Swathes of swimsuit-clad revellers turned up today at Rishi’s £2 million pound Yorkshire mansion today, hoping for a pool party with the Prime Minister. The stunt, organised by Greenpeace, is part of a campaign for improvements to the energy grid in a month where it was revealed that Rishi coughed up for local national grid upgrades – just to keep his pool heated. Extinction Rebellion, take notes…
Insulate Britain loon Stephen Pritchard has been jailed for five weeks for blocking the M4 motorway in 2021. Having been convicted by the jury at Inner London Crown Court last week of “causing a nuisance to the public” by parking himself on the road along with three other protesters, Judge Silas Reid handed Pritchard a five week sentence, with the other three each given six-week sentences suspended for 18 months. An incredibly soft touch for Pritchard, given he’s been arrested a whopping 13 times…
Speaking this morning, Judge Reid said:
“It is not appropriate for me to suspend the inevitable sentence… you will serve up to half of your sentence in prison […] None of you have shown any remorse for your actions, and in fact wear them with pride.”
Pritchard has already been to jail for this lunacy once before…
With BBC impartiality under the spotlight, a Guardian exclusive on Friday – alleging the BBC shelved a final episode of David Attenborough’s latest documentary for fear of a “right wing backlash” – gained traction on social media. Despite the BBC denying the “totally inaccurate” claims, Pippa Crerar’s tweet sharing the article alone got 1.3 million views.
Helena Horton, took to Twitter to spin the narrative. She dismissed the BBC’s denial as “Orwellian”.
Can assure you my story is impeccably sourced, and yes the BBC’s (in my personal view) Orwellian comment is included in the piece 😊
— Helena Horton (@horton_official) March 10, 2023
Despite Ms Horton’s insistence the Guardian quietly changed their tune. Amending the piece to include the denial:
After this morning Helena will have another organisation to add to her list of Orwellian censors. Speaking on the Today programme, Tonya Steele, the CEO of the World Wildlife Foundation, who funded* the programme, added to the evidence against the piece. She called the Guardian’s reporting “categorically not true”.
The GUardian’s environment reporter is a repeat offender. This is in the tradition of Helena’s fake grouse story, There is a pattern..
*That in itself is striking.
While Sadiq continues spewing hot air with a moral case over the ULEZ expansion – apparently this is all about saving Londoners’ lives – the TaxPayers’ Alliance has uncovered another reason why the Mayor might be such a fan of the scheme: it’s a cash cow for City Hall. Who’d have guessed…
Over the last three years, the number of ULEZ fines has shot up by 70%, while the number of LEZ fines has increased by a whopping 81%. Last year alone, the combined total for ULEZ and LEZ fines was £55,078,924…
Here’s the full breakdown, including charges:
Charges:
2019/20: £1,123,800 of LEZ charges; £66,056,275 of ULEZ charges
2020/21: £3,792,800 of LEZ charges; £30,608,750 of ULEZ charges
2021/22: £17,846,200 of LEZ charges; £93,120,437.50 of ULEZ charges
Fines:
2019/20: 594,916 ULEZ fines, worth £41,382,613; 39,751 LEZ fines worth £3,742,566
2020/21: 273,311 ULEZ fines, worth £16,988,664; 24,819 LEZ fines worth £1,599,157
2021/22: 1,010,573 ULEZ fines worth £46,800,826; 72,163 LEZ fines worth £8,278,098
The TPA also reveal in the Express the ULEZ expansion will impact around 200,000 more vehicles, and hit low income households the hardest. Remember, this is all about clean air… nothing to do with the hundreds of millions landing in City Hall’s coffers…
Today’s Energy Questions in the commons saw a comical exchange between two former party leaders. Ed Miliband welcomed Boris Johnson’s contribution, in which he targeted Labour’s “Baleful, Luddite, Atomkraft? Nein, Danke” attitude towards nuclear energy, by saying:
“It’s important to welcome ex-party leaders to their place Mr Speaker. My only piece of advice is it’s important to not want your old job back.”
Boris responded by shouting something inaudible from the back benches. Lip readers, get in touch…
Today is International Polar Bear Day, and once again the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has published its annual report on the state of polar bears over the last twelve months. Having paw-ed over the details, Dr. Susan Crockford is the bearer of good news: 2022 was another fantastic year for everyone’s favourite cuddly carnivores:
“There were no reports from either hemisphere in 2022 that would suggest polar wildlife is suffering as a result of reduced sea-ice extent; in both the Arctic and Antarctic, less summer sea ice and increased primary productivity over the last two decades has meant more food for all animals, and explains in part why polar wildlife has been thriving.”
According to the report, Ice-dependent polar bears worldwide now number around 32,000. Looks like anyone doubting their continued good fortunes is on thin ice. Happy International Polar Bear Day!
