As ever there’s no shortage of news, much of it worrying if not downright alarming, such as the worsening wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the resulting increase in inflation due to rising fuel prices, what could be Trump’s idea of a takeover of Greenland via a ‘deal’ with the Danes and Greenlanders, Reform’s dubious donations and the forthcoming Budget, to mention just a few. Not at all conducive to our mental wellbeing, of course. But what’s knocked all these off the domestic news agenda to a large extent is what some are calling the ‘row’ between the Windsors and the Spencers. In my view those describing this as a ‘row’ or ‘soap opera’ are totally missing the point. The issue goes to the centre of royal privilege, secrecy and entitlement, together with issues around truth and the constitution. The royals are actually, possibly for the first time, having to deal with the fact that their version of the situation has not only been severely challenged but also the author is doubling down rather than backing down.
The usual procedure of maintaining a ‘dignified silence’ and threats of removing titles, security and other privileges have cut no ice and the Palace is clearly struggling to adjust to a situation new to them. But the missteps have been so clumsy (especially the ‘letter’ in which the King tried to warn media and charities not to work with the Sussexes and then had to backtrack because of the impact on the Invictus Games) you have to wonder who on earth is advising them. The creaky Palace PR machine is obviously not up to the task now they can’t wholly rely on their traditional top down methods. Years ago we only got news from the media but these days we know much more due to the decline of deference, investigative journalism and social media. A Palace response has been the regular release of bots on social media, very transparently agreeing with pro-royal posts.
The return to the UK of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has proved absurdly challenging to the Palace, not least because those security arrangements are still not finalized (hardly surprising given the number of Palace people on the committee (RAVEC) which decides these matters and the strong suspicion that it’s the King himself who is preventing it) but also because people are clearly much more interested in this couple than the present incumbents and their heirs. But besides this challenge there was the republican John Humphrys documentary on Channel 4 (actually quite a mild product) and the serialization in the Mail of Earl Spencer’s book about Diana – Swansong – which makes striking statements about the King’s conduct at the time of Diana’s death.
Every day headlines screech like today’s: It’s not every day you get gaslit by the King, referring of course to that disgraceful defence which echoed the Queen’s ‘recollections may vary’. It was notable that Charles didn’t deny the allegation.
Time and time again we see the cowardly and sycophantic media highlighting the activities of Charles, William and their wives, when these such as purporting to champion tackling the climate crisis, AI challenges and homelessness are completely undermined by abject hypocrisy such as the frequent use of helicopters, total lack of knowledge of AI and a massive property portfolio generating millions per annum whilst perpetuating slum landlord standards. As sure as eggs is eggs, the media will make a big production of William and Catherine attending a Tom Cruise film premiere (an easy gig for them) on the very day Swansong is published. Every effort will be expended to deflect from this book. Some of these efforts beggar belief, such as Camilla ‘calling for togetherness’ when her conduct has been nothing but divisive all along.
When the Spencer revelations broke I suggested that we’d now see a whole stream of royal correspondents and commentators contradicting these statements and trying to dish dirt on the Earl (eg he’s doing it for money, there’s a historic battle between these families etc) when his profession as a historian relies on the careful making and archiving of detailed notes and we were well aware of Charles Windsor’s conduct back in the 90s. The huge effort by the monarchist media to defend the King has indeed proved the case, with one person after another (including with very tenuous links to the family) claiming that the then Prince of Wales would never have used those words etc. Some of these people weren’t even born when the events took place. Spencer says: ‘I am a historian – I appreciate that a lot of the public don’t know that – and my primary responsibility as a historian is to tell the truth. My motivation in this book has been to tell the truth about Diana and all she had to put up with in her public life through the eyes of the brother who grew up with her. Along the way I’ve been able to deal with various myths that have grown up which needed to be dealt with once and for all. I’m in my sixties, neither of my parents made it to 70 and I wanted to do this while I could.’ ‘Money has never even been the remotest consideration in my choosing to write my tribute to Diana’.
Some key issues never seem to be acknowledged, for example the sheer number of royal correspondents and others who earn their parasitical livings from churning out PR about the royals will defend them to the hilt, going against their conscience if they even have one, in order to protect their vested interests. This should surely be borne in mind during such discussions: the royal industry is huge and firmly committed to the gravy train continuing. Another thing that seems to have gone unexplored is how four copies of Spencer’s book were stolen in transit in the Netherlands, the thief or thieves apparently knowing the route taken and exactly what they were doing. Very likely stolen to order.
Tonight was the over-publicised Spencer interview with Laura Kuenssberg, who the BBC seem determined to portray as the forensic interviewer of the century when she’s anything but, especially being driven by the BBC’s monarchist agenda. However, the navigated it very well, stood his ground and resisted Laura’s very obvious gotchas.
Today we heard that the ‘elevation’ of Andy Burnham had significantly reduced the numbers of Labour Party members defecting to the Green Party. Good news but as per usual the predictable Conservatives don’t let up. Newly appointed Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith clearly hadn’t expected to be reminded that he’d been one of the champions of the disastrous Truss/Kwarteng budget and never a day passes without leader Kemi Badenoch embarrassing herself one way or another. Besides predictably coming out in support of the King in the current debate, her latest attack on Andy Burnham in the Telegraph accuses him of ‘fiddling while Europe risks burning’ citing ‘delay and dither’ regarding the defence budget. This while the Tories delayed and dithered for 14 years on so many key issues while they prioritized lining their own pockets. When former military folk appear in the media to say the defence forces are in a parlous state, they usually omit that this was largely due to 14 years of Tory cuts. The Conservative mantra of ‘making difficult choices’ is all about ‘cutting welfare’ – a policy they have form on, as we know.
Typically and unnecessarily nastily, Badenoch says: ‘What is our government doing? Has anyone heard from Wes Streeting, the former head of the National Union of Students, who has rocked up as defence secretary?’. It’s just so childish it makes me shudder. Does having been NUS President disqualify someone from a Cabinet role many years down the line? And he’s not been officially appointed, he’s ‘rocked up’. Perhaps she hasn’t yet realized that governments keep their imminent Budgets under wraps until they day they’re announced.
As the investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Committee into Nigel Farage’s £5m ‘gift’ continues, it took commentators by surprise when Reform was given not ‘just’ one donation of £36m by a crypto billionaire but a second ‘matching’ one by another. Farage is again playing the victim card saying that the ‘Establishment’ (of which he is part) is conspiring to stop Reform getting the dosh and pretending not to know that back in March it was stated that electoral law regarding large political donations would be backdated to that discussion ie March. The situation isn’t clear yet because of the Rycroft Review but its recommendations could rule these donations illegal. The review seeks to examine and counter foreign financial interference in British politics and neither donor was based in the UK at the time. Farage also took the public for fools by maintaining that these people expected nothing in return. It’s now emerged that they would get tax breaks.
Then followed the Reform conference where (not reported by some major media outlets) several protestors were dragged to the ground and subjected to extreme violence, cheered on by Farage, Jenrick and others. The main perpetrator, Stephen Cooling, and others are allegedly being investigated by West Midlands Police but that seems to have gone quiet. Unfortunately, these days it seems we can expect very little of our police. Reform also only allowed certain media to attend the conference (straight out of the Trump playbook) yet some they didn’t want did get in, including film editor Chris Atkins, who recorded interviews with some of the gullible attendees. Of course it must be irritating to have protesters at political events but all parties get it at times and it doesn’t excuse this kind of appalling conduct.
Having retaken his Clacton seat we knew (judging by past form) that Farage wouldn’t hang around there long. He’s now in the States yet again trailing another appalling policy, again from the Trump playbook: using ICE-type agents to ‘secure our borders’. He called for ‘Europe to take a more sensible view of the US president’s administration rather than seeing it as villainous’. This is gaslighting as Trump is undoubtedly villainous and worse. At least he’s prepared to stick his neck out on some issues, though. Trump said he would love to see a United Ireland and Farage responded: ‘Northern Ireland is a proud and integral part of the United Kingdom. The people of Northern Ireland neither want a referendum nor unification’. Actually that’s debateable, though: demographic change and other factors have increased the support for reunification.
Also, Robert Jenrick has said that Reform will use AI to assess benefit claims, in order to save DWP administration, root out “spurious” or fraudulent disability/sickness claims (like mild anxiety, ADHD), and save taxpayer billions. This is after having said months ago that these claims need processing in person rather than by telephone. I wouldn’t have faith in the capacity of AI to judge complex cases like this.
As previously suggested, the BBC could well have a difficult time when its Charter renewal process takes place next year but judging by their news and current affairs approach you’d almost think they’re asking to be defunded. The Corporation’s right wing, monarchist and Zionist bias would be visible from outer space and it seems to get worse by the week. We see and hear features and interviews clearly angled towards putting Labour in a poor light but giving right wingers an easy ride, the endless statements about what the irrelevant Conservatives think and say, the platforming of wealthy tax dodgers like Jim Ratcliffe dissing this country and even worse – omission. There are key events those depending solely on BBC news won’t know about because they’re not reported – like the Reform conference violence and the Trafalgar Square vigil for Jason Arday to cite just two examples. Since he started as BBC Director General, former Google guru Matt Brittin has been remarkably quiet and doesn’t seem to use social media. But even he says that the BBC licence is ‘a busted flush’. Meanwhile, viewers and listeners are subjected to endless BBC adverts, which are so disingenuous and cringe-inducing you have to wonder about self-sabotage.
Many including members of Keep our NHS Public have been concerned about the sinister influence being exerted by Palantir, an American company linked to the US and Israeli militaries and thought to be determined to get hold of potentially lucrative NHS patient data. Its use of its AI-powered software to support military strikes in Gaza and Iran, US ICE immigration raids and access to NHS data has stoked concern.In the UK it’s headed up by Louis Mosley, grandson of 1930s fascist Oswald Mosley and its chief architect, Peter Thiel, is considered controversial because of his radical libertarian and anti-democratic political views, his defence of surveillance and data-mining tech companies, and his provocative theological lectures warning against a global “Antichrist”. They have the nerve to be suing the Met Police because London Mayor Sadiq Khan blocked a £50m AI contract,which was intended to build on earlier work. The deal would have been Palantir’s largest yet in British policing, after others worth £330m and £240m with NHS England and the Ministry of Defence. It’s truly insidious the way such dubious companies manage to infiltrate UK infrastructure in this way. But now we hear (to the disgust of many) that former Labour senior politician Tom Watson has taken a job with them.
Watson said: ‘After six wonderful years at UK Music, I’m joining Palantir UK as Senior Vice President. Palantir is the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence: helping Britain and its allies defend themselves, helping police protect our citizens and helping NHS staff get patients treated and home sooner. London is comfortably its largest centre outside the US, home to more than one in six employees, the highest proportion among the world’s largest technology companies. We have challenges. Some criticism is propaganda. Some raises legitimate questions about large technology companies and sovereign control. Both require answers. Part of my role will be to correct false information while working with our engineers to ensure privacy, security and respect for sovereignty are at the heart of everything we do’. The naivety or cynical disregard of the potential problems are off the Richter Scale, especially his role to counter ‘false information’. This announcement was shortly followed by Labour MP Clive Lewis arguing that corporate entities like Palantir are “extractive” and prioritize their own interests rather than the NHS or other public services. Lewis isn’t the only one who views high-profile political hires like this as part of a troubling revolving door used to grease government access when there’s already widespread concern about the influence of lobbyists.
Regarding the influence of companies like Palantir, it was a very bad move (and one chairman George Osborne thought he could keep under wraps) that the British Museum treated Thiel to a private view of their high profile Bayeux Tapestry exhibition. Just why? Thiel has no connection with the Museum and does not donate to it. Osborne knew about the arrangement but did not attend it with him and has recently said he thought the visit would be secret. How naïve or defensive is that? Senior museum leaders were apparently warned about the possible public perception of special treatment for someone with connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and whose public software company plays a controversial role in the British state.
On a final, brighter note, who doesn’t like a cheerful sight when using rail stations? It makes such a difference. There’s one I have to use regularly that must be the ugliest station in the country – bad design to start off with, bleak platforms and not a plant in sight. In contrast I recently got off at my local station,which has a Friends organisation of volunteers, to be greeted by a handsome display of sunflowers. The Royal Horticultural Society has a new award – Railway Stations in Bloom. ‘The winner, announced this week, was the Cardross Community Organic Garden in Scotland. The RHS said: “The judges were especially impressed by how active the group was in including different members of the community in the station’s activities, from school children, Brownies to other volunteering and gardening groups”. But all of the railway gardens are impressive’.
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 