An Innocent Man Wins An Enormous Payout

A man was wrongfully arrested and detained at a Hawaii state psychiatric hospital for two years in a case of mistaken identity. 

Joshua Spriestersbach, 55, had been living on the street in 2017 when police arrested him for offences perpetrated by another man named Thomas Castleberry. 

At the time, Castleberry had already been incarcerated in Alaska since 2016, according to court filings cited in the lawsuit.

During two previous interactions, police misidentified Spriestersbach and then did not correct the record, according to a lawsuit Spriestersbach filed in 2021.

Those mistakes and others led to his eventual 2017 arrest and a years-long detention.

He is now set to receive a $975,000 payout from the City and County of Honolulu.

Spriestersbach may also receive a $200,000 settlement from the state to resolve legal claims against the Hawaii Public Defender’s Office.

The settlement follows years of legal action in which Spriestersbach alleged false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from the ordeal.

In 2011, Spriestersbach was homeless and sleeping at Kawananakoa Middle School in Punchbowl when an officer woke him up and asked for his name. 

Spriestersbach would not give a first name, his lawsuit says, and gave only his grandfather’s last name: Castleberry.

The officer discovered a 2009 warrant for Thomas Castleberry and arrested Spriestersbach for the outstanding warrant. He told the officer he was not Thomas Castleberry, the complaint says, but the officer arrested him anyway. 

Spriestersbach didn’t show up to his court date, and the court later dropped the bench warrant for him. But the mistaken identity followed him.

In 2015, an HPD officer approached Spriestersbach after hours in ‘A’ala Park, where he had been sleeping.

He initially refused to give his name to that officer but eventually did so, the complaint says.

Thomas Castleberry was listed as an alias, and there was a warrant out for his arrest, the complaint says, but because the officers took Spriestersbach’s fingerprints this time, they confirmed he was not Castleberry.

Still, the complaint says, they did not update the police department’s records.

The lawsuit alleges authorities had access to fingerprints and photographs that could have definitively distinguished the two men but failed to properly compare or act on that information. 

On the day of his 2017 arrest, Spriestersbach was waiting for food outside Safe Haven in the Chinatown area.

He fell asleep on the sidewalk while waiting in line, his complaint says, and an HPD officer woke him up and arrested him for Casteberry’s outstanding warrant.

According to court filings, Spriestersbach believed at the time he was being arrested for violating Honolulu’s restrictions on sitting or lying on public sidewalks, not for an outstanding warrant tied to another man.

Spriestersbach spent four months at O’ahu Community Correctional Centre and more than two years at the Hawaii State Hospital before being released on January 17, 2020.

During his confinement at the hospital, Spriestersbach was forced to take psychiatric medication, according to filings from the Hawaii Innocence Project. 

Police officers, public defenders and health workers had had the chance to correct the mistake that led to Spriesterbach’s detention and custody, according to his complaint. But nobody did so.

‘Prior to January 2020, not a single person acted on the available information to determine that Joshua was telling the truth – that he was not Thomas R. Castleberry,’ the complaint says.

The complaint further alleges that even after Spriestersbach provided identification, public defenders and other officials failed to believe his claims that he was not Castleberry. 

‘Instead, they determined that Joshua was delusional and incompetent just because he refused to admit that he was Thomas R. Castleberry and refused to acknowledge Thomas R. Castleberry’s crimes.’

The complaint says city practices failing to properly identify homeless and mentally ill people, as well as failing to correct mistaken records that result in their arrests, were ‘the moving force’ behind Spriesterbach’s arrest and detention.

Attorneys also warned that without correcting official records, Spriestersbach remained at risk of being wrongly arrested again under the same mistaken identity.

According to his lawyers, the mistake was ultimately uncovered only after a psychiatrist at the hospital prompted a closer review, leading to fingerprint verification that confirmed he was not the man named in the warrant.

The Hawaii Innocence Project said in filings that police, public defenders, the state attorney general’s office and hospital staff ‘share in the blame for this gross miscarriage of justice.’ 

After his release, Spriestersbach was eventually reunited with family members who had spent years searching for him. However, his sister later said he remains fearful that the same mistake could happen again.

Spriestersbach’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. HPD and the mayor’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.

His legal team had previously sought court intervention to formally correct his records, claiming that the failure to do so left the underlying error unresolved. 

A majority of Honolulu council members approved the settlement on Wednesday afternoon, though council member Val Okimoto voted to approve it with reservations.

This man deserves millions of dollars because nothing can really compensate for what happened to him.

$200,000 is a tiny payout for this horrible crime that was executed against him. No one deserves to be forcefully locked up in a mental hospital, and there are no excuses. There should be no mistaken identity in this day and age that we live in, with all the tools we have at our disposal. So much for this state-of-the-art facial recognition. Clearly, it doesn’t work, or they only use it when they want to frame someone for something they didn’t do.

And here I was, thinking that it was just the UK police that were incompetent; how wrong I was. People are not safe anywhere, all over the world.

So, what this actually means is that we can lock up people who are not really mentally unbalanced.

Did the cops not take his fingerprints? Check his DNA, even his birth certificate or passport? What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Farage Referred To As A ‘Toytown Trump’ By The “Marxist” Teachers’ Chief

Nigel Farage has exchanged blows with a ‘Marxist’ teachers’ leader whose trade union vowed to mobilise members to prevent him becoming Prime Minister – and dubbed him a ‘Toytown Trump’.

Delegates at the annual conference of the National Education Union (NEU), which starts on Monday, will debate a motion calling for the trade union movement to ‘throw its full weight behind stopping a Reform UK government’.

The motion also calls for teachers to ‘collate and disseminate anti-racist teaching materials’ and to ‘encourage school and community-based anti-deportation campaigns’.

Separate debates will call for an ‘end to the proscription of Palestine Action’ and to support teachers who want to visit migrant camps in northern France.

On Saturday, Mr Farage vowed to sweep away ‘politicised classrooms’ if he became Prime Minister and took aim at Daniel Kebede, the union’s hard-Left general secretary, saying: ‘The NEU should focus on the day job of teaching instead of trying to indoctrinate children. Daniel Kebede is an open Marxist and shouldn’t be anywhere near our education system.

‘Change is coming for the NEU – a Reform government will introduce a patriotic curriculum, no longer will teaching unions be able to politicise the classroom and talk down our country.’

But Mr Kebede hit back, saying: ‘Nigel Farage will be a disaster for Britain. We have a multi-millionaire dressed in tweed masquerading as a man of the people.

‘The reality is he would cut our schools to the bone along with the NHS and other public services. This Toytown Trump is not fit for No 10.’

Members of the NEU are presently voting on whether to go on strike over issues including compensation, workload, and school funding.

Mr Farage, who holds a nine-point lead in the most recent opinion poll, has vowed to tackle ‘institutional Left-wing bias’ among the ‘Blob’ of the Civil Service, local authorities and schools if he forms the next government.

Reform officials have received increasing reports of Left-wing teachers characterising Reform supporters as ‘fascists’ in classrooms across the country.

Last year, it demanded an investigation after teachers at a group of leading state schools made ‘inappropriate and slanderous’ comparisons between the party and the Nazis.

Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, complained after discovering that staff at the Orion group, which runs eight academy schools in south London, used a picture of him in teaching materials to illustrate ‘extremism’ – defined as activities which ‘reject British values’.

The materials also placed Reform to the right of Ukip and next to the BNP and the Nazis at the ‘fascism’ end of an illustration on the Left-wing/Right-wing political spectrum of beliefs.

The secondary school lessons were for students in Year 10.

Last week, it was revealed that council workers in Leeds were offered counselling in a ‘safe space’ to deal with the stress of a visit by the Reform UK leader. 

John Ebo, the council’s head of human resources, said: ‘No doubt you will have picked up in the news that Nigel Farage and Reform are holding an event/rally.

‘I am mindful such events impact on colleagues, and would ask that we enable safe space conversations for colleagues, such as the Wellbeing network chats.’

The email was forwarded to the council’s Race Equality Staff Network, with an extra warning: ‘Be vigilant if you are in the city centre that day.’ Mr Farage called them ‘pathetic, weak people who don’t understand democracy’.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski will address the NEU conference on Monday afternoon.

The real issue is that Marxists have gained control of schools and universities. When we see this response, we see that we’ve reached a turning point. This is what is currently destroying the West and has been for a very long time.

Teachers are not producing educated young people – they are just brainwashing woke wastrels.

We need the freedom of discussion, or our youngsters will cease to have any new visions to create with others. If you cannot debate opinions freely, then we will have no ideas at all and no useful understanding as to how the future is going to pan out.

Our children are not taught compassion and equality, and this is why there is so much criminality on our UK streets, because they are being taught the customs of other third-world countries, and they are being taught to discriminate.

If you think that Nigel Farage is going to represent the working class, then think again, and if you believe that this man is going to prevent crime on our streets, then you must be taking some good hallucinogenic drugs.

You’re probably thinking, ‘Who am I going to vote for?’ It certainly won’t be Reform, Labour or the Conservatives. So, what am I left with? Not much, they’re all as bad as one another. They tell you what you want to hear because they know we’re gullible, and then do the exact opposite when they get into power!

The government has never been for the people, and it never will be. It’s a business where they can sell weapons to both sides of a war, and for them, it’s about profiteering. Also, evading taxes is a business as well. It’s blood money earned from the pain of others.

An Arrest Was Made Over A Blog Post

A police force that paid £20,000 compensation to a couple arrested over a school WhatsApp group is being sued by a company director who was thrown in a cell over a blog post.

Following accusations from two Facebook group members, a dozen Hertfordshire cops showed up at the residence of IT supervisor Sam Smith.

Mr Smith’s house was searched on March 8 last year, his devices were taken, and he spent a night in a cell at Hatfield police station.

Detectives dropped the case six days later, noting in the police log that the search was not ‘suitable or lawful.’

Mr Smith, 47, is now suing the force through the High Court for £70,000 for damages and personal injury, claiming the stress of the arrest had caused a recurrence of an eye condition.

The case follows the same force’s payment of £20,000 to a couple who were unlawfully arrested after making complaints about their daughter’s school on a WhatsApp group chat.

Herts police sent six officers to the home of Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen last January. They held the couple for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications, before eventually apologising for doing so.

Mr Smith writes a blog as Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, named after a real historical figure of the same name who hunted women he accused of being witches in the 1600s.

He published a piece to dispel incorrect information about a lady at a nearby park who had been photographed and challenged after being wrongly suspected of being a paedophile due to internet posts.

He called two guys who misrepresented the lady on his site an extremist and a drug user.

‘What happened to this lady in the park had the potential to be a very serious incident as the online posts escalated,’ Mr Smith said.

‘I wrote two articles about this situation, but it was only after I called out the police and specifically the local inspector for failing to act that they decided to come for me.’

Mr Smith said 12 officers then turned up at his home and told him he was under arrest for sending false communications.

Body-worn footage of the arrest shows the IT firm director, who answered the door in his dressing gown, visibly shaking during the encounter.

Though he was told he was under arrest over false communications, which is a low summary offence, the search of Mr Smith’s home was incorrectly carried out for more severe malicious communications infractions.

A stack of undelivered Conservative Party leaflets was also taken by the officers, who wrongly accused Mr Smith of robbing the post.

Mr Smith’s case revolves around claims the force failed to properly investigate his complaint about the wrongful arrest, which is backed up by findings made by Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Jonathan Ash-Edwards.

The PCC’s complaints team leader, Carolyn Kitchen, called on the force to assess again whether there were ‘good objective grounds’ for the arrest.

In a letter to Smith, she said officers should have considered whether a voluntary interview could have been conducted instead of an arrest.

At a hearing before Master Irena Sabic at the Royal Courts of Justice next month, Mr Smith is requesting a summary judgment.

He told the Mail: ‘So far Herts Police have failed to settle the case and ignored the recommendations of their own PCC in defiance of best practice and reason. It is a waste of public money and damages public confidence.’

A 2024 report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary found that Herts Police needed improvement in its investigation of criminality and in its leadership and management, and was deficient in its recording of offences.

A spokesman from the force said: ‘We can confirm Mr Smith has issued civil proceedings for a civil claim against Hertfordshire Constabulary. At this time, we do not feel it is appropriate to provide commentary on this case.’

A spokesman from the PCC’s office said: ‘Following the outcome of the Professional Standards Department investigation, Mr Smith exercised his statutory right to have his complaint outcome reviewed by the PCC. This review identified six recommendations. The Professional Standards Department has accepted the majority of these recommendations and are currently acting on them.

‘Mr Smith was updated in February 2026, and the matter remains live while the Professional Standards Department act on the recommendations from the PCC’s Office.’

Mr Smith last week received an interim damages payment from the force of £2,000.

Whoever is in charge of this police force needs to be removed – they are obviously not up to the job, and any damages that are paid should come from them, not the taxpayer. Let’s hope I don’t get a knock on the door for stating the obvious.

However, this starts with our government because our police force is just following government-mandated guidelines.

It took twelve police officers to arrest this man – what a joke. He should have been asked to come to the police station for questioning, and I hope this man wins his case.

Robberies, break-ins, and, God forbid, murder are serious crimes that the police should be investigating, but they don’t appear to be prioritising them.

It’s extremely chilling to see what Britain has become, and at the same time, some people are being given top jobs who have had scandal after scandal to their name.

I Watched My Daughter Die On The Road Like A Criminal

Those are the heart-wrenching words of the mum of Soriah Barry, a promising singer who died following a crash with a double-decker bus in Lea Bridge Road, Clapton, in February last year.

She lay dying in the road for almost two hours while onlookers filmed her and uploaded the footage.

And as she fought for her life, police officers discussed ‘nicking’ her.

Now her family say Soriah’s life could have been saved if she had been treated with ‘care and compassion’.

Speaking to Metro, Soriah’s mum, Saphiatu, said: ‘We have kept her room exactly as it was. The light is still on, her makeup powder is still everywhere. But after a few months, everyone did say I needed to get rid of the KFC still up there.’

Pictures of Soriah, smiling with her three siblings, are on almost every wall of the family home. She is at a recording studio, at a family party or on holiday – full of life.

But as the family try to process their grief, the crash investigation has led to more questions rather than answering them.

The family argue that clips of her care at the scene sting of negligence, with officers discussing whether to ‘nick her’.

It took two hours for her to get to the hospital. In this time, spectators filmed her lying on the road with her clothes open and uploaded it to TikTok.

Saphiatu said: ‘She was treated like a criminal at the scene, rather than with care and compassion.

‘We do not blame anyone else for the actual crash. But Soriah’s life could have been saved.’

The family think she became distracted at the wheel of the car, which would frequently veer to the side.

When seeing it was beginning to drift, they believe she put her foot down on the accelerator instead of the brake.

‘She went from 23mph to 30mph in the space of a few seconds before crashing into the bus,’ her mum said.

Bystanders were first on the scene, and in the 999 calls heard by Metro, they tried desperately to lift her out of the car.

Witness Curtis Chrissafi ran to help Soriah. He said: ‘She tried to push the door open. I asked her if she was okay, she faintly said, “No, I’m not.’

They can be heard lifting her together as a responder on the phone instructed them calmly on how to get her to safety as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

‘You need to listen to me very carefully, and get her out the car,’ the 999 operator says. ‘This young lady is really quite poorly.’

Once police and paramedics arrived, the sense of urgency seemed to dissipate, according to neighbours who watched on.

Her family say this is because empty alcohol bottles and gas cannisters were found inside the car – but Soriah was well below the legal limit according to toxicology reports.

‘She had just gone on a weekend away with friends and the Airbnb said they had to take all their rubbish home with them, and it ended up in Soriah’s car,’ mum said.

On the body cam footage, a police officer discusses whether to ‘nick’ Soriah, while a paramedic sarcastically comments, ‘surprise, surprise’ upon seeing the bottles.

The sense of urgency altered once Soriah was loaded into an ambulance, and promptly went into cardiac arrest.

In the end, she was taken to The Royal London Hospital amid rush hour traffic, which her family claims not only caused a delay in her arrival but also might have been prevented if they had left earlier.

Soriah finally arrived at 8.52 am, two hours after the initial collision, with her mum already there waiting.

‘It’s crazy to think I actually got there before her. Police came and picked me up at 8 am, and I spent ages waiting in family rooms before a surgeon told me nothing more could be done.’

During the operation for a lacerated liver, Soriah went into cardiac arrest another three times.

The family screamed when they were told the news, and has been working to live without her ever since.

Saving a life should always take top priority, not whether the person should be ‘nicked.’ A life is a life, no matter what the person has done. There should have been no delay in getting this woman to the hospital, and this requires a proper investigation by independent investigators. Can you imagine the outcry if someone in government were left on the road dying for two hours? Well, it just wouldn’t happen.

A lot of people have said that the accident itself was Soriah’s fault. However, nobody has claimed that it wasn’t her fault, but for whatever reason, she ended up hitting a bus, although she was not over the limit; the toxicology report shows that she was well below the drinking limit.

She had gone for a weekend away with friends, and I don’t suppose in any stretch of the imagination that she thought she would end up dead. It doesn’t sound like she was reckless behind the wheel, and we shouldn’t make inferences that she was. I feel for the family because Soriah died in such a brutal way, with horrific injuries, lying in the cold for hours without family or friends.

She is no longer able to live, have children, travel, or pursue her aspirations, and it is unjust to criminalise the deceased. A loved one who is unable to defend themselves or provide an accurate account of what actually transpired.

Amid Soaring Energy Prices, Reeves Warns Middle-Income Families Won’t Get Help

Rachel Reeves will make it clear that middle-class people won’t receive government support for their soaring energy costs.

The Chancellor is expected to make clear that any bailout will be targeted rather than universal as she responds to the Middle East situation.

In a Commons statement, she will also outline plans to prevent price ‘gouging’.

Despite Donald Trump’s declaration that he is searching for a mechanism to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran, British living standards are being severely squeezed.

Keir Starmer yesterday braced the UK for the turmoil to continue for ‘some time’ – suggesting the closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz and damage to infrastructure could still be resonating by Christmas.

He also emphasised the pressure on the public finances, with fears that the ‘Trumpflation’ shock will drive up spending and borrowing costs.

Domestic energy bills are capped until July, but experts say they could rise by a fifth or more, then – putting Ms Reeves under pressure to come up with a support package.

Fuel duty is expected to rise in September, even though motorists are presently being hit with eye-watering pump prices. 

Food bills are also being closely monitored, with fertiliser prices spiking because much of the world’s supply comes from the Middle East.

Despite Ms Reeves having pushed the tax burden towards a record high since entering No 11, figures last week showed the public sector racked up the highest February borrowing on record outside of COVID, far more than analysts had expected.

The Chancellor has acknowledged she needs to be ‘disciplined’ on spending, with suggestions that more impoverished households on benefits will be prioritised.

Touring broadcast studios this morning, energy minister Michael Shanks said of the prospective support: ‘We’re obviously looking at a range of options.’

Pressed if help would be targeted rather than universal, Mr Shanks noted the scale of the bailout the Tories put in place in 2022.

‘Clearly the last action that was taken by the government cost £40 billion,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Ms Reeves will make a statement to MPs following an emergency Cobra meeting.

Her announcements will include an ‘anti-profiteering framework’ to detect and crack down on companies exploiting the Middle East situation.

The Competition and Markets Authority is set to be given ‘more teeth’ to root out price gouging.

But Ms Reeves is batting away pleas for Labour to ditch its opposition to new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. The industry and even renewables groups have pointed out that the UK importing more fossil fuels does not help the global push towards Net Zero. 

Britain has, for an extremely long time, been very good for the very rich or the very poor, but bad luck if you’re in the middle, and Labour has turned us into a first-class hotbed. Indeed, a cesspit, and has now drenched the few remaining working class to suffer and certainly pay for it.

Keir Starmer and Reeves can’t even define what ‘working men, working families, and working people’ actually means.

Of course, there are tons of people out there on benefits that should be working, but for those genuine people who are on benefits due to a medical condition, and people who are whining about it. Honestly, don’t knock it because if they were in the same position, they actually wouldn’t like it – it’s depressing.

And this war that is going on will give Starmer another reason to raise our taxes. I bet they’re all rubbing their hands together, and why on earth is our ineffective government still here? Time to move over, Starmer, and let someone else have a chance to give it a go!

Travellers Who Built A Wall Topped With Giant Horse Statues

Travellers who crowned the front wall of their semi-detached home with four ‘ugly’ horse sculptures have accused ‘jealous’ neighbours of racism after losing a bitter planning battle.

Brandon Rawlings, 27, and his wife Paige, 25, insist complaints over their equine-themed frontage in Kingsclere, Hampshire, were driven by locals who ‘don’t like Gypsies’ and want the family ‘kicked out’.

But irate neighbours have hit back by branding the couple ‘neighbours from hell’ – and claiming the horse-topped wall is only one part of a wider catalogue of alleged disruption in the quiet village street.

Mr Rawlings was ordered by council planners to demolish the bold boundary, where brick pillars crowned with ornaments of rearing horses stand 2.6 metres tall.

After determining that the work was done without authorisation and detrimental to the street’s character, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council initiated enforcement proceedings.

Planning papers reveal how Mr Rawlings fought back against the council, claiming his family were being victimised by local residents.

He claimed to have been told ‘our kind isn’t welcome here’, adding: ‘I do feel like we are being victimised because we are Romany Gypsies and I feel the street are out to just cause us problems.’

In an appeal, Mr Rawlings insisted he had improved the look of his address ‘100 times’, claiming: ‘We as a family feel like we are targeted because we are Romany Gypsies and that is why we are getting all this bother.

‘Our home doesn’t affect the character of the street; it improves the look of the street rather than the overgrown hedges and untidy drive/gardens. Ours is tidy, and I think a lot of this comes down to jealousy!’

He added: ‘I think this all boils down to racism because we have horses on top and the street doesn’t like gypsies. Everybody that sees this place says how we have improved it.

‘The only people who moan are the ones who own their house and have told us to our face our kind isn’t welcome here.’

When the Daily Mail visited the street, neighbours painted a very different picture, accusing the couple of making life a ‘nightmare’ for those living nearby.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: ‘They are neighbours from hell. They do whatever they want and get away with it. It’s appalling. I have had enough, we all have.

‘They are a nightmare. I cannot tolerate it anymore. They are a law upon themselves.

‘They have breached planning regulations with the horses, but nobody has done anything. They just get away with it.

‘The horses themselves are ugly. All the work they have done is terrible.

‘They chopped down trees in the background garden. God knows why. They just got rid of them. They have fires all the time. The noise is terrible.’

Another neighbour added: ‘What they’ve done to that house is bad enough. The front looks like a prison compound.

‘It’s dreadful. They used to have two large dogs which barked all night.

‘They’re absolutely neighbours from hell. I would not wish them to live next to my worst enemy.’

Mr Rawlings was approached for comment, only for the Daily Mail to be informed by his wife, Paige, that he is currently ‘in prison’.

Defending the family, wife Paige insisted: ‘We are being victimised. We are good neighbours. We are kind to people.

‘We were told to remove the trees. We really like the statues. We won’t be taking them down.

‘People just want us to get kicked out. They report us. It’s not fair.

‘We could make it look all scruffy, but we’ve looked after it.’

Council planners said the boundary was out of keeping with the surrounding street, where most homes have low hedges or simple fences along the front.

Additionally, they cautioned that cars would need to stop on the road in order to open the couple’s new gates since they were not set back far enough.

Two objections were made by local residents, according to planning papers. One said: ‘Brick wall of that height with horses (is) completely out of character for the road.’

Mr Rawlings insisted the boundary was built to blend in with nearby hedges and prevent his children from running into the busy road.

He said: ‘The fences we have are four foot with a trellis that you can see through.

‘I have a massive dog, so three-foot fences would be no good and wouldn’t be secure for her or my children.

‘My driveway needs gates to keep my children safe. My property does not affect the street view at all.’

Mr Rawlings then appealed to the independent Planning Inspectorate, but the challenge was denied this month.

The neighbours might believe that the embellishments are hideously unattractive, but at least the place looks neat. They should take a trip up to Birmingham, they would have a Coronary. It actually makes me think of that song by the Osmonds, ‘Crazy Horses.’

In all honesty, I think everything looks fine; everything is neat and well-maintained, and it might seem a bit over the top, but at least delivery drivers won’t have any excuse for not finding it, or anybody else in the street for that matter!

Crimes Of antisemitism

Keir Starmer denounced the alleged antisemitic hate crime that occurred when four Jewish volunteer ambulances were set on fire outside a synagogue in London.

Following a late-night arson incident that set fire to Jewish Community Ambulance service trucks, police are conducting an investigation.

Six fire engines and 40 firefighters rushed to Highfield Road, near the Mchzike Hadath synagogue in Golders Green, at about 1.45 am to put out the flames. No one was harmed. 

Three men wearing hoods are seen approaching a parked ambulance before it catches fire in CCTV footage that has been circulated on social media. After that, they leave the region.

Another shows the ambulances engulfed in flames, with several audible explosions heard in the background. 

The force of the explosions, thought to be gas canisters onboard the Hatzola ambulances, caused windows to break in a nearby block of flats.

The fire destroyed the stained glass windows and damaged the roof of the synagogue, which is among the oldest in Europe.

Condemning the ‘deeply shocking’ attack, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘My thoughts are with the Jewish community who are waking up this morning to this horrific news.

‘Antisemitism has no place in our society. Anyone with any information must come forward to the police.’

Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: ‘We are absolutely heartbroken that this is how low Britain has sunk. This horrific act truly plumbs new depths.’

The Jewish volunteer organisation Hatzola, which offers free emergency medical care and hospital transportation, supplied the ambulances.

Roads in the vicinity are still restricted, and locals were evacuated as a precaution.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced that the four ambulances would be replaced by vehicles from the London Ambulance Service.

Speaking at the scene of the attack in North London, he said: ‘We will be providing four replacement ambulances on loan initially before permanent replacements can be found.

‘The Jewish community cannot foot the bill for this.’ 

He added: ‘Antisemitism is an old hatred, but it is alive and kicking in our country and all of us, particularly those who are not Jewish, have to wake up, stand up and work with our Jewish friends and neighbours in confronting and defeating this despicable hatred.’ 

Damon Hoff, chairman of the synagogue that hosts the Hotzala ambulances, lives in the local area and heard the explosions. 

He told the Daily Mail: ‘The smoke was blowing, and it’s frightening. It is frightening. And when those explosions are going, it’s terrifying.

Our government and our police need to face up to this because things are only going to get worse, and our fragile government doesn’t have the stomach to address this intimidation – and it’s not even intimidation any longer, it’s an act of terrorism.

This was an absolutely despicable attack, and even if they do get caught, they will get a slap on the hand and be told that they are naughty boys, but they need much more than that, because why would anybody do such a thing to emergency services? Perhaps one day these people might need an ambulance, and it just doesn’t show up because it was set on fire.

It would be wise for these idiots to keep in mind that our nation battled the Nazis to ensure the survival of future generations. This attitude is just cowardly and despicable, and it has no place in British culture. Either they just don’t care, or they are brain-dead!

Iran’s missiles Cannot Be Stopped By UK Defences

If Iran launched a rocket strike on the UK akin to the one that was tried on Diego Garcia this weekend, Britain would have to rely on American missile defence systems stationed in Europe.

The warning came after Tehran released two ballistic missiles on Friday night towards the base in the Indian Ocean, which is jointly operated by the US and the UK.

The island lies 2,360 miles from Iran, well beyond the 1,240 miles which was thought to be the outer limit of the regime’s reach. 

It potentially puts Paris, 2,609 miles away, and even London – 2,750 miles – within Iran’s range if, as some strategists fear, the country uses its Simorgh space launch technology to extend its missile range. RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus is just 1,000 miles from Tehran. 

Additionally, Israel issued a warning that Europe may be attacked by Iran’s new missile.

IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, in a video released on Saturday night. said: ‘Iran launched a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000km towards an American target on the island of Diego Garcia.

‘The missiles were not intended to hit Israel. Their range reaches the capitals of Europe. Berlin, Paris and Rome are all within direct threat range.’ The IDF later added that London is also in range. 

Steve Prest, a retired Royal Navy commodore, said: ‘Ballistic missiles are space rockets. They launch, they go really high up, and they come down really fast. If you’ve got a space programme, you’ve got a ballistic missile programme.’ 

In a ballistic attack, defence experts say Britain would be forced to rely on American SM-3 defence systems stationed across Eastern Europe, or the Patriot missiles used by the Germans, to intercept rockets.

Diego Garcia was the target of an attempted strike when Sir Keir Starmer gave the US authorisation to attack the Strait of Hormuz using British bases to defend ships from Iranian strikes.

Neither of the missiles fired at Diego Garcia hit their target, with one thought to have been shot down by a US warship’s SM-3 interceptor and the other failing in flight.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of covering up the attempted aggression on Diego Garcia, saying the Prime Minister needed to ‘come clean’ over the details of the launch.

Government sources established that the attack occurred before an official statement later said it had allowed the US military to launch strikes on Iran from the island base to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This came as:

The US used ‘bunker buster’ bombs in a reported attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. The munition was designed to be dropped from B-2 stealth bombers to destroy targets up to 200ft underground.

The American military claimed that Tehran’s ability to threaten ships passing through the Straits of Hormuz had been ‘degraded.’

The UAE released a joint statement from 22 countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Bahrain and Australia, demanding that Tehran reopen the Straits of Hormuz to shipping.

Prices of vegetables in supermarkets could rise within weeks as the war in Iran makes the cost of fertiliser and energy soar.

Holidaymakers were scrambling to secure flights and switch destinations to dodge the threat of spiralling fares and disruption caused by the war.

Motorists could face a 1970s-style 50mph speed limit in an endeavour to save fuel under emergency plans.

Sir Keir promised Cyprus that the British airbase on the island would not be used by the Americans to strike Iran.

The Prime Minister spoke to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and pledged that RAF Akrotiri would not be involved in his agreement with Mr Trump on the use of British bases in the war. 

This comes after Mr Christodoulides warned last week that when the war ends, he will demand negotiations about the fate of Britain’s ‘colonial’ military bases on the island.

General Sir Richard Barrons, a former Commander-in-Chief of British forces, said on Saturday that Iran’s power may have been ‘serially underestimated’.

General Sir Richard, who headed the UK’s Joint Forces Command between 2013 and 2016, said it was previously thought that ‘Iran’s missiles had a range of only 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) and Diego Garcia is 3,800 kilometres [2,360 miles] away from Iran’.

He was responding to questions over whether Mr Trump was right to say Britain had done ‘too little and too late’ or whether opponents of the war were correct that the UK had been sucked into an American war.

Meanwhile, vegetable prices could rise within weeks as the cost of fertiliser and energy surges, said National Farmers Union president Tom Bradshaw.

He said Britain no longer had the ability to make fertiliser domestically and was ‘absolutely at the mercy of world markets’.

One important source of fertiliser ingredients is the Middle East. The majority of these cross the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has closed, causing prices to skyrocket as farmers scramble to buy scarce supplies as the spring planting season approaches.

Prices of imported goods are likely to rise immediately because of higher transport costs, said Mr Bradshaw, adding that increases for other foods would begin to appear in the coming weeks.

He added: ‘For vegetables grown in heated greenhouses, such as cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, it will be over the next month to six weeks that we will see those cost increases coming through to the retailer.’

It’s been 80 years since the end of the last war, and the UK has literally learnt nothing. Instead of moving forward, we have gone backwards. This is what happens when our government neglects the defence of the realm.

The problem is our government puts financing and sending our troops into wars that don’t concern us. We appear to be hellbent on protecting other nations before protecting our own, and conflict is then propelled forward with a costly failure and considerable innocent lives lost.

Our UK government doesn’t care about its people, but somehow the people believe that they do; it’s probably all that propaganda, but what’s even more worrying is that most people believe it because we have been brainwashed.

People are whining about welfare and benefits, but if our country does go to war, it will certainly impact our economy, and then those who moan will be moaning even more when they lose their jobs.

Money and votes are the only things that matter to our government.

We have been giving away billions of money to other countries for decades, but what do we get in return? Nothing.

Our government tell us that there’s no money in the pot, but obviously there is if they are cheerfully giving it to other countries, or are they just robbing it from the taxpayer to pay for genocide, which is totally illegal, I might add.

In Britain, Robots Are Wiping Out A Generation Of First Jobs

The rise of robots is wiping out entry-level jobs, the Bank of England has warned, as figures revealed youth unemployment at an 11-year high.

A regular business survey executed by the Bank said the use of artificial intelligence and automation was enabling firms to grow without any extra workers.

In some cases, it indicates that fewer ‘early career’ or graduate positions are created.

Labour has also made it much more costly to take on workers after hiking employer National Insurance and reporting steep increases in the minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds, plus a raft of new workers’ rights.

On Thursday, the Bank said many organisations ‘report automation and AI-enabled productivity gains are allowing them to meet demand without additional hiring.’

In such cases, the time taken to carry out ‘highly automatable’ tasks has dropped by about 70 per cent, firms estimate.

‘For some large professional services firms, this is contributing to reduced demand for early-career recruitment, including graduates, driven both by cost pressures and a lower volume of routine entry-level work,’ the report said.

Meanwhile, younger people are shunning trades, manufacturing and farming jobs, it added, leading to an ageing workforce and concerns about who will replace them.

It came as the Office for National Statistics said unemployment remained at 5.2 per cent in the three months to January, the highest since the pandemic.

The jobless rate for 18 to 24-year-olds bounced from 14 per cent to 14.5 per cent, the highest since the three months to January 2015, representing 598,000 people. 

James Cockett, senior economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said the jobs market has become ‘increasingly challenging for young people’.

‘This is ahead of the significant uplift to the youth minimum wage rates, coming into effect in just two weeks’ time.’

The minimum wage for those aged 18 to 20 will jump by 8.5 per cent next month to £10.85 per hour. Professor Len Shackleton of the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank cast doubt on a scheme to offer £3,000 to take on young people.

‘It would be much better if the Government reversed some of the job-destroying measures it has introduced in the last 18 months,’ he said.

Meanwhile, ministers have halted steps to drive up the minimum wage for under-21s any further.

In a letter to the Low Pay Commission, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said in light of ‘concerns regarding the youth labour market’, the priority is ‘the employment prospects of young people’ over further rises in pay.

The AI tide is far higher and far closer than most people are inclined to accept. Soon, your job and all that it offers will be a thing of the past, and ultimately, your career will just be swept away from under you.

If this is what’s called progress, then I would rather not have it. The problem is, these people are always trying to fix things that don’t need to be fixed. If it works well the way it is, leave it well alone.

And these companies, watch their profits decline once AI takes over. Greed will be their destruction.

Everything is vanishing, the analogue telephone. Now we have mobile phones and automated answering services – even telephone boxes are fading. Almost every company that you phone is automated with AI – press 1 or this, press 2 for that, press 3 if you want someone to kiss your arse.

The ridiculous thing is, our governments believe that they’ll be able to tax robots!

Fortunately, AI hasn’t made its presence felt in the UK yet, but mark my words, it will sooner than later, and the reason for this is that they start work on time, don’t take lunch breaks, don’t take a myriad days off sick, and don’t whinge and whine all the time.

There Is A Massive Project Underway In The UK To Build A New Town

A huge new town is set to be built – featuring 20,000 homes as well as hotels, shops and schools as part of efforts to tackle Britain’s housing problem. 

The Barking Riverside project in east London has been given the green light, including 4,000 new properties earmarked for affordable housing, with 50,000 people potentially housed across the new development.

Among the features of the master plan are two public parks, three additional schools, a new health facility, commercial space, enhanced walking and cycling routes, and riverfront access.

Official figures in January showed that just 47,600 new homes have been built in the capital since Labour came to power in July 2024, out of 309,600 across England.

The capital’s figure was far short of the target of 88,000 new homes a year set by the Government to meet its objective of 1.5 million across the country by 2029.

Supporters of the recently approved scheme – including one of London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s deputies, Tom Copley – say it will provide not only much-needed new homes, but also schools, health centres, public parks and community spaces.

The latest proposals almost double the earlier granted allocation of 10,800 new homes across the 443-acre site.

Barking and Dagenham Council has officially approved the changes for outline planning.

Barking Riverside is a joint venture between London mayor, Sir Sadiq and housing association L&Q.  

More than £170 million in grant and loan funding has been handed over in the past five years by the government agency Homes England.

The Labour government has updated planning rules, suggesting local objections should not stand in the way of houses on brownfield sites.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also been vehement in his criticism of ‘nimbys’ and ‘blockers’ – describing himself as a ‘yimby’, meaning ‘yes in my backyard’.

In its planning policy framework, Labour said brownfield schemes ‘should be approved unless substantial harm would be caused’.

Mr Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said of the newly approved plans: ‘Barking Riverside is one of the most significant and exciting housing developments not just in London but anywhere in the UK.

‘It is a fantastic example of a major brownfield regeneration, supported by City Hall and partners, which is delivering for the local community in this vibrant part of east London.

‘I welcome the news that the Barking Riverside story is set to enter its next phase, ensuring thousands of more high-quality and affordable homes for Londoners in the coming years as we continue to build a better and fairer capital for everyone.’

BRL managing director Leigh Johnson said: ‘This successful planning consent marks a genuine step change for Barking Riverside and for the role it can play in supporting local people.

‘The 4,000 affordable homes being delivered represent an opportunity for households to come off the housing waiting list and for local families to take their first step on the property ladder.’

L&Q’s group chief executive, Fiona Fletcher-Smith, said: ‘Delivering well-designed affordable homes and community infrastructure at scale at Barking Riverside represents our long-term plans to tackle the housing crisis in London.

‘We believe it could be a blueprint for brownfield development across the country.

‘This milestone reflects the ambition of the partnerships involved, from L&Q and the Mayor of London to the many others contributing to the success of the project.’

A London Overground station and an Uber Boat pier opened at the site in 2022.

They continue to build new homes and towns, but there will never be enough doctors, nurses, dentists, and schools. We don’t need more homes; we need fewer boat people.

It will all look very nice when it’s built, but I would imagine it will be a no-go area in about 5 years, if not before, with graffiti and vandalism all over the place, and what about when the river floods?

The sewers are massively struggling already, and the Thames is seeing more floaters – what will it smell like in the summer?

These flats might look lovely from the outside, but ultimately, all they will become is a dull block of flats and will become tenement slums, and they are building them on a flood plain – savvy move, maybe not!

Of course, nearby there will be the biggest mosque, and the ribbon will be cut by Starmer, and it seems like Labour is happy to stomp all over environmental protection and planning regulations in their rush to build, but where are the experienced workers going to come from to actually build the infrastructure?

Looking at the map, it’s essentially an extension of the Thames View estate, with a party frock, and how many homes will go to British people? – In this area, I would say none.

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