An American Living In London Says Five British Words Should Be Banned

An American man living in London listed the five British words that “don’t sit right” with him—so much so that he jokingly called for them to be made “illegal.”

K Jordy, who describes himself as a “meer Yank amongst Brits,” has racked up more than 174,000 TikTok followers by making funny observations about the UK. People enjoy how he compares both nations in a lighthearted way.

And his latest viral clip was all about the lingo we use in Blighty—from swear words to foodie terms that confuse him. K Jordy said, “First up is bloody; I just don’t understand the need to say that. Every time I hear it, I think of blood.

“Second, we’ve got ‘bullocks’ [he means b*llocks]. When I first heard someone shout it, I generally thought something was going down.

“Number three is the grossest, in my opinion—dribble. Dribble is when someone is drooling out their mouth. It just sounds so gross when they’re like, ‘Oh, someone has a little dribble in their mouth’. It doesn’t really sound right or sit with me well.

“Number four is the food and it’s bubble and squeak. ‘Til this day, I don’t know what the hell bubble and squeak is. I don’t wanna have dinner and someone puts down bubble and squeak on my plate.

“And last but not least is knob—it doesn’t really sound right. And you know exactly what I’m thinking when someone first tries to call someone a knob, bro. I was like, ‘nah, this can’t be real!”

Since it was posted on TikTok a few days ago, the amusing clip has amassed more than 20,400 views and plenty of comments. Brits replied in a bid to educate K Jordy on British slang.

One said, “It’s bllocks and it means testicles. Just for clarity.” Another remarked, “Bullocks is a castrated bull—you mean, bllocks lad!”

A third wrote: “Bubble and squeak is just leftovers from a roast dinner or Christmas dinner-type thing, fried and served for breakfast.” And a fourth added: “Bubble and squeak is fab! I’m making it tomorrow.”

It’s simple really, if he doesn’t like our language he could always retrace his steps back to the airport.

It seems that England is now full of people who don’t like our country, its culture and now it seems, our language. Hey, there are plenty of other places to live.

.

Up To 40,000 Convicts Could Be Freed

Labour measures to alleviate the prison overcrowding situation may see the release of up to 40,000 convicted offenders who have served less than half of their terms in prison.

To clear up space and keep jails from running out of room within weeks, lags might be released on licence after serving 40% of their sentences.

It came after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the weekend said prisons are an ‘obvious example’ of a ‘broken’ system. 

There are reportedly fewer than 700 prison spaces left in England and Wales, where there are currently 88,225 inmates.

A radical reformer was named by Sir Keir on Friday to oversee prisons in Wales and England.

James Timpson, the newly appointed minister for Prisons, Parole, and Probation, has a lengthy history of supporting prison system changes in the United Kingdom.

The Timpsons’ CEO and son of the British cobbler’s founder has previously advocated for shorter prison sentences and has been applauded for his schemes in rehabilitating offenders.

The recently appointed peer has also backed community sentencing, which would see more offenders spared time in jail, and argued that two-thirds of convicts did not need to be there.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said there is not going to be a ‘quick fix’ to the problem of overcrowding in prisons and that the new Labour Government has to deal with the legacy the Tories have left behind.

Speaking after meeting police officers in Lewisham, she said: ‘I’m extremely concerned with the legacy that the Conservatives have left us with our prisons. It seems to have been a complete scorched earth policy in which they have failed to build the prisons that we need.

‘They have allowed the number of remand prisoners, of people waiting for trial to increase because of the chaos and the backlog in the criminal justice system.

‘All of those things are going to need to be addressed and to be fixed, and the Prime Minister has said there isn’t going to be a quick fix, but we’re going to have to deal with the legacy that we inherit.

‘But I think it’s been totally irresponsible, the way the Conservatives have handled this for not just recent months, but in fact, for years. It’s deeply, deeply damaging what they have done, and we are going to have to look at what it is we now inherit.’

The emergency early release plan might spare jails from running out of room in a matter of weeks, according to information provided to Shabana Mahmood, the newly appointed Justice Secretary.

This would be a good plan if they had enough Probation Officers, but they don’t, and many criminals who they allow out of prison will be allowed to roam the streets. For this to work Labour need to pump money into the Probation Service, otherwise we will have streets of mayhem.

The police will be told to stop arresting people. Even the police force has been cut to the bone. Once you could go to your local police station to report a crime, now it all has to be done online, although I’m not sure why this is because people pay their taxes, isn’t that what we pay our taxes for – no of course it’s not, it’s for lining politicians pockets!

So, how do we stop overcrowding? Well, someone said, which made me chuckle, “Bring back the death sentence!” Make it less appealing for criminals to commit crimes. I hate to tell this person, we live in 2024, not 1824.

What’s Next For Akshata Murty?

The focus of attention was on Rishi Sunak’s wife, who looked stunning in a geometric red, white, and blue tiered dress when she stood on the steps of Downing Street to give her farewell speech to the country.

The eye-catching flamenco-esque dress Akshata Murty, 44, chose to wear—a £390 Lina frock from ethical fashion house Omi Na Na and towering white heels—seemed more like a statement of intent than bowing out quietly attire.

As she took her husband’s hand and they walked away from the home they’ve shared for the last 18 months since Sunak’s rise to power in October 2022, Murty might even have had a spring in her step.

The multi-millionaire, said to be worth £500 million thanks to her father’s self-made fortune, has had to dial down her wealth during her time at Number 10, but now that the shackles of her husband’s job have been released, might Murty use her recent global platform to launch a fashion empire? 

The wife of the former prime minister, who is also the mother of the couple’s two kids, Krishna and Anoushka, may also decide to wear couture once more after giving it up—at least in public—last year in an effort to win over more Conservative supporters.

What’s clear is that Murty already has the fashion savoir-faire to follow another former ‘British first lady’, Samantha Cameron, into the world of design. Mrs Cameron founded her brand, Cefinn, in 2017, to fill a ‘gap in the market for fashion-forward pieces that work hard for busy women’.

As a student, Murty went to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles.

She even used to own the fashion brand Akshata Designs, which she might relaunch now that everyone is looking at her. She started the company in 2007, when she was still dating Rishi.

The label is intended to celebrate Indian culture by discovering artists in remote villages and working with them and their designs to create her own.

‘I’m about the story behind a particular garment—it’s authenticity, craftsmanship and protecting a rich heritage,’ she told Vogue afterwards. ‘I care about doing something in India, for India, because it’s part of our family’s DNA.’

However, the business venture fell flat and collapsed after just three years. 

Recent months have seen her ditch the ‘quiet luxury’ she first became known for when Rishi was Chancellor of the Exchequer; Murty would think nothing back then of doing the school run in a pair of JW Anderson slippers costing nearly £600.

When the cost of living crisis began raging under the Tories’ watch, though, Murty turned to the British High Street for public appearances, donning sensible shirts and jumpers from middle-class mums’ favourite Boden.

Along with the £225 striped midi dress from Jigsaw that she first wore in October 2023 ahead of the Conservative Party Conference, her election wardrobe also included a £34 Boden shirt that she first wore in May 2023.

Despite being the daughter of a billionaire, Akshata has waxed lyrical about how she likes the ‘simple’ ‘everyday things’ in life.

Speaking to the Times last month, she revealed she ‘rarely’ gets recognised and often walks the family Labrador in St. James’ Park.

‘I go to Tesco or the little Sainsbury’s or I go to the M&S in Victoria,’ she said.

Before Rishi assumed power, however, things were much different; the heiress had a reputation for donning high-end costumes that, according to leading fashion experts, would have made Jackie Kennedy blush.

With the title of Britain’s one-time ‘first lady’ forever on her CV and millions in spare change to fire-start a pet project, Murty may yet eclipse her husband’s achievements if she starts up the fashion empire that many suspect she’s keen to do.

The Tories have emptied the till, and now they’ll probably be on a private jet to somewhere or another, engaging in some lucrative role, but then who can blame them? They don’t have to watch what they say or do or even where they go now.

However, they were both disconnected from our daily struggles and the grit and hardship we have to endure. They could never understand it in a million years; it is quite beyond them.

If one goes into politics, they’re signing up for a life of abuse, ridicule, hatred, and sometimes worse, but then they wouldn’t get abused if they did a decent job of running the country. They perform badly and still get paid handsomely for it. These people aren’t clever; their advisors are. They’re like puppets, seeking their advisor’s advice, and it’s rarely good advice.

It’s All Change At No 11

As Sir Keir Starmer of Labour, the successor to Rishi Sunak walked into 10 Downing Street, the eyes of the country were fixed on him.

But another changing of the guard was happening right next door, as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also vacated his property at No 11—daughter in one hand, dog lead in the other.

His replacement was a historic one, with Rachel Reeves becoming Britain’s first-ever female head of the Treasury. 

Labour’s historic landslide election victory has left a Tory bloodbath in its wake as several notable figures from the previous cabinet failed to win over the electorate.

Nevertheless, Hunt, the MP for Godalming and Ash, was one of the few prominent Conservatives to hold onto his seat with a majority of less than 900 votes.

Among the previous cabinet members who were taken out by the ‘loveless’ Labour landslide were Chief Whip Simon Hart, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer. 

The Tory purge also affected Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary Mark Harper, Welsh Secretary David TC Davies, Attorney General Victoria Prentis, and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer.

Despite the devastating loss, the former Chancellor told his children, ‘Don’t be sad; this is the magic of democracy’ before they strolled down Downing Street with his wife and their pooch Poppy.

The final walk down the famed street was perceived by some political commentators as a victory lap of sorts, as the MP managed to walk away with his seat amid massive Conservative losses this general election.

But Mr. Hunt foolishly strolled by the waiting cab as the family prepared to depart from the famous street for the last time, and his wife Lucia promptly informed him of its intended use.

Speaking after he managed to retain his seat, the former Chancellor confessed that the Tory party had lost the trust of voters.

He conceded: ‘Across the country, tonight is a bitter pill to swallow for the Conservative Party. We have achieved much in government, and the economy is transformed from where it was post-pandemic.

‘Some Conservatives will wonder whether the scale of our crushing defeat is really justified. But when you lose the trust of the electorate, all that matters is having the courage and humility to ask yourself why, so that you can earn it back again.

Adding a touching tribute to his former leader. He said, ‘I was incredibly proud to serve under Rishi Sunak, but I wish the incoming Labour government well.

I’m happy that both the new and old leaders, as well as their MPs, have shown such grace in both failure and victory. All parties received well wishes and there was no defamation. It was a respectful transition that was good and courteous, regardless of whether it was heartfelt or not.

However, they’re almost all part of the same political elite. They don’t really badmouth their colleagues because it’s just musical chairs, not real change.

Jeremy Hunt and his family walked out of No 11 with doggy in tow, waltzing along like some sort of hero who has managed to hold onto just about every position in office without knowing anything about them and certainly not improving any of them either. He’s the biggest Walter Mitty joke of a politician in the modern-day UK, and given Labour’s immigration policies and housing plans, they will probably convert Downing Street into one-bedroom flats—the British need not apply!

Keir Starmer Strikes A Friendly Tone But Hints At Tax Raids And Softer Prisons

Keir Starmer warned of ‘tough decisions’ looming and tried to stop people from calling him ‘PM’ today as he kicked off his Red Revolution.

At his first press conference in Downing Street, the Labour leader said questioners could call him ‘Keir’ as he acknowledged that his government will be ‘judged on actions, not on words’.

He said the government will need to make ‘tough decisions and take them early’ – saying that there would be ‘raw honesty’ about what needs to be done, although he denied that meant tax hikes.

Instead, he stressed that crime could be a crucial area after it emerged his new prisons minister had suggested two-thirds of people in jail should not be there. Sir Keir said there were ‘too many prisoners, not enough prisons’.

Sir Keir also confirmed that the Rwanda policy pursued by Rishi Sunak was ‘dead and buried’, despite claims it was affecting Channel boats. 

Asked if he was getting used to being referred to as ‘Prime Minister’, Sir Keir chuckled and said: ‘I’m very happy to be called Keir or Prime Minister.’ 

The comments came after jubilant senior ministers met in No10  for the first time after his dramatic landslide triumph.

Flanked by deputy PM Angela Rayner, Sir Keir warned his team they have a ‘huge amount of work to do’.

After it became evident how enormous his triumph was—despite Labour gaining fewer votes than under Jeremy Corbyn in 2017—the prime minister named the Cabinet last night.

Yvette Cooper is the Home Secretary, and Rachel Reeves is the first female Chancellor of the United Kingdom.

Sir Keir spoke to a host of foreign leaders last night, including reaffirming the ‘Special Relationship’ with Joe Biden and telling EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen he wanted ‘close cooperation’. 

Meanwhile, incoming Health Secretary Wes Streeting has already opened talks with the BMA over the junior doctors’ strikes, sparking fears he could offer big concessions to their demands for 35 per cent pay hikes.

And new Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has pledged to nationalise Britain’s railways ‘as soon as possible’.

As the United Kingdom adjusts to a drastically altered political landscape:

Sir Keir is promising to go on tour around the four UK nations in the coming days saying he will not be ‘tribal’ and wants to work with devolved administrations; 

Furious Tory manoeuvring is underway as a leadership contest looms, with calls for the party to shift to the Right;

Nigel Farage is set to do a walkabout in Essex with another of the five Reform MPs;

Asked if he would be willing to raise taxes to fund public services, the PM said ‘We’re going to have to take the tough decisions and take them early’.

Sir Keir said he would approach the challenges with a ‘raw honesty’ but insisted that was ‘not a sort of prelude to saying there’s some tax decision that we didn’t speak about before’.

‘In relation to the tough decisions, we’re going to have to take them and take them early. And we will do that with a raw honesty,’ he said.

‘But that is not a sort of prelude to saying there’s some tax decision that we didn’t speak about before that we’re going to announce now.

‘It’s about the tough decisions to fix the problem and being honest about what they are.’

On Channel boats, Sir Keir said: ‘The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It’s never been a deterrent.

‘Look at the numbers that have come over in the first six and a bit months of this year, they are record numbers, that is the problem that we are inheriting.

‘It has never acted as a deterrent, almost the opposite, because everybody has worked out, particularly the gangs that run this, that the chance of ever going to Rwanda was so slim, less than 1%, that it was never a deterrent.

‘The chances were of not going and not being processed and staying here, therefore, in paid for accommodation for a very, very long time.

‘It’s had the complete opposite effect and I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent.’

Shortly before the press conference, Sir Keir told Cabinet: ‘Look colleagues, it is absolutely fantastic to welcome you to the Cabinet, our first meeting.

‘And it was the honour and privilege of my life to be invited by the King, His Majesty the King yesterday to form a government and to form the Labour Government of 2024.

‘And now we hold our first Cabinet meeting. So I welcome you to it.

‘We have a huge amount of work to do, so now we get on with our work.’

Sir Keir made a raft of appointments last night as he swapped places with defeated Rishi Sunak and basked in the blow of Labour’s historic landslide.

All this is not going to be a short haul, it’s going to be long and drawn out, and if they do push through as promised, allowing all 16-year-olds to vote, it’s going to be even longer – happy days.

Labour will soon be selling 12-year-olds chocolates in exchange for their votes, and now that Labour is in, they will push through reforms which ensure they retain power for a very long time.

The judicial system has to be updated, and the jail system is flawed. There are far too many prisoners who qualify for the Probation Service yet are instead incarcerated. Labour needs to invest more in the Probation Service because of its extremely low funding.

Prisons are at bursting point, and then the police have to make fewer arrests, but I’m not shocked by this. We need harsher prison sentences for serious crimes and fewer for those which are misdemeanours.

Sir Keir Starmer, I understand the concept of taxing everyone, but we are being taxed multiple times and then some. Then there is the cost of living crisis. Honestly, tax – fair enough, but don’t take the proverbial Jimmy (Riddle).

Labour’s First Day In Power

More than 5,000 days have passed since Labour was last in Government. But Keir Starmer wasted no time in laying down the first tentative steps towards change yesterday as he selected his cabinet and assured voters he would begin to rebuild trust with a ‘country-first, party-second’ brand of politics.

As outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak left Number 10, Sir Keir arrived with an invitation from the King to form a new government. He thanked Mr Sunak for his ‘dedication and hard work’, and commended his ‘achievement as the first British Asian Prime Minister of our country’. 

The focus soon turned to the need for change, a ‘renewal and a return of politics to public service’. Sir Keir insisted he would prove to voters that politics ‘can be a force for good’ but acknowledged it would ‘take a while’ to ‘change’ the country. ‘But I have no doubt that the work of change begins immediately,’ the 61-year-old said.

Indeed, by Friday evening, reports emerged that the Tory flagship ‘Rwanda scheme’ was effectively ”dead’—consistent with Labour’s promises to scrap it if elected. Britain is still expected to pay various fees associated with the treaty but reserves the right to leave with three months’ notice. Kigali is expected to comment as early as Saturday.

The appointments of ministers came next. The first female chancellor of the UK was Rachel Reeves. Additionally, David Lammy became Foreign Secretary and Yvette Cooper laterally moved into the position of Home Secretary.

Despite having previously shadowed the position, veteran Labour MP Emily Thornberry was passed over when Sir Keir named Richard Hermer KC as Attorney General.

The new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, fulfilled a promise made in June to reach out to junior doctors ‘on day one’, setting in motion a path for negotiations over pay and conditions with the aim of getting the NHS back on its feet. Mr Streeting was ready to admit ‘the NHS is broken’ and admitted change would not come immediately – but was optimistic about Labour’s ability to oversee substantial reform.

As the new cabinet began laying the groundwork for the party’s vision of change, Sir Keir spoke with world leaders, who congratulated his appointment as the 58th Prime Minister. French President Emmanuel Macron revealed he had already spoken to the Labour leader on Thursday night in a congratulatory message on Twitter/X.

Reiterating his government’s support for Kyiv’s struggle against Vladimir Putin’s invasion, Sir Keir spoke over the phone with US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenky in a matter of hours.

Following Labour’s overwhelming victory in the general election on Thursday night, Sir Keir made his historic first address as the 58th Prime Minister. He and his wife, Lady Victoria, then vanished inside Number 10 to be greeted by Downing Street personnel.

Soon after, smiling faces emerged from the building as the Prime Minister appointed his top team of ministers. 

Rachel Reeves became Britain’s first female Chancellor, while David Lammy was appointed the new Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper the new Home Secretary, and Wes Streeting the new Health Secretary.

All of them enjoyed introductory tours of their new Whitehall departments as they met with officials. But they were also immediately challenged by the myriad of crises they will have to battle over the coming weeks and months.

Union bosses this evening demanded Mr Streeting come forward with a ‘credible’ offer to end the junior doctors’ dispute on pay, as they eye a 35 per cent wage hike.

Mr Streeting faces major challenges overhauling the NHS with the junior doctors’ pay dispute still haunting the service and technological inefficiency a recurring complaint from insiders – but experts say his previous comments indicate he may be the man for the job.

Mr Lammy vowed to support an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza after witnessing an election backlash in some parts of the country over Labour’s stance on the Middle East conflict.

In a speech to Treasury staff, Ms Reeves promised to boost Britain’s economic growth as her ‘central mission’.

And Ms Cooper pledged to set up a new ‘Border Security Command’ to tackle the Channel migrant crisis, as she prepares to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme.

Labour insiders told The Telegraph on Friday the plan was effectively ‘dead’ – but Ms Cooper assured one of the first duties of government was to ‘keep our borders secure’ through the security forces. 

‘If Rishi Sunak thought Rwanda would work, he wouldn’t have called an election,’ the source told the newspaper. ‘It was a con. By calling an election, Sunak was acknowledging that fact.’

Sir Keir made two eye-catching ministerial appointments this evening as he drafted in Sir Patrick Vallance, who was the Government’s chief scientific adviser during the Covid crisis, as a science minister.

Additionally, he appointed James Timpson, the CEO of his father’s Timpson’s shoe repair enterprise, to the position of minister of parole, probation, and prisons. The new PM has bestowed peerages upon him and Sir Patrick.

However, Emily Thornberry had no position in Sir Keir’s new administration.

She was passed over for the job of Attorney General in favour of Richard Hermer KC, who was also granted a peerage, despite her having served as the opposition’s shadow AG.

It comes after Ms Thornberry embarrassed Sir Keir by acknowledging that Labour’s proposal to tax private school tuition may result in larger class sizes in the public sector during the general election campaign.

Sir Keir made his Cabinet appointments after earlier stepping through the entrance to No10 as the new Labour premier with a vow to ‘immediately’ begin work to ‘rebuild Britain’ after winning a huge majority.

Following his first speech to the country as the new premier, the Labour leader was greeted with applause by the personnel inside the renowned black door as he entered with his wife Victoria.

The 61-year-old acknowledged ‘weariness at the heart of the nation’ after his so-called ‘loveless landslide’ in the general election, which saw Labour win more than 400 seats having received barely one in three votes across the UK.

Among their demands to Mr Streeting, the British Medical Association said the junior doctors’ dispute ‘must be brought to an end via a credible Government offer’.

They offered the Health Secretary hope of a possible resolution as they conceded that ‘pay restoration doesn’t have to be in one go’.

Labour cannot afford the BMA’s demand for a 35 per cent wage increase for junior doctors, Mr Streeting has already warned.

The Health Secretary later announced he had spoken to BMA bosses and ‘talks to end their industrial action will begin next week’. 

In a statement shared on Friday, the British Medical Association trade union for doctors opened the door to future negotiations, showing promising signs.

Professor Philip Banfield, BMA chair of the council, said in a statement that he had offered Mr Streeting to ‘work together to get the NHS back on its feet’ with the aim of resolving disputes, writing down waiting lists and improving the service for both staff and patients.

‘We have heard your commitment to pay restoration as a journey and put our faith in your intentions to work together towards a resolution,’ Professor Banfield said in an optimistic letter.’

Labour won a lot of seats in the general election in Britain, but they also lost several old bastions to independent candidates running on pro-Gaza platforms.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow minister, was shocked to lose his seat in Leicester South, which he had previously won with a majority of more than 22,000 votes.

Speaking to broadcasters after being appointed as Foreign Secretary, Mr Lammy said: ‘All of us recognise the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza.

‘But the job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out.’

Ms Reeves, a self-confessed ‘geek’ and schoolgirl chess champion, is one of Sir Keir’s closest allies and will be the first woman to lead the Treasury in its 1,000-year history. 

The new Chancellor told her new department’s staff that the Labour Government would work ‘hand in glove with business’ as she vowed its ‘central mission’ would be to boost economic growth.

In a swipe at her Tory predecessors, Ms Reeves also pledged to change the ‘uncertainty’ and lack of ‘clarity of political purpose’ Treasury staff had previously had to endure.

Ms Cooper also blasted the Conservatives’ record as she spoke outside the Home Office, saying: ‘We know there are a lot of challenges ahead and after 14 years there is some difficult legacy that we will inherit, and we know that that will mean hard graft and not gimmicks ahead in order to tackle that.’

She added that setting up a ‘new Border Security Command to go after the criminal boat gangs’ would be among her ‘first steps’ as Home Secretary.

Angela Rayner was the first arrival in Downing Street before being named Deputy Prime Minister.

She was also appointed Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary as she was handed a portfolio focused on her party’s planned housebuilding blitz.

Ms Rayner was later followed into Downing Street by Mr Lammy, Ms Cooper and John Healey. They were duly appointed Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Defence Secretary, respectively.

Sir Keir made an almost wholesale transfer of the shadow team he had in opposition into his Cabinet following Labour’s massive general election victory.

Ed Miliband returned to ministerial office as Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary. Mr Streeting was chosen as Health Secretary, Shabana Mahmood became Justice Secretary, and Bridget Phillipson was designated Education Secretary.

The former Labour leader is set to oversee his party’s promise to decarbonise Britain’s electricity grid by 2030.

Sir Keir also appointed Liz Kendall as the Secretary for Work and Pensions, Jonathan Reynolds as the Secretary for Business and Trade, Peter Kyle as the Secretary for Science, Innovation, and Technology, and Louise Haigh as the Secretary for Transport.

Sir Keir moved to replace the post vacated by Thangam Debbonaire, who had shadowed the portfolio in opposition but was not re-elected to the House of Commons, by appointing Lisa Nandy as Culture Secretary.

Jo Stevens was designated Welsh Secretary, Hilary Benn was named Northern Ireland Secretary, Ian Murray was named Scottish Secretary, and Steve Reed was made Environment Secretary.

Speaking after she was appointed Chancellor, Ms Reeves posted on X: ‘Economic growth was the Labour Party’s mission. It is now a national mission. Let’s get to work.’

She added: ‘To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limit to your ambitions.’

In her first address to Treasury staff, Ms Reeves vowed to change the ‘uncertainty’ and lack of ‘clarity of political purpose’ from her Tory predecessors.

She told them: ‘I know that a lot has been asked of you in the last few years – and I know, when the chips are down, staff at the Treasury have risen to the occasion, from furlough to energy price support.

‘I have often disagreed with the political choices that have been taken in this building. But I have never been in any doubt about the talent, the dedication and the professionalism that Treasury staff have displayed.

‘I know too that at times it must have been frustrating for you, working under a weight of uncertainty, changes in direction, and without clarity of political purpose. As Chancellor, I am determined to change that.’

Mr Lammy, an ardent Remainer who once compared Tory Brexiteers to Nazis, described being appointed as Foreign Secretary as ‘the honour of my life’.

He added: ‘The world faces huge challenges, but we will navigate them with the UK’s enormous strengths.

‘We will reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home.’

Speaking to reporters later, Mr Lammy said he wants to see an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza.

‘All of us recognise the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza,’ he told broadcasters.

‘But the job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out.’

A throng of ecstatic Labour members had previously applauded Sir Keir’s entry into Downing Street following his official installation by King Charles as the 58th Prime Minister of Britain.

He and Victoria received a rapturous welcome after returning from the Palace where he had an audience with His Majesty around noon, shortly after Rishi Sunak exited having tendered his resignation. 

Sir Keir said he wanted to ‘change the country’ but warned it would ‘take a while’, saying he wanted to restore the values of ‘service’ to politics. He admitted that many people did not believe he would improve the country.

‘My government will fight every day until you believe again,’ he said. 

At Buckingham Palace, the couple were welcomed by the King and Queen’s principal private secretary Sir Clive Alderton, along with Charles’s equerry Royal Navy Commander William Thornton.

They left 20 minutes later to head to Downing Street after Sir Keir was appointed to the job.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: ‘The King received in Audience The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP today and requested him to form a new Administration. 

‘Sir Keir accepted His Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.’ 

This is great news for Sir Keir Starmer, but it’s early days yet, and we have no idea what he will be up to behind the scenes. Let’s hope doesn’t continue to allow thousands more people into our country with full access to the NHS, all free, yet we natives have to pay for it.

British individuals are unable to find a dentist in their local region; some have to go further, and even then, there is no availability. People are having to pay a fortune to go to the dentist because they can’t get on the NHS register or have to wait months before being accepted, and now many dentists won’t even consider the NHS, not even for young children. These children’s teeth are rotten before they should be, and our government doesn’t care.

We simply don’t have the infrastructure to support the number of people coming into our country – it’s not fair on us and it’s not fair on them. They could put billions into the NHS but it wouldn’t make any difference, not if immigration is not controlled.

Labour is already pandering to the Islamists in Gaza through Lammy and Mahmood. This isn’t the way to build up the trust of the people, far from it, and they will probably continue to allow thousands in because they see them as future Labour voters, and they probably have no intention of repairing the damage to the NHS. Saying that Starmer will fix this is probably further from the truth – Mickey Mouse might do though!

Meet Keir Starmer’s Wife Victoria

Extremely quiet Sir Keir Starmer’s wife came out of hiding to join the spotlight today as they celebrated Labour’s historic election victory with an impassioned kiss.

Lady Victoria closed her eyes and relished a clinch with Sir Keir during his address at a victory rally in central London this morning, just hours before she began a new life in Downing Street.

The public display of affection was a rare step for Sir Keir’s ‘reluctant First Lady’ – a woman so ‘sassy’ and straight-talking that the first thing she said after meeting him was: ‘Who the f*** does he think he is?’

However, after Labour’s resounding victory and smashing of the Conservatives, Lady Victoria Starmer can no longer dodge the spotlight and today she and her husband entered No 10.

‘Lady Vic’, as she is known fondly in party circles, has been missing from the election campaign completely.

But later she waved with her husband, although the couple’s two teenage children, said to be ‘completely freaked out’ by the idea of being in the public eye, were not paraded.

Moving into Downing Street comes just weeks after their 16-year-old son took his GCSEs. The couple have also shielded their 13-year-old daughter from the limelight – never naming either children or naming them in public.

Sir Keir Starmer and his wife got married 17 years ago, but he said that his wife has her own life, which she protects vigorously.

Lady Vic’s father was an economic lecturer who moved to the UK from Poland before the Second World War. Her father is Jewish and her mother, who died in 2020, was a community doctor who converted to the faith.

Far from the working class background, which her husband likes to talk about, she went to the exclusive private Channing School in Highgate – one of London’s most exclusive areas.

She graduated from Cardiff University with degrees in sociology and law, and she served as the student union president there from 1995 to 1996.

Around four years later, Britain’s First Couple met – but had an almighty row when they met that ended with a shower of expletives from Mrs Starmer who then told him to get lost. 

She slammed down the phone after yelling: ‘Who the f*** does he think he is?’ Keir heard it all but by 2007 they were married.

What sparked the cascade of swears? Her future husband asking if she was ‘100 per cent sure’ her work was correct. 

Sir Keir later told Vogue: ‘It was absolutely classic Vic. Very sassy, very down to earth, no nonsense from anyone, including from me’.

Undeterred, he asked her down the pub to make up for his blunder. She gave him a second chance and fast forward to today they have been married for 17 years. 

If Sir Keir Starmer’s wife has any influence, then it should be by sacking all NHS managers who earn over 100k per annum because they’re not in operating theatres helping the sick and poorly. They are just managers (pen pushers), and their share of the money that they earn should be going towards the sick and poorly. It’s about public health, not monetary reward. You either do the job because you have made it your vocation to help sick people, otherwise don’t do it at all!

There is no vocation in what people do now. Especially doctors and nurses and the managerial staff that run these hospitals. They should bow their heads in shame because they’re dealing with human lives, and some of them need to engage their brains because one day this could be your child, your husband, your sibling, or even your mother who needs attention from these wannabe doctors and nurses, they wannabe doctors and nurses, but they also wannabe on the strike line as well.

Sir Keir Starmer will probably be no different to any other politician who has become Prime Minister. Of course, I challenge him to prove me wrong, I really do! Nothing more would please me, and if he does, I will be the first person to say ‘I was wrong!’ So, Sir Keir Starmer, I will be keeping my beady little eye on you, and I really do hope that you prove me wrong.

RISHI SUNAK: ‘I Gave This Job My All’

Rishi Sunak bade an emotional final goodbye to Downing Street today after leading the Tories to their worst-ever election result – with Keir Starmer waiting in the wings to take over. 

Flanked by his emotional wife Akshata Murty, the outgoing Prime Minister delivered his parting statement as he prepared to head for Buckingham Palace to formally tender his resignation to the King and bring an end to 14 years of Conservative government.

The weather held off – in contrast to when he called the election back in May – as he said he was ‘sorry’ and had ‘heard the anger’ of the country and the ‘clear message’ delivered via the ballot box. 

‘I have given this job my all. But you have sent a clear message, and yours is the only judgement that matters,’ he said. 

‘This is a difficult day, but I leave this job honoured to have been Prime Minister of the best country in the world.’

Mr Sunak said he would resign as Tory leader once a replacement had been chosen. He also paid tribute to Sir Keir as a public servant, wishing him and his family well in their new duties.

After his short speech, the couple – not accompanied by their daughters and with Akshata carrying an umbrella – walked hand-in-hand to a waiting car and were driven away to see the King. 

A statement from Buckingham Palace a short time later said: ‘The Right Honourable Rishi Sunak MP had an audience of The King this morning and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which His Majesty was graciously pleased to accept.’

Sir Keir is basking in a massive general election win following a brutal night for the Conservatives – but Labour’s victory is being dubbed a ‘loveless landslide’ and a ‘super meh-jority’.

With nearly all constituencies having declared their results, Labour was found to have won barely one in three votes across the UK.

Polling experts highlighted how Labour’s vote share of 33.8 per cent is likely to be less than any of Sir Tony Blair’s general election victories in 1997, 2001 or 2005.

It is even less than the 40 per cent vote share hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn secured in 2017 and lower than the 36.1 per cent David Cameron got for the Conservatives in 2010 when that year’s election ended in a hung parliament.

Rishi Sunak talks about the ‘anger’ of the public and the ‘clear message’ of the ballot. Some people will be relieved that the Conservatives are out of power now, many will not, who knows what goes on in people’s heads these days, but it doesn’t matter because whoever is in power, they all give you false promises, and many people don’t even listen to them anymore.

We are just here to pay the bills so that those in power can squander it and line their own pockets – occasionally they might throw us a few breadcrumbs, but that’s about it!

None of them cares about us, and their weasel words are just from a script, nothing more. A new party is moving into No 10 Downing Street. The mask might have changed, but the face behind it remains the same.

The entry of Labour into power is not a change of administration; rather, it is a change of middle management, and nothing will change.

Some would say that Rishi Sunak inherited a lot of problems from the fallout from Party Gate (the Liz Truss mess), but we could also say the same for old Boris Johnson with the pandemic (if you can’t take the heat, then stay out of the fire!)

‘French Excalibur’ Vanishes

The French ‘Excalibur’ has vanished from a rock it had been wedged in for the past 1,300 years.

The famed Durandal sword is presumed to have been stolen from the southern village Rocamadour, despite it being wedged and chained to the stone 32 feet off the ground. 

The cliffside community is devastated over losing its popular tourist attraction; according to Mayor Dominique Lenfant, the residents feel as though they have lost a piece of who they are.

Police have opened an inquiry, but given the magical sword’s unusual and high position buried in the cliff wall close to the sanctuary, they are puzzled as to how it was removed.

Mayor Lenfant said the town was devastated, according to The Telegraph. 

‘We’re going to miss Durandal. It’s been part of Rocamadour for centuries, and there’s not a guide who doesn’t point it out when he visits,’ she told La Dépêche, a French newspaper. 

‘Rocamadour feels it’s been stripped of a part of itself, but even if it’s a legend, the destinies of our village and this sword are entwined.’ 

Legend has it that the sword was the sharpest blade in existence, so sharp that it could cut through rocks with a single blow and could not be broken.

A myth says it was first given to Emperor Charlemagne by an angel before it was wielded by his nephew Roland, a legendary knight.

Durandal is mentioned in the 11th-century poem The Song of Roland. In the epic, it tells of the sword’s magical powers and says it contained one tooth of St Peter, the blood of St Basil, and the hair of St Denis.  

In an attempt to prevent the sword from falling into the hands of the Saracen army he had bravely battled, Roland is reported to have attempted to shatter it on a rock before his death at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.

But he ended up throwing it into a valley, where it miraculously flew for miles and ended up getting embedded into Rocamadour’s cliff.

It seems that statues, swords, buildings, countries, and cultures were once beautiful, but now they’ve become cesspits, but that’s modernisation for you, now covered in cement, traffic, litter, and huge buildings that now cover our once beautiful green, and then they call it ‘going green’.

People don’t seem to care that our historical sites are gradually disappearing in favour of turning them into a complex of apartments.

Aside from the tragic loss of an ancient relic, it may be that it is now quite easy to remove after hundreds of years of weathering, water ingress, and such because sometimes quite precious things are protected less adequately by the state.

These historical landmarks are no longer there, demonstrating the general downfall of our civilisation. People no longer honour their past or their forefathers. Of course, there have always been stupid people who don’t respect what they can’t understand, but in the 21st century, you would think that we would have fewer stupid people, but we seem to have more.

When someone takes something that many others have enjoyed for their own gain, it is a sign of the selfishness of our times.

The sword, or a replica of it, of which nobody is really sure, was presumed to have been stolen from Rocamadour, France, as of July 2024, with no known culprit.

Mom Sparks Fury

A mother has sparked fury online when she asked the public to ‘normalize’ charging other parents for their children’s playdates.

In a video on TikTok, she explained in a video that her daughter recently had a friend over to their house – and when the playdate was finished she asked the other girl’s mom to Venmo her $15.

She cited expenses such as chalk and ‘wear and tear’ on the couch, as well as the price of her child using supplies in the bathroom three times.

Since it was first uploaded in early June, the video has received more than 3.5 million views. Many people have openly disagreed with her idea, claiming that it would simply prevent her daughter from having playdates in the future.

But the mum, who posts under the handle @shay.nanigans87 and whose profile identifies her as a ‘rage baiter’ and ‘child support hunter’ – insists it is just a way for families to even out the costs of their get-togethers.

‘Can we normalize sending the other family money for playdates?’ she asks in the video with a straight face.

She continues by describing how she approached the mother of her daughter’s friend for money, showing screenshots of her exchange with the other mother.

In the first message she writes: ‘Thanks for letting Jamie play today, please help out with your share of the expenses for the playdate totalling $15 via Venmo! Let’s do it again soon!’

‘Because I can’t keep doing these playdates if it’s so expensive,’ the TikTok mother explains in her video. 

But the other mother, identified in the video only as ‘Melissa,’ seemed taken aback by the request, asking: ‘Expenses?’

At that point, the mum explains that her daughter used ‘supplies and food while she was here and this way we can do this more often without a monetary obligation on just one party.’

When Melissa asked which expenses she was referring to, the TikToker noted that her daughter had applesauce and fruit, had three juice boxes, played with chalk, used the bathroom three times and sat on the couch – which she said caused ‘wear and tear.’

Ultimately, the frugal mum said Melissa paid her the $15 she requested, and she thanked her.

‘I just received the money, thank you so much,’ she wrote in a message.

‘Hopefully, this will make it easier for us to do these playdates more in the future.’

But many online believed her actions will have the opposite effect – and will wind up alienating her daughter from her classmates.

When you invite someone’s child over for a play date, you assume the cost of what those children do, and it’s common courtesy to do so. What the mother did will only guarantee that the child will never be able to have friends come over again, and will probably most likely get shunned by the other children at school. Parents talk to other kids’ parents and she has outed herself by posting this, the other parents would have because parents talk to other parents.

Clearly, this woman was never taught how to behave politely or with grace. Unless, of course, one is operating a hotel, which she was not, hospitality is always free. You don’t charge for services provided when a youngster stays at your house.

It’s shameful that this woman even charged the mother for her toilet trips! I bet she was running behind the child with a calculator as well.

This seems to be the normal Gen Z entitlement. Don’t they realise that you host them, and then they host your children so it all balances out?

I would not have given this woman anything unless, of course, we had already agreed upon it.

When my children had their friends over, I used to treat them as my guests. Coming to my home was a special treat for their friends. I would make them welcome and my home when they were there was like their home. I would feed them and make sure they were comfortable if they were having a sleepover, and if my children wanted a sleepover with their friends I made sure I could afford it before they arrived, otherwise, I would tell my children not this week.

The mother should have charged her back for the cost of her child’s entertainment and providing friendship to her child, that way they would have been even and then they could have just called it quits.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started