Demo on Cup Final Day

i went down Tott Ct Rd on my way to the Demo today.  It was full of City fans.  

Holborn was for Palace.

I'd arranged to meet my old chum Pete for the Demo.  He was coming from out of Town and was going to do it from the start line.  I was going to meet him half way round.
He txt'd me that it was an hour late starting off, so I adjusted my schedule accordingly.

I erred in my planning and found myself east of where I expected the march to come back across the river.

Seeing the crowds crossing a bridge behind me I did hie my way there.  Where the bridge made landfall there was a total barrier, in the centre of the road, up to the crossroads.  Standing at the crossroads was a counter (Israel flagged) demo so I mounted the barrier and found some cyclist digging sandwiches out of the back of his bike.  

We exchanged pleasantries and he told me I shouldn't have worred about the counter demo.  There was hardly anyone there.

We agreed that the world had gone to hell and I left him to enjoy his picnic.  A rare event, to enjoy a sandwich in the middle of the road with a view of the Thames and no traffic.

Joining the throng into the Strand, I got a txt from Pete that he was at Trafalgar Sq and watching the clog dancing.  It's a culturally rich life he leads.  He started his London day with the Victor Hugo exhiibition at the R.A.  followed by an anti genocide march, and then clog dancing.

He found me easily.  I was probably the only one in Traf Sq  who appeared to be looking for someone.

The march had only taken an hour.  We rejoined it for the stroll down Whitehall and made our way as far as the gates of Downing St, where we could see the speakers on the stage.

The first one turned out to be Jez  :)
I remarked that I minded a time when there were no gates on Downing St and you could walk down it ahd have your picture taken next to the policeman outside No 10.  (Never occurred to us things could be different.)

We listened to a few speakers, did a minutes silence for the dead, and then stayed to hear Lindsey German.  More out of respect for all she's done for the anti-war movement than hearing the same thing again.  

Then made our way out, to Pete's parked, electric, push bike outside the Supreme Court building.  And made our seperate ways.

I got back  in time to see the goal.  An exciting game belying the score line.  I found the VAR interventions helpful in being long enough to mix another screwdriver. 

Disappointed to see Bernardo carded for a professional foul.  Confused by names, do City really have a player named Sudoko ??  Then again, I'm confused by names when I read of a game with two players called Onana.  Is  this what Starmer meant when he spoke of "an island of strangers" ??
  Surprised to see the Nip didn't kick the shit out of everyone, like he did in the semis.  He had a good game.

Onwards with the footer fiesta for the Europa Finals when two mediocre teams from the Premier League battle it out for a shot at the Champions League next season.
I'll have to followi that one via the Telegraph's Live Updates.  Al hum dilly la.

"we have a video of the murder, but the murderer wants you to know that the deceased is lying about the incident"
Richard Medhurst

Kemi waves from the bridge

 

 Another great institution slips below the waves.  Almost 200 years old.
And with it the name of it's predecessor, by which heritage of another 50 yrs we still refer to it.

The Conservative Party membership has elected Kemi Badenoch as their leader.

Kemi proudly asserts she is a first gen immigrant.  She has her citizenship by birth tourism, and first set foot on Brit soil when she was sixteen.

Who do they think they're gonna appeal to ??

Conservatism, as a Party, was rooted in what were considered conservative values.  They were basically christian with a variable dash of xenophobia, heredity principle, property, individual liberty and conservation of all of the above.  (make yr own list. lol)

Birth tourism runs against this, see later legislation.  We can't blame Kemi but she is an example of how badly it can go wrong.

Immigration was an issue at the last election.  Reform pulled a lot of votes from the Tories, so they can't be doing it to draw them back .

Shire Tories are surely going to shudder at a Colonial leading them.  A judgement from my outa town excursions.

The Tory Party has been incompetently led since Thatcher.  Since then, their schism over Europe has widened instead of being narrowed.  This ended up with a chunk of them peeling off to UKIP.

The membership has been presented with an array of dopey characters for leadership elections.  Mrs May ended up getting it unopposed.
God knows what the members were thinking when they voted for Truss.  Either they were telling the Con establishment that they were mad as hell and weren't going to take it any more.
Or else they were mad.

They ended up with Rishi, by appointment.


They are now so detached they've got in a leader who meets one of the eligibility requirements through a nationality scam. Her background is no foundation for loyalty to the UK.

It's as though they've called Uber for a new driver.  And the driver is so unversed in our ways, they don't realise it's a one way journey.

Parade

I had to take the Victoria Line from Victoria Station the other day.  After the down escalator there’s a long walk through a subway.  The walls of the subway are lined with a parade of posters, loads of them, of people talking about their “Pride”.

I’ll stop at two.  You get the picture.

WTF ??  WTAF ??  Who’s paying for this, who’s organising it and why ??  I notice it’s endorsed by TfL and has the imprimatur of the Mayor, so Sadiq must be getting something for it.

In London, the percentage LGBTQ +  is just over 4%.  In England and Wales combined it’s just over 3%. 
( Census 2021)

It’s a niche.  Why are they putting themselves out in the public arena ??  It’s considered antisocial to talk about your sex life in public.  It’s a lack of respect about your private life.
No one gives a damn what you get up to behind closed doors.  Keep it to yourself.

As Mrs Patrick Campbell put it .... “Does it really matter what these affectionate people do — so long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses.”


I don't want it in my face.  It doesn't encourage acceptance.

 

The week in pictures

 Week ending 28 Sept

Zelensky addresses UN





Liverpool






History repeats itself first as tragedy then as BRICS






My people

Immigrants






Hounds