Daily Wail; a window on the world of some bloody odd people/ideas.

 I am not a regular reader of the newspaper known by many as the Daily Wail but now and then, I will take a look to see what lunacy is being promoted currently. A lot of the daily fare is made up of photographs of various apparently well known and allegedly famous beings of a sub-class known as "celebrities". Oh, and a constant photographic record of Kim Kardashian's arse, size, shape etc. (I wonder if there is a company sponsored psychiatrist on hand in the editorial offices? If so, someone is not doing their job!)

So, what got my attention this morning and caused me to take a look at the online edition? Well, a couple of things; first the ridiculous headline-grabbing quote from  a Tory lickspittle MP, Conor Burns: claiming "Boris was ambushed with a cake".
You couldn't make it up, as they say. No, you definitely could not make it up as we saw Sir Edward Leigh make a similar statement in the Commons yesterday. The popular refrain this morning has the Tory mob chanting "What about getting on with dealing with issues around poverty, increasing utility prices, the NHS etc, rather than be so bothered by all the fuss over Downing Street parties?". Well, to me this is tantamount to saying "Give us a break. We can not multi-task". Shame on the lot of them! They are paid handsomely to attend parliament and deal with constituents' issues of all flavours and varying degrees of urgency.. Nowhere in their job description does it say "but only one issue at a time". And of course, we can always count on that most un-cultured Secretary of State for Culture (and other stuff), Nadine Dorries for pearls of wisdom in times of crisis. She has apparently joined other Ministers in claiming that the gathering of 30 people for Boris's birthday bash could "be seen as an extension of the workplace". They just don't get it; the current crop of complaints & allegations do not relate to people at Downing Street contravening some hitherto unknown law banning the crossing of a line between workplace and non-workplace activities. They all centre around these people flouting rules put in place by themsleves as a defence against Covid19. Rules that have seen Mr & Mrs Public have the police banging on their doors and dishing out fixed penalties. On the BBC news, there was an interview with a man who had 3 friends at his house for a birthday drink in his garden on the same day as the Boris Birthday Bash in London. Within an hour of his friends arriving, the police turned up and fined him for breaking the rules.

And a Labour MP, at the end of PMQ today reminded the House of the nurse, Karen Reissmann who was fined £10,000 (or in bank speak, ten thousand pounds) for breaking Covid regulations while organising a protest against the government's derisory 1 % pay award for NHS staff in April 2021. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, nerit etc, it is important to note the £10,000 in the nurse's case and the possible £60 fixed penalties the Met Police are looking at in terms of the Downing Street fiasco.

Another topic to get my attention in this morning's offering is the Russia/Ukraine issue. I suppose I can be accused of having a jaundiced view of the whole business but my scepticism meter has been steadily rising over the last few weeks in regard to this. So, Russia has 100,000 troops stationed along the border with Ukraine. So what? Those troops are within their own borders. Are we in the West now duty bound to tell Russia where she can or can not station their forces within their own country? And is Russia similarly duty bound to post their forces where the West tells them to? No, I don't think so either. We may all have our doubts and/or suspicions about Russia's intent here but there are ways and means to deal with this sort of argument. And those ways and means do not include the US trying to terrify the West into some sort of panic by claiming that Russia is planning a "False Flag" type of operation in the region with the intention of faking an attack on Russia by Ukrainian forces in order to provide an excuse for Russia to cross the border in retaliation. Well, perhaps we should listen to what the US has to say here. After all, there is no other nation to match the US with first hand experience of so-called False Flag wheezes. There is probably some enterprising so and so in the US selling tee shirts emblazoned with "False Flag? Been there, Done It, Got the tee shirt". I suppose it is fair to say that, given the level of expertise in the US of False Flag moves, we ought to pay attention to what they are saying. Of course, it goes without saying that the UK government are paying rapt attention to what they are being told by the US. After all, it's what they do. Pay attention to what they are told and to do as they are told too!
To go along with the theme; the Daily Wail has a piece by a reporter, Ian Birrell, pretending to show us how we all should be suffering involuntary bowel movements over events on the Russain/Ukrainian border. He has supported his written piece with a series of photographs, presumably to enhance the bowel loosening moves. Small snag though; every single photograph relating to Russian forces comes from within Russia. Best of all is the photograph of a Russian warship. Carrying the tag "Russian Battleship". The actual text accompanying the photo reads "The Baltic Sea's battleship is spotted leaving towards the Atlantic Ocean". Utter bollocks! Since when did the Baltic Sea possess a navy, let alone a battleship? Did they mean to say "Russia's Baltic Fleet"? Anyway, it makes no difference; the vessel shown is this one:

Tarantul Class corvette, Morshansk, Pennant 824.
Photographed at St Petersburg Navy day 2018
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C_%D0%92%D0%9C%D0%A4-2019_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%82_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3_(29).jpg

and at Moscow in 2019:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: %D0%93%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4_03.jpg

Read all about them here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantul-class_corvette
Note for those not familiar with warships, there is a bit of a difference between a corvette and a battleship. Google it and check it out.
(The Tarantul Class corvettes came about as a result of their predecessors, Osa Class, being found to be somewhat deficient when British Army Lynx helicopters sank the entire Iraqi fleet of 12 boats in the first Gulf War.)

Finally, returning to the Wail's front page, I see Boris Liar, Liar Your pants on Fire Johnson has attempted to scare the crap out of the Russians. Saying something like "Grr, Bah Humbug phwoar we could send combat troops to Eastern Europe..." What? Both of them? On a Ryanair flight perhaps?