Sue Bolam

Rtd FE College Snr Mgr. exiled, fun loving Geordie, anti woke nonsense, fond of travelling, history and dogs.

[GB News @GBNEWS]

'This is absolute arrogance in the face of the highest court in this land.'

Gender critical activist Maeve Halligan reacts as four unions announce a boycott of Labour's women's conference over the exclusion of trans women.

[Konstantin Kisin @KonstantinKisin]

This is very worth reading because it beautifully lays out the faulty thinking that has given us suicidal economic policy that has also made no impact on climate change whatsoever.

Characteristically, it pretends that those who oppose Net Zero do so because they deny that the climate is changing (no one sensible does), that outsourcing our emissions to poor countries, an accounting trick, is somehow green (it's not) and, most importantly, challenges the argument that the overwhelming majority of carbon emissions produced in the world today are emitted by countries that care about economic growth way more than they care about "saving the planet" (China, India etc) by citing Kenya whose entire annual emissions are roughly equivalent to what China emits in about 8 hours.

The hoax is not climate change. The hoax is that we can stop it by making ourselves poorer.

[Julia Hartley-Brewer @JuliaHB1]

Yeah, but are you one of the women with or without a penis?

And since when did you become Empress Of What We Are Allowed To Debate? @stellacreasy

[Toby Young @toadmeister]

The 'regular bloke' on the street now finds that his opinions are apt to get him cancelled. But the true crisis isn't what happens to the few who dare to speak up: it's the fact that millions have learned to keep silent. https://t.co/pfkaTURC0K

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

Oh Bridget, do stop.

The official Key Stage 2 results do NOT show that reading, writing, spelling, punctuation, grammar, maths and science have “all improved”.

Reading - unchanged.
Science- unchanged
Maths- up 1% point
Writing -up 1% point
Grammar, punctuation and spelling - up 1% point

Only 63% of children met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, up from 62% but still below the 65% before the pandemic. And attainment in every subject except reading remains below pre Covid levels.

Also ... these are Year 6 children who started primary school in 2019. You arrived in July 2024, after most of their primary education had already taken place. so er...

claiming their results as a Labour achievement is false.
“everything is improving under Labour” is spin and not an honest account of the figures.

[Times Radio @TimesRadio]

Ann Widdecombe defended Nigel Farage's financial conduct in an interview recorded only 20 minutes before police believe she was attacked.

It shows her passionately-held beliefs and long political experience. This excerpt is being published with the permission of Ann's family.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Aren’t you the minister for safeguarding women against violence?
And you have to apologise for what you tweeted after a fellow female politician was violently murdered?
Isn’t that a resigning matter?

[Lee Anderson MP @LeeAndersonMP_]

Natalie where was your outrage when your two thug brothers and their thug mate threatened to smash my face in and beat up my sons whilst I was having lunch in a pub in Ashfield? My female staff were terrified. Where was your outrage when I had to put my office into lock down when one of your thug brothers kept ringing my office and threatening to come round and sort me out? Please don't claim you know nothing about this, two of them pleaded guilty in court. Are you going to call this out?

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

Dear Adam,

I have taken time to think about your apology. Mostly because, having made a mistake publicly before, I was keen to accept yours. It hurts when people don’t understand that you are sorry for messing up. I get that, probably more than most.

But here’s the thing… I’m not sure you understand what you did wrong. And so you don’t really understand what you are apologising for or why. With that in mind, I want to help you.

I didn’t know Ann, except as a powerhouse in politics and that so many people have spoken of her friendship and great loyalty. How lovely, I wish I had known her.

I am utterly disinterested in her sexual prowess or the state of her virginity. But I would have enjoyed hearing you speak of her great accomplishments. Not as a woman, but simply as a human being.

Here’s a list.

She served in the House of Commons for 23 years and won five general elections.

She served as a government minister in Social Security, Employment and the Home Office, where she was Minister of State for Prisons.

She rose to become Shadow Health Secretary and then Shadow Home Secretary.

She was appointed to the Privy Council.

After leaving Westminster, she built an entirely new career as an author, broadcaster, documentary-maker, stage performer and television personality.

Then, at the age of 71, she returned to elected politics and became a Member of the European Parliament.

She was a longstanding advocate for Britain leaving the European Union and, when the political establishment failed to deliver the referendum result, she left the Conservative Party after more than 50 years and stood for the Brexit Party.

She was elected as an MEP and took the argument for British independence directly into the European Parliament.

She was also an unapologetic defender of free speech. She continued to speak openly on difficult and unfashionable subjects when others chose silence, it was easier to do that, she accepted the criticism and hostility that came with it rather than surrendering her convictions.

Her Catholic faith was central to her life. She converted to Catholicism, met Pope John Paul II in Rome and was later made a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI for her service to politics and public life.

She remained a powerful public voice well into her late seventies, defending her beliefs despite decades of ridicule and hostility.

That is an extraordinary life of public service, courage and reinvention.

Yet, when asked to speak about her after her sudden and violent death, you chose to tell the country that she was a “spinster”, an “old maid” and a virgin. You discussed a failed relationship and suggested that afterwards she simply dedicated herself to other activities.

Do you understand the reduction involved in that?

You took the life of a highly accomplished woman and assessed it according to whether she had married, whether she had sex and whether a man had wanted her.

That is what was wrong. That is what you should have known.

It wasn’t simply that your words were poorly chosen or badly timed. It was the instinct to view a woman’s entire life through her relationship with men, even when her achievements should have rendered that completely irrelevant.

Nobody discussing the death of an accomplished male politician would think it necessary to tell viewers whether he was a virgin, speculate about his sex life or describe him as an ageing bachelor whose romance had failed.

I don’t want you cancelled. I don’t believe that people should be denied forgiveness when they make mistakes.

But a meaningful apology has to identify the actual wrong.

Ann was murdered after a lifetime of public service. At the moment her achievements should have been remembered, you diminished her to an unmarried woman who apparently hadn’t had sex.

She deserved better than that. And I’m still not sure you get it. But every woman who watched you speak of her and then read your apology does.

Bernie.

[Julia Hartley-Brewer @JuliaHB1]

Hey @waitrose. Please can you identify which people other than women need to use tampons for their periods?

Can you name even one man who needs tampons? One. That's all you need to provide. I'm waiting...

[Paul Embery @PaulEmbery]

No byelection is "fake" or a "game" or a "gimmick", regardless of the circumstances in which it was called. A byelection is always a chance for parties to make their case and have their candidate returned as an MP. To refuse to engage with that process because you don't like the manner in which the election came about is to show contempt for the democratic process.

[Claire Fox @Fox_Claire]

"This is a gimmick" from a man who is only an MP cos he forced a by-elction when one not needed, all to force an internal LP coup to dump one prime minister & allow his own coronation. Now that is what I call a gimmick.

[Sue Bolam @Snooze_1951]

@HelenWebberley Oh the irony of this lunatic comparing @jk_rowling and @JuliaHB1 to Hitler, whose regime literally oversaw medical experimentation on children.

[Cllr Rob Kenyon @RobKenyonReform]

Just arrived to cast my vote in the by-election.

Something Andy Burnham cannot do.

[Kate Hoey @CatharineHoey]

Nothing illegal in this video so will retweet it to stand up for Free Speech !

[Paul Embery @PaulEmbery]

Here’s the problem. The liberal political class wants us to treat atrocities like Belfast as single, random, isolated incidents. “Yes, it’s horrific, but don’t overreact,” they say. “Let the police do their job. Justice will be delivered. Let’s remain united,” and so on.

But the public can see that such incidents *aren’t* random or isolated. They are, in fact, all the consequence of massive state failure in the area of asylum and immigration. All roads lead back there.

That’s why people are angry.. They are sick of the platitudes that get trotted out after each fresh incident. They don’t want to hear them anymore. They know that the decisions of establishment politicians have brought us to this current pass, and they don’t trust those same politicians to fix things, especially when some of them refuse to even recognise that the public’s anger is justified.

There has been a huge vibe shift in recent years. Imagine - God forbid - there were another 7/7. Does anyone think the public response would be anything like as restrained as it was then? We are in really dangerous territory.

The public don’t want flowers and candles and “Don’t let them divide us.” They want someone who says, “I recognise that the state has failed abjectly. We have allowed far too many people to settle in the country without knowing who they truly are. It has disrupted your communities. Your anger is justified. And I will do everything in my power to put things right.”

Any politician unwilling to articulate that message, fully and sincerely, is effectively sanctioning more years of growing social disharmony and discord. Things cannot heal until those in power recognise the extent of the problem and what it will take to fix it. And, on both counts, most of them don’t.

That’s why the next few years are going to be very, very turbulent.

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

Just when you think Claire Fox couldn’t be more brilliant … she is. Here’s Claire on Alien Culture.

“We do not think for example that stoning women for adultery is modern, that it’s just a cultural practice, what’s wrong with that? We do not think that child marriage is an interesting cultural expression. We have to say that’s a backward medieval thing. So ‘Alien culture’ was well chosen, it’s importing Alien culture”

Exactly what we were all thinking🔥

[Cllr Rob Kenyon @RobKenyonReform]

Peter, this is complete misinformation. I've never refused a DBS check. I actually have an enhanced DBS check for work and sports coaching.

I have already provided Wigan Council with a copy of my DBS certificate. Check your facts before spreading lies.

[J Stewart @triffic_stuff_]

🚨 BOOM! Nick Ferrari just put Deputy PM David Lammy on the ropes LIVE on LBC! 🔥

“Would you take the knee for Henry Nowak?”

Lammy instantly flustered, stuttering like he’s been caught red-handed:

“Uhh… well I, look, I, I, I, I think… to honour what’s that family…”

Ferrari cuts through the waffle:

“It’s a yes or no, Mr Lammy. Would you take the knee for Henry Nowak?”

Lammy, clearly squirming:

“I think… no. Because, look, I don’t think the family are asking for symbolism. They’re asking for genuine common sense policing and a reduction in knife crime.”

Ferrari pounces:

“So you agree, taking the knee is mere symbolism? It was a bit of a charade at times?”

Lammy’s brain completely melts:

“That was a moment back then when we were still in the pandemic. This is today. This is this particular incident in our country that’s heart-rending.”

The pandemic?! What the actual f*ck has COVID got to do with it? 😂 His head had totally gone. Nick Ferrari absolutely broke him on air.

This is the same David Lammy who was one of the biggest cheerleaders for BLM, repeatedly defended taking the knee, slammed anyone who questioned it, and pushed the George Floyd narrative hard, yet suddenly it’s all “symbolism” and excuses when it’s a young British lad stabbed to death.

Well done, Nick Ferrari 👏 You exposed the hypocrisy and double standards for everyone to see. No wonder people are furious.