Chris Whiteside's Blog

  And if you like pancakes, I hope you enjoy cooking, eating and above all sharing them today! -

Yet another Russian official has "fallen out of a window."  The Moscow Times reports that 49-year-old former Olympic Wrestling champion Buvaisar Saitiev,  whoi became a State Duma deputy and later assistant to the head of Dagestan has died after a suspicious fall - allegedly he "fell out of a window." Yeah, right Russian Olympic Champion Turned Lawmaker Dead After Falling From Window - Newsweek Экс-депутат Думы от Дагестана выпал из окна в Москве - Русская служба The Moscow Times

  "If you're going through hell, Keep Going. " Sir Winston Churchill.

 

 

I posted here a few days ago about last week's by-election for the Harrington ward of Workington Town Council which was won by Billy Miskelly, who was standing as a Conservative having recently joined us. This was a Conservative gain from Labour. The Cumbria Chronic has an interesting and amusing piece about how Labour pulled out all the stops, including campaigning by the MP and Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, to try to stop Billy getting elected, to absolutely no avail. You can read it here:  ELECTION WIN SPIKES BIG GUNS – The Cumbria Chronic

"My heart went out to President Zelensky" Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she "couldn't believe what was happening" and that Ukrainian President Zelensky was "humiliated" while meeting US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. BBC Politics on X: ""My heart went out to President Zelensky" Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she "couldn't believe what was happening" in the Oval Office #BBCLauraK"

 

Real peace will require strength, security and western unity - never forgetting that Putin started this war by illegally invading Ukraine, an independent, sovereign and democratic country. Ukraine deserves our continued, strong and united support. Rt Hon (Lord) David Cameron on X, formerly Twitter. ( David Cameron on X: "Real peace will require strength, security and western unity - never forgetting that Putin started this war by illegally invading Ukraine, an independent, sovereign and democratic country. Ukraine deserves our continued, strong and united support. )

"No one is the villain in his own story." ( Harry Turtledove. )

 Yesterday's Conservative gain from Labour in Harrington, West Cumbria was matched by a Conservative gain in Westminster On Kemi Badenoch's watch the Conservatives have been gaining seats from Labour in council by-election after by-election, while Labour has been losing formerly safe council seats in every part of the country. The figures speak for themselves:    

 

Congratulations to Councillor Billy Miskelly, who today gained a Harrington ward seat on Workington Town Council from Labour in a by-election. Votes cast were: Billy Miskelly, Conservative - 273 votes Labour  - 146 votes. Postscript added when this News and Star post became available:

The latest More in Common Opinion Poll has the Conservatives in the lead on 25%, Reform UK second on 24% and Labour third on 23% Of course, exactly like most of the other recent opinion polls, some of which had Reform UK first and some Labour first, with each party having been in all three possible positions from first to third, the differences between the parties are within the polling margin of error. What the polls are consistently telling us is that all three political parties have support in the mid-20's. And with the next election probably a little more than four years away, that means that all three have everything to play for and everything to lose.

A new paper from Policy Exchange strongly challenges the Government’s claim that a deal must be signed with Mauritius to protect the joint UK-US exclusive access to the electromagnetic spectrum on Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos islands. The paper is backed by Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP – Former Minister of State for Security and former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He writes in a Foreword that  “… as the authors of this report show, every single defence of the deal put forward by the British Government – whether strategic or legal has proved to be baseless. It is past time for the Government to come to its senses, to remember its duty to defend the UK’s vital strategic interests, and to walk away from the deal.” You can download the paper here: Policy Exchange - The Chagos Debacle

Yesterday this blog passed three million pageviews since the traffic counters were turned on, which was on 7th January 2010. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to visit and to read anything you found here, and I hope you found it interesting.  

 

 

 

Churchill's response to the Munich surrender of 1938: It is not wrong to talk to Russia to see if an acceptable peace deal can be found. But it would be absolutely wrong to try to force Ukraine to accept a peace on unfavourable terms. That would be to repeat the mistake that Chamberlain made at Munich. And Churchill's prediction that far from "Peace in our time," Munich would be followed by a terrible war proved only too accurate.

"On the third anniversary of the start of Russia’s illegal invasion, we all need to remember how this war started, and restate our shared values and why we collectively back Ukraine. The Conservatives are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine. They have been battling the most flagrant breach of territorial integrity and sovereignty in Europe in recent times. They are on the frontline, protecting the principles that underpin our whole way of life – democracy, liberty and the rule of law. I’m proud that Britain has stood with the heroes of Ukraine as they defend their country, and that the UK Parliament has been united in our resolve to do all we can to back them." Kemi Badenoch on X, formerly twitter, this morning.