(1823) Evening all, just got back, quite a day, hope you’re all alive and kicking.
16. Yes
15. Two horses’ backsides
14. How true is this?
13. Steve
More on Winston and his decision to go with the new Queen Elizabeth-class battleship:
Warspite: When she was launched in 1913, the use of oil as fuel and untried 15-inch guns were revolutionary concepts in the naval arms race between Britain and Germany, a considerable risk for Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jackie Fisher, who had advocated the design. However, the new “fast battleships” proved to be an outstanding success during the First World War – Wiki
Curious and strange set of mini-films at elevenses, see review. See y’all after 1600 today, hopefully.
“Eamonn Andrews is the link man for two tales of supernatural suspense and one murder mystery.
In the first segment, titled In The Picture, an art gallery guide is lured into a macabre house painting by the artist and finds himself at the mercy of the residents who dwell there.
In the second segment, titled You Killed Elizabeth, two friends fall in love with the same woman and when she is murdered it’s obvious one of them did it. But which one?
The final segment, titled Lord Mountdrago, The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ruins the career of an opponent in Parliament and finds the man appearing in his dreams enacting retribution.
As is always the case with anthologies, the quality of stories is mixed, with here the middle section being the one that is pretty standard fare. No such problem with the other two stories though.
The first one is very creepy, even bordering on the terrifying as the tale reaches its conclusion. Once the story reaches the insides of the house in the painting, we are treated to a trio of odd characters living in a house that instantly conjures up images of horror. Ramshackle and creaky, director Wendy Toye further enhances the discord by using canted angles and personalised framing. An excellent story. Starring Hugh Pryse, Alan Badel and Eddie Byrne.
The third tale is considerably boosted by Orson Welles giving bluster to the story written by W. Somerset Maugham. Not without genuine moments of humour, it never reaches scary heights but always it feels off-kilter, the revenge dream attack angle devilish and the production has good quality about it. Very good. Alan Badel co-stars and although the three stories are not related, he is the constant actor in all three. Grand old British trilogy.”
(0025) Awoke early to a Paul Temple still running. Strange posting by me as I’m leaving it unredacted and going back to sleep. Hopefully. Continue at first light. (0602) Well, before first light. (0635)
5. Housekeeping … today’s cunning plan
I have a double whammy today … medical thingy which takes me out most of the day from around 1100, plus having to get myself ready for that before. I’ll do what posting I can before 0945, mainly sshots already prepared … any incoming after that will have to be looked at after about 1600. Have a good one, readers.
4. “Family voting”
Sam Coates of Sky:
“The Electoral Commission give Democracy Volunteers access to polling stations at election time. Only they and the police can go inside. They’ve just issued this report about “family voting” in Gorton and Denton:
Democracy Volunteers deployed four accredited election observers across the Gorton and Denton Westminster Parliamentary By-election today. The team attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency, spending between 30 and 45 minutes in each. The observers worked in pairs using the international standard for election observation – the four eyes principle.
Each team assessed several aspects of the polling process, from accessibility to issues around the integrity of the vote. Staff were welcoming to the team and we would like to thank them for their time in accommodating our work.
The team assessed two significant aspects of electoral integrity – family voting (where two voters either confer, collude or direct each other on voting) which breaches the secret ballot. The team also assessed the impact of the requirement for voters to show ID before they are issued with a ballot paper.
2023 saw the enactment of the Ballot Secrecy Act, which made the practice of family voting more clearly a breach of the secret ballot, making it more enforceable by staff in polling stations. Signage is now available to discourage the practice. Signage was only seen in 45% of the polling stations observed. The observer team saw family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed, some 32 cases in total, nine cases in one polling station alone.
The team observed a sample of 545 voters casting their votes – meaning 12% of those voters observed either caused or were affected by family voting.
Commenting John Ault, Director of Democracy Volunteers said; ‘Today we have seen concerningly high levels of family voting in Gorton and Denton. Based on our assessment of today’s observations, we have seen the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10 year history of observing elections in the UK.’
‘We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent by-elections, is extremely high.’
‘In the other recent Westminster parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby we saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters. In Gorton and Denton, we observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed.’
The team also observed cases of voters being turned away, however, in each case this was due to them not being a registered voter for Westminster elections, such as having EU citizenship, and only being allowed to vote in local elections.
The team also saw a number of voters taking photographs of their ballot papers and one voter being authorised to vote despite them already having been marked as voted earlier in the day.
Democracy Volunteers has informed elections staff at Manchester City Council about our findings today.
3. Steve at 1306
Wayne Root: This Week’s State of Union was About God vs. Satan. God Directed Trump to Enrage and Expose Democrats as Godless, Communist, Satanic, Traitors and Enemies of America From Within
Nancy Mace Moves to Force House Vote to Release Shocking Sexual Misconduct and Harassment Reports Involving Members of Congress and their Staff
Trilateral talks. Selling Iran war to US voters. Orban deploys troops to border. Cuba seizes boat
Russia Shortens Intervals Between Massive Strikes
NED leader cut off in Congress after boasting of ‘deploying’ 200 Starlinks to Iran amid violence
Israel FOIA data shows over a 500X increase in rate of heart attacks in teens on the day of their COVID shot. So they deleted the records. No one in government calls for an investigation
France Enters the Era of Medical Death for All
ICO fines Reddit over £14 million for not implementing the UK’s age verification rules
a) Last week, X launched a landmark legal challenge against the €120 million fine it received in December under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a European censorship law.
b) Has Melenchon never heard of the expression, “When you are in a hole; stop digging”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon calls Quentin a “fascist” and a “neo-Nazi”: “At 23, he was an adult.”
c) McDonald’s has launched a new outdoor advertising campaign in Germany, in which digital billboards synchronize with the sun to reveal food products only after nightfall during Ramadan.
d) The UK Police don’t want you to know about this facial recognition trial.
The imperatives sought by war: how do you make a winning strategy, in this case drone warfare, cheaper and at the same time more effective than before? A good place to start is the materials you’re using to manufacture something that is only used once. The Russians got there first, any guesses?
Video is accessible from comments, won’t open here.
16. IYE corner
a. Iran is smarter than you think:
Video is up at 1306.
“….He also addresses the single most important data point in the story: the gap between what Trump publicly demands and what American negotiators are actually asking for at the table in Geneva — and what that reveals about the 50-year formula that has always governed the Iran-US relationship…..”
“Stewart Granger looks for “The Whole Truth” in this 1958 film also starring Donna Reed, George Sanders, and Gianna Maria Canale. The exotic Canale plays the star of producer Granger’s film. He once had an affair with her when his wife (Reed) briefly left him. It’s over, but she wants to start it up again.
At man (Sanders) visits Granger posing as a Scotland Yard detective and informs him that his star is dead. Except she’s not – she shows up at a party at Sanders’ house. He drives her home, leaves the car, and when he returns to it, she is indeed dead. Granger must then prove that he was framed.
This film is a little disjointed. It has some neat twists and is told with some humor, but somehow, it doesn’t hang together. Reed, normally quite good, isn’t much of a presence. The rest of the acting is better. Granger is very believable as a producer, and we’ve seen George Sanders do elegant sinister many times. I actually enjoyed Canale the most. She kind of reminded me of Gina Lollabrigida.”
(1029) Did I say morning all? Right … though today’s frenetic, that’s nothing to tomorrow, when I take on the NHS, or rather get drawn into its innards. I’d like to get all I plan to blog on done by about 0930/45, after which I’m out of it till maybe 1600. Juss sayin’ like. (1043)
