BOATWATCH #38

For the second week in a row, zero boat crossings were detected.  This particularly sharp Autumn lull means that 2025 will be some way off the previous record year of 2022, although it has already beaten the annual totals for all other years of the small boat invasion.

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 27.11.25

A trio of seats were up for grabs on Thursday, including a Labour defence in what would normally be considered solid Labour territory in Sunderland.  We saw this as a likely gain for the returning independent, who finished second last time around.  Instead, Reform surged from a distant third to easily take the seat from Labour with a huge swing from the defending party.  Labour crashed to third with more than half the votes received by the Reform candidate.

Reform also picked up an independent seat in Norfolk and finished runners-up in Lancashire.  Labour, meanwhile, finished last in both elections.

Hunstanton, Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk

Ref: 368 (29.2%) New

LDm: 322 (25.6%) New

Ind: 229 (18.2%) ‑11.0%

Con: 224 (17.8%) ‑23.0%

Ind:77 (6.1%) New

Lab: 40 (3.2%) ‑21.0%

Ref GAIN from Ind

Barnoldswick, Pendle Borough Council

LDm: 1,008 (59.8%) +1.5%

Ref: 441 (26.2%) New

Con: 170 (10.1%) -11.7%

Lab: 66 (3.9%) -11.1%

LDm HOLD

Hetton, Sunderland City Council

Ref: 1,270 (46.3%) +35.4%

Ind: 689 (25.1%) -4.0%

Lab: 611 (22.3%) -24.4%

LDm: 113 (4.1%) +1.6%

Con: 61 (2.2%) -3.6%

Ref GAIN from Lab

WOKE WEDNESDAYS #49

As if we didn't already know from two summers of weekly protests, the left despise the state of Israel.  And sharing a trait with some elements of the far right, it's not enough to simply voice opposition to a state that routinely attacks and occupies neighbouring territories.  All too often, the left take out their frustrations on ordinary Jews, who they perceive to be linked to a hive mind that makes them equally to blame for the criminal actions of Netanyahu.

The same people call other white people 'racist' if they dare generalise other ethnic groups with negative stereotypes.  But it's OK for the left to do that with Jews - they are fair game - as are white people (the 'gammon' and the 'Karens').

It's rank hypocrisy, but of course such things do not apply to the high and mighty of the self-righteous left.

They have no problem at all in taking a Jewish folk hero and turning their life into a public display of ridicule, purely as a means to insult as many Jews as possible.  And that's what has happened in New York of all places.  It's probably no coincidence that in order to maximise the insult, they chose a city that is home to the largest Jewish population of any city in the world - that's including Israeli cities.

Yes, woke playwright progressives have taken Anne Frank - the most iconic of all the Nazis' Jewish victims - and turned this innocent teenager into a pansexual Latino girl in a relationship with a 'non-binary' person.  They have also thrown in a 'neurodiverse' family in just for progressive measure.  The fact that Anne Frank was barely 15 years old when she died doesn't seem to matter to these degenerates.

The play, entitled Slam Frank, has drawn staunch criticism from Jewish groups.  Naturally, they perceive it as 'disrespectful', which is clearly the intention of the writer.  You see, the people who preach the most about hate, are the most hateful people of all...

The previous Woke Wednesday (dog free zones) generated 37 comments and 18 shares on Facebook.

TOON TUESDAY #82

This week's edition kicks off with Shabana Mahmood's proposed adoption of a Danish-style approach to illegal migration, which has upset countless open borders enthusiasts on the Labour backbenches.  They may well scupper any such proposal should it face a Commons vote.

The toons inevitably morph into the most briefed about Budget of all time, which by this time tomorrow will finally be set in stone.  Then next week we'll have some more cartoons about the actual Budget!

Special shout out to Christian Adams for his sterling work in The Telegraph...

Peter Brookes for The Times

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Morten Morland for The Times

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Times

Steve Bright for The Sun

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Christian Adams for The Sunday Telegraph

Peter Brookes for The Times

Chris Riddell for The Observer

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Sunday Telegraph

Peter Brookes for The Times

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

MEME MONDAY #62

It was a quiet week on the meme front, something that looks set to continue while Karl sorts out protracted family business.

Mon 17 Nov - 38 shares.  As far as we're aware, Zarah has still not handed over
the money she unilaterally generated (defrauded?) from Fruit and Nut supporters.
We were at one time quite excited at the prospect of a Corbyn-led party that
could attack Labour from the left, but hopes for this still nameless enterprise
have faded fast, mainly thanks to the petulant Ms Sultana

Tue 18 Nov - 67 shares

Wed 19 Nov - 243 shares

Thu 20 Nov.  The original version of this meme had an unfortunate misplacing
of an apostrophe that could have been taken to imply something about Zack Polanski
directly, when it was actually targeted at Green leadership in general, arising from
the NIMBY attitude of deputy leader Rachel Millward towards boat migrants.
The original meme was deleted and this is a re-edit.

Thu 20 Nov - 10 shares

Fri 21 Nov - 359 shares

Sat 22 Nov - 25 shares

Sun 23 Nov - 171 shares

Sun 23 Nov - 64 shares

One Facebook Story published last week detailed a milestone for this very website - 3 million hits and counting...

If you appreciate Karl (and Richey's) work, you can buy us both a metaphorical pint here.  This helps fund our work and reminds us that we are valued!

BOATWATCH #37

No small boat crossings were detected last week, for the second time this autumn.  Arrivals always tail off towards the winter, but that is not to say there won't be more colonists rocking up in Kent on RNLI/Border Farce taxis over the next few months.

Total = 0 (down 566 from previous week)

RIGBY RINSES STARMER

Hot on the heels of Starmer's viral stumble as he arrived at the G20 meeting in South Africa, the PM sat down with Beth Rigby for an interview.  The Sky News political editor lined him up for an ambush by initially asking him about the importance of politicians 'sticking to their word'.  Starmer's confident response soon gave way to a malfunction in his robotic programming, as he stuttered his way through repeated questioning about previous promises regarding taxation.

Rigby's second line of attack was to run off a relatively short list of controversies that had dogged Starmer's leadership, which she ended with the killer line: "You haven't ended chaos, you are the chaos".

Watch below.

We're obviously no fans of establishment journalists like Rigby here, but credit where it's due - jolly good show!

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 20.11.25

Seven seats were up for grabs on Thursday, with Labour on the defence in the north Yorkshire borough of Redcar and Cleveland.  No-one had come close to unseating Labour in this ward previously, but the Reform juggernaut was new in town and they missed out on a gain by a margin of just 25 votes!

Labour were also on the defence in Macclesfield, where the disgraced incumbent was elected on their ticket in 2019.  Cllr Ashley Farrall was suspended by the party last year after being charged with assaulting his partner.  He was cleared of the charge, but later convicted of perverting the course of justice and is now serving a twelve month sentence.  Labour had a huge majority here, but the Green Party dislodged them with a huge swing.

Elsewhere, there were some interesting results.  North of the border, a free-for-all election went to the Conservatives, despite finishing second to Reform on first preference votes.  By the time all the transfer votes were whittled down, the Tory candidate pipped Reform to what would have been a stunning victory first time out.

Reform fared even better south of the border, taking two Tory seats - one of which by the ultra thin margin of three votes.  The merry-go-round continued in Greater Manchester, where the Tories usurped the Green Party.  Despite Trafford Council being under Labour for six years, they did not even bother contesting this seat.

Labour's vote was down everywhere they stood, including a pathetic nine votes in one of two Warwickshire seats.

Macclesfield Central, Cheshire East District Council

Grn: 750 (41.8%) +19.7%

Lab: 513 (28.6%) -25.7%

Ref: 283 (15.8%) New

Con: 164 (9.1%) -4.5%

Eql: 45 (2.5%) New

LDm: 40 (2.2%) -7.7%

Grn GAIN from Lab

Stranraer and the Rhins, Dumfries and Galloway Council

(first preference votes)

Ref: 1,386 (34.4%) New

Con: 1,302 (33.5%) -7.4%

SNP: 541 (13.9%) -9.1%

Lab: 239 (6.1%) -3.7%

Ind: 207 (5.3%) New

Grn: 141 (3.6%) +1.1%

LDm: 96 (2.5%) New

Hrt: 27 (0.7%) New

Con GAIN from Ind (elected at stage 7)

Ashdown & Conquest, East Sussex County Council

Ref: 797 (32.2%) New

Grn: 607 (24.5%) +16.4%

Con: 494 (19.9%) -39.8%

Lab: 395 (15.9%) -7.4%

LDm: 129 (5.2%) -3.5%

Ind: 55 (2.2%) New

Ref GAIN from Con

South Bank, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Lab: 368 (47.4%) -17.8%

Ref: 344 (44.3%) New

Con: 64 (8.2%) -4.3%

Lab HOLD

Quinton, Stratford-on-Avon District Council

LDm: 437 (47.3%) +3.5%

Ref: 306 (33.1%) New

Con: 137 (14.8%) -26.2%

Grn: 35 (3.8%) -4.7%

Lab: 9 (1.0%) -5.7%

LDm HOLD

Salford Priors & Alcester Rural, Stratford-on-Avon District Council

Ref: 272 (33.3%) New

LDm: 269 (32.9%) +9.7%

Con: 227 (27.8%) -29.1%

Grn: 31 (3.8%) -5.3%

Lab: 18 (2.2%) -8.6%

Ref GAIN from Con

Hale, Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council

Con: 1,521 (46.5%) +9.8%

Grn: 1,245 (38.1%) -9.6%

Ref: 264 (0.1%) New

LDm: 101 (3.1%) -0.6%

Con GAIN from Grn

Abbreviations

Grn = Green

Lab = Labour

Ref = Reform UK

Con = Conservative

Eql = Equality

LDm = Liberal Democrat

SNP = Scottish National Party

Hrt = Heritage

Ind = Independent

WOKE WEDNESDAY WILL RETURN

Although Karl is now easing himself back into the BTLP campaign, he is still away from home dealing with funeral arrangements and potential probate issues stemming from his recent family bereavement.  We have decided that although Woke Wednesday will return next week, there will be an extended break from this weekly feature as we inch towards Christmas.  It is hoped that the feature will return in January, as the possibilities are simply endless in the Clown World we have the misfortune of living in.

See you next week for the 49th edition of Woke Wednesday!

CLIVE'S GOING NOWHERE

Labour's Clive Lewis has told the Beeb's Politics Live that he is prepared to give up his Norwich South seat to allow Andy Burnham a route back into the Commons in order to challenge Keir Starmer for the party leadership.  It's an open secret that the Mayor of Greater Manchester would like to dislodge Starmer, but an endorsement from Lewis - who is on the hard left of the party - is somewhat odd.  On paper Burnham does not represent anything that would appeal to Labour's Socialist Campaign Group, of which Lewis is a member.  A successful Burnham challenge would simply mean replacing one globalist Blairite clone with another.

Watch the clip below.

While his overtures to Burnham are at odds with his place on the political spectrum, the reality is that Clive is going nowhere.  Are we to believe that an MP of ten years, with up to four more years left of his current term, is going to give up his seat on the Westminster gravy train?  Is Clive Lewis the man who will put honour back into honourable member?

Highly doubtful.  He knows full well there is no likelihood of the so-called 'King in the North' parachuting into Norfolk.  Even in the event Lewis did stand down and Burnham went for it, the mayor would still have to go through the selection process.  He would be humiliated if the local CLP rejected him and it would also render Lewis's own resignation pointless.

In any case, Clive has already backed down from what he now says was a response to a 'hypothetical question'.  He has told The Sun's political editor: “I have no plans to stand down.  A hypothetical question was put to me, and my answer was consistent with what I have been saying – that I am serious about putting country before party.”

Serious, except when he offered a rather straightforward answer to a question of vacating the gravy train.  No, he's not at all serious then.

The challenge to Starmer - when it comes - will not come from Burnham, but from within the House of Commons.  Rumblings on the back benches and the front will grow stronger as Starmer faces multiple hurdles in the next six months.  There's the Budget, the local elections, opposition to digital ID and a certain court case in April concerning the activities of three 'aspiring male models' from eastern Europe...

TOON TUESDAY #81

In the third and final part of today's special triple bill, it's yet another selection on what appears to be the most briefed about Budget in the history of Number Eleven.  We begin with an exceptionally rare reference to Reeves' rental scandal, which was successfully buried thanks to a favour from Buckingham Palace in which news of Andrew's excommunication was deliberately released to nudge her from the headlines...

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Graeme Bandeira for The Northern Agenda

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Sunday Times

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Matt Pritchett for The Sunday Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph

That's all, until next week...

TOON TUESDAY #80

In the second part of today's special triple bill, we look at the fallout from the Beeb's deliberate mis-representation of President Trump's speech near the Capitol on the day of the so-called 'insurrection'...

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Peter Brookes for The Times

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Andy Bunday on Instagram

Tom Stiglich on X

Nicola Jennings for The Guardian

Christian Adams for The Daily Telegraph

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

NEXT UP:  The Budget