Battered By The Barriers

There’s a newly opened kosher fish and chip shop in town. The new fish and chip shop is the first to open in half a century, and it has sparked excitement in the local Jewish Community.

There are three Orthodox synagogues within half a mile, but Marlow’s British Kitchen on Street Lane is delighting the 8,000 Jews in the area, with them no longer having to travel for kashrut versions of the traditional British dish.

It’s great because Jews will no longer need to go across the Pennines to Manchester in order to obtain kosher fish and chips, which will benefit both their community and the local economy.

Rabbi Anthony Gilbert looks extremely excited – He is the leader of the nearby Etz Chaim Synagogue. He definitely won’t have to travel far for fish and chips.

But the establishment, which opened in September right after Rosh Hashanah, benefits more than just the local Jewish community. It was started by business partners Jenade Yamin and Arabaab Munir, who are both Muslim and originate from Bradford. Because Marlows is 100% halal, it will draw both Muslims and Hindus, demonstrating that people can coexist peacefully and without hostility.

The idea for an interreligious chippy originated when Rabbi Gilbert, the rabbinical registrar of the Leeds Beth Din, observed the fish and chip shop under construction one morning while travelling to a bakery. Originally, the establishment was solely supposed to be halal.

That’s when Rabbi Gilbert first met Yamin and Munir, who he said were really warm, welcoming and respectful, and they informed him that they were opening a fish and chip shop using the old Yorkshire remedies, such as beef dripping, and he said that it was a pity because they hadn’t had a kosher fish and chip since about 1975.

Almost two weeks later, Rabbi Gilbert received a phone call from Yamin and Munir asking if they could arrange an initial meeting to discuss the feasibility of making it kosher. Rabbi Gilbert warned them it would be extremely costly and aggravating, but they seemed extremely enthusiastic.

Among the requirements of making the shop acceptable under both Jewish and Islamic dietary law is to have separate designated fryers – to ensure no cross-contamination, and to have plastic disposable cutlery and paper mats.

The kosher bakery directly behind the store will supply the flour, and all vegetable oil and seasonings will be halal and kosher.

Shared solutions will be utilised where applicable, such as adhering to classic white fish with fins and scales visible with no alcohol used during preparation, along with a full-time kosher supervisor (mashgiach), which is required on site when the shop is open, except for Friday, Shabbat, fast days and during Yom Tov.

Yamin and Munir are keen to ensure that everything is kept to a heightened standard. “When they see me now, it’s all ‘good morning rabbi, how are you, rabbi?’ and ‘is there anything we can improve on?” Rabbi Gilbert says.

The takeaway, which also features seating for diners, is proving to be a social hotspot, offering both the elderly and younger members of the community a place to gather with their families in the evenings. Rabbi Gilbert said, ‘That for some of the younger members of the community, this will be a new experience for them.’

Yamin, 31, and Munir, 30, originally debated the proposal for kosher facilities, uncertain if the undertaking would be a worthwhile investment.

Speaking to the JC, Yamin explains: “When it became clear that there was local interest in making it kosher, and we had this offer from Rabbi Gilbert to help make it happen, we said to ourselves, ‘You know what, let’s go for it’.

“And, honestly, it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”

He says the shop “has had such great feedback from the Jewish community, particularly. All the rabbis in the area have been so wonderful, especially Rabbi Gilbert.

“We’ve developed a real friendship with him and become so close to the point that I’m proud to say we’re on a first-name basis.”

Alongside Yamin’s hijab-wearing wife, the store employs a few local non-Orthodox Jewish guys as servers and Rabbi Gilbert’s son Ben as a fryer and kosher supervisor.

The Jewish community adores Yamin’s wife and tells him how wonderful she is when she helps out.

This fish and chip shop will turn into a miniature melting pot; in addition to providing jobs for young people in the area, it will boost the local economy. They should be extremely proud of what they have accomplished, and given what is happening in the Middle East, this will bring positivity closer to home and their local community. It’s also wonderful to see that they are coexisting peacefully.

Rabbi Gilbert adds that it’s the “best example I know of Muslims and Jewish people, Christians, all different faiths and none coming together organically, and all over good old-fashioned British fish and chips.”

Judi Dench, 90, Reveals She Can No Longer Go Out Alone

According to Judi Dench, her vision loss has progressed to the point where she requires a guide when she leaves her home.

The veteran actress, 90, first announced in 2012 that she was suffering from macular degeneration in her eyes, which can cause permanent and rapid central vision loss, and is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 50.

Judi has now shared a heartbreaking update on her condition, admitting on the new episode of Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast: ‘Somebody will always be with me. I have to now because I can’t see, and I will walk into something or fall over.

‘I’m always nervous before going to something.

‘I have no idea why… I’m not good at being on my own at all, nor would I be now.

‘And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight.’

During a 2021 event for the London-based Vision Foundation, Judi opened up about how she struggles to read scripts due to her rapidly fading vision.

She said: ‘You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult.

‘I’ve had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again.

‘So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won’t notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!’

Judi also told The Graham Norton Show about how she battles to memorise lines, as she used to rely on her photographic memory.

She added: ‘I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page.

‘I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now.’

It comes after Judi cast doubt over the future of her film career amid her battle with age-related macular degeneration of her eyes.

The veteran actress has not appeared on the big screen since 2022’s Allelujah, limiting her screen appearances in recent years to documentaries, where she has appeared as herself.

And in May, she admitted that she has no future projects in the pipeline while struggling with her ailing sight.

Asked if she has any plans for more acting jobs, Judi told a journalist at the Chelsea Flower show: ‘No, no, I can’t even see!’

But towards the end of 2022, she had refused to give up and insisted she wouldn’t be retiring anytime soon, despite admitting the condition was ‘bad’ even then.

She told Louis Theroux on his BBC show: ‘I don’t want to retire. I’m not doing much at the moment because I can’t see. It’s bad.

‘I have a photographic memory, so a person saying to me, ”This is your line…” I can do that.’

Around the same time, Judi revealed that while out for dinner with her partner, David Mills, he had to cut up her food for her as she couldn’t see it on her plate.

‘He cut it up and handed something to me on a fork, and that’s the way I ate it,’ she explained.

Sadly, old age really is a massacre, but at 90 years old, apart from failing eyesight, she looks absolutely fabulous and sounds fantastic, and still has all her faculties. Sadly, there will be no stage or film work, but I do love her interviews because they’re mesmerising to watch and listen to – she really is an incredible lady.

You lose your independence when you lose your vision, which can make you feel extremely vulnerable and dependent on someone else.

I honestly didn’t realise that Judy had turned 90 years old – I just envision her as this young, vibrant woman – there should have been a huge media extravaganza of her life’s work because she is one of the most amazing working Dames still alive, but somehow I don’t believe she would have wanted that much media attention.

Even her more sombre performances were captivating; she is fascinating, hilarious, and always makes me laugh.

Miranda Hart Reveals Details Of Wedding To Richard Fairs: ‘People Got So Emotional’

Miranda Hart delighted fans when she announced that she had got married in secret at 52.

But the Call The Midwife star gave no particulars about the wedding or her husband, later named as Richard Fairs, 60, a surveyor.

She has now disclosed that the Sound of Music classic Climb Every Mountain was sung by the guests during the wedding.

Speaking to Radio 3 show Private Passions, she said: ‘We sang it at our very small wedding. ‘Initially, it was, like, ‘Are we really going to do this? It’s such a naff idea.’

‘And the minute everyone started singing, people got so emotional and were really going for it with the beauty of the song.’

She added: ‘Now it just makes me cry, and makes me think of the happiest day of my life as well.’

Miranda admitted that before meeting Richard, she had ‘given up’ on the idea of ever tying the knot.

She said: ‘It makes me think of the recent joy of getting married, which I had sort of given up on the possibility of, and also the young me dreaming. I’ve always been a dreamer. It’s very emotional.’ 

MailOnline announced in October that Miranda and Richard had exchanged vows last July at a 1,000-year-old church in the scenic Hampshire village of Hambledon, attended only by a handful of family and close friends, all of whom were sworn to secrecy.

‘Miranda Hart did get married in St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church,’ the vicar of the 11th-century church, Reverend Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Quinn said. ‘But I am not going to discuss anything about it because Miranda has released everything she wants to be known about her marriage and her wedding in her book. And I am not going to go against her wishes.’

Recognised as one of the most stunning villages in the South Downs National Park, Hambledon has become the base of Miranda’s close-knit family.

Seven years ago, her mother, Diana and father, retired Royal Navy Commander David Hart Dyke, purchased a stunning mansion there. Later, her sister Alice, with whom she is very close, moved in next door.

Miranda shocked fans when she revealed that she had got married over the summer – after she started dating a mystery man who removed mould from her home in 2020. 

He was subsequently revealed to be a divorcee, Richard, after he was shown picking her up from the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October, 24 hours after she revealed his first name on The Graham Norton Show.

Miranda admitted she immediately ‘fell in love’ with Richard ‘there and then,’ just moments after they first met in real life.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast in December, she said: ‘The way we met was quite extraordinary. At the beginning of the book [her autobiography], I had this real longing not to be alone anymore, and I admitted that to myself.

‘It was quite a pain because when we long for what we want, it’s at a time where we don’t have it, so admitting that to yourself is a painful time. I was in my forties and single.

‘And then we met because part of my illness was that I was allergic to mould in my house. You couldn’t write it. I lost my house, I had to leave my house.’

She explained that Richard was the project manager coming to sort out the building works and remove the mould.

Miranda said: ‘I was out of the house and a friend was dealing with it all because I couldn’t be there, and we met on the final day of the works being done. I think I could say we fell in love there and then.’

She remained tight-lipped about her husband’s identity before it was announced, referring to him only as ‘The Boy’ or ‘The Mould Man’ in her new book, I Haven’t Been Completely Honest With You.

But she revealed that they got engaged in January during a trip to Kew Gardens in west London after admitting they had ‘fallen hopelessly in love with each other’.

Miranda hinted slightly at his appearance, describing her new husband as a ‘salt-and-pepper greying hair look on a fine-featured man’.

Admittedly, I enjoy Miranda Hart; she’s hilarious, and I’m delighted that she’s finally found true happiness, but on saying that, there have been some terrible comments made about her, and those who have made inappropriate comments about her should remember that she’s someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, and they all have feelings.

It just goes to show that you can find your better half at any time, it doesn’t matter how old you are.

Historic Windmill To Be Converted Into 12-Bed HMO

A plan to transform a historic Grade II listed windmill into a 12-bed HMO has caused concern.

The redbrick edifice in Preston was constructed in 1760 and is the last of its kind in the Lancashire town.

Since it ceased milling in the late 19th century, it has seen numerous other uses as an overflow prison, garage, piano workshop, World War Two-era cinema and a merchant’s storage warehouse.

However, the Cragg’s Row mill has been abandoned for decades now.

In January 2024, Preston City Council approved plans to convert the landmark, on Cragg’s Row, into a 10-bed house in multiple occupation (HMO) over seven floors.

But now property-firm Simca Investments has submitted new plans requesting 12 bedrooms, sparking worries that the move could see the historic location turned into another crowded rental block.

The property firm is calling for the demolition of an adjoining annexe and the construction of a three-floor extension. 

The Labour leader of Preston Council, Councillor Matthew Brown, said he’d welcome the windmill being brought back into use.

But he added: ‘I’d prefer to have no more HMOs within the ward. We’ve got an oversaturation – that’s the reality of it.

‘As a council, we’ve been looking at introducing a policy to ban any new HMOs, unless there is a very clear planning reason.’

Councillor Pav Akhtar, Labour, who also represents the Plungington ward where the windmill stands, said: ‘The building is an important part of Preston’s industrial heritage.

‘Understandably, there is local concern about its future use, the intensity of the proposed development, and the potential impact on the character of the area.

‘As one of the local ward councillors, my priority is ensuring that any development is appropriate for the community, respects the historic value of the site, and aligns with local planning policy.

‘Residents rightly expect developments in Plungington to contribute positively to the area rather than add to existing pressures around housing density, parking, and community cohesion.’

Previous developers put forward strategies to convert the listed building into holiday homes with 12 en-suite units spread across six floors.

If this project is allowed to go ahead, then the accommodation will likely be given to migrants, but how about spending our money on our citizens, such as veterans, many of whom have been on the front line?

That won’t happen, of course, because our politicians are signalling to the world just how good and woke they are by doing this, and why spoil all their attention because that’s all that they want so that they can get a vote.

Even though many women and children are being raped, killed, and mistreated, our government continues to provide housing for them in our towns. They genuinely don’t care that it’s so repulsive.

Tchéky Karyo Dies Aged 72

Celebrated actor Tchéky Karyo, who starred in the BBC hit drama The Missing and James Bond’s GoldenEye, has died aged 72.

Born in Istanbul but raised in Paris, Karyo acted in films for almost forty years before transitioning to television in his later years.

His wife, actress Valérie Keruzoré, and their children announced he had ‘succumbed to cancer this Friday, October 31’. 

Karyo starred as Dmitri Mishkin in GoldenEye (1995), but numerous Brits will remember his outstanding role as detective Julien Baptiste in The Missing.

The series, which was heralded at the time as ‘hauntingly brilliant television’, followed the search for a five-year-old British boy who disappeared during a family holiday in France.

He starred alongside James Nesbitt, Keeley Hawes, and David Morrissey in two series between 2014 and 2016, before the show’s success led to his own spin-off, Baptiste, in 2019. 

At the time, the beloved actor said about his reprisal: ‘I didn’t expect it, but it’s flattering. This has made me feel young again.’ 

Discussing the joy of playing Baptiste, he told Hello in 2021: ‘It’s fantastic…. It’s a fantastic adventure this, The Missing and Baptiste.’

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, told the publication: ‘We are so sad to learn of the passing of Tchéky Karyo. 

‘He was a truly brilliant and much-loved actor, and he will be fondly remembered by BBC viewers for his roles in The Missing, Baptiste and most recently Boat Story. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this time.’

Born in 1953, Karyo began in French cinema in the 1980s, earning some early awards and nominations. 

He was the hunter in Jean Jacques Annaud’s 1988 wilderness adventure ‘The Bear’. 

Then, in 1990, he got attention for his turn as the hard-nosed secret agent handling Anne Parillaud’s female assassin Nikita, in Besson’s hit film of the same name. 

He was gifted in several languages, including French, English, and Spanish.

It meant he was soon appearing in international productions, such as Ridley Scott’s historical epic ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’.

He performed regularly in cinema and television in France and abroad, appearing in films as varied as Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 whimsical comedy ‘Amelie’, to Brazilian director Walter Salles’ 1995 thriller ‘Foreign Land’.

Tcheky was also an acclaimed musician and songwriter.

He released an album, Ce lien qui nous unit (English translation, The Link That Binds Us) in 2006, and another titled Credo in 2013 to mark his 60th birthday.

His death comes just seven months after another The Missing star, Emile Dequenne, died aged 43 of a rare cancer.

The celebrated actress who costarred with Karyo died at a hospital outside of Paris in March.

She announced in October 2023 that she was suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma, a cancer of the adrenal gland.

By April 2024, Dequenne shared the uplifting news of her complete remission, expressing her decision to return to her career and to life as she knew it.

‘I was close to forgetting because I was leaving the hospital today after 13 days… What a tough battle,’ she wrote on social media.

But tragically, her health took a turn for the worse when she suffered a deterioration of her condition at the end of last year.

On December 1, she told French television show TF1 she was focusing on her health, and publicly acknowledged her deteriorating condition.

Death is such a horrible thing. In addition to being a great actor and a charming man, he was exceptionally talented in Baptiste. He had a real talent and was extremely charismatic on screen.

He was a great actor – so good that you felt he wasn’t acting at all – that you were watching a real-life situation evolving before your very eyes.

Remembrance Day Volunteers Are Abused By ‘Left-Wing Idiots’ As They Display Poppies And The Union Jack

Royal British Legion volunteers were abused by ‘left-wing idiots’ while putting up poppies and Union Jack flags in a seaside town.

Volunteers in Penarth, South Wales, were allegedly met with ‘abuse and threats’ as they put poppies and flags on a lamp post ahead of Remembrance Day.

An investigation has been launched by police after volunteers said they were ‘subjected to horrendous abuse by mindless left-wing idiots’.

It’s been claimed on social media that the volunteers were both Royal Navy veterans who are ‘immensely patriotic’ and have been decorating the town for Remembrance Sunday ‘for many years.’

Volunteer Karen Jones said: ‘In a small, friendly town, such as ours, you do not expect poppy appeal volunteers to get abuse when putting up memorial lamp post poppies and flags for the Remembrance period.

‘Our volunteers were approached this morning and met with abuse and threats to come back and take the poppies and flags down.

‘The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal is not political, it is to remember the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that people have “Free Speech”.

‘Please do not hesitate to report any person attempting to take down the flags and poppies to the police.’

Mother-of-two Karen went on to say the abuse had been reported to the police and that officers are now investigating.

Her husband Nick claimed volunteers had been ‘subjected to horrendous abuse by mindless left-wing idiots when putting up lamp post poppies’. 

He added: ‘What is this country coming to?’

Royal British Legion (RBL) volunteers work from a caravan in the town centre where they sell poppies and other commemorative items every autumn to raise money for the charity. 

The Victorian seaside town is often voted the best place to live in Wales, thanks to its coastal location on the Bristol Channel, independent shops, and proximity to Cardiff.

A police spokesperson said: ‘South Wales Police is currently investigating an alleged public order offence which took place on Windsor Road, Penarth, on Sunday, October 26.’ 

At any given moment, the RBL supports more than 7,000 members of the armed forces community with expert guidance and practical assistance.

This year’s appeal, which was launched last week, aspires to raise more than £50 million.

I agree with their efforts on behalf of our dead warriors, but what about those who are still alive and surviving on the streets in sleeping bags as a result of our government’s refusal to assist them?

It’s too late to salvage Britain; thus, it’s not just broken but doomed, but this is how these people display respect to our veterans, and these vile idiots should at least be heavily fined and made to publicly apologise to our living veterans and those that are no longer with us. I’ll definitely be sporting my poppy with respect and pride, and I hope that many others will do the same.

A Woman Raped And Tortured By 3 Afghan Men

A young woman was forced to get her tormentor’s name tattooed across her stomach after being abducted and used as a sex slave by an Afghan man and his three friends.

In 2023, the then 21-year-old was abducted, gagged and raped for several days by her ex-boyfriend, a 33-year-old Afghan man named locally as Jaser A.

Jaser reportedly met up with the victim on August 23 before holding a blade to her throat as his three friends appeared and ambushed her.

The four men then forced the young woman into a tattoo parlour, where she claims she was made to have her ex-boyfriend’s nickname – Elyas – tattooed on her stomach in big, cursive lettering.

Speaking in a Hamburg court on Wednesday, the nurse said she had tried several times to have the ink lasered off. ‘But it’s very deep, they also made it very dark, it can’t be removed. It’s practically a stamp to demonstrate where I belong,’ she said.

She was seen lifting her jumper to show off the enormous tattoo that spans her entire tummy in the courthouse hallway.

After getting the tattoo, the victim said she was taken back to her apartment, where she was abused and raped continuously by Jaser.

‘He repeatedly hit, bit, and kicked me, and filmed me, gagged and half-naked,’ she informed the court.

The ordeal lasted seven days, until a SWAT team stormed her apartment and saved her from her captors. ‘I was lucky enough to get my phone back and contact my parents,’ she said.

‘I want to put everything behind me. Hopefully, time will bring some healing. Life must go on.’

In 2024, Jaser was sentenced to nine years behind bars plus preventive detention for rape, assault, deprivation of liberty, coercion and threats by the Hamburg Regional Court.

The presiding judge of the Hamburg Regional Court said at the time: ‘You treated the woman like a piece of cattle on a Texas ranch. That is simply inhumane!’ 

Jaser had a prior criminal record and had previously served time for other violent offences, according to a Blick report. 

Addressing the victim, the judge concluded the proceedings: ‘She is a strong personality. She dared to report the defendant. Had she been weak, she would have been broken by the act. Thankfully, she is not.’ 

The victim is set to return to court at the start of December, where the next hearing in the tattoo case is scheduled. 

Due to illness, the defendant was unable to appear in court on Wednesday.

This sort of behaviour from migrants is non-stop, and so many go unreported, but our governments continue to offer them shelter. Why, please tell me why?

Their customs and religion are not compatible with Western values, and we need to deport them now!

Our politicians have let us down to unprecedented levels, and they should be jailed for their disloyalty. Of course, these migrants want to come to our countries because their country is the pits and dangerous, and they will do the same to ours.

What have our governments done to their countries, and the UK has become an island full of unwanted foreign criminals.

And the triple stabbing in Uxbridge, London, in broad daylight should have been headline news, but it wasn’t because, sadly, now, this sort of thing is commonplace.

Our government in the UK has turned our country into a criminal free-for-all.

This man only got 9 years, and he mutilated her body as a trophy, and he is a despicable human being, and it appears that our governments are at war with us, and they are using the invaders to terrorise us.

Bus Buggy Row

A disabled woman was unable to board a bus after irate mothers with pushchairs refused to give up their space.

Because I use a wheelchair, I frequently experience this issue. I am quite fortunate most of the time; in fact, one woman with a stroller actually got off the bus so I could board, but that isn’t always the case.

A mother once attempted to enter the bus while I was on it. The driver told her that she couldn’t, and she stood at the door, cursing at me and saying that I didn’t appear to be disabled. Duh – wheelchair user onboard.

Some mothers with buggies are quite impolite and think they have a divinely granted right to be there.

I don’t mind so much if it’s a nice sunny day and I’m not in a hurry, then I’m content to wait my turn, but some are in a rush to get to hospital appointments, and if they miss them, they will then have to wait months to get another appointment, and this is precisely what happened to this lady.

Maria Whitefield had been travelling to a hospital appointment on October 17 but found herself in a 20-minute standoff with two passengers.

The audibly distraught 38-year-old tried to embark on the 432 Arriva bus, but she was late for her appointment after being forced to wait almost 20 minutes for the next one.

In footage of the tense encounter, Ms Whitefield can be heard saying ‘wheelchairs are a priority’ – however, her pleas fall on deaf ears.

One mother snaps back, ‘he’s a priority too’ and refuses to budge, prompting the vulnerable wheelchair-user to say, ‘these people are being selfish and will not fold up their buggies’.

She points out that it is ‘not a newborn baby’ in the pushchairs. 

Ms Whitefield said other passengers acknowledged she had priority but asked her to get off as she was seemingly holding up the bus.

By law, wheelchair users have first access to the area, as it is the only place in which they can travel safely.

TfL (Transport for London) has since apologised to Ms Whitefield and reiterated that wheelchair users have first access to the priority area.

The problem is, people who are not disabled don’t appear to comprehend that one day they could be in the same position as this lady, and believe me, it’s not very nice. Not only is it frustrating for the wheelchair user, but it’s also extremely demeaning that another human being should find them problematic.

No one seems to want to assist you. You suddenly become invisible, as if you don’t belong in society, or people just look you up and down like you’re some kind of pariah. It’s like they’ve never seen a wheelchair before or a disabled person before – I’m not intimidated by them, I just feel sorry for them.

The bus driver should have intervened and asked the woman to fold up her buggy or asked her to leave the bus and get the next one, then she might have known what it was like to be late for an appointment.

Christ and our government want us disabled people to go back to work. Can you envision being late for work with all these buggies?

If I had been an able-bodied passenger, I would have pushed the prams out of the way and helped her, but the problem is our younger generation seems so entitled.

In my day, if you had a double buggy, you couldn’t even board a bus, but now we have entitled parents who believe that if they have a child, they’re entitled to be first, have the best, have the most and that everyone else is second class compared to them. Move over, love, be compassionate, and more importantly, just be courteous.

THE NATURE OF THE CAGE THAT WE LIVE IN

Hannah Arendt cautioned us seventy years ago that the greatest threat was not persuading people to believe the lies, but rather making them completely give up on the truth.

Hannah was a German-born political philosopher who fled Nazi Germany and spent her entire life trying to understand how civilised societies could descend into totalitarian darkness.

She made the point that these systems succeed by impairing people’s capacity for rational thought rather than by persuading them of an ideology.

She actually summed it up perfectly. She said that the ideal matter of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, and the distinction between true and false, no longer exists.

The goal my friends is not the belief, but the confusion.

The idea is to make people so overwhelmed by conflicting information and endless lies that, ultimately, people just give up trying to figure out what’s actually true because when truth and lies muddy together, right and wrong start to blur too, and once this occurs, people are easy to control.

This is not because they’ve been convinced, but because they stop thinking for themselves, and totalitarian education isn’t about teaching people what to believe, it’s about eliminating their ability to believe in anything at all.

People will cease resisting when they stop caring, trusting, and asking questions. As the world around them turns darker, they simply drift along, numb and distant.

Lies corrode society within, and persistent lying doesn’t just spread misinformation; it eats away at the very idea of truth itself.

When every fact is treated as debatable. When everything becomes just someone’s opinion, then truth loses its power, and when truth has no power, neither does justice or morality.

As Nazi Germany unfolded, the lies became so constant and overwhelming that people simply stopped caring about what was true, and that space made for unimaginable atrocities.

I am not assigning blame, but this is a warning because this can happen anywhere and to any society when people give up on truth.

Violence isn’t usually the first step. It begins with bewilderment, scepticism, and mental tiredness, and we are lost as soon as we cease to critically analyse, even about our own beliefs.

However, totalitarianism doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It begins quietly, in the erosion of truth and the rise of apathy. It flourishes when people just shrug and say, ‘You can’t trust anyone,’ or ‘who even knows the truth anymore.’

We must safeguard our capacity for thought. We must demand proof. We must continue to be curious. When the truth ceases to matter, all else collapses; therefore, don’t let the lies, uncertainty, or exhaustion drive you to lose interest in what is true.

Hurricane Melissa, With CROCODILES

Following Hurricane Melissa, thousands of British visitors are still stuck in Jamaica amid concerns that crocodiles could be swimming in flooded streets.

As many as 8,000 British citizens are on the Caribbean island, which last night was struck by one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in history that left ‘catastrophic winds’ and ‘flash flooding’ in its path. 

Melissa tore through parts of Jamaica with winds of up to 185mph and torrential rain. Heavy floodwaters swept across the region as wind ripped roofs off buildings and boulders plunged into roads, with landslides, fallen trees and multiple power outages reported.

But in the capital, Kingston, officials warned those in the surrounding area to watch out for crocodiles that may be displaced from their natural river habitat due to severe flooding.

In a post on X, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned that it is an ‘extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation’ and that ‘catastrophic winds, flash flooding and storm surge’ were ongoing in the country. 

Mike Brennan, director of the NHC, told BBC News that heavy rainfall and damaging winds will continue to affect the majority of the island overnight on Tuesday and that an additional six to 12 inches of rain was possible.

He added that even after the storm passed over the island, the ‘flooding risk, and just the post-storm environment in Jamaica, is going to be extremely dangerous with widespread trees and power lines down, significant structural damage’ and that it will remain a dangerous environment, particularly in the west and in the mountains, ‘for days, if not weeks to come’.

The Jamaican government previously ordered evacuations from high-risk places, and all the country’s airports are closed, while the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) urged British nationals in Jamaica to register their presence through the Government website to obtain updates from the FCDO on the hurricane.

Speaking in the Commons, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘The FCDO stands ready to help British nationals 24/7.

‘We have set up a crisis centre in the Foreign Office, including with support from the (Ministry of Defence), and also we are positioning specialist rapid deployment teams to provide consular assistance to British nationals in the region.

‘Any British nationals who are there should follow our travel advice and the advice of the Jamaican authorities.

‘There are 50,000 dual nationals who live in Jamaica, up to 8,000 British citizens who may be travelling there or may be on holiday there.’

The NHC said those on the island should remain in their shelter overnight and advised that an interior room without windows, where falling trees can also be avoided, was the safest place within a building.

A British man who cut his holiday in Jamaica short and paid £3,500 for last-minute flights home for his family before the airports shut said he felt ‘completely let down’ by the UK Government’s response to the hurricane.

David Rowe, who is from Hertfordshire and spent ten days in Jamaica before flying home on Saturday because of the storm, said of the FCDO’s response: ‘The advice should have been last week, like on the Saturday – don’t travel – because a lot of the travel companies use the FCDO guidance on travel (for) all their planning and what decisions they make as an organisation.’

The IT manager, 47, continued: ‘There should have been something done much sooner than this and a lot of the UK nationals and people on holiday there are stranded.

‘This could have been prevented with better action from the UK Government.’

Kyle Holmes, who is from Bolton and visiting Jamaica for a wedding with his wife and three daughters, told BBC Manchester that his hotel in the town of Lucea now looks like a ‘disaster zone’.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Holmes told the BBC his family are now safe after the ‘worst experience ever’ and barricading the windows of the family’s room with furniture.

According to reports, seven individuals have already died across the Caribbean, including one in the Dominican Republic, three in Jamaica, and three in Haiti.

Briton Shantell Nova Rochester and her Jamaican fiancé Denva Wray told Sky News they were ‘as safe as they can possibly be’ in St Elizabeth.

Mr Wray said: ‘Where we are is quite strong, sturdy, but you can hear a lot of wind. It is a bit scary, but we’ve got each other, so we are strong.’

Web outage monitoring service Netblocks posted on X that connectivity dropped to just 30 per cent of normal levels due to the storm.

The NHC downgraded the storm to a Category 3 just before 6 am UK time on Wednesday, warning it was expected to make landfall in Cuba ‘soon’ as an ‘extremely dangerous major hurricane’.

It had earlier warned that some mountainous regions of Jamaica were predicted to receive up to 30 inches of rain.

In an X post early on Wednesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez stated that more than 735,000 people across the country had been evacuated.

The Jamaican government stated that it had done all it could to prepare and warned of potentially devastating damage from the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began 174 years ago.

Jamaican-born Ambrosine Townsend, who lives in Kent, said she was waiting for news of family and friends.

‘I’m very confident she’s well prepared,’ Ms Townsend told the BBC about her sister, having endeavoured to persuade her to stay with friends further down the coast.

‘Even though I trust her, I tried to persuade her. Because I know that things can change. But she was adamant that she would be OK.’

Travel company Tui urged its customers to follow the advice of local authorities, while UK travel trade organisation Abta warned British tourists in Jamaica to do the same, as well as to monitor local news and follow advice from their accommodation and travel providers.

On Tuesday night, Ms Cooper urged British nationals to register their presence in Jamaica so consular support could be provided.

‘We stand ready to support Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa hits the island,’ she said in a post on X.

An FCDO spokesperson said: ‘We understand how worrying developments in Jamaica are for British nationals and their families.

‘Our travel advice includes information about hurricane season, which runs from June to November. Last Thursday, we updated our travel advice for Jamaica to include a warning about Tropical Storm Melissa and that it was expected to intensify over the coming days.

‘The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority, and that is why we are urging any British nationals in Jamaica to follow the guidance of the local authorities.’

The storm is heading towards Cuba, where it is anticipated to make landfall as a major hurricane early on Wednesday.

To be honest, I think that local Jamaicans who have now lost their homes and jobs are the ones to worry about, but a note to those who want to holiday in Jamaica, don’t go during hurricane season.

It’s shocking and frightening what’s happened in Jamaica, and I do feel extremely sad for the people who live there, but nobody ever mentions the wildlife that would have been destroyed in the floods, and food is going to be extremely scarce now.

I do fear for the Jamaican people who would have lost their homes, livelihoods and possessions. The tourists will soon be flown back home, but the people of Jamaica will have to cope with the aftermath for an extremely long time to come.

It actually doesn’t pay to holiday abroad – too much can go wrong, and what’s wrong with holidaying in the UK? We have some beautiful places that people can visit – it saves on costly flights, plus destroying the ozone layer.

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