comfortable retirement in a foreign land and to keep the whole thing within the family, without touching the public purse. And, as you indicated yourself, we have precedent for this in the Wallace Simpson case.
A monarch’s first loyalty must be to his country, or s/he renders the institution obsolete. The moment that family becomes a liability to the public good, the clamour of republicanism will grow all the louder and carry more weight. And, to stand by Edward at this point, is to signal the world that moral degeneracy is acceptable to the royals and stands up there as a symbol of who we are as Britains, which is after all, what their role is. They represent what Britain is as the, “model,” family. This was why Edward VIII’s position was considered untenable, because the institution can never be seen to place personal loyalties above the public good.
Even Edward VII, who’s proclivities were infamous in his own lifetime, never stooped to the exploitation of underage girls! The fact that Edward’s track record is also tainted with scandal speaks to character flaws that have run unchecked for too long. At least the succession is secure and he no longer stands to inherit the throne if something unforeseen happens to Charles. Cold comfort to his victims.
Cold comfort for people like me, who have witnessed the fierce, manipulative and deceitful face of child sexual abuse first hand. Whatever happens, Charles is the soul responsible party now. It’s his job.
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I disagree fundamentally with your opening point. The goals of the expedition were to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, carry out punitive attacks on the main body of the enemy and allies of the perpetrators of 911. This included the identification of the Taliban and their allies, and inducting local allies to assist in those aims. And it was to be carried out by a coalition of UN countries, either directly or through practical support, funding, logistical input and so on. That expedition met all of its stated aims and can be called a complete success.
The delusion was, “National Building,” and the wrong headed notion that a new, democratic, western style government could installed in place of the enemy, which could last independently without permanent western support.
Adding to that, the whole thing ended with betrayals. We had craven politicians using our erstwhile allies and Taliban prisoners as equal chips to be traded, or pawns to be played in their domestic political point scoring games, with absolutely no regard for honour, friendship, or even human life. Literally thousands of Taliban terrorists were set free by the previous US administration, just for the sake of a deal that the then president believed would make him, “look good,” creating the kind of chaos with the final evacuation that most US journalists compared it to the last days in Saigon! . . . Terrorists! The murderers of US and British and other allied soldiers! Invited to take coffee at Camp David, for crying out loud!
Now, we uncover yet more cravenness and betrayal lead from the top.
I share your feelings though, for me, it is more a sense of exhaustion, as the pit of pure rottenness has no bottom to it. There’s no lengths to which these gangsters will not stoop, so I cannot feel horror, which would require surprise or shock to ignite it. Disgust, surely. But, that hasn’t changed from the sense of betrayal and disgust at watching these goons make themselves rich as the number of children in poverty breaks new records. My shock-meter, horror-meter, and the gauge on my outrage detector have all been broken long ago.
Now, I’m searching at the bottom of my backpack for any sight of my old, disused Hope-Meter. It’s not beeping yet, so it’s harder to find.
This would be a perfect time to fully reform the military and its systems, since we’ve left Europe, changed our stance with the US and have military leaders all begging for root and branch reforms, and MONEY, of course. Our system is starting to look more like a Russian oligarchy, where huge chunks of cash go missing or get spent on, “off budget,” “expenses,” because it is as squalid and corrupt as all the other major branches of government, despite (strangely) not drawing so much attention as the others.
Yes. I hope some articulate youth, in uniform, really sticks it to Sunak without raising his voice or using a single expletive and asks him, “Who is actually responsible and what will be done about this?” Maybe, after Sunak’s word salad of meaninglessness, one or two of the other speakers will speak truth to power? Maybe Starmer will promise his government will get to the bottom of the whole thing and introduce reforms?
But I doubt the BBC will allow it.
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I only knew of the root of that expression from its Irish origins, not the wooden fence, or Jewish connotations. I have a few books on etymology, which has always fascinated me, ever since I heard Noam Chomsky explain how the languages we use today are a recent, largely political, development, in a world where it was the norm to speak a range of dialects across all of Europe, with a good chance of being understood and understanding others wherever you went. Whereas, conversely, you could live in Bordeaux and go to Paris and not understand anything people were saying, as recently as two or three hundred years ago.
Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle - a series of novels set during the enlightenment, involving spies, pirates, natural philosophy (science), philosophy and all manner of fascinating developments in that period of history - delves rather eloquently into that whole language issue, showing through fiction the manner in which languages evolved and why they were used in the way they were, among a new species of, “vagabond,” and upper classes alike, who suddenly found themselves capable of rapid communications and transport for the first time in human existence.
I don’t want to bore you with this digression, but I would only urge you, (if you have time for reading fiction at all?) to read those novels. To a man of your stamp, I cannot think of anything more likely to entertain, make you laugh out loud, and to fascinate you, from an intellectual point of view. I would imagine you read very little fiction in your spare time? But, if you have read Voltaire, Diderot or the lighter works of René Descartes and found them the least bit intriguing, then you will thoroughly enjoy the ingenuity, creativity, subtlety, scholarly knowledge and sheer entertainment value of these books.
As always, thank you. This time, for imparting a little knowledge to me which I did not previously have. I do love to learn knew things. ✌️👍
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Absolutely. Braverman has, “said the quiet parts out loud,” hasn’t she? The mere concept of, “Service,” is alien to her and that is what she repeatedly makes clear in this diatribe! It’s extraordinary that she made this public at all, but useful to Sunak and his supporters, who can all sit back and say, “told you so.” But even they won’t be saying that as loudly as Labour MP’s will.
But what she’s really saying is that her, “ideology,” (if it can be called that?) does not match that of the Conservative Party! She is confessing an authoritarian, anti-democratic type of governance that is incompatible with democratic rule!
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Ahh, but isn’t that Sunak’s problem, Professor Wilson? Micro-management is an expression of paranoia, after all. How can an utterly untrustworthy man, who owes his position to betrayal and skullduggery, ever believe that he can let others around him just get on with it and protect his interests? He knows he wouldn’t in their place.
To snub any European power at a time when we so desperately need to win back trust and partnerships is obviously egregious. But it probably feels like the smaller price to pay for self protection, by not leaving the kids to play out of sight?
Now the German and French premiers get to say, “Well, I would show up to visit you but, would you even be guaranteed to show up? Sorry, I’m just too busy to risk wasting my time.” Well done, Richie. Was it worth it?
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Who was it who famously said, “Justice delayed is justice denied,” can anyone recall?
Here’s a summary of the situation as it stands now, from the point of view of the Post Office:
“We are facing bankruptcy, regardless of this scandal, as our business model has been mismanaged so badly, it may as well have been actively sabotaged. (Indeed, we might suspect that it was?) And our reputational damage cannot get any worse, regardless of what happens. So, we stonewall, call in every favour and use every possible contact to help use fudge the issues as much as possible. Otherwise, if we pay out everyone’s compensation and damages in one go, we are officially bankrupt and out of business. Many of our victims will be gone in the next few years anyway. We just need to outlast them.”
That’s sounds about as malignant and cynical as it’s possible to be. But I believe I’m right. The only remedy would be for the barristers pursuing this case to call for specific punitive damages to take into account any further delay in justice (“Justice delayed is justice denied”) and especially swinging punitive damages for the families of the deceased victims. And, more importantly, to keep the public on board, by publicly organising and campaigning with them.
The clock must be reset. So its ticking favours the victims and doesn’t work against them. The Post Office must be made to feel the urgency that the victims were so wrongly made to feel when forced into paying back monies they didn’t owe, or giving false confessions.
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Hmmm . . . Well, one can always argue that Johnson made both Truss and Sunack a thing, and as to lasting damage, that’s hard to quantify. We’ll never know how things would have played out if he had supported Teresa May’s plans for Brexit, instead of sabotaging what would have been a far less bumpy ride for Britain than what we got, whilst stabbing her in the back and front, merely for his own Machiavellian ends.
Seldon does write well and entertainingly. He - or, he and his colleagues (whom are fully accredited as co-authors on the covers of his books, btw) - is/are insightful and his book on Johnson seemed wholly accurate and justified to me . . . as well as just a good read.
So, whilst I too will take some convincing, I will at least listen to his arguments with an open mind, as I would to almost anyone who is a true believer is history and its importance as a learning tool for us all.
But I must contradict you on one point. Truss has absolutely zero, “ideas of her own.” I can understand why they seem that way, given how outlandish her political philosophy seemed at the time, even to her fellow party members. But, if you know anything about the, “Tufty Club,” or the Tufton Street so called, “think tanks,” and their American financial backers, you will see that her entire philosophy, as stated out loud and as attempted in reality, was directly derived from their Neo Liberal clap trap, of the type that the Tea Party and other far right American financial cartels spout. Nothing new or original in any of it, and most certainly not, “her,” ideas.
She has merely acted as an empty vessel for these foreign and domestic investors who took advantage of her, “born again,” zeal, and the fact that she was more or less a blank slate to be filled with whatever nonsense they fed her.
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Morgan has shown us who he is, long ago. I’m old enough to remember his televised spat with Ian Hislop in which he directly threatened Hislop and, sure enough, followed up, sending, “journalists,” to root through his bins and harass him on his doorstep. Is anyone suggesting that this Piers Morgan has, “grown,” or, “changed,” for the better since then? When every utterance from his poisonous mouth since has been flecked with the angry spittle of invective? It’s because of, “journalists,” like Morgan that the world is in such an egregious state.
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Oh they, “realise the enormity of their own failing,” alright. The Post Office and co are fighting a desperate rear guard action. One MP who was attempting to fight the PO on this matter early on, told Channel 4 last night that the police should be perusing a criminal investigation.
Several of these, “honoured,” PO representatives LIED to the enquiry! They have committed perjury, fraud, conspiracy, perverting the course of justice, tampering with evidence, the list goes on and on! They need to be dealt with in the same manner as the law routinely deals with organised crime! As this was, and is, nothing short of that!
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@markgriffiths6540 : I get what you mean and, for some lost causes, that will always be true. But, evidently you can fight tribalism, as the polls are showing. Otherwise, we would have to accept that most of the nation has always been floating voters and that the Tory, “tribe,” has only ever consisted of 10 to 30% of the voting population.
Indeed, the history of humanity shows that fighting tribalism, only to replace tribes with new ones, is pretty much the whole story. We’ve done very little else.
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I agree with you, though I would reverse the order of action. I think they should exile Andrew immediately, firmly and without hiding anything. Then they should build bridges with Harry and Megan, but taking their time and doing so with digression. Having been a family therapist, in a former life, among the chief tools at your disposal which MUST be put to good use, is time.
It takes time and processing to forgive. It begins with honesty and acknowledgement. But all parties then need time to process, to gage the sincerity of other parties, assess what they need from the process, AND what they offer.
The issue is complicated in this case by the aspect of, “duty,” that is unique to a royal dynasty. And for which the, “playbook,” offers little help, as their family history involves everything from Parliamentary interventions and private negotiations, to outright kidnapping and murder to settle all manner of publicly debated disputes.
What I don’t question about Harry and Megan is that they both seem like good, decent people, attempting to navigate a tempest without a compass. I can only imagine the litany of mistakes I would make in their place. But I do not doubt their fine character, or their desire to, “do the right thing,” in all cases, despite what the, “Tory, client press,” has to say about them in their usual bad faith.
A good father should be seeking reconciliation and closure for his son, acceptance of his choice of wife, regardless of the manner in which the gutter press attempts to steer public opinion against them (a topic that Charles, of all people, knows about) and remember his DUTY to the crown.
If we are to have any faith in this institution, then the Royal Family MUST be made to understand; The British people don’t care about the mistakes people have made nearly so much as they do about the coverups and refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing where it is unquestionably present! Everyone makes blunders. Not everyone refuses to apologise, admit to them, or correct the situation.
We need to see Charles’s good will. His attempts to be both a good father and a good head of state. He must put away his brother and fire those of his inner circle who are too cosy with the far right media, along with him. He must create the space and the trustworthy environment into which Harry and Megan can gradually re-enter. Rather than the current lion’s den it comes across as now.
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Thank you! I honestly felt like I was going a bit mad! It’s not just me then? The guy should be the nonentity clown side show he’s always been, but somehow always ends up with disproportionate power to do real world harm, because the press and pundits just cannot get enough of the guy!
Ed Davy, who, lest we forget, stands the biggest chance of forming the opposition after the Tories, has to fling himself off a bridge or parachute into a BBC studio, just to get a line in the Guardian or Telegraph! Whereas Farage bleats just one of his perennial LIES of the type that we’re all used to hearing from, “a bloke down the pub,” and he’s on the front pages of the tabloids and broadsheets across the land!
WT actual F???
And this is all as a result of the client media being too cowed by the possibility of him becoming the leader of the party that signs their cheques and Tory MP’s being unwilling to take him on because they all want to be on his good side for the same reason. The right side, presumably? The further right the better. Add to that the fact that Farage has not raised his game one iota, but the Tories have LOWERED theirs to the point that they’re now indistinguishable from the known liar and clown side show act that’s chasing them wherever they go and soaking up their supporters!
I’ve challenged Prof Wilson to get a grip and stop making every other video about Farage, but I doubt he’ll pay any attention to me, as it’s probably getting him higher views than more important matters like the post office scandal being the biggest conspiracy in British political history, or our water supply being polluted to deadly levels simply because it’s cheaper to treat fines as a business cost rather than fix the problem, or insider gambling networks, etc.
I have huge respect for Prof Wilson, but he can be so wrong about some issues (admittedly, rarely in my view) and this is one of them.
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