Grooming Gangs: Elon Musk Ramps Up Attacks

Elon Musk has ramped up attacks on Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government as tension continues to build around calls for an inquiry into the Prime Minister’s handling of grooming gang cases during his time serving as the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The string of social media posts by the X owner criticising the PM came as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch demanded a public inquiry into Britain’s ‘rape gangs scandal’ after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips was accused of obstructing an investigation.

Ms Badenoch said an inquiry into organised grooming gangs was ‘long overdue’.

Musk, owner of X, formerly Twitter, had singled out Ms Phillips over the problem – and shared more anti-Labour government posts on Thursday night, including describing as ‘good’ the resignation from the party of 20 Labour councillors in Hertfordshire.

Musk lashed out at the minister’s refusal of Oldham Council’s request to launch a Home Office-led public inquiry into child sex exploitation there – launched a rant of tweets, including sharing mocking memes of the PM and saying: ‘Britain needs Reform now’.

It came hours after he shared his support for far-right troublemaker Tommy Robinson who is presently locked up, condemned to 18 months in jail in October after admitting 10 breaches of a High Court injunction banning him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee.

Musk wrote that Ms Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’ after she denied requests from Oldham Council to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the town.

The Minister said it was for the council to hold an inquiry, rather than for government to intervene. Telford and Rotherham councils commissioned and funded their own inquiries into grooming gangs in their areas.

The X owner used the platform to allege that the Prime Minister allowed rape gangs to ‘exploit young girls without facing justice’ when he was England and Wales’ top prosecutor.

He also alleged that Ms Phillips was refusing to investigate the gangs because it would lead back to the PM’s time as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.

Musk wrote on X: ‘In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects.

‘Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013.’

He has encountered objection from numerous X users for allegedly ‘interfering’ in British politics and justice. Still, last night posted the words ‘The perfect question’ while sharing someone else’s message asking: ‘Why are some people more outraged by @elonmusk commenting on the state of the UK than they are by the mass rape of a quarter of a million British children?’ 

The Conservatives brought in millions of migrants over fourteen long years, despite their promises to safeguard our borders. No surprise there is a shortage of houses, and Keir Starmer is the most dangerous Prime Minister ever.

Elon Musk has completely destroyed Sir Keir Starmer’s credibility as a leader and made him appear much more pitiful than we already know him to be.

While our government despises, disparages, and deceives the indigenous people of our nation, it supports, promotes, and applauds the indigenous people of other nations.

It appears that not one of our politicians is fit to hold office. You could replace them with a plant pot and the country would still be better off!

Our vote has no value at all, but many of us hope that it does, and hope is all that we have got. One day there might be someone intelligent that is elected Prime Minister that might be lucid enough to do the job that they have been elected to do properly.

On Strike Day, A 55-Year-Old Woman Dies From Weight-Loss Surgery

A coroner’s court has heard that a lady passed away following problems during her weight-loss operation on the first day of a junior doctors’ strike.

Susan Evans, 55, returned to Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Portsmouth just two days after she underwent gastric bypass surgery – suffering from stomach pains.

The hospital has recently come under fire from a coroner who discovered that Ms Evans was not visited by a senior physician and that there was no dedicated weight-loss nurse on duty.

By the time Ms Evans returned, after first being discharged, she was ‘extremely unwell’ and her condition persisted to decline until she died the following month.

Now, an inquest into her demise has heard of several ‘failures’ by Portsmouth Hospital NHS Trust which ‘contributed more than minimally to her death’.

Coroner Sally Olsen said Ms Evans underwent elective Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery on July 11 last year, which was the first day of industrial action by junior doctors.

The surgical procedure helps with weight loss by reducing the size of the stomach and rerouting the small intestine.

An inquest heard that the surgery ‘went to plan’ and steps were taken to avoid the possibility of an ‘anastomotic leak’, a recognised complication of gastric bypass surgery.

It was said that Ms Evans initially ‘recovered well’ but experienced stomach pain in the early hours of July 13, which was the first day of a junior doctors’ strike.

Ms Olsen, assistant coroner of Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, added: ‘Unrelated to this, the hospital only had the equivalent of one full-time specialist bariatric nurse, who was not on duty.

‘Contrary to Queen Alexandra Hospital’s written policy for gastric bypass patients, Ms Evans was not seen by a member of the specialist bariatric team on [that day] and was not seen by a senior doctor after reporting pain in order to rule out the possibility of an anastomotic leak.’

It was heard that the night nursing team, who administered pain relief, were ‘unaware’ of the latter requirement.

Ms Evans was also not seen by a member of the bariatric team – a group of medical professionals who work together to treat patients with obesity – before her discharge.

The patient left the Portsmouth hospital ‘in a degree of pain’ and was readmitted two days later.

By this time, she was ‘extremely unwell’ with sepsis and had to undergo corrective surgery on July 15 before a further operation some ten days later.

The coroner said: ‘Despite appropriate medical care following her re-admission, her condition deteriorated, and she died at Queen Alexandra Hospital on 12 August 2023.

This preventable fatality was the result of self-centred doctors who were on a political mission to overthrow the government and neglected their patients.

Doctors shouldn’t be given a continued employment contract if they strike. They are among the best-paid graduates in the UK and they whinge like their mother is still milking them.

Although their income is quite substantial and they have access to a very generous NHS pension, they nevertheless feel that their pay is inadequate, and I question why the hospital released the lady so quickly. Typically, you are in the hospital for a while at least because you have to have a scan to check that all looks well, like no leakage, and then you are allowed something soft to eat like a yoghurt.

You have to re-learn how to eat after surgery because you just can’t go back to everyday meals. It’s like being a baby all over again, having soft mushy meals to begin with. There was something extremely wrong going on here.

Earthquake Shakes San Francisco

Northern California residents started the new year with a rumble, as a 4.7-magnitude earthquake hit the region Wednesday night.

The earthquake came at about 6.34 pm Pacific time, with an epicentre approximately 70 miles north of San Francisco, the United States Geological Survey said.

It struck a depth of just over one mile beneath the Earth’s surface and was felt across the Sacramento Valley, according to the Merced Sun-Star.

Residents reported feeling the earth tremor underfoot, but no injuries were reported.

‘I did feel it actually,’ one X user wrote. ‘It was a rolling earthquake, lasted a few seconds.

‘Usually, the earthquakes around here are jolts, not rolling, so it was kind of cool to feel the floor roll under my feet.’

Another X user added that it was ‘pretty intense for a 4.7.

‘It was a shallow earthquake too, so that makes [it[ feel stronger, but [is] usually more locally felt.’

The USGS considers earthquakes in the magnitude spectrum of 4.0 to 4.0 light to moderate, though their effects can differ based on depth, proximity to cities and local geology.

But the northern California region is used to earthquakes and has built up its infrastructure to withstand heavy earthquakes, so a mild one like this is unlikely to cause any significant damage.

It comes less than a month after a huge 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Mendocino County, triggering a tsunami warning.

Four days after that, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck a remote region of the Nevada desert and was widely felt across Sacramento. 

But a lot of individuals said it was fake news and they didn’t feel anything.

King’s Honour Makes Sadiq Khan’s Children Think He Sold Out

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said his children believe he has ‘sold out’ by accepting a Knighthood and becoming ‘part of the establishment’.

Sir Sadiq was awarded the gong in the New Year Honours list – but has come in for serious criticism from his political adversaries as a consequence.

And it appears like the backlash also extends to Khan’s own daughters Anisah and Ammarah, as well as some of his nieces and nephews. 

The three-term mayor said it was ‘a huge honour’ to receive the title but has joked his nomination received a mixed reaction.

While Sir Sadiq said his mum is ‘chuffed to bits’ at his knighting, the 54-year-old said his two children have accused him of becoming ‘part of the establishment’.

Speaking on the Comfort Eating podcast, he said: ‘I’m not going to pretend it’s not lovely; it’s a huge honour. My mum is chuffed to bits (but) my kids think it’s a joke.

‘They think I’ve sold out – that I’m part of the establishment – all that sort of stuff. My nephews and nieces think I’m elite.’

But the Tooting-born politician has encountered real criticism from fellow politicians with Conservatives branding his inclusion on the Honours List a ‘reward for failure’. 

Following the announcement of Khan’s knighthood, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the nomination showed ‘once again that for Labour it is Party first, country second’.

He said: ‘Under Sadiq Khan, Londoners have faced a 61 percent increase in knife crime, a housing crisis and a 70 percent increase in council tax – they will rightly be furious his track record of failure is being rewarded.

‘By rewarding the failing Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer has shown once again that for Labour it is Party first, country second.’

Meanwhile, Bob Blackman, the Tory MP for Harrow East and chairman of the 1922 Committee, said: ‘This is an absolute reward for failure.

‘He is a disaster in London. If you look at every single target he’s set himself – on housing, on crime – he’s missed them every time. He is a total failure, which is clearly a position he has in common with the Government.’

Earlier this month, suggestions that Sir Sadiq was set for a knighthood prompted a Change.org petition saying it should be blocked.

Tory London councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman started the petition, which drew more than 200,000 signatures.

He told the Mail: ‘To see Sadiq Khan be given a knighthood is a kick in the teeth for millions of Londoners.

‘He refuses to take responsibility for his failures and shows no remorse or accountability.

‘His track record of failure makes his knighthood even more confusing: crime is up, police in special measures, fire brigade in special measures, his share of council tax is up, the number of days of strikes is up, robberies are up… He’s a nightmare, not a knighted Mayor.’

This knighthood was so less deserved. This is an honoured failure!

The Mayor also said publicly that he didn’t feel safe in London – a metropolis where he is the Mayor, and which has seen a 50 percent increase in knife offences. This is a knighthood for failure, and it’s utterly despicable.

I am also certain that some British people also believe we’ve been ‘sold out’. This knighthood should never have been authorised, and if this gentleman had any integrity at all he should have refused it because I can’t think of one positive thing he’s done for London.

The only words this man does know are tax, congestion charges and ULEZ.

Council Plans ‘Cruel’ Tourist Tax

A council has been criticised for cruel plans to introduce a ‘tourist tax’ that could see expectant mothers charged when they have to journey to hospital from remote areas to give birth.

Patients in northern Scotland must travel hundreds of miles for hospital care.

Pregnant mothers living in Caithness, where local services have been drastically trimmed, have to travel to Inverness to give birth at Raigmore Hospital – more than 100 miles from the main Caithness towns of Wick and Thurso.

They will also be affected by the Highland Council’s proposal to introduce a levy on overnight visitors from autumn next year. 

The hope is that the plan will raise £10 million a year for the local authority, but health campaigners say it is common for heavily pregnant women to travel 100 miles south in the days leading up to their due date.

Hotel stays prior to hospital appointments will incur additional costs.

However, cruise ship passengers and those exploring the Highlands in motorhomes will be exempt.

The Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) has sent a report on the breach of their right to healthcare to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in Geneva.

Iain Gregory, of the Caithness Health Action Team, told The Telegraph it is an ‘incredible lack of humanity’ for pregnant mothers to face such a levy.

He said: ‘A woman who is forced to undergo this journey, and who wishes to stay in a hotel or B&B for a day or so before her confinement, will be taxed along with her unborn baby.

‘It will also apply to the thousands of other Caithness residents who require to travel south for medical treatment.’

The move comes after a report by the Scottish Human Rights Commission discovered that mothers in Caithness and Sutherland felt ‘unsafe’ and ‘terrified’ about going to Raigmore to have their babies.

CHAT says that other patients from Caithness are also denied their rights to ‘accessible and adequate facilities’.

Its proposal states that access to the NHS for people living in Caithness ‘has been substantially curtailed over recent years with maternity care suffering particularly badly’.

It adds: ‘Citizens face disenfranchisement, and are unable to enjoy their basic human rights in relation to medical care.’

The consultant-led maternity unit at Caithness General Hospital was downgraded in 2016 to a midwife-led facility and the vast preponderance of local women now give birth in Inverness.

CHAT vice-chairman Mr Gregory said: ‘CHAT has been convinced for some time that the present situation facing mums-to-be, and indeed many other patients who are required to undergo the 200-mile-plus round trip to Raigmore, at all times of the day and night, sometimes in seriously dangerous weather conditions, and often in pain and distress, simply had to amount to a breach of their human rights.’

The campaigners hope the CESCR will respond to its report and put pressure on the Scottish Government and NHS Highland to improve local services.

The changes it wants include having Caithness’ midwife maternity unit led by a consultant to allow more women to give birth there.

It is anticipated that the UN will take up the issue in the upcoming year.

The CESCR is a UN body that monitors how countries enforce human rights such as the right to the best standard of health.

Governments who are signed up to it, including those in the UK, are supposed to follow any recommendations it makes.

Mr Gregory added: ‘CHAT has been campaigning for many years now, yet we still await action.

‘We hope now that we may, at last, ensure that our case is recognised and upheld and that the state, who are ultimately responsible, will be called upon to act.’

A spokesman for NHS Highland said: ‘We appreciate the unique challenges that are faced by people in remote, rural and island areas and in providing safe and effective services as close to home as possible.

‘There are regular consultant clinics in Caithness and we have successfully increased the midwifery team there.

‘We are currently looking at developing some specialist nursing roles for Caithness to add resilience to the service.’

I can see why foreign tourists should be required to pay, but they should also get insurance to cover any medical expenses they may incur while travelling, but locals should not be required to do so!

Nobody from abroad should be allowed free treatment on the NHS, regardless of who they are and where they come from. That’s why it’s called insurance, not an assurance that they will get everything for free.

Yet thousands arrive on our shores and we give them free treatment, among other things.

Very few things in this life are free, and generally when it is offered for free, usually someone else is paying for it – in this case the taxpayer!

Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table at which he’s fed. 
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his fuel, Find other ways to tax his (censored).

Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the soil in which he lays
Put these words Upon his tomb, ‘Taxes drove me to my doom…’
When he’s gone, Do not relax, It’s time to apply the inheritance tax.

The Rebuilding Year Is 2025, Says Keir Starmer

So, it was the season of good cheer, loving each other and just making merry. Everybody was happy and laughing and then Sir Keir Starmer came along with his New Year transmission with all his assurances that he would transform Britain for the better, despite the threat posed by his political rivals and an opportunity to capitalise on his dwindling popularity.

However, Sir Keir’s track record is arguably more troubled with the voters who view him as untrustworthy, dislikable, wimpy and indecisive.

Nevertheless, there is a tiny majority of Brits who believe he should remain as Prime Minister, but the opposition cautioned that voters should ‘watch this space’ because the Conservative Party could be re-energised.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage lurks in the wings, hoping to use May’s council elections to flex Reform UK’s increasing strength after the party declared to have surpassed the Tories in terms of membership numbers.

Sir Keir’s message, shared on social media and filmed at Downing Street, said: ‘I know there is still so much more to do and that, for many people, it’s hard to think about the future when you spend all of your time fighting to get through the week.

‘So, I want to be clear: until you can look forward and believe in the promise and the prosperity of Britain again, then this Government will fight for you.

‘A fight for change that will define this year, next year and, indeed, every waking hour of this Government.’

He said the Government had a ‘clear plan for change’, including building 1.5 million new homes, cutting waiting lists and reducing immigration.

Sir Keir added: ‘That is what we will be focusing on. A year of rebuilding, but also rediscovering the great nation that we are.

‘A nation that gets things done. No matter how hard or tough the circumstances.’

Of course, our government only tell us what we want to hear. You know what they say, ‘Action speaks louder than words!’ And it’s almost as if he doesn’t comprehend what he’s done. He’s upset a lot of people, but he believes that doing so will allow the country to thrive, but the budget was anything but prosperous.

Our Prime Minister and his little helpers are completely tone-deaf, and the harm they are causing is inexcusable. Even if he does pick up the pace and does some good, people never forget what damage he is doing now.

I wonder how many people believe that Sir Keir will either quit or get the boot before 2026? I personally wouldn’t vote Labour if my life depended on them, but I also wouldn’t vote Conservative either.

Labour has no idea how to govern a nation. That’s what you call delusional—oh, I forgot they were deluded in the first place! It’s like assigning a cleaning service to a patient in critical care who insists they can perform the job when they obviously can’t!

We are slaves to our government (masters). Thousands of years ago our masters would beat us to make us work, now they just give us certain privileges, but they can take them away just as quickly if we do not do as we are told or perform as we should.

Once we realise that we are the slaves of this world and that we will always be slaves to our governments, then we might realise how our governments work in regard to its worker ants.

Imagine an animal being worked to the bone, the only difference is animals if they are beaten only sense pain or death in the moment. Humans have learnt to fight back, but by doing that our government have the power to take away our rights and they do!

A Woman Disappeared In 1972, Finally Solved

A woman who disappeared in 1972 has finally been discovered after it took police 52 years to release a photograph of her.

Sheila Fox mysteriously disappeared from Coventry city centre when she was only 16 amid suspicions she may have been in a relationship with an older man.

West Midlands Police said at the time that she had been living with her parents and kept an ‘open mind’ with respect to her whereabouts.

They had hoped for a long time that Ms Fox had just moved away and kept it a secret.

However, no evidence was discovered for decades, and the sole reason for the abrupt shift in circumstances was the filing of a re-appeal last week.

Ms Fox was ultimately located after all this time, thanks to a single photo that the police dredged out.

Officials confirmed that Ms Fox, now 68, had been found and spoken to in another part of the country. 

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: ‘We are delighted to announce the conclusion of one of West Midlands Police’s longest-running missing person investigations.

‘We recently published a renewed appeal to help find Sheila Fox, who went missing from Coventry in 1972.

‘A single photo of Sheila from around the time of her disappearance was found by officers investigating and published on our website and social media.

‘Within hours of the appeal, members of the public got in touch with information which led the team to her.

‘Sheila was confirmed to be safe and well and living in another part of the country, finally resolving one of the longest-running missing person cases we have investigated’.

Detective Sergeant Jenna Shaw, from the force’s Cold Case Investigation Team, added: ‘We’re absolutely delighted to have found Sheila after more than five decades.

‘We searched through every piece of evidence we could find and managed to locate a photo of Sheila.

‘We are a small team of officers and I’d like to recognise the work of DC Shaun Reeve, who managed to resolve this case with help from the public.

‘Every missing person has a story, and their families and friends deserve to know what happened to them and, hopefully, be reunited with them.’

Teenagers flee their homes for a variety of reasons, and this woman’s actions were one of them. People just didn’t talk about things like they do today, but it’s fantastic that she’s safe and I hope she’s had a happy life. There may have been a lot of reasons, but we can’t guess about something we don’t know.

Children and teenagers don’t just run away from a happy home. However, there was no indication of abuse or ill-treatment, so all of the public knowledge leads to the conclusion that she ran away with perhaps her boyfriend, but of course, this is again all speculation.

This lady had no contact with her family for 52 years. No contact indicates something wasn’t quite right. Either she had a reason or she was in a situation where she wasn’t able to go back – either way it doesn’t sound good.

It was either not good or not normal, whatever ‘normal’ is. Whatever the explanation I do hope that the gutter press leaves her alone.

Even though it does seem that this woman left of her own free will. Over the years of the police searching, did she not apply for a passport, need a birth certificate, get married, even open a bank account or anything else in this time?

Were government agencies not sharing data, and were the police exploring all this time, or did they not try that hard in the first place?

Better Lives Attract Britons To Australia

Britons are flocking to Australia in enormous numbers to earn an income while enjoying the famously laid-back Aussie lifestyle.

Almost 50,000 Brits arrived Down Under on working holiday visas this year out of more than 200,000 applicants overall, a new record high. 

The spike in ‘Poms’ heading Down Under has been boosted by a loosening of visa rules which increased the cut-off age for UK applicants from 30 to 35, permitted three-year stays and axed the requirement to carry out 88 days of farm work.

The prospect of more pay and other perks, such as improved work-life balance and sunny weather, draw British people to Australia, despite the country’s generally higher cost of living.

Among those taking advantage is content creator Kody Egan, who moved to Australia in August with her partner, Joseph Horrocks.

The couple, who are both 27 and formerly lived in Atherton, Greater Manchester, now live in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Despite only intending to remain in Australia for a short time, they now want to make a new life there. 

‘We wanted a new challenge and to try something new after coming for a month of travelling the year before,’ Ms Egan told MailOnline. 

‘We saved up and made the plunge – mostly to experience more of an outdoor lifestyle including the beach, surfing, hiking and all the amazing nature.

‘It’s a big change and we’d recommend doing what we did and come for a holiday first. We had no intention of living here at first, but wanted to after experiencing the people and the lifestyle! We’re so grateful for the Aussies, they’re great.’ 

Life in Aus doesn’t come cheap, with the average person paying A$2,715 (£1,344) per month on rent compared to £1223 in the UK. 

Groceries are also more costly, with researchers at Edith Cowan University pricing a trolley of supermarket goods at £160 ($324) compared to £140 in the UK.

However, wages are more elevated in the ‘Lucky Country’, averaging $100,000 (£49,480) compared to £37,430 in Britain. 

Despite loving the Aussie lifestyle, Ms Egan – who runs a YouTube account Eat Venture Vlogs – cautioned that the price of housing was a problem.

‘Like in the UK, there’s a housing crisis here, so rentals are really expensive – as are living costs in general. So it’s important to factor that in when budgeting for a move,’ she explained.

‘Coming over to live and work is very different from the holiday but we really are enjoying the experience. We’re big nature lovers so seeing all the new species of plants, birds etc has been incredible.

‘We started our YouTube vlog so our family and friends could see what we got up to daily as some of them really missed us when we left, but we’ve since reached a much bigger audience and the vlog is growing every day.’ 

Emily Brady, a 25-year-old nurse, headed Down Under last December with her 29-year-old partner Harry Bridges, a motor mechanic. 

They quickly found well-paying jobs in Kalgoorlie, a mining city 370 miles east of Perth in Western Australia. 

Ms Brady, who formerly worked on a paediatric oncology ward in Wales, now makes up to three times more than she did in the UK.

‘While I loved the job, it was very underfunded, very short-staffed and you could work as many hours as you wanted but you weren’t really given any recognition for that,’ she told The Times.

‘And I felt like it was just always an uphill battle. It was really exhausting. So I wanted to try nursing over in Australia where it was meant to be one of the best places in the world for nursing.’

The nurse said she particularly valued the better working conditions in Australia, adding that she and her partner now plan to stay and have children in the country. 

While numerous newcomers have adjusted well to life Down Under, others have been less upbeat.

Earlier this year, Londoner Owen Willis took to social media to say he was ‘de-influencing’ fellow Brits by sharing his experience of living away from home. 

‘Australia isn’t going to solve all your problems,’ he said in a video. ‘I’m not saying the UK is perfect but my idea of Australia in my head was this utopian paradise.’ 

Mr Willis, who said he lived in Australia in 2022 before returning to the UK, claimed ‘casual racism’ was a problem in the country. 

‘I lived in so many places in Australia I feel like I have a round enough view to categorise the whole country as a racist country,’ he said.

The TikToker claimed that racism was less of an issue in major cities like Sydney and Melbourne but claimed that in Queensland he was ‘shocked by what people would say to me’.

His views produced a backlash from Australians, who branded him a ‘whingeing Pom’ – a popular nickname for Brits who criticise the country. 

There were 213,400 people on working holidaymaker visas in Australia at the end of November – 72,300 more than before COVID. 

Out of these, 47,000 were Brits, alongside 23,700 from France, 21,8000 from Ireland, 14,800 from Japan, 13,400 from Taiwan, 13,200 from Italy and 12,700 from South Korea. 

Immigration has become a politically sensitive issue as Australia continues to suffer a housing crisis with the continued high number of international students also putting pressure on rents in Australia’s major cities.

The ruling Labour Party had aimed for a net overseas migration intake of 395,000 during the last financial year, down from a record 528,000 previously. 

Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Immigration, estimated that 450,000 to 475,000 people were likely to have moved to Australia in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, government estimates this month showed 340,000 migrants arriving in Australia over the financial year 2024-25 – significantly higher than the 260,000 projection. 

Treasurer Jim Chalmers blamed higher-than-expected immigration on too few people departing Australia permanently.

‘It has peaked, it’s coming down, it’s coming down slower than was anticipated in the Budget really for one main reason and that’s because there’s been fewer departures,’ he said.

‘The Treasury has been more or less bang on when it comes to arrivals, but departures have been slower.

‘People are hanging around for longer and that’s meant that the number is coming down more slowly and you see that updated.’

Australia is not better, it just appears better because it has a nicer vista, but if you take off those rose-tinted glasses…

People are fleeing the UK because our country is slipping into the dust of foreign ideology at speed, but we have to be here to change it – running away is just spinelessness and disgraceful.

UK government and its arrivals of boat people – it will be like Bangladesh in a few years. Oh, I forgot, it already looks like Bangladesh!

Everybody who whines about it should contain their snivelling and do something about it!

I’m not convinced Australia is a better country to live in, but I guess we can all be miserable in a warmer climate instead of a cold one.

The UK is on death row – everything is failing – policing, housing, health, education, defence, transport, environment, population, energy, fuel and food costs – oh, and don’t forget life expectations et cetera.

Our children can no longer afford their own home whilst most migrants are gifted homes, and record energy costs with record taxes for a declining quality of life. I’m not surprised people are fleeing the UK for a better life.

It is true that some adults are managing to purchase their own homes, but most have to privately rent and are living in one-bedroom flats with more than one child. Numerous people don’t believe what is going on, well, think again – your carer will be along soon to tuck you in! And I’ll have some of what you’re smoking.

There was also the recent piece of news where a recently emigrated Brit in Australia had to return to the UK because he suffered a stroke and couldn’t afford his rehabilitation in Australia, so he’s had to return to the UK to access our NHS. Life wasn’t too kind to him out in Oz.

And when will Starmer and Reeves accept that they’re in power? They have a responsibility, but our economy is flat-lining because of their incompetence. Tax and spend; that’s their motto.

It’s all about dilution and destruction. Our rulers do not care. They want us to vanish and make room for the new!

If our government were to deport everyone who came here from outside of Europe and the West, our country would become brilliant and our housing situation would likely end, or at least be much better than it is now, with much of the brutality and criminality gone.

There Has Been An Outcry Over Moves To Weigh Passengers On Flights

It is seen as the future of green air travel.

As millions put Christmas behind them and begin looking for summer sunshine, airlines are looking to ask flyers to step on the scales before stepping on board.

The first study into the controversial idea has shown that more than half of tourists are against it.

But perhaps unsurprisingly, the well-off and regular flyers are behind charging heavier people more.

Markus Schuckert, professor of hospitality management at the University of New Hampshire, said: ‘This topic has been widely discussed for decades, but there’s surprisingly little research on it.

‘Some airlines have tried or considered weight-based policies, but the main roadblock remains ethical concerns which make it difficult to even discuss.

‘But if we aim to make air travel more sustainable, we should have an open discussion.

‘That’s really the point of research—to put everything on the table for consideration.’

Researchers on the study, published this month in the journal Transportation Research, asked 1,000 travellers about weighing their baggage and themselves to help lower emissions and found more than half of travellers were not enthusiastic about hopping on the scales to trim the amount of jet fuel used.

However, several were receptive to the concept provided it aligned with their personal interest in reducing emissions.

Participants in the research were offered the option of a basic policy in which the cost was the same for all passengers.

The second option was a threshold policy where passengers exceeding a certain weight pay additional fees and then a tariff where each passenger’s airfare is based on their combined body and baggage weight.

The standard policy was the most accepted approach and almost 60 per cent of those asked had serious concerns about weight-based policies saying it was unfair and risked discrimination and singling people out.

Those who liked the weight-based program were young people aged 18 to 35, 20 percent more than travellers over 66.

Regular flyers and high earners were 25 percent more likely to support weight-based policies than those in lower income brackets or who didn’t travel as much.

Finnair, a Finnish airline, caused controversy earlier this year when it implemented a voluntary passenger weighing system and was accused of fat shaming.

Travellers at Helsinki airport were invited to step on the scales along with their bags to help ‘optimise Finnair’s current aircraft balance calculations’.

Satu Munnukka, head of ground processes for Finnair, said: ‘We weigh volunteer customers together with their carry-on baggage.

In the measurement, we do not ask for personal data, but the total weight of the customer and carry-on baggage, the customer’s age, gender and travel class are recorded in the database.

‘No information is collected that would allow participants to be identified.’

Southwest Airlines in America permits overweight passengers an additional seat free of charge.

It’s not always the person’s fault if they are overweight. They could be on medication that bloats them or even hormones – overweight doesn’t always mean everyone overeats.

There are numerous overweight people these days for one reason or another, it makes no difference which reason it is. Have airlines not thought of making double seats for those who are pregnant or overweight and charging a little more money so they can accommodate without people whining that they’re sitting next to a fat person?

For the safety of the passengers, crew, and attendants, body weight should be considered since planes do have a maximum weight restriction.

However, being overweight is not the only thing that can make a flight pure torture. There are the noisy passengers and crying children as well. If you decide to fly and want comfort, then go first class – you get what you pay for.

The Boy In The Bubble

This is the moment a boy was discovered inside a bubble drifting in the Brazilian sea.

Video footage showed a person on a boat strapping a rope around the bubble and dragging it to the shore at Lázaro Beach in Ubatuba, São Paulo, where the child, who is about eight years old, was reunited with his parents.

Rafael do Prado told Metropoles news outlet that the child was in the bubble playing on the beach when its cable snapped and got dragged further out to sea.

He was riding his boat with his children when he spotted the big plastic orb and was curious to know if anyone was in it when he navigated towards it and saw the boy inside.

He spoke to the youngster and kept him calm while he waited for his friend, Welington Junior, to arrive in a speedboat that was better equipped to handle the rescue mission.

‘I was worried about whether he was able to breathe or not because the buoy is dangerous,’ Prado recalled.

‘There is a certain amount of time that you can breathe inside it. I calmed him down, and that was when my daughter started filming.’

‘I was afraid it would deflate with him inside,’ Junior said.

‘We put a rope through the bubble and dragged it as fast as we could, because we couldn’t go too fast, or we could hurt the boy.’

Beachgoers were cautioned by the Maritime Firefighters Group about the risks of using floatable gadgets, such as bubbles, at the beach when they are more suited for pools.

‘This type of toy is new to us on the beaches,’ captain Karoline Magalhães said.

‘It comes from swimming pools and now we are starting to have certain types of problems because this ball is easily dragged by the wind.’

The fire department official added that the bubble the boy was found in provides ‘a false sense of security.’

‘For every three deaths at sea, a drowning process begins with floating objects,’ Magalhães said.

‘Whether it’s a surfboard, an inflatable mattress, or these buoys, floating objects at sea are not safe.’

It’s a terrible idea to use an inflatable bubble. The youngster would have been submerged in a plastic straitjacket if it had ripped or opened in any way, and how could it have been fun for the youngster to be put inside a plastic bubble, tethered by a cable, being carried along the beach – what were his parents thinking?

Is this a new babysitting tool for parents so that they can be even less involved with their children and more immersed in their phones? And where were his parents in this debacle? They obviously weren’t watching him, and they definitely weren’t in a coma. Frankly, animals take better care of their young. Whatever happened to playing on the beach with a bucket and spade?

This child was clearly not in the middle of the ocean, but whatever the depth of water, it can be particularly perilous for a child of his age.

What crackpot designed these plastic balls, and what powers permitted them to be sold? And then there are the crackpot parents who allow their children to use them, and it goes on!

God knows why the youngster was inside this ball in the first place – maybe his parents thought he was a hamster.

Maybe this is a new way to travel now! Don’t give the migrants any ideas.

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