Kel Mansfield

Dogs, Writing, Films, Books, Music, Whales, Racing, Football, Flyball, Broadcasting, and Blogging are a few of the things I like.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

That's up to you, your principals, and your beliefs.

If you buy a cheap second-hand TV, laptop, bicycle, whatever, in a pub off a stranger, you know it is probably stolen.

If you pay someone cash-in-hand, you know they are probably cheating the taxman.

The more you encourage people to be dishonest, the more power you have over them and everyone else.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@superTV247 After seeing this, I'm going to have a couple of quid on the British-trained 6-yeae-old mare, Tiffany, at 10-1 in the Breeders Cup Turf 9.36pm Saturday night at Keenland,

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@goryrory @StuartMaggs Because they loathe Christianity.

Christians pray for the government of the day to be wise and good stewards.

However, Christians believe in a higher power than political governments, and that every man and woman has agency over their own lives.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@TomTugendhat Instead of attacking Farage, address the issue of politicians being seen as legitimate targets for physical abuse and lethal attack.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

The government tax everything.

The people who work pay the taxes on the goods and services they buy with money they earned from going to work.

The people who don't go to work pay the taxes on the goods and services they buy with the money they receive from the government, which collected that money from people who do work.

Therefore, workers pay for the pensions/benefits of those who don't work, as well as paying for their own pensions.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@RacingPost @SportingLife

The MGT rise could have been far more damaging for racing. However, it may still be hiked again in the future.

The breathing space should be used by both the bookmakers, and the racing industry, to find alternative revenue streams, and to move away from relying so heavily on profits from "one armed bandits".

Racing has a great product to sell the public.
Just ensure it's a good value-for-money experience, and don't make a day at the races all about selling alcohol.

The betting industry has become bloated and lazy because machines and online casinos were such fantastic cash cows.

Bookmakers can still thrive, as they always have, by offering punters a fair deal and good service. They are just going to have to be more imaginative.

Instead of throwing up their arms and, closing high-street shops, bookmakers could find new ways of making money from their shops; such as hosting events in the evenings in those shops.
Dining, fish and chip suppers, celebrity guests for big sporting events, tipping competitions., etc.

Come on, prime-location retail property shouldn't just be surrendered to barbers, vape shops, and nail bars.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@NeilClark66 Until the last Ukranian is dead?

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

The ICJ bench which issued the non-binding advisory-only opinion on Chagos was composed of the following judges and nationalities:

Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (President) – Somalia
Xue Hanqin (Vice-President) – China
Peter Tomka – Slovakia
Ronny Abraham – France
Mohamed Bennouna – Morocco
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade – Brazil
Joan E. Donoghue (dissented from the majority) – United States of America
Giorgio Gaja – Italy
Julia Sebutinde – Uganda
Dalveer Bhandari – India
Patrick Lipton Robinson – Jamaica
James Richard Crawford – Australia
Kirill Gevorgian – Russian Federation
Nawaf Salam – Lebanon • Yuji Iwasawa – Japan

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

If you go through the timeline you will know there was a concerted well-financed 21-year campaign to get the UK to give Chagos to Mauritius.

The first official bi-lateral talks were in 2009 under a Labour government, when Ian Brownlie, a former member of the Communist Party of great Britain, led the Mauritius delegation at talks held in London at the Foreign Office.

Brownlie was the preeminent international lawyer of his generation when he was hired by Mauritius in 2003 to be advisor for Chagos.

Brownlie, who was also a leading academic, the was the hero and mentor of Left-wing barristers Keir Starmer, Philippe Sands and Richard Hermer.

After Sands, who is arguably the leading international lawyer of his generation, obtained the ICJ opinion in 2019, the Conservatives decided they had to engage in discussions.

Sands is very persuasive and he had support at the highest civil service levels including from the Delhi-Born Vijay Rangarajan, Director General at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) .

The Tories should be ashamed for getting so involved but they were under a great deal of pressure, and they were an utter shambles of a government when the hapless PM Liz Truss appointed the inappropriately named James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary

However, when Cleverly was replaced by David Cameron, the discussions were stopped. Cameron, Grant Shapps and Boris Johnson were all against any deal, as reported in the Telegraph and by Hansard in December 2023.

Stammer, who never mentioned his intention to give Chagos to Mauritius, appointed an unvetted Jonathan Powell to work in secret on a deal, and just 10 weeks after entering Downing Street, Starmer announces he's agreed a deal.

Despite not being mentioned during the general election, and not being in the Labour manifesto, which pledged to protect the British overseas territories, Chagos was clearly Starmer's top foreign policy issue.

20 years of effort by the leading international barristers of their time thwarted until Starmer arrives in Downing Street, then everything changes in weeks.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

Why were Jonathan Powell, Peter Mandelson and Lord Hermer appointed without vetting?

The answer is that Chagos was a deal Starmer couldn't refuse to make.

Here's a timeline of the key stages of the Chagos treachery.

In 1982, after it became known that the Chagos seabed may contain vast mineral wealth, Mauritius set up a select committee to examine the matter.
However, sea-mining technology was in its infancy, and it was too expensive to be commercially viable at that time.

In 2003, as underwater mining technologies advanced and the value of minerals and rare earth elements soared, mining the Chagos seabed became an exciting possibility again; Mauritius appointed the eminent international barrister Sir Ian Brownlie as advisor for the Chagos Archipelago.

A former member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Brownlie was a good friend of Sir Satcam Boolell, a former Labour deputy prime minister of Mauritius, and High Commissioner in London.

In 2009, Brownlie led the first Mauritius delegation to the Foreign Office in London seeking a Chagos deal.
Among the delegation was Sir Satcam Boolell's son Satyajit, who became Mauritius Director of Public Prosecutions the same year.

In 2010, after Brownlie died in a motor accident in Egypt, Sir Keir Starmer’s “great mate”, Philippe Sands, a leading human-rights lawyer who has publicly boasted of humiliating the UK in international courts, took over as counsel to Mauritius for Chagos.

In 2013, Satyajit Boolell invited Keir Starmer, whom he had become friendly with during Starmer's time as the UK's DPP, to a legal conference at the 5-star Balaclava resort in Mauritius.

During the trip, Starmer discussed the future of the Chagos Archipelago with then Mauritius prime minister Navin Ramgoolam.

After Starmer’s 2013 visit, Ramgoolam wrote that he and Starmer were aligned over Chagos.

In 2015, Ramgoolam was arrested on money-laundering charges when large sums of cash in foreign currencies, suitcases full of brand-new luxury watches, and blank British visas were found in his home.

Also in 2015, Starmer was elected to the British Parliament.

In 2019, Philippe Sands, after a campaign of lobbying the UN, obtained an International Court of Justice ruling (advisory opinion only, and non-binding) that the Chagos islands should be given to Mauritius.

Sands used the ICJ ruling as leverage in the following years in his efforts to persuade the Conservative government to give Chagos to Mauritius.

In 2020, Starmer became leader of the Labour Party.

In 2021, Sands received Mauritius' top honour, The Most Distinguished Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean.

In 2022, Sands made an unauthorized entry into the Chagos Archipelago for a flag-raising ceremony. Sands tweets at the time, “It’s morning on Chagos, where the flag of Mauritius flies."

In 2023, Sands became a Mauritius citizen, but retains his British and French citizenships.

🧧In November 2023, David Cameron replaced James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary and, with the support of other senior Tories, stopped a Chagos deal saying, it’s not in the national interest, as reported in Hansard.

In July 2024, Starmer became UK Prime Minister and just ten weeks after entering Downing Street, he agreed a deal with Mauritius, despite there having been no mention of Chagos during the election campaign, and the Labour manifesto pledging to protect the BOT.

in November of 2024, Ramgoolam was elected Mauritius prime minister again after a snap general election, and took over from the incumbent PM, Pravind Jugnauth, to lead the Chagos negotiations with the UK.

In December 2024, after 14 years in the role, Philippe Sands steps down as Mauritius counsel for Chagos.

In January 2025, Attorney General Lord Hermer recused himself from signing off on the Chagos deal, and declined to say why.

In February 2025, Jugnauth was arrested on money-laundering charges after large sums of cash in foreign currencies and suitcases full of brand-new luxury watches were found in his home.

In May 2025, twelve years after discussing the future of Chagos in Mauritius, Starmer and Ramgoolam sat down in London to sign the treaty that transfers the archipelago's sovereignty to Mauritius.

The Fall Out.

The Chagos deal does🟥NOT secure the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia.

The deal operationally hobbles the base, and increases the dangers to the British and American military personnel, and the civilians who work there, and in the wider Central Indian Ocean region.

Diego Garcia's remoteness made it easy to defend in the past. This deal leaves the base horribly vulnerable to the growing threats posed by the new longer-range missiles, and more sophisticated and lethal drones.

When Keir Starmer, Lord Hermer and Vijay Rangarajan, the Director General at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, made the deal it was fully understood that the outer islands of the Chagos Archipelago were by far the best locations to deploy early warning, and air-defense systems, to protect the main base from missile and drone attacks.
Yet they still decided to lease only Diego Garcia.

Andy Burnham, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, and Defense Minister Wes Streeting, know the deal increases the dangers to the lives of British service personnel, and our NATO allies personnel, in the strategically important Central Indian Ocean region.
To double down and push the deal with that knowledge is a shameful act of betrayal.

While the deal leaves Diego Garcia vulnerable to attack, it also renders the base itself ineffective and operationally hobbled.

Mauritius is a signatory of the Pelindaba African Weapon-Free Zone Treaty which bans all nuclear weapons from treaty members' territory.

Pelindaba gives each of the more the 40 countries who have signed it the right to inspect the facilities on Diego Garcia if they suspect nuclear arms are being stored there.

The UK's nuclear-armed Trident submarines will no longer be able to enter Chagos waters, or visit Diego Garcia which is the only island in the region which has suitable anchorage and facilities for maintenance and restocking provisions, etc.

The US's nuclear-armed submarines, ships, and planes will also be banned from Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago's waters.

Mauritius gets complete sovereignty over everything, including control of the airspace above the Chagos Archipelago, which at 250,000 square miles is the same size as France.

The implications of controlling such a vast area of airspace in a strategically vital region are huge.

Mauritius has shown it will ban planes entering its current airspace when China asks.

The Chagos Deal does not ‘secure the base’. It methodically destroys every element required for operations. The text and annexes state it will:
❌Constrain future Ops and use of the base
❌Prevent the placing of sensors and other maritime installations
❌Require us to sight our foes on defence planning
❌Mean we’re unable to use our preferred contractors
❌See us lose of control over electromagnetic spectrum.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@hopeoverfear01 Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, HTML, the URL system, and HTTP.
Berners-Lee proposed an information management system on 12 March 1989.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

Guess who helped to make International law and the rulings of international courts so influential?

Left-wing British barristers and close friends, 🧑‍⚖️Lord Richard Hermer, 🧑‍⚖️Professor Philippe Sands, and 🧑‍⚖️Sir Keir Starmer, plied their trade extensively on the international court circuit for many decades.

Their hero and mentor was the acclaimed academic international lawyer, and one-time member of the Communist Party, 🧑‍⚖️Sir Ian Brownlie.

The international cases Brownlie, Hermer, Sands, and Starmer worked on, and the judicial rulings they obtained, created the laws and precedents that underpin how international cases and legal issues are resolved.

Hermer, Sands, and Starmer spent many happy years creating International law with their advocacy in nascent jurisdictions frequently staffed by unsophisticated inexperienced judges and panelists from developing countries.

Using international law to override national law proved to be a very lucrative business model.

Not surprisingly, having created much of it, Starmer, Sands and Hermer were very keen to promote international law.

“We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.” from Mario Puzo’s Godfather.

Using international law to override national law proved to be a very lucrative business model.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

Can you imagine the stress and worry of filing annual income tax forms for the first time in many years, or for former PAYE employees, for the first time?

Pensioners with incomes already above the threshold will already be filing their returns.

For people in their 70s, 80s and 90s living on just the state pension, suddenly having to complete government tax forms will be a nightmare.

No doubt many thousands won't be able to and will end up falling foul of the taxman, paying fines, and worrying themselves sick.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@uklegislation8 This👇 2010 article is about the UK using Mauritius front compaies.
https://t.co/RbXQQ3SwLF

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

Grok and other AIs are influenced by programs aimed to feed them the interpretations and answers the employers (governments, corporations etc) of the programmers want

Everyone has to be aware that this is happening to AI.

There are arguments, including legal one, that take a different views of Pelindaba's potential impact.
Some Points raised by critics are listed below.

Nuclear-Free Zone Rules: The Treaty of Pelindaba establishes an African nuclear-weapon-free zone. As a signatory, Mauritius is prohibited from stationing, storing, or possessing nuclear explosive devices on its territory.

Impact on Diego Garcia: Critics argue that if sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is transferred to Mauritius, the Treaty of Pelindaba would🟥legally extend to Diego Garcia. This would conflict with reports and claims that the US routinely stores or stations nuclear weapons or transits them through the base.

Transit vs. Storage: While the treaty has a limited carve-out allowing signatory states to permit discretionary port calls or aircraft visits,🟥permanent nuclear basing and storage are🟥strictly forbidden.

Operational Breaches: Critics warn that the UK or US operations on Diego Garcia could place Mauritius in🟥continuous breach of its Pelindaba obligations, risking the strategic value and operational autonomy of the military base.

There are other factors in the deal that will seriously impact the Diego Garcia's effectiveness.

The Chagos Deal does not ‘secure the base’. It methodically destroys every element required for operations.
The text and annexes state it will: ❌Constrain future Ops and use of the base.
❌Prevent the placing of sensors and other maritime installations
❌Require us to sight our foes on defence planning
❌Mean we’re unable to use our preferred contractors
❌See us lose of control over electromagnetic spectrum.

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@adrianhayes I've posted many times about the Chagossians and their disgraceful treatment.

I support the Chagossians, their right to slf-determinatio, and have their future back in thei homeland.

Here's an example

https://t.co/8cb2N6mcqE

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

Before the joint UK/US base on Diego Garcia, Britain's chief military asset in the region was Royal Air Force Gan, 325 miles north of the Chagos Archipelago in the Maldives.

After the RAF left the tiny island of Gan in 1976, it stood empty and unloved for many years.

But now it's Gan International Airport, with regular commercial flights, and the island is a centre for ecotourism and scuba diving.

What the Maldives have done with Gan, the Chagossians could do several times over in the Chagos Archipelago's 60-odd islands.

And¥ Burnham's Chagos deal (it's his deal now) betrays the Chagossian people, who were violently expelled from Chagos to make way for the base on Diego Garcia, yet they still overwhelmingly wish their islands to remain under British control.
https://t.co/n3mottjqYG

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@end3of6days9 Hello, my name's Mister Ed.

[Freyja. Missing Children Advocate🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @FreyjaBakke]

WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED TO CALL 999 BUT CAN’T TALK

When you call 999, an operator asks which service you require. If you remain silent and it’s an emergency, you’ll be asked to cough or make some other audible sound without speaking.
But what are you supposed to do if making any noise at all might alert an attacker to your presence and so you need to remain silent?

Simply press 55
This procedure is called Silent Solutions but very few people know it exists!

If you don’t cough or press 55 and are in danger or need help then your call will be ended.
It is hoped that by spreading awareness of the procedure, the emergency services will be able to act more efficiently and save lives.
Predator awareness

[Kel Mansfield @tedkel]

@francessmith To want people in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who are living off just the state pension, to start filing annual tax returns is ridiculous.
It will cause old folk great worry and stress. For many navigating a government website is mission impossible.